My experience with the MD schools I applied to, for you future applicants

[Im76at711]

Note: I did not get into any MD schools, so I am a bit sour about that, but I will try my best to provide facts about my experience, so you all can benefit for my experience.

UCDavis: My stats were too low for this school, so if your stats are okay and fit their pathway, go ahead and apply there. it is a great school. THUMBS UP.

George Washington: Like above, unless you have high metrics and fit their mission, I would pass over applying here. They just drag you along for too long of a time, only to reject you. Even if you survive mass rejection batches, it isn't necessarily god news. THUMBS DOWN.

Oakland: This rejection hurt, but I do give them credit for the way they handled things. They were responsive, helpful, and seemed to really care for applicants (Hell, what other schools have a interview tracker?!). I would definitely apply here if you are a decent fit! THUMBS UP.

University of Arizona-Tucson: second worst school application process. They were extremely non-responsive, vague, and irritating. Also kept us hanging for a **** ton of time. I received 4 Rejection emails lol. Also they send these "Interview Invite Update" subject lines in the emails which is the biggest dick move on their part. THUMBS WAY DOWN.

SUNY BUFFALO: Still haven't been rejected here, OOS. Zero communication from here since the beginning. If you are OOS, I wouldnt apply here. THUMBS DOWN.

Indiana University: Who? Who? WHO? Hooosiers baby! lol I applied to this school just for the **** of it. Secondary was easy, but high instate bias. At least they didn't drag us around. If you are OOS, proceed with caution, but generally thanks for the communication. THUMBS UP.

Albany Medical College: My first rejection. Their communication was decent. I was rejected really early. I apprecaite them letting me off early! THUMBS UP.

Virginia Commonwealth: They definitely haven't been the best at communication, but they also haven't been the worst. Their portal was decently helpful. Still on the thread, but doubtful at this point lol. THUMBS SIDEWAYS,

Rush Medical College: Absolute worst school I applied to. zero communication. zero updates. not reachable at all, very unclear. I was on the line for like 7 months before being rejected. I will go ahead and advise you all to definitely skip over applying here. They were God-Awful. THUMBS WAYYYYYYY DOWN.

Quinnipac: Still haven't been rejected there. not much communication. THUMBS DOWN.

Stats: Lizzy M of 69.

I hope this is helpful for you all. Feel free to add on to this list.
I will make one for DO schools a bit later.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

This post isn't much helpful unless you give us your stats

 

[Goro]

If you're not a NY, AZ, CA nor IN resident, it makes sense that you'd be rejected from those schools. Do you have the MSAR? If so, have you looked at the "Acceptance Information" pages for each school?

BTW, your post isn't very helpful when you don't list your stats and ECs.

 

[NotWayneBrady]

Note: I did not get into any MD schools, so I am a bit sour about that, but I will try my best to provide facts about my experience, so you all can benefit for my experience.

UCDavis: My stats were too low for this school, so if your stats are okay and fit their pathway, go ahead and apply there. it is a great school. THUMBS UP.

George Washington: Like above, unless you have high metrics and fit their mission, I would pass over applying here. They just drag you along for too long of a time, only to reject you. Even if you survive mass rejection batches, it isn't necessarily god news. THUMBS DOWN.

Oakland: This rejection hurt, but I do give them credit for the way they handled things. They were responsive, helpful, and seemed to really care for applicants (Hell, what other schools have a interview tracker?!). I would definitely apply here if you are a decent fit! THUMBS UP.

University of Arizona-Tucson: second worst school application process. They were extremely non-responsive, vague, and irritating. Also kept us hanging for a **** ton of time. I received 4 Rejection emails lol. Also they send these "Interview Invite Update" subject lines in the emails which is the biggest dick move on their part. THUMBS WAY DOWN.

SUNY BUFFALO: Still haven't been rejected here, OOS. Zero communication from here since the beginning. If you are OOS, I wouldnt apply here. THUMBS DOWN.

Indiana University: Who? Who? WHO? Hooosiers baby! lol I applied to this school just for the **** of it. Secondary was easy, but high instate bias. At least they didn't drag us around. If you are OOS, proceed with caution, but generally thanks for the communication. THUMBS UP.

