Do adcoms keep track of phone calls?

[verynice123]

I called a medical school to ask for specifics on how I should prepare for their interview. At the end of our call the guy on the phone asked for my name. I thought this was kind of odd, is there any reason he asked for my name? Do schools keep track of who calls them or something?

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[LizzyM]

It has never come up in any decision making meeting I've ever attended so I highly doubt it has any impact on your likelihood of being admitted. It may just be that the person answering the phone is asked to keep a log as a record of call volume and so forth. Granted, your name wouldn't be needed but it can also keep a staffer from from just making stuff up.

 

[verynice123]

It has never come up in any decision making meeting I've ever attended so I highly doubt it has any impact on your likelihood of being admitted. It may just be that the person answering the phone is asked to keep a log as a record of call volume and so forth. Granted, your name wouldn't be needed but it can also keep a staffer from from just making stuff up.

Thats interesting. What if someone called in and was very rude. Could this information be relayed to the adcom and then make an impact on their likelihood of being admitted?

Edit: should've clarified this is hypothetical, and not what actually happened lol

 

[Goro]

Thats interesting. What if someone called in and was very rude. Could this information be relayed to the adcom and then make an impact on their likelihood of being admitted?

Edit: should've clarified this is hypothetical, and not what actually happened lol

Yes. That would get on radar

 

[gyngyn]

What if someone called in and was very rude. Could this information be relayed to the adcom and then make an impact on their likelihood of being admitted?

Yes.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

First of all, etiquette. Did you introduce yourself, or did you just bomb your question to the admissions counselor? Your calls should reflect your professionalism. We have caller ID like your phones do. A good counselor should note your conversations, emails (in our portal or external), texts, or website visits in our application management system. (We've been doing that with your college applications too.) Every email we send you can be discovered if it gets bounced, or it's scanned to avoid usual spam filters (usually). We can see if you read them and how soon after delivery. We can get a sense of your engagement and how many times you have accessed the secondary application portal to finish your essays.

Do adcoms ask? They could. A record of engagement is a measure of interest in our programs, and it could factor in any decisions from interviews to offers to scholarships. We could have a record of bad or unprofessional language or behavior that could be brought up during reviews.

This is no different from how contemporary society collects metadata about you to target specific ads in your social media feeds. Except we may not be as sophisticated as those companies in getting your data. Or that you know.

 

[verynice123]

First of all, etiquette. Did you introduce yourself, or did you just bomb your question to the admissions counselor? Your calls should reflect your professionalism. We have caller ID like your phones do. A good counselor should note your conversations, emails (in our portal or external), texts, or website visits in our application management system. (We've been doing that with your college applications too.) Every email we send you can be discovered if it gets bounced, or it's scanned to avoid usual spam filters (usually). We can see if you read them and how soon after delivery. We can get a sense of your engagement and how many times you have accessed the secondary application portal to finish your essays.

Do adcoms ask? They could. A record of engagement is a measure of interest in our programs, and it could factor in any decisions from interviews to offers to scholarships. We could have a record of bad or unprofessional language or behavior that could be brought up during reviews.

This is no different from how contemporary society collects metadata about you to target specific ads in your social media feeds. Except we may not be as sophisticated as those companies in getting your data. Or that you know.

This sounds extremely excessive, especially for schools that receive upwards of 10,000 applications a year. Can't really understand why this would even be necessary.

 

[Moko]

Thats interesting. What if someone called in and was very rude. Could this information be relayed to the adcom and then make an impact on their likelihood of being admitted?

Absolutely. There was an applicant at my school a couple years ago who had a truly mind-boggling CV and gave an outstanding interview, and was seen (prior to our adcom meeting) as a shoe-in for admission. She received top marks from everyone pre-meeting. However, prior to our official vote (which for this applicant was a formality), the coordinator told us that the applicant was quite rude to some of the office staff. She went from being at the very top of our list to the very bottom. She was rejected post-II.

Manners matter, and thanks to her inability to suppress her antisocial tendencies for just 12 hours, our school dodged a bullet. I have no doubt though that she got into many other schools, so the application process definitely is not perfect. Just my thoughts.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

This sounds extremely excessive, especially for schools that receive upwards of 10,000 applications a year. Can't really understand why this would even be necessary.

You don't know how much it costs to run a sophisticated application management system. As I noted, undergrad admissions can do this with about the same volume of applications (and much more staff). It sounds excessive but it's expensive to run a medical school, and the accountants want us to be sure we are efficient in recruiting and application management in every possible way. This includes dodging bullets which -- if admitted -- may cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars of such a note were not made accurately.

By the way, advising notes at the undergrad level are often similarly kept in a student info system to help us track barriers to progress to degree in groups of students. Don't be rude to your prehealth office staff either.

This is why people get degrees in higher education.

 

[wysdoc]

This sounds extremely excessive, especially for schools that receive upwards of 10,000 applications a year. Can't really understand why this would even be necessary.

Oh I don’t think it’s excessive
Were you “very nice “ on the phone?
Calling for something time-sensitive and doing it politely is fine.
Calling repeatedly in a critical or complaining manner (or even worse, a parent doing this) is not.
Don’t you think the receptionist can recognize a voice or a caller ID for repeat callers?

 

[atriablack]

Honestly, I treat all phone calls to businesses and schools as potential avenues of character judgment—you never know who might be listening or how it might be brought up in conversations. It is so much easier to be polite and courteous. As long as you didn't stick out for being rude, don't worry about if they collect data/phone logs imo.

I worked in an admissions office (not medical school) and we recorded the names and phone numbers of all potential candidates. It was more so for data collection but I know there were times when rude candidates or super nice candidates were mentioned if they later came in for an interview.

