UNC School of Medicine Waitlist 2020-2021

[DontSugarCoatIt]

Hey, everyone. It'd be great to know what all of our chances are for leaving the dreaded WL and moving onto that sweet sweet A category. So let's begin this poll to get a gauge of how many of us are on the WL at UNC SOM and start a discussion about our WL conspiracy theories. Also, don't feel obligated to post your stats, but for transparency reasons, mine are in the comments below.

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[DontSugarCoatIt]

IS, 514, 3.86, ORM, non-trad

 

[futuredoc4634]

Thanks for making this!! My stats are on the lower side so maybe that’s what got me the waitlist? IS, ORM, cumulative 3.7/BCPM 3.5, 515

 

[bluelikestars]

IS, 511, 3.82

 

[DontSugarCoatIt]

Thanks for making this!! My stats are on the lower side so maybe that’s what got me the waitlist? IS, ORM, cumulative 3.7/BCPM 3.5, 515

Stats landed you an A -- that's all that matters! Congrats, friend!

 

[anarchymed]

IS, ORM, 515, 3.1 gpa, 3.2 BCPM, 3.5 grad gpa

 

[premedprincess1]

IS, ORM, 521, 3.7 gpa, 3.5 BCPM, traditional applicant

 

[fishing12345]

IS, ORM, 519, 3.9, traditional

 

[FutureMed2021]

Does anyone have any idea of how many students come off the waitlist?

 

[DontSugarCoatIt]

Does anyone have any idea of how many students come off the waitlist?

Get your tinfoil hats out. I have heard that UNC SOM had to exhaust their WL in the cycle before last, even dipping into some of the rejection pile. I honestly don't believe it though. It seems surreal that enough NC students would go elsewhere with such a nationally ranked school and low IS tuition.

 

[Sasquatch_Boy]

Get your tinfoil hats out. I have heard that UNC SOM had to exhaust their WL in the cycle before last, even dipping into some of the rejection pile. I honestly don't believe it though. It seems surreal that enough NC students would go elsewhere with such a nationally ranked school and low IS tuition.

Yea I agree, I smell cap

 

[FutureMed2021]

Get your tinfoil hats out. I have heard that UNC SOM had to exhaust their WL in the cycle before last, even dipping into some of the rejection pile. I honestly don't believe it though. It seems surreal that enough NC students would go elsewhere with such a nationally ranked school and low IS tuition.

Yeah i was thinking the same thing. I have no idea how that's possible but I really hope it's true for this year. I read a post that 70 students come off the waitlist on this thread but have on idea if that is true either.

 

[futuredoc4634]

Yeah I don’t see why so many would say no to UNC TBH. I think the class is about 190 in size. Say 20% of that was from the waitlist, that’s about 38. But I just pulled 20% out of thin air bc it seems like a reasonable amount of people who would pick another school over UNC, in my opinion only!!!,given how good and cheap it is for IS students.

 

[Gopher16]

Get your tinfoil hats out. I have heard that UNC SOM had to exhaust their WL in the cycle before last, even dipping into some of the rejection pile. I honestly don't believe it though. It seems surreal that enough NC students would go elsewhere with such a nationally ranked school and low IS tuition.

A small number of students will sometimes hold a lot of acceptances and that could include schools like Ivy Leagues that are often really low debt. So maybe that year they misjudged their own yield. So who knows.

 

[wannabMD123]

IS, ORM, 3.87, 514

 

[wannabMD123]

I will say that a lot of people were taken off the waitlist two years ago but they actually seemed to have made it much bigger last year for this reason. I was on the waitlist last year as well and it definitely seemed like they took far fewer applicant off compared to previous years. It will be interesting to see how this year plays out.

 

[hprelmed1]

I've received intel from a current MS4 that UNC has the largest waitlist this year due to concerns of COVID. Apparently, they expanded with the expectation that people who have received acceptances may want to defer this year as they have plans to return in person this fall.

I've also heard that waitlist is not based on rank, and more of a profile match.

Whether any of this is actually true, I can't say. This person helps with the interviews, but is not directly part of admissions. I just wanted to share, in case this was helpful for anyone.

 

[FutureMed2021]

I've received intel from a current MS4 that UNC has the largest waitlist this year due to concerns of COVID. Apparently, they expanded with the expectation that people who have received acceptances may want to defer this year as they have plans to return in person this fall.

I've also heard that waitlist is not based on rank, and more of a profile match.

Whether any of this is actually true, I can't say. This person helps with the interviews, but is not directly part of admissions. I just wanted to share, in case this was helpful for anyone.

Would you say this is good news or bad news for people on the WL?

 

[premedprincess1]

Would you say this is good news or bad news for people on the WL?

