Which rejection did you guys take most personally?

[superdevil]

---

Members do not see this ad.

hey all,

just wondering which rejection, for those of us with rejections in hand (and implicit ones pending ), which one pissed you off the most?

i'll start: for me, it was vanderbilt, no contest. going into the process, it was my first choice--great school, great hospital, an afternoon's drive away from my family, good location (don't laugh, i know its in nashville! the weather is nice, though, and its not too big of a city). then, i get a rejection letter from them, pre-interview, in august. i still wasn't even complete at some schools and they had already decided that i suck. bastards. 😡

ok, who else? 😉

 

[dopaminophile]

mayo pissed me off. they took about 30 seconds to get my rejection letter out after they cashed my $100 check. bastards.

 

[sweatybrain]

Stanford was my hope and dream! I thought I had a decent shot at getting at least an interview, but I guess I was overconfident 🙁

I really like the Yale system and the Penn curriculum but haven't heard anything from them either. I assume I'll get the thin envelope sometimes next month.

 

[CanuckRazorback]

hey all,

just wondering which rejection, for those of us with rejections in hand (and implicit ones pending ), which one pissed you off the most?

i'll start: for me, it was vanderbilt, no contest. going into the process, it was my first choice--great school, great hospital, an afternoon's drive away from my family, good location (don't laugh, i know its in nashville! the weather is nice, though, and its not too big of a city). then, i get a rejection letter from them, pre-interview, in august. i still wasn't even complete at some schools and they had already decided that i suck. bastards. 😡

ok, who else? 😉

Stanford for me. It's the only one so far that hurt. My attitude through this process is that there is no logic behind ADCOMs decisions so whatever is meant to be will happen. But I was disappointed that Stanford wasn't meant to be

 

[davidus]

Stanford was my hope and dream! I thought I had a decent shot at getting at least an interview, but I guess I was overconfident 🙁

I really like the Yale system and the Penn 1.5 years curriculum but haven't heard anything from them either. I assume I'll get the thin envelope sometimes next month.

Sorry bout Stanford, SweatyB. But congrats on Sinai! That's a great first acceptance. Good luck with the rest. I'll bet you'll be getting more admissions love soon.

 

[Sarikate]

Tulane and Vermont are neck-and-neck for me. Sniff... 🙁

 

[superdevil]

mayo pissed me off. they took about 30 seconds to get my rejection letter out after they cashed my $100 check. bastards.

they did the same exact thing to me. though, for me, they were just a "well, let's see what happens" kind of a pick, so i wasn't really upset about it.

Originally Posted by sweatybrain
I really like the Yale system and the Penn 1.5 years curriculum but haven't heard anything from them either. I assume I'll get the thin envelope sometimes next month.

yup. same here.

 

[neuronerd]

Add another to Stanford. I was hoping that they would get my application confused with a great applicant and offer me an interview. sigh . . .

 

[BGGA]

Post-interview rejections are the most painful! 🙁

 

[Benign_foodtube]

I concur with all y'all...

Mayo pissed me off cuz they were like "Hey! Send me more money and then we'll actually read you app!" Then you send em cash, and pow! There they are with a rejection letter. No secondary. Not even a phone interview. Walk away goin, "hey, why does my butt hurt?" Or "Wow, they didn't even kiss me first."

And stanford-- I havn't heard back from em yet, but they lost my damn LORs after I sent everything to em super early, then told me that I never sent em only last month, and when I called and called and sent email after email to see if I should have them re-sent, they never even responded back-- just updated my status page to "received LOR's" (I guess they found them)-- only, here's the kicker-- the status page shows that my LOR's were received last month, instead of september when I sent the damn things. I am anticipating a rejection, now that they sandpapered me.

Yeah-- Stanford and Mayo: great great schools, but they can gargle my balls and tongue my bung. 👎

 

[scrappysurfer]

4-Way Tie for First:

Davis: not recieving a secondary from a school that was both my safety and my mother's alma mater for BOTH grad degrees. MD'87, MS'03. For crying out loud, I played with the goats at their campus pre-school.
Duke: MSTP rejection came BEFORE my undergrad had sent out my letters. Since all letter writers knew me very well and one said it was the best letter he had ever written, I was a little bitter.
CASE MSTP: when I got a Cleveland interview, I found out that Case had lost my application. Yes, the check cleared but I got put on hold.
Colorado MSTP: For an MSTP app fee of $135 you get a letter that says "we are sorry to inform you that you are not a competitive candidate for the class of 2005."

