2018-2019 Waitlist Support Thread

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Meridian17 said:
My one waitlist school does the same damn thing smh...I really like the school overall but this does not reflect well on them lol
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Yeah same! It's terrible lol it's rude to let us keep hope if there's no real chance
 
Is there a reason they don't realease rankings? Is it so they don't lost kids who think they have no shot of getting in do to a perceived poor ranking?
 
ReturnToMed said:
Is there a reason they don't realease rankings? Is it so they don't lost kids who think they have no shot of getting in do to a perceived poor ranking?
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Most schools don't have a ranked waitlist, so there isn't much that can be said.
 
MomJeansandDadJorts said:
What about the "soft" tiers people are given? Ive heard about this but it seems like schools tend to try to pick students to match those who dropped.
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Waitlisted applicants certainly may be grouped.
It is not a one to one replacement, though.
For example, if the class has 20 more men than women, the waitlist choices will reflect a desire to correct this disparity.
 
gyngyn said:
Most schools don't have a ranked waitlist, so there isn't much that can be said.
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I've always been curious about this! If a school has a WL of hundreds of people and it's unranked, how can they possibly choose who to take off with little time to decide? Do they really just replace the spot with a similar candidate?
 
smallscrapes said:
Sorry sorry! Obviously I should have included that info!

They said that the committee would be meeting next week to review apps. Movement should start next week.
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Hey PM me. I have a quick question for you.
 
Emailed my waitlisted school asking if the class is full or if they'll be sending more acceptances soon (nothing on the school specific thread) and they basically sent me the rudest response email saying they don't give that info out... This is so frustrating cuz my other acceptance is 15 HOURS BY CAR and my WL is my state school. Anyone else struggling with when do I find housing, look for a roommate, figure out my WHOLE LIFE etc crisis?! 🙁
 
I've been lurking for a while and want to ask if anyone thinks it seems like waitlist movement is slow this year?

The school I'm on is ranked and we can see our place on the list so we know how much it moves. On April 30th it only moved 2 spots. On May 1st it moved one and nothing else. The total movement is only 10 spots at this time, when we typically see it move 20-30 each year, with 18 being the lowest in the past 7 years. I'm getting really worried as I thought my starting spot at 13 had pretty good odds considering the average movement for the list is 24. I called admissions and they said even they were perplexed by the slow movement on April 30th.

They also said that 40% of their class has selected Commit to Enroll while the rest is still on Plan to Enroll. Do you guys think that other schools were relying on waitlists much more with the new rules, and that we will see a lot of movement going forward? Or do you think this year is just an anomaly and I may be stuck at #3?
 
med_cow_2019 said:
Emailed my waitlisted school asking if the class is full or if they'll be sending more acceptances soon (nothing on the school specific thread) and they basically sent me the rudest response email saying they don't give that info out... This is so frustrating cuz my other acceptance is 15 HOURS BY CAR and my WL is my state school. Anyone else struggling with when do I find housing, look for a roommate, figure out my WHOLE LIFE etc crisis?! 🙁
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Yes.

But I mean, it's all part of the game. We chose to play when we filled out AMCAS.

I just picked a date. If I don't hear back by that date, I'm moving forward with my plans to move/set things up, WL silence be damned.
 
Hirro said:
Yes.

But I mean, it's all part of the game. We chose to play when we filled out AMCAS.

I just picked a date. If I don't hear back by that date, I'm moving forward with my plans to move/set things up, WL silence be damned.
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That's kind of where I'm at. The only school I got into is 6 hours away and my husband is starting to get job interviews. So we are going to have to commit soon..
 
EmbracetheKace said:
I've been lurking for a while and want to ask if anyone thinks it seems like waitlist movement is slow this year?

The school I'm on is ranked and we can see our place on the list so we know how much it moves. On April 30th it only moved 2 spots. On May 1st it moved one and nothing else. The total movement is only 10 spots at this time, when we typically see it move 20-30 each year, with 18 being the lowest in the past 7 years. I'm getting really worried as I thought my starting spot at 13 had pretty good odds considering the average movement for the list is 24. I called admissions and they said even they were perplexed by the slow movement on April 30th.

They also said that 40% of their class has selected Commit to Enroll while the rest is still on Plan to Enroll. Do you guys think that other schools were relying on waitlists much more with the new rules, and that we will see a lot of movement going forward? Or do you think this year is just an anomaly and I may be stuck at #3?
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So... if you read the AAMC recommendations, you can select PTE while holding on to multiple acceptances still even by April 30th. It is up to each individual school to dictate if they will allow this to happen or not for their current accepted students. Before this year, the AAMC traffic rules were very clear that you cannot hold more than one acceptance past April 30.

My guess is that some schools are not making their accepted students drop all but one Acceptance by April 30. They probably are just requiring their acceptees to at least select PTE by April 30??

