rejected?

[Oxycotin]

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Hey everybody. I have a friend who is extremely bright..goes to UC Berkeley, nearly 4.0 in a tough biological science major, great letters of rec, plenty of EC's, research but only got into one medical school so far out of 16 or 18. Amazingly (unwisely?) she turned the offer down in hopes of getting into another school which I assume had put her on a waitlist because she hasn't received an acceptance yet. She only had two interviews, the school that accepted her and the one that put her on a waitlist. But how is it possible that she only gets 2 interviews out of 16 or 18 schools? She said she did ok on the MCAT but i'm not sure what score she got. I'm thinking that the MCAT score is holding her back but if she thinks she did alright then it should be decent. She's from California by the way and I know that the competition there is pretty tough but come on..someone with those stats should get at least interviews to the state schools. Any idea what might be holding her back and is there anyone you know with great stats like that being turned down?

 

[skypilot]

A friend scored a 35 on the MCAT and had a great GPA. He applied only to California, Ohio, Michigan, and Connecticut schools as an out of state applicant and to Tufts, his undergraduate school. He only got into one school, guess which one.

But all you need is one! 🙂

 

[crazy250]

probably applied to too many top schools with only a mediocre mcat. if she didn't tell you her exact score, then it's probably bad rather than just ok. humans have an intrinsic tendency to be arrogant, and if she's not bragging, then it's probably not good.

 

[thewzdoc]

She turned down an acceptance in the hopes of getting accepted off the waitlist at another school!??. Not wise....not wise at all.....in California. 👎

 

[sistahnik]

so if she really wants to go to med school, then why did she turn down the acceptance? and actually she turned them down before she knew if she would get off the waitlist at that other school. that just doesn't make any since to me! You know I hear everybody talking about they want to get into med school, but they just want to go to a school that they can brag on. If someone is open enough to accept you then I think you should go, I understand everyone wants to be where they want to be, but it comes a time when you have to sacrifice. becoming a doctor isn't based entirely on the pleasure of the applicants! sorry to be ranting but I needed to say that.

 

[thewzdoc]

so if she really wants to go to med school, then why did she turn down the acceptance? and actually she turned them down before she knew if she would get off the waitlist at that other school. that just doesn't make any since to me! You know I hear everybody talking about they want to get into med school, but they just want to go to a school that they can brag on. If someone is open enough to accept you then I think you should go, I understand everyone wants to be where they want to be, but it comes a time when you have to sacrifice. becoming a doctor isn't based entirely on the pleasure of the applicants! sorry to be ranting but I needed to say that.

Very good post! 👍

 

[angstrom55]

I never heard of anyone dropping their only acceptance in hopes of getting pulled off the waitlist of another. An acceptance is an acceptance....even if it isn't your first choice. At least you know you're going somewhere. tsk tsk. Cali residents should know better than that.......

 

[thewzdoc]

Cali residents should know better than that.......

I know...the horror......why do this at all!? I mean if she had a 43 MCAT and a 4.0 from Harvard then yah but....it seems she doesn't otherwise she would have been accepted to many other schools....

 

[thewzdoc]

Can she "take back" the decline? Can anyone do this?

 

[Eyecon82]

Can she "take back" the decline? Can anyone do this?

nope...seat is lost forever once you decline

 

[bkmonkey]

I figure you shouldn't apply to a school if you don't want to go there. Even if a school isn't your top choice, you should want to go there for some reason or another. It's totally crazy to turn down an acceptance if you don't know you will be going somewhere else. I don't get it...

 

[thewzdoc]

nope...seat is lost forever once you decline

Nothing like reaping what you've sown eh....

 

[TheRussian]

To the OP: Tell your friend (if it isn't really you): good luck applying next year.

 

[VCMM414]

nope...seat is lost forever once you decline

This is not completely true. Someone on SDN has reported that he/she gave up a seat at a school (Pitt I think) in favor of Case, only to realize that Case isn't right for he/she later. The person begged Pitt, and they let the person back in.

There's no guarantee a school would do this, but it never hurts to ask.

