Re-applying with a prior med school acceptance

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If you were accepted to a DO school, can you re apply MD? Lets say your app gets a lot stronger in the year you are applying. Would you have a lot of explaining to do?
 
Pretty sure that MD schools don't see DO acceptances. But, i think you'd be crazy to turn down the DO acceptance. What if you don't get in the MD program the second time around? If you then try a third time and go DO that time as well, they're going to see that you turned down the DO school earlier which would not be good... To say the least.

Edit: Why would you turn down the DO acceptance? You wanna be a doctor, right?
 
If you were accepted to a DO school, can you re apply MD? Lets say your app gets a lot stronger in the year you are applying. Would you have a lot of explaining to do?

Why did u even apply DO or apply anywhere you were not willing to attend. That just sounds dumb to me. Unless you really learned about something you really disliked I the interview.
 
Well I want to be a physician but I don't want to be faced with bias all my life. It's not a job that you can just change in two years, it's a career that stays with you
 
Well I want to be a physician but I don't want to be faced with bias all my life. It's not a job that you can just change in two years, it's a career that stays with you
Right...but those are factors which you ABSOLUTELY should have weighed BEFORE applying DO.
Applying DO when you weren't planning to go if accepted was a poor decision, and demonstrates poor foresight, planning, financial sense, and commitment. You may have a shot...but you'll be applying MD with an app that didn't get you in last year, whatever improvements you make in the intervening time, and a glaring "also I make poor decisions" sticker on top (if you disclose your DO acceptance or it gets discovered).
 
Well I want to be a physician but I don't want to be faced with bias all my life. It's not a job that you can just change in two years, it's a career that stays with you
There is no guarantee that you will get any acceptances when you reapply. Would you rather be a DO physician that has to work around some bias, or risk not being a physician at all?

In any case, there are DOs who match into extremely competitive specialties like ophthalmology, neurosurgery, and dermatology, so any bias that exists is not insurmountable.
 
Well I want to be a physician but I don't want to be faced with bias all my life. It's not a job that you can just change in two years, it's a career that stays with you

Let me ask the obvious...why would you bother applying to DO school if you didn't want to go?

As others have mentioned, if you snub them now, and end up not getting into MD later, you'll be facing an uphill battle getting ANOTHER acceptance to DO after that snub...

you didnt think this through very well did you?
 
If you were accepted to a DO school, can you re apply MD? Lets say your app gets a lot stronger in the year you are applying. Would you have a lot of explaining to do?


Why the heck did you even apply to DO schools then? As a cardio fellow who is a DO let me just tell you this....the bias that exists is blown out of proportion on SDN. There is definitely bias I am not one of those that is going to try to convince you other wise but its not bad.

The caveat is if you want to go to Harvard, etc then you better be at a top MD school to but you didn't get in so the chance of that happening is slim to none.
 
Well I want to be a physician but I don't want to be faced with bias all my life. It's not a job that you can just change in two years, it's a career that stays with you

The MD vs DO bias is not large, and it is shrinking, especially with the merger that is happening. By the time you are an attending, the bias will probably be minimal or nil. If you didn't want to be a DO, you shouldn't have applied to DO schools.
 
Yeah I haven't applied yet. Just was asking a hypothetical. But thank you for the responses
 
Apply to DO schools. Get an acceptance. Defer and reapply to MD schools. If you get MD take MD. If not, you'll have the DO acceptance.
 
If OP runs into this scenario, it won't be uphill....it's the kiss of death for any hope of getting into any DO school.

As others have mentioned, if you snub them now, and end up not getting into MD later, you'll be facing an uphill battle getting ANOTHER acceptance to DO after that snub...

Apparently not.

you didnt think this through very well did you?
 
Apply to DO schools. Get an acceptance. Defer and reapply to MD schools. If you get MD take MD. If not, you'll have the DO acceptance.

Can you always defer? Or does there have to be an extenuating circumstance?
 
Can you always defer? Or does there have to be an extenuating circumstance?

This varies from school to school. Some schools have relatively (and I use that very loosely) lax policies while others will require you to have a pretty damn good reason to defer. A deferral is by no means guaranteed. In this case, a deferral will almost certainly not be granted just so that you can apply to medical school again.
 
