HI all! I know I’m normally a very upbeat person on this forum, but I’m feeling pretty low these days. All the waiting is really gnawing at me! 
I had several good interviews. Since early Sept. though, I’m just playing the waiting game. The further away I get from the actual interviews the worse they seem in my mind. I find myself wondering how I got all those interviews and could the adcoms possibly want to accept me???
Only one of the schools I’ve interviewed at has rolling admissions (Baylor). The rest are TX schools and they don’t do acceptances until Feb 1. That’s a long time to feel like I’m hanging in the wind!
Am I going to med school next year? Where will I be? Will my family resent me if we have to pack up and move??? These are the questions that have been pestering me for a few days now.
Thanks for letting me vent. It’s been a tough week.
Yup, i hear you loud and clear. I keep wondering how long will it take to know something, will schools call/e-mail/snail mail? what will I do etc. Also what if I get into X and Y school how do you choose if you like both a lot. You still have to wait for financial aid so my hubby may have to stay put trying to sell the house while I leave with my kids or should the kids stay with dad…lots of questions. Hopefully I will have a choice maybe between schools but dang if just one school takes me I will be ecstatic! Just hoping, dreaming, and praying that I will know something soon…maybe next Wednesday??? 
Yeah, Wednesday is weighing heavy on my mind. I’ve only interviewed at one school that starts accepting on that date, but it is my number one school.
I think it’s the unknown that bothers me the most. Of course, no news is better than bad news! 
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for both of us! And everyone else who is waiting like us!
Theresa I have heard so many good things about Baylor! I am sure that you will get in there wooohooo. Okay, but dang I would die if I was from TX and not hear anything until Feb from the TX schools OMG I would die aghhh!
OK not to add additional downer material but I feel compelled to remind you guys that there are THREE things you could find out - I didn’t adequately consider the third possibility so of course that is what I got. So I’m going to just offer a prophylactic description of Door #3 in the hopes that you’re sufficiently innoculated against the difficulty of dealing with the lengthiest uncertainty…
Door #1: You could get accepted - that would be great! The rest of the year is spent weighing your options and figuring out the move details, financial aid etc.
Door #2: You could get rejected - devastating of course. No need to say more.
But don’t forget Door #3:
you could get wait-listed!
It’s kinda like getting kissed by your sister, it can be easy to react VERY indignantly to it, and it definitely prolongs the agony of the waiting. It is a “good news - bad news” scenario, and in the high-angst state of applying to med school, the “good news” portion can be hard to appreciate. (and you will be VERY pissed off at all the people who say, “Look on the bright side… at least you weren’t rejected.”)
I recommend working on a zen-like acceptance of the passage of time.
“Former Wait-List Queen”
Yes, the waiting can be agony. I applied the first year of the on-line AMCAS application when everything was just screwy. Hopefully to make you feel a bit better, I’ll tell you my agonizing medical school application story (which of course seems funny now).
After taking about 20+ hours just getting the information into the application since it would literally take 5 minutes to go from one screen to the next, I spent four days trying to submit the application, getting an error every single time saying the server was busy and that I should try again later. Little did I know that each time I pressed that SUBMIT button, it was charging the full application amount to my credit card (which stupidly for me was a debit card that I was using) and removing $420 from my checking account. It took me a few days to figure out that I was overdrawn on my checking account by many thousands of dollars and then a few days later (with dozens of hours on hold) to finally get someone from AMCAS on the phone that would believe me and then several more days to get the money refunded and many more days on the phone and mailing letters trying to get back the overdrawn account fees my bank charged me (which I never got back but in exchange my AMCAS application was free). The application was finally submitted on July 1. For schools that did not screen, I got back secondaries rather quickly. For the other schools it was a long, long, time. AMCAS Processing on my application was not even begun until the middle of October. Then, I began to receive numerous e-mails (the same one over and over again) saying that they were missing one of my transcripts (even though the transcripts were sent twice, the second time by certified mail for which I had the return receipt card). Many telephone calls and e-mails later, they agreed that they did have the transcripts and so my application processing was completed sometime in November. Finally, on December 17, (5 months and 16 days after the electronic submission finally worked) I received my first interview invitation…Thank goodness it was at my first choice of schools. When I called to setup my on-site interview I realized that I had another long wait ahead of me as the first available interview date was in March…but at the last second before I hung up the phone with the admissions coordinator she said “We do have an opening on Thursday (it was a Tuesday) from a cancellation but I doubt you can get here last minute.” I jumped on the opportunity and bought a last minute plane ticket (over $800 just for the airfare as I was coming from Fairbanks, Alaska) and pissed off my boss by taking a few days off of work without notice. The interview went well and I was even more impressed with the school after the visit. Two weeks later, I received the acceptance letter and it’s been all shits and giggles since…the wait can be agony but it may pay off in spades. Best wishes!
Wow, great story mpp. What a radical swing in momentum. I guess that $800 was extremely well spent. Note to self.
I am also dreading the wait until Feb. 1 here in Texas. The August MCAT really slowed my app down, but things should pick up now and hopefully get some interviews. I applied Mayo, Vandy, Baylor via AMCAS and all seven other TX schools via TMDSAS.
The application process has gone pretty smoothly for me, just difficult to hear about all the interviews, etc. while I am still waiting for MCAT #'s. I think a 28 should get me in, but a 35 would get more attention!
MPP, your story made me smile!
Ortho, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you! Don’t you get scores sometime this week??? I was a basket case the day b4 my scores came out! Fortunatly, they were good scores and the interviews follow pretty quickly! Be ready!
Feel free to PM me about any of the schools. ('cept Vandy, I didn’t apply, and Mayo, they didn’t like me!) You can’t go wrong in TX! 
