Not hearing back from schools

[Damson]

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This thread suggests that if you are a premed spending 4 years learning the sciences, the majority of which will never be used medical school, it may be in your best interests to learn a tradeable skill during those fourth years, and/or prepare an application profile compatible with medicine as well as allied health/research/anything, so that you have options.

 

[jack326]

This is an egregious misunderstanding of what it means to be an applicant.

The financial costs to applying alone mean that just by virtue of applying, you end up worse off than you were before you did. This is only (theoretically) alleviated if you get an acceptance. Even though the majority of the pre-med and medical communities are extremely well-off, the cost is still absurd even for them; applicants are encouraged to apply to around 15+ schools, which results in thousands of dollars of fees.

Not only this, but the opportunity cost to applying is incredible steep as well. Not only are applicants unable to commit to many serious opportunities (as described above), but when advising applicants, people always say that they should be working on their application during the season as if they are going to be rejected. This always includes things like, "take classes to improve your GPA", "study for/retake the MCAT", "volunteer more", "get more research experience", "get more experience working in the medical field". All of these either 1) directly cost a lot of money, 2) take time away from making money or committing to any kind of serious career or academic advancement, or 3) keep an applicant stuck in a job/other position that isn't fruitful as a meaningful long-term option should medical school fail as an option.

The entire process of applying to medical school asks applicants to sink an incredible amount of money and time into the process that gets you basically nothing if you fail to get into medical school. It's a massive risk for an all-or-nothing reward. That can hardly be construed as "losing nothing" if you get rejected.

 

[Talldoctor96]

This thread suggests that if you are a premed spending 4 years learning the sciences, the majority of which will never be used medical school, it may be in your best interests to learn a tradeable skill during those fourth years, and/or prepare an application profile compatible with medicine as well as allied health/research/anything, so that you have options.

I use science I learned in college the first time ALL the time. Having a strong underground foundation has been critical to my success. One of the hardest things about med school is they cover the basics in ONE slide IF YOURE lucky.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Medical schools expect a lot of professionalism from applicants to turn around and:

1) Advertise their ****ty masters program in rejection letters, or even encourage applicants to consider other career paths
2) Send secondaries to applicants that they will never even consider because $$$
3) Straight up ghost people
4) Send emails with subjects “You are invited” for it to be an invitation to some ****ty info session that no one cares about.
5) Accidently accept or reject people because of a computer error
6) Absolutely fail at recruiting actually diverse classes.

 

[LizzyM]

Medical schools expect a lot of professionalism from applicants to turn around and:


5) Accidently accept or reject people because of a computer error

Those of you who are new around here might not know of the fiasco in 2019 or early 2020 when Mayo accidentally admitted everyone. It was a hot day in Rochester despite the bitter cold.

 

[msssjuicybabayy]

Not to resurrect this thread...but...I hear some people are able to get refunds from schools that have ghosted them? Is this true and how does one do that 👀 (out of curiosity lol)

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Not to resurrect this thread...but...I hear some people are able to get refunds from schools that have ghosted them? Is this true and how does one do that 👀 (out of curiosity lol)

N=1 but I’ve heard that this is only true if it is clear that a school didn’t even make an effort (ex. Uchicago rejecting some people <24 hours after submitting.)

Even then, it’s not like there’s a legal basis for the refund (arguable that reasonable consideration is implied when an application is submitted and paid for) but some schools don’t want any bad press

 

[KnightDoc]

N=1 but I’ve heard that this is only true if it is clear that a school didn’t even make an effort (ex. Uchicago rejecting some people <24 hours after submitting.)

Even then, it’s not like there’s a legal basis for the refund (arguable that reasonable consideration is implied when an application is submitted and paid for) but some schools don’t want any bad press

I haven't even heard of it then. Do you have a source?

You pay to have your application considered. Not for any specific level of review. Period. If Chicago runs an application against an internal screen and it generates an auto-R, that's your consideration, you got exactly what you paid for, and you're done.

Who actually refunds non-refundable application fees when applicants are unhappy with the depth of review they received before a rejection? If this was actually a thing, schools would avoid it merely by holding onto the auto-Rs for a few weeks. Or months, as most of them already do. 😎

I had a hard enough time getting a refund from one school when its system glitched and double billed me. I can't believe schools would worry about bad press and start refunding unhappy people who were not entitled to a refund.

 

[DoctorFate]

I haven't even heard of it then. Do you have a source?

You pay to have your application considered. Not for any specific level of review. Period. If Chicago runs an application against an internal screen and it generates an auto-R, that's your consideration, you got exactly what you paid for, and you're done.

