I was obviously wrong, but I was under the impression that if you were to accept offers of admission at a school that you applied to through PTCAS, no other schools could see that you had accepted an offer of admissions. Recently, I have accepted offers of admissions at 2 schools because I am having trouble deciding where to go. Anyway, last night I received an email from one school that I accepted at (sent in my $500 fee) that PTCAS informed them I had accepted another offer so they were encouraging me to unenroll so that they could go through people on the wait list. I was shocked. I had no idea PTCAS could do this, and I was also shocked that this school was so interested in me un enrolling. They told me that I must do so by this Monday....but I paid my money so I think I should be able to hold that seat! I called PTCAS and the first person I spoke to told me that PTCAS DOES NOT tell other schools. I told him my situation and he went to talk to his supervisor who informed him that yes, PTCAS can do that. Am I the only person that did not know this? I have also gotten a few rejections recently and I cant help but wonder if it is because they can see I accepted two offers. So sneaky............. I did see on PTCAS's website that starting in 2014 that they do this....I was totally unaware however......so interesting
In shock...
- Thread starter Kaitlyn11
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Wow...that's scarey. I have not been accepted anywhere yet (sigh), but I can't believe that happened to you. So sorry because I'm sure that's stressful. I didn't know that PTCAS was starting to inform other schools of acceptances. I knew that somewhere on their website they mentioned that in the future they would be doing that. Do you think that since 2014, the new year started, that now they will be doing that? Good thing you are giving other future candidates a heads up about this. I find it strange that the one school you sent the deposit to is trying to get you to unenroll.....
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I don't see anything wrong with that. I hope you realize that there are many students who are awaiting an opportunity for consideration or on a wait list. There is nothing wrong with opening a seat for another student. I hear being accepted and possibly having to relocate within a week sucks.
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Have you been holding both seats for an extended period of time? If you have not been holding the seats for an extended period of time, then in my opinion the school asking you to uneroll is not being very professional. I understand the need for them to fill their class and for the consideration of other students who are on wait lists, but it is still the beginning of February and probably no where near the start date for either of these programs. PT schools already have the advantage over students by requiring them to put down deposits to secure seats within a specified time frame. You should have the opportunity to put in deposits at the two schools to secure your seats if you choose to in order to give yourself adequate time to make an informed decision about where you ultimately want to attend.
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Wow I did not know this either!! I would hate to think that schools with later interview dates would see that you already have offers too. That just doesn't seem fair.
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Wow. I was accepted at one school, with the deposit deadline coming up in a few days. I'm going to pay to reserve my seat, but I have three other schools that I'm interviewing with over the next two weeks, will my deposit at the one school look badly on me at my interviews? Now I'm freaking out. This really isn't fair.
I see nothing wrong with that. That's how med school applications are. I'm sure there are those that place deposits at multiple schools and don't tell the school they aren't coming until the last min. Then those schools have to hurry and go through their waitlist to find an alternate to move, file for financial aid, get books, register, etc. all in a matter of days
I agree that it's not right to wait until the last minute to drop, but that is not the case here. It's the beginning of February! Many schools are still completing interviews, and while some programs start in the summer, the majority don't start for over 6 months. The spot was earned and paid for. I'm not sure how it can be viewed as fair or professional for a program to call and spring a deadline of 3 days on you. How are they even going to enforce that? I am surprised at PTCAS also. Whether or not they choose to operate the system that way is fine, but it should be clearly disclosed to the applicants. As it stands, they're going against the information on the website. Last time I checked spring started in March. Not the first or the last time a business has been less than honest, but still annoying!
Q: Does one program know whether I applied to or have been accepted by other programs in PTCAS?
A: Beginning in early spring 2014, any designated PTCAS program that offers you admission will know how many offers of admission you have received from and accepted at other PTCAS institutions. Programs will not know how many applications you have submitted, to which programs you have submitted them, or any other admissions decisions made by other PT programs at that time. After the completion of the 2013-14 admissions cycle in fall 2014, programs will be able to view the other programs designated by their applicants and the final admission decision reported by each competing institution in PTCAS.
Q: Does one program know whether I applied to or have been accepted by other programs in PTCAS?
A: Beginning in early spring 2014, any designated PTCAS program that offers you admission will know how many offers of admission you have received from and accepted at other PTCAS institutions. Programs will not know how many applications you have submitted, to which programs you have submitted them, or any other admissions decisions made by other PT programs at that time. After the completion of the 2013-14 admissions cycle in fall 2014, programs will be able to view the other programs designated by their applicants and the final admission decision reported by each competing institution in PTCAS.
I hate to say it but I don't think this is unfair. Here's why: PTCAS will only release that information to schools you have been ACCEPTED to. Schools can not reject you based on where you previously got in. Every applicant should have a pretty good ranking of the schools they have applied to . I can understand putting down multiple deposits in some circumstances, but there is never (edit: rarely) a reason to have more than one spot saved for any real length of time. If you put down a deposit for the first school that you are accepted to as a safety that's fine, but once you get offered additional acceptances, you should be able to make the decision as to which school you would rather attend. If you decide to put down another deposit to a school, that's fine, but then you should take your application out of the pool for the previous school.