Could be good if they placed more people on the WL knowing there would be a lot of movement. Could be bad if there isn’t in fact a lot of movement.

 

[P_Kloud]

IS, 520, 3.8x cGPA/sGPA, non-URM, research-heavy app

 

[futuredoc4634]

Could be good if they placed more people on the WL knowing there would be a lot of movement. Could be bad if there isn’t in fact a lot of movement.

That’s what I was thinking, we’re kinda screwed if that theory doesn’t turn out being correct....

 

[MAGABLM]

I've received intel from a current MS4 that UNC has the largest waitlist this year due to concerns of COVID. Apparently, they expanded with the expectation that people who have received acceptances may want to defer this year as they have plans to return in person this fall.

I've also heard that waitlist is not based on rank, and more of a profile match.

Whether any of this is actually true, I can't say. This person helps with the interviews, but is not directly part of admissions. I just wanted to share, in case this was helpful for anyone.

Just to clarify - are you saying that accepted students want to defer if they are expected to return in person this fall?

 

[anarchymed]

I've received intel from a current MS4 that UNC has the largest waitlist this year due to concerns of COVID. Apparently, they expanded with the expectation that people who have received acceptances may want to defer this year as they have plans to return in person this fall.

I've also heard that waitlist is not based on rank, and more of a profile match.

Whether any of this is actually true, I can't say. This person helps with the interviews, but is not directly part of admissions. I just wanted to share, in case this was helpful for anyone.

Assuming this is true, I think it's worse for us on the waitlist just because there are more people on it. The waitlist being unranked makes sense to me considering that UNC admissions seems to be very holistic. At this point, I would assume basic stats don't account for much anymore (everyone who posted here has stats good enough to be accepted) so the profile match is likely. Obviously this is all speculation lol

 

[hprelmed1]

Would you say this is good news or bad news for people on the WL?

I really can't say... but the way this MS4 described profile match had less to do with stats, but more with general demographics/characteristics... I don't really want to speculate any further than that because I'm afraid to plant the wrong ideas in everyone's mind lol.

edit: MS4 is also really unsure of the details and speculates that since it's a state school they try to represent the population of NC.

 

[FutureMed2021]

My MCAT is not as great as anyone that has posted so far so I'm worried that if they do look at stats I literally have no chance.

 

[_Swimminggg]

IS, ORM, 3.64, 513, nontraditonal

 

[anarchymed]

My MCAT is not as great as anyone that has posted so far so I'm worried that if they do look at stats I literally have no chance.

The website said that IS applicants need at least 500 MCAT to be considered for an interview. It seems that once your stats meet a certain criteria, it matters less about stats and more about fit, personal statement, etc.

 

[FutureMed2021]

The website said that IS applicants need at least 500 MCAT to be considered for an interview. It seems that once your stats meet a certain criteria, it matters less about stats and more about fit, personal statement, etc.

Ok thanks that makes me feel better because after seeing the MCAT scores on this thread I lost all hope but thanks for that! Feel much better!

 

[Mary G’s]

3.52 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA, (post bacc 4.0), 502, IS, ORM, non-trad, veteran....

figured I’d throw my stats in the pot

 

[DontSugarCoatIt]

Hear me out, guys. As of now, we are polling at 36 to 1 for IS to OOS. This is an order of magnitude less OOS proportion of the total than what typically makes up the class (2% polled here versus 20% reality). Who is more likely to deny UNC's offer: IS or OOS acceptees? I would argue that OOS-accepted students would be more likely to go elsewhere. One, their other options will have comparable tuition costs since they are paying OOS tuition anyways. Two, they were accepted OOS which inherently have higher stats and open more doors to more prestigious programs around the country. I had an OOS friend committed to UNC, but ultimately backed out and went to Mayo.

If UNC planned on composing a WL based on the intention of filling A spots with those that back out with similar profiles (rural vs urban, ethnicity, sexual and gender orientation, etc.), then why would they have so few OOS WL spots? It would make sense for them to make the WL be composed of 20% OOS or arguably more. This fact (if true) challenges the claim that UNC refills A spots with WLers from similar profiles (assuming IS/OOS is a considered category in the profile). The claim that UNC refills spots based on who's in a similar category seems a little shaky now. I am not sure what that means for the WL selection process. But why would they ever have a transparent process? That's a crazy idea.

Limitations: maybe we have a selection bias towards IS on this thread for whatever reason, but a whole order of magnitude seems steep. Also, maybe the IS/OOS category is not heavily weighted. But if you look at MSAR statistics, UNC has hovered around 20% OOS for years, so idk.

