Originally posted by SnudgeMuffin:
•1. If you apply for the second time without getting accepted anywhere the first time, does it diminish your chance of getting in?
2. If you get into a medical school and defer a year, then try to apply to other schools the following year, would that work?
3. Am I just paranoid?
•••
1. no, but realize that you didn't get in the first time for a reason. you need to fix those reasons (i.e. take more classes to raise your GPA, retake the MCAT, get more volunteer experience--whatever your situation is) before you will be successful as a reapplicant. it's said that applying to a school more than once shows perseverance and dedication (someone else mentioned this) but from what i understand it's pretty negligible in admissions--adcoms know that you're reapplying to more than one school. for the most part, you have a clean slate when you reapply. i'm a second-time applicant and already have an acceptance to a school that didn't even interview me the first time, so it can be done.
2. you are not allowed to do this without forfeiting your acceptance to the school you've deferred at, as someone else mentioned. you sign a contract when you defer that obligates you to attend that school, and you are not allowed to file a new AMCAS if you are holding an acceptance. everything in med school admission is handled by the AAMC, so it will be known that you're holding an acceptance--you can't 'hide' it and reapply.
3. no, you're not paranoid, but it's a good thing you asked before you actually did this.
good luck!