Also, I think that if schools are going to look at it this way they need to lower their deposits. It is not fair to expect applicants to pay large deposits if they will not hold the seat for as long as an applicant wants regardless of any other deposits. You should get what you pay for.
Also, I think that if schools are going to look at it this way they need to lower their deposits. It is not fair to expect applicants to pay large deposits if they will not hold the seat for as long as an applicant wants regardless of any other deposits. You should get what you pay for.
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As I am unsure of the exact schools the OP was accepted to and the other factors surrounding the situation, I still believe that the school is behaving in an unprofessional manner by essentially giving the OP an ultimatum. I could envision a scenario where applicants are accepted to schools that do not require interviews and these individuals have not had the opportunity to take a hard look at the school, facilities, faculty, surrounding area, etc. The accepted applicant could be scheduling to come visit the school and area in order to make a comparison of one school to another. They very well could be an out of state applicant in their final semester finishing up pre-requistes and their bachelor's degree and not have the funds necessary to make multiple trips to the school. I don't speak for all applicants, but being a full-time student hasn't allowed me to stock pile cash. In the end, if other schools follow suit with what happened in this scenario, I believe that it's a lose-lose situation. Schools are going to scare applicants and lose out on the ability to potentially select the best possible candidates for their class for the coming year and students are going to miss out on the opportunity to find the best possible fit for their physical therapy education.
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This describes me exactly, except the school I was accepted to is only an hour away. I will be giving them a deposit in a couple days and interviewing at other schools soon after that. I wonder what their response will be.
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I cannot believe PTCAS thought this was a good idea! Why on earth should the schools I've been accepted to know which schools I applied to? That is so bazaar and potentially awkward!
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As someone with really low stats, I will immediately place a deposit at the first school that accepts me, simply because it a very real scenario that they may be the only school that does accept me. I would be horrified if I knew that my deposit placed could impact my admission to schools that I may greatly prefer due to cost, location, etc. I really hope that schools can only see other deposits after they have accepted the applicant... So sorry about your current situation! That must be very stressful and scary! Congrats on your admittance to PT school though!!
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You all have to consider that decisions like these are not implemented on a whim. Yes, its still the middle of interview season. However, you guys can blame the applicants before you; those few who sat on multiple acceptances. This causes a cascading event. School admission committees hate this. It puts undue burden on those accepted really late. I had two people in my program picked off the wait list and had a horrible time finding housing because of this. One was in state, the other was not. One side has to give as there is no one solution fit-all. In this case, the programs have sided against the squatters. You can kick and scream about fairness or professionalism all you want because you know what they say about life and fairness.
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It is definitely a difficult situation for applicants accepted off the wait list at the last minute. I'm sure it is also difficult for the schools. I don't know if an ultimatum by a school is okay, although some pressure seems reasonable. I think it depends on the situation.
For my own situation, my wife is applying to OB/GYN residencies and I will go with her, wherever her residency is. We won't know where that is until match day 3/21. I wouldn't want to give up any of my acceptances until that point. I don't keep more than one acceptance in a city, but I want to be able to begin a program this year. I will also be declining the acceptances I have in the cities we won't moving to after match day.
It would probably also help if all the schools started at roughly the same time. During my research on programs I found that start dates can range from 5/19/14 to 1/5/15.
Just to play devil's advocate: would I rather deal with the stress of moving to a school with little to no advance warning or wait an additional entire full admission cycle to begin school.
Basically, I'm not sure there is a perfect solution. Someone is probably not going to get what they want.
For my own situation, my wife is applying to OB/GYN residencies and I will go with her, wherever her residency is. We won't know where that is until match day 3/21. I wouldn't want to give up any of my acceptances until that point. I don't keep more than one acceptance in a city, but I want to be able to begin a program this year. I will also be declining the acceptances I have in the cities we won't moving to after match day.
It would probably also help if all the schools started at roughly the same time. During my research on programs I found that start dates can range from 5/19/14 to 1/5/15.
Just to play devil's advocate: would I rather deal with the stress of moving to a school with little to no advance warning or wait an additional entire full admission cycle to begin school.
Basically, I'm not sure there is a perfect solution. Someone is probably not going to get what they want.
I think in your case you definitely have a good reason to hold multiple deposits. However cases like yours are the exception, not the rule. I bet if you were in the OPs position and you told the schools your situation and when they could expect a decision from you, they would allow you to hold your spot.
I find it shocking that a school would take the time to look at this! I am Admissions Committee Chair at our school, and with 1300 applicants, we do not have the time to dinker with things like this. we give 2 weeks to put a deposit down, and if not, then off the list. I have always assumed that applicants put more than 1 deposit down, and we will sometimes have to scramble a bit right before school starts (happens occasionally, but not terribly often). But an applicant asked me about her Facebook page and should she deactivate it. I told her we do not have the time to check on such things. But apparently other schools do look at this, so what do I know? 🙂 Only about 1 PT school apparently.
