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I think it’s really school dependent, but most people will likely say updates won’t make much of a difference. BUT I think if you have something worthy of an update you might as well send it because if you don’t you might regret it later 🙂 it might not help but it won’t hurt!
 
Think about the totality of a person's application. Let's take a random hypothetical candidate: 3.7 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA, 85%ile MCAT, 2 pubs, 3 posters, standard ECs. If you were an AdCom would you bump them up the list if the pubs went to 3?

I would consider "significant" something like:
- Prestigious scholarship (Rhodes, Goldwater, etc)
- A semester's worth of 4.0's
- Won a substantial research grant
- Published your MS/PhD thesis

... but, as above, if you are proud of something and want to share it then by all means. It'll show demonstrated interest.
 
erenyeager said:
I see, thank you! It depends on the applicant. That applicant already had pubs, but was lacking in GPA perhaps. How about this:

Let's say the hypothetical applicant had high stats (3.85+,520+) but little research with no pubs. Would you view a pub make as significant in this case?

Also: Tangent, but you mentioned interest. Would an letter of intent + update vs update alone make a bigger difference to you?
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The reality is you have been fulled evaluated by the executive admissions committee already. They have already full evaluated you. You are not going to be fully re-evaluated because of an update. It may go as a note next to your name, but its probably not going to be the thing that pushes you over. I know its hard to accept, but at this point beyond showing you are intersted: it is out of your hands.
 
erenyeager said:
What would make a big difference? I thought pubs were the gold standard?
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no at all I have four publications two first author and three conference abstracts in four conferences two are duplicates but I got only one MD interview and on the waitlist now i don't think they care at all

i saw someone mention the grant and yes i got two grants for my research and one company funding and no one cared about this
 
erenyeager said:
I'm really surprised! I feel like that's a top 20 guarantee EC if you have a LM >72!
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Sadly my lm<70 I think schools care more about stat and race before your research so... but for research once you know how to do and what you want to do it is pretty easy to have publications I’m more likely to have two more at the end of this year but all of this are just on some small subspecialty journals I’m not talking about first author on nature
 
If you are waitlisted, you may have a long wait as schools often make many more offers than they have seats and they are not going to the waitlist as soon as one person declines the offer.

If a school does go to the waitlist, unless the waitlist is ranked, the Dean, or someone designated by the adcom, has the power to make offers to applicants on the waitlist. The school wants to do this with the least amount of effort so making an offer to someone who seems very interested is highly desirable. So, an update doesn't hurt and shows that you are still interested versus just too lazy to withdraw from the waitlist despite having accepted an offer you like better.
 
It's really school dependent and varies enormously.

The value of LOIs varies enormously from school to school, and even from time in the application cycle.
 
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LizzyM said:
If you are waitlisted, you may have a long wait as schools often make many more offers than they have seats and they are not going to the waitlist as soon as one person declines the offer.

If a school does go to the waitlist, unless the waitlist is ranked, the Dean, or someone designated by the adcom, has the power to make offers to applicants on the waitlist. The school wants to do this with the least amount of effort so making an offer to someone who seems very interested is highly desirable. So, an update doesn't hurt and shows that you are still interested versus just too lazy to withdraw from the waitlist despite having accepted an offer you like better.
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LizzyM,

In T20 schools, how common is it for the waitlist to be unranked?
What is typical method for choosing from an unranked WL?
Is it that they choose a WL replacement with similar demographics /characteristics / race gender etc shaping the class based on declined acceptance? Do they choose a high stat applicant to bump their acceptance stats? Other?

I ask about the unranked WL selection because I saw one med school’s acceptance stats, and while not mutually exclusive, non insignificant numbers of the acceptances were for demographics that would exclude applicants. Age/traditional/URM/hardship/home state/etc.
 
There are about 25 T20 schools 😉 and as many ways of handling the wait list as there are schools. And schools can change over time with new leadership and new admission goals. There is no way to make any blanket statements.

And it isn't always the point to find a replacement that is the same as the person who dropped... much of the waitlist movement can come early when there are a number of seats to fill after admitted applicants make their choices known and have chosen to go elsewhere. We might be hoping to have 200 decline our offer but if it is 205 who decline, then we have 5 open seats. How would those replacements work?
 
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