Albany Medical College: My first rejection. Their communication was decent. I was rejected really early. I apprecaite them letting me off early! THUMBS UP.

Virginia Commonwealth: They definitely haven't been the best at communication, but they also haven't been the worst. Their portal was decently helpful. Still on the thread, but doubtful at this point lol. THUMBS SIDEWAYS,

Rush Medical College: Absolute worst school I applied to. zero communication. zero updates. not reachable at all, very unclear. I was on the line for like 7 months before being rejected. I will go ahead and advise you all to definitely skip over applying here. They were God-Awful. THUMBS WAYYYYYYY DOWN.

I hope this is helpful for you all. Feel free to add on to this list.
I will make one for DO schools a bit later.

...? Where did you get your information to put this school list together. It's all over the place.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

Also not sure how helpful it is to rank schools based on how well they communicate with applicants during the cycle. I think we can all agree that more communication feels better. But it'd be silly to choose a school list based on how many email updates a school sends or how quickly they process decisions.

 

[ifnotnowwren]

As far as helping future applicants goes, it seems like maybe posting your experiences on the school specific threads may be more helpful. That way, future applicants can look at the threads of the schools they are applying to and see what they can expect but also so that other students can discuss their own experiences.

That being said, for what it's worth, the two schools on your list that I applied to are Albany and UA Tucson. I was placed on hold at Albany and was ultimately accepted to UA. Personally I liked both of the schools level of communication and prompt responses. I appreciated that they both included my AMCAS id number when inviting me to complete secondaries so I didn't have to look it up each time like I did for other schools. I did not get any of the "interview invite update" emails from Tucson where they let you know they reviewed you and aren't inviting you yet but will review you again, but honestly having heard nothing from other schools, I would have preferred those kind of updates so I could know if they had even looked at my application yet. As far as multiple rejections goes, this has happened with many schools, and the same thing goes for unfortunate email subject lines.

I understand where you are coming from and I understand you are upset but it really seems like every applicants experiences with a school are subjective and can vary due to experiences with other schools and personal expectations, among other things.

 

[Im76at711]

Are these all of the MD programs you applied to? What is your state of residence?

Can't make heads or tails of why you chose some of these programs.

Lol I am in California. Mostly private schools reasonable within my metrics with minimal in state bias. I also applied to Quinnipac, I forgot to mention it.

 

[Im76at711]

This post isn't much helpful unless you give us your stats

I posted it.

 

[Im76at711]

Hey all,

I understand what you are saying. But these were just my impressions. I have seen a lot of people post about "silent rejections" as they are concerned about it, and I know from my experience, having someone tell me which schools silent reject and which ones dont, would have been a huge benefit.

 

[Affiche]

Posting to just clarify that VCU gets the biggest THUMBS WAY THE **** DOWN possible:

- They sent out last year's secondary prompt accidentally then changed it to a new prompt a few days later without notifying applicants of the change. Applicants spent at least a weekend working on the first prompt then discovered it was no longer the prompt when they went to submit their secondaries lol.
- Incredibly rude staff. I dreaded calling VCU with questions because their staff was so rude. Multiple other applicants experienced this as well.
- They did not notify a large number of applicants they had passed the screen and had been granted a secondary. I found out I was granted the secondary like 3 weeks after the fact when someone on SDN mentioned we should check our portals.
- They have the most ass backwards method of reviewing applications I've ever heard of. I submitted my secondary before July ended and wasn't reviewed for MONTHS. Apparently one of the reviewers checked out my application to score it and then sat on it for months and never reviewed or updated my file. After calling to figure out what the hold up was (I was going to be ITA in November and wanted to know if I could avoid traveling there from OOS multiple times), I discovered that once your file is checked out, you're SOL. There was no system in place to make sure files were actually being reviewed or not.
- My favorite: they didn't notify a large number of applicants that they had been granted an interview and then withdrew their applications from the school for not scheduling said interview within a timely manner. I never received a notification that I had been granted an interview, I found out from watching the portal.

Disclaimer: I withdrew my application after being granted an interview, so I cannot speak for the school beyond my experience applying. I've heard great things from friends who interviewed there and not so great things as well, so you'll have to decide for yourself. I'm simply sharing my experience applying this year because it was such a waste of time and money.