To all those who missed out on Stanford, my Mom's residents (from Yale, Hopkins, etc) have all told her that Stanford is known for good researcers and lousy clinicians. No loss to you.

 

[akpete]

My WI-Madison rejection was extremely painful. At their averages for numbers and instate, but my interviewer made me feel like my athletic training experience was a complete waste of time and I should've just been a biology major instead.

 

[DrDarwin]

Stanford was my hope and dream! I thought I had a decent shot at getting at least an interview, but I guess I was overconfident 🙁

I really like the Yale system and the Penn 1.5 years curriculum but haven't heard anything from them either. I assume I'll get the thin envelope sometimes next month.

Don't worry, sweaty, I seem to remember that you have had (or will be having) interviews at some very good places. I have not yet heard from Penn or Yale yet either. Here's to both of us getting interviews there 👍.

To answer the OP's question, I feel an impending rejection from Northwestern, and it kind of pisses me off. Going into the process, I figured NU or my state school was my most likely destination. After being complete at NU for three months, however, it seems like little more than a long shot 👎. I am not going to complain since I am happy with my other interviews, but I certainly would have expected to have received a NU interview before any of the others. Weird.

 

[PreMedAdAG]

I wasn't too hurt by any of my rejections. In general I think I was most upset about the "instantaneous" rejections from northwestern and wake. It seemed like they just breezed over my profile and assumed that if i messed up the first time on the mcat, that I couldn't possibly be a good candidate for their class. Whatev..

 

[Tra La La]

Don't worry, sweaty, I seem to remember that you have had (or will be having) interviews at some very good places. I have not yet heard from Penn or Yale yet either. Here's to both of us getting interviews there 👍.

To answer the OP's question, I feel an impending rejection from Northwestern, and it kind of pisses me off. Going into the process, I figured NU or my state school was my most likely destination. After being complete at NU for three months, however, it seems like little more than a long shot 👎. I am not going to complain since I am happy with my other interviews, but I certainly would have expected to have received a NU interview before any of the others. Weird.

The one that hurt me most was Pritzker.

They rejected me about one week after my application was comlplete (late August). It's as if they totally disregarded all the merits of my application without much thought.

Five months later, now I don't care 🙂 I've been fortunate enough to interview at and be accepted to what I feel are better programs.

 

[Tra La La]

I wasn't too hurt by any of my rejections. In general I think I was most upset about the "instantaneous" rejections...

I second that! Down with instantaneous rejections! 👎

I also got rejected from NU, but they took three weeks post-secondary.

Still sucks, though.

 

[bigbassinbob]

For me, it was East Carolina. I applied last year and was rejected, so I made an appointment with the admissions dean and he told me something I should improve on. I did exactly that, and got an early interview in September, and just got my rejection letter this week. No more halloweens in Greenville for me.... 🙁

 

[Medikit]

MCW because I was rejected post interview. After that probably UC Davis because I did 9 essays for them and I was pretty proud of those essays, plus I've been wanting to go to Davis since I was 14 yet they didn't even grant me an interview.

 

[opinionkitten]

And stanford-- I havn't heard back from em yet, but they lost my damn LORs after I sent everything to em super early, then told me that I never sent em only last month, and when I called and called and sent email after email to see if I should have them re-sent, they never even responded back-- just updated my status page to "received LOR's" (I guess they found them)-- only, here's the kicker-- the status page shows that my LOR's were received last month, instead of september when I sent the damn things. I am anticipating a rejection, now that they sandpapered me.

This same thing happened to me! I called in late nov. after being complete there since july or something and they said "yeah we had a scanner error and a bunch of LOR's were lost, but we couldnt figure out whose they were and didnt bother to contact any applicants to sort the thing out because we are, you know, a world class institution and cant be bothered by such piddling details as your applicaiton"

pritzker left a mark! the first cut is the deepest, as they say. im not even counting mayo, that check cashing business was just wrong. god help you poor souls heading to rochester next year.