 

[inshanesworld]

With all due respect...Are you sure that she is bright enough to be a doctor?..'cause...that seems pretty dim witted to me 😕

The only other explaination is that she is pretentious. I have had several friends all chemical engineering majors with 3.8 GPA's and 36+ on the MCAT that will probably not be accepted this year (all are on stagnant waitlists). It has been like the perfect storm for applications this year. Anyone with any acceptance at all should thank Jupiter for it and go be a doctor.

 

[adamj61]

My friend had a 4.0 and a 33, volunteering, no reasearch...i think his PS sucked a$$, he didn't get in to his state school! Even worse, he didn't take graded college physics, so he couldn't apply to MCW and a lot of other places. Another example of not having enough schools....

 

[mdsh00]

Things like this happen when 1)People are cocky. 2)People just didnt do their research about the applications process.

 

[TRUE]

Maybe I misread the story, but why decline an acceptence at all? She could have just held onto that spot with the intention of dropping it if she got into the waitlist school. In the case where she didn't get into the waitlist school, she could go to school A. Something fishy's going on...

 

[sunshinejoy]

I will bet she really did not get into another school....she is probably just
saying that.

 

[rgporter]

Maybe I misread the story, but why decline an acceptence at all? She could have just held onto that spot with the intention of dropping it if she got into the waitlist school. In the case where she didn't get into the waitlist school, she could go to school A. Something fishy's going on...

No kidding. Either she is lying or she is an idiot.

 

[norouz1383!!!]

I think the reason for this is that firstly UC's and Cali's in general are extremely difficult to get into, and secondly Berkeley has very many pre-meds. Although I'm no expert on this I think the reason your friend is being overlooked by admissions officials is that there are very many students with similiar scores and better extracurriculars who are graduating from berkeley and applying to the same schools. I am a Berkeley graduate with ~ 3.8, 39mcat and I only got interviews at one uc (I was successful in gaining admission to out of state schools though). I don't want to sound like a pretentious snob but I truly do believe my standing would have been better if I did not graduate from Berkeley, and in general I saw many Berkeley graduates suffer in the application process (because there are oh so many of them).

If anyone is applying from Berkeley I would be happy to give them some advice.

 

[velo]

Maybe I misread the story, but why decline an acceptence at all? She could have just held onto that spot with the intention of dropping it if she got into the waitlist school. In the case where she didn't get into the waitlist school, she could go to school A. Something fishy's going on...

Thank you! I was waiting for someone to say this. There's no reason to decline an acceptance until another school lets you in, she could have just sat on the acceptance and dumped them at the last minute if she got taken off the waitlist at the other school. Sounds like your friend bombed the MCAT and doesn't want to admit she's not in anywhere.

Just be a good friend, tell her there's always next year, and maybe help her study to retake the MCAT

 

[Oxycotin]

for the record, it really isn't me and it really is a friend.

anyways..yeah i was thinking like a lot of you guys, that is "why?" i honestly don't know. she was accepted to tufts but just let the deadline for accepting the admissions offer pass i guess in hopes of getting into ucla. she isn't lying either cause i saw the acceptance letter to tufts. but yeah i was just wondering how bad the competition this year was and from what i've read, it's not a good one for berkeley students.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I think the reason for this is that firstly UC's and Cali's in general are extremely difficult to get into, and secondly Berkeley has very many pre-meds. Although I'm no expert on this I think the reason your friend is being overlooked by admissions officials is that there are very many students with similiar scores and better extracurriculars who are graduating from berkeley and applying to the same schools. I am a Berkeley graduate with ~ 3.8, 39mcat and I only got interviews at one uc (I was successful in gaining admission to out of state schools though). I don't want to sound like a pretentious snob but I truly do believe my standing would have been better if I did not graduate from Berkeley, and in general I saw many Berkeley graduates suffer in the application process (because there are oh so many of them).

If anyone is applying from Berkeley I would be happy to give them some advice.

I'd like to hear this advise.

 

[skypilot]

for the record, it really isn't me and it really is a friend.

anyways..yeah i was thinking like a lot of you guys, that is "why?" i honestly don't know. she was accepted to tufts but just let the deadline for accepting the admissions offer pass i guess in hopes of getting into ucla. she isn't lying either cause i saw the acceptance letter to tufts. but yeah i was just wondering how bad the competition this year was and from what i've read, it's not a good one for berkeley students.

She should give Tufts a call now.