Take DO acceptance or reapply MD

[deleted688186]

Hi all, another update for those still checking this thread..

I received interview invites from OU and WVSOM this week, but they are offering interviews to be placed on the waitlist. I’m excited, but at the same time get the sense that this means I would have been in a much stronger position had I applied early.

It makes me think I would have pretty solid results if I reapplied.. but if I withdraw my application from these schools instead of taking the waitlist interviews, would it ruin my chances with them next cycle?

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[jamaica jan sun princess]

Hi all, another update for those still checking this thread..

I received interview invites from OU and WVSOM this week, but they are offering interviews to be placed on the waitlist. I’m excited, but at the same time get the sense that this means I would have been in a much stronger position had I applied early.

It makes me think I would have pretty solid results if I reapplied.. but if I withdraw my application from these schools instead of taking the waitlist interviews, would it ruin my chances with them next cycle?

Why wouldn't you take the interviews?

 

[KnightDoc]

Why wouldn't you take the interviews?

THIS^^^^^^^^.

Why not let it play out and reapply if things don't work out, instead of pulling the plug now and reapplying? I doubt they'd care if you withdrew and reapplied, but you already wrote the application, paid the fee, and now received the II, so what do you have to lose?

You are going to be expected to have an improved application next cycle anyway, so even a post-II R now won't mean you can't receive an II at the same school next year. Definitely go for it now. There is no guarantee you will receive an II in the future, and you have one now.

 

[Bwesternn]

This reeks of bad judgment. Please take the interviews and complete the cycle..

 

[Goro]

It makes me think I would have pretty solid results if I reapplied.. but if I withdraw my application from these schools instead of taking the waitlist interviews, would it ruin my chances with them next cycle?

Yes.

Why would they want to interview someone who turned them down.

It's a zoom interview right? If so, what do you have to lose?

 

[chilly_md]

Take the interviews. You lose nothing by going to them and waiting to see their decision.

 

[KnightDoc]

Yes.

Why would they want to interview someone who turned them down.

It's a zoom interview right? If so, what do you have to lose?

I agree that it makes no sense to turn down a shot, any shot. I wouldn't. But the answer to your question is that most people apply to be accepted, and want to interview for a seat in the class, not a place on a WL.

It really is being treated as a second class interviewee, so there is really no reason for a school to hold not wanting to interview to be a bridesmaid against anyone, if that's what they choose. So I also wouldn't expect a school to hold it against me if I reapplied after turning down an invitation to interview for a spot on a WL. Are DO schools really in a position to be so picky that they do this to otherwise attractive applicants?

 

[chilly_md]

I agree that it makes no sense to turn down a shot, but the answer to your question is that most people want to interview for an acceptance, not a place on a WL, so there is really no reason for a school to hold not wanting to interview to be a bridesmaid against anyone, if that's what they choose.

Well if they see a reapplicant who turned down their first offer of an II, even if it was for a WL position, I don't think they would believe that student is very interested in their program. Usually, the people who turn that down got in somewhere else and won't be dealing with that school again.

 

[KnightDoc]

Well if they see a reapplicant who turned down their first offer of an II, even if it was for a WL position, I don't think they would believe that student is very interested in their program. Usually, the people who turn that down got in somewhere else and won't be dealing with that school again.

Maybe. I can only speak for myself, and, and as I said, at this stage of the cycle if someone is still in the market I don't think they should turn down anything.

But I can also see resenting being treated like a bridesmaid and wanting a chance at improving an application and going for MD in a subsequent cycle. I totally get the admonitions of the @gonnifs and @Goros of the SDN universe that it's a sellers' market, and we are all very fortunate to live in a world where we have the privilege of spending thousands of dollars to submit applications, and then be treated like absolute garbage, while schools sift through the masses in search of the chosen few.

That still doesn't mean that turning down a late invitation to compete for the opportunity to be used as back fill for a WL means one is not interested in a program. It might just mean they are not interested in putting their life on hold waiting for a last minute call a few days or weeks before classes begin, so that some school isn't left with an empty seat when school starts, and that they would like to be treated like a human being and be able to have a little visibility into their intermediate future without having to drop everything on literally a moment's notice because that is what some DO school needs from them.

