Is it wrong to tell 2 schools that they are your # 1 choice?

[manik]

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I'm waitlisted at a couple schools that I want to both BADLY go to. I've been writing both schools with LOIs and updates on my file, but basically I've been telling them both that their my # 1 choices. I know that schools know where you've been accepted but do they know where you've been waitlisted?

 

[moops]

yeah, schools absolutely know where you've been waitlisted and accepted. some people, in fact, have these other schools mentioned by the schools they have been accepted/waitlisted at.

schools can use his information (and often do) to confer with one another. you can get in trouble with this kind of thing because if these schools both realize that you've lied to them, you lose your place in both classes. be careful.

 

[lola]

i think you should definitely be careful about this, though i'm not sure schools know where you've been waitlisted.

i did sort of tell two schools they were my first choice. one i told they were my first choice of all the schools at which i'd interviewed (which was true at the time b/c i hadn't yet interviewed at my first choice school), and the other i told was my first choice and that i'd withdraw all my apps from other schools. the second letter was definitely a letter of intent, whereas the first letter was more of a really strong letter of interest even though i said they were my top choice. for the rest of the schools i wrote letters of interest.

 

[zer0el]

i think you're walking a fine line here. however, i think it's okay to say both schools are your #1. i told several schools that they were my top choice when i interviewed. note that this is different than a letter of intent, in which you'd state that you would matriculate if accepted and withdraw from all other schools. this effectively serves as a binding commitment.

if you happened to write two letters of intent and were accepted by both schools, you'd be in trouble (i think). two letters of strong interest are fine.

 

[applejuice1979]

If I had seen this question a month ago, I would have said yes, it's wrong. But now that I've heard that schools know where you've been accepted and may use this in their decisions about your application. I'm not so sure. If this is true, I don't think it's fair that schools know your personal info. To me it's like a stranger knowing your social security number. I would never tell 2 schools that they were my #1, but I can't say I'd be mad at anyone who did.

 

[BamaFlip]

Yes, it is wrong! It's called integrity and being honest with yourself and others.

 

[manik]

I wasn't trying to be dishonest. Don't you think its possible to want to go to both schools? Before you judge me, havn't you had days where you have changed your mind at least 10 times on what school you wanted to go to?

 

[Moskeeto]

hey, its only wrong if you get caught.
I'd insert a smiley so you'd know that I'm just joking, but they don't seem to be working so you'll just have to take my word for it. I say since you did send it to both, you should convince yourself to withdraw from school B immediately if you get an acceptance to school A or vice versa.

 

[bigapple]

Originally posted by manik
I'm waitlisted at a couple schools that I want to both BADLY go to. I've been writing both schools with LOIs and updates on my file, but basically I've been telling them both that their my # 1 choices. I know that schools know where you've been accepted but do they know where you've been waitlisted?

i really don't think it's a big deal. yeah, your integrity does happen to be on the line, but in terms of you wanting to go to both schools, i can completely understand. and even if you did write two letters of intent, why would the schools confer with the others over you among the hundreds of other waitlisters? it just doesn't seem very likely that they would care that much to even ask another school if they too received a letter of intent from such and such applicant...

 

[Happy613]

You should be allowed to change your mind if you get an interview to a better school, or one you like better after you write a letter of intent to a lesser school. If these adcoms can jerk us around until august, then I think its not immoral to change your mind as your situation changes.

 

[MichiMO]

Originally posted by Happy613
You should be allowed to change your mind if you get an interview to a better school, or one you like better after you write a letter of intent to a lesser school. If these adcoms can jerk us around until august, then I think its not immoral to change your mind as your situation changes.

I completely agree! It is not like the adcoms really mean what they say. How many people have you heard say that their interviewer told them they were an excellent candidate, should be accepted, blah blah blah, only to be rejected.
If you would really be equally thrilled to attend either of the schools and would withdraw your application at one if you were accepted at the other, I really don't see what the big deal is, barring some highly unlikely event where both schools offered you a place in the class the same day. It is possible to have two top choices. In fact, I think you could even write that in a LOI if you were very concearned about your integrity and being so perfectly honest.

