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2010-2011 Texas A&M Application Thread
- Thread starter ksmi117
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I'm with you there, boxtop! I am so thankful that I have already been accepted to another TX school as OOS because this predicament is preposterous.
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Just curious how many of you and what schools you guys prematched at before ranking A&M above the other schools?
And if A&M over-offered, does that mean that they only accepted pre-matched people? Or did anyone actually match to A&M without a prematch?
And if A&M over-offered, does that mean that they only accepted pre-matched people? Or did anyone actually match to A&M without a prematch?
First off, I would like to congratulate everyone that matched to TAMHSC. It is quite an achievement to get into a US medical school and everyone should be proud and excited about their accomplishment.
I would urge everyone to remember all the reasons why they chose TAMHSC and realize that they care deeply about there students and in no way intended for this to happen. I'm assuming they had a record number of people rank them #1 putting them in this unforeseen situation. In my opinion, this means that they are doing things right there. So much so, that they had an unprecedented positive response.
I wish everyone the best whether you attend school this year or next.
I would urge everyone to remember all the reasons why they chose TAMHSC and realize that they care deeply about there students and in no way intended for this to happen. I'm assuming they had a record number of people rank them #1 putting them in this unforeseen situation. In my opinion, this means that they are doing things right there. So much so, that they had an unprecedented positive response.
I wish everyone the best whether you attend school this year or next.
No one matched at A&M without a pre-match. All spots are from pre-match offers.
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man, looks like i won't be getting off the alternate list as well. what's the point of creating a waiting list then??
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Ya it's great and all. They waited until AFTER match to let us know even though they were aware of the situation before since we all pre-matched. Now we're all stuck in between a rock and a hard place with no other options. That's where my optimism stands, I've spent all day making phone calls and emailing, even asking some other schools to consider me for their waitlists. In addition, it's pretty hard to understand their situation when they don't even take responsibility for their mistakes. There's not much to feel good about at this point, we got accepted, we have a RIGHT to go to medical school for the year we applied for. Just my two cents.
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perhaps they need to start calling and emailing some schools to get some of us in schools this Fall. they had to have known of this possiblity before match.
I'm not saying TAMHSC is in the right with what happened but I'm sure the number of pre-match offers given out were right in line with the number from the previous years. The only difference is that more people chose TAMHSC this year... way more. They couldn't have expected that so many people with pre-match offers would rank them #1.
The waitlist is probably a backup in case they lose a lot of applicants to other schools because of this situation. It would be ironic if they ended up with less than 170 when everything is said and done.
Maybe I'm a glass half full type person but I would rather be "between a rock and a hard place" with a medical school offer knowing I will be a doctor in 4 (or 5 years) than having to re-apply with a significant chance I wouldn't be a doctor in even 5 years.
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You must be one of the awesome adcom's at A&M! How nice of you to grace us with your presence.
Not an adcom. I just assume that the match couldn't have matched anyone without a pre-match offer at a school that didn't have anymore match spots. Well, at least I hope that is the case. Maybe that is giving too much credit to the TMDSAS algorithm.
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I can't imagine how frustrating it is for those of you in this boat. *Hug* But do consider some things.
They're expanding with their new complex in Bryan, the new program in Dallas, and more. It's hard to gauge interest in that situation, and cliche though it sounds, it really means that they're doing a lot of things right. Matching the right number is a big statistical problem, and that's when the school ISN'T in a huge transitional period like A&M. Even if a school gets it right 9/10 times, that means that (almost) one Texas school a year will go over.
Keep in mind, less than half of applicants per year get into med school. This year or next, you're going, and about 25,000 students this year can't say that. So...good job! You're gonna live the dream!
Oh, and those of you complaining about $2,000 not being much money: go back to Plano or Westlake or Memorial or wherever daddy lives and whine to them please. Maybe they'll buy you a new car for every sad, sad tear.
They're expanding with their new complex in Bryan, the new program in Dallas, and more. It's hard to gauge interest in that situation, and cliche though it sounds, it really means that they're doing a lot of things right. Matching the right number is a big statistical problem, and that's when the school ISN'T in a huge transitional period like A&M. Even if a school gets it right 9/10 times, that means that (almost) one Texas school a year will go over.
