Declining adminission acceptance and reapplying next year

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Monkeymaniac

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Hi all,

If I decline acceptances I receive, get better numbers/experiences and then reapply next June, how would those schools that I reapply view this? Has anyone done this or know someone who did it?

And what are the chances of being able to transfer to different medical school once I get in? What do they look at when considering applicants (MCAT/UG GPA/Medical school GPA/etc...)? Also, can I reapply, not transfer, when I'm a first year med student?
 
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BAD BAD BAD idea. if schools know you had a chance to go to medical school and didn't take it, that looks pretty terrible. you shouldn't have applied to schools you wouldn't go to.

also transferring in med school = near impossible. not like undergrad.
 
This is generally regarded as a bad idea. Schools want to admit people who will attend. It makes it look like they were your backup, that you didn't get into your top choice school, and now you want to come back to them.

This comes up every year when someone doesn't get into her/is dream school but gets accepted to another school. They want to know if they should try again for the dream school. The answer is no. A bird is the hand is worth two in the bush.
 
Monkeymaniac said:
Hi all,

If I decline acceptances I receive, get better numbers/experiences and then reapply next June, how would those schools that I reapply view this? Has anyone done this or know someone who did it?

And what are the chances of being able to transfer to different medical school once I get in? What do they look at when considering applicants (MCAT/UG GPA/Medical school GPA/etc...)? Also, can I reapply, not transfer, when I'm a first year med student?
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Transfers don't happen except in very rare cases. This isn't college.

Decline and reapply at great risk - of course people do it every year and are successful, but it is a foolish thing to do for most people.

What "numbers" are you going to enhance in the next 6 months? What is your MCAT now? GPA?

Finally, do you actually hold some acceptance(s) you are thinking about dropping? Where to? Or are you counting your chickens?
 
Monkeymaniac said:
If I decline acceptances I receive, get better numbers/experiences and then reapply next June, how would those schools that I reapply view this?
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Very poorly. It would indicate that you are willing to place a horrible bet in the hopes of obtaining some transient, and likely illusory, benefit. An admissions committee wants to see people who are dedicated and enthusiastic about becoming physicians, not prima donnas who have their hearts set on some other school.
 
its really a professional training, not an undergraduate education where you may be limited for choosing X school over Y. All schools are accredited and they follow standards, if you are gonna re-apply, I hope you present a better reason to the adcom rather than I just wanted to go to a better school
 
This is why you should only apply to schools you are willing to attend. Once you have an acceptance and turn it down to try for something more prestigious you start to look like someone who doesn't care all that much about practicing medicine.

While it may be that you just found the curriculum or social environment at the school to which you gained acceptance to be unlivable you will have a tough time making schools see it that way. For one thing you'd have to get to the point of interview and I do not think you would get all that many interview invitations.

For all who are thinking in this vein: think long and hard before you apply to a school. If you visit the school and find you hate it then withdraw. Do not wait until you are in this situation.
 
LOL don't do it! First of all, your chances of transferring to a better school during med school is nearly zero. Most people who transfer end up taking "a step down" in rankings and do it for personal reasons like they need to be close to a sick parent or spouse or something. If you reapply, the school that accepted you before will not accept you again. You also have no guarantee at all of getting into a better school anyways, especially if those other schools somehow find that you were accepted somewhere in the previous cycle. And starting over at a "better" school after you've finished M1? are you serious? You just wasted like 40k at the first school and you're losing the benefit of one year's income as a physician just for a little better prestige that may not matter at all?
 
Not a good idea. Take any acceptances and rejoice. They are hard to get. Don't push your luck.
 
I think the OP should do it, so the spots go to ppl who ACTUALLY want to go there and become doctors.
 
Can't you defer your acceptance for a year and try to apply again?
 
You are not "too good" for any medical school. There are candidates more qualified than you who aren't going to make it this cycle. Consider yourself lucky and matriculate. Don't take a year off the most lucrative part of your career (the end of it).
 
Why on Earth would you do such a thing? Better yet, what would possess you to even entertain such a notion? 😕
 
TAWS said:
Can't you defer your acceptance for a year and try to apply again?
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God, no. A deferment isn't like an acceptance you can hold onto "just in case". It's a school granting you permission, under very rare circumstances, to delay your matriculation, but the important thing is that you actually mean to matriculate there.

I would imagine that anyone who deferred and reapplied to other schools in the meantime would quickly find their deferment, along with their acceptance, vacated in short order.

Also, these questions are far too ridiculous to not be trolling. There is nobody who is seriously in contention for medical school that could be serious about such things.
 
Monkeymaniac said:
Hi all,

If I decline acceptances I receive, get better numbers/experiences and then reapply next June, how would those schools that I reapply view this? Has anyone done this or know someone who did it?

And what are the chances of being able to transfer to different medical school once I get in? What do they look at when considering applicants (MCAT/UG GPA/Medical school GPA/etc...)? Also, can I reapply, not transfer, when I'm a first year med student?
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The schools will hate you for it.
No one in their right mind would do such a thing.

