- Joined
- Apr 16, 2005
- Location
- Sharon, SC
This is a different kind of post for this thread.
An exciting but stressful week ahead of our youngest. She is hoping to enter a very select graduate program. It is different than anything I have ever been a part of.
Essentially nation wide there are 553 seats spread across a 2.5 year program and 54 (there were 58 last year 4 lost their programs/accreditation this year) universities/research hospitals - meaning each "class" only about ~300 students "get in"...out of ~1,500 applicants. Most programs take 3-10 students in total - or half that per class.
Ok that's stressful to a young adult. But the actual process is even more so.
In short the process goes like this.
- Students can apply to any/as many of the 54 programs as they'd like.
- Next step - the programs either grant them an interview or reject them. If rejected here - that path is closed.
- If granted an interview they go through a robust process, usually 2 days - One is 2-8 hours of peer review with current students. Then a standard 8 hour formal interview process. Some of these are virtual some are in person. All are designed to be stressful to see how the students hold up under pressure.
- Following these interviews, the students are not told how they are received or if they are advanced, nor do they provide feedback to the schools on what they thought.
- Last Wednesday before midnight each student had to submit a ranked list of where they hoped to go and under what circumstances. (For example some offer scholarships or work coops to offset the cost some dont - each of these arrangements is a different ranking. So for example a student could rank like:
1) School A with scholarship
2) School B with scholarship
3) School A with work coop
4) School A with no help
5 School C with scholarship
etc, etc, etc.
- Students can only rank schools who gave them an interview - but dont have to rank a school just because they interviewed.
- If you dont rank there is no chance of match.
- Simultaneously in the background the schools rank everyone they interviewed
- Then on Wednesday an email blast will go out to all 1,500 applicants saying either:
A) you matched with School X
B) Sorry you didnt match anywhere
Now here is where it gets crazy to me.:
- Each student will be matched with only 1 school or 0 schools. There is no choice.
- If you are matched and choose not to attend that school, you are placed on the andrew dice clay banned for life list for every program in the country. You can never apply again. If you arent matched you are free to try again next year. Hence why the pool grows every year and the demand so far exceeds supply.
This whole process is governed by the National Match System and over saw by the .gov.
Ok all that sounds crazy, right?
Here is the real crazy part. The cost vary wildly. For example one of her highest favorites (it's forbidden for her or anyone in her family to publicly disclose a numerical ranking or "true favorite" prior to match day) is at MD Anderson in Houston. It is highly endowed by oil money and despite being the highest ranked program in the country - with no scholarship assistance costs less than $20k for the entire program. Conversely a couple of her other high ranks Emory and Vanderbilt cost over $100k PER YEAR.
Meaning literally Wednesday my daughter is waiting on a email that will either say:
Dream Continues or Dream Ends
And if she gets the desired "continues" the next line will have a $200k+ swing in her lifetime finances.
Many of her friends and classmates applied to 3-5 schools - and next to her the highest interview rate - one other girl got 3 interviews. many of her friends got 1 or no interviews.She applied to 12 and got 11 interviews. Destinations stretch from Charleston, SC - to Durham, NC, Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas(TX) Houston, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Tempe etc etc etc.
I am a control freak. I like (at least the illusion) of control and autonomy. In this situation I am powerless. I just sit back and watch my daughter stress. She has done everything she could be asked to do. She ranks top 3 in her class (final exams will determine final ranking) - she's done numerous applications - traveled all over the country at her own expense...yet she still doesnt know if she will even get a match.
I know its in God's hands, and I keep telling her this. But her nervousness is consuming her...and maybe starting to rub off onto dad.
I'm amazed at the Grace, tenacity and class she has exhibited throughout this process - and I am confident in her ability. She has been amazingly dedicated her entire life. Top 2 in her high school class, perfect attendance from 5k until Covid took her out for 5 days her 11th grade year. A beast at college. 4.0 GPA, VP of her sorority and done tons of volunteer an charity work. She is a young woman anyone would be proud to call daughter. And I am proud of her however this turns out. But I so want her dreams to come true. I want her to get what she wants and what she has dedicated and strived towards.
I just ache that I cant help her. I cant influence this. I cant even offer advice - other than reassurance 'You are enough. You are great. No result here will define or limit you'
But man...I'm a ball of nerves for her. And that aint my norm.
