2018-2019 Waitlist Support Thread

[pianoman09]

I love this. Just want to add:

1. You cannot keep waitlists if you Commit to Enroll, per AAMC. You should withdraw from all other acceptances and WL. If you want to keep your WL after 4/30 then choose plan to enroll or nothing at all (but be down to one acceptance).
2. I don't think schools are stipulating anything about plan to enroll, only commit to enroll.
3. If you have WLs but no acceptances than the WL cannot see that you have other WL. That sounds confusing, but if you don't have an acceptance you don't have the plan/commit to enroll button.
4. Poaching isn't against the rules any longer.

Thank you, I realized some mistakes that I'll fix

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[Kiwimd17]

I feel like these tools are still confusing so I made a handy guide.

PLAN TO ENROLL

what it really means: "I got into a cool school. After 4/30 it'll be my only one, but I'm still on the waitlist market"
when do I do it: by 4/30 please (but see end of this post...)
can I keep another acceptance?: yes before 4/30! no after 4/30
can I have a bunch of waitlists?: yes

if you are neurotic like me:
can other acceptances see my plan?: yes, after 4/30 (and as aggregated data before 4/30)
can other waitlists see my plan?: same - yes after 4/30
can other submitted apps see my plan?: nope
pls can I keep another acceptance after 4/30?: technically yes, but it violates traffic rules. Also see end of post.

COMMIT TO ENROLL

what it really means: "I'm totally off the market guys, I'm going to that cool school"
when do I do it: after 4/30 and before the school deadline (usually June/July)
can I have another acceptance?: hell no
can I have a bunch of waitlists?: no

if you are neurotic:
can other accepts/waitlists see my commitment?: yes
pls can I keep another acceptance?: lol they will just rescind you
pls can I keep a waitlist?: fine, but it violates traffic rules. Also every school will know you are committed to some school (and not which one, so they're unlikely to "poach" you).

THE 2019 DILEMMA

Schools can see me. That makes me nervous and I want to game this (very stupid) system! Should I avoid "plan to enroll" like the plague, so no one knows about my acceptance(s)?
- Honestly, yeah, go for it. But verify your school's policy. For example, schools could (and should!) threaten to rescind your accept if you don't "plan to enroll" there on 4/30.

Sources:
- AMCAS traffic rules
- AMCAS Choose Your Medical School info page

Edit: clarified traffic rule issues & poaching

Thanks so much for that!!! So since accepted students can start selecting commit to enroll, etc beginning April 30, does that mean the waitlist movement will have a slow start, since its not actually required on the 30th?

 

[pianoman09]

Thanks so much for that!!! So since accepted students can start selecting commit to enroll, etc beginning April 30, does that mean the waitlist movement will have a slow start, since its not actually required on the 30th?

I'm definitely predicting a slow start and believe others have elsewhere.

But who knows!

 

[NakMuay33]

Whose anxiety has skyrocketed since yesterday? I am not expecting to hear from my WL school until beginning of next month. My accepted school requires us to declare our intent by end of April. I am just going to look at it as if my WL school sees I plan to enroll elsewhere, they need to scoop me up sooner than later if they want me!!

 

[biochemandbass]

The waitlist at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine has moved 5 spots since it started on March 7th. It is a lot more early movement when compared to previous years. Still, April 30th will be the big move day.

 

[pokemon9264]

The waitlist at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine has moved 5 spots since it started on March 7th. It is a lot more early movement when compared to previous years. Still, April 30th will be the big move day.

Thank you for the helpful info! Nice to know that there's some waitlist movement going on.

 

[RainAngel]

Is there a waitlist movement tracker somewhere? I can only find the one on Reddit for last years cycle.

 

[futuredoc0307]

I believe the AMCAS tool is only a tool that schools can choose to use as they like, beyond the April 15/30th dates. For example, the school I’m waitlisted at apparently requires the students to inform them whether or not they commit by April 30th and pay the deposit.... this explains why that school has very high movement around that date.

