Hello and Early Decision Question

[MollyMalone]

Hello all you lovely, wise, and helpful SDN posters!

I'm new in town, a nontraditional premed student planning on applying next year, hopefully will be in class of 2010 somewhere...

It may be a tad early to be thinking about it, but my question is this: there is one medical school that I already know I want to attend far more than any other (for a variety of reasons)(University of Wisconsin, to be precise). I would prefer to know ASAP about my chances there because it will make my life vastly easier due to buying/selling housing and my SO's job. However, I am concerned that if I apply early decision and don't get in, I will then be doubly screwed because I will be 1) applying to other schools late in the cycle and 2) be applying as a nontrad RN to allopathic schools.

I was wondering if any other nontrads had experience with applying early decision and how it went.

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed before but I searched nontrad and early decision and didn't get any hits.

Look forward to getting you know you all!

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[NontradICUdoc]

Hello all you lovely, wise, and helpful SDN posters!

I'm new in town, a nontraditional premed student planning on applying next year, hopefully will be in class of 2010 somewhere...

It may be a tad early to be thinking about it, but my question is this: there is one medical school that I already know I want to attend far more than any other (for a variety of reasons)(University of Wisconsin, to be precise). I would prefer to know ASAP about my chances there because it will make my life vastly easier due to buying/selling housing and my SO's job. However, I am concerned that if I apply early decision and don't get in, I will then be doubly screwed because I will be 1) applying to other schools late in the cycle and 2) be applying as a nontrad RN to allopathic schools.

I was wondering if any other nontrads had experience with applying early decision and how it went.

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed before but I searched nontrad and early decision and didn't get any hits.

Look forward to getting you know you all!

Talk to the admissions office and maybe get a meeting with an admissions councelor. Go back to your undergraduate school and speak with an advisor there.

I will tell you what the dean of admissions at my #1 choice told me: "There is no magic formula"

 

[MollyMalone]

Talk to the admissions office and maybe get a meeting with an admissions councelor. Go back to your undergraduate school and speak with an advisor there.

I will tell you what the dean of admissions at my #1 choice told me: "There is no magic formula"

Thank you for the reply.

I have talked with a premed advisor and other such folk, and they have told me the same thing. I guess I was looking for "real life stories" from those who have been and done. I realize that there is no single correct answer, and as such, I'd like to get as wide a variety of input as possible before making my decision.

 

[njbmd]

Hello all you lovely, wise, and helpful SDN posters!

I'm new in town, a nontraditional premed student planning on applying next year, hopefully will be in class of 2010 somewhere...

It may be a tad early to be thinking about it, but my question is this: there is one medical school that I already know I want to attend far more than any other (for a variety of reasons)(University of Wisconsin, to be precise). I would prefer to know ASAP about my chances there because it will make my life vastly easier due to buying/selling housing and my SO's job. However, I am concerned that if I apply early decision and don't get in, I will then be doubly screwed because I will be 1) applying to other schools late in the cycle and 2) be applying as a nontrad RN to allopathic schools.

I was wondering if any other nontrads had experience with applying early decision and how it went.

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed before but I searched nontrad and early decision and didn't get any hits.

Look forward to getting you know you all!

Hi there,
If you are a very strong candidate for admission to your early decision school, you should apply early decision. If not, you are far better applying to a variety of schools so that you maximize your chances of getting in somewhere. The early decision programs are designed for applicants with very strong credentials who are certain of the school that they want to attend. You need to check the MSAR and website of the school to make sure that you exceed the credentials for that school.

If you meet and exceed the average credentials for your school of choice, you need to have all of your materials in very early. Usually the deadline is July or August. The school is obligated to interview you and make a decision by September or release you from early decision. If you are released from early decision without an interview, you are placed in the general applicant pool. This usually means that they are not interested in you so apply to many other schools.

If accepted under early decision, you are obligated to attend that school without question. Again, I cannot emphasize how important it is to make sure that you are a very strong candidate for that school. If not, early decision can put you at a distinct disadvantage for other schools that you might be a good candidate for because you will be a late applicant.

You cannot apply early decision if you take the August MCAT because your records will not be complete until around October 15 and that is too late for ED. If you elect to take the August MCAT, you can apply EDP for the year following though.

My experience with ED is from the standpoint of serving on an admissions committee only. Again, EDP applicants were usually the strongest applicants in general. If this is not you, opt for casting your net as wide as possible. Sure it is a pain to move etc, but the bottom line is that any accredited medical school in this country can provide you with the instruction that will allow you to become a physician.

By the way, even if you apply to many schools, there is nothing that prevents you from letting a particular school know that they are your first choice for whatever reason with location being a fairly good reason for making them a first choice but do realize that ED can become a liability unless you are a very strong candidate. (Read GPA exceeding 3.7 and MCATs in the mid 30s).