Edit: so I do believe that acceptees still have to narrow down their acceptance to one by April 30th as my schools required such. The slow waitlist movement might be due to other factors
 
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Regardless of what happens, All I know is this is going to be a radical time for me scrambling to settle and stabilize while getting into to academic groove of a new institution (or just continue and find new employment if it doesnt pan out). One of my schools may start pretty soon as well. Potentially saying good bye to family and figuring out what my so will do. Moving and pets and addressing loans and immunizations and insurance. What's going to happen and where is this intense whirlwind taking me?
 
All this stuff takes time. I know everyone wants a quick yes or no but it doesn't work like that. If after May you don't hear anything definitely start going forward with other plans. As far as housing goes, every year people get in late and still have a place to live you will be alright. Waiting sucks yes, but you have to be patient. The worst thing you could do is annoy admissions offices. Don't let not getting in this year put you down. You are all great people with great qualifications, there is only so many seats. Stay strong. Good luck everyone.
 
sinigang14 said:
So... if you read the AAMC recommendations, you can select PTE while holding on to multiple acceptances still even by April 30th. It is up to each individual school to dictate if they will allow this to happen or not for their current accepted students. Before this year, the AAMC traffic rules were very clear that you cannot hold more than one acceptance past April 30.

My guess is that some schools are not making their accepted students drop all but one Acceptance by April 30. They probably are just requiring their acceptees to at least select PTE by April 30??
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Wow the new rules suck. I thought they woulda improved things. I know part of it was for financial stuff but then just move the deadline and keep the process.
 
The new rules seem to mean that the waitlist will be slower if before they were required and now they aren't and I doubt schools held applicants to april 30th.
 
ReturnToMed said:
The new rules seem to mean that the waitlist will be slower if before they were required and now they aren't and I doubt schools held applicants to april 30th.
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I take back what I said cuz after reviewing the new rules. The only thing that changed is removal of national acceptance report and addition of “choose your medical school tool”

It has nothing to do with April 30 deadline that was implemented in the past
 
1nside said:
Regardless of what happens, All I know is this is going to be a radical time for me scrambling to settle and stabilize while getting into to academic groove of a new institution (or just continue and find new employment if it doesnt pan out). One of my schools may start pretty soon as well. Potentially saying good bye to family and figuring out what my so will do. Moving and pets and addressing loans and immunizations and insurance. What's going to happen and where is this intense whirlwind taking me?
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Yeah that’s exactly what I am thinking ... start thinking about apartment first . Once you have a place to live , everything else will be easier
 
sinigang14 said:
I take back what I said cuz after reviewing the new rules. The only thing that changed is removal of national acceptance report and addition of “choose your medical school tool”

It has nothing to do with April 30 deadline that was implemented in the past
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If there was no such tool in the past, then what was the April 30th deadline all about before?
 
Meridian17 said:
Schools got a multiple acceptance report which they no longer get.
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On April 30th? I understand that they periodically got the report even before April. but what was the importance of April 30th before? Like why did WL move after that date?
 
I’m very confused. Can someone answer this question please. What was April 30th all about in previous cycles? How did schools know who dropped and who didn’t without the AMCAS tool? Why was WL movement prominent around that date in previous years?
 
futuredoc0307 said:
I’m very confused. Can someone answer this question please. What was April 30th all about in previous cycles? How did schools know who dropped and who didn’t without the AMCAS tool? Why was WL movement prominent around that date in previous years?
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It's irrelevant now. Schools used to be able to look at a student's file, ONLY after they had offered him/ her admission, to see whether they had other admissions.
 
wysdoc said:
It's irrelevant now. Schools used to be able to look at a student's file, ONLY after they had offered him/ her admission, to see whether they had other admissions.
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So basically nothing changed at all since last week beyond the amcas tool which isn’t even required, and that they’re all operating in the dark right now? If that’s the case then it’d make sense why movement is slow this year
 
Ok .,, does anyone think we could use a support thread for matriculating students ? Something along the lines of “how to adjust to ripping your life apart for a long time dream of yours”? I am serious though . Do we need that? I just thought how great it would be to talk to someone about stress of searching for apartment , upcoming studying , etc
 
mmaslyanko said:
Ok .,, does anyone think we could use a support thread for matriculating students ? Something along the lines of “how to adjust to ripping your life apart for a long time dream of yours”? I am serious though . Do we need that? I just thought how great it would be to talk to someone about stress of searching for apartment , upcoming studying , etc
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Do it
 
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annieb_baxter said:
Take the weekend off from worrying 🙂 we know nothing is going to happen over the next two days so just relax and breathe! We all have plenty of worrying ahead of us!
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Unless if your accepted program begins in 2weeks.... then I must worry lol
 

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thinklikeaproton2019 said:
I've always been curious about this! If a school has a WL of hundreds of people and it's unranked, how can they possibly choose who to take off with little time to decide? Do they really just replace the spot with a similar candidate?
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The waitlisted candidates can be stratified by the enthusiasm of the committee (the vote).
Within each stratum students who fill a need in the class can then be lifted.
 
