Rejection Letters All Say the Same Thing

[The South Face]

Rejection letters all say a variation of the same thing, "too many qualified applicants and not enough seats." But obviously some people are not qualified because they did not get in. For those that do not get into any medical schools, they are essentially useless. Maybe instead of spewing out a meaningless rejection line, they could advise the rejectee where he/she went wrong, were weak or how to do something to improve their chances. I mean after all, people pay secondary fees not just to be told "NOPE".

Just a thought.

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[wisconsindoctor]

Rejection letters all say a variation of the same thing, "too many qualified applicants and not enough seats." But obviously some people are not qualified because they did not get in. For those that do not get into any medical schools, they are essentially useless. Maybe instead of spewing out a meaningless rejection line, they could advise the rejectee where he/she went wrong, were weak or how to do something to improve their chances. I mean after all, people pay secondary fees not just to be told "NOPE".

Just a thought.

Too many applicants and not enough time in the day to write a personalized rejection letter. We are talking about a good 1,800 personalized rejection letters (per school) that would need to be written. Sorry!

 

[Lecter]

They could just separate the apps and send corresponding pre-written letters for each pile...

low MCAT pile
low GPA pile
wants to help people pile
never been inside a hospital pile
flipped a coin and you lost pile

 

[The South Face]

I am not asking for a personalized, detailed, long explanation letter. I am asking for a simple "what was the main factor that prevented me from getting in?" If the reviewers take the time to go over your application than it should not take them long to circle/highlight/note your weaknesses. Now that most of the process is computerized, the time factor could be reduced by using algorithms to generate the letters (similar to how Kaplan creates a study profile after you take the diagnostic test).

 

[pharmy614]

They could just separate the apps and send corresponding pre-written letters for each pile...

low MCAT pile
low GPA pile
wants to help people pile
never been inside a hospital pile
flipped a coin and you lost pile

🙂

 

[nervousNJpremed]

I am not asking for a personalized, detailed, long explanation letter. I am asking for a simple "what was the main factor that prevented me from getting in?" If the reviewers take the time to go over your application than it should not take them long to circle/highlight/note your weaknesses. Now that most of the process is computerized, the time factor could be reduced by using algorithms to generate the letters (similar to how Kaplan creates a study profile after you take the diagnostic test).

Some schools also say that you can call them and schedule an appt to talk about your file and what could be improved.

 

[wisconsindoctor]

Dude, people don't have time during their day job to sit down and go through each of the roughly 1,800 applications. Do you realize how much time this would take? Taking the time to write and review why each applicant was rejected would be very time consuming. I'm sure some applications don't even make the cut-off numbers. The people who are making the admission choices have other things to do during their day.

Let's start with application number 1:

Dear " "

We are sorry to inform you that you have not gained admissions to " ." Fill in the generic paragraph.

We would like to take a minute to expalin why you were rejected.

List the reasons.

Send in mail.

THis is a lot more time consuming than just printing off a generic letter saying that you were rejected. There are computer programs a company can use to print your name in the generic email.

The way you wish it would be done would take a good 30 minutes just to go through a single application rejection letter. We are talking a good 54,000 minutes of work the way you want it done. Who would want to spend 900 hours doing this type of work.

 

[pride4jc727]

Hi there, I really think that it would be nice to have reasons, but it is not practical to do it. However, if you could have a computer automate the reasons and spew it onto your letter, then you can get the ball rolling. Yet, again, this is rather unlikely.

 

[nick_carraway]

Some schools also say that you can call them and schedule an appt to talk about your file and what could be improved.

In fact, even the schools that don't say you can call will usually respond via email or give you an appointment with a dean or counselor if an applicant requests advice.

 

[Lecter]

Admissions could easily do this, they just don't want to.

Doing so would specify their preferences and applicants would tailor their resumes, essays and interview answers accordingly. Plus, then you have rejected applicants comparing their rejection reasons with people who've been accepted, and the whole thing could get very messy. How do you explain to a 4.0, 35R MCAT student that you've rejected him while you accepted a 3.5, 31P student because they interviewed well?

 

[jbrice1639]

How do you explain to a 4.0, 35R MCAT student that you've rejected him while you accepted a 3.5, 31P student because they interviewed well?

you can't...because they're probably socially inept and wouldn't understand anyways...

 

[The South Face]

Dude, people don't have time during their day job to sit down and go through each of the roughly 1,800 applications. Do you realize how much time this would take? Taking the time to write and review why each applicant was rejected would be very time consuming. I'm sure some applications don't even make the cut-off numbers. The people who are making the admission choices have other things to do during their day.

Let's start with application number 1:

Dear " "

We are sorry to inform you that you have not gained admissions to " ." Fill in the generic paragraph.

We would like to take a minute to expalin why you were rejected.

List the reasons.

Send in mail.

THis is a lot more time consuming than just printing off a generic letter saying that you were rejected. There are computer programs a company can use to print your name in the generic email.