 

[verynice123]

You don't know how much it costs to run a sophisticated application management system. As I noted, undergrad admissions can do this with about the same volume of applications (and much more staff). It sounds excessive but it's expensive to run a medical school, and the accountants want us to be sure we are efficient in recruiting and application management in every possible way. This includes dodging bullets which -- if admitted -- may cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars of such a note were not made accurately.

By the way, advising notes at the undergrad level are often similarly kept in a student info system to help us track barriers to progress to degree in groups of students. Don't be rude to your prehealth office staff either.

This is why people get degrees in higher education.

I was mainly talking about this being excessive in regards to using it to measure engagement/interest in a school. I can understand the need for a program to maintain some level of records to potentially screen out rude and unprofessional applicants, but I feel like if this is about getting a sense of an applicant's interest level, it's not entirely clear how tracking the minutiae of interactions could meaningfully contribute to doing so, and even impact an admission decision. And this level of monitoring could make applicants uncomfortable. What about those who are naturally more cautious about engaging frequently but are nevertheless extremely interested and qualified? Does the system penalize them by making them seem "disinterested?"

 

[atriablack]

I was mainly talking about this being excessive in regards to using it to measure engagement/interest in a school. I can understand the need for a program to maintain some level of records to potentially screen out rude and unprofessional applicants, but I feel like if this is about getting a sense of an applicant's interest level, it's not entirely clear how tracking the minutiae of interactions could meaningfully contribute to doing so, and even impact an admission decision. And this level of monitoring could make applicants uncomfortable. What about those who are naturally more cautious about engaging frequently but are nevertheless extremely interested and qualified? Does the system penalize them by making them seem "disinterested?"

I'm absolutely positive that a majority of applicants do not phone the office and therefore, there is no penalty. Nor do I believe any school is gauging interest of a specific applicant. Don't stress over it. Day to day phone calls are not a screening tool nor are they part of the admissions process.

Most businesses you call will note down your phone number and caller ID, this level of monitoring is pretty normal in today's day and age.

The job I mentioned? Yea that data was used more towards analyzing how well the admissions officers were engaging with the candidates and analyzing our admissions season. For example, August was slow with X amount of callers who had Y concerns, October had nearly double the number of callers and they were all concerned with Z issue, maybe we should shift staffing/attention to this area.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I was mainly talking about this being excessive in regards to using it to measure engagement/interest in a school. I can understand the need for a program to maintain some level of records to potentially screen out rude and unprofessional applicants, but I feel like if this is about getting a sense of an applicant's interest level, it's not entirely clear how tracking the minutiae of interactions could meaningfully contribute to doing so, and even impact an admission decision. And this level of monitoring could make applicants uncomfortable. What about those who are naturally more cautious about engaging frequently but are nevertheless extremely interested and qualified? Does the system penalize them by making them seem "disinterested?"

I'm not disagreeing. The data are very important to have, but it is how contemporary society measures engagement. I agree there are also other ways we could observe this level of engagement. But in today's society, it's like you going into the admissions process with no email address of your own.

But interaction and engagement is the way our social media world monetize. This is how algorithms microtarget ads to you.

If you didn't make a call to the admissions office, it won't hurt you. Going to every recruitment event hosted on Zoom won't overcome a lousy application, but it can help place an applicant in a higher step towards an II. It totally depends on the admissions office and how we evaluate our recruitment.

But the monitoring is happening in every aspect of our lives. Biometrics unlock your phones. Tiktok monetize your data and evaluates your music and content. Your GenAI inquiries and Google searches are archived and analyzed. The memes on Facebook. I don't know what else I can tell you... it's everywhere anyway.

Undergraduate admissions offices are recruiting sophomores and sending personalized viewbooks to entice you to research their school. The things I wish I could do/have done...

These interactions make the difference in marketing research and can drive a huge million dollar launch in a product that appeals to specific demographics (like opening a new medical school!). It's incredible what those marketers can find out about making something viral...

But I'm digressing... look at how much pharmacy and podiatry schools spend on marketing and recruitment to fill their classes...

 

[wysdoc]

I was mainly talking about this being excessive in regards to using it to measure engagement/interest in a school. I can understand the need for a program to maintain some level of records to potentially screen out rude and unprofessional applicants, but I feel like if this is about getting a sense of an applicant's interest level, it's not entirely clear how tracking the minutiae of interactions could meaningfully contribute to doing so, and even impact an admission decision. And this level of monitoring could make applicants uncomfortable. What about those who are naturally more cautious about engaging frequently but are nevertheless extremely interested and qualified? Does the system penalize them by making them seem "disinterested?"

I realize that at the high school >>> college level "demonstration of interest" by calling, writing, and visiting is stressed very heavily at certain colleges.Their marketing management system can even keep track of recruiting emails from the college to the high school student, and make note of things like: Did they open the email? Did they click on any links in the email to explore the department they said they wanted to major in? Did they take the time to answer the cutesy 3 question quiz we embedded in the email? Did they come to a campus tour? (less prominent post-pandemic).

I see a definite difference in the medical school application system and it's something to learn about.
A school will make their preferences known, if you read their admissions FAQ page. Some say no updates after secondary submission, some say email an update any time.
Med schools don't give school tours to any/all applicants, but reserve their time, resources, and energy to offer visiting days to those who have made it past the interview phase.
I think the best course of action as an applicant to medical schools is to read the school's instructions and follow them, read each email from the school in its entirety so as not to miss deadlines, and save phone calls for time-sensitive things like: "My online interview is today and the log-in link you sent me is not working. Can you help me?"
I don't believe that medical schools track the number of calls to measure an applicant's interest level. As many of the experienced SDN advisors have said, "you show your interest by sending in your primary and secondary", after that it will be many months of waiting while they pore over those materials.