Why don't school's just include their essay questions on the primary and do away with secondaries?

[bears1992]

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One of the schools I applied to (LMU-DCOM) included all of their secondary questions on their primary application. At the end of the app was a link to pay the $50 processing fee. Essentially, my primary had all the required info (grades, LORs EC's) and the school asked their specific questions at the end (why I wanted to go to LMU-DCOM) and they even got to add the extra secondary fee at the end. Why don't most schools do this? They still get paid, they get to ask all the questions they want and it cuts down on the admissions process. Is there any advantage to having two applications per school instead of just one?

 

[7331poas]

Because schools want more money. Simple as that. These secondaries don't need to cost 120$. The schools are just greedy. Who cares if hms has a billion endowment

 

[bears1992]

Because schools want more money. Simple as that. These secondaries don't need to cost 120$. The schools are just greedy. Who cares if hms has a billion endowment

I agree, but LMU-DCOM had a link to pay the secondary fee. I payed AACOMAS my primary fee and then an additional secondary fee on the same app. They still got their secondary fee so I don't see why schools would be against it. It's less work for everyone.

 

[Lucca]

Cynical answer: $$$

Less cynical answer: Primary verification is a long enough process as it is. The secondary application allows schools to screen applicants (if they choose to) and makes it so that you can have your primary verified while you work on secondary applications. Imagine filling out the primary and having to write 20-40 more essays before you can have it submitted and verified.

Now, a better way to do things would be for all schools that don't pre-screen before sending out secondaries to instantly send you their questions when you send out your primary, even before verification. (also, secondaries shouldn't cost any money and it would be better if there were a hard cap on the number of applications you can send out to make this a workable reality).

 

[wysdoc]

Because the secondary questions (and your answers) will be tailored to a particular school and not to a general audience, meant for the standard primary application.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

One of the schools I applied to (LMU-DCOM) included all of their secondary questions on their primary application. At the end of the app was a link to pay the $50 processing fee. Essentially, my primary had all the required info (grades, LORs EC's) and the school asked their specific questions at the end (why I wanted to go to LMU-DCOM) and they even got to add the extra secondary fee at the end. Why don't most schools do this? They still get paid, they get to ask all the questions they want and it cuts down on the admissions process. Is there any advantage to having two applications per school instead of just one?

Because some schools still heavily screen applicants prior to sending them applicants. And also, there is between a 10-20% attrition rate overall from applicants to send a primary to a school and those who never complete the essays. This is no different than people who ask why some schools want CASPer testing and others don't.

Because schools want more money. Simple as that. These secondaries don't need to cost 120$. The schools are just greedy. Who cares if hms has a billion endowment

Admissions fees are not a cash cow for a university. In fact it doesn't even account for 1% of a universities revenue. Are they a bit higher than probably necessary? Maybe. Are they being greedy? No.

You use HMS as your reference. Last year they received 7900 applications. That means they had gross revenue of ~$900K. They employ 8 full-time staff with an average salary probably around $45K for the office workers and $100K for the Director positions. So you're probably looking at about $500K in total employee compensation. Then there is the food and amenities you receive if you interview. Then you have the annual licensing and maintenance fee associated with having an online admissions process and portal. Based on the school this could be anywhere from $50K-$150K depending on the implementation and additions to the base software a school requests. So right now, costs of handling the admissions process is somewhere between $600K and $700K. That's nearly 3/4th of the secondary revenue thy've received. That's excluding the mundane line item supplied that a department is responsible for - computers, printers, copiers, postage fees, customized letterhead paper, etc. Some schools, not sure about Harvard, financially compensate those faculty who serve on the admissions committee. It may be small, $5-6K/person a year, but there's another $40-50K, or 5% of their operating budget. So now we're up to potentially 80-85% of that $900K. Finally, this entire budget is based on a certain number of applicants, but if they get 500 less applicants than the year before, they run closer to operating in the red. So you can call admissions greedy, but it's not like at the end of the day they're rolling around in loads of cash they suckered you out of.