The way you wish it would be done would take a good 30 minutes just to go through a single application rejection letter. We are talking a good 54,000 minutes of work the way you want it done. Who would want to spend 900 hours doing this type of work.

Admissions committees are more than one person. The one at my school is approx 60 people. Also they have people that work full time in admissions and get paid to that kind of stuff. You said it yourself, some people don't even have the numbers to "make the cut". That in itself saves them time cuz it seperates people into groups. Why not just write back to those with the subpar numbers, "Look your MCAT or GPA did not meet our required criteria. Rejected." Rather than talking about how there are limited seats for many competitive applicants, especially if you are not competitive in their eyes. I think you are making it more involved than it really is.

 

[186321]

Too many applicants and not enough time in the day to write a personalized rejection letter. We are talking about a good 1,800 personalized rejection letters (per school) that would need to be written. Sorry!

Are you kidding me? How long does it take to write a short letter with a few box checked weaknesses? For a $100 application fee some secretary can sit down for 8 minutes and write me a rejection letter.

 

[AnesthesiaMD]

I think med schools ought to work on saving some trees by sending a 1 by 1 card for those to whom they send rejections that reads "no."

 

[The South Face]

Yah I'm all for saving the trees, too. That's why I recommend doing it over email. Even more green friendly.

 

[Ictericia]

Why not just write back to those with the subpar numbers, "Look your MCAT or GPA did not meet our required criteria. Rejected."

Because a lot of people will have surpassed the minimum criteria but just won't have the whole package together. Sure someone's numbers might be on the lower end and you can point to that for why they got rejected. But you'll also have another kid with the same numbers who gets accepted because the rest of his or her application in it's entirety was stronger. Then it basically comes down to, well if you pulled your GPA and MCAT up, it would help, but no guarantees, but everyone already knows that!

As much as people wish that we could point to one thing on their application that, if improved, would guarantee an acceptance, it's just not going to happen.

 

[The South Face]

I'm not saying to pick one weakness based on a number if that is not the only weakness. I am saying to pick the weaknesses that exist in a rejectee's application whether it be, GPA, LOR's, PS, interview, lack of EC's or something else. The idea is that it benefits the person so they know what to improve.

 

[Ictericia]

But don't you see that it's all relative? Unless you have a 4.0 GPA and a 45 MCAT and you have a publication on the cover of Science, then everything can always be improved.

And if you say, well sure, but there are some things that clearly are above or below an acceptable range for that school. Of course, but we all know what those are. If someone has a pretty solid all-around application but a 3.0 GPA and gets rejected, of course bringing up the GPA would help! Do you need a letter from the adcom to tell you that?

Furthermore, I think if the adcom gives specific reasons in the rejection letter, they're only inviting a whole slew of appeals by students who have some reason or another that their GPA or MCAT or extracurricular activity was somehow not representative and they should be allowed in.

Don't get me wrong, I think parts of the process are somewhat mysterious and I think students should be able to improve their application the next time around if that's what's necessary. I just don't think a letter from the adcom is the way to do it. The process is too holistic to point to any one (or even several) aspects of an application.

 

[foster033]

There's no technical reason why they couldn't do it. It's probably more of a administrative reason.

I mean, come on, they already probably use some thing like Word's mail merge to create the letters in the first place and should have some kind of database to keep track of applicants. Just insert the notes from when they reviewed the candidates.

Dear <firstname> <lastname>

You were rejected, blah blah blah.
Here are some of the concerns and weaknesses of your application.

<notes>

Sincerely
Dean of Admissions

 

[The South Face]

But don't you see that it's all relative? Unless you have a 4.0 GPA and a 45 MCAT and you have a publication on the cover of Science, then everything can always be improved.

And if you say, well sure, but there are some things that clearly are above or below an acceptable range for that school. Of course, but we all know what those are. If someone has a pretty solid all-around application but a 3.0 GPA and gets rejected, of course bringing up the GPA would help! Do you need a letter from the adcom to tell you that?

Furthermore, I think if the adcom gives specific reasons in the rejection letter, they're only inviting a whole slew of appeals by students who have some reason or another that their GPA or MCAT or extracurricular activity was somehow not representative and they should be allowed in.

Don't get me wrong, I think parts of the process are somewhat mysterious and I think students should be able to improve their application the next time around if that's what's necessary. I just don't think a letter from the adcom is the way to do it. The process is too holistic to point to any one (or even several) aspects of an application.

You are exactly right! It is all relative! There are no hard and fast concrete rules that are dictated anywhere in this process of admissions. That is why getting direct feedback from a school would be invaluable. Having them tell you what was weak and needs to be improved is a huge advantage for the next season. Clearly if you have a stank nasty GPA or some other individual weakness you can prolly figure it is not as essential. But what if you are borderline in several areas GPA/MCAT/volunteering.

You are naive to think they already don't have a slew of appeals. I think you are playing the devil's advocate a lil too much here padnuh.