 

[xc_stallion92]

Posting to just clarify that VCU gets the biggest THUMBS WAY THE **** DOWN possible:

- They sent out last year's secondary prompt accidentally then changed it to a new prompt a few days later without notifying applicants of the change. Applicants spent at least a weekend working on the first prompt then discovered it was no longer the prompt when they went to submit their secondaries lol.
- Incredibly rude staff. I dreaded calling VCU with questions because their staff was so rude. Multiple other applicants experienced this as well.
- They did not notify a large number of applicants they had passed the screen and had been granted a secondary. I found out I was granted the secondary like 3 weeks after the fact when someone on SDN mentioned we should check our portals.
- They have the most ass backwards method of reviewing applications I've ever heard of. I submitted my secondary before July ended and wasn't reviewed for MONTHS. Apparently one of the reviewers checked out my application to score it and then sat on it for months and never reviewed or updated my file. After calling to figure out what the hold up was (I was going to be ITA in November and wanted to know if I could avoid traveling there from OOS multiple times), I discovered that once your file is checked out, you're SOL. There was no system in place to make sure files were actually being reviewed or not.
- My favorite: they didn't notify a large number of applicants that they had been granted an interview and then withdrew their applications from the school for not scheduling said interview within a timely manner. I never received a notification that I had been granted an interview, I found out from watching the portal.

Disclaimer: I withdrew my application after being granted an interview, so I cannot speak for the school beyond my experience applying. I've heard great things from friends who interviewed there and not so great things as well, so you'll have to decide for yourself. I'm simply sharing my experience applying this year because it was such a waste of time and money.

Yep, VCU put on a massively bad show this cycle. They never sent an email that I'd gotten through their screen. Didn't see the secondary until about 5 weeks after I'd been given access to it and I was just randomly checking the portal.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Im gonna add New York Medical College. Having to deal with CASPR was perhaps the most frustrating single task of the entire application season.

Also, screw any school that requires "character LORs" but doesn't make that clear upfront (Im looking at you, UCF and Rush). I had to run around like an idiot trying to find 2 extra letters outside my Academic LORs and committee letter.

 

[McSpicy]

Are those all the schools you applied to? With a LM of 69 and a broad range of schools, you should've been able to garner some interest from MD programs assuming there are no red flags on your app and no holes in EC experience.

 

[McSpicy]

I'd add Drexel & Temple to that list as well.

 

[Im76at711]

I'd add Drexel & Temple to that list as well.

I also forgot to say I applied to MCW. I think it is because one of my MCAT subscores was very weak and thus did not impress the schools. I kind of panicked and it went south :/

 

[whatever5]

So basically thumbs down to any school that doesn't communicate with you? Who cares? The only communication you want is an interview invite, and if you're not getting one, what's the difference?

The one school I think was terrible was VCU (above posters basically echoed my thoughts). What a **** show their administration must be.

 

[sandyman237]

Im gonna add New York Medical College. Having to deal with CASPR was perhaps the most frustrating single task of the entire application season.

Also, screw any school that requires "character LORs" but doesn't make that clear upfront (Im looking at you, UCF and Rush). I had to run around like an idiot trying to find 2 extra letters outside my Academic LORs and committee letter.

Wow I got a committee letter and I definitely did not have any character LOR's from a friend or a supervisor... I got rejected by both of those schools... This is the first I have heard of "character LOR's".

 

[Goro]

Indeed. Patience is a virtue, the need for instant gratification is not.

Edit: With a LizzyM of 69, OP should not have been applying to OOS state schools, except for EVMS and VCU.

Also not sure how helpful it is to rank schools based on how well they communicate with applicants during the cycle. I think we can all agree that more communication feels better. But it'd be silly to choose a school list based on how many email updates a school sends or how quickly they process decisions.

 

[musicalfeet]

Im gonna add New York Medical College. Having to deal with CASPR was perhaps the most frustrating single task of the entire application season.

Also, screw any school that requires "character LORs" but doesn't make that clear upfront (Im looking at you, UCF and Rush). I had to run around like an idiot trying to find 2 extra letters outside my Academic LORs and committee letter.

Wait dumb question, what is a character LOR??????