 

[Goro]

One of the schools I applied to (LMU-DCOM) included all of their secondary questions on their primary application. At the end of the app was a link to pay the $50 processing fee. Essentially, my primary had all the required info (grades, LORs EC's) and the school asked their specific questions at the end (why I wanted to go to LMU-DCOM) and they even got to add the extra secondary fee at the end. Why don't most schools do this? They still get paid, they get to ask all the questions they want and it cuts down on the admissions process. Is there any advantage to having two applications per school instead of just one?

Because there are over 150 MD schools and ~30 DO schools, and they're all interested in different things?

You're going to be > $250-$350K in debt from med school and you're complaining about secondary fees?

And also keep in mind that secondaries are also a tax on the hopelessly naïve, if not pathologically clueless.

 

[UBLI-EINSTEIN]

My understanding: if secondary application questions are directly included in primary application, the time to verify your application might get postponed.
Also, I suppose the schools want you to spend more time in thinking about secondary application questions.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Now, a better way to do things would be for all schools that don't pre-screen before sending out secondaries to instantly send you their questions when you send out your primary, even before verification. (also, secondaries shouldn't cost any money and it would be better if there were a hard cap on the number of applications you can send out to make this a workable reality).

How would a hard cap change anything? There were 830,000 total applications submitted last year by 52,000 applicants. That's an average of 15.9 schools applied/applicant. That's not unreasonable nor an abuse of the system by applicants.

 

[Lucca]

How would a hard cap change anything? There were 830,000 total applications submitted last year by 52,000 applicants. That's an average of 15.9 schools applied/applicant. That's not unreasonable nor an abuse of the system by applicants.

If applications were free many would apply to far more than they currently do, placing greater strain on already swamped admissions offices and encouraging people to think less carefully about their school lists.

But applications SHOULD be free. So a hard cap would be necessary. It would be interesting if making them free without a hard cap changed nothing, though.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

If applications were free many would apply to far more than they currently do, placing greater strain on already swamped admissions offices and encouraging people to think less carefully about their school lists.

But applications SHOULD be free. So a hard cap would be necessary. It would be interesting if making them free without a hard cap changed nothing, though.

Why should they be free. That makes zero sense. Medical school isn't a right....

 

[bears1992]

Because there are over 150 MD schools and ~30 DO schools, and they're all interested in different things?

You're going to be > $250-$350K in debt from med school and you're complaining about secondary fees?

And also keep in mind that secondaries are also a tax on the hopelessly naïve, if not pathologically clueless.

Oh no I was not complaining at all about the secondary fee (50 bucks really isn't bad) I was impressed by how LMU-DCOM added their secondary questions to the primary. I always thought that all schools received the same primary but now that I see some schools tailor their primary with additional info that is only included on that schools primary, it kind of makes the secondary seem unnecessary especially since they still got their processing fee. I guess my only complaint is the waiting game to receive secondaries.

 

[7331poas]

Because some schools still heavily screen applicants prior to sending them applicants. And also, there is between a 10-20% attrition rate overall from applicants to send a primary to a school and those who never complete the essays. This is no different than people who ask why some schools want CASPer testing and others don't.


Admissions fees are not a cash cow for a university. In fact it doesn't even account for 1% of a universities revenue. Are they a bit higher than probably necessary? Maybe. Are they being greedy? No.

You use HMS as your reference. Last year they received 7900 applications. That means they had gross revenue of ~$900K. They employ 8 full-time staff with an average salary probably around $45K for the office workers and $100K for the Director positions. So you're probably looking at about $500K in total employee compensation. Then there is the food and amenities you receive if you interview. Then you have the annual licensing and maintenance fee associated with having an online admissions process and portal. Based on the school this could be anywhere from $50K-$150K depending on the implementation and additions to the base software a school requests. So right now, costs of handling the admissions process is somewhere between $600K and $700K. That's nearly 3/4th of the secondary revenue thy've received. That's excluding the mundane line item supplied that a department is responsible for - computers, printers, copiers, postage fees, customized letterhead paper, etc. Some schools, not sure about Harvard, financially compensate those faculty who serve on the admissions committee. It may be small, $5-6K/person a year, but there's another $40-50K, or 5% of their operating budget. So now we're up to potentially 80-85% of that $900K. Finally, this entire budget is based on a certain number of applicants, but if they get 500 less applicants than the year before, they run closer to operating in the red. So you can call admissions greedy, but it's not like at the end of the day they're rolling around in loads of cash they suckered you out of.

