2020-2021 Waitlist Support Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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amath5456 said:
Hey guys! I am wondering how common it is to move on the WL after today? I am #1 on my 1 WL lol and I want to get in! I guess I don't understand how movement can happen after everyone withdraws their other apps. Anyone mind explaining? Thanks in advance, I am nervous 🤣
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This means you are in GREAT shape. Movement happens when ANYONE currently PTE at your WL gets off a WL at ANY other school in the country and decides they'd rather go there. Unless your 1 WL is Harvard or NYU, which each have pretty low WL movement, the odds of 1 seat opening up at any school in the country between now and orientation is pretty close to 100%!!! Don't mean to jinx you, but that's the truth!!! 🙂

The only wrinkle here would be if this school is still not down to its class size. Do you know if that is the case???
 
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iamyourvilli said:
Any word on GW for waitlist movement?? How much can we expect?
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Omg have u received the ‘likely to get in’ email bc I didn’t and i wanna C R Y 🥲 i just hope they have more of those to send out later

but to answer your question, they have a pretty good movement i heard
 
if our school threads are staying silent, (no posts of people being pulled off the WL, and not a lot of people withdrawing) even though its about to be 11:59PM on 4/30, is that a bad sign for waitlist movement at those schools?
 
My guess only (I may be wrong):

Today's the first day AdComs can see PTE and CTE of their A's and WL's. I doubt that a majority of schools will immediately start WL movement. My guess is that most AdComs will convene over the next week or so to analyze the data they currently have (and potentially look at LOI's) before taking people off the WL. They have to carefully assure that they don't over-enroll or under-enroll, so a lot of thought (and time) needs to be put into these decisions.

TLDR - Give it at least a few days for WL movement at some schools.
 
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shaquille.oatmeal said:
if our school threads are staying silent, (no posts of people being pulled off the WL, and not a lot of people withdrawing) even though its about to be 11:59PM on 4/30, is that a bad sign for waitlist movement at those schools?
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Nope. Don't get rattled just because you are seeing movement at other schools.

It might mean these schools are not going to have a lot of movement, and it could just as easily mean there will be a ton movement in the very near future. You have no way to know whether or how over subscribed a particular school is, or what withdrawal activity has been over the past few weeks, or today for that matter.

If the school doesn't communicate with you, you have no way to know, and speculating blindly is really pointless, even though you might not be able to help yourself under the circumstances. You just have to sit tight and keep telling yourself that, historically, WL movement is going to peak in the next few weeks. Not yesterday, tomorrow or Monday, but over the next few weeks. The particular days will vary by school, and not all schools will see the same amount of movement.
 
When you see alot of movement in your top school’s WL, but you haven’t gotten a call:
1619832555361.gif
 
shaquille.oatmeal said:
if our school threads are staying silent, (no posts of people being pulled off the WL, and not a lot of people withdrawing) even though its about to be 11:59PM on 4/30, is that a bad sign for waitlist movement at those schools?
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I don't think it means anything for this school because it seems like last year they waited until after the weekend to start sending out As. Also based on how they mentioned in their interviews that a majority of applicants should expect to spend some time on the waitlist, I still believe movement will be decent for us
 
bonchon_chiggen said:
I don't think it means anything for this school because it seems like last year they waited until after the weekend to start sending out As. Also based on how they mentioned in their interviews that a majority of applicants should expect to spend some time on the waitlist, I still believe movement will be decent for us
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now i know why i keep yelling bonchon chiggggen everytime spammers call me......its cause of this user name lmaooo
 
Microbe_Hunter said:
My head hurts like all the time now. Having a tough time keeping it together tbh...
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Microbe_Hunter said:
My head hurts like all the time now. Having a tough time keeping it together tbh...
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try to remember that whatever the outcome is, as long as you have your health you can achieve anything. without our health, we really have nothing. take care of yourself, stay hydrated, eat healthy and get some movement in daily. the best thing you can do during these times i think. and also realize, a lot of this process is not our fault. there very well may have been thousands of candidates who would have made amazing physicians turned away this cycle, and in past cycles. idk if it helps, but these are just things I do to help control the things i know i can control. everything else is out of our hands. plus you're on 5 WL's so hopefully something works out. if not, hopefully there's another try. and if there isnt another try, remember that being a physician isnt the only career where we can make a change and have a lasting impact on society. everything will work out in due time. but health must always take first priority.
 
taberis said:
I would check the school's previous year's threads. It looks like Yale has called on Saturdays so I'm shakin in my boots
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Hoping you get that special call tomorrow - or at the very least in the coming weeks!