 

[wends]

northwestern hurt like a motha bitch! i spent A LOT of time on teh secondary, and i know my LOR was late and i had like three extensions but it wasnt my fault!!! but i did recently write dean brown a letter begging, so we'll see..........but man......that was some kinda pain.

 

[Sparky Man]

I was bummed that UCSF rejected me presecondary and Stanford rejected me postsecondary. I really thought I had a chance! For UCSF, I wrote the admissions committee asking what they felt was lacking with my application. They said they would review my application and send me a written response. Sounded fair enough. Then, last week, I was sent ANOTHER rejection letter, almost identical to the first and there was no real substance to the letter! Guess I asked for it!!!

-Sparky

 

[bidster]

Duke: MSTP rejection came BEFORE my undergrad had sent out my letters. Since all letter writers knew me very well and one said it was the best letter he had ever written, I was a little bitter.

I wouldn't feel too bad about Duke and the letters of rec--they don't make this very clear (I don't think they put any effort into making it known, really), but according to one of the office assistants I spoke to last fall, they don't read any letters of rec to determine who gets invitations for interviews. That's why a few people heard about an interview before their file was even complete. They only read letters after interviews are all done, before they make final acceptance/waitlist/rejection decisions..

 

[i61164]

And stanford-- I havn't heard back from em yet, but they lost my damn LORs after I sent everything to em super early, then told me that I never sent em only last month, and when I called and called and sent email after email to see if I should have them re-sent, they never even responded back-- just updated my status page to "received LOR's" (I guess they found them)-- only, here's the kicker-- the status page shows that my LOR's were received last month, instead of september when I sent the damn things. I am anticipating a rejection, now that they sandpapered me.

That sounds like Penn State. They have lost one of my letters (they were all mailed together in one package), and I resent it, and they still don't have it. It took so long for them to tell me that the letter was missing *cough* they lost it *cough* that I probably won't be complete by their deadline.

Yeah-- Stanford and Mayo: great great schools, but they can gargle my balls and tongue my bung. 👎

 

[Long_John]

I was bummed that UCSF rejected me presecondary and Stanford rejected me postsecondary. I really thought I had a chance! For UCSF, I wrote the admissions committee asking what they felt was lacking with my application. They said they would review my application and send me a written response. Sounded fair enough. Then, last week, I was sent ANOTHER rejection letter, almost identical to the first and there was no real substance to the letter! Guess I asked for it!!!

-Sparky

LOL Sparky, I did the exact same thing. I was rejected pre-secondary from UCSF, emailed them and then after 2 months they send me a second rejection letter not explaining what was wrong with my specific application. Then I emailed the Dean of Admissions there and he never got back to me.

 

[ZappBrannigan]

My WI-Madison rejection was extremely painful. At their averages for numbers and instate, but my interviewer made me feel like my athletic training experience was a complete waste of time and I should've just been a biology major instead.

I got rejected from my instate school, too - UWashington. With a 3.65 and a 33, I know it was my horrible interview that did it. Sometimes it really bothers me that those 40 minutes determined my fate so quickly. What makes it worse is that at my next interview (less than a week later), my interviewer stopped me at the end of the day and said that I shouldn't leave, the school needed students like me. If only my UW interview had gone as well.

 

[superdevil]

LOL Sparky, I did the exact same thing. I was rejected pre-secondary from UCSF, emailed them and then after 2 months they send me a second rejection letter not explaining what was wrong with my specific application. Then I emailed the Dean of Admissions there and he never got back to me.

man, talk about dicks. i guess they just figure that they're so in-demand and fantastic that they can get away with treating people like crap.

 

[DrYo12]

It was definintely UC Davis. Went there for undergrad and have been working in the school of medicine for about 5 years. Have been taking post bac classes and doing everything that I was told would give me the best shot at things.

And THEN...I find out that I'm rejected, and that they've known for a little while, but didn't have the heart to tell me. So I'm sitting here for weeks after the secondary and knowing that I REALLY want to go to Davis, still don't want to tell me, so finally I get the friggin' impersonal e-mail.

👎

 

[superdevil]

hmmm...seems like we have a 4-way tie for first place with northwestern, mayo, stanford, and uc davis being the most frequent offenders. wonder if they know about their reputations?