And even if you manage to get a deferral for something else, such as Peace Corps or TFA, most (maybe even all?) med schools do not allow you to apply to other medical schools while you are holding a deferral. You will have to give up your seat in order to apply elsewhere.
 
And even if you manage to get a deferral for something else, such as Peace Corps or TFA, most (maybe even all?) med schools do not allow you to apply to other medical schools while you are holding a deferral. You will have to give up your seat in order to apply elsewhere.

You do not have to give up the seat. Stop spreading misinformation.
 
You do not have to give up the seat. Stop spreading misinformation.

Yes you do:

University of Wisconsin
Deferred applicants will sign a contract that obligates the applicant to enter the UWSOM the following year and in which the applicant agrees not to apply to any other medical school.

Boston University
The applicant is expected to provide a written commitment to attend as scheduled and to refrain from applying to other medical schools.

University of Utah
Making application to another medical school during the period of deferment will result in withdrawal of the initial offer of acceptance and loss of position at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
You will not seek admission to another medical school during the period of your deferment.

New York Medical College
Deferred students cannot apply to other medical schools during their deferral year.

You are the one spreading misinformation. And even if you were right, deferrals aren't meant for reapplying. They are meant for a) taking time off to get around a serious personal issue like a major illness or a death in the family or b) to enrich one's understanding of medicine by doing something like a Fullbright or Peace Corps or health policy internship at the DHHS.

Albert Einstein
Such requests may be considered only if during the deferral year the student will be involved either in completing coursework leading to a degree, a specified research project, or a clinical activity in which he/she will receive a better understanding and appreciation for the delivery of healthcare. No other proposals qualify for deferral.

Johns Hopkins
The Deferral Committee will consider requests individually and will typically grant deferrals for research, academic programs (graduate studies, scholarship) or service programs.

University of Wisconsin
Matriculation deferrals will be considered for educational and medical reasons only.

This is actually very good advice.
Absolutely not.
 
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Yes you do:

University of Wisconsin


Boston University


University of Utah


University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston


New York Medical College


You are the one spreading misinformation. And even if you were right, deferrals aren't meant for reapplying. They are meant for a) taking time off to get around a serious personal issue like a major illness or the death of the family or b) to enrich one's understanding of medicine by doing something like a Fullbright or Peace Corps or health policy internship at the DHHS.

Albert Einstein


Johns Hopkins


University of Wisconsin



Absolutely not.


Listen Pre-Med. AACOMAS and AMCAS do not communicate with each other. If you hold a DO acceptance and are able to secure a legitimate deferral (Peace Corp/NIH/FDA/TFA etc.), you have every right to apply to MD programs and/or other degree programs (MBA/PA/PhD etc.). You can do whatever you want to do. It will be your choice to turn down the acceptance after the deferral year. Same thing for MD schools (Have the right to apply to DO programs)

These schools that you quoted refer to re-applying to another MD school during the deferral year while holding an acceptance. For example, if I deferred my acceptance and applied to another MD school through AMCAS that would be grounds for losing the seat.
 
Listen Pre-Med.
You're a premed too. Just being accepted into medical school doesn't make you a medical student. I'm also accepted to med school, BTW.

If you hold a DO acceptance and are able to secure a legitimate deferral (Peace Corp/NIH/FDA/TFA etc.), you have every right to apply to MD programs and/or other degree programs (MBA/PA/PhD etc.). You can do whatever you want to do. It will be your choice to turn down the acceptance after the deferral year. Same thing for MD schools (Have the right to apply to DO programs)
Show me this in writing. Because it sounds like a lot of speculation, and if OP takes your advice and it turns out that your speculation is wrong, things could backfire catastrophically.

These schools that you quoted refer to re-applying to another MD school during the deferral year while holding an acceptance. For example, if I deferred my acceptance and applied to another MD school through AMCAS that would be grounds for losing the seat.
Nowhere in any of those statements was "MD" mentioned. It just said medical school.

AACOMAS and AMCAS do not communicate with each other.
Even if there isn't any automatic communication between AMCAS and AACOMAS, I'd imagine that if you drop your DO deferral to go to an MD school, the dean of said DO school would be fuming, and would probably take the time to write an angry letter to AMCAS explaining the situation.

