2018-2019 Waitlist Support Thread

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The wait is killing me!!! I have zero acceptances and 2 waitlists. I check the SDN pages of the schools that I am on the WL for every day to see if there has been movement. What stresses me most is that I don't know if I'm going to reapply or miraculously get off the waitlist and move away to start school in the summer. I have already made a school list for next year and am getting planning to reapply, but sooooo badly want to get in this year.
 
RainAngel said:
The wait is killing me!!! I have zero acceptances and 2 waitlists. I check the SDN pages of the schools that I am on the WL for every day to see if there has been movement. What stresses me most is that I don't know if I'm going to reapply or miraculously get off the waitlist and move away to start school in the summer. I have already made a school list for next year and am getting planning to reapply, but sooooo badly want to get in this year.
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Right there with you. My mind is in a constant state of anxiety.
 
RainAngel said:
The wait is killing me!!! I have zero acceptances and 2 waitlists. I check the SDN pages of the schools that I am on the WL for every day to see if there has been movement. What stresses me most is that I don't know if I'm going to reapply or miraculously get off the waitlist and move away to start school in the summer. I have already made a school list for next year and am getting planning to reapply, but sooooo badly want to get in this year.
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I don’t understand why the multiple acceptance deadline is all the way until 4/30. Wish it were earlier!

I mean I get why it’s that way. Schools have to execute the entire process and process financial aid by then. But I just wish it could be done faster somehow. Just wishful thinking.

We should make the process into a match system 😳
 
ClamShell said:
I don’t understand why the multiple acceptance deadline is all the way until 4/30. Wish it were earlier!

I mean I get why it’s that way. Schools have to execute the entire process and process financial aid by then. But I just wish it could be done faster somehow. Just wishful thinking.

We should make the process into a match system 😳
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Schools aren’t required to process the fin aid by the time we have to decide.

A match system would streamline the process but it seems to take some of the choice away from us. Pros and cons.
 
wingsicarus said:
What are y'all's gap year plans in the (hopefully not happening) case where that A doesn't come this year? I was thinking of Americorps and/or something in healthcare IT.
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Fingers crossed we don't have to worry about it, but since I took a gap year this year, I'm working as a contractor to NIH and volunteering as an EMT. I think if there are any gaps in your ECs then a gap year would be the time to fill those gaps!
futuredoc0307 said:
I have died everyday waiting for you, April 30th.
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This is too accurate:brb::hungover:
 
teenyfish said:
I'm excited too, but trying not to build it up too much. For me the worst thing would be ride out May/June/July keeping my hopes up and being crushed when I don't get a call 🙁 I have a tendency to be an optimist.
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Oh, I'm dreading the number of telemarketers that are going to call and get my hopes up. Right now, I just don't answer, but soon I will be answering calls from all area codes because "what if"
 
guacalot said:
Oh, I'm dreading the number of telemarketers that are going to call and get my hopes up. Right now, I just don't answer, but soon I will be answering calls from all area codes because "what if"
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One of my friends took all the admission office phone numbers of the schools she’s WL’d at and made contacts for them. So if NYU calls her it will show up as “NYU Med Admissions” on her phone.
 
guacalot said:
Oh, I'm dreading the number of telemarketers that are going to call and get my hopes up. Right now, I just don't answer, but soon I will be answering calls from all area codes because "what if"
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Same! I’m really paranoid about stuff like that so I usually wait for them to leave a voicemail, which is what any legit caller would do. That’s how I learned about an interview at one of my waitlist schools lol
 
animalluver101 said:
Same! I’m really paranoid about stuff like that so I usually wait for them to leave a voicemail, which is what any legit caller would do. That’s how I learned about an interview at one of my waitlist schools lol
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Lol you’ve never gotten a telemarketing voicemail?
 
ClamShell said:
Lol you’ve never gotten a telemarketing voicemail?
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Oddly enough, no. But if I don’t get a voicemail notification within the 5 minutes after a call, I usually block the number. I almost blocked my uncle’s number one time because of that before I realized who it was
 
ClamShell said:
This is low key my biggest fear lol
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lol right?! I've told myself I'm the last choice desperation WL pick. Great for my self-esteem? No. But helpful in squashing any lofty hopes and trying to be realistic. 🙄
 
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You know what just occurred to me? we are all SO DIFFERENT. to the point that, probably, if you put all of us in the same room, you would find maybe ONE person you can really get along with. Yet, we all react exactly the same when we face the fear of not getting off the waitlist 🙂)) hahahha. There is something so comforting about it.
 
ClamShell said:
One of my friends took all the admission office phone numbers of the schools she’s WL’d at and made contacts for them. So if NYU calls her it will show up as “NYU Med Admissions” on her phone.
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What if they call from a different extension? lol The calls I have received have come from cell phones and their personal desk number and not the standard Admissions line.
 
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Sometimes I feel like God is playing cruel jokes on me cause I’ll literally have dreams of being a med student and then I wake up and remember that I’m not even accepted.

Why Lord, why?
 
ClamShell said:
Sometimes I feel like God is playing cruel jokes on me cause I’ll literally have dreams of being a med student and then I wake up and remember that I’m not even accepted.