Keep in mind, less than half of applicants per year get into med school. This year or next, you're going, and about 25,000 students this year can't say that. So...good job! You're gonna live the dream!
Oh, and those of you complaining about $2,000 not being much money: go back to Plano or Westlake or Memorial or wherever daddy lives and whine to them please. Maybe they'll buy you a new car for every sad, sad tear.
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Get off your high horse.
The argument with $2000 is that 2000 does not equal one year of a doctor's salary (its laughable really) -- in fact it barely cuts the interest of loans -- and thats what is upsetting. We all worked very hard, just like everyone else, to get to this point. It is very frustrating to have to go through all of this after being given this opportunity. Imagine reaching your dreams and then realizing that you may have to wait one more year for no fault of your own. Its like indian giving.
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^^ Agreed. For those of you not going through this, if you're gonna be rude or say it's not that bad, please lay off, that's the last thing we need at the moment.
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I prematched at A&M, UT-San Antonio and Tech El paso. I ranked UTH as number one above a&m, which I ranked #2
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Didn't apply to A&M, but I have a buddy who was pre-matched and is dealing with this situation. Depending on how things turn out, I would honestly considering suing if you're forced to defer. That's absolutely ludicrous that the administration thinks the two options of "accept $2000" or "get forced to defer for a year" are acceptable.
Best of luck to you guys. You're definitely not in an enviable position.
Best of luck to you guys. You're definitely not in an enviable position.
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Agreed. The value of $2000 is all based on the situation, and in this situation it isn't worth the tradeoff. Especially for those of us who had to take loans for undergrad and graduate degrees and would have to begin paying those off during our forced year of deferral. I am a generally positive person, but can honestly see no upside to this situation. Waiting an extra year not only cuts into our long term earning ability, but also costs us more in the short term. If that's the hand I'm dealt, I'll have to play it, but I certainly earned the right to be unhappy about it. I acknowledge the fact that having an acceptance is better than not having one, but be realistic; this situation is not enviable.
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agreed!
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Who are you? How is $2,000 suppose to help me for a year? I don't have a job lined up OR parents to run to. yes, my parents CAN help me for that year.....but can they REALLY afford to? No. $2,000 will barely pay 3 months rent in austin...and its not like they are going to write me a check or anything. OMG i could go on. this statement just really bothers me....my whole life plan (especially for the next year) just got shaken today. who are you to assume things like this and tell me not to complain?
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This. I chose not to mention this in my original post, but my parents aren't even around anymore. Making blanket statements often leads to foot in mouth syndrome.
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Schools don't see the match lists so they don't know if they have anymore spots or not.
My assumption is that TMDSAS wouldn't match anyone at any school in which they didn't have a pre-match offer when the school was already overbooked. I could very well be wrong...
Agree!
The irony here is that the whole point of a "match" process is to avoid BS like this where classes are overaccepted.
I disagree with the poster above who said that it is excusable that a school mess up every once in a while...do you see residency programs overaccepting people and forcing them to defer? No, because they don't abuse the match process by promising spots ahead of time.
Even if Texas A&M hadn't sent any pre-match offers, applicants would have ranked it the same. Texas A&M flubbed this majorly.
I disagree with the poster above who said that it is excusable that a school mess up every once in a while...do you see residency programs overaccepting people and forcing them to defer? No, because they don't abuse the match process by promising spots ahead of time.
Even if Texas A&M hadn't sent any pre-match offers, applicants would have ranked it the same. Texas A&M flubbed this majorly.
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I agree. I always thought the whole wait list match scramble mentality in Texas was kind of wrong
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I think you mean highland park.
2000 is nothing. People spent more than that just trying to get into the school. And considering precedent has been set with the offers of half or full tuition by other schools who asked for deferments good luck getting by with such an offer.
Anyways, is suing really an option. I talked w my pi when I heard bout this and he was under the understanding that once they offered it was binding, but not for any specific year. Meaning deferment would be legal but taking back an acceptance would not?
