Finding out about why you didn't get in to X school

[letsgo12]

Well, hopefully now that most of know where and what we're doing next year I am sure we are curious why we did not get into those med schools that we definitely thought we would get accepted. Tell me that I am not the only one that has this burning desire to know what the adcoms thought was reason enough for non-acceptance , not to mention those schools that didn't even give us an interview or schools that we thought we already had one foot in. i am not talking about ivy league schools or anything crazy. i am talking about one of your own state schools not even giving you an interview . my question is if anyone has been successful in finding out this information. can it be done. will they really tell you their major reason(s) for non-acceptance/waitlist/reject. how would someone go about doing this. i really want to know eventhough i got accepted somewhere. are the schools selective to which type of students they tell and only in certain cases (depends on the reason)??? i really want to know and i am sure many of you out there also do !!!!!!!!!

thanks for your help.

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[teh-t]

set up an appointment with the respective admission deans

 

[caique]

I called several different schools and politely asked if I could find out why I did not get an interview, what the weaknesses were in my application, etc. I told them I was thinking about applying again, and I would like to improve my application for the upcoming year. Not a single school would help me out, saying that there were too many applicants, and it would be impossible to do an application review for everyone who asked. It made me pretty angry, considering the amount of money those secondaries cost... I wish they would be just a BIT more helpful, but a lot of schools simply don't want to take the effort to help you out...

 

[brynn7]

I called several different schools and politely asked if I could find out why I did not get an interview, what the weaknesses were in my application, etc. I told them I was thinking about applying again, and I would like to improve my application for the upcoming year. Not a single school would help me out, saying that there were too many applicants, and it would be impossible to do an application review for everyone who asked. It made me pretty angry, considering the amount of money those secondaries cost... I wish they would be just a BIT more helpful, but a lot of schools simply don't want to take the effort to help you out...

that is a really good point... how much money did we spend on each of these stupid schools??? we took the time to not only fill out the amcas and write that personal statement but we also submitted essays on secondaries for individual schools and gave them MORE money. dont lots of them have point systems that they use to consolidate all your information? why dont they just tell us our scores?? we are used to being judged like that anyway.

 

[deleted50541]

I called several different schools and politely asked if I could find out why I did not get an interview, what the weaknesses were in my application, etc. I told them I was thinking about applying again, and I would like to improve my application for the upcoming year. Not a single school would help me out...

I received the same run-around too. About a week after my final hopes were dashed, I started making inquiries. Nobody would give me a straight answer and several admissions offices outright refused to forward my concerns to someone higher up. With my patience worn thin by the whole process, I did not pursue the matter much further as I had to plan for the coming year.

 

[sakura181]

The only school I've ever heard of who gives a post-rejection explanation is the University of Washington. You can make appointments with the dean of admissions if you're waitlisted and/or rejected and ask about how you can improve for re-application the next cycle. But I agree, you really would think that with the hundreds of dollars spent on applications, med schools would at least have the courtesy to grant you 5 minutes of their time to tell you why they rejected you.

 

[deuist]

I know that Wake Forest and the University of Florida will also talk to students about their application. The best time to approach a university about your application is during the summer, when things aren't nearly as hactic as they are during the rest of the year.

 

[synapse]

U of Iowa Carver does too. I called them after I got rejected just because I was curious. I didn't really care about Iowa. She felt bad for me that I got rejected and she said, "I know you're disappointed..." etc... and I was really indifferent. lol. I was just curious what they thought of my app. She was very nice.

(My rejection letter specifically said to call a certain number if I wanted to know exactly why I was rejected, etc.)

 

[freaker]

Ughh... I spoke to the folks at Vanderbilt, and I really got the run around. I finally got one woman to tell me that my MCAT was a little low. Hmmm, the only problem with this explanation is that it was above their average.

I'm in agreement that it might be best to hold off on this until June or July.

Still, it's a bit irrirtating that they drag you along all this time, collect your money, and then can't give another 2 minutes of their time.

 

[synapse]

Ughh... I spoke to the folks at Vanderbilt, and I really got the run around. I finally got one woman to tell me that my MCAT was a little low. Hmmm, the only problem with this explanation is that it was above their average.

I'm in agreement that it might be best to hold off on this until June or July.

Still, it's a bit irrirtating that they drag you along all this time, collect your money, and then can't give another 2 minutes of their time.