Who actually refunds non-refundable application fees when applicants are unhappy with the depth of review they received before a rejection? If this was actually a thing, schools would avoid it merely by holding onto the auto-Rs for a few weeks. Or months, as most of them already do. 😎

I had a hard enough time getting a refund from one school when its system glitched and double billed me. I can't believe schools would worry about bad press and start refunding unhappy people who were not entitled to a refund.

I wonder what medical schools do for chargebacks.

 

[KnightDoc]

I wonder what medical schools do for chargebacks.

????? Either let it go or push back. I'm pretty sure most merchants do respond when the bank pulls the money back, and there is no reason to think med schools would act any differently.

I wouldn't screw around with it for $100. Legally, the claim wouldn't be viable, and it would be very simple for the school to justify the charge and win the dispute if it chose to fight, since the fee is clearly non-refundable and they are literally obligated to do nothing other than receive our application.

More importantly, it's a very small world and a pretty small amount of money, so why risk being accused of acting unethically and having it come back to bite you in the future? The whole process sucks and is totally stacked against us. Trying to snatch back a non-refundable fee because we don't like the level of review or the result is a little over the top for me, and I have been pretty vocal in my disdain for the way many schools abuse their power in the sellers' market.

I wouldn't wonder and wouldn't dare do it. I didn't spend any money on this that I needed that badly, and wouldn't want to worry about the consequences. I felt badly enough about hounding the office for my refund when they double charged me! 🙂

 

[DoctorFate]

????? Either let it go or push back. I'm pretty sure most merchants do respond when the bank pulls the money back, and there is no reason to think med schools would act any differently.

I wouldn't screw around with it for $100. Legally, the claim wouldn't be viable, and it would be very simple for the school to justify the charge and win the dispute if it chose to fight, since the fee is clearly non-refundable and they are literally obligated to do nothing other than receive our application.

More importantly, it's a very small world and a pretty small amount of money, so why risk being accused of acting unethically and having it come back to bite you in the future? The whole process sucks and is totally stacked against us. Trying to snatch back a non-refundable fee because we don't like the level of review or the result is a little over the top for me, and I have been pretty vocal in my disdain for the way many schools abuse their power in the sellers' market.

I wouldn't wonder and wouldn't dare do it. I didn't spend any money on this that I needed that badly, and wouldn't want to worry about the consequences. I felt badly enough about hounding the office for my refund when they double charged me! 🙂

Pointless to ask. Why play around and mess up your reputation as an honest applicant? Will give you a bad rep at that school. If anyone is that crunched for medical school app funds there are fee waivers available for those that need it.

LOL you guys took this way too seriously haha. I was DEFINITELY not recommending doing it, it just crossed my mind. Like if you interview at 10/40 schools, and then just do chargebacks for the other 30 what could they even do lol. Tell the other 10? They don't even now which 10! It was more funny than anything haha. Usually merchants just block all future transactions with you post-chargeback... really wouldn't matter if a med school blocked future costs after rejection.

 

[DoctorFate]

But why ponder pointless scenarios when you have more important things to worry about?

uh... idk about you but I'm kinda chillin rn lol. Have time to think of multiple things at once... Was wondering if anyone had ever even tried that and what happened cause the thought of it was funny

 

[DoctorFate]

You are right. I am not chilling probably won't be until next year... It is a shame that all my interviews don't release decisions until much later in the cycle. Guess SDN's neuroticism just irritates me sometimes given the fact that most of us normal applicants don't really have time to ponder about pushing back against every little thing we found unfair in the cycle.

It wasn't even neuroticism, it was just a curiosity. It took about a second to think of and another three seconds to type, idk why u keep bringing up the time commitment here it's kind of irrelevant haha.

I am sorry that it may be a little longer until you find out your decision. However, I'm happy you at least have some interviews and I'm sure you will have done well! Last cycle, my final decision came in August, so I certainly understand the frustration of the waiting game. But persevere, and I'm certain you will succeed.

 

[msssjuicybabayy]

It wasn't even neuroticism, it was just a curiosity. It took about a second to think of and another three seconds to type, idk why u keep bringing up the time commitment here it's kind of irrelevant haha.

I am sorry that it may be a little longer until you find out your decision. However, I'm happy you at least have some interviews and I'm sure you will have done well! Last cycle, my final decision came in August, so I certainly understand the frustration of the waiting game. But persevere, and I'm certain you will succeed.

.

 

[DoctorFate]

LOL we were asking a harmless question out of curiosity and somehow it turns into "I don't have time to think about such silly things!" SDN is truly the worst

haha, tensions are high. I've learned to stop reading into it. If you really want a laugh, I gotta show you one of my older posts. If I find it, will send. It was a stunner.