To accept or not to accept...

[HopefulRx]

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Let's just say I was given an admissions offer from my third choice pharmacy school this past week and I have approximately 10 business days to respond. I also just received an interview invitation from my number 1 choice school this past week as well... Obviously I won't hear back about an admissions decision from my number 1 in 10 days! Now I'm kind of torn about what to do and was hoping for some help 🙁

If I accept the offer, then I have to turn in a $600 non-refundable deposit. I'm willing to forfeit that $600 if I get an acceptance from my number 1 school... What I'm afraid of is that somehow my top-choice school finds out that I have reserved myself a seat at the other school, figures I'm going to go there, and in turn don't send me an offer. Is that possible? Are schools allowed to get that information from other pharmacy schools?

Since my top choice school is also much much more competitive, my interview definitely doesn't guarantee an acceptance for me. In which case, I'd just be silly to turn down the offer I already received... I'd be stuck as an undergraduate student for another year and have to do all of this applying business again! I just don't want to jeopardize my chances of receiving a letter from my dream school...

It may be silly but a situation similar to that happened to a friend of mine, only with medical school not pharmacy. Just wanted to be sure.

 

[phathead]

So.... you've worked this hard to get to the point where you're actually accepted to a pharmacy school and you're more concerned about the fact it's not your number one choice and you may be out $600?

Man, life must be rough in your world. I'll gladly take your spot since you don't want it.

 

[crazybob]

Let's just say I was given an admissions offer from my third choice pharmacy school this past week and I have approximately 10 business days to respond. I also just received an interview invitation from my number 1 choice school this past week as well... Obviously I won't hear back about an admissions decision from my number 1 in 10 days! Now I'm kind of torn about what to do and was hoping for some help 🙁

If I accept the offer, then I have to turn in a $600 non-refundable deposit. I'm willing to forfeit that $600 if I get an acceptance from my number 1 school... What I'm afraid of is that somehow my top-choice school finds out that I have reserved myself a seat at the other school, figures I'm going to go there, and in turn don't send me an offer. Is that possible? Are schools allowed to get that information from other pharmacy schools?

Since my top choice school is also much much more competitive, my interview definitely doesn't guarantee an acceptance for me. In which case, I'd just be silly to turn down the offer I already received... I'd be stuck as an undergraduate student for another year and have to do all of this applying business again! I just don't want to jeopardize my chances of receiving a letter from my dream school...

It may be silly but a situation similar to that happened to a friend of mine, only with medical school not pharmacy. Just wanted to be sure.

Your schools are not going to find out where you have reserved a seat.

Go with your third choice, unless you are willing to risk spending another year in college to try to get accepted to your first choice.

I know one guy who applied to pharmacy school and also grad school. He had gotten accepted to the grad school and had to accept the offer and reserve the spot about a month before he heard back from the pharmacy school. He's currently in grad school and I don't think he has looked back on his decision.

 

[PharmOl]

I'm headed toward the same situation, and would LOVE to know if schools do in fact share that information.

 

[RaneyNi]

I don't think they share information. I don't think they have the time to worry about you depositing to another school. Personally, the counselors at one Texas pharmacy school urge that I apply to many pharmacy schools to increase my odds. They know how competitive it gets to get into pharmacy school and they stressed that you don't put all your eggs into one basket. Paying to reserve a spot will only help you, not hurt you (unless you're talking about your pockets...then yeah, it puts a nice dent $600...a lot).

 

[HopefulRx]

It's not that I'm not grateful for my admissions offer... Nor am I really THAT torn up about losing the $600. In fact I'd be very willing to give that up if it meant I could get in to my number 1. It's been my dream school since forever and just the fact that I have an opportunity to go there is already beyond me.

I believe the smarter thing to do would be to reserve my seat at my third choice. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a way for my number 1 to somehow find out I accepted number 3's and look past me as a contender. A friend of mine applied to medical school, got an acceptance letter from one and accepted it because he hadn't heard back from any other schools (including his first choice). A couple months later he contacted his first choice school asking why he never received an admissions decision from them... They told him that since he had already accepted the other school's admissions offer, they figured he was going to go there and left his seat open for other applicants.

