What Happens With Multiple Acceptances?

[Blakeb_212]

My question is, what happens if you are accepted to multiple medical schools? Most schools require a decision within two weeks of the acceptance, so how can people hold onto multiple acceptances at once. Doesn't the two week notice make them have to choose a school, or does saying yes just say you are interested, and can back out later if you want to attend elsewhere?

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[Catalystik]

My question is, what happens if you are accepted to multiple medical schools? Most schools require a decision within two weeks of the acceptance, so how can people hold onto multiple acceptances at once. Doesn't the two week notice make them have to choose a school, or does saying yes just say you are interested, and can back out later if you want to attend elsewhere?

You can keep multiple acceptances, provided you hold your place with a deposit, typically $100 for AMCAS allopathic med schools. You can back out later and get the $100 back provided you do so before the end of April. By which time you are expected to hold only one acceptance, but you can stay on multiple waitlists. If you're accepted off a waitlist, you can commit to that school instead, but you won't get the deposit back on the previously held acceptance.

 

[mwsapphire]

Hey Gonnif , do you have any data on how many people who don't make it to MD school make it to a DO school ( b/c so many people apply both).
Thanks in advance!

 

[LizzyM]

@gonnif Let's assume that every applicant to DO also applied to MD schools. How many people matricualte to DO schools each year? If we added the number of DO matriculants to the number of MD matriculants and used the number of MD applicants as our denominator I don't believe we'd be too far off in knowing the proportion of all medical applicants who end up matriculating somewhere. I do believe that the proportion would be < 50%. If there are applicants to DO schools who applied only to DO schools it would increase the denominator but that would only serve to deflate "the proportion of all applicants who matriculate somewhere".

 

[LizzyM]

The first assumption is contradicted by the linked report which found 30% of applicants applied to DO only. the report also found that
DO and U.S. MD - 1,974 applications - 61% of all DO applications
1,974 applied DO and U.S. MD -
46% admitted DO only
9% admitted U.S. MD only
26% admitted to both DO and U.S. MD
19% not admitted to either

Again, my issue with this survey is the sample as who is less likely to have responded such as those MD acceptees and both MD DO rejections. I guess my real annoyance as it has been for 20 years is the actual data exists but I can get to it.

30% of those responding to the survey...

Do we know how many DO applicants there are per year? If we took the 30% figure at face value and used
x+(.3)y = z
a+b=c
where x is number of MD applicants and y is number of DO applicants then z is an estimate of the total applicant pool.
a is number of MD matriculants, b is number of DO matriculants and c is total matriculants.
What we want to know is how c/z compares to x/a. Frankly, I think that only a 1,000-2,000 applicants to MD schools end up matriculating to DO schools. That is a drop in the bucket when one considers x-a/x, the proportion of MD applicants who don't matriculate to an MD school in a given year.