I know it sounds unreasonable to someone who truly believes we are nothing but fungible inputs into a machine who are lucky to have the honor of being used in this way, but some people actually value themselves more than that, and don't want to interview in March or April for a spot on someone's WL, when the odds are very high they will be reapplying anyway. Again, I don't think being disinterested in being used in this way indicates a lack of interest in the program, any more than having nothing other than a spot on the WL for someone to interview for now necessarily indicates a lack of interest in the applicant by the school!

 

[deleted1079620]

I agree that it makes no sense to turn down a shot, any shot. I wouldn't. But the answer to your question is that most people apply to be accepted, and want to interview for a seat in the class, not a place on a WL.

It really is being treated as a second class interviewee, so there is really no reason for a school to hold not wanting to interview to be a bridesmaid against anyone, if that's what they choose. So I also wouldn't expect a school to hold it against me if I reapplied after turning down an invitation to interview for a spot on a WL. Are DO schools really in a position to be so picky that they do this to otherwise attractive applicants?

How is an interview for a WL spot making someone a second class interviewee? If the class is full already all the school can do is interview for waitlist spots. Most schools have a good idea of how big a waitlist they’ll need, so they interview until they fill it, knowing they’ll use most of it.

If they thought that OP wasn’t good enough for their school, they wouldn’t have offered an interview at all. Also, some wait list spots become guaranteed acceptances the following year if they don’t go through the whole wait list. I would say it would reflect poorly to turn down a WL interview unless OP already had an A.

 

[chilly_md]

It is one thing for the school to like an applicant but not currently have an open spot. It is another for an applicant to turn it down and show up again the following cycle at that same school expecting another interview. People are waitlisted earlier in the cycle too and have to be prepared to accept an offer and move to whichever school it is that takes them, sometimes with short notice.

 

[KnightDoc]

How is an interview for a WL spot making someone a second class interviewee? If the class is full already all the school can do is interview for waitlist spots. Most schools have a good idea of how big a waitlist they’ll need, so they interview until they fill it, knowing they’ll use most of it.

Actually, most schools only use a small fraction of their WLs, and like to have large buffers so they have a wide variety of candidates to choose from. Most schools do not use anywhere near most of their WL. You're a second class interviewee because you have zero shot at receiving an initial A, unlike those who came before.

I agree if that's all the school has to offer, then the situation is what it is, but I also agree that not wanting to interview on those terms does not mean the person is not interested in the program.

 

[KnightDoc]

It is one thing for the school to like an applicant but not currently have an open spot. It is another for an applicant to turn it down and show up again the following cycle at that same school expecting another interview. People are waitlisted earlier in the cycle too and have to be prepared to accept an offer and move to whichever school it is that takes them, sometimes with short notice.

Yes, people certainly are wait listed earlier in the cycle, but the difference is that they at least had a legit shot at an initial A. People not called until the end, when there are no more As left to give, are absolutely at a disadvantage, and there are very legit reasons to turn down that opportunity that have nothing to do with lack of interest in the program.

As I said above, if the DO school is so fancy (and so petty) that it is in a position to turn down attractive candidates who were not interested in interviewing for the WL in a prior cycle, more power to them. As I also said above, I wouldn't be picky and would take what I could get, but I totally respect someone who wants a shot at a future MD rather than a small chance to maybe have to move on a moment's notice to go to a DO this summer.

 

[deleted688186]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. I agree that I should attend these interviews, but I resonate a lot with what @KnightDoc is saying as well. I don't love the idea of sitting on a waitlist until the 11th hour, and it's a little surprising that schools would feel slighted if I decided to reapply to their program instead of hoping to be taken off the waitlist. That being said, I plan on attending the interviews.

 

[KnightDoc]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. I agree that I should attend these interviews, but I resonate a lot with what @KnightDoc is saying as well. I don't love the idea of sitting on a waitlist until the 11th hour, and it's a little surprising that schools would feel slighted if I decided to reapply to their program instead of hoping to be taken off the waitlist. That being said, I plan on attending the interviews.

I think what you are doing is exactly the right move, but not because a school will feel slighted if you turn it down, because I don't think they will. I think you have come this far and should just take whatever shots are offered and see where they lead.

But I also don't blame you if you feel slighted by only having the opportunity to interview for a WL spot, which, given the timing, is unlikely to lead to an A. That said, anything is possible, it costs you nothing and, if nothing else, it's live interviewing experience. Good luck!!