EDIT: And this whole idea of holding onto a deferral to reapply is inherent dishonest, as Ismet said. Just because you can get away with something, doesn't mean you should do it.
 
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It would be extremely foolish and a waste of time and money to apply to DO schools with the mentality that you will then defer and apply to MD schools the following year. If your heart is set on MD and only MD, take that year and the money you would spend on the first application cycle to improve your application so that you only have to apply once. Even if the MD schools can't see your DO acceptance or the DO school can't see that you're applying MD, it's still a pretty dishonest and shady way to go about things, especially if you didn't want to go to the DO school in the first place.
 
You're a premed too. Just being accepted into medical school doesn't make you a medical student. I'm also accepted to med school, BTW.


Show me this in writing. Because it sounds like a lot of speculation, and if OP takes your advice and it turns out that your speculation is wrong, things could backfire catastrophically. Nowhere in any of those statements was "MD" mentioned. It just said medical school. And even if there isn't any automatic communication between AMCAS and AACOMAS, I'd imaging that if you drop your DO deferral to apply to med school, the dean of said DO school would be fuming, and he'd probably take the time to write an angry letter to AMCAS or directly to the MD school in question.

You're not making any sense.
 
I edited my post. Hopefully it's clearer now.

EspadaLeader is correct. AACOMAS and AMCAS do not communicate at all. There are previous posts even stating that students at DO schools started there and then a week later will get off the waitlist at an MD and drop out of the DO school to attend the MD school.

Even if the dean wrote a "fuming" letter, it won't do anything because the student can just say they had a change in heart with the philosophy of osteopathy and can pretty much talk their way out of it. The MD schools wouldn't rescind him/her just for not going to the DO school. It's a slightly different curriculum and a different degree.
 
EspadaLeader is correct. AACOMAS and AMCAS do not communicate at all.
I am well aware.

There are previous posts even stating that students at DO schools started there and then a week later will get off the waitlist at an MD and drop out of the DO school to attend the MD school.
Getting off a waitlist is an entirely different situation. It is expected that many accepted students will also be on waitlists and both AMCAS and AACOMAS explicitly allow this. On the other hand, most schools explicitly forbid applying to other medical schools while you are holding a deferred acceptance. How could the difference be any clearer?

Even if the dean wrote a "fuming" letter, it won't do anything because the student can just say they had a change in heart with the philosophy of osteopathy and can pretty much talk their way out of it. The MD schools wouldn't rescind him/her just for not going to the DO school. It's a slightly different curriculum and a different degree.
Even if you're right, this is where the notion of integrity comes in. The spirit of the deferral guidelines are clear: If you absolutely don't want to go DO, you shouldn't defer. Instead, you should decline the acceptance. Just because you can get away with deferring and reapplying, it doesn't make it the right thing to do.

I wonder what @Goro thinks about this whole defer and reapply idea.
 
If you were accepted to a DO school, can you re apply MD? Lets say your app gets a lot stronger in the year you are applying. Would you have a lot of explaining to do?


Cole Smalls????
 
I am well aware.


It should be obvious that getting off a waitlist is completely different situation. It is expected that many accepted students will also be on waitlists and both AMCAS and AACOMAS explicitly allow this. On the other hand, most schools explicitly forbid applying to other medical schools while you are holding a deferred acceptance. How could the difference be any clearer?


Even if you're right, this is where the notion of integrity comes in. The spirit of the deferral guidelines are clear: If you absolutely don't want to go DO, you shouldn't defer. Instead, you should decline the acceptance. Just because you can get away with deferring and reapplying, it doesn't make it the right thing to do.

Fair enough. I was only making the waitlist scenario as an example of AACOMAS and AMCAS having no communication.

Just because something is possible doesn't mean it's the RIGHT thing to do. The point is that this is a possible option for the OP. My belief for the reasoning that MD schools won't care is because MD schools really don't pay attention to DO schools, as if they are separate professional degrees entirely.
 
I am well aware.


Getting off a waitlist is an entirely different situation. It is expected that many accepted students will also be on waitlists and both AMCAS and AACOMAS explicitly allow this. On the other hand, most schools explicitly forbid applying to other medical schools while you are holding a deferred acceptance. How could the difference be any clearer?