I am waiting for those MCAT scores to come out and its hard hearing about others interviews, BUT, I found out last week, that many schools do not consider my application “complete”. Why?? The Pre-health Office at UTD has not gotton a number of people’s stuff out, mine included. So, apparently, Dr. Wood was writing a bunch of letters this afternoon after I politely vented my frustration at the fact that I completed my part of everything mid-July and its mid-OCTOBER!! I did say everything politely, but said also that I feel this will hurt my chances in the application. When he mentioned that a number of students were still lacking letters, I also added that “I had heard that”. So, now they’ve screwed around for 2 1/2 months and done nothing (two people in the office but only one brain). My scores on the MCAT (2nd take) will be out at 7am in the morning! 
Kathy
Hey Kathy, ya I'm waiting for those scores too. I was doing just fine for the past couple of months, but now that it is soooo close…
I did not know the scores would be out and ready for 7am!!! Still too late for me. I need to rise at 5:45am to leave the house at 6:45am in order to get to class at 8am, after which I have a three hour ochem lab and a mid term after that. The best time I think I can see the results is 2:30pm — talking about a wait!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!
I just checked - the MCAT scores are in now!!!
and…? I hope it will be good news for everyone.
Beth
AAAGH!!!
I just called to check on my KCOM acceptance/or not status and was told that several committee members missed the adcom meeting (AOA convention was this week), so decisions will not be out until tomorrow.
I am already sleepless in Missouri, guess I will be for another night.
Reading everyone’s happy news has me itching to know!!!
Good luck, Sethina. I know how hard the waiting is! I had hoped to hear from a school yesterday, and didn’t. I’m thrilled for everyone getting accepted, and I sure would like to join the crowd!
hang in there Selina and Theresa! I have all my fingers & toes crossed for you!
Beth
| QUOTE (efex101 @ Oct 11 2003, 09:34 AM) |
| Just hoping, dreaming, and praying that I will know something soon....maybe next Wednesday??? |
Are you psychic?!? That was pretty close to when you actually found out right? LOL Can you predict that I'll have an acceptance around this time next year??? PLEASE!!???!
Seriously, congratulations!!
I feel for ya'll. Last year I waited from Mid- SEPTEMBER clear until JUNE 1st to hear from my first choice med school! That day I got a rejection letter. This year I re-applied, casting a larger net with more schools. That school actually does want me, I found out, but I am out of state there and that was the ONLY reason I was rejected! Maybe they will be impressed that I re-applied to their school and offer me a seat!
But no matter - This year, my own state school accepted me!
Persistance my friends, persistance.
Wendy
MS0
Yet even more waiting.
Now that the MCAT scores have been released, and also have been released to AACOM on 10/13, how long does it take for AACOM to update their database and pass the information?
I think there are too many people getting accepted early among OPMs–it's making everyone else nervous!
Wait until spring to start getting anxious.
In the meantime, try to focus on the joys of the present as opposed to the terror of the unknown.
warmly
joe
Hi there folks,
I spent about 30 minutes talking with a gentleman who had just been interviewed at Howard last week. He has just received another invitation to interview last Friday when he checked his e-mail. This gentleman is from Los Angeles (UCLA grad) and said that most of his friends who had applied with him early had not received any invitations for interview. He said that Howard was his first interview invitation.
The point to this is that it really is very, very early in the process. As I have stated in a previous post, even if your applicaition went in early, you need not be in a panic mode at this point. There are plenty of folks holding multiple acceptances and may not release those until early next year. There is still plenty of time to be interviewed. The single most important factor in attaining acceptance to medical school is showing evidence that you can handle a very rigorous curriculum successfully. Make sure that your applications show this evidence. Make sure that your secondaries show this evidence. If you are not holding a letter of rejection, your application is still underconsideration. Yes, this is a crappy and nerve-wrecking experience but it is the only system currently available and as Mary R said, “It is their ballgame.”
So think very positive thoughts and keep a positive attitude. If you dwell on trying to read something into how long it takes for you to receive an interview invitation, you will drive yourself nuts and carry that negativity into any interviews that you receive. Work on your alternative plans and should you receive a rejection, try to find out what you can do to make sure your application is stronger on the next round.
The whole “pre-med” thing begs for you to compare yourself to other people. (Joan R already has acceptances and I don’t even have an interview so I must be a poor candidate) You can’t really make any realistic comparisions because you are a unique person with your own unique set of experiences. Try to think of everything that you have gone through and how that will help you become a better physician. Take this time to really hone in on why you want to pursue medicine and why you will be an excellent physician.
Examine your motives for medical school attendance and make sure that they are sound. Thinking that the TV docs are cool and that you like what you saw on “Resident Life” or “The Critical Hour” is just as unrealistic. Even though these shows are done in documentary style, they are far from the experience of practictioners of medicine today. Be as realistic as you can be before you commit yourselves and your families to this long term process with loads of uncertaintly on the other end. Even if you get an acceptance, you will have much to plan and arrange. Just ask Linda Wilson about moving a household halfway across the country. Take this time to work on some of those plans too.
Finally, keep good records and make copies of every piece of correspondence that you have sent to every school. Most schools are just starting to gear up for the main bulk of interviews so you want to be ready. Also, be sure to get your financial aid information ready too. Financial aid can be just as difficult to organize as the applications.
I was immediately struck by how upbeat my caller from Los Angeles was when he returned home to find that he had still another invitation. He kept saying how depressed he was feeling until he got the letter from Howard inviting him for interview and how his whole world changed with just that first invitation.
Please keep positive folks and congratulations to the folks who have received invitations and acceptances. It is a good thing to know that you are a step closer to achieving your goals but for those who are still waiting, put this time to good use.
Natalie 