deferment denied -- now what?

[shoal]

You have a very unrealistic view of medical school if you think that you will not have any chance to live on your own or enjoy physical activities, outdoor recreation, etc for 10 years! Medical School has built in vacations including the entire summer after first year, some time in late December/early January and usually a week or so in the Spring. There are also vacation times built into clinical years and residency. You need that time off to "refresh". Depending on where you go to school (is that the issue? you don't like the school that admitted you?) you can bike after classes and on weekends, ski or hike on weekends (provided that you spend some time studying each week to keep up with the workload).

Right, I understand that there is time off after first year. And just like undergrad, there are weekends and evenings. I do understand there is vacation time. But the question posed here, without $$$ how do you go skiing, how do you do these things that are entertaining. The roughly $1000 / mo allocated to living costs will be stretched very fine. At this school, I would be located in a urban setting, that does not lend itself to biking or hiking or skiing.

But your point is well taken. Where I am located now, I can go 5 minutes and I am in the mountains where I can do all of the above.


As for the school, I wasn't exactly impressed with the quality of the facilities, the attitudes of the admissions office, or the attitude of the physician I interviewed with. However, none of these alone or together would deter me from going to medical school. Other posters have similar sentiments as myself about this school.

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[Touchdown]

I know hindsight is 20/20 but If you were not impressed with the school after the interview and could not see yourself attending there you should have withdrawn post interview (after all 1/2 the point of going is for you to interview the school.)

 

[yellowpersuazio]

Since no one has commented on this thus far...

Interviewing in November and hearing back by the end of January is not a horrible turn-around time. This is the peak of the decision/interview period, so of course it'll take longer than expected. You, however, chose to find a job and accepted the position before you even heard back from the interview. It's ludicrous to think "oh...well I haven't heard by January, so I must be on the waitlist." Even if you were on the waitlist, why would you accept the job offer? Did you not plan on attending if put on the waitlist and were somehow granted an acceptance sometime in the summer?

As other people have stated, not all schools consider deferments, and if they do, it is for special circumstances including medical/family/foreign aid situations. You're just working for a year in a biotech company. Although you may feel that working in such a company will provide invaluable experience, having worked in a biotech company myself, I can tell you that it had nothing to do with patient care. So you may create a few patents and learn how machines work...it's going to be pretty inconsequential to the job you will have as a physician, unless of course you plan to go into the area of biotechnology where money takes priority over patients.

You seem to have already made up your mind. Take the year off and reapply, but don't think that the school will give you any more consideration since you blew them off this time around.

 

[shoal]

I'm sure the quality of education and graduates from this school are more than adaquate if not exceptional. The short period during an interview day is no way to judge a school, however it does provide a feel. The facilities is the most obvious thing that can be seen and evaluated from an interview day from my perspective. And the facilities have little to do with the quality of the education and happiness that will be recieved. Therefore, I am hard pressed to make such a decision solely on my opinion generated due to a tour or speaking with admissions -- both of which in the real world make little difference.

 

[shoal]

Since no one has commented on this thus far...

Interviewing in November and hearing back by the end of January is not a horrible turn-around time. This is the peak of the decision/interview period, so of course it'll take longer than expected. You, however, chose to find a job and accepted the position before you even heard back from the interview. It's ludicrous to think "oh...well I haven't heard by January, so I must be on the waitlist." Even if you were on the waitlist, why would you accept the job offer? Did you not plan on attending if put on the waitlist and were somehow granted an acceptance sometime in the summer?

As other people have stated, not all schools consider deferments, and if they do, it is for special circumstances including medical/family/foreign aid situations. You're just working for a year in a biotech company. Although you may feel that working in such a company will provide invaluable experience, having worked in a biotech company myself, I can tell you that it had nothing to do with patient care. So you may create a few patents and learn how machines work...it's going to be pretty inconsequential to the job you will have as a physician, unless of course you plan to go into the area of biotechnology where money takes priority over patients.

You seem to have already made up your mind. Take the year off and reapply, but don't think that the school will give you any more consideration since you blew them off this time around.

I'm just being the devils advocate for my own sake. I want to see what types of arguements people can make towards or against taking the position. I am at the same time stating everything that has crossed my mind without reservation. The school stated 6-8 weeks. I started my position after 8 weeks. As well, the tour guides stated 2-3 weeks. All the information posted on SDN stated the same thing. I had two job offers, both biotech, in R&D and I chose the out of state job due to the possibility of learning new things and ability to strengthen my application with a new skillset. It was a mistake obviously, but at the time I was 90% sure I was waitlisted at best. So strengthening and increasing my experiences seemed to be the best thing I could do to improve my chances at achieving a spot in subsquent application years.

This arguement and information is irrelevant right now. What has happened has happened. There is no way to go back and I'm just trying to make the right decision.

 

[yellowpersuazio]

I'm not sure if you realize this, but hearing back in January is relatively early. Taking a job before even hearing a decision, waitlist or not, and signing a contract was not a smart choice. Again, I don't think working in biotech companies is all that positive for adcoms. They run for profit and churn out products. You won't really be helping people, you'll just be lining the pockets of stock shareholders. If you really wanted to do something positive for your application, you should check out research labs in universities which conduct experiments on the money from government grants.

 

[Orth2006]

To the OP

First off - Congrats on your acceptance!!

Your reasons for wanting to defer are obviously important to you. The medical school however did not consider them important enough to grant you the deferment.

Given how difficult it is to get into med school, your gonna have to come up with a better reason than the fact that you are missing an opportunity at a really good job. I am computer engineer and have a pretty good job - I was asked why I wanted to become a doctor and leave such a good profession at one of my interviews. The whole admission process is in a nut shell about convincing the adcoms that you are commited to pursuing a career in medicine.
Unless your reasons have to do with circumstances out of your control (victim of a major hurricane, earthquake, death in family and therefore you become the breadwinner etc) then its goona be hard to get a deferment.

What if you won a lottery worth $50,000,000 will you still want to be a doctor? If you cannot honestly say yes, then perhaps its time to rethink your goals.

While it is still possible to re-apply, why take the chance. There are people with great stats and experience who for what ever reason do not get in each year. What if you got fired from your job? What if you don't get in at all if you re-applied? I suspect these things have crossed your mind.

Ultimately the decision will be yours so good luck in what ever you decide.

Cheers

 

[Touchdown]

The short period during an interview day is no way to judge a school, however it does provide a feel. The facilities is the most obvious thing that can be seen and evaluated from an interview day from my perspective. And the facilities have little to do with the quality of the education and happiness that will be recieved. Therefore, I am hard pressed to make such a decision solely on my opinion generated due to a tour or speaking with admissions -- both of which in the real world make little difference.

I cant say I disagree with you, but the fact is thats how we all decide, we first research the school before applying, and if we are interviewed then we visit. Based on that limited exposure we are supposed to choose a school (if we are lucky to get into more then one.) What makes your situation more unique and what else would you have done to find out more about the school? I guess its just hard for me to understand because Ive allways been a quick decision maker when it comes to schools (I knew my first choice for college when I was in 8th grade, despite the fact no one from my family had ever gone there) and Im just trying to get some insight.