Thursday, November 10, 2011

Rejection template

For some of you applying to med school with multiple acceptances, you may be wondering how to break the news to those unlucky schools you won't be attending. This is a template I used:

Dear __________ School of Medicine,

I am writing to share what I believe will be disappointing news. Fizzy has considered with care your school for admission. Unfortunately she is unable to attend your school.

Fizzy very much appreciates the time and effort you have spent crafting and compiling your brochure, and the interest you have shown in Fizzy. The fact that Fizzy is only one person dictates that she must limit her enrollment to a frustratingly small proportion of those seeking her enrollment. Fizzy can assure you that your school was considered with thoroughness and care despite this disappointing outcome.

Fizzy does hope that you will find the students you seek for your class of 2015 and beyond, and she appreciates the chance she has had to learn something about your school.

Yours sincerely,
Fizzy McFizz

Hope you found that helpful!


  1. That's pretty good. I used a shorter template:

    Dear School A,

    Thank you for your most benevolent offer, but unfortunately, SUCK IT - I GOT INTO SCHOOL B!

    Maybe you should consider having a Keurig in the admissions office, like they did.


  2. I like Fizzy McFizz' one better. Could she draft me one for all those ladies I haven't met?

  3. I didn't get to send any of those. I applied to 18 schools, and only got accepted to 1. I guess I had an easy choice

  4. That is absolutely hilarious!

  5. Maybe you could console them by pointing out that they still got your secondary application fee.

  6. i wish all the rejection letters I received were as kind as your template.

  7. Should I start crafting letters like this for the residency positions I don't get into? I'm hoping that the level of patronization is not nearly as high as it was with the school application fiasco.

  8. It's interesting, several of the medical school rejections I got explicitly said "we hope you will still consider us for post-graduate training," as if I would hold a grudge against them over it.

  9. Hmm, in the UK you can only apply to 4 schools. If you get accepted by more than one, you just click a button on the application website which sends this email automatically.

    The faster you reject the schools, the faster they can accept someone else who hasn't got a place yet!