A lot of the talk so far has to do with debate over traffic rules being a hard and fast rule or not. The conclusion I’ve reached from verbiage on most school timelines & the AAMC’s site is it isn’t.
My questions are more about PTE & CTE, rather than traffic rules. Don’t mean to be too brash. Just tryna find clarity with those specific questions I had earlier
Start here if you haven't already (if you have, this is for everyone else who comes across this thread).
The AMCAS® Choose Your Medical School Tool helps applicants communicate their intentions about which medical schools they plan to attend.
students-residents.aamc.org
Couple things:
- I thought PTE was completely optional. If that's true, what's up with the PTE deadline?
- Correct me if I'm wrong but the PTE deadline has no barring on how many schools we need to narrow down to.
- And to tag along with #2, is there ever a point that we need to narrow down to anything more than 1 school? As in, if there's any requirement to narrow down offers, it'd be to narrow it down to 1 offer?
- The CTE deadline is the only deadline that's relevant for narrowing down to 1 offer, correct? So essentially, if I went by the earliest CTE deadline from my offers & narrowed down to 1 offer by then, I'm good, right?
The following is based on experience and not specific meant to be representative of actions or policies from admissions committees in general.
1. I don't know what you mean by a PTE deadline. One can begin to select PTE beginning February 19. You can begin to select CTE as well as PTE beginning April 30.
2. The website describes the intention of PTE on specific dates.
Plan to Enroll – prior to April 30*
Plan to Enroll: I have preliminarily selected this medical school as the one I plan to attend in accordance with Protocol 9 of the Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants.
Beginning April 30th, medical schools can see which of their accepted applicants have selected "Plan to Enroll" at their institution. I understand that I can continue to interview, hold my current acceptance offers and receive additional acceptance offers, and remain on any waitlist at any other medical schools to which I applied.
Plan to Enroll – beginning April 30*
Plan to Enroll: I have selected this medical school as the one I plan to attend in accordance with Protocol 9 of the Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants. By selecting "Plan to Enroll," I am communicating to all schools at which I hold an acceptance that I have a made a choice about the school at which I plan to enroll, and that I have withdrawn from my other acceptances, and hold only one acceptance. I understand that it is my responsibility to communicate with the other medical schools directly and to follow their school-specific processes to withdraw my application(s). I understand that I can continue to interview, remain on any waitlist, and receive additional acceptance offers. Beginning April 30th, medical schools can see which applicants have selected “Plan to Enroll” at their institution.
A
summary table is included that makes a suggestion to applicants that beginning April 15, applicants should narrow their offers down to three.
I suppose if there is any "deadline", it is to make sure you declare PTE to all the schools where you have received offers by April 30. but for the orderliness of the process, you should have no more than three PTEs by April 15 and one PTE by April 30.
3. After April 30, applicants are advised to use CTE at the direction of schools where they intend to enroll, usually by 3 weeks before matriculation/orientation. Medical schools begin to have access to more detailed reports that identify candidates in their entering class and their own waitlists who have indicated PTE or CTE (their own program vs. other AMCAS schools). Admissions offices will begin to send letters to those applicants not observed to comply according to these reports.
4. In general, CTE is the decision that really matters and should only be done when you have committed to one program where you will be attending. It requires you to withdraw from any waitlists and other pending offers through direct communication.
Now to the situation at hand regarding financial aid: everyone knows there's a problem with it. We have seen no signals from the AAMC Committee on Admissions that CYMS deadlines will change. We have heard admissions offices will be sympathetic as they can be with the situation, but no one is delaying orientation because of FAFSA issues. Basically, the ball is in your court to make the best informed decision you can within the timelines the schools expect you to adhere to.
I'm certain all admissions teams have chatted about what they will do or complain about seeing lots of applicants delay actions until they see financial aid packages. For many, the tersely worded emails are ready to go on May 1 or 2. Unless you have already been given a significant tuition/COA scholarship, don't expect one to just land on your lap between now and April 30. The clock is running, and you need to decide what you are going to do.