WHATTTTTT?!?! Since when was a 35 low?!

 

[brynn7]

They rejected you.

Why would they help you out now? They already told you that you are unwanted.

Move on.

what is wrong with you???? why are you here??? you are in your 2nd year of medical school? if you arent being helpful (which you arent) and you just want to insult people (which you are) i feel sorry for you. go study or make some friends. despite the fact that you "got in" and we are all "rejected" you obviously are still lacking something.

 

[Peterock]

UNC does.

ECU sort of does... of course, I was grotesquely lied to and I would really like my primary and secondary fees back.


I kind of assumed every school gave "exit interviews", guess not.

 

[brynn7]

Reality Check:

Med schools aren't going to tell you why you are rejected. They aren't obligated to anyway.

You can insult me all you want, but it is simply the truth.

seriously, why are you here insulting pre-meds trying to get into school? you can be condescending to us all you want but you are still a medical student insulting pre-meds on a pre-allo forum.
reality check: you should find something better to do.

 

[coincidental]

what is wrong with you???? why are you here??? you are in your 2nd year of medical school? if you arent being helpful (which you arent) and you just want to insult people (which you are) i feel sorry for you. go study or make some friends. despite the fact that you "got in" and we are all "rejected" you obviously are still lacking something.

wow. and here I thought one of the strengths of SDN was the presence of experienced people willing to share their knowledge about the admissions process.

The comments weren't terribly polite, but this is a free message board. I think a reasonable person would expect this kind of thing on the internet. Of course, your reply doesn't really lend confidence to that "reasonable person" theory.

 

[criminallyinane]

seriously, why are you here insulting pre-meds trying to get into school? you can be condescending to us all you want but you are still a medical student insulting pre-meds on a pre-allo forum.
reality check: you should find something better to do.

Oh, ignore him. Everyone else does He posts these mean things and then erases them because he's cowardly. It's stupid.

Anyway, there ARE some schools that are not poopheads and will tell you how to strengthen your app. Although some will be stupid about it and won't help you, keep going down your list of schools and just keep trying to find the ones that WILL help. And also, you can try to talk to people at the schools you are going to apply to this year, whether you applied last year or not, to get info from them on how they see your application and how to strengthen it. Good luck!!!

 

[brynn7]

wow. and here I thought one of the strengths of SDN was the presence of experienced people willing to share their knowledge about the admissions process.

The comments weren't terribly polite, but this is a free message board. I think a reasonable person would expect this kind of thing on the internet. Of course, your reply doesn't really lend confidence to that "reasonable person" theory.

oh this is not the only thread that i have been dealing with. he has been making rude comments on others too. dont worry this thread is not what made me mad.

 

[brynn7]

Oh, ignore him. Everyone else does He posts these mean things and then erases them because he's cowardly. It's stupid.

Anyway, there ARE some schools that are not poopheads and will tell you how to strengthen your app. Although some will be stupid about it and won't help you, keep going down your list of schools and just keep trying to find the ones that WILL help. And also, you can try to talk to people at the schools you are going to apply to this year, whether you applied last year or not, to get info from them on how they see your application and how to strengthen it. Good luck!!!

thanks for the kind words.

 

[coincidental]

oh this is not the only thread that i have been dealing with. he has been making rude comments on others too. dont worry this thread is not what made me mad.

ahh, okay. I don't follow individual posters very closely. I usually just ignore these things, this board attracts more trolls than any other I visit (a short list). It's not really worth your time to reply to these people. So, yeah, as mentioned above, just ignore them.

 

[QofQuimica]

I have found that the state schools in particular are very helpful to applicants trying to strengthen their applications. I went for pre-application interviews in person at my state schools, and had another one by phone from another school out-of-state (U. Michigan). They all were very nice about giving me advice on how to strengthen my application.

My suggestion is that you make an appointment with the admissions director or dean of all of your state schools, and bring print-outs of your transcripts and MCAT scores with you. Also bring a copy of your last year's AMCAS app if you've applied before. Ask the person to look over all of your material, tell you what s/he thinks are the weakest places in your app, and what specifically you should do over the next year to compensate for them (more volunteering, re-take a class or the MCAT, whatever). And then, whatever that person tells you to do to improve your app, do it. Because when you reapply, you will need to tell them what you have done to strengthen your app since last year, and this way, you will be able to tell them that X and Y on my app were weak last year, and I've done A and B to improve that.