 

[anarchymed]

Hear me out, guys. As of now, we are polling at 36 to 1 for IS to OOS. This is an order of magnitude less OOS proportion of the total than what typically makes up the class (2% polled here versus 20% reality). Who is more likely to deny UNC's offer: IS or OOS acceptees? I would argue that OOS-accepted students would be more likely to go elsewhere. One, their other options will have comparable tuition costs since they are paying OOS tuition anyways. Two, they were accepted OOS which inherently have higher stats and open more doors to more prestigious programs around the country. I had an OOS friend committed to UNC, but ultimately backed out and went to Mayo.

If UNC planned on composing a WL based on the intention of filling A spots with those that back out with similar profiles (rural vs urban, ethnicity, sexual and gender orientation, etc.), then why would they have so few OOS WL spots? It would make sense for them to make the WL be composed of 20% OOS or arguably more. This fact (if true) challenges the claim that UNC refills A spots with WLers from similar profiles (assuming IS/OOS is a considered category in the profile). The claim that UNC refills spots based on who's in a similar category seems a little shaky now. I am not sure what that means for the WL selection process. But why would they ever have a transparent process? That's a crazy idea.

Limitations: maybe we have a selection bias towards IS on this thread for whatever reason, but a whole order of magnitude seems steep. Also, maybe the IS/OOS category is not heavily weighted. But if you look at MSAR statistics, UNC has hovered around 20% OOS for years, so idk.

This is interesting to consider and your reasoning makes sense to me. But I do think that there is a selection bias towards IS in this poll because, for reasons similar to ones you mentioned, OOS may be less invested in this waitlist. Also, if only 6 more OOS responded to the poll then we'd be around 20%. A considerable increase in percentage but still a few people in number. Just my thoughts on this

 

[bm5498a]

Hear me out, guys. As of now, we are polling at 36 to 1 for IS to OOS. This is an order of magnitude less OOS proportion of the total than what typically makes up the class (2% polled here versus 20% reality). Who is more likely to deny UNC's offer: IS or OOS acceptees? I would argue that OOS-accepted students would be more likely to go elsewhere. One, their other options will have comparable tuition costs since they are paying OOS tuition anyways. Two, they were accepted OOS which inherently have higher stats and open more doors to more prestigious programs around the country. I had an OOS friend committed to UNC, but ultimately backed out and went to Mayo.

If UNC planned on composing a WL based on the intention of filling A spots with those that back out with similar profiles (rural vs urban, ethnicity, sexual and gender orientation, etc.), then why would they have so few OOS WL spots? It would make sense for them to make the WL be composed of 20% OOS or arguably more. This fact (if true) challenges the claim that UNC refills A spots with WLers from similar profiles (assuming IS/OOS is a considered category in the profile). The claim that UNC refills spots based on who's in a similar category seems a little shaky now. I am not sure what that means for the WL selection process. But why would they ever have a transparent process? That's a crazy idea.

Limitations: maybe we have a selection bias towards IS on this thread for whatever reason, but a whole order of magnitude seems steep. Also, maybe the IS/OOS category is not heavily weighted. But if you look at MSAR statistics, UNC has hovered around 20% OOS for years, so idk.

I see what you’re saying but this thread is not representative of the WL applicant pool at all. There are a lot of people who don’t use SDN, and even if they do, not everyone follows each thread for each school they applied to. So there are most likely more people on the WL who are OOS applicants. Also, they could’ve missed the link in the UNC 2020-2021 thread to join this thread; there are so many factors that play into why we are seeing the ratio we are seeing. I don’t really think it’s anything to really worry about because we still have some time before there is WL movement. We’ve just gotta keep the faith and wait a little longer

 

[DontSugarCoatIt]

This is interesting to consider and your reasoning makes sense to me. But I do think that there is a selection bias towards IS in this poll because, for reasons similar to ones you mentioned, OOS may be less invested in this waitlist. Also, if only 6 more OOS responded to the poll then we'd be around 20%. A considerable increase in percentage but still a few people in number. Just my thoughts on this

Actually, you're right. The sample size is too small. My points above are moot. Thanks for putting it into perspective with that 6 more OOS point!

 

[MAGABLM]

From looking at last year's thread, it appears no WL movement to A until May. Is that correct? If so, then we really should enjoy ourselves while we can.

 

[DontSugarCoatIt]

From looking at last year's thread, it appears no WL movement to A until May. Is that correct? If so, then we really should enjoy ourselves while we can.

I believe this is true for most schools. According to the AAMC traffic rules [1], applicants with multiple offers must narrow down their A choices to only one. As they deny their other offers, denied schools start pulling from the WL. This typically happens after the school meets again in early May to decide who to pick from WL.

 

[DontSugarCoatIt]

IS, ORM, 506 MCAT, cgpa/sgpa 3.95. re-applicant

Love the username! Vibes.

 

[rivers322]

Does anyone have any idea of how many students come off the waitlist?