When your school has billion dollar fundraisers from your Alumni network then you can't make this argument. Either you buy the argument that your application cost 150$ to read (which by the way it does not cost that much for PhD or other graduate programs); or you accept that these schools place prohibitive barriers to prevent low SES applicants from entering medical school. And don't throw me bull**** like FAP; that program only considers parental income.

Schools charge 60k a year for the first 2 years of med school for students to buy pathoma and learn pathology on their own time. They could easily cover those costs and at the same time solve an inherent social barrier preventing matriculation of disadvantaged applicants (that they claim to want to attract).


This is why UCSF and (historically) Mayo should be commended for screening applicants. Sure glad they haven't "gone into the red".

Because there are over 150 MD schools and ~30 DO schools, and they're all interested in different things?

You're going to be > $250-$350K in debt from med school and you're complaining about secondary fees?

And also keep in mind that secondaries are also a tax on the hopelessly naïve, if not pathologically clueless.

The difference is that I have subsidized loans to pay for medical school. Additionally, I never argued against having secondaries. Simply that they are prohibitively expensive for poor students who live off 10$/hr jobs.

 

[bears1992]

Because the secondary questions (and your answers) will be tailored to a particular school and not to a general audience, meant for the standard primary application.

That's what I thought but a few schools I applied to had questions on their primary that were specific to that school. I could see why a secondary app would make sense back when everything was submitted on paper, but now with everything electronic, it doesn't take any extra effort to tack on school specific questions to a primary app.

 

[7331poas]

Why should they be free. That makes zero sense. Medical school isn't a right....

Because it is straight hypocrisy to claim to attractive disadvantaged applicants and at the same time price them out.

It has nothing to do with "being a right". I don't understand why you would even posit that argument.

 

[bears1992]

When your school has billion dollar fundraisers from your Alumni network then you can't make this argument. Either you buy the argument that your application cost 150$ to read (which by the way it does not cost that much for PhD or other graduate programs); or you accept that these schools place prohibitive barriers to prevent low SES applicants from entering medical school. And don't throw me bull**** like FAP; that program only considers parental income.

Schools charge 60k a year for the first 2 years of med school for students to buy pathoma and learn pathology on their own time. They could easily cover those costs and at the same time solve an inherent social barrier preventing matriculation of disadvantaged applicants (that they claim to want to attract).


This is why UCSF and (historically) Mayo should be commended for screening applicants. Sure glad they haven't "gone into the red".




The difference is that I have subsidized loans to pay for medical school. Additionally, I never argued against having secondaries. Simply that they are prohibitively expensive for poor students who live off 10$/hr jobs.

Isn't that what fee waivers are for?

 

[ciestar]

Because it is straight hypocrisy to claim to attractive disadvantaged applicants and at the same time price them out.

It has nothing to do with "being a right". I don't understand why you would even posit that argument.

I fell into the "disadvantaged" category and didn't pay a dime for applications. Thank you FAP.

 

[Lucca]

Why should they be free. That makes zero sense. Medical school isn't a right....

Because the cost of application should not be the thing that keeps people from putting forth the best application possible. Over 2,000 dollars in secondary fees alone is insanity. Especially in a field where applying broadly is necessary for most to be reasonably competitive. Fee assistance programs are good, but we could do away with them (almost) entirely if the application process were simply cheaper. A one-time fee for the primary + interview travel costs is more than appropriate without lumping in thousands of extra dollars for what is essentially a list of simple questions.