Even if you're right, this is where the notion of integrity comes in. The spirit of the deferral guidelines are clear: If you absolutely don't want to go DO, you shouldn't defer. Instead, you should decline the acceptance. Just because you can get away with deferring and reapplying, it doesn't make it the right thing to do.

I wonder what @Goro thinks about this whole defer and reapply idea.

Oh wait. If you get accepted to a DO school and then decline the acceptance, is that still documented as an "acceptance to medical school?"

The only reason I would even contemplate that is if over the course of the year, I have no luck with MD and am unhappy going to a DO school. That may not even be true, but I just want to know if there is a chance you can decline an acceptance and then re apply. It also saves me a potential year and time is money.
 
Oh wait. If you get accepted to a DO school and then decline the acceptance, is that still documented as an "acceptance to medical school?"

The only reason I would even contemplate that is if over the course of the year, I have no luck with MD and am unhappy going to a DO school. That may not even be true, but I just want to know if there is a chance you can decline an acceptance and then re apply. It also saves me a potential year and time is money.

Can you decline a DO acceptance and reapply MD? You can, but one would wonder why you even applied DO in the first place. The MD schools will not know that you were accepted to a DO school, if that's what you're asking.

Can you decline a DO acceptance and reapply DO? You can, but you're not going to get accepted the 2nd time around.
 
Oh wait. If you get accepted to a DO school and then decline the acceptance, is that still documented as an "acceptance to medical school?"

The only reason I would even contemplate that is if over the course of the year, I have no luck with MD and am unhappy going to a DO school. That may not even be true, but I just want to know if there is a chance you can decline an acceptance and then re apply. It also saves me a potential year and time is money.
Right, but you're also gambling away your option to ever reapply DO if your 2nd round of MD apps doesn't pan out.
 
Right...but those are factors which you ABSOLUTELY should have weighed BEFORE applying DO.
Applying DO when you weren't planning to go if accepted was a poor decision, and demonstrates poor foresight, planning, financial sense, and commitment. You may have a shot...but you'll be applying MD with an app that didn't get you in last year, whatever improvements you make in the intervening time, and a glaring "also I make poor decisions" sticker on top (if you disclose your DO acceptance or it gets discovered).

I disagree. He would have applied to the same MD schools, and was not accepted to the same MD schools. He was, on the other hand, accepted to a DO school he interviewed at.

Post DO acceptance, he is having second thoughts, and is not comfortable with the decision, which is personal for him.

One time, I was hired to wash dishes. I however, did not take the job. But, I would have if circumstances did not change for me. Make sense? It was not poor foresight for me to apply to wash dishes, it was something I considered doing if it came to that.

You can not hold your DO spot and defer for a year, while trying to gain an MD acceptance. You need to let it go, or go ahead and matriculate.

Personally, I would do what I felt best for me personally. Your mileage may vary.

Oh wait. If you get accepted to a DO school and then decline the acceptance, is that still documented as an "acceptance to medical school?"

The only reason I would even contemplate that is if over the course of the year, I have no luck with MD and am unhappy going to a DO school. That may not even be true, but I just want to know if there is a chance you can decline an acceptance and then re apply. It also saves me a potential year and time is money.

If you decline, you will have to admit being accepted but not matriculating.

If you re-apply MD, you should be OK. You you re-apply DO, you should not be OK.
 
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I disagree. He would have applied to the same MD schools, and was not accepted to the same MD schools. He was, on the other hand, accepted to a DO school he interviewed at.

Post DO acceptance, he is having second thoughts, and is not comfortable with the decision, which is personal for him.

One time, I was hired to wash dishes. I however, did not take the job. But, I would have if circumstances did not change for me. Make sense? It was not poor foresight for me to apply to wash dishes, it was something I considered doing if it came to that.

You can not hold your DO spot and defer for a year, while trying to gain an MD acceptance. You need to let it go, or go ahead and matriculate.

Personally, I would do what I felt best for me personally. Your mileage may vary.



If you decline, you will have to admit being accepted but not matriculating.

