What the hell do secondary applications pay for?

[Dr. Stalker]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Serious question. I mean, paying $100+ can't just pay for the cold-cuts we get for lunch on interview day.

 

[Espressso]

Of course not. It's just another revenue stream for the medical school in my opinion.

 

[Espressso]

But who knows. This entire process is ridiculously expensive.

 

[Long Way to Go]

Let's take a school that charges $100 per secondary and gets 7,000 secondaries per year. A quick google search tells me ~20% of applicants get a fee waiver so we are starting with a budget of $560,000. Now here's some time to make wild, fact-free speculations:

50% salary of a MD Dean of Admissions; let's make them an internist making the NIH salary cap: 50% of $185,000 = $90,000
1 Director of Admissions; professional salaried employee with a BA/MA: $90,000
1 Administrator Coordinator: $50,000
1 Receptionist; $30,000

That totals up to $260,000.
Add in 35% for fringe benefits (health insurance, retirement, etc.): $350,000.

Interview season of September through January, interviewing 3x/week minus a few weeks for vacations: 60 interview days with 10 interviewees a day: 600 interviewees. $30/person for food, parking, pizza the night before, food for interviewers, etc. puts you at another $18,000.

So we're already at $370,000 out of $560,000, and we haven't even accounted for travel, printer paper, booze, other office supplies, etc.

I totally agree that the process is ridiculously expensive, but I don't think you could reasonably cut secondary fees by more than a quarter under best case assumptions without asking the rest of the school to subsidize the admissions committee.

 

[Goro]

They either go into Admissions dep't expenses, or general funds for the either the med school or even its parent university.

Serious question. I mean, paying $100+ can't just pay for the cold-cuts we get for lunch on interview day.

 

[freak7]

or general funds for the either the med school or even its parent university.

Can I at least deduct my generous donations from my taxes?

 

[Goro]

Only if you apply to Harvard, U Penn, or the UCs.

Can I at least deduct my generous donations from my taxes?

 

[freak7]

Only if you apply to Harvard, U Penn, or the UCs.

I was only joking but I did apply to some UC's so now I'm not. Why are they deductible and not other schools?

 

[Goro]

They are so hard to get into that for most people, they ARE donations!

I was only joking but I did apply to some UC's so now I'm not. Why are they deductible and not other schools?

 

[freak7]

They are so hard to get into that for most people, they ARE donations!

Heyoooo

 

[Dr. Stalker]

They are so hard to get into that for most people, they ARE donations!

I didn't recognize you with your new profile picture. Awesome Christmas tree, I'm a big fan of the cat ornament, its purr-fect

 

[efle]

I'd love to know how many total hours are actually spent by admissions people reading apps, interviewing, and discussing. The labor is probably enormous

 

[Goro]

It is. We take it seriously, and it's a process we all volunteer for, except for the wily old Admissions dean and his staff.

I'd love to know how many total hours are actually spent by admissions people reading apps, interviewing, and discussing. The labor is probably enormous

 

[JB50]

Only if you apply to Harvard, U Penn, or the UCs.

I caught that one first read goro and half chuckled👍

 

[LutGholein]

booze

So we're already at $370,000 out of $560,000, and we haven't even accounted for travel, printer paper, booze, other office supplies, etc.

So a bottle of scotch to get through the mountain of apps and a paperweight to keep that mountain from falling down on some poor soul (admissions assistant)

Sounds about right.

 

[doctorleospaceman]

Dont forget about those interview day sandwiches, water bottles and pens

 

[kb1900]

they should refund you the secondary fee if you get invited to interview.

with the logic being that ur app didnt "waste" the adcoms time

 

[Yorick]

The money may also help pay for contractors, data companies, IT, etc. that manage the online end of admissions such as a supplemental application and status website, sending out status and decision emails, records and statistics med schools do, and any other online needs.

 

[JustAPhD]

they should refund you the secondary fee if you get invited to interview.

with the logic being that ur app didnt "waste" the adcoms time

Yes, but you did take up the adcoms time and time = money.

 

[kb1900]

Yes, but you did take up the adcoms time and time = money.

im confident that a large proportion of apps go straight to the trash when i look at people's school lists/ECs/scores etc

though there are schools that have a policy of reading every single application and giving everyone a fighting chance.