Medical How should I handle plan to enroll?

[GoSpursGo]

A bit of background: I was accepted to school A a couple of months ago but am on the waitlist at 3 other schools, all of which I would attend over school A.

The AMCAS choose your school tool allows students to plan to enroll now, and commit to enroll starting on April 30th. My question is whether it is required to select "plan to enroll" by april 30th. I have seen conflicting information supporting both sides, although my guess is that this may school specific.

My worry is that with such a weird year that medical schools are more worried about yield than a regular cycle, and may view a "plan to enroll" at another school negatively. So ideally I would want to retain my acceptance at school A though the spring but not necessarily have to select PTE.

From School A's website, they have a CTE deadline of 3 weeks before orientation but no required date for PTE (on their website they mentioned that it "highly recommends (but does not require) accepted students utilize this [PTE] tool"

Thanks for the help!

I doubt that other schools can see that you "PTE" elsewhere, or have been accepted elsewhere at all. But if there is no requirement or incentive to use it, then I don't see why you should.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Wouldn't use it if you don't have to. Although you want to be courteous, you need to look out for your best interest as well.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thanks! This is what I am thinking too. I'll probably end up calling AMCAS to confirm that I can do it. Definitely agree that applicants need to look out for our best interest while still being courteous!

I mean, that would be the most accurate way of knowing.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Policies on CYMS are school specific following AAMC suggestions. You are encouraged to but not required to do PTE to help us plan how far down our WL we need to go. So while not required to declare, it helps us figure out how much hope there can be for waitlisted candidates. So in a sense, by not doing PTE, OTHER students at the schools where you are waitlisted may be blocking any insight that admissions officers have about your chance to get in.

And yes, I otherwise don't really pay attention to individual PTEs. Only CTEs are important to me. We do get a frequency count of who our competing schools are, but no names of accepted students.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hmm that is interesting. Definitely makes sense though. Is it your sense that others involved in the admissions process also feel similarly about PTE's (i.e. ignoring them when evaluating waitlisted applicants?).

I feel bad about potentially keeping school A in the dark but also want to maximize the chance of admission at schools I'm waitlisted at.

Every school has experience with CYMS and waitlist movement to know how valuable PTE is. Most schools i know don't pay much attention to LOIs.