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I just looked at the prematch email they sent us and the first line is congratulating us for being in class of 2015. But, I am sure they can still find a loop hole..
Suing is certainly an option. TAMHSC should have a major class action lawsuit on its hands and deservedly so. Not personally involved in this predicament, but if I were, I would definitely start considering attorneys should I be deferred.
I don't know how the acceptance letter from TAMHSC reads, but I believe that the way most acceptance letters read is, "...you have been a offered a spot in the entering class of 2011..." If this be the case for the TAMHSC letter, I would say you stand a fairly good chance in court.
Good luck to all the hopeful acceptees.
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It's an interesting topic. Either UTMB couldn't find a way to force deferral and therefore ended up having to go to the full tuition scholarships to get enough people to sign up OR they cared enough not to set up a very adversarial and mistrusting culture by not resorting to a random deferral mixed with a "defend your position" email.
Aka the question is if they paid for it because they had to or because they wanted to/it was their best option.
Aka the question is if they paid for it because they had to or because they wanted to/it was their best option.
+1 gamepoint. Beat me to it.
I'd be interested to see if this can be brought to court. I tried a Google search to see if there was a discussion on this sort of thing already out there and didn't find much.
Initially, I'm thinking that an acceptance offer isn't a legally binding contract otherwise every student who withdrew from a school after accepting would be in breach of contract.
Maybe a contract doesn't need to be in place for a case to be made. Who knows...
I just hope other schools out there learn from this so it never happens to anyone else, anywhere, ever.
Again, congrats to everyone for getting a spot. Hang tight and by all means, vent, I know it helps me during trying times.
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Amen. I wish you all the best of luck with this, guys. I have some friends going through this and I know it must be hard... Keep your strength and will up.
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Another reason the $2000 deferment is BS is if you defer then this prevents you from making essentially one year of salary as a physician which on average would be a six figure income, Its BS they messed up they should own up to it.
This really, really sucks. I feel like I've already taken a year off. I'm with everyone else; I applied for THIS year because I wanted to attend THIS year. 
I, too, feel cheated in a sense. I don't feel that I should have to justify my desire to attend medical school this year. I think that if they are truly going to do a *random* selection to defer students (which I REALLY hope doesn't happen), they don't need justifications. What I'm getting from the second email is that it's NOT going to be random.
Don't get me wrong- I am still very grateful to have been accepted to such a good school; I simply hope that 80 people either get accepted via waitlists at other medical schools or were planning on deferring anyway for whatever reason. It would be nice if TAMHSC would play a hand in helping those students obtain spots at those other schools somehow... I mean isn't this a record? 80?? UTMB overbooked by "only" 25 last year!
Maybe there should be a re-match?
$2,000 just doesn't seem like it's going to shave off 80 students and forcing students to defer without any compensation sounds like punishment for not volunteering in the first place. Fear is not the way to appeal to people who want to dedicate their lives to helping others.
I, too, feel cheated in a sense. I don't feel that I should have to justify my desire to attend medical school this year. I think that if they are truly going to do a *random* selection to defer students (which I REALLY hope doesn't happen), they don't need justifications. What I'm getting from the second email is that it's NOT going to be random.
Don't get me wrong- I am still very grateful to have been accepted to such a good school; I simply hope that 80 people either get accepted via waitlists at other medical schools or were planning on deferring anyway for whatever reason. It would be nice if TAMHSC would play a hand in helping those students obtain spots at those other schools somehow... I mean isn't this a record? 80?? UTMB overbooked by "only" 25 last year!
Maybe there should be a re-match?
$2,000 just doesn't seem like it's going to shave off 80 students and forcing students to defer without any compensation sounds like punishment for not volunteering in the first place. Fear is not the way to appeal to people who want to dedicate their lives to helping others.
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Maybe they should find a way to speed up their expansion to bring more people in.
I doubt $160,000 is going to be enough to do that... nice idea though. I wish.
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I was wondering the same thing (re-match) but I'm not sure who the appropriate person would be to contact....I've already called TMDSAS and they said everything's all up to the schools now and they wouldn't do anything.This really, really sucks. I feel like I've already taken a year off. I'm with everyone else; I applied for THIS year because I wanted to attend THIS year.