 

[Dr. Mike Trout]

Link?

Is there a waitlist movement tracker somewhere? I can only find the one on Reddit for last years cycle.

 

[syn1]

Link?

Here you go

 

[bostonstrong95]

I believe the AMCAS tool is only a tool that schools can choose to use as they like, beyond the April 15/30th dates. For example, the school I’m waitlisted at apparently requires the students to inform them whether or not they commit by April 30th and pay the deposit.... this explains why that school has very high movement around that date.

How do you know that the school you're waitlisted at requires that? Is there a way to look at what each school requires?

 

[futuredoc0307]

How do you know that the school you're waitlisted at requires that? Is there a way to look at what each school requires?

I asked in the school-specific forum if accepted people have been informed of school-specific deadline policy

 

[futuredoc0307]

Can all the schools I’m WL at see if I choose “Plan to Enroll” for my #1 WL choice? Asking because I want my #1 WL choice to know I’m serious but I don’t want to jeopardize my chances in the other schools I’m WL at

No one, even the school you choose, can see any names until after April 30th.

 

[bostonstrong95]

Can all the schools I’m WL at see if I choose “Plan to Enroll” for my #1 WL choice? Asking because I want my #1 WL choice to know I’m serious but I don’t want to jeopardize my chances in the other schools I’m WL at

Can you "Plan to Enroll" at a school you're WL at?

 

[teenyfish]

Can you "Plan to Enroll" at a school you're WL at?

I don't think so?

 

[wysdoc]

Can all the schools I’m WL at see if I choose “Plan to Enroll” for my #1 WL choice? Asking because I want my #1 WL choice to know I’m serious but I don’t want to jeopardize my chances in the other schools I’m WL at

I think you can only choose "plan to enroll" for schools where you have an acceptance, not any WL schools. If you have no acceptances, you can stay on your WLs.

 

[medschoolzombie]

Can all the schools I’m WL at see if I choose “Plan to Enroll” for my #1 WL choice? Asking because I want my #1 WL choice to know I’m serious but I don’t want to jeopardize my chances in the other schools I’m WL at

From what I get, other schools can definetly see your 'commit to enroll' option. Plan to enroll is up in the air but I don't think they can because you can still be on WL with that option

 

[pokemon9264]

I don't know if this was shared or not, but I found this Reddit thread to be extremely informative. I noticed a lot of question on the Choose your Medical School Tool and wanted to share this helpful link for those who wants more clarification:

 

[1nside]

Tick tock tick tock. I see some drips of movement occurring. Hopefully, the dam breaks soon and we start seeing a lot of movement. exciting!

 

[RainAngel]

13 more days!

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought a school could only get information on you wrt PTE and CTE once they’ve accepted you. They can see where you have selected PTE while you’re on the waitlist?

 

[AlphaDoctor]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought a school could only get information on you wrt PTE and CTE once they’ve accepted you. They can see where you have selected PTE while you’re on the waitlist?

I just got off the the phone with an AMCAS rep. Schools that you’ve been waitlisted at or accepted to will not be able to see whether or not you hold an acceptance at another institution if you select the plan to enroll option....before or after April 30th. Feel free to call them yourself to reaffirm.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I just got off the the phone with an AMCAS rep. Schools that you’ve been waitlisted at or accepted to will not be able to see whether or not you hold an acceptance at another institution if you select the plan to enroll option....before or after April 30th. Feel free to call them yourself to reaffirm.

I believe you. That’s what I thought. That big Reddit post said schools will be able to see if you’ve hit PTE for another school if you are on the WL after April 30, which is not correct.

 

[AlphaDoctor]

I believe you. That’s what I thought. That big Reddit post said schools will be able to see if you’ve hit PTE for another school if you are on the WL after April 30, which is not correct.

Correct, that is incorrect. Lol

 

[medstar4912]

so students that have no acceptances and only waitlist positions cannot select plan to enroll on AMCAS, correct?