I gotta say, I'm flattered to be in a group of such smart and impressive people. Rooting for all of us that this year has unworldly high WL movement! :highfive:
 
I know this thread is for MD schools, but I was wondering if anyone knew anything about WL movement at LECOM?
 
mynameispony said:
Anyone know how the WL typically is at UCI? Anything I should be doing in the meantime outside of sending LOI? Feeling so down lol
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I’m in that boat with you about UCI. Last year didn’t seem to have much movement based on their thread. Other years might have been different.

Did you also get their waitlist email on Thursday night/did you interview in April? I don’t know if they accepted anyone from their April interviews and it could be that they are waiting on PTEs to see accept us. I hope we hear some good news next week.
 
thehippiestudent said:
I’m in that boat with you about UCI. Last year didn’t seem to have much movement based on their thread. Other years might have been different.

Did you also get their waitlist email on Thursday night/did you interview in April? I don’t know if they accepted anyone from their April interviews and it could be that they are waiting on PTEs to see accept us. I hope we hear some good news next week.
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Yeah, interviewed early April and was notified about WL on Friday morning last week. Hoping for good news for us as well! 🙂
 
shaquille.oatmeal said:
if our school threads are staying silent, (no posts of people being pulled off the WL, and not a lot of people withdrawing) even though its about to be 11:59PM on 4/30, is that a bad sign for waitlist movement at those schools?
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I think that the movement at some schools is a positive. My guess is that it means those schools didn't wait through the weekend to start pulling from the WL and that other schools are waiting until this coming week. The movement at certain schools seems like an indication to me that movement is happening, and it wouldn't make sense that only some schools have movement when others of similar ranking/etc dont.
 
Randompremed7 said:
Forreal man, how is it possible for us to be waitlisted so much? Do you think it was our interview or just a competitive cycle? Cause it’s like unheard of
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I have a few theories that may all be partially correct:

1) competitive cycle
2) meh interview where we didn’t highlight our strengths enough
3) didn’t make it seem like we wanted to go to the school bad enough in the interview
4) unlucky
 
Randompremed7 said:
Forreal man, how is it possible for us to be waitlisted so much? Do you think it was our interview or just a competitive cycle? Cause it’s like unheard of
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Neither. The most plausible explanation is also the simplest. The lack of visibility caused by virtual interviews (i.e., no past history regarding yield) caused schools to be safe rather than sorry. As a result, they very well might have intentionally been ultra cautious in issuing initial As, with a view towards making greater use of WLs this year. This is exactly what a few adcoms who have publicly commented have said they did, with a few more saying it was business as usual this year.

If this turns out to be the case, the exact same number of people will have As as in any other cycle by the time the dust settles, but, more of them will have come later, off WLs, with a lot more stress for you guys. My theory on the more competitive cycle has always been that that's more myth than reality, insofar as I have never believed that people who slapped a last minute application together between March and June last year could possibly be truly competitive with someone who had been planning on applying for at least a year. But, who really knows?
 
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KnightDoc said:
Neither. The most plausible explanation is also the simplest. The lack of visibility caused by virtual interviews (i.e., no past history regarding yield) caused schools to be safe rather than sorry. As a result, they very well might have intentionally been ultra cautious in issuing initial As, with a view towards making greater use of WLs this year. This is exactly what a few adcoms who have publicly commented have said they did, with a few more saying it was business as usual this year.

