We get many inquiries from egg donor applicants, asking why their application was rejected. We know that it can be confusing and upsetting to get excited about becoming a donor, […]
We get many inquiries from egg donor applicants, asking why their application was rejected. We know that it can be confusing and upsetting to get excited about becoming a donor, only to have your application rejected. The truth is, we receive many donor applications every week and only about 6% of donors end up making it onto our database.
Here we will break down the common reasons why your donor application might have been rejected, and why we have the policies we do.
We only accept applications from donors between the ages of 20-28. We want to make sure that our intended families (who are investing a lot of time and money into this process), have the best possible chance of success. Egg quality and quantity tend to decline with age, impacting the likelihood of IVF success. This of course doesn’t mean that if you are over the age of 28 you will not be able to have children of your own or go through the IVF process yourself – you just do not qualify for our particular egg donor program.
BMI is a sensitive subject, and many donors are upset to be rejected for BMI. However, we want to stress that our BMI requirements have nothing to do with appearance and everything to do with the safety and health of the egg donors. Most IVF clinics will not work with donors below or above a certain BMI, due to risks with the IVF medication and procedure. Because of this, we only accept donors with a BMI between 18-28.
Donors are required to lead a healthy lifestyle, especially when it comes to no smoking and drug use. Long story short, these habits can affect egg quality, as well as increased risk and complications during the egg donation process. To learn more about the reasoning behind this policy, check out our blog on marijuana use, recreational drugs, and the impact of drugs and alcohol.
In terms of mental health, we typically do not accept donors who are currently taking antidepressants, as this type of medication may interfere with the effectiveness of the hormonal medication you take during IVF. However, we do sometimes accept donors who have previously taken antidepressants, but who are no longer taking them.
We hold no judgment at all against people who have mental health issues, but since depression can be hereditary, applicants with a family history of depression and/or mental health issues are usually not accepted as they will be passing on genetic material to the intended family.
Finally, egg donation can be a long and sometimes stressful process and we want to ensure that donors are in a healthy mental state to be able to handle it. Our policies are for the donor’s protection, as well as the intended parents’.
The most important part of the donor questionnaire that you fill out for your profile is the family medical history portion. It essential that you know your full family medical history, meaning not just your biological mother and father, but also your biological grandparents, aunts, and uncles. If you do not know this information and are unable to obtain it, unfortunately we will not be able to accept your application.
Egg donation means that the donor is passing on genetic material, so it is important that the intended family knows what the donor is a carrier of, and if they are a genetically compatible match.
While not a requirement, we typically only accept donors who have a college degree or are currently working towards one. This does not mean that people who don’t have a college degree can’t become egg donors – there are many agencies and clinics out there that will accept those applicants!
We are a boutique agency that specializes in highly qualified donors for our intended families, and typically the donors that are matched are the ones who have a college education. We want both the donors and the families to have a successful experience, so we typically focus on applicants that have a good chance of being matched.
At the end of the day, we are a small egg donation agency that prides ourselves on having highly qualified donors for our intended parents. While we cannot 100% guarantee success for our intended families, we do our best to have donors that have the best chance of giving them a good outcome. This is beneficial to both the families as well as the donor – we want both of you to have a good experience, and therefore we tend to be pickier when choosing donors for our database.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at info@asiawesteggdonors.com, and/or check out our other blog posts where we cover many of our donor policies in more depth!