 

[965978]

I just got off the the phone with an AMCAS rep. Schools that you’ve been waitlisted at or accepted to will not be able to see whether or not you hold an acceptance at another institution if you select the plan to enroll option....before or after April 30th. Feel free to call them yourself to reaffirm.

But if it’s Commit To Enroll then they CAN see it.

 

[965978]

so students that have no acceptances and only waitlist positions cannot select plan to enroll on AMCAS, correct?

Well what school would you plan to enroll to? LOL

 

[pianoman09]

I think there is still a lot of misinformation floating around (and even the reddit post is confusing). See my post from earlier:

- schools where you are WL see exactly what the schools you are accepted at see
- nobody knows who you are (just aggregates) until 4/30
- nobody knows WHERE you plan to enroll/commit to enroll ever

I feel like these tools are still confusing so I made a handy guide.

PLAN TO ENROLL

what it really means: "I got into a cool school. After 4/30 it'll be my only one, but I'm still on the waitlist market"
when do I do it: by 4/30 please (but see end of this post...)
can I keep another acceptance?: yes before 4/30! no after 4/30
can I have a bunch of waitlists?: yes

if you are neurotic like me:
can other acceptances see my choice?: yes, after 4/30. They don't know which school you plan to attend. Before 4/30 they see aggregates, not your name.
can other waitlists see my choice?: same as above
can other submitted apps see my choice?: nope
pls can I keep another acceptance after 4/30?: technically yes, but it violates traffic rules. Also see end of post.

COMMIT TO ENROLL

what it really means: "I'm totally off the market guys, I'm going to that cool school"
when do I do it: after 4/30 and before the school deadline (usually June/July)
can I have another acceptance?: hell no
can I have a bunch of waitlists?: no

if you are neurotic:
can other accepts/waitlists see I committed?: yes, but not which school you committed to.
pls can I keep another acceptance?: lol they will just rescind you
pls can I keep a waitlist?: fine, but it violates traffic rules. Also every school will know you are committed to some school (and not which one, so they're less likely to "poach" you).

WHAT IF I DON'T USE THESE?

- waitlist schools will not know your acceptances or other waitlists at any point
- acceptance schools will not know your other acceptances or intentions or adherence to traffic rules (but see below)
- btw, the AAMC does not care about anything you do

THE 2019 DILEMMA

Schools can see me. That makes me nervous and I want to game this (very stupid) system! Should I avoid "plan to enroll" like the plague, so no one knows about my acceptance(s)?
- Honestly, yeah, go for it. This doesn't even violate traffic rules. But verify your school's policy. For example, schools could (and should!) threaten to rescind your accept if you don't "plan to enroll" there on 4/30.

Sources:
- AMCAS traffic rules
- AMCAS Choose Your Medical School info page

Edit: clarified traffic rule issues & poaching
Edit 2: clarified who sees what

 

[medstar4912]

Well what school would you plan to enroll to? LOL

right. I just feel like the posts a bit above were misleading, as someone thought that you could select PTE for a waitlisted school so i wanted to make sure there was some clarification for the thread

 

[965978]

I think there is still a lot of misinformation floating around (and even the reddit post is confusing). See my post from earlier:

- schools where you are WL see exactly what the schools you are accepted at see
- nobody knows who you are (just aggregates) until 4/30
- nobody knows WHERE you plan to enroll/commit to enroll ever

Two problems with the post that you made:

- You said that schools where you have been waitlisted at can see that you Plan to Enroll somewhere else after 4/30, which others have said isn’t the case.

-The only way to hold two acceptances after 4/30 is that at least one has to be an acceptance off a waitlist that occurred after 4/30. So if you selected Plan to Enroll somewhere, and get accepted somewhere else after 4/30, then you’ll have two acceptances for a 5-day window period where you decide between the two schools. This isn’t “against traffic rules”.

 

[AlphaDoctor]

Two problems with the post that you made:

- You said that schools where you have been waitlisted at can see that you Plan to Enroll somewhere else after 4/30, which others have said isn’t the case.

