Medical School Decision Help/Advice Requested

[premedfanatic101]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to get advice on a rather particular situation I am in regarding choosing my schools for this cycle. This is my second year applying and I applied to both MD and D.O schools. Although I have not been met with any success for M.D schools, I am grateful to have 2 D.O acceptances so far and am on 2 other waitlists on D.O schools.

I committed to my first D.O acceptance a few months ago. It is a new school and has not matched its first class yet, so it is a risk to attend. Recently, just last week, I got into a different D.O school that is out of state which has a 100% match rate and is significantly more established. I have 2 weeks to accept my seat here. If I accept this seat, I will be taken off the waitlist for one of the other D.O Schools I am at for some other complicated reasons that I can not go into detail about to maintain anonymity. This school that I am waitlisted at is significantly more appealing to me because it is closer to home and matches a lot better in the state where I would like to end up, with much better matching programs for that matter as well. Additionally, I have called this school about their waitlist and they informed me that although they can not guarantee anything, they have exhausted the waitlist for their school the past 2 years. They are unable to tell me where I am exactly on the waitlist, and informed me that their waitlist will not move until early next month. The other school I am waitlisted at also does not provide many updates about their waitlist, although they did tell me they usually have little movement on their waitlist judging by past years.

So, I guess my question begs, am I stupid if I pass up this acceptance to the out of state D.O School in hopes of getting off the waitlist of my preferred D.O School? I have already sent a letter of intent to this school that I am waitlisted at and can not really do much else but wait to see what happens with the waitlist. I am concerned because although they told me to have high hopes about the waitlist at this school, it seems like waitlist movement is universally slow for both M.D and D.O schools this cycle, and I am not sure how big of a risk I am taking if I let go of this seat.

Thank you for all your help/advice in advance!!

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[chilly_md]

If I accept this seat, I will be taken off the waitlist for one of the other D.O Schools I am at for some other complicated reasons that I can not go into detail about to maintain anonymity.

I don’t know in what scenario that accepting 1 particular school would force you off the WL. If that is true though, it is better to take the bird in hand and avoid the new school.

 

[wysdoc]

What's the downside of accepting the better DO school now and staying on the WL for school #3?

 

[premedfanatic101]

What's the downside of accepting the better DO school now and staying on the WL for school #3?

I guess the downside here is that school #3 does not have significant waitlist movement at all (admissions said the barely had any last year) and that I would then be losing my chance at getting off the waitlist at the other school, which does have significant waitlist movement according to admissions over there and the school that I would definitely prefer if given the choice.

 

[Goro]

Always go with the sure thing

 

[Bluesandstuff]

Don’t go to the new school

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I would take the acceptance at the known school with a decent match list. A wait list won't get you a residency, but a DO degree can.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

You can accept the acceptance at the better school you’ve been accepted to and stay in the waitlist of your preferred school…. I’m not sure why you would be taken off the waitlist.

Absolutely do not pass up the acceptance at the established school simply because of a waitlist. For all intents and purposes you should consider the waitlist a rejection right up to the point they call and offer you a spot.