"Why (not) me?" letter

[allan120]

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I was wondering what people thought about asking schools that reject you if they have any feedback. Is it acceptable, frowned upon, bad form, or what?

The reason I'm asking is that I received a rejection from Drexel today, and I could have sworn both the student and faculty interviews went well. I thought I really hit it off with the faculty member in particular. My stats are near or above their averages.

So, I was thinking that the only good I can get out of this is to ask them what I did wrong or if they have suggestions for improvement. That way I can be better prepared for my future interviews (especially the Jefferson one coming up in December).

Anyone know the protocol regarding the "why not me?" letter? Thanks.

 

[eunice]

Originally posted by allan120
I was wondering what people thought about asking schools that reject you if they have any feedback. Is it acceptable, frowned upon, bad form, or what?

The reason I'm asking is that I received a rejection from Drexel today, and I could have sworn both the student and faculty interviews went well. I thought I really hit it off with the faculty member in particular. My stats are near or above their averages.

So, I was thinking that the only good I can get out of this is to ask them what I did wrong or if they have suggestions for improvement. That way I can be better prepared for my future interviews (especially the Jefferson one coming up in December).

Anyone know the protocol regarding the "why not me?" letter? Thanks.

hi..
first of all, i'm sorry about the rejection. and i wish you luck with other schools!
and i think you have every right to ask them why.. esp if you didn't have horrible interviews!
besides.. who cares if they 'frown upon' it! you no longer care about how they think of you!! haha...
besides... i've heard of people who do ask the schools why they were rejected.

good luck!

eunice

 

[applejuice1979]

Hey sorry about that. Keep your chin up. I don't know about every school, but Michigan State actually keeps a file on why one was rejected & they give suggestions on how one would become a better applicant to their school. I haven' figured out how I'm goign to deal with a rejection (if it comes), but I know I will call each of the school(s) and find out why (I'm not patient enough to write a letter & wait for a response). 😀

 

[DAL]

One of my friends got rejected a few years ago from Wake Forest. He called to ask about the rejection and they told him what the interviewer said so apparently they also keep a file once they reject someone. What they said helped him better prepare for the next application cycle and he ended up gaining acceptance to Wake the next year.

I'd definitely call and ask why you were rejected, but do it in a professional manner. Good luck with the rest of your interviews.

 

[allan120]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[womansurg]

One of my research advisors was on the admissions committee at my med school.

He said it it used to just make him physically ill when he went home at night after a selections meeting. Said that there were so many good applicants, good people, good grades/scores/letters/ECA's etc. that they could easily fill the class many times over. They would end up accepting/rejecting people almost arbitrarily, just based on a gut feeling of 'I liked this person a little bit better than that one when we interviewed", since they were otherwise very similarly competitive.

He knew it was grossly unfair, but wasn't sure what could be done about it...

 

[Smoke This]

Why bother? If you ask them anything, it should be asking for them to @#$% off.

Keep your head up and don't look back. Everyone eventually fails at something; it's those that press on that succeed.

 

[clittle1981]

allan, i'm sorry to hear about the drexel rejection.. i didn't know they were notifying people one way or another on decisions yet; I was told 4-8 weeks and when my roommate applied last year they took 10 weeks post-interview to waitlist her. I'm trying to resist the temptation to call and bug them; interviewed about a month ago. anyway, this process is so random that I'm not sure whether or not writing to them would help or not. I had awesome interviews at MCV and at EVMS and I was not in the first batch of acceptances at MCV (still under consideration) and waitlisted at EVMS (the only VA resident to be WL'ed on SDN too!). You might want to call your pre-med advisor to see if Drexel has contacted her/him; I've heard that some schools notify the pre-med advising office at your undergrad post-interview of their decision and other relevant info surrounding the decision. Good luck at Jefferson (GREAT school!)..