"Fee waivers exist" doesn't mean "paying 2k+ in secondary fees is A-OK". Even those who make enough to not qualify for FAP, they might not have that cash in hand and need to use credit cards to pay it off. You shouldn't need credit to apply to school.

 

[7331poas]

Isn't that what fee waivers are for?

FAP is parental income. Not the applicants. Keep trying

 

[7331poas]

I fell into the "disadvantaged" category and didn't pay a dime for applications. Thank you FAP.

I am glad for you. For the rest of us without parental contribution, that is not the reality.

 

[7331poas]

Oh and lets not forget that med schools won't pay for plane travel or hotel costs. So throw on an extra 800$ per interview if you are cross country

 

[bears1992]

FAP is parental income. Not the applicants. Keep trying

Well then that's kind of dumb. I guess if it were the applicants income, most applicants would be able to claim they live below the poverty line with no income. I think the cost of the process is really an issue of having to apply to so many schools as opposed to schools milking an application fee. I think when applying you should have to rank your schools from most desirable to least desirable. It would really cut down on the amount of apps that are sent. Adding 4 or 5 schools to a 10 school list is a lot less attractive if your app shows they are down at the bottom of your list.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

So @Lucca and @7331poas there were 830,000 total applications sent out last year. I averaged out the secondary fees of the 35 programs I applied to (both in-state and private) and it's about $95. That's $78 Million. Who pays for that? What about the private schools? Does Wayne State only get 1/3 of the $$ that Drexel does because they have 1/3 the applicants? Is this federal or state that subsidizes it? Penn and Jefferson interviewed roughly 90% out-of-state applicants each, surely the tax-payers of PA won't want to be on the line for those costs.

I'm a rising M2 and I'm still paying off the credit card debt of two application cycles i went though. I get what you're both saying, but I disagree with your solutions.

 

[Lucca]

So @Lucca and @7331poas there were 830,000 total applications sent out last year. I averaged out the secondary fees of the 35 programs I applied to (both in-state and private) and it's about $95. That's $78 Million. Who pays for that? What about the private schools? Does Wayne State only get 1/3 of the $$ that Drexel does because they have 1/3 the applicants? Is this federal or state that subsidizes it? Penn and Jefferson interviewed roughly 90% out-of-state applicants each, surely the tax-payers of PA won't want to be on the line for those costs.

I'm a rising M2 and I'm still paying off the credit card debt of two application cycles i went though. I get what you're both saying, but I disagree with your solutions.

How about: secondary fees represent an opportunity for pure opportunistic, parisitic profit-sucking from applicants who have no guarantees of receiving anything in return from the school and schools should fund themselves through private fundraising, cutting costs, legitimate revenue streams, and lobbying their local governments?

secondary fees are not a significant revenue stream for medical schools (but it is a *free* revenue stream), they are a tool to limit the total number of applications. You can achieve that without having people go into credit card debt or shell out several months of rent for nothing in return.

It's also worth mentioning that the reason everyone has to apply to so many schools is that everyone is applying to so many schools...

 

[Lawpy]

One of the schools I applied to (LMU-DCOM) included all of their secondary questions on their primary application. At the end of the app was a link to pay the $50 processing fee. Essentially, my primary had all the required info (grades, LORs EC's) and the school asked their specific questions at the end (why I wanted to go to LMU-DCOM) and they even got to add the extra secondary fee at the end. Why don't most schools do this? They still get paid, they get to ask all the questions they want and it cuts down on the admissions process. Is there any advantage to having two applications per school instead of just one?

I don't know how AACOMA/DO application system works so I can't answer that. But in regards to AMCAS primary/MD application system, the primary provides a standardized applicant profile containing AMCAS calculated grades + MCAT scores + personal statement (answering why medicine) + experience descriptions (illustrating what you did) + letters + demographic information + other minor stuff. AMCAS primary can be sent flexibly to any US MD school you want, and so the primary sent to one school is the same as the primary sent to another school. AMCAS primary basically provides a background information about the applicant.