Really?! Why would you want to reaaply? for fun and games?! Geez.

The only thing I can think of that would make you want to reapply is if these schools you got accepted to were not in the US.
If these are US med schools, seriously just be happy and matriculate.
 
redsquareblack said:
Also, these questions are far too ridiculous to not be trolling. There is nobody who is seriously in contention for medical school that could be serious about such things.
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Some people care very much about ranking and reputation of schools. It is bragging rights/pride. Not saying it is right, just saying I'm sure it happens frequently enough.
 
I am still amazed this is a question. [sarcasm] Of course you should decline the acceptance and apply next year. Everyone knows that only the top 25 medical schools know how to make competent physicians. [/sarcasm]
 
I do not think its a good idea, and many schools I applied to seem to make it very clear that they do not accept transfesr...but if u do get 300 on step 1...
 
Mopp22 said:
What's OP mean?
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op is the person who Originally Posted

my pre health advisor told me the story of one girl who a few years ago applied to med school and was very successful, got multiple acceptances. but she decided she wasn't ready for med school and said she would reapply after one year in the "real world" well years later now she still has not been accepted despite holding several acceptances before.

moral of story: don't do it, unless you don't want to become a doctor.
 
The thing I don't understand is if you really don't want to go there to the point where you are willing to reapply, why apply there in the first place?
 
If you get accepted to that one school, unless you absolutely despised it with a passion and rather commit suicide than going there, just go to it. Med school is med school is med school. You aren't going to notice much of a difference besides building layout and professor names at most schools. Obviously there are ones that are known to be "better", which is subjective to me but overall it really doesn't matter much.
 
STOP REPLYING TO ME! Please people reply to the "OP", you're clogging my inbox!

Thank you
 
wow. you know you can set it so you don't get a message when someone replies to your post? 🙄
 
__________________
 
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casillas said:
op is the person who Originally Posted

my pre health advisor told me the story of one girl who a few years ago applied to med school and was very successful, got multiple acceptances. but she decided she wasn't ready for med school and said she would reapply after one year in the "real world" well years later now she still has not been accepted despite holding several acceptances before.

moral of story: don't do it, unless you don't want to become a doctor.
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This happened to one of my friends. I think he has reapplied 3 times since then 🙁


Mopp22 said:
Well A DUH! I set it that way on purpose for a reason so don't think your a smart *** with that comment.
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Whoa.... you are crazy....
 
__________________
 
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Mopp22 said:
Well A DUH! I set it that way on purpose for a reason so don't think your a smart *** with that comment.
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wasn't trying to be. was just annoyed by your comment and trying to be helpful in case you didn't know that already.
 
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What the above posters say is true-I think one of my deans told me that if you get into a school, then turn them down, then try to reapply there, you are getting auto-rejected
 
Let's keep this thread civil and focused on the OP's situation, please; if you have a problem with certain users, you can always take your conversation to PMs or utilize the ignore feature.
 
TAWS said:
Can't you defer your acceptance for a year and try to apply again?
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Generally, if you are granted a deferment you sign an agreement stating that you will not apply to other schools during the year of deferment. Also, while a few schools will automatically grant deferments if requested prior to a certain date, most require that a committee actually approve your request and you need a good reason such as illness, an unusual educational opportunity, etc. "I want to defer to try to get into a better school" isn't going to go over well.
 
buffywannabe said:
This happened to one of my friends. I think he has reapplied 3 times since then 🙁
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Ouch. That's the only reaction I've got to that.

OP, you should definitely take these types of stories into consideration...you never know how things will play out.
 
Here's another reason it's a bad idea. Let's say just for kicks your top salary as an attending physician will be $250,000. Are you really willing to pass up a year making $250,000 just to go to a different medical school? The opportunity cost is huge.
 
buffywannabe said:
This happened to one of my friends. I think he has reapplied 3 times since then
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Happened to one of my friends too. He got an acceptance and decided the school was not "good enough" for him. He'd be an MS4 this year had he gone. Instead he is STILL stuck in a crappy research job, and based on his zero interview invites this year I'd say he's pretty much up a creek. So now he has to decide: Does he want to start a PhD program next year (when he could have been starting residency) or does he want to go and start an exciting $30,000 a year job as a bench chemist? Big, big, big, big, big mistake. Don't do it.
 
FuturePittMed said:
Generally, if you are granted a deferment you sign an agreement stating that you will not apply to other schools during the year of deferment. Also, while a few schools will automatically grant deferments if requested prior to a certain date, most require that a committee actually approve your request and you need a good reason such as illness, an unusual educational opportunity, etc. "I want to defer to try to get into a better school" isn't going to go over well.
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Way off topic - Beautiful Grey!!!


On topic - BAD IDEA
 
Lol..

Declining an acceptance (unless it's a DO one) is like shooting yourself in the foot. Besides that, it's putting you back $200,000-400,000 for that one lost year. And why? So you can try to get in to a different MD grating, US based institution?
 
I'm sure it's been said, but

Why would you apply to school you don't want to attend?
 
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