-The only way to hold two acceptances after 4/30 is that at least one has to be an acceptance off a waitlist that occurred after 4/30. So if you selected Plan to Enroll somewhere, and get accepted somewhere else after 4/30, then you’ll have two acceptances for a 5-day window period where you decide between the two schools. This isn’t “against traffic rules”.

“ You said that schools where you have been waitlisted at can see that you Plan to Enroll somewhere else after 4/30, which others have said isn’t the case.”

CORRECT THIS IS NOT THE CASE. WAITLISTED SCHOOLS CANNOT SEE IF YOU PLAN TO ENROLL ELSEWHERE, EVEN AFTER APRIL 30TH.

I spoke to AMCAS on the phone this morning, someone else can call to reaffirm.

 

[pianoman09]

Two problems with the post that you made:

- You said that schools where you have been waitlisted at can see that you Plan to Enroll somewhere else after 4/30, which others have said isn’t the case.

-The only way to hold two acceptances after 4/30 is that at least one has to be an acceptance off a waitlist that occurred after 4/30. So if you selected Plan to Enroll somewhere, and get accepted somewhere else after 4/30, then you’ll have two acceptances for a 5-day window period where you decide between the two schools. This isn’t “against traffic rules”.

#1: "Starting April 30, the AMCAS tool will identify the applicants making either selection. This applicant-specific information will be visible only to schools where the applicant has a current acceptance or alternate list position." -- choose your medical school info page. They do not know WHERE.

#2: good point! I was only referring to the strategy of holding on to acceptances through the 4/30 deadline

 

[AlphaDoctor]

#1: "Starting April 30, the AMCAS tool will identify the applicants making either selection. This applicant-specific information will be visible only to schools where the applicant has a current acceptance or alternate list position." -- choose your medical school info page. They do not know WHERE.

#2: good point! I was only referring to the strategy of holding on to acceptances through the 4/30 deadline

Why speculate? Someone else give AMCAS a call please....

 

[965978]

#2: good point! I was only referring to the strategy of holding on to acceptances through the 4/30 deadline

I have no idea how AAMC chooses to enforce this. No doubt they can generate a list of everyone who broke this rule on the morning of 5/1 and send a very angry email to everyone on the list.

But that doesn’t really make sense because someone can send a withdrawal email on the night of 4/30 and the school may not process it for a few days.

 

[OchemOficionado]

I think there is still a lot of misinformation floating around (and even the reddit post is confusing). See my post from earlier:

- schools where you are WL see exactly what the schools you are accepted at see
- nobody knows who you are (just aggregates) until 4/30
- nobody knows WHERE you plan to enroll/commit to enroll ever

Yes, I believe this is correct. AND if you only have WL then schools see nothing.

 

[Hirro]

At this point, honestly wondering if I should've even selected PTE then. I was under the impression it meant nothing but I'd rather it not mean I not be considered to get off the WL.

 

[965978]

According to this table, schools where you are WL at CAN see plan to enroll status.

This makes a lot of sense because it essentially stops someone from sending an LOI and falsely saying “I’ve been accepted to Stanford”.

 

[OchemOficionado]

At this point, honestly wondering if I should've even selected PTE then. I was under the impression it meant nothing but I'd rather it not mean I not be considered to get off the WL.

I think it's only to provide data to the school you selected. That's it. Plan to enroll does not insinuate that you've made a commitment. . . just that you have a plan if you don't get a better offer. . . especially after 4/30 and you haven't removed yourself from the WLs.

 

[OchemOficionado]

According to this table, schools where you are WL at CAN see plan to enroll status.

This makes a lot of sense because it essentially stops someone from sending an LOI and falsely saying “I’ve been accepted to Stanford”.

Yes, but ONLY if said student has at least one acceptance AND has used the tool.

 

[965978]

Yes, I believe this is correct. AND if you only have WL then schools see nothing.

Although I would argue that the absence of a selection says something, given that so many schools are requiring their accepted students to use the tool.

