Wait list students do better

[L'elephante]

Do wait listed med students end up becoming better doctors? Applicants who are placed on waitlists do better overall on the first and second steps of the USMLE than straight-up acceptees. Maybe waitlisted applicants are more grateful to be accepted and learn medicine than applicants who have outstanding grades but are not completely sure that medicine is truly their path. Maybe the waitlisters just want to prove themselves. Medicine was one of the three major subjects of study during the time of Aristotle through 1200 C.E. along with law and theology. Most waitlisted applicants understand that studying medicine is the reason to go to medical school over prestige and money. What do you think?

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[indo]

You actually have data on that?

 

[OrthoFixation]

You actually have data on that?

Sounds like pure speculation to me.

 

[virilep]

Do wait listed med students end up becoming better doctors? Applicants who are placed on waitlists do better overall on the first and second steps of the USMLE than straight-up acceptees. Maybe waitlisted applicants are more grateful to be accepted and learn medicine than applicants who have outstanding grades but are not completely sure that medicine is truly their path. Maybe the waitlisters just want to prove themselves. Medicine was one of the three major subjects of study during the time of Aristotle through 1200 C.E. along with law and theology. Most waitlisted applicants understand that studying medicine is the reason to go to medical school over prestige and money. What do you think?

yikes.. i dunno, i can't agree with that. i mean. there's no definite way to say "yes" or "no".... maybeeeee

 

[MWillie]

Waitlisted students are just slightly less able to get accepted than normal acceptees.

 

[LauraMac]

yeah, i'd love to see some data on this claim.

 

[jjmack]

That is the truth. I feel like this whole original post is just someone trying to grasp at straws.

Waitlisted students are just slightly less able to get accepted than normal acceptees.

 

[indo]

Is the second sentence a statement based on some kind of data or what?

 

[Sparky Man]

It's difficult to claim anything without statistics, like others have posted. But, it seems that this data exists (USMLE scores as a function of the waitlisted student). Plus, just because you are waitlisted doesn't mean you didn't have an acceptance anywhere else. Hmm... But, I see your point. Perhaps the psychology of the waitlisted student is different considering he/she had to go through an additional rite of passage to get in.

 

[Law2Doc]

Do wait listed med students end up becoming better doctors? Applicants who are placed on waitlists do better overall on the first and second steps of the USMLE than straight-up acceptees. Maybe waitlisted applicants are more grateful to be accepted and learn medicine than applicants who have outstanding grades but are not completely sure that medicine is truly their path. Maybe the waitlisters just want to prove themselves. Medicine was one of the three major subjects of study during the time of Aristotle through 1200 C.E. along with law and theology. Most waitlisted applicants understand that studying medicine is the reason to go to medical school over prestige and money. What do you think?

I seriously doubt this claim. If this were true, it would benefit all med schools to waitlist all their matriculants before ultimately accepting them. I don't see any med schools trying this, and they are very tuned in to statistics which show which applicants are ultimately successful, so the statistics on waitlisters (if any) must be unpersuasive to them. Plus, the schools that ultimately fill the majority of their class from the waitlist don't appear to be able to do better on the boards than the top ranked schools which don't go as deep into their waitlists.

 

[Homer Doughnuts]

I think you all are getting suckered

 

[ajt2003]

I think you all are getting suckered

It's an interesting claim, but as others have said, where's the beef? Erm, I mean proof?

Also, someone can (obviously) be waitlisted at one institution and accepted to another. So...is this supposed data based on those who were on the waitlist for their top choice and then got in? Or just for those students who have been placed on A waitlist? Because the latter seems pretty prevalent.

Still, I was waitlisted (and eventually let in) to my undergrad - and once there I did work very hard. But I'm not sure that was because I felt the need to prove anything, or to show off my love of learning - I'm just a hard worker...which, again, is probably how most people going into medicine are...but I digress. Interesting theory though.

 

[Dr. Donkey]

Do you think people got waitlisted back in da B.C. at Aristotle's school? Were they worrying about letters of intent and such?

Dear Aristotle,

I can say with certainity that I would attending your Lyceum if accepted off the waitlist.

Yours Truly,
Hippocrates

xoxo

Medicine was one of the three major subjects of study during the time of Aristotle through 1200 C.E. along with law and theology. Most waitlisted applicants understand that studying medicine is the reason to go to medical school over prestige and money. What do you think?

 

[L'elephante]

Just a theory. Someone could sure look for some stats. It's just based on experiences that suggest people who are less likely to succeed at something who end up making it, might tend to be more appreciative of being given the chance, so they work harder for different reasons than someone who pretty much had no doubt that they would be accepted to one of their top choices. I thought of this when I was told of a student who got waitlisted at Univ. of Washington a few years ago, then got in the day classes started and ended up being the top in his class. Not sure if it's even true, but it just made me think. Also, Dr. Donkey, I don't think that you had to apply to learn about medicine since there were no universities then. Just something you might have an interest in. Plus, I was just pointing out the history and importance of medicine.

 

[Larsitron]

Not sure if it's even true, but it just made me think.

That's fair and I suppose it could be food for thought, but at the same time, who knows where else this person got into. He could have been accepted at some killer places, but wanted to go to his state school. I'm just saying there's a lot of variables there that could influence a person's work ethic.

 

[Dr. Donkey]

Your Univ. of Washington story doesn't surprise me much. Besides the super stellar applicants who get into most of the top tier schools, the difference between an acceptance and a waitlist seems often to be a mostly haphazard distinction.