Why Lord, why?
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Lol I used to think about that too, but it says that God will provide dreams to people at some point, and they will be about the Judgement. So I’m guessing if I have a dream about trying to perform a colonoscopy in a crowded movie theater and the camera won’t work, it’s probably just a dream lol.
 
Anyone have any predictions for waitlist movement at schools like NJMS, NYU, and Perelman? I have a deadline to commit to my in-state by mid-June, and I want to know if it's likely.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
If you have another acceptance, they can be very effective. If not, then they really only serve as kind of a squeaky wheel type thing since they know you’re interested.
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Why are they only effective if you have another acceptance? Even if you do not select the “intend to enroll” option on AMCAS? I am waiting to hear back from waitlisted schools before I select intend to enroll on AMCAS for the one school I’ve been accepted to.
 
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Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
If you have another acceptance, they can be very effective. If not, then they really only serve as kind of a squeaky wheel type thing since they know you’re interested.
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Do you have to name the school? Because if not, I doubt that saying you have another acceptance is going to raise any eyebrows. LOIs in my opinion should include any updates and reasons why you think you're a good fit for the school. Nothing more. This isn't the first time I've heard that saying you have acceptances matters for LOIs. If you must name your school, then why? Relative ranking? If the consensus is that the rank of your medical school really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, suggesting that adcoms care about the ranking of the school you're accepted to is absolutely hypocritical in my mind, so somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm saying this as somebody who wrote updates/LOIs but didn't mention my other acceptances. Will it really make a difference if I mentioned it? What if it's a lower ranked school? If it really matters, why haven't adcoms been more transparent about what they want to see in these correspondences?
 
AlphaDoctor said:
Why are they only effective if you have another acceptance? Even if you do not select the “intend to enroll” option on AMCAS? I am waiting to hear back from waitlisted schools before I select intend to enroll on AMCAS for the one school I’ve been accepted to.
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Schools know you're interested. If you don't have something that is worthy of an update letter, you're not really adding anything to your app other than letting them know that yes, you still would like to be accepted there--which they already know. Having another acceptance shows that you have other options but would prefer them. It's more meaningful. How meaningful it is depends on the school, but it will definitely not hurt.

syn1 said:
Do you have to name the school? Because if not, I doubt that saying you have another acceptance is going to raise any eyebrows. LOIs in my opinion should include any updates and reasons why you think you're a good fit for the school. Nothing more. This isn't the first time I've heard that saying you have acceptances matters for LOIs. If you must name your school, then why? Relative ranking? If the consensus is that the rank of your medical school really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, suggesting that adcoms care about the ranking of the school you're accepted to is absolutely hypocritical in my mind, so somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm saying this as somebody who wrote updates/LOIs but didn't mention my other acceptances. Will it really make a difference if I mentioned it? What if it's a lower ranked school? If it really matters, why haven't adcoms been more transparent about what they want to see in these correspondences?
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I mentioned my other school only because they already knew who it was because of the SMP I'm in. If they didn't, I don't think it's necessary to name it. If your other acceptance is on another level from the school you want to go to, it might help. Otherwise, I think there's no benefit to naming the school. The benefit is that you already have an acceptance, and people are more likely to want something that other people want. Additionally, you are saying you will turn down a sure thing you already have and could be planning for right now in order to go to their school. You're an attractive candidate to another school AND you'll turn them down for whatever your top choice is.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Schools know you're interested. If you don't have something that is worthy of an update letter, you're not really adding anything to your app other than letting them know that yes, you still would like to be accepted there--which they already know. Having another acceptance shows that you have other options but would prefer them. It's more meaningful. How meaningful it is depends on the school, but it will definitely not hurt.



I mentioned my other school only because they already knew who it was because of the SMP I'm in. If they didn't, I don't think it's necessary to name it. If your other acceptance is on another level from the school you want to go to, it might help. Otherwise, I think there's no benefit to naming the school. The benefit is that you already have an acceptance, and people are more likely to want something that other people want. Additionally, you are saying you will turn down a sure thing you already have and could be planning for right now in order to go to their school. You're an attractive candidate to another school AND you'll turn them down for whatever your top choice is.
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I do not believe it is a good idea to try and gain leverage by mentioning an acceptance to another school. You will never have leverage regardless of what you write...if anything I believe ADCOMs would look at that and think “ok, well go there then”. If anything talking about another school in your LOI is rather hypocritical.
 
AlphaDoctor said:
I do not believe it is a good idea to try and gain leverage by mentioning an acceptance to another school. You will never have leverage regardless of what you write...if anything I believe ADCOMs would look at that and think “ok, well go there then”. If anything talking about another school in your LOI is rather hypocritical.
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i think it depends on how you phrase it. For example, the school that i want to write the LOI for, ive interviewed at a while ago. So i can say something like "Since my interview in your school, ive interviewed in several amazing schools, and was even accepted to 3 of them, but going through the process just made me more confident that this is your school that i want to matriculate at.." and then explain why. Maybe that would work?
 
