Early Decision Program?

[kdburton]

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I was reading about the Early Decision Programs and I was curious if anyone has applied through these programs and whether or not they were beneficial? It sounds like you can usually be considered in a school's regular applicant pool if you aren't accepted through the EDP (although your chances seem like they would be worse), but does through and EDP - essentially saying you will apply only to a certain school and accept their offer if you get one - affect your chances at other schools? Will your applications at other schools be too late if you decide to apply through an EDP and get rejected close to the Oct. 1 deadline? any advice would be great because I'm considering applying through the EDP at one of my prospective schools.

 

[microgin]

I was reading about the Early Decision Programs and I was curious if anyone has applied through these programs and whether or not they were beneficial? It sounds like you can usually be considered in a school's regular applicant pool if you aren't accepted through the EDP (although your chances seem like they would be worse), but does through and EDP - essentially saying you will apply only to a certain school and accept their offer if you get one - affect your chances at other schools? Will your applications at other schools be too late if you decide to apply through an EDP and get rejected close to the Oct. 1 deadline? any advice would be great because I'm considering applying through the EDP at one of my prospective schools.

I'd tell you to do a search on this topic, because I gave the schpeal I'm going to give already in response to another post, but since the search feature has been disabled, that's impossible for you to do. To the mods - bring back the search function!!!

Anyhow, from my personal perspective, I would strongly advise against applying anywhere via EDP. I applied to my state school via EDP this year. I was interviewed along with six other candidates over the summer, and all the vibes I was getting seemed positive. In years past this school has accepted anywhere from 3-5 applicants via EDP, so I thought the odds were pretty good! Found out right around the deadline that I was not accepted via EDP - from talking to the Dean, it turns out that no one from the EDP group was accepted this year. There is no AAMC mandate stating that just because a school has an EDP program that they have to accept anyone via it.

You are correct in saying that my application will now be considered in the regular applicant pool. However, it will not be reviewed again until sometime between Jan-Mar '06. This school has rolling admissions, so by that time, the class will be filled, and the best I could hope for is a high enough waitlist placement.

As far being "late" to apply elsewhere, I personally think that applying via EDP is far worse from an application timeline schedule than taking the August MCAT. Realize that most people taking the August MCAT have already designated their schools, received and submitted their secondaries and supporting material, and are simply waiting for their scores to be released in order for their apps to be complete. When you're released from the EDP program, the school to which you applied is the only one that is designated on your AMCAS app. You need to go back into your AMCAS app, add all of the schools you now wish to apply to, wait for them to send the secondaries, complete all your secondaries, and get all of your supplemental materials to them. Unless you're really good in a crunch situation, it can very quickly become a nightmare.

You didn't mention your stats at all, but if you're an "average" applicant, my advice would be to apply regular decision to as many schools as possible, and get your applications submitted as early as possible (over the summer). If you have superstar stats and have your heart set on a particular school for some reason, do yourself a favor and talk to someone in admissions at the school to see if they advise EDP before you take the plunge.

 

[odrade1]

I was reading about the Early Decision Programs and I was curious if anyone has applied through these programs and whether or not they were beneficial? It sounds like you can usually be considered in a school's regular applicant pool if you aren't accepted through the EDP (although your chances seem like they would be worse), but does through and EDP - essentially saying you will apply only to a certain school and accept their offer if you get one - affect your chances at other schools? Will your applications at other schools be too late if you decide to apply through an EDP and get rejected close to the Oct. 1 deadline? any advice would be great because I'm considering applying through the EDP at one of my prospective schools.

