is it okay to email the dean of admissions for advice?

[coralfangs]

I just got waitlisted from my top choice school. Bummmmmer
So, I've decided to withdraw all my applications (the rest of my schools are non-rolling) because of many different circumstances.
Can I simply email the dean of admission of that school and ask for advice on how to improve my application for the upcoming year?

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[BigRedPremed]

I would email later in the application season (perhaps in April or May) when he'll be less busy.

 

[Maxprime]

I think that he probably has a lot greater concerns, I would go through the chain of command. The head of admissions reads a LOT more applications per year and is much more in tune with what's going on. Also, your pre-med adviser should know this as well.

 

[167649]

While many schools (not necessarily all) will discuss your application and why it failed to get through, they will not usually do so until later in the season as most are swamped with all kinds of activity right now. Usually you can call the admissions office and a representative/admissions manager will discuss the notes on your application. I don't know if the dean himself would discuss this (they are among the busiest people in the entire field), if you sent him an email he may just forward it. You can try though, although I would wait until the spring, when everything has quieted down a bit!

 

[Concordia]

It never hurts to try. Acknowledge that you know that s/he is probably very busy, and whether or not they could recommend a convinient time to talk or whether they know somebody in their office who can help or has time to help. My experiences so far indicate that no matter how busy or important people are, they usually do not rudely ignore a polite and well-informed individuals asking for assistance.

Best of luck

 

[TheRealMD]

The problem is that the actual dean probably hasn't read you application in detail compared to other people in the admissions committee. I'd do what was said previously and follow the chain of command. The top doesn't know everything about what's happening at the bottom (sadly).

 

[Maxprime]

The problem is that the actual dean probably hasn't read you application in detail compared to other people in the admissions committee. I'd do what was said previously and follow the chain of command. The top doesn't know everything about what's happening at the bottom (sadly).

Yeah - the dean doesn't screen all the applications, in fact they see very few of them. The head of admissions may see a lot more, but still - not all of them. The deans are busy, you know, being doctors and keeping med students from harming patients.

 

[MasonPrehealth]

The usual rule-of-thumb is that you won't get an informal consulting review with the dean (if they do that at the school of interest) until the summer when all the offers are out. If you're still on the waiting list, chances are they won't want to talk with you, but who knows.

There is a set of general reasons why most people do not get accepted, so you may just as well need to look at those reasons.

 

[lord_jeebus]

You may be surprised by how much the Dean of Admissions knows what's going on. Often, this is the only MD on the Adcom dealing with this process close to full-time.

 

[Mr hawkings]

I did this a couple a years ago after i was rejected from a school. The dean set up an appointment for me to come in and she went through my whole application with me, letting me know exactly what got me rejected point by point.