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[tericarper]

I have a friend who was rejected from his top choice med school last week. He wrote a letter detailing a few of his experiences since he sent in his secondaries and basically "begging for an interview." Well, he was actually granted an interview! I'm not sure why, but I am kind of appauled by this situation. Good for him, I guess, but I feel like

Comments

[xchristinax]

this sounds like jealousy. how is begging and getting a second chance in any way worse than being flat-out rejected? who knows how his interview will go, but i think i'd rather swallow my pride if that's what it takes to get in.

[hige_kun]

I agree.

[litlebanana]

I agree too. If he had a lot to add to his secondaries and really wanted it bad enough, I don't see how writing a polite letter explaining all that is a bad thing. I'm sure med schools also appreciate having students who really want to be there. It's not like he got down on his knees and pleaded.

[indy_md]

hell, even if he had gotten down on his knees, i'd still say - more power to him. getting into med school is not easy and if all it takes is showing tenacity and initiative to get an interview, well i don't think anybody should be above or look down on that!

[stutterbird]

I don't know if I would be brave enough to ask for an interview if I was rejected, but I don't think it's something to look down on. I think it shows a certain tenacity, and like-- I'm sure they granted him an interview because his letter showed that he wanted it badly, and that desire and drive is so important in med students.

[indy_md]

fuck, if all the school is looking for is somebody to take initiative like that, i'd say that makes the school even better for it. they now know how bad he wants it, and they will know that those kinds of students will do well. i think he could very much get in and think his interview is equal to anybody else's at this stage. i am a firm believer of the fact that we all take different roads to get somewhere but that doesn't mean anybody's path is less valuable than another's. schools get so many student applications maybe his just got overlooked and upon second look they deemed him acceptable. anyway - thanks for the idea. i've never thought of not taking no for an answer but when my time comes i just may do the same thing he did.

[katkoota]

I've heard of it being done unsuccessfully. However, I see no reason to not do it if you have very compelling reasons to go to that school. Plus, for schools its a bonus because they see that this person really wants to go there. If they're qualified enough, why not reconsider them?

[lincolnparadox]

Were I on a application committee, I would at least pull this kid's app again and review it a second time.

Think about it, if we assume that every student that receives a secondary meets the minimum requirements, that is still a bunch of great candidates. The things that separate one candidate from another might not be that different. This guy did hospital work, oh, so did this girl. Well he also did undergrad research, so did this girl. Well he shadowed at Mayo, she shadowed at Johns Hopkins. Well he also went to clown college...

Who do you think would get an interview? Sometimes they invite you just to see what clown college is like. It doesn't mean that you're going to med school, unless your story is really funny...