Medical Should I decline acceptance?

[GoSpursGo]

Hello,

I was just accepted to my only acceptance at an MD school off the waitlist. Since completing my application to this school I have been very involved in research and my desired career path has shifted somewhat and I would like a school which has a research focus. This particular school has a community health focus with no university hospital and has limited research opportunities. In order to prepare for a second gap year I applied to a one year grad program in clinical research at a medical school. I was accepted to the MD school off the waitlist yesterday, and today was accepted to that grad program. I am considering declining the med school offer to reapply this cycle while doing that grad program. There is also a financial component to this decision as well as the involvement of several personal issues that make this med school less than ideal for my circumstances.

I believe the grad program would set me up well for the type of physician I would like to be and if I reapply this year i may have a better shot at getting into the kind of med school I wish to attend. I know it would have been better to not apply to the med school in question, or to withdraw before accepted but I can't go back now.

My question is - I have seen SDN threads about this that basically say without an extreme circumstance a reapplicant who previously was accepted is doomed. However, the AMCAS asks if you were matriculated at a school, not if you were accepted. When you reapply, do schools know that you were a reapplicant as the previous threads I have seen imply? How would they know that?

Thank you in advance for your help. I know this is a sensitive topic as I am extremely lucky to have been accepted, so I feel bad even asking. But I am trying to gather all the information I can.

Edit: my current stats are MCAT: 521, GPA: 3.59 if that's relevant

AMCAS asks if you matriculated at other schools. Some secondaries ask if you were ever accepted, obviously you have to decide how to respond to that. Not to mention that other schools that you applied to may be able to tell that you were accepted because you hit "PTE," though who knows if they will remember you next year.

Ultimately, unless your acceptance is to a Caribbean school or an unproven DO school, you should just go to med school. Everyone thinks that their recent activities are "game-changers," but the bottom line is that getting into any medical school is very competitive. There is no guarantee that you will get into another school, let alone that you'll get into a better one. And while it feels like the med school you attend is very formative in your eventual career, the truth is that it's only step one--there is always residency and even fellowship. If your heart truly burns for being involved in research, there are always some kind of opportunity at any school, so find some way to plug yourself into that wherever you are and you can get yourself to a residency that will help you achieve your goals.

But you won't achieve any of your goals unless you first go to med school.

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[Goro]

Declining an accept is the single worst mistake a pre-med can make.

I have to be blunt, even having a couple of Cell papers won't guarantee that your II or accept list will grow the next time around.

 

[Goro]

Thank you very much for your input. Just to clarify, I have not yet accepted the offer so I haven't hit PTE yet, does that eliminate the possibility that ADCOMS will know without asking in their secondaries?

Probably

 

[GoSpursGo]

Yes. But it's still a bad idea to decline your acceptance.

A medical degree, in combination with board certification, is incredibly versatile regardless of where you got it. Get the degree now and figure out how to mold your career later.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Bad idea to decline this acceptance. There is absolutely ZERO way you will know that you will have an opportunity next year to become a doctor. This is your opportunity. Take it.

As far as research goes, you do not need a "research school" to have a career where you can do research. Once you get that MD, you dictate the job you will take.

 

[MusicDOc124]

Don't do it unless you're okay with not being a doctor.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You're going to medical school. Swallow your pride if it's not the medical school you wanted. You should have thought about that before starting the process in the first place. Take your shot and go to medical school if it's truly what motivates you and not the school brand you'll get your degree from.