If this turns out to be the case, the exact same number of people will have As as in any other cycle by the time the dust settles, but, more of them will have come later, off WLs, with a lot more stress for you guys. My theory on the more competitive cycle has always been that that's more myth than reality, insofar as I have never believed that people who slapped a last minute application together between March and June last year could possibly be truly competitive with someone who had been planning on applying for at least a year. But, who really knows?
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Yeah let’s hope your right. I think you said that when schools first implemented the new rules, they were also very cautious that cycle because something new was introduced (just like how virtual interviews are new this year) and so they did less outright As and used the waitlist more since they couldn’t predict their yield anymore, right?

The only thing that’s scary is that last cycle, it seems like waitlist movement was minimal. So hopefully this cycle is more like 2018
 
Randompremed7 said:
Yeah let’s hope your right. I think you said that when schools first implemented the new rules, they were also very cautious that cycle because something new was introduced (just like how virtual interviews are new this year) and so they did less outright As and used the waitlist more since they couldn’t predict their yield anymore, right?

The only thing that’s scary is that last cycle, it seems like waitlist movement was minimal. So hopefully this cycle is more like 2018
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As someone who struck out on 4 WLs in 2018, I'm hoping for better. 🤣
 
Randompremed7 said:
Yeah let’s hope your right. I think you said that when schools first implemented the new rules, they were also very cautious that cycle because something new was introduced (just like how virtual interviews are new this year) and so they did less outright As and used the waitlist more since they couldn’t predict their yield anymore, right?

The only thing that’s scary is that last cycle, it seems like waitlist movement was minimal. So hopefully this cycle is more like 2018
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Actually, this is only half right. Yes, they issued fewer outright As, and everyone assumed that would lead to more WL movement than typical. Everyone waited and waited, including some adcoms, for increased WL movement that simply never materialized. The post mortem indicated that fewer initial As led to fewer people holding fewer multiple As, and, at the end of the day, the only thing generating WL movement is people releasing excess As.

This year could be different, because the theory now is that virtual interviews might have caused people who would have turned down interviews in the past to take them this year, when they weren't really serious about the schools. Assuming these are disproportionately top tier candidates, there might be a ton of people holding multiple As at schools they don't really care about, even with overall initial As being down this year. If so, this will have to lead to increased WL movement this cycle. Time will tell, but the movement the past two days certainly looks promising.
 
KnightDoc said:
Everyone waited and waited, including some adcoms, for increased WL movement that simply never materialized. The post mortem indicated that fewer initial As led to fewer people holding fewer multiple As, and, at the end of the day, the only thing generating WL movement is people releasing excess As.
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This exact idea has been giving me nightmares. :-0
 
KnightDoc said:
Actually, this is only half right. Yes, they issued fewer outright As, and everyone assumed that would lead to more WL movement than typical. Everyone waited and waited, including some adcoms, for increased WL movement that simply never materialized. The post mortem indicated that fewer initial As led to fewer people holding fewer multiple As, and, at the end of the day, the only thing generating WL movement is people releasing excess As.

This year could be different, because the theory now is that virtual interviews might have caused people who would have turned down interviews in the past to take them this year, when they weren't really serious about the schools. Assuming these are disproportionately top tier candidates, there might be a ton of people holding multiple As at schools they don't really care about, even with overall initial As being down this year. If so, this will have to lead to increased WL movement this cycle. Time will tell, but the movement the past two days certainly looks promising.
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Can you explain why the movement past two days looks promising? Thanks for your insight
 
Julatteluver said:
This exact idea has been giving me nightmares. :-0
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No need for that. Movement was actually pretty healthy since Thursday, and we are now in the middle of a weekend barely 12 hours since the PTE deadline. You should be visualizing your As, at least for the next few weeks. Plenty to time for freaking out after that!!
 
Sorry for the dumb question, but why is it a good thing to see a lot of movement before the apr 30th deadline?
 
juicemed said:
Can you explain why the movement past two days looks promising? Thanks for your insight
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Just check out the WL support thread and individual school posts from 4/29 and 4/30 this year and last year and compare the two. To me, it seemed like there was a lot more activity this year, especially yesterday. I didn't perform an item by item count, but it looked to me like, so far, there has been more activity at this point this year.

It's still nothing compared to what's going to happen over the next two weeks, but I think it's a good start.
 
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