Well done, “Pre-Med”!
May we…call you, “Pre-Med”?
Given the time, energy, sweat and tears you must have put into applying to medical school, not to mention the money, the college, the premed courses, the high grades, the high MCAT score, the volunteer projects, the shadowing doctors and that small, self-sustaining clinic you set up in the most impoverished part of that country where you had to teach yourself the local dialect just to get by, you were one of the record number of “qualified” applicants to med school this admissions cycle.
But, of course, with record numbers of applications for medical school, one thing is for sure this spring – there will be a record number of rejection letters; and nothing says, “Screw you, your dreams and your hard work!!!” more than a poorly written rejection letter from a medical school admission committee.
Since applicants put great time and effort into curating their best applicant profiles and personal statements and thoughtfully answering all those personal and probing application questions - only to get rejected, shouldn’t medical schools put a little effort into writing their rejection letters, too? We at The Ministry of Information think so.
That’s why, this application season, we took all the premed courses, the MCAT (twice! :P) and applied to over sixty top medical schools – just to see…just to see, who had all the things we’d hope to read in a well crafted medical school rejection letter.
Exhibit 1:
There are, let me tell you, ten, weighted parts to a winning rejection letter…
1 Greetings and Salutations – 1 Point
2 The Soft Opening – 1 Point
3 The Application – 2 Points
4 The Numbers – 2 Points
5 The Struggle – 2 Points
6 The Reckoning – 3 Points
7 The Rejection – 1 Point
8 The Disappointment – 3 Points
9 The Resurrection – 4 Points
10 And The Light – 1 Point
Some schools, just hit the main three…
Exhibit 2:
1 Greetings and Salutations: “Dear Applicant”
7 The Rejection: “You have not been selected for an interview”
10 And The Light: “Good luck.”
TOTAL POINTS: 3 - Boooooo!
While others go all the way…
Exhibit 3:
1 Greetings and Salutations: “Dear Ashley,”
2 The Soft Opening: “We hope you’re hangin’ in there during this long application process.”
3 The Application: “I wanted to give you an update on your application.”
4 The Numbers: “We received 100,000 applicants for our class of only 25 seats.”
5 The Struggle: “We read every application, extended the deadline, personally reached out to every applicant and their mom, doubled the class size, bought a new campus.”
6 The Reckoning: “Your application was one of the best we’d ever seen, wee use it as a teaching model for others and can definitely see your potential as a member of our next class.”
7 The Rejection: “But you have not been selected for an interview.”
8 The Disappointment: “We are devastated that we could not call you up and tell you personally and hope you know we share your disappointment.”
9 The Resurrection: “Please call us, for feedback on your application, or to learn about what programs we have to help you get accepted when you apply next cycle, as we hope to have another chance to consider your candidacy.”
10 And The Light: “If you got into another medical school, congratulations. If not, we know you’ll succeed and we wish you the best of luck in the future.” Signed with a handwritten signature or someone’s typed name.
TOTAL POINTS: 20!
And other schools are just dicks…
Exhibit 4:
1 Greetings and Salutations: “Dear Applicant (you did not get in),”
4 The Numbers: “As you know (you did not get in) we received many applications this year.”
5 The Struggle: “Our school weighed several factors in selecting students to interview (wait for it…).”
7 The Rejection: “But you have not been selected for an interview (well surprise, surprise!).”
8 The Disappointment: “(you did not get in, so…) Please do not call us, for feedback on your application, or to learn about what programs we have to help you get accepted when you apply next cycle (so, move on!).
10 And The Light: “We wish you the best of luck in the future or whatever.” Insert words “Admissions Office/Committee/Department” here.
TOTAL POINTS: 8 (we deduct 2 points for insults like “Dear Applicant”, and there were a lot of INSULTS TO INJURY.)
To sort out the best from the worst, the Ministry scored our rejection letters on a 20 points scale with the aforementioned ten elements we’d like to find most in our rejection letter and ranked the schools from best to worse rejections.
Here’s the breakdown, school by school, using the med school O, A, S, U scale…with some prime examples in each category.