But, in reality, do you think these schools really care so much whether they are our first choice? They have waitlists a mile long and they WILL fill their class no matter what with people who are happy to be going there. I really think we put a little bit too much importance on the privelage of being our first choice 🙂

 

[jennie 21]

Leaving the moral question aside for the moment, I think this has the potential to backfire. I know that a school which is intending to accept a waitlisted applicant from its waitlist will give a heads-up to a school where the applicant is holding a spot, especially as the summer progresses. So I think it's possible that two schools you're waitlisted at could confer with each other and if you have told both of them they're your #1 it could backfire. I don't know how likely that scenario is, but it's possible.

 

[altoid]

See, I understand this completely because more than anything I want to go to medical school. So I may have two that I would love to go to and they would both be my #1. I don't think that means I am a bad person, just that I want to go to med school one way or another. I probably would do the letter of interest at both and maybe a intent at one or the other. But I wouldn't say that you lack integrity or anything... 😛

 

[moops]

Originally posted by jennie 21
Leaving the moral question aside for the moment, I think this has the potential to backfire. I know that a school which is intending to accept a waitlisted applicant from its waitlist will give a heads-up to a school where the applicant is holding a spot, especially as the summer progresses. So I think it's possible that two schools you're waitlisted at could confer with each other and if you have told both of them they're your #1 it could backfire. I don't know how likely that scenario is, but it's possible.

they really do confer actually, much more often than you would think. just be really careful, i am sure to word my letters so only one school is my definit "first choice"

 

[lola]

Originally posted by moops
they really do confer actually, much more often than you would think. just be really careful, i am sure to word my letters so only one school is my definit "first choice"

i know they confer, but would 2 schools you're waitlisted at confer? i can imagine conferring if one school was an acceptance and one a waitlist, the schools you're waitlisted at won't know about each other i don't think.

 

[moops]

no, when the schools get the records.. after sometime in april, they get ALL the information about what schools you have applied to and your results at those schools. they know much more than you would think.

 

[Brewster]

Maybe after you matriculate they get information, but in April the only information available to them is where you have been accepted.

 

[lola]

Originally posted by Brewster
Maybe after you matriculate they get information, but in April the only information available to them is where you have been accepted.

that's what i thought too, though i don't really have any particular reason for thinking this other than an admissions guy telling me they know where you have been accepted (but said nothing about waitlisted)

 

[Brewster]

From the AAMC:
"Information about applicants and students is, of course, disclosed to the schools to which a student applies or matriculates. Each medical school authorizes the Association to circulate the names of accepted applicants for each entering class after all deadlines have passed, but before classes have begun. Information submitted to the AAMC by a medical school is available only to that institution, except for the accepted applicant lists discussed above. " (bold faced type added for emphasis)
--Source: http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/datacollection.htm

When in doubt, go to the source.

 

[uclachris]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
maybe if they call you up on it, you can tell them they are tied for #1. 😉

Similarly, I would tell them that the AP poll has one school at 1 and the other at 2, and the ESPN poll has the other school at 1 and theirs at 2.

In the near future, you will be implimenting a BCS-like system called the SDNagen, where a computer program would take into account all rankings, computer polls, us news & world report, strength of schedule, etc. to determine an absolute ranking.

Flashforward, that system would be an utter failure, where it would eventually be replaced by a head-to-head playoff system...

Of course you could always go back to the old ways, and call them co-number ones!

😀

 

[JlazyMD]

Originally posted by Happy613
You should be allowed to change your mind if you get an interview to a better school, or one you like better after you write a letter of intent to a lesser school. If these adcoms can jerk us around until august, then I think its not immoral to change your mind as your situation changes.

Listen, if there is nothing wrong with writing more than one letter of intent, or telling 2 schools you are their top choice, then why are you all so afraid the schools involved will find out about it?

C'mon, doing something like this is hardly a major sin, but it IS morally wrong.

If you do it, at least be honest enough to admit you are willing to compromise your integrity to get into school.

 

[bigapple]

Originally posted by JlazyMD
Listen, if there is nothing wrong with writing more than one letter of intent, or telling 2 schools you are their top choice, then why are you all so afraid the schools involved will find out about it?

C'mon, doing something like this is hardly a major sin, but it IS morally wrong.

If you do it, at least be honest enough to admit you are willing to compromise your integrity to get into school.

i put my soul up for sale a long time ago, so i don't have integrity to lose

 

[ckat]

maybe one school you could say, i'll withdraw all other applications if accepted.

at the other school you can say:
i'll go there over X school (ie school you currently hold an acceptance at).

thoughts?

 

[Dr.Tong]

remember

it's not a lie....if you believe it