Unranked waitlists... how do they work

[medboy]

Does anyone know how adcoms pick from an unranked waitlist? I mean, there's gotta be some method or something.

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[ventulus18]

http://www.eastgatepools.com/billiards/darts.htm

Does anyone know how adcoms pick from an unranked waitlist? I mean, there's gotta be some method or something.

 

[Megalofyia]

I am convinced they are ranked but they dont' want to disclose this information.

 

[exmike]

I think they throw the pile in the air, and the first one they catch gets in.

 

[cornell2004]

http://www.eastgatepools.com/billiards/darts.htm

 

[Peterock]

If think it is ranked...

and if it isn't...

it's all about the begging

Who's your daddy?
The medical school I'm waitlisted at sir!

 

[Odaroloc]

I think they try to maintain a certain mix within a class in terms of geography, u-grad. race, age, avg gpa, EC's...I think some schools really are "unranked" and try to see who drops and who has the best "fit" from the waitlist. Luckily I am a 42 yr old eskimo female, who was formerly a state supreme court justice with a 4.5/42R at Oxford. I am first on all the waitlists.

 

[Yogi Bear]

i may be off on this but i really think unrannked waitlists are a means of preserving/achieving a school's *quota* of the types of students they want....whether it be academics, backgrounds, achievements? i.e. Too many males in a class? The next student taken off the list will be a female. Too few URMs? let's patch that deficit. A first generation immigrant from a rural town decided to defer? Let's select another immigrant from a small rural town. MCAT averages too low? Let's admit the 45T student......

 

[angstrom55]

One school said that they "continually review" applicants in the unranked alternate list (which is basically everyone who didn't get an immediate acceptance). I think it's all random. If they can't think of anyone off the top of their head...they'll stick their hand in the bag and pull out a file.

 

[arikansas]

i just got off of an unranked waitlist...i had just emailed the director and my interviewers expressing my interest for the kabillionth time, so i think that telling them that you want to go there is definitely key to getting off of this type of waitlist.

 

[patzan]

i just got off of an unranked waitlist...i had just emailed the director and my interviewers expressing my interest for the kabillionth time, so i think that telling them that you want to go there is definitely key to getting off of this type of waitlist.

Ditto. Middle-class white male and I got in off an unranked waitlist via continued interest (LOIs, phone calls, etc.).

 

[docquaker]

how often did you guys contact the schools? every week? and in these multiple letters of interest and phone calls, what did you say besides "I'm really interested in your school?"

 

[felipe5]

i've been sending stuff in ~2-3 weeks or so. In one letter I stated what aspects of the school I liked, and in another I stated what I could bring to the school. I also have thrown in recent EC's and a LOR........i'm out of crap to say, so I may take it easy for a bit. Waitlist purgatory SUCKS

 

[UCLAMAN]

i may be off on this but i really think unrannked waitlists are a means of preserving/achieving a school's *quota* of the types of students they want....whether it be academics, backgrounds, achievements? i.e. Too many males in a class? The next student taken off the list will be a female. Too few URMs? let's patch that deficit. A first generation immigrant from a rural town decided to defer? Let's select another immigrant from a small rural town. MCAT averages too low? Let's admit the 45T student......

i agree...it allows them to continually shape their class as people decline offers. if it were ranked they'd have to take whoever gots next.

 

[Eraserhead]

i just got off of an unranked waitlist...i had just emailed the director and my interviewers expressing my interest for the kabillionth time, so i think that telling them that you want to go there is definitely key to getting off of this type of waitlist.

I've sent a total of 4 emails and 7 letters to my school. LOL.