what would you rather do?
would you rather go to your last choice school and be a reapplicant?
- Thread starter ddalgi
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Do you mean go to your last choice school OR be a reapplicant?
Definitely last choice school, considering you'll never get into a medical school again if you turn down an acceptance.
Definitely last choice school, considering you'll never get into a medical school again if you turn down an acceptance.
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if i applied to only schools i had the intention of going to. i would go with the last choice school.
if i applied to a handful of random schools (for practical purposes, i.e. fit my stats). i would go with the last choice school.
moral of story. medical degree is a medical degree is a medical degree.
i almost want to say that it is more how you wield thy medical degree than where you obtained it from.
if i applied to a handful of random schools (for practical purposes, i.e. fit my stats). i would go with the last choice school.
moral of story. medical degree is a medical degree is a medical degree.
i almost want to say that it is more how you wield thy medical degree than where you obtained it from.
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Very good question. The answer should be easy, but ONLY if you applied right. When applying, you should not (have) applied to any school that you would turn down an acceptance from. Obviously, you still have a ranking of where you would like to go, but you should always be in a situation where you wouldn't be horrified accepting your lowest choice.
what if you were to w/d your application before you got accepted?
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Huh? Doesn't make sense. I think you are asking if a person would rather go to their last choice school or reapply? If somebody would reapply rather then go to their last choice then why did they apply to that school at all?
If I got into my last choice school I would go and be damn happy about it. All the schools I will be applying to I want to go to and truly feel I would be happy with getting in to any of them.
If I got into my last choice school I would go and be damn happy about it. All the schools I will be applying to I want to go to and truly feel I would be happy with getting in to any of them.
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We differ drastically in our definitions of "good."
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I think that's naive. I would definitely say there is a percentage of students that apply to schools in their stats range and only omitting schools if they seriously knew beforehand they would never attend that school.
What if you applied to a school that on paper and on the website seemed satisfactory, but when you went for interview, you found the students to be unhappy and learned things about the school that pretty much make you come to the conclusion that the next 4 years there would be hell. And it is understandable, not to withdraw, because you want to have that option of being accepted.
But to answer the OP, I would attend that school even if I didn't like it because it'll be harder to get into a school as a reapplicant if they learned you turned down a school because you didn't want to go there without a super good reason. In the end, you must answer the question if you want to go to a medical school you like, or if you want to become a doctor.
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I am evidence against this myth. Turned down last year because I stupidly applied to a school I knew I wouldn't go to. Got into one of my top choices this year. So far so good, and I'm still hoping for my other top choice as well!
Also, I went from 1 interview to 6 interviews from last year to this year, so it wasn't that big of a factor since it was mentioned in my primary.
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Like Texas much?
not really. why?
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Well, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that my knowledge of declining acceptances is only hearsay. I can't imagine it being considered a positive though. What did they say when you went on interviews? Was it mentioned?
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If I only get accepted to my lowest choice I know I'd be a better applicant next cycle anyway so I'd reapply, sorry SDN bible.
I did not apply to Temple. But if I did and it was my only acceptance... and only later researched the indebtedness of students coming out of there (not sure how impressive their match lists are)... I'd rather re-apply then be faced with one of the largest debts a med student can be burdened with.
I did not apply to Temple. But if I did and it was my only acceptance... and only later researched the indebtedness of students coming out of there (not sure how impressive their match lists are)... I'd rather re-apply then be faced with one of the largest debts a med student can be burdened with.
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why not just mention the following year "after interviewing at XXX, I felt that there were certain aspects of the environment that would make it a very undesirable fit for me." Since when are you supposed to know everything about a school before you ever visited? i've met quite a few people who came away from an interview absolutely hating the place
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Medical school is medical school as far as I am concerned. The only prohibiting issue that would/could come up would be cost.
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No one will ever know that you had an acceptance and turned it down. You mark on your app if you matriculated med school, meaning did you start it? So, if you turn down an acceptance, the next year just say you wanted a year off to work/surf/do whatever. You're not lying.
This is a non-issue.
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No I'm pretty sure you're required to indicate on the AMCAS application whether you've been accepted to a US Medical School before.
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the AMCAS asks if you have matriculated to med school before, not been accepted but turned it down. I think they are more interested in whether you got kicked out of a med school or not But sometimes schools ask on their secondary app whether you have ever been accepted
But sometimes schools ask on their secondary app whether you have ever been accepted
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the AMCAS asks if you have matriculated to med school before, not been accepted but turned it down. I think they are more interested in whether you got kicked out of a med school or not
Several of my secondaries have asked whether you have applied to any medical school before or were accepted previously.
Turning down your "last choice" and then reapplying, IMHO, is not worth the stress and money. You are also losing a year of earning potential down the road, so depending on your age as an applicant that can be an issue. And on a maturity aspect, why did you even apply there if you would never go there? Its illogical and demonstrates lack of foresight or a sense of entitlement. Also when people say that a US MD school is "terrible" or wouldn't go there in a million years, what plane of reality (or lack thereof) is your galactic size ego living on? Are they not aware of the LCME requirements for accreditation? If it were so bad, it wouldn't exist in an accredited fashion. All of these schools put out successful graduates. The onus is on you, and the work you put it in on achieving your goals. What school you go to isn't going to pave that path for you. May it be lighter? Sure, but it doesn't come on a silver platter to you. Then again, if one feels so entitled to ditch an acceptance and try again the following year (without any legitimate reason for deference or such), then that person probably feels entitled to their future career and way of life anyway and is unwilling to get grease on their hands.
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my friend applied during the 08-09 cycle, got into only one school but he didnt like it, turned down acceptance. He applied again during 09-10, got a whole bunch of interviews and finally was accepted at the school he liked a lot. There didn't seem to be any problem (he applied to similar schools for both cycles).
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Anyone who even considers turning down a med school acceptance hoping for a better result next cycle is way too stupid to be doctor.
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I'd also have to question their reasons for becoming a doctor.
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It can definitely take going through an interview experience to realize you dislike a school, but I think the idea is that you should then withdraw from the school post-interview and prior to acceptance so you don't end up in this situation.
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lol yeah, something tells me that too.
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I wondered what I would do in this situation. I thought I might do the reapplication thing. That was several months ago, before I realized what a crazy crap shoot this whole thing is, and how lucky I will be to get in at all. I think if you want to go to med school badly enough, the insanity of the process will teach you to stop thinking of it as your last choice school and start to think of it as the school that realized you would make a great doctor. This is what I now plan to do if I'm lucky enough to get into my last choice or any of the others I applied to..
Hmm. There are certainly schools that I interviewed at that I didn't feel like I'd fit in very well. If I were fresh out of school and wanted to grab a year or two of work experience in research or another field, I'd have no problem applying again with an improved application.
I know SDN is full of, "I wantz to be doctor since day 1 and never everz doubted since birth!" folks. Yet, there are many who chose to do other things and postpone medical school.
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