Countdown until December 1st

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I get what you're saying, but why does the wait have to be months (for some applicants)?

They could simply set a shorter limit (say, 2 weeks) before schools can give out offers. I believe 2 weeks is what med schools currently do (not 100% sure on the exact number tho).
I believe med schools also give applicants considerably more time to put down their deposit/decide where to attend... though there are probably regulations in place to ensure this happens
 
The following is going to be conjecture on my part because I wasn't around when they picked this day. Suffice it to say though, that it takes a lot of effort to schedule and plan interview days for most schools. Many schools really get up and running in September and October with interview days. I'm going to guess it's still a lot of pressure on applicants who just have had a couple of interviews if we started issuing offers as early as October. Remember, some medical schools start interviewing as early as August or even mid-July. I think for the sake of some sense of stability, that our committee would have seen "enough" of a quasi-scientific sample of our pools and have had enough time to review applications before interviewing, that the December date was picked. (Again, purely conjecture.)

I will point out, remember that medical schools do not have a singular day. Osteopathic schools run on a different system and different traffic rules to allopathic schools. Plus allopathic schools also have different stratifications of applicants (they used to have early decision, but MD/PhD decisions are on a different timeline and use different traffic rules). Would you rather be in the more confusing position of a premed?


I wanted to ask you a somewhat unrelated question..would you say that a person that interviewed pre-december will MOST LIKELY get an answer ON December 1st...i know you cant give definate answers, but what is your opinion on this
 
Why not implement a rule that state we have 30 days to decide on our acceptance rather than mentally torture us for months for waiting for a decision. Dec 1st is near final exam time for some schools, so this is a odd date to pick. If that is their reason for Dec 1st that you mentioned, wouldnt that practice apply to all professional healthcare fields and not just dentistry?

I can't answer for everyone regarding why that date to establish the embargo of results. I will say that we still have discussions about the effectiveness of the Traffic Rules (knowing there is a renegade school or two that continues to defy the detail of the agreement) frequently.

No, our practice of picking December 1 as our decision day is not influenced by the other health professions' admissions processes, nor do we expect other admissions processes to be influenced by us. Not all health care fields are as competitive as dentistry or medicine, but as each profession has gravitated towards some form of centralized application process, there is a strong appreciation for a need to coordinate decisions in those professions.
 
I wanted to ask you a somewhat unrelated question..would you say that a person that interviewed pre-december will MOST LIKELY get an answer ON December 1st...i know you cant give definate answers, but what is your opinion on this
im not referring to dental schools in general
 
The ADEA Traffic Rules have been approved by the ADEA House of Delegates since 2010 (http://www.adea.org/uploadedFiles/A...inesDentalSchoolsExtendingOffersAdmission.pdf). In other words, this was a measure approved by all parties in dental education, including students, residents, faculty, and administrators at that time. I wasn't around, but that was the date they selected in the end.

The very important piece about the Traffic Rules is the response period given to applicants. I can only state that as an advisor though not having that many people who were seriously affected at the time, there was a lot of pressure placed on applicants who were given offers immediately after they interviewed. They were also pressured to give an answer (in many cases) on the day of their interview. These were really predatory practices that put applicants at a perilous position to immediately accept an offer even if it wasn't their first choice.

I honestly think this may be the case.
 
I believe med schools also give applicants considerably more time to put down their deposit/decide where to attend... though there are probably regulations in place to ensure this happens

There are different traffic rules for allopathic and osteopathic admissions, including putting a cap on the deposit amount AND establishing a policy and timeline where those deposits are refundable or non-refundable. They also deal with 10x more applicants, and a lot more fluidity that makes admissions even more challenging.

As mentioned before, many med schools start interviewing in July or August, and their class sizes are 2-5x larger than dental schools' class sizes. They have applicants who wait a few months before decisions are made, but it's much harder on the admissions side there (allo or osteo).
 
There are different traffic rules for allopathic and osteopathic admissions, including putting a cap on the deposit amount AND establishing a policy and timeline where those deposits are refundable or non-refundable. They also deal with 10x more applicants, and a lot more fluidity that makes admissions even more challenging.
I wanted to ask you a somewhat unrelated question..would you say that a person that interviewed pre-december will MOST LIKELY get an answer ON December 1st...i know you cant give definate answers, but what is your opinion on this
 
I wanted to ask you a somewhat unrelated question..would you say that a person that interviewed pre-december will MOST LIKELY get an answer ON December 1st...i know you cant give definate answers, but what is your opinion on this

It depends on the school. All the applicants who interviewed at Case have already been told if their interview result will be revealed on December 1 and how it will be revealed. Not all schools are this clear.
 
I can't answer for everyone regarding why that date to establish the embargo of results. I will say that we still have discussions about the effectiveness of the Traffic Rules (knowing there is a renegade school or two that continues to defy the detail of the agreement) frequently.

No, our practice of picking December 1 as our decision day is not influenced by the other health professions' admissions processes, nor do we expect other admissions processes to be influenced by us. Not all health care fields are as competitive as dentistry or medicine, but as each profession has gravitated towards some form of centralized application process, there is a strong appreciation for a need to coordinate decisions in those professions.
As you stated that rule was six years ago. Dental schools are getting more and more expensive each years. Why not change the rule to help applicants save some money on the application and interviews process by shorten the decision time. After Dec 1st we get 30 days to put down a deposit at schools that offered us an acceptance anyway. Why cant they just keep the 30 days rule for our decision and let schools notify us sooner so we can save some money and keep our sanity.
 