Good luck!
njbmd

 

[tllajd]

Hi there,
If you are a very strong candidate for admission to your early decision school, you should apply early decision. If not, you are far better applying to a variety of schools so that you maximize your chances of getting in somewhere. The early decision programs are designed for applicants with very strong credentials who are certain of the school that they want to attend. You need to check the MSAR and website of the school to make sure that you exceed the credentials for that school.

If you meet and exceed the average credentials for your school of choice, you need to have all of your materials in very early. Usually the deadline is July or August. The school is obligated to interview you and make a decision by September or release you from early decision. If you are released from early decision without an interview, you are placed in the general applicant pool. This usually means that they are not interested in you so apply to many other schools.

If accepted under early decision, you are obligated to attend that school without question. Again, I cannot emphasize how important it is to make sure that you are a very strong candidate for that school. If not, early decision can put you at a distinct disadvantage for other schools that you might be a good candidate for because you will be a late applicant.

You cannot apply early decision if you take the August MCAT because your records will not be complete until around October 15 and that is too late for ED. If you elect to take the August MCAT, you can apply EDP for the year following though.

My experience with ED is from the standpoint of serving on an admissions committee only. Again, EDP applicants were usually the strongest applicants in general. If this is not you, opt for casting your net as wide as possible. Sure it is a pain to move etc, but the bottom line is that any accredited medical school in this country can provide you with the instruction that will allow you to become a physician.

By the way, even if you apply to many schools, there is nothing that prevents you from letting a particular school know that they are your first choice for whatever reason with location being a fairly good reason for making them a first choice but do realize that ED can become a liability unless you are a very strong candidate. (Read GPA exceeding 3.7 and MCATs in the mid 30s).

Good luck!
njbmd

njbmd,

I love your posts. They are always so insightful and full of information!

 

[Celiac Plexus]

There is only one positive thing I can thing of as far as ED: you get peace of mind early in the application cycle, and can enjoy life a little earlier in the application cycle.

When I applied to med school, I applied early decision. I had a very competitive application. I was granted an interview 4 days after the school got my application. My advisor was already high-fiving me on my acceptance before I even went for the interview.

Unfortunately, I was not granted admission at that time, and was "deferred" to the normal pool for consideration with all of the other applications.

I did not find out the adcom's decision until mid-September. So I quickly applied to a list of schools that I had made up when I was considering applying regular decision. Unfortunately I was so far behind in the process that I did not start getting secondaries until November and December. I was only granted a handful of interviews and at every single one of them I was told that the class was already filled (I interviewed in Jan/Feb/Mar). They all said the same thing: "Although our class is already full, every year a number of competitive applicants are accepted off of the wait list, so keep your chin up". Whatever.

Medical schools benefit way more than applicants do in the ED game. Med schools get to fill part of the class with very competitive applicants whom they might not have had a chance to land in the regular admission pool. And if for some reason, they don't want them, they just cast them back into the regular pool and go on their merry way.

My advice is that if you are a competitive applicant, just get your **** together early, and apply as soon as AMCAS accepts applications. Although you won't have an acceptance by August/September for the following year, you will have one by November or December. And you will likely get multiple acceptances.

In case you're wondering, I did eventually get admitted off of a waitlist at a very good medical school. However, it sucked because I did not find out until the beginning of the summer before the first year started. Not to mention that it was a moderately stressful year not knowing where or what I was going to be doing the following year.

Good luck!

 

[efex101]

Actually if you get your stuff in ASAP you can get accepted as early as October 15th which is really early in the game. I had all my stuff submittes as soon as I had my MCAT scores and I was interviewing in August...so really if you take the April MCAT and have your duckies in a row there is really no reason to apply EDP unless you CANNOT move out of state....

 

[MollyMalone]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you all taking the time to offer your insights, experiences, and opinions.

 

[samenewme]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you all taking the time to offer your insights, experiences, and opinions.

I actually spoke to the head of admissions at UW, and she all but advised me not to do ED there. I was told they admit very few, truly outstanding candidates by early decision and also try to save a few empty spots to give out later for state residents who don't apply first thing in the application process. Medical College of Wisconsin, in contrast, encourages ED applicants and implied they admit well-qualified applicants (in-state that is), not requiring god-like powers.

This is my recollection of my conversations with the admissions officers, not my experience, since I don't apply until next year.

 

[abraxas20]

but do realize that ED can become a liability unless you are a very strong candidate. (Read GPA exceeding 3.7 and MCATs in the mid 30s).

I applied well below average ED and got in. First try. My desire to stay here and my history helped I think.