Exhibit 5:
THE RANKINGS
Outstanding (Score: 16-20)
17
Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine
Dear Jubei Yagyu,
The Admissions Committee of Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine has completed its careful and thorough review of your application. We are sorry to inform you that we will not be able to offer you an interview for the class of 2025. We would like to express our appreciation for your patience throughout this application season. We received approximately 16,000 applications from strong candidates, making consideration for this year’s entering class a remarkable challenge. Our committee’s decision should not be understood as a reflection on your potential. We understand that this news may be a disappointment and we regret not being able to interview all applicants to help them fulfill their aspirations of a medical education at Stritch. If you will be attending another medical school this fall, congratulations! However, if your plans have changed and you intend to re-submit your application in a future applicant cycle, you may benefit from resources that provide additional educational, service, or other health-care related experiences. We have attached information regarding some of the opportunities available through Loyola University Chicago that may help you in this process. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Sincerely, SIGNATURE
16
Tulane University School of Medicine,
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Advanced (Score: 11-15)
13
Boston University School of Medicine
Dear Mr. Yagyu,
The Committee on Admissions of Boston University School of Medicine has completed its review of your application. It is with great regret that I inform you that we will be unable to offer you an interview this year. This is a disappointment, as much for those who are responsible for the decision, as it may be for you.
Most of the candidates we are considering this year, like you, are qualified to attend medical school and are likely to make important contributions to our profession and to society. Sadly, with more than 100 applicants for every seat in the class, we are forced to decline many exceptional people.
We acknowledge and respect your accomplishments and recognize that our inability to offer you an opportunity to complete the admissions process is a loss for Boston University. Please accept our best wishes for all your future endeavors. Sincerely, TYPED NAME.
Creighton University School of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences
Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine
12
Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine
11
New York Medical College
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Stanford Medicine
SUNY-Stony Brook, Renaissance School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pittsburg School of Medicine
University of Rochester
10
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School
Satisfactory (Score: 6-10)
9
Quinnipiac University Frank H. Netter, MD School of Medicine
University of California, Irvine School of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Yale School of Medicine
8
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Dartmouth University Geisel School of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine
University of California, Davis School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical College
7
Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
6
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Columbia University VP&S
Rush University Medical College
Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Medical College
University of Michigan Medical School
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Dear Jubei,
Despite your fine record and accomplishments, the Committee of Admissions has not found it possible to offer you a position in the Entering Class. This year we have received more applications from qualified applicants than we can accommodate. This has made the deliberations of the Committee on Admissions particularly difficult.
We are grateful for your interest in Washington University School of Medicine and for your application to our school. When the time comes for your postgraduate training, we hope you will consider our medical institution.
Please accept our best wishes for your futures success in the study of medicine. Sincerely, TYPED NAME.
Unsatisfactory (Score: 1-5)
5
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Ohio State University College of Medicine
4
Baylor College of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Hofstra University Northwell Health Zucker School of Medicine
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
2
Baylor College of Medicine
1
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Admission Decision: Application Declined
And now, the analysis, item by item…
Exhibit ? (lost count):
THE ANALYSIS
1 Greetings and Salutations – 1 point
The rejection letter should start by saying, “Dear Blank”. Best to use the first names, here, ‘cause, by this point in the game, the school knows you, the applicant, VERY well.
This is basic stuff, but, believe it or not, some schools didn’t even bother to include “Dear So-in-so,” in their rejection letter. Ugh…Rude!
Schools like…Baylor and the University of Cincinnati, who affectionately addressed their letter, “Dear applicant”… :(
Imagine if you responded to secondaries the same:
Why did you apply to the University of Cincinnati?
“It has been my dream to apply to [insert school name here] since I was a child!”
Well…come to think of it...that is exactly how I cut/pasted my way through secondaries, so…touché, Cincinnati. Touché!
2 The Soft Opening – 1 point
Since your letter didn’t go “Dear Sir/Madam, CONGRATULATIONS!”, you know it’s bad news. Best to ease into it. Start with a soft subject. The school should ask about the weather. Ask how you’ve been since secondaries went out. Been about 4-6 months since we sent that secondary application in, after working it for three weeks straight, so it was nice when schools did include a line or two thanking us for taking the time to apply.
High scoring Loyola expressed “appreciation for (our) patience throughout this application season.” You already know it’s a rejection letter, but a little appreciation (sympathy?) for you, the applicant – not hard to do.
Thank you, Loyola. It earned the school 1 point.
3 The Application – 2 points
“After a careful review of your application and supporting material” (Rosalind Franklin). Exactly.
Before they reject us and explain why the admission committee and school quite prefer the company of others to our exclusive company, they should look you in the eye and acknowledge that they spent some time thinking this thing we have together – the application. A lot of personal sharing was involved in that thing. We’ve told them things your mom doesn’t even know about. Questions that would raise concern you if your friends even asked you! After sharing your greatest strengths, weaknesses, what you’re most proud of, or telling about that time “you let someone close to you down” – the admissions committee might take a moment or two and say a little about your application and supporting materials, that they’ve thoroughly reviewed, thoughtfully considered…but have come to some conclusions about your relationship that they’d like to share with you now - forthwith and hitherto.