 

[UCLAstudent]

UC Davis, for me. I thought I would at least get an interview! The e-mail rejection was so tacky, too. I paid the 60-dollar application fee ... can't they at least pay for a stamp and paper? 🙁

 

[Jeffy]

Georgetown, because they're douchebags.

 

[lightnk102]

Post-interview rejections are the most painful! 🙁

i have to agree wieth this one. pre-interview rejections are okay, because you can write the school off as a "numbers *****" and feel better. but with post-interview rejections, you have to come to terms with the fact that:

1) you somehow managed to fall into the bottom 1/3 of applicants they interviewed for that cycle
2) they liked your application enough to interview you. but then they met you and decided that you suck.

That being said, Stonybrook is the only school that rejected me post-interview and I took it pretty hard. Especially since its my own state school. I had to wonder whether it was my interviewer that was the cause. He was on-call the night before so hadn't slept at all. He showed up pale and trembling at my interview. Regardless, I kept the rejection letter under my pillow and re-read it sometimes (obviously, a healthy way to handle things).

The most offensive rejection, however, goes to NYU, who gave me the equivalent of a pre-secondary rejection. The notice I received was via email (didn't even bother to waste a letterhead or a stamp on me), and didn't even have a proper greeting (not even a generic "Dear Applicant". It just started with sentences). That being said, it was a three-sentence-long email stating that NYU has decided not to send me a secondary at this time, but that they will notify me if they change their mind in the future. Did I mention the email had typos in it? I haven't received an official rejection from them, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even bother to do that.

 

[Agent Splat]

Indiana was one of the only out of state schools I could really see myself wanting to go to, because it was near family. I was rejected very quickly after submitting my AMCAS, so I guess that one sorta bugged me. I'm guessing my MCAT didn't meet standards for out of state students so they didn't bother looking at anything else. Mostly bugged me because it was such a quick rejection early in the process though.

 

[newbiedoc]

ALL UC School Rejections are painful. I guess us Cali folks have lived the good life for too long.

 

[Penelope1]

The most offensive rejection, however, goes to NYU, who gave me the equivalent of a pre-secondary rejection. The notice I received was via email (didn't even bother to waste a letterhead or a stamp on me), and didn't even have a proper greeting (not even a generic "Dear Applicant". It just started with sentences). That being said, it was a three-sentence-long email stating that NYU has decided not to send me a secondary at this time, but that they will notify me if they change their mind in the future. Did I mention the email had typos in it? I haven't received an official rejection from them, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even bother to do that.

Exactly. NYU is the epitome of rudeness. I sort of held out hope after that email, but then the deadline passed without so much as a "you don't meet our high standards" letter. I'll be surprised if they ever do send official rejections to lowly applicants like us.

 

[k-monger]

mayo pissed me off. they took about 30 seconds to get my rejection letter out after they cashed my $100 check. bastards.

ditto. those bastards.

 

[Singing Devil]

UChicago, just because I had my hopes up--I hadn't heard anything since August, and lots of people had been rejected by early December, so I believed I was being reviewed very carefully and very well might be interviewed. Then I got back from break and had a thin envelope in the mail. That experience has now caused me to believe that the SEVENTEEN schools I haven't heard from are all going to reject me. nothing like a rejection to make you lose all hope. especially if you keep thinking about it, which I do.

lightnk102, don't sweat the Stonybrook. Getting in BU means O'Bryan likes you, and that is always a difficult thing to accomplish.

 

[PreMedAdAG]

hmmm...seems like we have a 4-way tie for first place with northwestern, mayo, stanford, and uc davis being the most frequent offenders. wonder if they know about their reputations?

I know Dr. Bera frequents SDN. It's weird because a lot of people were offended by davis, but man, they were sooo nice to me throughout the process. I feel badly that some people left with a bad taste in their mouth. Maybe e-mail was their way of speeding up the process since it had previously been so slow ??

 

[superdevil]

i have to agree wieth this one. pre-interview rejections are okay, because you can write the school off as a "numbers *****" and feel better. but with post-interview rejections, you have to come to terms with the fact that:

2) they liked your application enough to interview you. but then they met you and decided that you suck.

yeah, that's definitely rough stuff. given the circumstances, how could one not take that personally? its just saying "you looked good on paper, but when we actually had to meet you...blech." glad that hasn't happened to me (yet, anyway--still think i screwed the pooch on that damn northwestern panel interview 🙄 ).

