-
Bring your 2026 application questions to our open office hours with Emil Chuck, PhD, Director of Advising Services for HPSA, and get them answered live. Personal statements, secondaries, interview prep, school list strategy. Sunday, May 17 at 9 p.m. Eastern. -
Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
rejection without a complete file
Started by fruity_trident
fruity_trident said:i just realized that maryland didn't even get all my reference letters and they rejected me...
aren't schools meant to receive everything before they give out their big R's? 😱
are you serious? that sucks. i thought they had to wait for the full file, guess not...
can someone answer this pls? 🙁
should i call them?
thanks
should i call them?
thanks
it is normal that students get rejected even though their file is incomplete. you said that they haven't received your LOR yet, maybe they see that your GPA or DAT is not competitive enough, and even with the most outstanding LOR, it wouldn't be able to help you out. but i guess if you feel that GPA and DAT were competitive, i would call them and ask them why you was rejected. it also works the other way around and there are many students who get interviews with incomplete file.
you should call them and be like whats up with this.. you want to take it outside, accept me for interview or else ... just kidding
you should still call them and ask what happened
you should still call them and ask what happened
Obviously they felt that your academic creditentials, did not merrit any interview, therefore rather than waiting for your file to complete they wanted to notify you that you were not competive enough for this years class. I know schools that wait till you're file is complete then wait till the summer to let you know that you have been rejected. How can you get angry over the fact that they didn't wait for your file to complete, again its totally up to the adcom commitee to even look at your letters of rec. Obviously they had a picture of who you were without the letters, thus made the decision to axe you from the pool of potential students. This sounds harsh, but in reality do you want to go to a school that doesn't look at the complete file. I know I wouldn't! Calling the school, would be pointless, unless you feel that they have made a mistake, but if you are not at or above the matriculating class avg, as far as DAT and GPA, you're wasting time.
I know for a fact that Case will review an applicant once 3 LORs are present regardless of which ones they are. They reviewed (and rejected) my app without the LORs from the dentists I observed. Then again, Case seems to be very stat driven, so they likely don't put much emphesis on LORs.
PB
PB
hockeydentist said:Calling the school, would be pointless, unless you feel that they have made a mistake, but if you are not at or above the matriculating class avg, as far as DAT and GPA, you're wasting time.
I don't see anything wrong with calling. Just make sure you're asking what you could do to be a more competitive applicant and whether or not the LOR might have helped. Don't try and argue or imply that they made a mistake.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I don't think it's really fair to reach a decision on an application until it really is complete. At the same time, I think the considerate thing to do, once the app is 100% complete, is to notify the applicant as soon as a decision can be made, especially a negative one, so it doesn't become long and drawn out and then at the very end you get crushed. If I were the OP I'd give a call just to ask what would improve your app, and then maybe tangentially ask whether getting the file complete earlier would have had any effect on their decision. (Don't some schools have an 11/1 deadline? I could be hallucinating.)
Loma Linda does do this all the time. I have contaced schools and asked them if I could resubmit DAT scores or grades if I was rejected (if it comes to that) and if they would re-review my file. The schools I have contacted said that they are open to reviewing a file again if you have improved your application during that application cycle.
It is worth calling them and checking if they will re-review your file once it is complete. Some will and some won't. It never hurts to ask. The worst thing they can say is no.
It is worth calling them and checking if they will re-review your file once it is complete. Some will and some won't. It never hurts to ask. The worst thing they can say is no.
i got atleast 5 rejections without my LORS even getting to those schools, thats how sad it is. Alabama, maryland, and a couple of others....
packbacker said:Then again, Case seems to be very stat driven, so they likely don't put much emphesis on LORs.
PB
I'm not taking issue with what you've said, but I think Case deserves some clarification.
ANY school that receives 2,000+ applications is going to be stat driven. There simply isn't any other way to sift through applications.
To the OP: I responded in the Dental thread, but I'll also add this. The file must be complete to receive an interview, but it isn't written anywhere that a file must be complete to be rejected.
Heck, I was rejected PRIOR secondary by some schools.
Heck, I was rejected PRIOR secondary by some schools.
thanks for all your responses.
as i've stated under the REJECTION thread, i'm totally fine with this rejection. i didn't think i had a shot... but was just curious if files were meant to be complete before rejections were given out..
to answer the question about my stats:
3.29
AA 18, PAT 21
maryland's average's the last time i checked
gpa 3.33
dat 19.1
yes, i'm under..but i thought, heck it's worth a shot
as i've stated under the REJECTION thread, i'm totally fine with this rejection. i didn't think i had a shot... but was just curious if files were meant to be complete before rejections were given out..
to answer the question about my stats:
3.29
AA 18, PAT 21
maryland's average's the last time i checked
gpa 3.33
dat 19.1
yes, i'm under..but i thought, heck it's worth a shot
luder98 said:Sounds reasonable to me. If my stats are too far from their average, I'd rather get the rejection letter and save myself $60-75.
they took my money...they robbed me BLIND.lol

Similar threads
- Replies
- 5
- Views
- 2K
D