4 The Numbers – 2 points
OK, OK, OK – we know schools get a lot of application, but don’t just say, “Like, OMG - we got soooooo many applications this year! We were like ‘Whoa!’” – puts some numbers out there!
16,000 (Loyola), 17,000 (Tulane), “15,000 applications to seat a class of 211” (NYMC). We’d feel less…“rejected” by a school’s…rejection…if we knew we were one the 50,000 applications you rejected for their class of 25 seats. Obviously. Seriously. Look at these numbers! Whatcha gonna do, right? I mean, that’s just math.
5 The Struggle – 2 points
Now that they’ve given us numbers, they shouldn’t just give us numbers and say, “It’s just math!” Sure they turned away thousands, but if they leave it at: 15,000 minus 211 equals “my application got rejected”, then I’m still feeling a little raw about calling it a “numbers game”.
Tell us about the struggle, the difficult choices the committee had to make. Tell me that LOSING me…was DIFFICULT!!!
We loved Boston University…“our inability to offer you an opportunity to complete the admissions process is a loss for Boston University.” Awww…so sweet!
Our favorite was Quinnipiac. Read like a Carpenter’s song…
“to ensure that no applicant was disadvantaged due to the pandemic, we chose to extend our deadline for MCAT submission by one month and delayed beginning our process of evaluation one month as well…extending our interviewing season accordingly through the end of March...working as diligently as possible”
…and I can’t hardly wait
to be with you, agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain!
Chorus
Don’t you remember
You told me you loved me babyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Said you’d apply to Quinnipiac again babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
I love youuuuuuuuuuuuu!
I really do!
And that wasn’t even the rejection letter. That was the letter they sent…before they sent the rejection. These folks really made it seem like they were working on it. Classy.
Nothing eases the blow of not getting into school like knowing how the school tried to make it happen, pulled every stop, turned every stone, tried every trick - ‘cause after all, we’re all on the same team here, and hearing about our “shared struggle”, makes our personal loss feel better. 2 points.
6 The Reckoning - 3 points
Obviously, by this point in the letter, it has totally sunk in that we are not doing to this letter’s medical school.
*Long Sigh*
…
…
…
…
…
…
Now would be the time to say, “Chin up, trooper!” Not like in Item 5, where a school might write, “Our inability to offer you and interview should not be viewed as a comment on your suitability for a career in medicine” (various schools) because, obviously this rejection letter is saying a whole lot to me about my nonexistent “career in medicine”, right now!
What scores three points here is when a school recognize our strengths, our “extensive interest and intensive preparation” (St. Louis), the emotion we “invested in the entire admission process” (Loma Linda), and instead of wishing us the best of luck, hearing that, “we are confident that you will find a medical school” (Stanford) is what we applicants need to hear right now.
After having establishing how hard their school worked to get you accepted (Item 5), some acknowledgement or recognition of how hard you worked to get to this point, needs to be made.
Before delivering the deathblow, the best foes always acknowledge the amazing abilities of their opponent and regret that they may never meet such a skilled fighter again! That’s just classic kung-fun master etiquette. 3 points
7 The Rejection – 1 Point
“even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart.”
Like the sweet but bitter words of Aeschylus, the father of tragedy, after reading Items 1-6, I feel…ready…ready to be told, “You were not selected for an interview”.
No rejection letter is complete without this singular line…Eeeeeexcept at Ohio State, which wrote an ENTIRE rejection letter without even mentioning that my application was rejected!
“Hello. Thank you for your interest. We received an extraordinary number of applications and found it challenging to limit the number of interviews. If you are interested in reapplying, feel free to do so. Best wishes. The Ohio State University”
Paraphrasing, but that was basically it! I was surprise it was not followed by a “thumbs up” emoji.
Moving on, because Ohio State apparently has…
8 The Disappointment – 3 points
Tip of the hat to all the school that acknowledged, in rejecting our application, how disappointing rejection can be.
Loyola, Tulane, Pittsburg, Boston, Loma Linda, Chicago, Johns Hopkins.
Thank you for acknowledging how f*cked up, this c*cks*cking, muther-f*ck*ng, b*llsh*t rejection is!
As I stare into the abyss, recognize how upsetting this can be for me.
Devastating, actually.
My little world…fallin’ apart.
Our personal favorite, Harvard, “although you may be disappointed…perhaps we will have the opportunity to work with you in the future as a resident or fellow”.
Aww…as a resident or fellow “in the future”! That’s like Harvard saying we won’t interview you but…
“I just met you,
and this is crazy,
but here’s my number
so call be, maybe!”…but in the future.