As you stated that rule was six years ago. Dental schools are getting more and more expensive each years. Why not change the rule to help applicants save some money on the application and interviews process by shorten the decision time. After Dec 1st we get 30 days to put down a deposit at schools that offered us an acceptance anyway. Why cant they just keep the 30 days rule for our decision and let schools notify us sooner so we can save some money and keep our sanity.

The policy has been in place for 6 years and we continue to discuss its effectiveness. All I can say is when you get into dental school, talk to your admissions staff about it.

I was a prehealth advisor before my current position, and none of us had fielded any concerns or issues about the ADEA AADSAS Traffic Rules from our advisees whom we supported in the process. Believe me, there are plenty of advisors out there who wouldn't hesitate to tell us if there were concerns (and I talk with them a lot).
 
I get what you're saying, but why does the wait have to be months (for some applicants)?

They could simply set a shorter limit (say, 2 weeks) before schools can give out offers. I believe 2 weeks is what med schools currently do (not 100% sure on the exact number tho).

With that system, there would still need to be a way to protect the applicant. What if an applicant's 2nd choice school interviewed early and accepted the applicant before the applicant could interview at his first choice? How long would the applicant get to accept the offer? It's hard to establish that number because if you choose something like 40 days, there comes a point where the burden on the admissions committee becomes too much because they could end up with tons of pending offers and would not be able to interview more people until they see how many have accepted and haven't accepted.

And I say this without really having knowledge of how the med school system works. They've clearly found something that works for them, but I'm sure there are downsides to that system too that I'm just not familiar with
 
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Personally, I prefer the Dec 1 date as opposed to what the medical schools do. It's more nerve wracking this way but it doesn't overwhelmingly (and truthfully, unfairly) favor the earliest applicants that don't have to wait on things out of their control like committee letters or what have you.

Also, you get to save a lot of money if you are fortunate enough to have choices between schools. Better to hear back from your top 4 schools all in December instead of putting down 4 deposits because your acceptances were staggered.

Plus, misery loves company, haha. Pre-meds don't get this topic like the cool kids do.
 
You have to deliver an acceptance speech.

"I'd like to thank my parents for lending me money to pay my application fees, my cat for always supporting me when times were tough, and last but not least I'd like to thank the admissions committee...they like me, they really like me! GOODNIGHT AND GOD BLESS"
More like the pawn shop for accepting my stuff. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have had any interviews.
 
Personally, I prefer the Dec 1 date as opposed to what the medical schools do. It's more nerve wracking this way but it doesn't overwhelmingly (and truthfully, unfairly) favor the earliest applicants that don't have to wait on things out of their control like committee letters or what have you.

Also, you get to save a lot of money if you are fortunate enough to have choices between schools. Better to hear back from your top 4 schools all in December instead of putting down 4 deposits because your acceptances were staggered.

Plus, misery loves company, haha. Pre-meds don't get this topic like the cool kids do.
I think you should reward applicants that are prepared and have everything ready to submit as early as possible. Those applicants should have some advantage over applicants that cant or wait to get their things in order. Everybody has the same requirement so everybody is on the same playing field.

Why would you put down 4 deposits if none of them were your #1 choice? I can see putting down 1 or maybe 2 deposits and wait for your #1 school. If someone is crazy enough to put down 4, that on them.

I rather be lame and not have to stress over this for months waiting on someone to decide my fate.
 
I think the dec 1st system is pretty good, because it prevents schools from trying to best one another by handing out earlier and earlier acceptances. This system ensures a degree of fairness between schools, and may save some applicants money in the end, by preventing the need for multiple deposits.
 
And so the final countdown begins
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It depends on the school. All the applicants who interviewed at Case have already been told if their interview result will be revealed on December 1 and how it will be revealed. Not all schools are this clear.
I forgot to mention that we at least still subscribe to a rolling admissions process. If you want to talk about a wait, ask applicants to Canadian dental schools. They don't start interviewing until March, I think.

Sent from my SM-G900P using SDN mobile
 
So how is everyone spending their decision day eve? (Need tips to make it go by faster)

Youtube line dancing tutorials for "Good time" by Alan Jackson and learn how to do a line dance. :banana:Usually takes me about an hour to learn the whole thing, which should pass the time!
 
I'm at research from 8-3:30, then I'll nap, finish projects, and hit the gym Think that will be my agenda.
 
Hello my SDN family, guys just curious... with schools that send acceptance emails, are they sent to everyone at the same time?

Thank you for all your help, as always.
RS
 
The ADEA Traffic Rules have been approved by the ADEA House of Delegates since 2010 (http://www.adea.org/uploadedFiles/A...inesDentalSchoolsExtendingOffersAdmission.pdf). In other words, this was a measure approved by all parties in dental education, including students, residents, faculty, and administrators at that time. I wasn't around, but that was the date they selected in the end.

The very important piece about the Traffic Rules is the response period given to applicants. I can only state that as an advisor though not having that many people who were seriously affected at the time, there was a lot of pressure placed on applicants who were given offers immediately after they interviewed. They were also pressured to give an answer (in many cases) on the day of their interview. These were really predatory practices that put applicants at a perilous position to immediately accept an offer even if it wasn't their first choice.

I would have to agree with Dr. Chuck. What if we didn't get to interview at our "number one school" till later on and had a few acceptances beforehand. We would be dropping thousands to place a deposit at multiple schools because the school wants an immediate decision. This wait does make me anxious and I am also all about autonomy (one of the reasons why I chose dental) so I dislike having others make the decision about myself, but I also believe the benefits are pretty justified.
 
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