Someone who used to be on adcom as a student said 10-20% though idk if this is a typical cycle lol

 

[Mary G’s]

Someone who used to be on adcom as a student said 10-20% though idk if this is a typical cycle lol

oof... that's rough.

 

[MAGABLM]

Not that it matters but there are 163 people in the UNC SOM Class of 2025 facebook group (161 +2 admins). Obviously there may be some accepted students who don't know the page is up yet and/or people who are still weighing their options as to whether or not they wish to attend UNC but that number gives me hope that there will be a good amount of waitlist movement.

Class size is around 190, right?

 

[FutureMed2021]

187 in the Facebook group. I’m sure it’s not all CO’2025 but just to keep y’all updated

Will only people who will def attend join the facebook group because that could potentially open up more WL spots?

 

[bm5498a]

Will only people who will def attend join the facebook group because that could potentially open up more WL spots?

Hmmm not necessarily...some people might have an A from UNC but got WL from a school they are would rather go to but they still joined the group anyways

 

[MAGABLM]

187 in the Facebook group. I’m sure it’s not all CO’2025 but just to keep y’all updated

In 2 days, it jumped up by 24 people but no As mentioned here. Perhaps A people are still trickling in.

 

[FutureMed2021]

I looked at the previous years class and the ones before and theres as much as 300-400 people in the groups in the past. I don't really know if this is an accurate way to see how many actual people are accepted. Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[bm5498a]

I looked at the previous years class and the ones before and theres as much as 300-400 people in the groups in the past. I don't really know if this is an accurate way to see how many actual people are accepted. Correct me if i'm wrong.

You’re right...it’s not. A lot of upperclassmen join for housing purposes. But we can assume that a great majority currently are people who have been accepted

 

[FutureMed2021]

I really wonder how COVID has affected people's decisions this cycle. Like I am hoping more people applied to UNC but will decide not to go there due to getting A's from somewhere else but I honestly don't see 50+ people making that decision. Like UNC is such an awesome school with unbeatable tuition and fees (for IS). What also makes this hard is we don't know how many OOS applicants were accepted (i only say this because they are less likely to matriculate). I've just been very neurotic the past 24 hours over this.

P.S. are any of you thinking about going where you've already received an A? Also, does anyone remember how many people the MSAR said were waitlisted but then were accepted off the waitlist? The MSAR used to provide this info but it hasn't been available for the past couple of months.

So I'm hoping a lot of people choose another school over UNC opening up more spots. I feel it can be more than 50+ given they get into a higher ranked institution or if they just prefer a different geological place. And if you get accepted to UNC you probably also prob got full scholarships at other schools which can make the decision easier for some. Yeah UNC is amazing but there's a lot of factors that can pull people somewhere else. A lot of people didn't accept the WL on this thread so that should mean something too. Since UNC has more WL spots this year they are expecting more students to not matriculate so that could be good news or be really bad news since they would not need the WL people anymore. What do yall think?

 

[chs12of12]

I was on the waitlist last year and I think they made a larger waitlist last year as well, due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Some movement occurred, but I dont believe it was as much as they were expecting. Every year is different though, the year prior I heard they went through the entire waitlist, hopefully this year is more like that (fingers crossed)! Though next week I will start reviewing my essays and such for the following cycle, seems like the logical thing for me to do.

 

[FutureMed2021]

I was on the waitlist last year and I think they made a larger waitlist last year as well, due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Some movement occurred, but I dont believe it was as much as they were expecting. Every year is different though, the year prior I heard they went through the entire waitlist, hopefully this year is more like that (fingers crossed)! Though next week I will start reviewing my essays and such for the following cycle, seems like the logical thing for me to do.

I really hope they utilize the entire WL but I feel like since people prob applied to more schools this cycle due to online interviews they prob got into schools they weren't expecting so wouldn't that hopefully increase the spots in the class.

 

[bm5498a]

So I tried looking at the MSAR advisor reports for UNC to see how many waitlist positions they usually offer and how many students come off of the waitlist and OFC, there is nothing listed for them. However, if they experience the same movement as Duke or Brody, we can expect a waitlist of 75+ with around 20-25 people getting accepted from the waitlist. Obviously, this year is pretty special but at least this provides some insight

 

[MAGABLM]

So I tried looking at the MSAR advisor reports for UNC to see how many waitlist positions they usually offer and how many students come off of the waitlist and OFC, there is nothing listed for them. However, if they experience the same movement as Duke or Brody, we can expect a waitlist of 75+ with around 20-25 people getting accepted from the waitlist. Obviously, this year is pretty special but at least this provides some insight

Are PTE and CTE or 4/15 and 4/30 relevant for UNC? Either way, the waiting game continues....

 

[bm5498a]

How are my people feelin today?