Oof, just got accepted off the WL from another program. This one was my top choice and I even sent them a LOI, however it's less appealing to me now that I have the scholarship from the other school.
Do you think it's worth waiting to see this school's financial aid package? Or letting them know my dilemma? Or should I just decline and stick with the school with the scholarship?

I can't even feel happy because it's kind of stressing me out lol
 
sloppypapi said:
Oof, just got accepted off the WL from another program. This one was my top choice and I even sent them a LOI, however it's less appealing to me now that I have the scholarship from the other school.
Do you think it's worth waiting to see this school's financial aid package? Or letting them know my dilemma? Or should I just decline and stick with the school with the scholarship?

I can't even feel happy because it's kind of stressing me out lol
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You sent a letter of interest or INTENT?
 
sloppypapi said:
Oof, just got accepted off the WL from another program. This one was my top choice and I even sent them a LOI, however it's less appealing to me now that I have the scholarship from the other school.
Do you think it's worth waiting to see this school's financial aid package? Or letting them know my dilemma? Or should I just decline and stick with the school with the scholarship?

I can't even feel happy because it's kind of stressing me out lol
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I don't mean to be that guy, but if we send a letter of intent we NEED to follow through with it. I have seen a few people say that they sent a Letter of Intent then still don't want to go there. If we as a group back out of these commitments, in my mind it does 2 things: it looks bad on the person who sent it and it makes these letter of intents meaningless to the adcoms.

You may have sent a letter of interest and therefore this doesn't apply to you, but in general I am getting the impression that we aren't taking these seriously. Then the adcoms don't take them seriously and those of us who sent them seriously or future applicants don't have the opportunity of using LOI as a last ditch effort because its legitimacy is diluted.

If we were unsure of the decision before we sent a letter then we shouldn't have sent it. It's unfair to the program and to everyone else who applied there.

Just saying.
 
sloppypapi said:
Oof, just got accepted off the WL from another program. This one was my top choice and I even sent them a LOI, however it's less appealing to me now that I have the scholarship from the other school.
Do you think it's worth waiting to see this school's financial aid package? Or letting them know my dilemma? Or should I just decline and stick with the school with the scholarship?

I can't even feel happy because it's kind of stressing me out lol
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To be realistic they will probably not have any FA offer ready by the time you have to choose. Sometimes you just have to decide and be at peace with it. The “what if’s” are killers.
 
I think the legitimacy is already diluted but it seems to depend on the context: the desirability of the program (programs with heavy withdrawals may be more "needy" and like displays of commitment) and the context of the letter (specific ties to program/area, strong reasons need to attend this program over others). If schools are receptive, I think the majority of waitlisters are sending these letters. It's a game. When you get hit on all the time and hear every pick up line that has ever been created (speaking from personal experience), you will naturally develop a cynicism and you might also get a sense of which ones may be more genuine depending on the context. So I think the cynicism is already established but schools already take into account their non-binding nature. At least if I was in charge of acceptances, I would extend the acceptance knowing full well that the LOI is probably BS.
 
It was a letter of intent. That school was the only school I sent it to.
But now get this-> I just checked my email, and it appears I was offered scholarships to this school as well.

School A (the first one to offer admission of the WL)
Tuition would be knocked down to $30k/yr. Scholarship is unconditional. I just have to attend and not flunk out.

School B (with the LOI )
Tuition would be knocked down to $26k/yr, as long as I maintain a B average all 4 years (which might be easier said than done, who knows)

So I guess in the end, I will likely go with School B. It's just a lot to take in at once. I'm grateful to even have this problem in the first place!
 
sloppypapi said:
It was a letter of intent. That school was the only school I sent it to.
But now get this-> I just checked my email, and it appears I was offered scholarships to this school as well.

School A (the first one to offer admission of the WL)
Tuition would be knocked down to $30k/yr. Scholarship is unconditional. I just have to attend and not flunk out.

School B (with the LOI )
Tuition would be knocked down to $26k/yr, as long as I maintain a B average all 4 years (which might be easier said than done, who knows)

So I guess in the end, I will likely go with School B. It's just a lot to take in at once. I'm grateful to even have this problem in the first place!
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wow lol crisis averted, school B it is!
 
dodolol21 said:
wow lol crisis averted, school B it is!
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Lol for real!
However, in the topic of "looking bad" to admissions, I did communicate with the Dean of School A personally after the scholarship was offered, so I do feel that extra guilt of suddenly declining. I will feel bad regardless. And I am taking comfort in the fact that School A's scholarship was unconditional and classes are pass/fail. School B goes by a letter grade system, and I would hate to lose the scholarship because I wound up with a B- average (tbh I'd rather focus my energy on preparing for Step 1 than acing coursework (Yes, I know a B isn't considered acing but you know what i mean)-- things I should have considered before writing the LOI, I'll admit. I'm an idiot who really just liked the school's energy and location. School A was still a top choice as well).

Y'all my mind is racing. I have anxiety farts rn and kinda want to puke. I never thought I be in this situation; I figured I'd be lucky to even get into a single school. I'm sorry if this whining is annoying to those who are still waiting :/
 
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