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Wait dumb question, what is a character LOR??????

hahaha I said the same thing. Its an LOR from someone who does not know you through academics or employment. So like, a volunteer coordinator, family friend , or something. Was kinda a problem for me since all my LORs were from either doctors I'd worked for or professors...

 

[musicalfeet]

hahaha I said the same thing. Its an LOR from someone who does not know you through academics or employment. So like, a volunteer coordinator, family friend , or something. Was kinda a problem for me since all my LORs were from either doctors I'd worked for or professors...

LOL WHAT? No wonder I didn't get an interview from UCF or Rush (lol well I withdrew from Rush after Loyola II). I had no idea this even existed. All my LORs were from professors or supervisors for whatever activity.

 

[avgn]

So basically thumbs down to any school that doesn't communicate with you? Who cares? The only communication you want is an interview invite, and if you're not getting one, what's the difference?

The one school I think was terrible was VCU (above posters basically echoed my thoughts). What a **** show their administration must be.

Lol "TALK TO ME EVEN IF YOU DONT WANT ME" and "MOVE FASTER YOU DAMN MOFOS"
are not good attitudes to take into an admissions process. Wouldn't be surprised if OP is a bad interviewer

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I do sort of feel like a very communicative, fluid admission process does say something about a school, even if they're very communicatively and fluidly rejecting you.

Like if a school takes 3 weeks to respond to an email, or is hopelessly unreachable/rude over the phone, how easy do you think it is for the students to reach them?

 

[Affiche]

Indeed. Patience is a virtue, the need for instant gratification is not.

Edit: With a LizzyM of 69, OP should not have been applying to OOS state schools, except for EVMS. No one should apply to VCU.

Lol ftfy

 

[NoRagrets]

University of Arizona-Tucson: second worst school application process. They were extremely non-responsive, vague, and irritating. Also kept us hanging for a **** ton of time. I received 4 Rejection emails lol. Also they send these "Interview Invite Update" subject lines in the emails which is the biggest dick move on their part. THUMBS WAY DOWN.

I also enjoyed my experience with UofA Tucson. I however was accepted. So they had a glitch with their rejection emails, haha. I'm sure they did it just to kick dirt in your wounds.

 

[avgn]

I do sort of feel like a very communicative, fluid admission process does say something about a school, even if they're very communicatively and fluidly rejecting you.

Like if a school takes 3 weeks to respond to an email, or is hopelessly unreachable/rude over the phone, how easy do you think it is for the students to reach them?

This would be a good argument if the admissions office continues to matter to students once school starts. This is not true. Judging an entire school based on the behavior of the staff in ONE office is ridiculous, whether that office be admissions, finance, bursar, etc. You can have a very active admissions office but very aloof med ed dept. Which would you choose? Anyone who's had real world work experience knows that individual offices at companies/schools are independent and behave very very differently.

 

[Psai]

No worries, next year you'll be telling us how you chose do over md for the location and holistic training as well as how it's basically the same thing for residency

 

[Spinach Dip]

Lol "TALK TO ME EVEN IF YOU DONT WANT ME" and "MOVE FASTER YOU DAMN MOFOS"
are not good attitudes to take into an admissions process. Wouldn't be surprised if OP is a bad interviewer

I would like to know the reason that some schools gave me notice that they had received my secondary 7 months ago, and have said NOTHING since. If you're going to reject someone just DO IT. Don't put it off for the better part of a year.

Also, not notifying someone that they are invited to complete a secondary/interview (unless they log onto your applicant portal...as if students have nothing better to do with their time than checking portals of 20 different schools) is just dumb.

It's 2016. Are emails really that hard to send?

 

[gyngyn]

I would like to know the reason that some schools gave me notice that they had received my secondary 7 months ago, and have said NOTHING since. If you're going to reject someone just DO IT. Don't put it off for the better part of a year.

Also, not notifying someone that they are invited to complete a secondary/interview (unless they log onto your applicant portal...as if students have nothing better to do with their time than checking portals of 20 different schools) is just dumb.

It's 2016. Are emails really that hard to send?

It is not uncommon to stratify applicants such that some of them do not immediately get an interview but are not rejectable either. As time passes, the odds that some stata will not be reached becomes clear. If they do not reject at this point, I agree with you.

