Only 705 of the 1058 Round 2 selected candidates confirm their candidature!

Mars One had asked the 1058 candidates selected for Round 2 to complete the following tasks, in order to confirm their candidature for Round 2 (the interview round):

1. Getting certain medical check-ups done, and if found medically fit, emailing the completed medical statement to Mars One.
2. Provide full official name and current residential address in email to Mars One.
3. Making the Mars One applicant profile public, if not already so.

A few days back, all the Round 2  confirmed candidates got an email, mentioning how many candidates had confirmed their candidature, and also having an MS Excel file that had the list of all those confirmed candidates, showing some details like gender, country, Mars One profile web-link, etc.

A screenshot of the email that I received is shown below:

One-third of the selected candidates did not complete the above requirements!

1058 - 705 = 353 candidates!

Of course, if you are selected, but upon getting the medical check-ups done, if it is found that you are not medically fit for the mission, there is nothing much more that can be done. But all those 353 candidates were not medically unfit. Mars One said that some of them voluntarily dropped out, due to personal reasons. Also, I think the cost of medical check-ups (which varies widely from country to country) may have been prohibitive for a few applicants in certain countries (I remember reading the post of one such candidate on the Mars One - Aspiring Martians Group on Facebook). Hopefully, the cost was not too much in India, so I could afford the medical check-ups.

The voluntary withdrawals were quite a surprise. I knew some exceptions would be there, but I thought the number of people changing their mind due to personal reasons would be very less (a few tens, maybe). I was expecting at least 80 % (if not 90 %) of all selected candidates to confirm their candidature. But the actual figure is just 66.64 percent!

Many people may have applied in Round 1 with non-serious commitment. Almost everyone would love to go to Mars, but only a few would choose to go on a one-way trip to another planet, never to return to Earth. It is especially difficult for those who have small children right now: 10 years from now, when your child may be in his or her teens, and would require your financial, emotional and other support to survive in this world, you would have to be with him or her.

All this is completely understandable. But people should think about important and obvious aspects like this in the beginning itself. Why waste your time, effort and money in applying, if ultimately you will voluntarily reject the offer? In a competitive program with limited places available, your place may have gone to someone else, who would have remained committed to the program, and gladly accepted the offer. Space missions are often once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (some are calling the Mars One mission a "once in several lifetimes opportunity"),

Anyway, the good thing is that the majority of selected applicants confirmed their candidature, and 705 is not that small a number of candidates. Things are going to heat up now. The interviews seem a bit intimidating, but I hope to give my best shot, and see where things go.

May the best candidates go to Mars!