If you re-apply MD, you should be OK. You you re-apply DO, you should not be OK.
Circumstances didn't change, though. DO is still DO. The only thing that changes over the course of the app season is that OP would actually do the considering and weighing that they should do NOW, at the beginning of the season, before applying.
Whether or not you are willing to go DO is a difficult decision...however, it is one better made before applying rather than after pulling the trigger. OP should stop dickering around over it, because the decision won't get easier. At some point you've got to make a choice and stick to it.
By applying DO and then declining admission, OP would essentially leave himself without a backup option for any future app cycles they go through, which is just plain stupid. They are throwing away the chance to go DO over, what...3 more months of not having to make a decision yet? Are they really that indecisive?

However, your example is not very fitting anyway because
a) it does not cost money to apply to wash dishes
b) you are not going to have a worse chance at washing dishes at Olive Garden if you previously turned down a job washing dishes at Chili's
c) If you turned down a job washing dishes, you still displayed poor planning, because you applied for a job you did not want, and you wasted the hiring manager's time.
 
Circumstances didn't change, though. DO is still DO. The only thing that changes over the course of the app season is that OP would actually do the considering and weighing that they should do NOW, at the beginning of the season, before applying.
Whether or not you are willing to go DO is a difficult decision...however, it is one better made before applying rather than after pulling the trigger. OP should stop dickering around over it, because the decision won't get easier. At some point you've got to make a choice and stick to it.
By applying DO and then declining admission, OP would essentially leave himself without a backup option for any future app cycles they go through, which is just plain stupid. They are throwing away the chance to go DO over, what...3 more months of not having to make a decision yet? Are they really that indecisive?

However, your example is not very fitting anyway because
a) it does not cost money to apply to wash dishes
b) you are not going to have a worse chance at washing dishes at Olive Garden if you previously turned down a job washing dishes at Chili's
c) If you turned down a job washing dishes, you still displayed poor planning, because you applied for a job you did not want, and you wasted the hiring manager's time.

I disagree. This is the real world. Applying to a DO school is not a commitment to matriculate, despite your belief, and despite the cost/time it entails. The cost is irrelevant. The OP is talking about a decision that will affect the rest of his life, and it is one which should not be taken lightly, and it is one that might take a long time to decide. Interviewing at a school is an opportunity, not a commitment. Signing the contract is the commitment.

In the real world, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get by, and to get what you want. Being a Pre-Med, I don't think you can talk on this subject more to me.

There are always back ups, such as research, post-bac, graduate school, etc. Putting two years of additional work to get to what you want out of life, rather than settling for unhappiness for the rest of your life is pretty minuscule, wouldn't you agree?

At some point the OP will make a decision. Let him make the one he is most comfortable with.

Oh by the way, I like your critique of the washing dishes example. Spot on. (No pun).
 
There is no breach of integrity here by deferring and applying to something else. I know people that found a legitimate reason to defer and applied to Ph.D/MD/Graduate School or just held the acceptance. They wanted to know if DO was right for them. There is nothing wrong with that.

Listen, medical school is a 250,000 dollar investment. It is wise to make sure that you are all in before you matriculate. Its crazy scary. You want to make sure that its the right choice.
 
There is no breach of integrity here by deferring and applying to something else. I know people that found a legitimate reason to defer and applied to Ph.D/MD/Graduate School or just held the acceptance. They wanted to know if DO was right for them. There is nothing wrong with that.

Listen, medical school is a 250,000 dollar investment. It is wise to make sure that you are all in before you matriculate. Its crazy scary. You want to make sure that its the right choice.

Depends. I highly doubt in requesting a deferral the OP (or anyone else for that matter) would tell a school they're deferring to reapply, much less have any success in doing so. The fact that people have to come up with an alternative "legitimate" reason to defer for the purpose of reapplying tells me that it's sketchy.

I don't really care one way or another what people do, but yeah, I don't think it's right for a person to ask an institution to hold a spot for them when their every intention is to get out of that spot. It's dishonest and puts the institution in a ****ty position to scramble to find someone to fill that spot.
 
I disagree. This is the real world. Applying to a DO school is not a commitment to matriculate, despite your belief, and despite the cost/time it entails.

Applying to a DO is not, in fact, a commitment to matriculate. But telling a school, "hey, I'm planning on being a student here" and then saying "hey, I've got 'something' I want to do for a year, any chance you can hold my spot?" is indirectly making a commitment to that school. Why would you defer if you had no intention of going there? That doesn't even make sense. You would just withdraw.
 
