Hello all. I'm the guy with the web page of rejection letters. I see that there is a lot of speculation regarding my background and abilities, and some fairly cruel comments such as:
"He sounds very self-involved and negative, 63 rejections aside.
Who keeps applying and doesn't seek some serious explanations after the first round? He may have been repeating the same mistakes every year.
Don't let the turkeys get you down!"
Hmm. What a turkey.
Anyway, web sites were supposed to be self-absorbed when I actually put them up several years ago. They're really just filler content so I can play with apache, and they were probably updated when some of you were in middle school. 🙂
For all my trouble, I was on two wait lists long enough for classes to start before receiving the rejection letters, and I had a total of four interviews. Each time I wasn't rejected outright, I called the admissions committee to find out why I didn't get in. I don't know how to put this, but I was always told, "I don't know." I was told the generic things I could do to improve my application but I was also told they saw nothing wrong with my application, and nothing was missing. More than once I was told outright that there was no reason I shouldn't have been admitted, and they started fishing for reasons.
As far as timing goes, I did the best when I applied a week into the process. I don't know if that counts as late.
I found out several of my letters of recommendation were lost by Portland State University between my third and fourth application years. I found that out when I was on a wait list, a month before classes were scheduled to begin.
That was quite discouraging, as was the, "You ever think about becoming an X-Ray Tech?" comment from OHSU.
As far as citizenship status goes, some of you need to improve your critical reading skills. I was born in Portland, Oregon in 1964, when being born here was all you needed to become a citizen. I'm also an Eagle Scout, etc, etc.
Oh, and before you all think I'm sitting around reading the forum, let me tell you how I found it: I received two inspirational emails regarding my page, thought it was more than a coincidence, and I checked my server logs.
Good luck to all of you, and remember your patients are real people and you should treat them with more respect than you treat anonymous web page authors on this forum. I take all this with a grain of salt (at this time of year you're most likely chewing your nails and waiting for the fat envelope) but someone sick usually isn't as well-humored.
Todd
P.S. If you have any direct questions, don't just speculate: email me and ask.