 

[CanuckRazorback]

It took me a while to mail the check because I didn't really want to go freeze my a$$ in MN for 4 years. I finally caved and sent the check just so they could READ my application, which made me wonder why I piad so much money to AMCAS. Anyway, I was rejected pre-phone interview. You would think with all those 75$ they collected from sucker applicants like me, they could fund another position in their class of 42.

 

[Kazema]

The one that pissed me off was Georgetown. They rejected me like 3 days after I sent in my secondary. It must have been waiting in the "out" pile for my $100 check to arrive.

The one that hurt the most was Rochester, since I was rejected like 2 days after I started working in the hospital. No opportunity to update the school or get any letters of recommendation before they could make their decision. It was one of my top choices and one of my first rejections.

Pritzker was somewhat annoying because I spent so much time on their essays. But it didn't bother me all that much.

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

I must say that it was Pritzker that hurt me the most. I really wanted that school from the beginning and I put alot of time and effort into their essays, which I didn't mind at all. Then, they rejected me flat out, not even a hold. On top of that, it was my FIRST rejection. Ouch.

But throughout the application process, I totally got over it. At this point, even if they were to give me an acceptance, I am not sure if I would pick them over the school that I am planning on attending as of now. I used to be so sure about Pritzker.

I guess I have evolved with this application process however short it was. What I want out of my medical career, I think, has changed slightly and for sure, what I want out of medical schools has changed dramatically.

 

[Mistress S]

UCSF's...today. 🙁 Although it was always a long shot, it was absolutely my dream school. I was so excited just to get a secondary from them. Now I wish they hadn't bothered. I could have saved my $75 and not been strung along for almost 11 weeks waiting to hear from them post-secondary. I also just sent out an update letter to them expressing my interest in UCSF, which they probably didn't even bother to read. This process is so full of ups and downs, mostly downs for me so far. The dream is slowly dying this year.

 

[TexasSnow]

Even though Mayo was my first rejection, I never harbored any delusions of actually interviewing at the school. That being said, the harshest rejection was from Pritzker post-secondary. I received the thin envelope right after the holidays, instantly killing my good vibrations. It hurt not because Pritzker was my top choice, but I thought at the very least I would be offered a chance to interview after all the time I spent on the secondary.

Not much of a sob story, but I think I might have one after the Texas Match. (j/k)

 

[GuyLaroche]

Post-interview rejections are the most painful! 🙁

I've always thought of myself as charming. Imagine my shock when I was rejected at UChicago post-interview.... And here I was planning to patent my interviewing skills.

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

Yo, TexasSnow,

Which school did you rank your number 1? My friend is at UT-Houston. Good luck with your match.

 

[leiface]

UChicago, because I've visited the school a lot and when I didn't end up going there for undergrad, they sent me a letter encouraging me to apply to their graduate programs. Also I worked really hard on that annoyingly long secondary.

 

[superdevil]

UChicago, because I've visited the school a lot and when I didn't end up going there for undergrad, they sent me a letter encouraging me to apply to their graduate programs. Also I worked really hard on that annoyingly long secondary.

no worries, case is better anyway! 😉

 

[TexasSnow]

Yo, TexasSnow,

Which school did you rank your number 1? My friend is at UT-Houston. Good luck with your match.

Thanks!
My official ranking was: 1)UT-SW 2) UT-H, 3) UTMB
But honestly, I can see myself at any of the three..... hopefully, I'll be at one of the three.....


Did you apply through TMDAS?

 

[tic112]

Most painful for me was UCLA post-secondary. It was the only school that I even bothered writing a letter of interest to. Got the rejection letter about a week after I sent the LOI. Absolutely heartbreaking.

 

[DianaLynne]

It was Dartmouth for me. I was really looking forward to seeing it, I'd heard such wonderful things about what a beautiful school it was, what a wonderful education you get. Then, they took my application money and said no. Well, who'd want to go to a school you could call Fartmouth? (Sorry those of you going there, but it's the only thing that makes me feel better.)