Secondary essays are geared towards specific school requirements. Some schools (e.g. Vanderbilt, Mayo, UCs, etc.) screen the AMCAS primary very heavily before sending the secondaries, while others send secondaries to anyone who applies. In any case, secondaries are important. The school may be interested to know more about you (so obstacles you've overcome, what makes you unique, etc.), and the school may also be interested to know why you're applying to them (so why this school?). There is probably a significant amount of redundancy and overlap between secondary prompts and AMCAS primary but this could be due to school-specific logistical requirements. And how the school views prereqs completion may differ from AMCAS definitions.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

How about: secondary fees represent an opportunity for pure opportunistic, parisitic profit-sucking from applicants who have no guarantees of receiving anything in return from the school and schools should fund themselves through private fundraising, cutting costs, legitimate revenue streams, and lobbying their local governments?

How do you think they fund themselves now? And where do you propose cost cutting?

 

[Lucca]

How do you think they fund themselves now? And where do you propose cost cutting?

Idk, id have to think about it more carefully. In any case, it would be a small amount of money to raise for a medical school because secondaries are not a significant revenue stream. It could be a variety of things at once to solve the problem.

My main point is this: this game is rigged enough as it is, applying broadly should be affordable enough for every applicant and people should be discouraged from sending out a deluge of applications. Hard cap, free apps.

 

[7331poas]

How do you think they fund themselves now? And where do you propose cost cutting?

Off outrageous first and second year tuition. Schools are building new facilities year after year. they can afford to run their admissions departments

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Off outrageous first and second year tuition. Schools are building new facilities year after year. they can afford to run their admissions departments

Actually, no. I'm not going to argue with you anymore after this post when all you have is supposition and base-less accusations. To counter your first statement, this is from a post in a different thread:

Without getting into too much of the weeds of medical school economics, on average, tuition only accounts for roughly 10-15% of the cost of running a medical school. Two of the largest factors contributing to medical school operating costs are clinical practice plans and hospital programs. They are typically between 45-55% of the operating revenue of a medical school.

So with those two you still have 30% of a medical school's operating costs unaccounted for. Another 10% comes from federal/state grants, fudning, etc. This is where you see a difference between DO and MD, because typically DO schools aren't as invested in research and receive less grant money. They also don't operate academic medical centers like allopathic schools so that is lower as well.

To your second point, again, you don't understand how endowments and gifts work. Endowments are are collectively made up of separate funds that usually have restrictions on how they can be spent - named professor chair, scholarship, etc. Often they are also restricted by market forces. While an endowment may be billions of dollars, that principle is not a slush fund, it's the interest and market valuation that creates the revenue and the principle allows the fund to stay solvent. The availability of the funds may be dictated by external market factors and where they invested.

Finally, most facility improvements are done typically through massive single use gifts. Sometimes this is single structures, other times this is university-wide. Every student wants to go to a program with state-of-the-art teaching facilities, and those gifts made that possible. I brought up Penn in a prior post. If you look at them and Jefferson, in the last 5 years, they've both had MASSIVE single gift donations by the Perelman and Kimmel families, respectively. Jefferson esp., while it was still a solvent school, needed that money in order to improve the facilities.

 

[7331poas]

Actually, no. I'm not going to argue with you anymore after this post when all you have is supposition and base-less accusations. To counter your first statement, this is from a post in a different thread:


To your second point, again, you don't understand how endowments and gifts work. Endowments are are collectively made up of separate funds that usually have restrictions on how they can be spent - named professor chair, scholarship, etc. Often they are also restricted by market forces. While an endowment may be billions of dollars, that principle is not a slush fund, it's the interest and market valuation that creates the revenue and the principle allows the fund to stay solvent. The availability of the funds may be dictated by external market factors and where they invested.

Finally, most facility improvements are done typically through massive single use gifts. Sometimes this is single structures, other times this is university-wide. Every student wants to go to a program with state-of-the-art teaching facilities, and those gifts made that possible. I brought up Penn in a prior post. If you look at them and Jefferson, in the last 5 years, they've both had MASSIVE single gift donations by the Perelman and Kimmel families, respectively. Jefferson esp., while it was still a solvent school, needed that money in order to improve the facilities.