Thanks for indulging if you read all this. Typing it is a bit cathartic for me. Going to be a stressful couple days. Here is hoping for a happy Wednesday
An exciting but stressful week ahead of our youngest. She is hoping to enter a very select graduate program. It is different than anything I have ever been a part of.
Essentially nation wide there are 553 seats spread across a 2.5 year program and 54 (there were 58 last year 4 lost their programs/accreditation this year) universities/research hospitals - meaning each "class" only about ~300 students "get in"...out of ~1,500 applicants. Most programs take 3-10 students in total - or half that per class.
Ok that's stressful to a young adult. But the actual process is even more so.
In short the process goes like this.
- Students can apply to any/as many of the 54 programs as they'd like.
- Next step - the programs either grant them an interview or reject them. If rejected here - that path is closed.
- If granted an interview they go through a robust process, usually 2 days - One is 2-8 hours of peer review with current students. Then a standard 8 hour formal interview process. Some of these are virtual some are in person. All are designed to be stressful to see how the students hold up under pressure.
- Following these interviews, the students are not told how they are received or if they are advanced, nor do they provide feedback to the schools on what they thought.
- Last Wednesday before midnight each student had to submit a ranked list of where they hoped to go and under what circumstances. (For example some offer scholarships or work coops to offset the cost some dont - each of these arrangements is a different ranking. So for example a student could rank like:
1) School A with scholarship
2) School B with scholarship
3) School A with work coop
4) School A with no help
5 School C with scholarship
etc, etc, etc.
- Students can only rank schools who gave them an interview - but dont have to rank a school just because they interviewed.
- If you dont rank there is no chance of match.
- Simultaneously in the background the schools rank everyone they interviewed
- Then on Wednesday an email blast will go out to all 1,500 applicants saying either:
A) you matched with School X
B) Sorry you didnt match anywhere
Now here is where it gets crazy to me.:
- Each student will be matched with only 1 school or 0 schools. There is no choice.
- If you are matched and choose not to attend that school, you are placed on the andrew dice clay banned for life list for every program in the country. You can never apply again. If you arent matched you are free to try again next year. Hence why the pool grows every year and the demand so far exceeds supply.
This whole process is governed by the National Match System and over saw by the .gov.
Ok all that sounds crazy, right?
Here is the real crazy part. The cost vary wildly. For example one of her highest favorites (it's forbidden for her or anyone in her family to publicly disclose a numerical ranking or "true favorite" prior to match day) is at MD Anderson in Houston. It is highly endowed by oil money and despite being the highest ranked program in the country - with no scholarship assistance costs less than $20k for the entire program. Conversely a couple of her other high ranks Emory and Vanderbilt cost over $100k PER YEAR.
Meaning literally Wednesday my daughter is waiting on a email that will either say:
Dream Continues or Dream Ends
And if she gets the desired "continues" the next line will have a $200k+ swing in her lifetime finances.
Many of her friends and classmates applied to 3-5 schools - and next to her the highest interview rate - one other girl got 3 interviews. many of her friends got 1 or no interviews.She applied to 12 and got 11 interviews. Destinations stretch from Charleston, SC - to Durham, NC, Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas(TX) Houston, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Tempe etc etc etc.
I am a control freak. I like (at least the illusion) of control and autonomy. In this situation I am powerless. I just sit back and watch my daughter stress. She has done everything she could be asked to do. She ranks top 3 in her class (final exams will determine final ranking) - she's done numerous applications - traveled all over the country at her own expense...yet she still doesnt know if she will even get a match.
I know its in God's hands, and I keep telling her this. But her nervousness is consuming her...and maybe starting to rub off onto dad.
I'm amazed at the Grace, tenacity and class she has exhibited throughout this process - and I am confident in her ability. She has been amazingly dedicated her entire life. Top 2 in her high school class, perfect attendance from 5k until Covid took her out for 5 days her 11th grade year. A beast at college. 4.0 GPA, VP of her sorority and done tons of volunteer an charity work. She is a young woman anyone would be proud to call daughter. And I am proud of her however this turns out. But I so want her dreams to come true. I want her to get what she wants and what she has dedicated and strived towards.
I just ache that I cant help her. I cant influence this. I cant even offer advice - other than reassurance 'You are enough. You are great. No result here will define or limit you'
But man...I'm a ball of nerves for her. And that aint my norm.
Thanks for indulging if you read all this. Typing it is a bit cathartic for me. Going to be a stressful couple days. Here is hoping for a happy Wednesday