Just a theory. Someone could sure look for some stats. It's just based on experiences that suggest people who are less likely to succeed at something who end up making it, might tend to be more appreciative of being given the chance, so they work harder for different reasons than someone who pretty much had no doubt that they would be accepted to one of their top choices. I thought of this when I was told of a student who got waitlisted at Univ. of Washington a few years ago, then got in the day classes started and ended up being the top in his class. Not sure if it's even true, but it just made me think. Also, Dr. Donkey, I don't think that you had to apply to learn about medicine since there were no universities then. Just something you might have an interest in. Plus, I was just pointing out the history and importance of medicine.

 

[Blue Scrub]

Once you're in, who cares if you were waitlisted or not? Doesnt matter, only thing that does at that point is how hard you work...of course natural intelligence affects things, but in the end I think whoever works hardest and is most dedicated will become the better doctor

 

[L'elephante]

Yeah, but don't you think that someone who has made a few mistakes early in their academic career and then works extremely hard and independently to get into medical school would be more grateful than someone whose parents both went to a certain medical school and basically got him/her in? There are bigger differnces between waitlisted students and straight-up acceptees than just grades and extracurriculars. Life experience is huge and for a 22 year old straight out of undergrad. going to medical school, I think more often than not, a 25 year old who doesn't have as good of chances and gets waitlisted and then accepted has a different understanding of work in medical school.

 

[Law2Doc]

Yeah, but don't you think that someone who has made a few mistakes early in their academic career and then works extremely hard and independently to get into medical school would be more grateful than someone whose parents both went to a certain medical school and basically got him/her in? There are bigger differnces between waitlisted students and straight-up acceptees than just grades and extracurriculars. Life experience is huge and for a 22 year old straight out of undergrad. going to medical school, I think more often than not, a 25 year old who doesn't have as good of chances and gets waitlisted and then accepted has a different understanding of work in medical school.

Well, that assumes an awful lot of things about who gets in and who gets waitlisted that I'm not sure are even true. For example, is the average age of those waitlisted in fact higher than those accepted outright? Is there, in fact, as you have suggested a difference in life experience, extracurriculars etc. between waitlisters and not? You are trying to support a hypothesis with other hypotheses.

 

[L'elephante]

No I'm not. I'm using an example to illustrate one difference between possible waitlistees vs. acceptees. I did not mean to imply that waitlisted students are older. I think that it's clear that an older person does usually have more life experience or at least more chances to be involved in big decisions than a younger person. My point was to have you just answer the question. I did not make any more hypotheses and we're still on the same subject.

 

[Denn]

Just a theory. Someone could sure look for some stats. It's just based on experiences that suggest people who are less likely to succeed at something who end up making it, might tend to be more appreciative of being given the chance, so they work harder for different reasons than someone who pretty much had no doubt that they would be accepted to one of their top choices. I thought of this when I was told of a student who got waitlisted at Univ. of Washington a few years ago, then got in the day classes started and ended up being the top in his class. Not sure if it's even true, but it just made me think. Also, Dr. Donkey, I don't think that you had to apply to learn about medicine since there were no universities then. Just something you might have an interest in. Plus, I was just pointing out the history and importance of medicine.

so according to your theory, reapplicants must be the best doctors. What do you think? Yes, no?

 

[fun8stuff]

Do wait listed med students end up becoming better doctors? Applicants who are placed on waitlists do better overall on the first and second steps of the USMLE than straight-up acceptees. Maybe waitlisted applicants are more grateful to be accepted and learn medicine than applicants who have outstanding grades but are not completely sure that medicine is truly their path. Maybe the waitlisters just want to prove themselves. Medicine was one of the three major subjects of study during the time of Aristotle through 1200 C.E. along with law and theology. Most waitlisted applicants understand that studying medicine is the reason to go to medical school over prestige and money. What do you think?

yes, and ugly people make the best lovers. duh.

 

[medic170]

No offense, but I think this thread is stupid. Why make up a bunch of assumptions that mean nothing, and may or moy NOT be true, and try to extrapolate conclusions from it. BTW, I put my self through college, but I don't know if I am more grateful than my fellow classmates who had a free ride and no life experience. i mean, I may have had to work a little harder than them, but that does not take away the fact that they worked very hard to get accepted too. Of course, I was never on a waitlist, so I don't know.

 

[Blue Scrub]

Yeah, but don't you think that someone who has made a few mistakes early in their academic career and then works extremely hard and independently to get into medical school would be more grateful than someone whose parents both went to a certain medical school and basically got him/her in? There are bigger differnces between waitlisted students and straight-up acceptees than just grades and extracurriculars. Life experience is huge and for a 22 year old straight out of undergrad. going to medical school, I think more often than not, a 25 year old who doesn't have as good of chances and gets waitlisted and then accepted has a different understanding of work in medical school.

I see what you're saying....and it sounds logical and im sure it can be the case at times, but the issue has so many variables and so forth that it is much grayer than it is black and white.....so many things can happen in people's lives that it is impossible to tell who is more excited, motivated, or grateful for being in med school than someone else....What Im saying is that I agree with you to a certain point, its just very hard to measure or determine what you are actually proposing to see if its true

 

[45408]

Many students who get waitlisted are also holding onto an acceptance elsewhere. I doubt your assertion.

 

[MWillie]

They say fat chicks give good head on similar grounds of reasoning.