Indicate extremely strong preference for a school

[evansh]

Other than a post-interview letter of intent, is there any way to indicate very high preference for a medical school? I recently engaged my girlfriend who's matriculating Ohio State. Med school can be tough on a relationship, and so it'd be personally difficult for me to move out of Columbus, and I'm not sure if I'd even consider moving OOS yet. Maybe extreme, but I'm concerned that 4-5 years apart would be very hard.

I'm above their LizzyM with a great upward trend, and have competitive EC's, but I know how tough it is to zero in on any one school.

So if I'm a competitive applicant with a personal reason for having a very high preference for a school, is there an appropriate way to indicate this, possibly pre-interview? Thanks.

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[Pacna]

I recently got engaged to my girlfriend

... unless you both like to do karate or something. (congrats, btw!)

And yes, many schools have secondaries which ask this exact question. This would be a good start to an answer, but be sure you don't end the story there. You don't want to communicate to the school that the only reason you want to go there is "a coincidence of geography" as they say. These reasons should be in addition to the reasons that you chose to apply here. If you say that your fiance is located there and that made you want to apply, that will actually be seen as a negative. As always, read their mission statement or even email some current M1s/2s that can share what the school values.

 

[Doug Underhill]

There's EDP, but EDP is almost always a bad idea and Ohio State's EDP deadline was Aug. 1. I'd just write it on your secondary.

By the way, Ohio State requires you to have taken anatomy prior to matriculation. Did you take it?

 

[md-2020]

@evansh congratulations on your engagement!

I posted a thread about this topic recently, and got some great answers:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ider-relationships-during-admissions.1153116/

I think you'll be best served by talking about your preference for OHSU in their secondary.

 

[evansh]

... unless you both like to do karate or something. (congrats, btw!)

And yes, many schools have secondaries which ask this exact question. This would be a good start to an answer, but be sure you don't end the story there. You don't want to communicate to the school that the only reason you want to go there is "a coincidence of geography" as they say. These reasons should be in addition to the reasons that you chose to apply here. If you say that your fiance is located there and that made you want to apply, that will actually be seen as a negative. As always, read their mission statement or even email some current M1s/2s that can share what the school values.

Thanks! So there wasn't space for additional info on the secondary, which I'm looking for other options. And OSU would be one of my top choices either way, I think I can make a very strong personal, professional, and academic argument as to why.

There's EDP, but EDP is almost always a bad idea and Ohio State's EDP deadline was Aug. 1. I'd just write it on your secondary.

By the way, Ohio State requires you to have taken anatomy prior to matriculation. Did you take it?

Yeah, I chose not to do EDP. Too risky. And they eliminated the anatomy requirement for this cycle

 

[avgn]

Invite the entire admissions office to the engagement party to prove you're telling the truth

 

[Goro]

Yes, by sending them an application.

Send them a donation check....preferably six figures.

Other than a post-interview letter of intent, is there any way to indicate very high preference for a medical school? I recently engaged my girlfriend who's matriculating Ohio State. Med school can be tough on a relationship, and so it'd be personally difficult for me to move out of Columbus, and I'm not sure if I'd even consider moving OOS yet. Maybe extreme, but I'm concerned that 4-5 years apart would be very hard.

I'm above their LizzyM with a great upward trend, and have competitive EC's, but I know how tough it is to zero in on any one school.

So if I'm a competitive applicant with a personal reason for having a very high preference for a school, is there an appropriate way to indicate this, possibly pre-interview? Thanks.

 

[avgn]

Yes, by sending them an application.

Send them a donation check....preferably six figures.

WWYD if you got sent donuts from an applicant?

 

[integrin]

There's EDP, but EDP is almost always a bad idea and Ohio State's EDP deadline was Aug. 1. I'd just write it on your secondary.

By the way, Ohio State requires you to have taken anatomy prior to matriculation. Did you take it?

OSU is no longer requiring anatomy prior to matriculation starting next year. Source: http://medicine.osu.edu/admissions/md/preparing/pages/index.aspx