You basically rambled about extraneous info for 3 paragraphs without actually addressing why these schools need to pathologically leech off poor applicants. We are all well aware of the other revenue sources and costs these programs have.

Lucca has a great solution. Free applications, hard cap at 15-20 schools. Reduce the total number of applications. Applicants of low SES can apply to medical schools, and those poor adcoms will be relieved of crushing cognitive dissonance

 

[CyrilFiggis]

You basically rambled about extraneous info for 3 paragraphs without actually addressing why these schools need to pathologically leech off poor applicants. We are all well aware of the other revenue sources and costs these programs have.

Lucca has a great solution. Free applications, hard cap at 15-20 schools. Reduce the total number of applications. Applicants of low SES can apply to medical schools, and those poor adcoms will be relieved of crushing cognitive dissonance

I addressed your comment about "outrageous first and second year tuition" being a primary source of funding.

Capping applications is a BS solution. You're trading one handicap for another and creating an artificial scarcity. There's 2.5 applicants for every medical school seat, if I want to apply to as many programs as possible, I should have the right to. Job interviews are free, how about I cap the number of applications you can fill each year?

 

[Goro]

Oh and lets not forget that med schools won't pay for plane travel or hotel costs. So throw on an extra 800$ per interview if you are cross country

I'm not going to deny that this is an expensive process. Therefore, one needs to budget accordingly and think things out well ahead of schedule. I'm not trying to be flippant, I have a sister on disability and who lives on ~$10K a year. She's one check away from disaster, as many other Americans. But one should not engage in the thought process of "they're so rich, so I should get a free ride."

I've love to hear what @sb247 has to say.

 

[Lawpy]

I'm not going to deny that this is an expensive process. Therefore, one needs to budget accordingly and think things out well ahead of schedule. I'm not trying to be flippant, I have a sister on disability and who lives on ~$10K a year. She's one check away from disaster, as many other Americans. But one should not engage in the thought process of "they're so rich, so I should get a free ride."

I've love to hear what @sb247 has to say.

I think cost-cutting measures should be implemented by both schools and applicants. A hard cap on applications + free applications is a solid suggestion (although I think capping 20 is too small: 30 schools is a better limit to set). This measure significantly reduces primary and secondary fees to a very affordable amount, which means only interview costs are a significant factor. Smart planning by applicants can further reduce costs (i.e. living with hosts as opposed to most expensive hotels, driving vs flying etc.)

 

[deleted480308]

I'm not going to deny that this is an expensive process. Therefore, one needs to budget accordingly and think things out well ahead of schedule. I'm not trying to be flippant, I have a sister on disability and who lives on ~$10K a year. She's one check away from disaster, as many other Americans. But one should not engage in the thought process of "they're so rich, so I should get a free ride."

I've love to hear what @sb247 has to say.

It's a sellers market

They do it to create an opportunity cost and potential trim applicants by self selection, they do it to add more ways to screen for themselves, they do it because they can

I've actually advocated to my school staff that we consider skype applicants to lessen cost but was told the all day experience is a better observation tool for them

 

[deleted480308]

I think cost-cutting measures should be implemented by both schools and applicants. A hard cap on applications + free applications is a solid suggestion (although I think capping 20 is too small: 30 schools is a better limit to set). This measure significantly reduces primary and secondary fees to a very affordable amount, which means only interview costs are a significant factor. Smart planning by applicants can further reduce costs (i.e. living with hosts as opposed to most expensive hotels, driving vs flying etc.)

Mary can only apply to 30 because that's all joe can afford?

Boooooo

 

[7331poas]

Mary can only apply to 30 because that's all joe can afford?

Boooooo

Mary has to do a skype interview because Joe can't afford a 800$ trip to California?

Boooooo

 

[deleted480308]

Mary has to do a skype interview because Joe can't afford a 800$ trip to California?