Reeeeeally don't want that to be me.

 

[crazybob]

I'm headed toward the same situation, and would LOVE to know if schools do in fact share that information.

Why would they share that information? They have better things to do.

If you were managing information from thousands of people, and another person was also managing information from thousands of people, would you two share any of that information? Why would you go through all of the hassle to see if one person out of thousands of applicants were on both of your lists?

 

[phathead]

It's not that I'm not grateful for my admissions offer... Nor am I really THAT torn up about losing the $600. In fact I'd be very willing to give that up if it meant I could get in to my number 1. It's been my dream school since forever and just the fact that I have an opportunity to go there is already beyond me.

I believe the smarter thing to do would be to reserve my seat at my third choice. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a way for my number 1 to somehow find out I accepted number 3's and look past me as a contender. A friend of mine applied to medical school, got an acceptance letter from one and accepted it because he hadn't heard back from any other schools (including his first choice). A couple months later he contacted his first choice school asking why he never received an admissions decision from them... They told him that since he had already accepted the other school's admissions offer, they figured he was going to go there and left his seat open for other applicants.

Reeeeeally don't want that to be me.

Yea... either your friend was blowin smoke up your ass or he could sued the hell out of that school.

Did you happen to send your #1 school a list ranking all your choices?

 

[crazybob]

It's not that I'm not grateful for my admissions offer... Nor am I really THAT torn up about losing the $600. In fact I'd be very willing to give that up if it meant I could get in to my number 1. It's been my dream school since forever and just the fact that I have an opportunity to go there is already beyond me.

I believe the smarter thing to do would be to reserve my seat at my third choice. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a way for my number 1 to somehow find out I accepted number 3's and look past me as a contender. A friend of mine applied to medical school, got an acceptance letter from one and accepted it because he hadn't heard back from any other schools (including his first choice). A couple months later he contacted his first choice school asking why he never received an admissions decision from them... They told him that since he had already accepted the other school's admissions offer, they figured he was going to go there and left his seat open for other applicants.

Reeeeeally don't want that to be me.

If you don't go around telling everyone or posting it online, then the schools will not know if you have gotten other offers or even accepted them.

Your friend might not be telling you the whole story.

 

[HopefulRx]

Yea... either your friend was blowin smoke up your ass or he could sued the hell out of that school.

Did you happen to send your #1 school a list ranking all your choices?

No, not that I remember. I know some of the other schools I applied to ask for that but I don't believe I sent one to my first choice...

 

[phathead]

No, not that I remember. I know some of the other schools I applied to ask for that but I don't believe I sent one to my first choice...

Sarcasm bud 😉

Like I said, your friend was either lying to cover up why he didn't get into his first choice school or he should have sued them because that is not a reason to deny admission.

 

[crazybob]

No, not that I remember. I know some of the other schools I applied to ask for that but I don't believe I sent one to my first choice...

Was it mandatory to submit that information? If not, then you have no reason to do so.

 

[HopefulRx]

Haha yeah... I guess now that I step back and think about it a little more it does seem kind of silly. I just wanted to double check and make sure though!

 

[phathead]

Haha yeah... I guess now that I step back and think about it a little more it does seem kind of silly. I just wanted to double check and make sure though!

Well honestly what do you think is more likely?

That you buddies school misrepresented to him what they consider for applicants, went out of their way to check what schools he was accepted too and then decided not to accept him?

Or

That your friend was embarrassed for not getting into his top choice, so he made up some story to explain it?

 

[jet1]

I feel your pain, but... your number 1 school did not offer you a seat in their program yet. It is just an interview. Schools do not share info about who got accepted into another program unless someone told the admissions committee you did and most likely, they would not take into consideration that you accepted a seat somewhere else.