 

[avgn]

I would like to know the reason that some schools gave me notice that they had received my secondary 7 months ago, and have said NOTHING since. If you're going to reject someone just DO IT. Don't put it off for the better part of a year.

Also, not notifying someone that they are invited to complete a secondary/interview (unless they log onto your applicant portal...as if students have nothing better to do with their time than checking portals of 20 different schools) is just dumb.

It's 2016. Are emails really that hard to send?

The reason is that you were still under consideration at some point (unless it's a school that only ever releases all rejections at the end). Ditch the entitlement. Schools don't owe you **** and you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes or when they actually rejected you anyway. If it's a school like Columbia that doesn't even notify of rejections until after acceptances, sure you can complain then. But they still don't owe you jack ****.

Regarding the emails, yeah that's wrong. But to answer your question, yes, automated mass emailing in 2016 is still very hard because the programs we have are terrible. Take it from someone who has lots of experience with these systems from prior jobs. The schools that do it well deserve major kudos, more than people give them.

 

[Affiche]

The reason is that you were still under consideration at some point (unless it's a school that only ever releases all rejections at the end). Ditch the entitlement. Schools don't owe you **** and you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes or when they actually rejected you anyway. If it's a school like Columbia that doesn't even notify of rejections until after acceptances, sure you can complain then. But they still don't owe you jack ****.

Regarding the emails, yeah that's wrong. But to answer your question, yes, automated mass emailing in 2016 is still very hard because the programs we have are terrible. Take it from someone who has lots of experience with these systems from prior jobs. The schools that do it well deserve major kudos, more than people give them.

Meh, I wouldn't exactly say they don't owe applicants ****, considering that we pay a fee to have our applications processed and all....

 

[Spinach Dip]

Schools don't owe you **** and you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes or when they actually rejected you anyway. If it's a school like Columbia that doesn't even notify of rejections until after acceptances, sure you can complain then. But they still don't owe you jack ****.

I'd rather set a benjamin on fire than apply to a school which will ignore me for seven months and then follow up with the obvious rejection. I'm only wondering what month I'll receive it.)

But I'm glad they don't owe me ****. Good to know how much they value their future students.

 

[Spinach Dip]

I'd rather set a benjamin on fire...

For the cheep ones.

Others are a benjamin and a grant. Or two benjamins.

So much fun.

 

[Nietzschelover]

The reason is that you were still under consideration at some point (unless it's a school that only ever releases all rejections at the end). Ditch the entitlement. Schools don't owe you **** and you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes or when they actually rejected you anyway. If it's a school like Columbia that doesn't even notify of rejections until after acceptances, sure you can complain then. But they still don't owe you jack ****.

Regarding the emails, yeah that's wrong. But to answer your question, yes, automated mass emailing in 2016 is still very hard because the programs we have are terrible. Take it from someone who has lots of experience with these systems from prior jobs. The schools that do it well deserve major kudos, more than people give them.

You weren't lying when you said you are a staunch advocate for high horses.

Completely disagree. The process is difficult and obstacle-ridden enough. I think the whole anti-entitlement and "it's a privilege" thesis goes a little too far sometimes. It shouldn't be like a game of Survivor. Applicants, and not just because they pay money, deserve to be treated decently and fairly. That said, I doubt many or any med schools intend to treat applicants poorly. Many obviously are very overwhelmed. I think most of us can understand that, although you would hope that schools would adjust, increase resources, and reconfigure their processes. As I suggested in another thread, the process is too drawn out and people are dragged along for too long when the cycle bleeds right into the next one which makes pivoting to improve one's app for the next cycle very difficult.

 

[Buddy.the.Elf]

Indeed. Patience is a virtue, the need for instant gratification is not.

Edit: With a LizzyM of 69, OP should not have been applying to OOS state schools, except for EVMS and VCU.

UA-Tucson is a fair enough school to apply to as an OOSer, especially from CA (even with a 69 LizzyM). Our class is 30+% OOS, mostly from CA.

 

[Im76at711]

No worries, next year you'll be telling us how you chose do over md for the location and holistic training as well as how it's basically the same thing for residency

I want to go into primary care anyways, so although it would be nice to have an MD, when it comes to residency I don't think it will hold me back much. And no, alas, the school I am attending wouldn't be an ideal place for me to live. But heres to hoping you're right! I can't judge it before i even tried it.

