Emailing Admissions to find out why?

[Kaiser Soze]

Hey everyone,

I recently applied to an early acceptance program, and after being nominated by my prehealth office, I was rejected by the medical school.

Do you think it would be a good idea to email admissions and ask for a reason why they rejected me? I plan on applying one year from now, so I figure if they provide some reasoning then maybe I could improve my app.

Thanks!

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[NickNaylor]

Ask if you want... I guess.

I would just let it go.

 

[icepeak]

i'd say calling would probably be the better avenue if you wanted to do this. make sure you let them know you're going to try on improving your app and that you're seriously interested in the school.

 

[Donald Juan]

You say you are applying next year, so were you applying with the plan of starting medical school without a bachelor's degree? Because if so, the chances of you getting in anywhere are microscopic even if you'll be a great candidate next year.

 

[LizzyM]

Did you apply to a program that takes some juniors from its undergrad campus and pretty much guarantees admission to the med school ~18 months down the road?

You could ask what you could do to improve but there may not be much to say if you need a personality transplant or the school is not a good fit with your interests.

 

[Kangaroo Paw]

I was actually in a similar situation myself after applying to an early acceptance program recently. I received an interview, but was ultimately rejected. I got over it pretty quickly (early acceptance is honestly a bonus for a lucky few), and a good many months after receiving my decision, I kind of spontaneously decided to email the admissions office to ask them how I could improve my application for next cycle, what went wrong, etc. I totally didn't even expect them to reply to my email (it was about six months after I had received my decision, after all), but I got a direct response from the Dean of Admissions, who offered to CALL me personally wow. We then had a phone conversation in which he explained to me what he thought of every single aspect of my application from my LORs to my essays, and even shared with me some of the commentaries I received from my interviews. He actually told me outright the subtle reason for why I was rejected, and told me EXACTLY what to do for my application for next cycle.

Conclusion from my long and unnecessary rant: it can't hurt as long as you phrase it respectfully. They might just say no, which is totally fine, or they might be baller and tell you everything about your application. Either way, you kind of can't lose. Good luck with your future med school stuff, hope that helped!

 

[Uisa]

Hey everyone,

I recently applied to an early acceptance program, and after being nominated by my prehealth office, I was rejected by the medical school.

Do you think it would be a good idea to email admissions and ask for a reason why they rejected me? I plan on applying one year from now, so I figure if they provide some reasoning then maybe I could improve my app.

Thanks!

Don't email admissions, call them and ask them for an exit interview (aka phone convo with the dean of admissions). If this school has this service, they will most definitely sit down with you and go over the lacking aspects of your applications. Medical schools also look favorably upon this because it shows initiative and it shows them you are serious about entering that particular institution. I would highly recommend doing this to fix out the kinks - the advice that one adcom will give is like a treasure chest of gold nuggets; if there is a flaw in your app chances are many other adcoms from different schools will likely find it unappealing as well.

 

[hownowmauvecow]

The only thing that I would add is that whatever you decide to do (call, email, carrier pigeon, etc.) be sure to be respectful and under no circumstances argue with anyone about why you did not get into their med school. One of my friends did this and found out very quickly that adcoms talk to other adcoms and he had some additional hurdles to jump over. Plus, if they answer your questions they are doing so as a courtesy not necessarily because they have to.

 

[Kangaroo Paw]

That's scary, what subtlety made them pass you over? And that dean is awesome!

Yeah it is a bit scary, but it's honestly how med school admissions works: they have so many awesome candidates that a minor insufficiency looks glaring, even though they loved everything else. In my case, they specifically really liked my GPA/academics, LORs, interviews, my passion for what I was pursuing outside of medicine, and one of my essays. However, my second essay was where I was supposed to convey what exactly I would do with my undergraduate education given acceptance to their program, and they said that my reasons were stated too vaguely and while they were convinced that I was passionate enough about them, they couldn't see exactly how I would implement that passion in the context of having more time in college to pursue it. That's about it, haha. So yeah, moral of the story: med school admissions is unpredictable, and emailing early acceptance adcoms post-rejection can actually be extremely helpful. What I got out of it was that I had to really focus on my essays and conveying an exact fit with the school's mission, rather than my previous focus on "elegance" of writing style, etc.

 

[235788]

Yeah it is a bit scary, but it's honestly how med school admissions works: they have so many awesome candidates that a minor insufficiency looks glaring, even though they loved everything else. In my case, they specifically really liked my GPA/academics, LORs, interviews, my passion for what I was pursuing outside of medicine, and one of my essays. However, my second essay was where I was supposed to convey what exactly I would do with my undergraduate education given acceptance to their program, and they said that my reasons were stated too vaguely and while they were convinced that I was passionate enough about them, they couldn't see exactly how I would implement that passion in the context of having more time in college to pursue it. That's about it, haha. So yeah, moral of the story: med school admissions is unpredictable, and emailing early acceptance adcoms post-rejection can actually be extremely helpful. What I got out of it was that I had to really focus on my essays and conveying an exact fit with the school's mission, rather than my previous focus on "elegance" of writing style, etc.