9 The Resurrection – 4 points
At this point, 50+ rejections later, our dreams of med school dashed, unable to understand what happened to cause all that work to end in rejection, last thing I need is the school to put in my rejection letter something akin to “we cannot advise you regarding your application” (Tulane) or “we suggest that you consult with you college pre-medical advisor” (Tufts) or maybe “take additional coursework or enhance your application in another way” (Rosalind Franklin).
Not helpful. Not encouraging. More…“salt on wounds”, if I’m using that expression correctly.
That’s why the Ministry gave 4 points to the few rejection letters that offered some semblance of hope and actually reached out to say, “this is not the end, this is just the beginning” (Creighton) and invited applicants to contact the school to work together on strengthening their application for re-application…for the future!
Loyola, University of Central Florida, Creighton University.
10 And the Light – 1 Point
In closing, the school should wish us the best of luck in the future. (1) Point for basic stuff. Now that the rejection letter is complete, very few schools forgot to mention this. But some schools’ best wishes were a little hard to swallow….
Whereas many schools signed off with dean’s signature or printed name, some just said, “Sincerely, Office of Admission” (Georgetown, UC Davis), or “School of Medicine” (Ohio State, UC Riverside).
Columbia University – signed “Sincerely, VP&S Admissions”. “VP&S”?...I wasn’t even sure what that was? I had to look it up!
INSULTS TO INJURY –
Loyola (Score: 17) came closest to a perfect 20, hitting all but one of Items 1-10. Most scored in the “Satisfactory” 6-10 point range, followed very closely by the “Advanced” rejection letters; which should come as some comfort to applicants.
You’re going to get some quality rejections this cycle!
Those that scored below 6 had serious deficiencies but a few stood out for doubling down on rotten rejection letter writing…
Rochester (Score: 11) wrote a beautiful letter, well enough to place it in the “Advanced” pack; but we deducted 2 points for that huge paragraph, in the middle of the rejection letter, where they listed how many of their applicants “have enhanced their academic careers by participating in significant and sustained extracurricular activities, including research, clinical and medical shadowing experiences, study and volunteer programs abroad, and outreach to underserved communities here and in developing countries” and their particular interest in “applicants who have extended themselves well beyond their comfort zone…with people from different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, both in their local communities and elsewhere, far beyond the campus environment”; presumably to suggest qualities other applicants had that we lacked (or just didn’t have enough of) - and THAT’S why we not offered an interview. And that was the bulk of the letter! Oh, Rochester!...Not helpful.
Eastern Virginia (Score: 5) rejection letter was basically a two sentence paragraph that said they get numerous applications every year and “do not have enough seats in the class to accept everyone”. Good luck. The End.
Vanderbilt (Score: 4) could have scored a (6) and joined the “Satisfactory” list had it not been for the part where they “carefully reviewed (our) application materials and recommended that (we) not be offered to continue” the application process. They RECOMMENDED that my application go no further? Do they mean after reading my application, someone wrote a letter saying, “Dear Fellow Committee Members, Under no circumstance must you interview this applicant.” Ouch! Of course, they assured me that this, “does not reflect upon (my) qualifications to study medicine” but, based on my application, they strongly advise against it!
Baylor College of Medicine’s (Score: 2) letter had no greetings, no salutations, no warmth, no humanity, and basically read, “We regret we are unable to interview people because there were more applicants than interview spots available. Good luck.” Uh huh.
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, which we gave a score of (1) point, was the absolute worst of the letters reviewed. It began with these four words “Admission Decision: Application Declined”. Why read on?
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL -
Not only is it the tile of my favorite Rolling Stones song*, alas, it explains why we should have some courtesy, some sympathy and some taste for these rejection letters. Some would argue that at short letter is best, and we would agree. Short and sweet. Cut to the chase. Surprisingly, the length of Outstanding and Unsatisfactory letters was about the same, 5-7 sentences, though the content varied greatly.
What shouldn’t puzzle you, though, is the nature of the game. Most of these letters won’t get read beyond the fist two sentences, in which case, they all read pretty much the same and mean the same.
The top openings for the “Dear Jubei” letters we received this year were…
“The Admissions Committee has reviewed your application and…” (20 letters)
“Thank you for applying to/your interest in our medical school…” (19 letters)
“We regret to inform you…” (10 letters)
Other opening lines (6 letters)
“Congratulations!” (1 letter)
It was that last letter that we read from start to finish. Several times. Over and over again. To make sure it was real!
Dear Admissions Committee,
If your institution was not included on the list, either we did not apply, you’re still considering our application (thank you!) or you are working on that other letter, much easier to write, the one that simply says, “Congratulations”.
(*Miss You is actually my favorite Rolling Stones song.)
The Ministry of Information
“more power to the misinformed”