 

[Im76at711]

Lol "TALK TO ME EVEN IF YOU DONT WANT ME" and "MOVE FASTER YOU DAMN MOFOS"
are not good attitudes to take into an admissions process. Wouldn't be surprised if OP is a bad interviewer

Imma try not to be an dingus back, so if I sound anything like you, forgive me. but out of 7 interviews. 1 WL, 1 rejection, 5 acceptances. Don't reckon I'm a bad interviewer.

Communication is vital for me. A rejection is a rejection, but waiting until April or May to reject me when I never stood a chance says a lot about the admissions office of the school. For the post above that said that it is only one department, that is definitely true, but it is the first department that we see. so it isn't a great first look. yea ranking schools based off of communication is not a good idea, but for some applicants like myself it is pretty important.

edit: I am playing super smash wii u so my grammar is bad.
edit2: changed a word

 

[avgn]

Imma try not to be an dingus back, so if I sound anything like you, forgive me. but out of 7 interviews. 1 WL, 1 rejection, 5 acceptances. Don't reckon I'm a bad interviewer.

Communication is vital for me. A rejection is a rejection, but waiting until April or May to reject me when I never stood a chance says a lot about the admissions office of the school. For the post above that said that it is only one department, that is definitely true, but it is the first department that we see. so it isn't a great first look. yea ranking schools based off of communication is not a good idea, but for some applicants like myself it is pretty important.

If it's a bad idea then don't post a thread that does exactly that..

 

[GrapesofRath]

One reason schools dont send out rejection letters and do silent rejections is the inevitable blowback they start getting from angry applicants and yes even parents as soon as they send out such a letter. Avoided largely if they just silent reject.

Having said this whole "do silent rejections" "never tell an applicant what our decision is" or "wait 8 months until we give a one sentence rejection email" comes down to one thing; schools do this because they can do it. Period. They do it because they have no problem getting away with it. These same schools that do silent rejections get over 9k apps a year and that number keeps growing. It sounds rather cold, but schools really dont have much incentive to keep applicants they arent interested in in the loop. If they had an incentive to, you bet they would.

You dont have to like it. Frankly there are many reasons why I could see people having a problem with it and it shows a lacking of ethics/respect/transparency etc that a school would never want to see in its grads in their line of work dealing with colleagues/patients etc but that simply is how life works. Avgn made a good point about how much harder it is to have an organized admission staff that can functionally do mass emails, keep applicants in the loop etc than people realize. Those that do it deserve credit

As cold as it sounds, the reality is schools just dont have much incentive to put that kind of time/money/effort into the applicants they arent interested in. Honestly, it shouldnt affect your general plan much; we all know if you havent heard back from a school well before today Feb 26 the odds of you getting a II from that particular school are fairly long.

 

[Affiche]

One reason schools dont send out rejection letters and do silent rejections is the inevitable blowback they start getting from angry applicants and yes even parents as soon as they send out such a letter. Avoided largely if they just silent reject.

Having said this whole "do silent rejections" "never tell an applicant what our decision is" or "wait 8 months until we give a one sentence rejection email" comes down to one thing; schools do this because they can do it. Period. They do it because they have no problem getting away with it. These same schools that do silent rejections get over 9k apps a year and that number keeps growing. It sounds rather cold, but schools really dont have much incentive to keep applicants they arent interested in in the loop.

You dont have to like it. Frankly there are many reasons why I could see people having a problem with it and it shows a lacking of ethics/respect/transparency etc that a school would never want to see in its grads in their line of work dealing with colleagues/patients etc but that simply is how life works. Avgn made a good point about how much harder it is to have an organized admission staff that can functionally do mass emails, keep applicants in the loop etc than people realize. Those that do it deserve credit

As cold as it sounds, the reality is schools just dont have much incentive to put that kind of time/money/effort into the applicants they arent interested in. Honestly, it shouldnt affect your general plan much; we all know if you havent heard back from a school well before today Feb 26 the odds of you getting a II from that particular school are fairly long.