I, too, feel cheated in a sense. I don't feel that I should have to justify my desire to attend medical school this year. I think that if they are truly going to do a *random* selection to defer students (which I REALLY hope doesn't happen), they don't need justifications. What I'm getting from the second email is that it's NOT going to be random.
Don't get me wrong- I am still very grateful to have been accepted to such a good school; I simply hope that 80 people either get accepted via waitlists at other medical schools or were planning on deferring anyway for whatever reason. It would be nice if TAMHSC would play a hand in helping those students obtain spots at those other schools somehow... I mean isn't this a record? 80?? UTMB overbooked by "only" 25 last year!
Maybe there should be a re-match?
$2,000 just doesn't seem like it's going to shave off 80 students and forcing students to defer without any compensation sounds like punishment for not volunteering in the first place. Fear is not the way to appeal to people who want to dedicate their lives to helping others.
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How exactly would a re-match work without screwing over other people? There would be tons of people who matched to schools that would now no longer match. I am sorry you guys are in this situation, but I honestly don't know how this could work out as a win-win on both sides. A&M pre-matched too many people that either ranked A&M first or didn't get accepted to their higher ranks. What should probably happen is that people who pre-matched to other schools as well should go onto those school's wait-lists at a higher priority.
I know all of this stinks and A&M is completely at fault, but for some people, taking a year off could actually be a great thing. I know $2000 is not a lot of incentive to postpone a year, but if you are financially able, a gap year is one of the best things you could possibly do. I am currently in a gap year right now and I have absolutely no regrets. It gives you time to relax and do things that you want to do before you have to begin the most stressful time of your life
I know all of this stinks and A&M is completely at fault, but for some people, taking a year off could actually be a great thing. I know $2000 is not a lot of incentive to postpone a year, but if you are financially able, a gap year is one of the best things you could possibly do. I am currently in a gap year right now and I have absolutely no regrets. It gives you time to relax and do things that you want to do before you have to begin the most stressful time of your life
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So there are 80 extra of us? Too bad they can't just spread us out over the other med schools in Texas or something. make all of them have 8ish extra people for the year. I know that would never happen but heck....who would have thought a&m would have to defer 80 people so who knows haha
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This.
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I feel for you guys, but I gotta say that suing sounds like a lot of bad karma for someone that wants to be a doctor.
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I don't think karma is of the utmost concern now...we are all just trying to find any type of solution to this RIDICULOUS problem!!
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I do not support the idea of a lawsuit to solve the problem, but I do see the logic behind it. Having locked so many of us into this school with no other options, and then making us defer would clearly be cutting out a year of our long term earning potential (as med school and residency will still be the same length regardless, it will only be our full salaried years that are infringed upon), as well as our short term ability to live, as student loans will be coming due during that year of non-enrollment, well before we have a career and capability to pay them. It's that sort of thing that worries me more than anything else. I hope it resolves itself and nothing comes of the lawsuit talks, but there are clearly grounds for complaining here.
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Because physicians(future or otherwise) should just be altruistic punching bags? I agree lawsuit is a premature idea as of now, but given things follow the current worst case scenario then those individuals are fully entitled to participate and seek any reparations the legal system is capable of giving them.
There is a middle ground between being entitled and a being a pushover.
There is a middle ground between being entitled and a being a pushover.
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I agree with everything here. Right now I think it is not worth mentioning, but as time gets closer this may become more of an issue as, like I said before, I see the logic behind a lawsuit. I just don't support the idea as of now.
My condolences to everyone who is struggling with this unexpected predicament. Your consternation is definitely understandable. I just wanted to say that there is still hope that it will all work out. As I understand it, UT Southwestern typically gives out 100 acceptances or so in post-match and Baylor is expecting to accept 150 more people in the coming months. I think it is also safe to assume that other schools will also extend a few more offers during post-match as well. Hopefully there are enough A&M matchees that are still holding out for other schools that it will at least mitigate the extent of A&M's mistake if not solve it altogether. Good luck to all of you! I sincerely hope it works out for everyone.
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