Pressure to commit to a school?

[OncDoc19]

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Well of course I haven't encountered this yet because I haven't yet received an acceptance but I did receive a not from a program director today that brought up an interesting question. I will not hear about the status of my application till after the PhD department reviews my application. However, the director said that I should contact him if I receive pressure to firmly commit to another school before hearing back from his school if I am more interested in his school. My question is - do schools really pressure applicants like that?

 

[j-weezy]

Well of course I haven't encountered this yet because I haven't yet received an acceptance but I did receive a not from a program director today that brought up an interesting question. I will not hear about the status of my application till after the PhD department reviews my application. However, the director said that I should contact him if I receive pressure to firmly commit to another school before hearing back from his school if I am more interested in his school. My question is - do schools really pressure applicants like that?

This came up at Penn as well....some schools want you to commit during March or April and this is understandable - they have people on waitlists dying to get in...BUT you should be able to hear from all schools before making a decision one way or another

 

[Inuranic]

I keep being told this by one of my schools as well ("tell us if you need us to make a decision"). I'm amused by this, as it's December.

 

[LunderKind]

I was just accepted into a program, and the director said they would like a decision by the end of next week.

Does anyone know if there are any rules about schools pressuring applicants to make decisions before the AMCAS deadline? I feel that I should be able to attend my revisits and thoroughly consider my options, and if a school really wants me to join their program, they should be willing to give me sufficient time. Really one week???

 

[solumanculver]

I was just accepted into a program, and the director said they would like a decision by the end of next week.

Does anyone know if there are any rules about schools pressuring applicants to make decisions before the AMCAS deadline? I feel that I should be able to attend my revisits and thoroughly consider my options, and if a school really wants me to join their program, they should be willing to give me sufficient time. Really one week???

Well, the school has no power to enforce any commitment that you might make. Just tell him that you'll come, and then go to all your interview revisits. Later on, you can pick whatever school you want.

It's just the same when you get an acceptance in the mail, they want some special note that says you'll go... but that's not binding, you just revoke it when you get into another place. It sucks that you have to lead your own program on about your ultimate decision, but when you get into a better place I think that their feelings will be the last thing on your mind.

 

[j-weezy]

Well, the school has no power to enforce any commitment that you might make. Just tell him that you'll come, and then go to all your interview revisits. Later on, you can pick whatever school you want.

It's just the same when you get an acceptance in the mail, they want some special note that says you'll go... but that's not binding, you just revoke it when you get into another place. It sucks that you have to lead your own program on about your ultimate decision, but when you get into a better place I think that their feelings will be the last thing on your mind.

I don't think that's appropriate...

If Wisconsin is currently at the top of your list of schools you've been accepted to, tell them that. However, you should also tell them that you want to make an informed decision about where you'll spend the next 8 years and that may require hearing from more schools and going to second looks at other schools.

Honestly, they can't force you to commit yet and what they're doing is wrong...

 

[Ariodant]

Will they not send you an acceptance letter if you don't committ in a legally binding way within a week?

If yes, then you know they are not worth considering.

If no, then the pressure is off. Unless you did something that allows the school to take back its decision under AMCAS rules (lied on your application, committed a murder recently, etc.), they cannot do anything to revoke your acceptance if you refuse to comply with their early deadline, which is against the AMCAS rules anyway.

 

[gbwillner]

Will they not send you an acceptance letter if you don't committ in a legally binding way within a week?

If yes, then you know they are not worth considering.

If no, then the pressure is off. Unless you did something that allows the school to take back its decision under AMCAS rules (lied on your application, committed a murder recently, etc.), they cannot do anything to revoke your acceptance if you refuse to comply with their early deadline, which is against the AMCAS rules anyway.

Wait until you get to residency applications. For some residencies, programs will tell you that they want you, but that you need to tell them that you're goin gto rank them first...

 

[Ariodant]

Wait until you get to residency applications. For some residencies, programs will tell you that they want you, but that you need to tell them that you're goin gto rank them first...

This is ok with me as long as they stick to their words and don't dump me after I ranked them first...

 

[LunderKind]

Well, the school has no power to enforce any commitment that you might make. Just tell him that you'll come, and then go to all your interview revisits. Later on, you can pick whatever school you want.

It's just the same when you get an acceptance in the mail, they want some special note that says you'll go... but that's not binding, you just revoke it when you get into another place. It sucks that you have to lead your own program on about your ultimate decision, but when you get into a better place I think that their feelings will be the last thing on your mind.

Thanks, but I don't think this will quite work in my circumstance. I wasn't really being asked for just a decision, but sort of asked for a "yes" and withdraw from every other school...

Will they not send you an acceptance letter if you don't committ in a legally binding way within a week?

This is what I don't know at the moment. If I don't receive a letter of acceptance by mid-next week, I am certainly asking for one.

I've actually gotten some helpful information today, about AMCAS traffic rules, which I think will help me in approaching this situation next week. Basically, any applicant during this time period should be required a minimum of two weeks to make a decison on an acceptance and should be allowed to hold as many acceptances as he/she wants until the April or May 15th deadline. Link here http://www.aamc.org/students/applying/policies/admissionofficers.htm in case anyone else finds themselves in similar circumstances.

Thanks for all of the responses! I think I'll be able to work this out!