Please Advise - switching schools past deadline?

[buzzette123]

Hi everyone,

I’m in a bit of a sticky situation. I was fortunate to get 2 As this cycle (school A and school B). I was planning on attending school A, and so I selected “plan to enroll” for school A back in April and figured school B would remove me from their upcoming class roster. Turns out school B does not have a “plan to enroll” requirement until much later and therefore kept me on their list. School B just reached out with a full ride offer which completely shifts my school preference.

So… I accidentally held two As, which I totally understand is against AMCAS protocols. But with this great offer, I’m wondering whether it is too late to switch my school choice without consequence. If I switch, could school A pursue action against me for breaching protocol? Or am I completely free to switch schools and not owe them a reason? Any insight or wisdom would be appreciated, thank you all in advance.

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[wysdoc]

If you had not “Committed to enroll” at your first school you can still switch.
Accept school B, then when you get confirmation that they have your message, contact school A and withdraw.

 

[KnightDoc]

Hi everyone,

I’m in a bit of a sticky situation. I was fortunate to get 2 As this cycle (school A and school B). I was planning on attending school A, and so I selected “plan to enroll” for school A back in April and figured school B would remove me from their upcoming class roster. Turns out school B does not have a “plan to enroll” requirement until much later and therefore kept me on their list. School B just reached out with a full ride offer which completely shifts my school preference.

So… I accidentally held two As, which I totally understand is against AMCAS protocols. But with this great offer, I’m wondering whether it is too late to switch my school choice without consequence. If I switch, could school A pursue action against me for breaching protocol? Or am I completely free to switch schools and not owe them a reason? Any insight or wisdom would be appreciated, thank you all in advance.

You are totally fine. Yes, you breached protocols, but you did not break any rules, since none exist, other than those imposed and enforced by the schools themselves.

School A does not get a vote with respect to what School B allows you to do. It does not matter whether you held the second A intentionally or by accident, because you were totally within your rights to do so. As far as School A is concerned, you just got called off the WL at School B with a full ride scholarship.

For the record, you do not owe School A any explanation at all. Just change your PTE designation in CYMS, and then send School A an e-mail withdrawing, giving them as much, or as little, explanation as you want. Congratulations!!

 

[Seamore_2]

You are totally fine. Yes, you breached protocols, but you did not break any rules, since none exist, other than those imposed and enforced by the schools themselves.

If school A requires PTE by the May 2nd deadline and follows the guidelines given by AAMC (prohibiting multiple A's), isn't holding 2 A's after the deadline breaking school A's rules? If I were OP, I would worry school A would have noticed me holding my other acceptance after the PTE deadline and would notify AAMC of the breach in protocol. Given how late it is in the cycle, they may be more motivated to do so.

If you had not “Committed to enroll” at your first school you can still switch.
Accept school B, then when you get confirmation that they have your message, contact school A and withdraw.

If you can still switch this late, what purpose did the May 2nd PTE deadline serve? Is there truly no risk with OP switching their selection when he/she was supposed to email and withdraw from school B?

Also, these follow-up questions aren't with the intention of suggesting that OP forego his/her amazing offer! Congrats to you OP; I hope what @KnightDoc and @wysdoc (@Goro) have advised is true! I guess I just wanted clarification for myself, since the PTE deadline caused me a lot of stress and confusion as well!

 

[KnightDoc]

If school A requires PTE by the May 2nd deadline and follows the guidelines given by AAMC (prohibiting multiple A's), isn't holding 2 A's after the deadline breaking school A's rules? If I were OP, I would worry school A would have noticed me holding my other acceptance after the PTE deadline and would notify AAMC of the breach in protocol. Given how late it is in the cycle, they may be more motivated to do so.


If you can still switch this late, what purpose did the May 2nd PTE deadline serve? Is there truly no risk with OP switching their selection when he/she was supposed to email and withdraw from school B?

Also, these follow-up questions aren't with the intention of suggesting that OP forego his/her amazing offer! Congrats to you OP; I hope what @KnightDoc and @wysdoc (@Goro) have advised is true! I guess I just wanted clarification for myself, since the PTE deadline caused me a lot of stress and confusion as well!

Nope! OP complied with School A's requirement by selecting it as PTE by 5/2. School A CANNOT see other As (all schools can see is PTE/CTE), and cannot control whether anyone is holding them. As far as they are concerned, this is no different from OP being called off a WL after 5/2.

AAMC does not impose any rules, does not enforce any rules, and would do nothing with such a report if one was made. School B could see that OP was PTE somewhere else, and not only knew that OP held an A with them while being PTE somewhere else, they made OP an offer they couldn't refuse to get them to switch. Nothing to see here.

The purpose the 5/2 PTE deadline serves, assuming all schools abide by it, is to force people to drop multiple As to facilitate timely WL movement. As you can see, it is not totally effective if all schools do not buy in. If School B also required OP to select it as PTE by 5/2, OP would not have been able to hold both As, since the CYMS system only allows one PTE selection at a time.

For the record, we can all switch PTEs at any time before we select CTE. That is the whole distinction between PTE and CTE. It is designed to facilitate receiving a call off the WL while holding an A, but, as you can see, can also be used to hold multiple As as long as only one of the schools where you hold an A requires a PTE selection.

AAMC intentionally extracted themselves from the process back in 2019, and this is what we have, for better or worse. If School B doesn't care, neither should any of us. School A has a WL, and some lucky person will be receiving a call next week, rather than a month ago. It is what it is. Everyone will be fine, and all seats at both schools will still be filled before classes begin. Yes, it would have been more convenient for whoever is going to be called to have been called earlier, but, believe me, whoever is going to be receiving an A next week who did not have one before is not going to be too hung up over it.