kdburton,
I applied to UASOM (Alabama-Birmingham) through EDP this year, and had a wonderful experience. If you are applying to many schools, making one of your applications EDP should not affect the other schools judgements of you, since you are only bound to accept that school through the end of the EDP process. You will know (for EDP purposes) whether you get in or not very soon. Most schools will notify you of their decision (to accept you or to put you in the regular applicant pool) before the November deadline for AMCAS. If your EDP school turns you down, you usually end up in the regular applicant pool (check with your school to make sure this is also their policy.) At that point, you can accept offers from other schools, even if your original EDP school accepts you later. Your contract is only for the duration of the Early decision making process, which is over before November. In my case, my AMCAS was submitted in July, My secondary was sent to me almost immediately; after 4 weeks, I submitted my secondary. A few days later I had an interview for the end of September. They sent out acceptance emails the next day! The whole process was very fast, and very surreal. However, now I know where I am going, and my friends are stuck not knowing if they will be at UASOM or not. Many people won't know until spring or early summer. Also, it was fun being the first applicants to interview for the year. All the faculty and students at the med school knew that our group were the EDP applicants, and everyone treated us really well, and most offered us encouragement. (Apparently the EDP applicants are usually accepted. We kept hearing this from random teachers and med students at the school. They ended up being correct: I heard from my advisor that 100% of the 20 EDP interviewees were accepted.) EDP saved me time and money (I only applied to one school, since this is the only school I wanted to go to). I think I would need stomach surgery and some anti-anxiety medicine if that were the case. I enthusiastically reccomend EDP to anyone, with the following condtitions:
*You are at least as strong as the school's average matriculant.
*You know that you will be happy at the school you designate as EDP.
*You aren't worried about scholarships (once you EDP, an unscrupulous scholarship board knows that they don't have to offer you any financial incentives to attend their school.)

Good luck on your interviews, and in your future career!
-Richard

 

[dsherida]

My advice is to actually call the Director of Admissions at the school you are thinking about applying EDP to. They will be honest and let you know if you are a strong candidate for EDP or not. With so much riding on it, I would do it no other way because you are right that your app. will fall later in the cycle if you don't get in Early Decision. I applied EDP after speaking with the director of admissions and got in! It's really nice knowing where I am going and that I didn't have to spend an arm and leg on apps. Best of Luck.
Just a heads up to one of the above comments is that you can't apply to other schools until you have an answer from the EDP school. So you can't actually apply to a bunch of schools and then designate one EDP. You can only apply to ONE school total initially. Good luck in the process!

 

[MattD]

kdburton,
I applied to UASOM (Alabama-Birmingham) through EDP this year, and had a wonderful experience.

Hey Richard, I must have met you there, which one were you? Are you as excited about starting this Fall as I am? 🙂

I just want to second the advice about having an informal chat with the admissions director at the school you're thinking about EDP'ing before actually doing so. They should be happy to let you know what your chances are and guide you in the right direction. I don't know how other schools would view the fact that you applied EDP elsewhere, but I know at UAB (and I'd bet at other places as well) if you meet their qualifications to even apply EDP, and you're willing to make that commitment to them, they really want you and the interview is basically a chance for you to weed yourself out! 🙂 I sure hope that they're not stingy with the scholarships for us though, I'd really like to get one of those......

 

[odrade1]

Hey Richard, I must have met you there, which one were you? Are you as excited about starting this Fall as I am? 🙂

I just want to second the advice about having an informal chat with the admissions director at the school you're thinking about EDP'ing before actually doing so. They should be happy to let you know what your chances are and guide you in the right direction. I don't know how other schools would view the fact that you applied EDP elsewhere, but I know at UAB (and I'd bet at other places as well) if you meet their qualifications to even apply EDP, and you're willing to make that commitment to them, they really want you and the interview is basically a chance for you to weed yourself out! 🙂 I sure hope that they're not stingy with the scholarships for us though, I'd really like to get one of those......

Which one were you? I was the white guy in the dark suit. That should narrow it down a bit...there were 18 people fitting that description, if I remember correctly.
My real name is Richard Barrett. I am sometimes reffered to around campus as the SI guy, since I work for that department and we work with most of the premeds at some point or another. I was a non-trad student (29) who graduated from UAB 3 years ago (philosophy and psychology). Tall; short, dark hair; 184 lbs. Were you the other guy who knew Dr Pence? I tried to place all the UAB folks while I was at the interview. I only recognized two of them, however.
Yeah, I'm pretty d#mn excited. Actually, not being able to start right now is killing me. I haven't had a class in a while & I miss being in school, even though I know that next year will be pretty rough. Still, July can't come fast enough...
I am looking forward to next year quite a bit. One of the things I was worried about the most was that I wouldn't care for my classmates very much. However, everyone I met during the interview was either nice or nice enough, and the few people I know who will be going to UASOM are all good people, both as students and as humans. I think it will be a good class. I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the class this summer.
How are you handling the waiting? Are you finished with classes at this point, or still wrapping things up?

