early acceptance

[DISCOSTEW]

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I did a search, but couldn't really find what I was looking for. What is the approach if you get an early DO acceptance say early in the Fall, but MD interviews/acceptances won't happen till Spring. I know some DO schools have a very high deposit and say a 2 week deadline for acceptance. I know i my case if I take the DO acceptance and hold a seat, I wouldn't even be able to afford to get to the other interviews. Do you just bite the $$$ bullet?

 

[Longshanks]

Yes. You need to pay the deposit to hold your seat. You don't want to gamble and risk not having any seat at all if you don't receive MD acceptances or waitlists.

For most schools they follow the AOA guidelines, unless they tell you otherwise, those accepted before Nov. 15th have until Dec. 15th. You can potentially hear from MD schools by that time. After Dec. 15th, most DO schools will give you a month (or at least the more competitive ones do), and this decreases to two weeks sometime in January or February, if I remember correctly. The only school that wants your deposit within two weeks no matter when you are accepted is LECOM, but you can slow this down by not sending your DO LOR until some time after your interview.

Plenty of MD acceptances and decisions will be given out though late fall, before and through the holidays, so you may not even have this issue.

Good luck!

 

[Tapepsi]

Yes you need to pay the deposit and I agree with you 100% that it's ridiculous how high the fee is. I paid $1500 to LECOM b/c that was my only acceptance, only to get accepted by 2 M.D. schools less than a month later, each only costing a $100 fee.

Thankfully I received graduation money so I could pay it but still, it's really frustrating that it cost so much, (and now I can't use my graduation money on something I actually want!).

 

[lykyamy00]

you just have to suck it up and pay. i paid 2000 to hold my seat at nova southeastern from early nov up until i got accepted to evms early may. of course you dont get the money back but in the long run, its worth it to pay to 2000 to have the assurance that you never have to spend the money to apply again! at least that's how i'm justifying it lol.

 

[DISCOSTEW]

Thanks you guys, I reluctantly agree =). Just got to keep making money and save up till then. Thankfully I have some relatives that can help me with interview costs. I've offered to help re-paint their houses and other handy-man jobs for their support.

Crossing my fingers for Fall acceptances!

 

[FIREitUP]

you just have to suck it up and pay. i paid 2000 to hold my seat at nova southeastern from early nov up until i got accepted to evms early may. of course you dont get the money back but in the long run, its worth it to pay to 2000 to have the assurance that you never have to spend the money to apply again! at least that's how i'm justifying it lol.

Congrats on EVMS!! I was rooting for you!

 

[Ursa]

I did a search, but couldn't really find what I was looking for. What is the approach if you get an early DO acceptance say early in the Fall, but MD interviews/acceptances won't happen till Spring. I know some DO schools have a very high deposit and say a 2 week deadline for acceptance. I know i my case if I take the DO acceptance and hold a seat, I wouldn't even be able to afford to get to the other interviews. Do you just bite the $$$ bullet?

1) It's a waiting game.
2) Yes. "Would you pay X amount to hold a DO acceptance AND to travel to an MD interview?" The answer is yes.

 

[235009]

this is where strategy comes in ...depending on how strong of an applicant you are (basically how good your numbers are) and/or your state of residence you should decide whether your application is strong enough to delay or even forego applying DO so you don't end up paying enormous non-refundable deposits. Say you get into one DO school you aren't thrilled about right off the bat, put down a deposit then get into another DO school that's better and then you get into an MD school late in the cycle or off the waitlist ....you've just lost $4k right there.

So play it smart...if the numbers are there it might be smarter put in a June app to MD schools and hold off on DO schools until september or october if you haven't gotten any interviews.