AlphaDoctor said:
I do not believe it is a good idea to try and gain leverage by mentioning an acceptance to another school. You will never have leverage regardless of what you write...if anything I believe ADCOMs would look at that and think “ok, well go there then”. If anything talking about another school in your LOI is rather hypocritical.
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It’s not about leverage. It’s about laying your cards out, showing that you have a great opportunity, and that you see something in their school that makes you want to turn it down to come to their school. If you’re writing it in a way that makes it sound like you’re holding the other school over their heads, you’re doing it wrong.

And I included where I had my acceptance in my LOI. Only 10 people got accepted in the month I was boarded, and I was one of them. So it clearly didn’t hurt and probably helped. You just have to be honest and humble about it. I wrote that I know it’s a great opportunity, but then followed with a few very specific reasons why I liked their school better.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
It’s not about leverage. It’s about laying your cards out, showing that you have a great opportunity, and that you see something in their school that makes you want to turn it down to come to their school. If you’re writing it in a way that makes it sound like you’re holding the other school over their heads, you’re doing it wrong.

And I included where I had my acceptance in my LOI. Only 10 people got accepted in the month I was boarded, and I was one of them. So it clearly didn’t hurt and probably helped. You just have to be honest and humble about it. I wrote that I know it’s a great opportunity, but then followed with a few very specific reasons why I liked their school better.
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Can you PM me with more specific instructions? I’ve already submitted 2 LOIs and one post-interview update and I could use some direction..
 
It’s also probably school dependent as well. But then again many things can be classified as school dependent.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Schools know you're interested. If you don't have something that is worthy of an update letter, you're not really adding anything to your app other than letting them know that yes, you still would like to be accepted there--which they already know. Having another acceptance shows that you have other options but would prefer them. Besides, you don’t have to mention that you don’t have an acceptance. It’s not expected of you to mention your acceptances, it’s merely a strategy to increase the effectiveness of the letter.
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I agree that holding another acceptance shows higher preference for their school. However, I don’t think it’s entirely pointless to submit LOI without acceptances because if they need to fill a seat and out of two relatively similar applicants, they’d be more certain that the applicant who submitted a LOI would attend. It’s obvious that everyone, competitive or not, is interested. but at one point it’ll be about who will be ready to fill a vacant seat for them when they need someone. Besides, you don’t have to mention that you don’t have acceptances. It’s not the norm or an expected thing to mention acceptances if you have them, specially because this is the first year where they don’t know. It’s merely a strategy that not everyone is aware of and the Adcom could be left thinking the applicant didn’t know better to mention his/her acceptance.
 
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futuredoc0307 said:
I agree that holding another acceptance shows higher preference for their school. However, I don’t think it’s entirely pointless to submit LOI without acceptances because if they need to fill a seat and out of two relatively similar applicants, they’d be more certain that the applicant who submitted a LOI would attend. It’s obvious that everyone, competitive or not, is interested. but at one point it’ll be about who will be ready to fill a vacant seat for them when they need someone. Besides, you don’t have to mention that you don’t have acceptances. It’s not the norm or an expected thing to mention acceptances if you have them, specially because this is the first year where they don’t know. It’s merely a strategy that not everyone is aware of and the Adcom could be left thinking the applicant didn’t know better to mention his/her acceptance.
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That hasn’t been my experience watching people I know. If you want to keep your file on their minds, find something to update them about. That means more than a letter of interest or intent (without another acceptance). They know you’re interested and of course you’re going to attend their school if it’s your only acceptance.

Just my opinion based on what I’ve observed and basic game theory.
 
golgi body said:
Right there with you. My mind is in a constant state of anxiety.
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I'm in the same situation but need to get my mcat up and retake it. I'm trying to figure out the best way to ensure I get it up and a plan. If anyone has recommendations I'd greatly appreciate it
 
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Dhooy7 said:
I'm in the the situation but need to get my mcat up and retake it. I'm trying to figure out the best way to ensure I get it up and a plan. If anyone has recommendations I'd greatly appreciate it
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i sent a letter of intent to my top school earlier this week mentioning the schools i currently hold acceptances at and stated i would withdraw from them and commit if accepted. i got a call later this week letting me know i have been pulled off the WL. in my single experience a LOI with acceptances seemed to work, but need to remember correlation does not equal causality. but i don't think my LOI would have any strength too it without acceptances already.
 
EasyEveryoneWouldDoIt said:
i sent a letter of intent to my top school earlier this week mentioning the schools i currently hold acceptances at and stated i would withdraw from them and commit if accepted. i got a call later this week letting me know i have been pulled off the WL. in my single experience a LOI with acceptances seemed to work, but need to remember correlation does not equal causality. but i don't think my LOI would have any strength too it without acceptances already.
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Congratulations! I do think you are a bit different than some others hanging on this WL thread as you got accepted to 5/6 of the schools at which you interviewed, and got WL and then accepted from one other. Those stats suggest that you are a superb applicant at the schools to which you got II's (high up on the @LizzyM staircase), and then did a fantastic job in all of your interviews. The good news is that you will now have 5 other A's to release to the figurative massive heap of unwanted Acceptances, some of which might go to some others on SDN!
 
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