Ouch, rejected over a secondary essay?

 

[Kangaroo Paw]

Ouch, rejected over a secondary essay?

For serious. I was actually relieved as all heck, to be honest: I was worried that my rejection was because they didn't like my personality during the interview, or something that can't really be fixed. Getting rejected over one secondary essay is kind of harsh (especially given that they loved my other secondary essay), but it's reality. Now I know exactly what to work on, and what my strengths are! And I got myself a nice interview day experience before I apply through AMCAS. I see it as a win-win situation with the tiiiiiiny downside of having been rejected

 

[Beta Cell]

For serious. I was actually relieved as all heck, to be honest: I was worried that my rejection was because they didn't like my personality during the interview, or something that can't really be fixed. Getting rejected over one secondary essay is kind of harsh (especially given that they loved my other secondary essay), but it's reality. Now I know exactly what to work on, and what my strengths are! And I got myself a nice interview day experience before I apply through AMCAS. I see it as a win-win situation with the tiiiiiiny downside of having been rejected

Why didn't you ask why they wasted your time with an exercise in futility if your secondary essay was ultimately what kept you out? You said they liked your interview, academics, etc which leads me to believe there was no winning strategy for you here.

 

[mauberley]

Why didn't you ask why they wasted your time with an exercise in futility if your secondary essay was ultimately what kept you out? You said they liked your interview, academics, etc which leads me to believe there was no winning strategy for you here.

If Kangaroo Paw absolutely blew them away at the interview, they might have disregarded the nitpick on the secondary.

Remember, it's kind of a cumulative effect at each review stage. With few exceptions, an equal footing with other applicants is not implied if you receive an interview invitation.

 

[Kangaroo Paw]

If Kangaroo Paw absolutely blew them away at the interview, they might have disregarded the nitpick on the secondary.

Remember, it's kind of a cumulative effect at each review stage. With few exceptions, an equal footing with other applicants is not implied if you receive an interview invitation.

I'm probably just being thick, but I don't quite understand what you're saying here. Now that I think of it, I am curious as to why I even got the interview invite if my secondary was the part that was lacking. I definitely don't think I blew them away at the interview, but the comments they shared with me were really positive and encouraging.

What do you mean by the "equal footing"? I'm being dumb and not understanding it, haha.

Also, now that I've read a few comments, would it be possible that the nitpick on the secondary was not the actual reason for rejection, but rather something easily pinpointed in a short exit interview?

Sorry for being all kinds of annoying, just trying to make sense of things

 

[mauberley]

I'm probably just being thick, but I don't quite understand what you're saying here. Now that I think of it, I am curious as to why I even got the interview invite if my secondary was the part that was lacking. I definitely don't think I blew them away at the interview, but the comments they shared with me were really positive and encouraging.

What do you mean by the "equal footing"? I'm being dumb and not understanding it, haha.

Also, now that I've read a few comments, would it be possible that the nitpick on the secondary was not the actual reason for rejection, but rather something easily pinpointed in a short exit interview?

Sorry for being all kinds of annoying, just trying to make sense of things

Equal footing at interview == only the interview factors into the decision. Your primary and secondary applications are considered "equal" to others who have also been offered interviews. This is, in my understanding, rarely the case.

Your secondary may have been "good enough" that they want to meet you in person, but when your entire application goes head-to-head with others, your secondary may have been the weak spot.

 

[NickNaylor]

Yeah it is a bit scary, but it's honestly how med school admissions works: they have so many awesome candidates that a minor insufficiency looks glaring, even though they loved everything else. In my case, they specifically really liked my GPA/academics, LORs, interviews, my passion for what I was pursuing outside of medicine, and one of my essays. However, my second essay was where I was supposed to convey what exactly I would do with my undergraduate education given acceptance to their program, and they said that my reasons were stated too vaguely and while they were convinced that I was passionate enough about them, they couldn't see exactly how I would implement that passion in the context of having more time in college to pursue it. That's about it, haha. So yeah, moral of the story: med school admissions is unpredictable, and emailing early acceptance adcoms post-rejection can actually be extremely helpful. What I got out of it was that I had to really focus on my essays and conveying an exact fit with the school's mission, rather than my previous focus on "elegance" of writing style, etc.

Do you go to Vandy? This sounds very much like their early acceptance program...

 

[Kangaroo Paw]

Equal footing at interview == only the interview factors into the decision. Your primary and secondary applications are considered "equal" to others who have also been offered interviews. This is, in my understanding, rarely the case.

Your secondary may have been "good enough" that they want to meet you in person, but when your entire application goes head-to-head with others, your secondary may have been the weak spot.

Ohhhh I see what you meant now, that's exactly what I was thinking as well. Makes a lot of sense, since an interview helps put the entire application in perspective rather than substitutes it out.

@NickNaylor (shoutout to your awesome stickied thread by the way, good stuff): No, actually! Completely different program, I guess a lot of them have a penchant for picking nits