 

[suggestionsplease]

“ You said that schools where you have been waitlisted at can see that you Plan to Enroll somewhere else after 4/30, which others have said isn’t the case.”

CORRECT THIS IS NOT THE CASE. WAITLISTED SCHOOLS CANNOT SEE IF YOU PLAN TO ENROLL ELSEWHERE, EVEN AFTER APRIL 30TH.

I spoke to AMCAS on the phone this morning, someone else can call to reaffirm.

I want to verify what @AlphaDoctor said. I emailed AMCAS last week and they said if you select PLAN TO ENROLL, none of the waitlisted schools can see and only the one accepted school you selected PLAN TO ENROLL will see even after April 30th.

 

[965978]

Yes, but ONLY if said student has at least one acceptance AND has used the tool.

Well, yes, of course. But the point is that schools can see the minimum number of WL students with an acceptance!

 

[965978]

I want to verify what @AlphaDoctor said. I emailed AMCAS last week and they said if you select PLAN TO ENROLL, none of the waitlisted schools can see and only the one accepted school you selected PLAN TO ENROLL will see.

This is contradictory to what is on the website.

 

[OchemOficionado]

Although I would argue that the absence of a selection says something, given that so many schools are requiring their accepted students to use the tool.

Many schools are requiring a commit to enroll date, not a plan to enroll date. I think I've only read about ONE school wanting students to pick plan to enroll.

Also, schools still won't be able to see which school students have selected so the Stanford lie can happen, lol.

Well, yes, of course. But the point is that schools can see the minimum number of WL students with an acceptance!

If and only if they use the tool though which is also an important point.

 

[suggestionsplease]

This is contradictory to what is on the website.

If you aren't certain, send AMCAS an email or call.

 

[965978]

Also, schools still won't be able to see which school students have selected so the Stanford lie can happen, lol.

This is honestly depressing and distasteful that someone can put such a lie in an LOI and get away with it.

@gyngyn Would a school be allowed to call another school to verify acceptance if a certain student stated in an LOI that they were accepted to said school?

 

[OchemOficionado]

This is honestly depressing and distasteful that someone can put such a lie in an LOI and get away with it.

@gyngyn Would a school be allowed to call another school to verify acceptance if a certain student stated in an LOI that they were accepted to said school?

Sure, it's unethical. Not sure if people actually do it. I don't care either way, not my business.

I think I read that it is unethical for schools to call another school to discuss a specific student, but we'll see what gyngyn says.

 

[hboats]

This is honestly depressing and distasteful that someone can put such a lie in an LOI and get away with it.

@gyngyn Would a school be allowed to call another school to verify acceptance if a certain student stated in an LOI that they were accepted to said school?

Do we really think anyone will do this, though? Maybe I'm being naive but I'd like to hope if you're trying to enter into a profession where ethics is of the utmost importance, you wouldn't act so unethically to do so.

 

[965978]

Do we really think anyone will do this, though? Maybe I'm being naive but I'd like to hope if you're trying to enter into a profession where ethics is of the utmost importance, you wouldn't act so unethically to do so.

That’s exactly my point. Integrity is so important so I hope someone so dishonest doesn’t enter the profession.

I absolutely don’t think anyone would do this because if, by some chance, the ADCOM behind the screen decides to break the rules and calls the other school, it’s game over for the applicant. And pre-meds are over paranoid as it is to take that chance!

 

[hboats]

That’s exactly my point. Integrity is so important so I hope someone so dishonest doesn’t enter the profession.

I absolutely don’t think anyone would do this because if, by some chance, the ADCOM behind the screen decides to break the rules and calls the other school, it’s game over for the applicant. And pre-meds are over paranoid as it is to take that chance!

On the other hand, there was a Reddit post recently about a girl who was assaulted by her interviewer when they ran into eachother at a bar the the night of the interview. If that story was true we know there are some very unethical people that will eventually be our colleagues. Really sad stuff.