First off, $600 is nothing compared to the $100,000 you will be paying for school. Also, it will be easily gained back once you graduate. I recommend on what I am doing. I accepted the first offer from a school I would be happy to go to. I am still waiting on the interview on my 1st choice. I might lose $500 in the end if I get accepted to my first choice, but it is nothing compared to the amount of money in the long run. You will be guaranteeing yourself in a program this coming fall. I guaranteed myself a seat, so atleast I do not have to apply anymore.

I do not know how MEd school applications work, but I know they have to go through the same steps as us. Their "PharmCAS" server, then interview, then acceptance. School most likely do not share this info because they want to build a strong class for their school. Most likely he made up the story to convince himself that his first choice plain out rejected him.

I lost many great opportunities just to find out that the opportunity I waited for rejected me. Also, your first choice will understand if they do find out. Hopefully this helps you and anyone else out there making a decision.

 

[tybidn]

I feel your pain, but... your number 1 school did not offer you a seat in their program yet. It is just an interview. Schools do not share info about who got accepted into another program unless someone told the admissions committee you did and most likely, they would not take into consideration that you accepted a seat somewhere else.

First off, $600 is nothing compared to the $100,000 you will be paying for school. Also, it will be easily gained back once you graduate. I recommend on what I am doing. I accepted the first offer from a school I would be happy to go to. I am still waiting on the interview on my 1st choice. I might lose $500 in the end if I get accepted to my first choice, but it is nothing compared to the amount of money in the long run. You will be guaranteeing yourself in a program this coming fall. I guaranteed myself a seat, so atleast I do not have to apply anymore.

I do not know how MEd school applications work, but I know they have to go through the same steps as us. Their "PharmCAS" server, then interview, then acceptance. School most likely do not share this info because they want to build a strong class for their school. Most likely he made up the story to convince himself that his first choice plain out rejected him.

I lost many great opportunities just to find out that the opportunity I waited for rejected me. Also, your first choice will understand if they do find out. Hopefully this helps you and anyone else out there making a decision.

Thank jet1,

I really like the way to keep others motivated and encouraged.
I 'm on the way to reach my goal in pharmacy school this cycle ( class 2014) but i m from the west coast. I applied 7 schools : 4 in the West and 3 in the East. I got invitations for interviews from all except one rejection for interview. However, i still havent got any good news because i got denied from the schools after two interviews. I know it's not easy to get into this round, but i need to try harder and keep hoping for the rest. I will move on with the other interviews in Feb and March. JUST HOPE!

 

[jet1]

Thank jet1,

I really like the way to keep others motivated and encouraged.
I 'm on the way to reach my goal in pharmacy school this cycle ( class 2014) but i m from the west coast. I applied 7 schools : 4 in the West and 3 in the East. I got invitations for interviews from all except one rejection for interview. However, i still havent got any good news because i got denied from the schools after two interviews. I know it's not easy to get into this round, but i need to try harder and keep hoping for the rest. I will move on with the other interviews in Feb and March. JUST HOPE!

Some advise for acing the interview. Research the school before hand. develop questions that you want to get answered. I am very focused right now on opportunities. When asked if I had questions, I asked what IPPE/APPE opportunities does the school have? It shows that you are interested and serious about going to that school. They understand it is your decision if you go to their school or not. They want their school to look great, so if you are stuck in a decision, they want you (and your money) to pick them.

I suggest to be yourself, but in the context of pharmacy. Some people jsut go in and act like themselves from day to day. This is an interview where they are judging you. They are judging your appearance, how you carry yourself, your choice of words, your ideas for pharmacy, and your character. It is your JOB at an interview to develop yourself into a person the school would want to have. A research school might not want just a person who wants to end up in retail. A retail based school might not want a research/clinic type person in their program. So find that nitch that would make you stand out in a good way. A research school may want a research type person with ambitions for a certain field like development of synergistic drugs. A retail school might want to have that retail minded person who wants to develop a program for people to understand the insurance process.