 

[loveschoollll]

@chilly_md again - I did not provide the example of my friend to prove a point. I brought it up because you guys all love anecdotes and disregard statistics.

Do you mind DMing me about something insane we have in common? Re: GPA/acceptance possibilities

 

[Med Ed]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. I agree that I should attend these interviews, but I resonate a lot with what @KnightDoc is saying as well. I don't love the idea of sitting on a waitlist until the 11th hour, and it's a little surprising that schools would feel slighted if I decided to reapply to their program instead of hoping to be taken off the waitlist. That being said, I plan on attending the interviews.

One year we admitted someone who was literally driving a U-Haul to start DO school. They just made a turn and came to us. It took a couple of days to get housing sorted out, but after that it worked out very well.

 

[nimbus]

From what I have heard, similar to the comparison between drinking from a water fountain and a fire hose.

"Rigorous" UG really doesn't mean squat, because bio is bio and chem is chem. Prestigious schools might have more "better" students, which might impact grades and curves, depending on whether or not the school is known for grade inflation, but the quantity and difficulty of the material really doesn't vary from school to school, based on so-called rigor.

People can take a tough course load at any school. My understanding is nothing at a UG level really prepares you for the intensity of med school, which is why adcoms try to be careful in screening for signs of inability to handle it academically.

I was a molecular cell bio major undergrad at hopkins and med student at NYU. A lot of M1 /M2 was review of stuff that I had already learned in undergrad. I already had a lot of biochemistry, cell bio, genetics, physiology, and immunology before med school. My med school classmates who came from engineering backgrounds or one who was a professional puppeteer prior to med school had a much harder time and had to study much more even though they were at least as smart as me. Some undergrad paths do make the preclinical years of medschool much easier. The puppeteer probably had more fun than I did during undergrad though

 

[Ganon]

a professional puppeteer prior to med school

Please tell me there was puppetry during med school

In lectures

During rounds

The opportunities are endless

 

[nimbus]

Please tell me there was puppetry during med school

In lectures

During rounds

The opportunities are endless

Sadly no. But I have a college buddy who is a puppeteer. He used to be an erotic puppeteer but nowadays he’s just a regular puppeteer.

 

[Ganon]

erotic puppeteer

The things they don't teach you on career day

 

[bindaas@2022]

Here's my own complaints on LMU:
granted continuing Accreditation with Heightened Monitoring. This indicates that fewer than three standards are non-compliant and ongoing monitoring will occur via progress reporting. For schools with this status, accreditation will be granted for four years.”

This is only one of three COMs that has this level of accreditation status right now.

Accreditation decisions for colleges of osteopathic medicine - American Osteopathic Association

On top of this, the administration of the parent body fired a dean for supporting social justice and racial equality.

Their position is: On August 14th (2020), an Associate Dean of Students emailed new student policy that stated “You are not allowed to be involved in any form of public statement about social justice and racial inequities in medicine in any prominent location on the LMU campus”."

It is not just LMU DCOM that has Heightened Monitoring Accreditation, there are 7 other institutions with that same accreditation.
Here is the link, check it out

https://osteopathic.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/colleges-of-osteopathic-medicine.pdf

 

[deleted688186]

Update- I was recently accepted to ATSU-SOMA, CCOM, DMU, and OU-HCOM-Athens!! I am still weighing the pros and cons, but I will almost certainly be attending OU-HCOM.

 

[SharonShares]

KYCOM is a good school for those who really fit their mission. As you can imagine, a lot of students might not like the rural location, but you are one of their target students who would love that area. LECOM-Elmira has cheaper tuition, with the main drawback being the formal attire requirements and the location, the latter I don't think you'd mind. CCOM's only problem is the high tuition.

Hope you do get into OU-HCOM though!

 

[SharonShares]

LECOM-Elmira is Problem Based Learning pathway only. Be sure you are a match to that learning style. On the positive side, I would imagine the formal attire requirement is less since you are only meeting with faculty three times per week vs the five days per week in the lecture learning path.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

LECOM-Elmira is Problem Based Learning pathway only. Be sure you are a match to that learning style. On the positive side, I would imagine the formal attire requirement is less since you are only meeting with faculty three times per week vs the five days per week in the lecture learning path.

I'm not sure if they have graduated a class yet. I always recommend a couple of graduation classes to allow for the faculty and clinical deans to get the kinks worked out for the curriculum and rotations.