Lol I sincerely doubt that any school refrains from sending a rejection letter because they're afraid of backlash. And who sends a single sentence rejection letter? Which schools are you referring to? My guess is that you're speaking from assumption rather than experience.

Every school has their own way of doing things.i'm sure that schools who do silent rejections do so to save time and money, though I don't agree with the practice.

Honestly, less communication isn't a bad thing. After checking portals non-stop for a month or so I became appreciative of the schools who forced me to forget about them unless I was contacted for II.

 

[NicksMD]

Just wanted to add once more that VCU is pathetic. Complete lack of professionalism.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Just wanted to add once more that VCU is pathetic. Complete lack of professionalism.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

I declined a VCU acceptance, and in the withdrawal survey I definitely mentioned the admission staff problems this year, which were a repeat of the prior year's fiasco. Don't know if it will effect change, but did use the forum to express directly to VCU that it was part of the reason for my withdrawal. Hopefully someone higher up in the administration will see it, but who knows. However, they did have a nice interview day, and the academic medical center facilities and city were nice. If I didn't have other options, I would have definitely attended VCU. But other options certainly beat out VCU.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Note: I did not get into any MD schools, so I am a bit sour about that, but I will try my best to provide facts about my experience, so you all can benefit for my experience.

UCDavis: My stats were too low for this school, so if your stats are okay and fit their pathway, go ahead and apply there. it is a great school. THUMBS UP.

George Washington: Like above, unless you have high metrics and fit their mission, I would pass over applying here. They just drag you along for too long of a time, only to reject you. Even if you survive mass rejection batches, it isn't necessarily god news. THUMBS DOWN.

Oakland: This rejection hurt, but I do give them credit for the way they handled things. They were responsive, helpful, and seemed to really care for applicants (Hell, what other schools have a interview tracker?!). I would definitely apply here if you are a decent fit! THUMBS UP.

University of Arizona-Tucson: second worst school application process. They were extremely non-responsive, vague, and irritating. Also kept us hanging for a **** ton of time. I received 4 Rejection emails lol. Also they send these "Interview Invite Update" subject lines in the emails which is the biggest dick move on their part. THUMBS WAY DOWN.

SUNY BUFFALO: Still haven't been rejected here, OOS. Zero communication from here since the beginning. If you are OOS, I wouldnt apply here. THUMBS DOWN.

Indiana University: Who? Who? WHO? Hooosiers baby! lol I applied to this school just for the **** of it. Secondary was easy, but high instate bias. At least they didn't drag us around. If you are OOS, proceed with caution, but generally thanks for the communication. THUMBS UP.

Albany Medical College: My first rejection. Their communication was decent. I was rejected really early. I apprecaite them letting me off early! THUMBS UP.

Virginia Commonwealth: They definitely haven't been the best at communication, but they also haven't been the worst. Their portal was decently helpful. Still on the thread, but doubtful at this point lol. THUMBS SIDEWAYS,

Rush Medical College: Absolute worst school I applied to. zero communication. zero updates. not reachable at all, very unclear. I was on the line for like 7 months before being rejected. I will go ahead and advise you all to definitely skip over applying here. They were God-Awful. THUMBS WAYYYYYYY DOWN.

Quinnipac: Still haven't been rejected there. not much communication. THUMBS DOWN.

Stats: Lizzy M of 69.

I hope this is helpful for you all. Feel free to add on to this list.
I will make one for DO schools a bit later.

You could accomplish the same thing, and make it easier to search by completing an MDAPPS. Check it out.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Lol I sincerely doubt that any school refrains from sending a rejection letter because they're afraid of backlash. And who sends a single sentence rejection letter? Which schools are you referring to? My guess is that you're speaking from assumption rather than experience.

Every school has their own way of doing things.i'm sure that schools who do silent rejections do so to save time and money, though I don't agree with the practice.

Honestly, less communication isn't a bad thing. After checking portals non-stop for a month or so I became appreciative of the schools who forced me to forget about them unless I was contacted for II.

There've been threads about this in the past ADCOMs have commented on and yes they have brought they up as one reason it happens. So yes I do think it is one reason. Have too many applicants and yes even parents start doing crazy things after you send out rejection letters and it'll leave a really bad memory and cause you to second guess sending those rejection letters all together

I agree with everything else in the last 2 paras largely