Boooooo

Difference between offering it and banning in person arbitrarily

 

[7331poas]

Difference between offering it and banning in person arbitrarily

Oh we won't ban secondary fees, just make them optional. The rich applicants are free to pay them if they wish

😉

 

[deleted480308]

Oh we won't ban secondary fees, just make them optional. The rich applicants are free to pay them if they wish

😉

If a school made that choice voluntarily, I'm fine with it

 

[7331poas]

If a school made that choice voluntarily, I'm fine with it

...what? So its wrong to make secondary fees free, but not optional?

 

[deleted480308]

...what? So its wrong to make secondary fees free, but not optional?

I think it's wrong to force a private entity to change their price

Whatever the school wants to voluntarily do is fine as. Long as they are open about it

 

[7331poas]

I think it's wrong to force a private entity to change their price

Whatever the school wants to voluntarily do is fine as. Long as they are open about it

....Forcing? What the hell are you talking about forcing?

These med schools are under a governing body the AAMC. Is it ok if all med schools started charging double triple, or even 10x their current prices + tuition so only those who could afford it got in regardless of their qualification? At that point, they may not be serving their population. But who am I to claim that? As long as I am not "forcing" them to do the right thing.

 

[Goro]

....Forcing? What the hell are you talking about forcing?

These med schools are under a governing body the AAMC. Is it ok if all med schools started charging double triple, or even 10x their current prices + tuition so only those who could afford it got in regardless of their qualification? At that point, they may not be serving their population. But who am I to claim that? As long as I am not "forcing" them to do the right thing.

As sb247 pointed out, it's a seller's market. I would be aghast of the cost of med school doubled or worse as you postulated, but there is no right to go med school.

I can understand and sympathize 100% where you're coming from the tack you're taking is one that ventures into entitlement..at least, that's my perception. You can do better.

 

[7331poas]

As sb247 pointed out, it's a seller's market. I would be aghast of the cost of med school doubled or worse as you postulated, but there is no right to go med school.

I can understand and sympathize 100% where you're coming from the tack you're taking is one that ventures into entitlement..at least, that's my perception. You can do better.

And my view of your argument is that of hypocrisy. A group of medical school admission teams who claim to seek diverse students...simply not in the socioeconomic category.

We will just agree to disagree.

 

[MonkeyArrow]

And my view of your argument is that of hypocrisy. A group of medical school admission teams who claim to seek diverse students...simply not in the socioeconomic category.

We will just agree to disagree.

How are students unable to pay for the secondary application fee supposed to travel to their interview, since the cost of travel is almost certainly greater than the cost of the secondary?

 

[7331poas]

How are students unable to pay for the secondary application fee supposed to travel to their interview, since the cost of travel is almost certainly greater than the cost of the secondary?

Great question. We should think about reducing those costs as well.

 

[deleted480308]

....Forcing? What the hell are you talking about forcing?

These med schools are under a governing body the AAMC. Is it ok if all med schools started charging double triple, or even 10x their current prices + tuition so only those who could afford it got in regardless of their qualification? At that point, they may not be serving their population. But who am I to claim that? As long as I am not "forcing" them to do the right thing.

Yes, they should be able to set their prices as they see fit

 

[7331poas]

Yes, they should be able to set their prices as they see fit

You have completely missed the point here and I am done talking you. You wont even bother to think about the consequences of corporate action because "its their right"

 

[deleted480308]

You have completely missed the point here and I am done talking you. You wont even bother to think about the consequences of corporate action because "its their right"

Med school has a valuable ROI, the number of applicants at current price points actually indicates the percieved value of the admission might be significantly higher

And yes, picking the offering price for a service you provide is actually a right

 

[7331poas]

Med school has a valuable ROI, the number of applicants at current price points actually indicates the percieved value of the admission might be significantly higher

And yes, picking the offering price for a service you provide is actually a right

Are you dense? Who cares what the ROI is when you can't afford to apply and fly to the interview. Thats the point here.