The current system is very convoluted, and unfair to the extent that it allows some people to hold multiple As after 5/2 and not others, and forces some people to CTE to a school and withdraw from all WLs before others, but it's what AAMC created, and we are stuck with it until the schools force them to come up with something better.

 

[wysdoc]

A person can choose a school and select PTE in good faith at the time.
If an offer is made from a new school later, they can temporarily hold both schools while they decide. This is allowed.
At this stage in the cycle, you might have only a week or so to decide, and you might not get to hear about financial aid to help you decide.

 

[Seamore_2]

Nope! OP complied with School A's requirement by selecting it as PTE by 5/2. School A CANNOT see other As (all schools can see is PTE/CTE), and cannot control whether anyone is holding them. As far as they are concerned, this is no different from OP being called off a WL after 5/2.

AAMC does not impose any rules, does not enforce any rules, and would do nothing with such a report if one was made. School B could see that OP was PTE somewhere else, and not only knew that OP held an A with them while being PTE somewhere else, they made OP an offer they couldn't refuse to get them to switch. Nothing to see here.

The purpose the 5/2 PTE deadline serves, assuming all schools abide by it, is to force people to drop multiple As to facilitate timely WL movement. As you can see, it is not totally effective if all schools do not buy in. If School B also required OP to select it as PTE by 5/2, OP would not have been able to hold both As, since the CYMS system only allows one PTE selection at a time.

For the record, we can all switch PTEs at any time before we select CTE. That is the whole distinction between PTE and CTE. It is designed to facilitate receiving a call off the WL while holding an A, but, as you can see, can also be used to hold multiple As as long as only one of the schools where you hold an A requires a PTE selection.

AAMC intentionally extracted themselves from the process back in 2019, and this is what we have, for better or worse. If School B doesn't care, neither should any of us. School A has a WL, and some lucky person will be receiving a call next week, rather than a month ago. It is what it is. Everyone will be fine, and all seats at both schools will still be filled before classes begin. Yes, it would have been more convenient for whoever is going to be called to have been called earlier, but, believe me, whoever is going to be receiving an A next week who did not have one before is not going to be too hung up over it.

The current system is very convoluted, and unfair to the extent that it allows some people to hold multiple As after 5/2 and not others, and forces some people to CTE to a school and withdraw from all WLs before others, but it's what AAMC created, and we are stuck with it until the schools force them to come up with something better.

Thank you for expanding @KnightDoc ! I wasn't aware AAMC scaled back their involvement in standardizing the process. That must explain why the rhetoric regarding the PTE deadline seems more definitive when I've consulted posts from years ago. I suppose, for OP, this change worked for the better!

 

[medapplicant333]

Hi all,

I haven't been able to find any info on my particular situation and am wondering if anyone has any insight.

I am currently planning to attend school A while waitlisted at school B. I would prefer to attend school B because of financial reasons. School A starts about one month earlier than school B. I am curious if I can start at school A and if I get in off the waitlist to school B, can I switch schools? Will financial aid support this?

Thanks!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Hi all,

I haven't been able to find any info on my particular situation and am wondering if anyone has any insight.

I am currently planning to attend school A while waitlisted at school B. I would prefer to attend school B because of financial reasons. School A starts about one month earlier than school B. I am curious if I can start at school A and if I get in off the waitlist to school B, can I switch schools? Will financial aid support this?

Thanks!

no

 

[KnightDoc]

Hi all,

I haven't been able to find any info on my particular situation and am wondering if anyone has any insight.

I am currently planning to attend school A while waitlisted at school B. I would prefer to attend school B because of financial reasons. School A starts about one month earlier than school B. I am curious if I can start at school A and if I get in off the waitlist to school B, can I switch schools? Will financial aid support this?

Thanks!

VERY unlikely. Are they both AMCAS schools? If so, when you select CTE at School A, School B will see it, and will be very, extremely unlikely to ever call you off the WL, whether or not you withdraw.

OTOH, if School A is DO and School B is MD, this is definitely possible, although still unlikely, because MD WL calls that late are rare. As far as fin aid goes, the issue will come down to federal loan limits, particularly for Unsubsidized Direct Loans, and how much of the money you paid at School A is refunded. I'm not sure about PLUS loans being able to be used to finance money left on the table at School A, so you might have to go out of pocket or find private loans for that.

 

[medapplicant333]

VERY unlikely. Are they both AMCAS schools? If so, when you select CTE at School A, School B will see it, and will be very, extremely unlikely to ever call you off the WL, whether or not you withdraw.

OTOH, if School A is DO and School B is MD, this is definitely possible, although still unlikely, because MD WL calls that late are rare. As far as fin aid goes, the issue will come down to federal loan limits, particularly for Unsubsidized Direct Loans, and how much of the money you paid at School A is refunded. I'm not sure about PLUS loans being able to be used to finance money left on the table at School A, so you might have to go out of pocket or find private loans for that.

Thank you for the info! One is a MD and the other a DO. Definitely rare to have a late acceptance but you never know!

 

[KnightDoc]

Thank you for the info! One is a MD and the other a DO. Definitely rare to have a late acceptance but you never know!

I had a feeling!

What you are hoping for is definitely done, and is more common at DO schools with super early start dates, because MD WL movement is going to slow to an absolute crawl during the month of June, which is going to make it very difficult, but not totally unheard of, to receive a call once July rolls around. If it does happen, as I said, you can certainly lose some or all of the first semester's tuition and fees at the DO school, but it will not be financially impossible to make the switch, since people do it every year. Good luck!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

in that case, yes

thought they were both md