Open Letter to ADCOMs

[LifetimeDoc]

After going through an application cycle, and thankfully accepted to one of my top choices, I wanted to comment on the admissions process a little bit.

Dear ADCOMs of American Allopathic Medical Schools,

Would it kill you to write a semi-detailed letter when rejecting us? I mean, we spend ~$100 on each application, spend hours toiling over our essays specifically written for your school, fill out myriads of forms, and put ourselves out there to be judged by you. Of course you say that you carefully review our applications, but why can't you at least tell us why you rejected us?

Of all the rejection letters I received, not one was written specifically about me other than to insert my name and address at the top. They were all form letters written to be as vague as possible as to not hurt ones feelings about being rejected, but gave absolutely no insight into what deficiencies led to the rejection. Why not include a form with tick-boxes where the ADCOM, that obviously toiled over our application for hours , could let us know that we needed to improve our GPA, MCAT, maybe consider other LOR writers, get more clinical experience, etc.?

After coming out of this experience, I can say that I have found just one or two schools that I applied to that would take the time to help students with their applications. I know that you are all busy, and that you get many applications. But, I feel that we are all treated like numbers until which time we receive an interview. If this is how we want our future doctors to treat patients, then you are doing a bang up job.

Sincerely,
A 2007 Applicant.

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[Ephesus]

You may not want the real reason: it could turn into a legal problem. It's not suppose to happen, but it does. So they can't really be candor to what you'd like.

 

[deuce924]

I know you can go to some medical schools after the application cycle and speak with the Adcoms. Of the stories I've heard, all were happy to help applicants figure out why they got rejected and how they can fix the problem.

 

[postbacker]

In these litigious times, no med school is going to put in writing why a specific applicant was rejected. Some evidently are happy to talk to rejected applicants about their situation and offer advice, but I doubt if most med schools have the time or interest to do that, either.

Personally, I don't think they owe anyone a specific explanation and I cannot imagine asking for one, either.

 

[Madame]

After going through an application cycle, and thankfully accepted to one of my top choices, I wanted to comment on the admissions process a little bit.

Dear ADCOMs of American Allopathic Medical Schools,

Would it kill you to write a semi-detailed letter when rejecting us?...

At many schools, that would require 3,000+ personalized, semi-detailed letters as to why a given applicant didn't get an interivew. Don't hold your breath.

 

[BC7106]

I think part of the problem is also that there may not be a specific reason why you were rejected. There are just too many good applicants to medical school these days and there isn't enough space to accept all of them.

Plus I would think that it would be very labor intensive to write explanations for all the rejections (there must be thousands of them)

Check out my blog if you want to get a sense of what it's like to be a medical student/intern. It might help you with your application. http://drbyron.blogspot.com

 

[3dee]

Imagine what would happened if in the letter it said that you got rejected for a low GPA but your friend gets into a school with an even lower GPA and similar/worse stats...... people would start complaining and it would be a great headache for the schools...

but youre right....the least they can do is let us know something!