Just find your nitch that will make you stand out. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE ON THEIR REMAINING INTERVIEWS! HOPEFULLY EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY WITH THEIR DECISION IN THE END!!

 

[wes011]

Let's just say I was given an admissions offer from my third choice pharmacy school this past week and I have approximately 10 business days to respond. I also just received an interview invitation from my number 1 choice school this past week as well... Obviously I won't hear back about an admissions decision from my number 1 in 10 days! Now I'm kind of torn about what to do and was hoping for some help 🙁

If I accept the offer, then I have to turn in a $600 non-refundable deposit. I'm willing to forfeit that $600 if I get an acceptance from my number 1 school... What I'm afraid of is that somehow my top-choice school finds out that I have reserved myself a seat at the other school, figures I'm going to go there, and in turn don't send me an offer. Is that possible? Are schools allowed to get that information from other pharmacy schools?

Since my top choice school is also much much more competitive, my interview definitely doesn't guarantee an acceptance for me. In which case, I'd just be silly to turn down the offer I already received... I'd be stuck as an undergraduate student for another year and have to do all of this applying business again! I just don't want to jeopardize my chances of receiving a letter from my dream school...

It may be silly but a situation similar to that happened to a friend of mine, only with medical school not pharmacy. Just wanted to be sure.

Reserve your spot, you know you have a contingency plan if needed. Losing $600 is a small price to pay.

 

[ValeRx]

Colleges have too much going on during their interview process. How would they know what other schools you have applied to? They don't. Also, you may want to ask your third choice school for an extension. Some schools will do that for you if you ask.

 

[aboveliquidice]

Let's just say I was given an admissions offer from my third choice pharmacy school this past week and I have approximately 10 business days to respond. I also just received an interview invitation from my number 1 choice school this past week as well... Obviously I won't hear back about an admissions decision from my number 1 in 10 days! Now I'm kind of torn about what to do and was hoping for some help 🙁

If I accept the offer, then I have to turn in a $600 non-refundable deposit. I'm willing to forfeit that $600 if I get an acceptance from my number 1 school... What I'm afraid of is that somehow my top-choice school finds out that I have reserved myself a seat at the other school, figures I'm going to go there, and in turn don't send me an offer. Is that possible? Are schools allowed to get that information from other pharmacy schools?

Since my top choice school is also much much more competitive, my interview definitely doesn't guarantee an acceptance for me. In which case, I'd just be silly to turn down the offer I already received... I'd be stuck as an undergraduate student for another year and have to do all of this applying business again! I just don't want to jeopardize my chances of receiving a letter from my dream school...

It may be silly but a situation similar to that happened to a friend of mine, only with medical school not pharmacy. Just wanted to be sure.

One bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

 

[AntiviralsRule]

The schools don't share information about who's been accepted etc. But PharmCAS, I believe, DOES provide information to schools about how many offers of admission you've received. Whether or not the schools actually look at that information (or care), I don't know.

 

[evilolive]

At some point or another, I told two schools that I was going. Oddly enough one school didn't require me to pay a deposit; I ended up at Michigan anyways and then passed over the other interviews/offers because of the time differential of acceptances. Schools understand that the waitlist function is there for a reason, which is why a lot of schools have such rapidly moving waitlists. Some institutions are afraid that they'll lose their students elsewhere and try to punish you with greater deposits of $1k+ upfront. As someone said above, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - you're better off paying and playing the game.

 

[KARM12]

Which is worse?
Losing $600 and getting into your top choice
Not getting into your top choice and saving $600

I'd pay the money to hold the spot.

 

[BavarianMWE46]

When I was at the interview for my 1st choice state school, I told them i had already reserved a seat at 2 other schools. They said I seemed very dedicated to the profession. I got into the public state school.

 

[jmcfa002]

I did that. I payed $1k to guarantee a seat. It hurt, alot lol. But its worth it to make sure you get in atleast somewhere