There is no breach of integrity here by deferring and applying to something else. I know people that found a legitimate reason to defer and applied to Ph.D/MD/Graduate School or just held the acceptance. They wanted to know if DO was right for them. There is nothing wrong with that.

Listen, medical school is a 250,000 dollar investment. It is wise to make sure that you are all in before you matriculate. Its crazy scary. You want to make sure that its the right choice.

Do you honestly think someone could get away with this? Schools don't hand out deferments on a whim. They probably all make you sign a commitment to matriculate. They're not stupid.
 
I disagree. This is the real world. Applying to a DO school is not a commitment to matriculate, despite your belief, and despite the cost/time it entails. The cost is irrelevant. The OP is talking about a decision that will affect the rest of his life, and it is one which should not be taken lightly, and it is one that might take a long time to decide. Interviewing at a school is an opportunity, not a commitment. Signing the contract is the commitment.

In the real world, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get by, and to get what you want. Being a Pre-Med, I don't think you can talk on this subject more to me.

There are always back ups, such as research, post-bac, graduate school, etc. Putting two years of additional work to get to what you want out of life, rather than settling for unhappiness for the rest of your life is pretty minuscule, wouldn't you agree?

At some point the OP will make a decision. Let him make the one he is most comfortable with.

Oh by the way, I like your critique of the washing dishes example. Spot on. (No pun).
Never said it was a commitment. I just said that it demonstrated a lack of foresight.
The circumstances of DOs are not going to change significantly over the course of an app cycle.
The benefits of post-baccs, SMPs, etc, are also not going to change over the course of an app cycle.
This decision (whether to go DO if MD doesn't pan out) can be made just as easily BEFORE the app cycle as AFTER. For example, I am not applying DO my first time around because I know that I will want to reapply MD at least once. I spent a lot of time coming to that conclusion, and did a lot of research, and it was still very difficult to actually say it. People have a tendency to leave as many doors open for themselves for as long as possible, even when it hurts them in the long run. What OP is contemplating is an example of that: delaying a decision purely for the sake of not making it now. And yes, there is a consequence down the line...if he gets in DO, doesn't get in MD, and decides to decline and try again next year, he now finds himself in the unenviable position of applying MD with what is apparently a borderline (at best) app and no future possibility of DO as an alternate route. So, yes...there are paths which he can take to improve his app and better his chances of getting in MD, but if that's what he's going to go for, he should do so without incurring additional costs and without sacrificing his future options.

For OP's sake, I hope they get in MD and render this whole discussion moot. But I still think they should learn to start actually making decisions now rather than later.
 
The benefits of post-baccs, SMPs, etc, are also not going to change over the course of an app cycle....if he gets in DO, doesn't get in MD, and decides to decline and try again next year, he now finds himself in the unenviable position of applying MD with what is apparently a borderline (at best) app and no future possibility of DO as an alternate route.

I disagree. One or two year Master's degree will help tremendously. If he declines DO, why would he care about re-applying after coming to this decision. It doesn't make any sense.

If you want DO, do it. If you don't, don't.

Now is the time to make that decision, since it was not made prior.

Don't clown the guy for not making it prior, rather than later. It is a tough choice.

MEHOC, You're right. It was an excellent post you made. Thank you stating you made the choice to not apply DO. Your foresight and intelligence is lethal. One day, you will make a wonderful, compassionate doctor, the way you clearly show empathy for people.
 
I disagree. One or two year Master's degree will help tremendously. If he declines DO, why would he care about re-applying after coming to this decision. It doesn't make any sense.

If you want DO, do it. If you don't, don't.

Now is the time to make that decision, since it was not made prior.

Don't clown the guy for not making it prior, rather than later. It is a tough choice.

MEHOC, You're right. It was an excellent post you made. Thank you stating you made the choice to not apply DO. Your foresight and intelligence is lethal. One day, you will make a wonderful, compassionate doctor, the way you clearly show empathy for people.
Thanks! That was...unexpected. Times like these, when SDN actually discusses things instead of everyone getting caught in the argument aspect of things, really remind me of why this forum is such a great resource/community.
 
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