Withdrawing before being accepted

[speakwhales]

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Hi everyone,

This thread may come off as extremely obnoxious, but I do genuinely want some advice on this (this is one of the reasons why I can't discuss it with pre-med friends in real life). I have so far attended 10 interviews (will have 13 done by the end of the month), but have not heard back from anywhere. I most likely will not hear back from anywhere before I have to make traveling arrangements for two schools lower down on my list (but are still fantastic schools that I would absolutely be thrilled to attend).

One of the reasons why I am attending so many interviews is in the hopes that I will have more financial options come decision making time so that I can shoulder all of the burden of paying for my med school education -- both of the schools that I am currently looking at probably will not give much in terms of scholarships compared to my other schools, need-based and/or merit-based.

Is it fairly safe at this point in the application season to assume that I will get in somewhere and withdraw from these two schools? The traveling has gotten very expensive/time-consuming and I would rather put the money/time to use elsewhere. Has there been many horror stories of people attending 13-14 interviews and not getting in anywhere? Thanks!

 

[Planes2Doc]

Hi everyone,

This thread may come off as extremely obnoxious, but I do genuinely want some advice on this (this is one of the reasons why I can't discuss it with pre-med friends in real life). I have so far attended 10 interviews (will have 13 done by the end of the month), but have not heard back from anywhere. I most likely will not hear back from anywhere before I have to make traveling arrangements for two schools lower down on my list (but are still fantastic schools that I would absolutely be thrilled to attend).

One of the reasons why I am attending so many interviews is in the hopes that I will have more financial options come decision making time so that I can shoulder all of the burden of paying for my med school education -- both of the schools that I am currently looking at probably will not give much in terms of scholarships compared to my other schools, need-based and/or merit-based.

Is it fairly safe at this point in the application season to assume that I will get in somewhere and withdraw from these two schools? The traveling has gotten very expensive/time-consuming and I would rather put the money/time to use elsewhere. Has there been many horror stories of people attending 13-14 interviews and not getting in anywhere? Thanks!

You shouldn't risk it. You never know and it can cost you another year plus the money you already spent. The process is already a crap shoot, so you don't want to be one of those "horror stories" you mentioned.

 

[Jas1360]

Hi everyone,

This thread may come off as extremely obnoxious, but I do genuinely want some advice on this (this is one of the reasons why I can't discuss it with pre-med friends in real life). I have so far attended 10 interviews (will have 13 done by the end of the month), but have not heard back from anywhere. I most likely will not hear back from anywhere before I have to make traveling arrangements for two schools lower down on my list (but are still fantastic schools that I would absolutely be thrilled to attend).

One of the reasons why I am attending so many interviews is in the hopes that I will have more financial options come decision making time so that I can shoulder all of the burden of paying for my med school education -- both of the schools that I am currently looking at probably will not give much in terms of scholarships compared to my other schools, need-based and/or merit-based.

Is it fairly safe at this point in the application season to assume that I will get in somewhere and withdraw from these two schools? The traveling has gotten very expensive/time-consuming and I would rather put the money/time to use elsewhere. Has there been many horror stories of people attending 13-14 interviews and not getting in anywhere? Thanks!

If you get accepted to one of the schools that you already interviewed at you might regret going to the extra interviews. But if you got rejected everywhere you would regret not attending those two interviews more so.

 

[BABSstudent]

If you get accepted to one of the schools that you already interviewed at you might regret going to the extra interviews. But if you got rejected everywhere you would regret not attending those two interviews more so.

👍

I would still attend the interviews until I had a firm acceptance in hand. Maybe you could call the schools and push back your interview dates.

 

[Lollygag]

I agree I would still go to the interviews until you have an acceptance. Especially because looking at your MDApps, a lot of the interviews you had are top schools and I think I can recall top schools accepting more like 20% of the people they interview whereas for mid tiers they usually except 30-40% of those they interview (that's not actual numbers but just from looking through the MSAR it's something I noticed).

So if the majority of your schools were mid tier, I would say you should be fairly safe. But because so many of your schools are top tier with lower acceptance rates post interview then that is why I would say it's not worth the risk.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Hi everyone,

This thread may come off as extremely obnoxious, but I do genuinely want some advice on this (this is one of the reasons why I can't discuss it with pre-med friends in real life). I have so far attended 10 interviews (will have 13 done by the end of the month), but have not heard back from anywhere. I most likely will not hear back from anywhere before I have to make traveling arrangements for two schools lower down on my list (but are still fantastic schools that I would absolutely be thrilled to attend).

One of the reasons why I am attending so many interviews is in the hopes that I will have more financial options come decision making time so that I can shoulder all of the burden of paying for my med school education -- both of the schools that I am currently looking at probably will not give much in terms of scholarships compared to my other schools, need-based and/or merit-based.

Is it fairly safe at this point in the application season to assume that I will get in somewhere and withdraw from these two schools? The traveling has gotten very expensive/time-consuming and I would rather put the money/time to use elsewhere. Has there been many horror stories of people attending 13-14 interviews and not getting in anywhere? Thanks!

It's up to you, but without an acceptance in my pocket I would probably have attended every interview that I receieved.

 

[Planes2Doc]

It's up to you, but without an acceptance in my pocket I would probably have attended every interview that I receieved.

Yes, overconfidence can be a real b!tch.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Interview until you get an acceptance. There's no other reasonable option.

 

[Mountaineer12]

👍

I would still attend the interviews until I had a firm acceptance in hand. Maybe you could call the schools and push back your interview dates.

This. Try to get them pushed back until after you thin you'll hear from the other schools. That say if for some crazy reason you get rejected by all, you still have those two as back ups. It would allow you to save some extra money too.

 

[speakwhales]

This. Try to get them pushed back until after you thin you'll hear from the other schools. That say if for some crazy reason you get rejected by all, you still have those two as back ups. It would allow you to save some extra money too.

Unfortunately, I can't reschedule one of them (they said so in the email) and it makes more financial sense that if I go to one of them, I went to both of them. I was going to see one of my favorite artists play the night of one of these interviews... Have been in love with her since ninth grade. So much for that...

 

[5lippy]

I'm gonna go against the grain here. I know what it's like to be financially strapped, and I wound up cancelling about 4 interviews before I had an acceptance in hand.

A) These places are exactly like you described: far away, costly, low fin aid
B) I had great feedback from the med schools I already interviewed at
C) I couldn't see myself going to these schools over the schools with which I already had great interviews

But, I do understand where the others are coming from. Had I not gotten into a school (I got 3 offers on 10/15), then I know I'd be beating myself up-side the head. I would say that no one can really make the call but you. Roll the dice, live with the consequences (unless you already know their weight 😉 )

 

[TheMightySmiter]

Don't withdraw once you've been offered an interview unless you've been accepted to a school you know you'd prefer. That's the advice I'd give. But you have to decide if the money now is more important.