 

[MattD]

Which one were you? I was the white guy in the dark suit. That should narrow it down a bit...there were 18 people fitting that description, if I remember correctly.
My real name is Richard Barrett. I am sometimes reffered to around campus as the SI guy, since I work for that department and we work with most of the premeds at some point or another. I was a non-trad student (29) who graduated from UAB 3 years ago (philosophy and psychology). Tall; short, dark hair; 184 lbs. Were you the other guy who knew Dr Pence? I tried to place all the UAB folks while I was at the interview. I only recognized two of them, however.
Yeah, I'm pretty d#mn excited. Actually, not being able to start right now is killing me. I haven't had a class in a while & I miss being in school, even though I know that next year will be pretty rough. Still, July can't come fast enough...
I am looking forward to next year quite a bit. One of the things I was worried about the most was that I wouldn't care for my classmates very much. However, everyone I met during the interview was either nice or nice enough, and the few people I know who will be going to UASOM are all good people, both as students and as humans. I think it will be a good class. I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the class this summer.
How are you handling the waiting? Are you finished with classes at this point, or still wrapping things up?

Yeah, I'm not from UAB, I'm about 40 minutes down 20W/59S 🙂 I was also the white guy in a dark suit, funny isn't it how that works? Glasses, bout 5'11 180lb. It did seem like everybody was pretty cool, I'm looking forward to meeting everyone. Which interviewers did you have?

I'm still wrapping things up, I graduate in May, but I have an enormous case of senioritis at this point. I'm just ready to move on and get started, ya know? But, keeping busy and plugging away 🙂

 

[odrade1]

Yeah, I'm not from UAB, I'm about 40 minutes down 20W/59S 🙂 I was also the white guy in a dark suit, funny isn't it how that works? Glasses, bout 5'11 180lb. It did seem like everybody was pretty cool, I'm looking forward to meeting everyone. Which interviewers did you have?

I'm still wrapping things up, I graduate in May, but I have an enormous case of senioritis at this point. I'm just ready to move on and get started, ya know? But, keeping busy and plugging away 🙂

I had Suzanne Bergmann, Asst. proffessor, internal medicine/nephrology.
Professor Ron Acton, Microbiology & immunology
Dr Brian Perry (private practitioner)

All of the interviewers were really nice, and very professional. I was expecting a combatitive/adversarial environment, but that was really not the case for any of my interviews at UAB. However, one of them started out a little intense, when immediately after pleasantries were exchanged, the interviewer started by asking questions about the weakest spot on my application. That interview ended well, (I think), since by the end of the discussion I felt that we were commisurating about problems in medicine that we were both passionate about. One of the interviews went spectacularly well, and I came away with helpful information and some good guidance.

The best things about the interview day (for me) were getting to know the other applicants, and the meetings with two of my interviewers, who were helpful in different ways. The worst thing about the interview day (besides the incredible stress!) was the hospital tour. If I didn't already volunteer at the hospital, I really wouldn't have been impressed much by the claims such as "this is one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in the country" or we have new this and new that. I felt like we really didn't get to see much. (Certainly no more than anyone off the street could have seen just wandering through the main halls of the 2nd floor!) Luckily, I have seen a lot of the hospital in more detail, and I can vouch that it really *is* nice. I just felt that the tour didn't do much justice to the program. (Keep in mind that I am separating the tour of the hospital from the tour of the school & the helpful 3rd years that showed us around.) If med schools want to recruit an applicant from other schools to their school, you have to give a more professional and insightful tour of the hospital. (Perhaps since we were all EDP, recruitment wasn't an issue, and we got the crappy tour?) I doubt this; most likely the tours just aren't well organized.

Who were your interviewers? Were you also dissapointed in the hospital tour?