2020-2021 Waitlist Support Thread

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Expected, but I am anxious just like everyone else 🙂

1) This cycle is abnormal given the worldwide events.
2) Wait patiently for early May for the majority of waitlist movement.
3) Temper anxiety as best as possible: eat properly, exercise, and pursue hobbies.
Who needs application anxiety when you can watch dogecoin fluctuate 20% a day
 
So, if a school gives you an A on April 29th, do you still have to make a decision by April 30th or would there be any special extensions or would April 30th still be the cutoff? One of the schools I'm on the waitlist for was yoinking people off the waitlist the day before decisions were due so I'm wondering how likely that would be/what the outcome would be.
 
So, if a school gives you an A on April 29th, do you still have to make a decision by April 30th or would there be any special extensions or would April 30th still be the cutoff? One of the schools I'm on the waitlist for was yoinking people off the waitlist the day before decisions were due so I'm wondering how likely that would be/what the outcome would be.
You'll be given two weeks to make a plan to enroll decision. Commit to enroll is different for each school. The commit to enroll relinquishes all your other acceptance and waitlist spots.
 
So, if a school gives you an A on April 29th, do you still have to make a decision by April 30th or would there be any special extensions or would April 30th still be the cutoff? One of the schools I'm on the waitlist for was yoinking people off the waitlist the day before decisions were due so I'm wondering how likely that would be/what the outcome would be.
You could always play out your scenarios now:
"I have school X but if school Y suddenly takes me, what will I do?" Do your pro and con list while you wait.
An applicant probably knows what they prefer by this stage, and if a school is going to want an answer from you within 2 weeks there will probably not be time to do any back-and-forth inquiries about finances.
 
Out of curiosity, how many letters or updates have you guys sent after being WL'd?
Asking because one of the schools I am WL'd at is Georgetown and I know they want love letters, so I've sent 3 out so far. I was WL'd in Jan, so I sent one out in Feb, then March, then one in April.
Is this excessive or not enough for a school like Gtown that loves getting letters?
 
for schools that claim to have an "unranked WL" but pull applicants off with similar stats to those who turned down their A, wouldn't it be harder for someone with low stats to get pulled off? I'm assuming that applicants with lower stats may not be as likely to turn down the A from said school.
 
Out of curiosity, how many letters or updates have you guys sent after being WL'd?
Asking because one of the schools I am WL'd at is Georgetown and I know they want love letters, so I've sent 3 out so far. I was WL'd in Jan, so I sent one out in Feb, then March, then one in April.
Is this excessive or not enough for a school like Gtown that loves getting letters?
I sent one letter of intent at one school. Sent two mandatory updates at another school.
 
for schools that claim to have an "unranked WL" but pull applicants off with similar stats to those who turned down their A, wouldn't it be harder for someone with low stats to get pulled off? I'm assuming that applicants with lower stats may not be as likely to turn down the A from said school.
Some of the accepted students with lower "stats" have more choices, not fewer.
 
Everyone is wondering about offers in late April/close to the April 30 date to narrow down choices to 1 school.
I'm pasting an excerpt from the rules AMCAS schools have been given below. (To read the whole page on "traffic" rules, go here): AAMC Traffic Rules


[Each school or program should:]
5. On or before April 30, permit ALL applicants (except for EDP applicants):

  • A minimum of two weeks to respond to their acceptance offer.
  • To hold acceptance offers or a waitlist position from any other schools or programs without penalty (i.e. scholarships).
6. After April 30
  • Permit all applicants:
    • A minimum of five business days to respond to an acceptance offer. This may be reduced to a minimum of two business days within 30 days of the start of orientation.
    • To submit a statement of intent, a deposit, or both.
  • Recognize and respect the challenges of applicants with multiple acceptance offers, applicants who have not yet received an acceptance offer, and applicants who have not yet been informed about financial aid opportunities at schools to which they have been accepted.
7. In addition to any condition included in a school’s offer letter, after April 30, each school may exercise its school-specific procedures to confirm an accepted applicant’s intention to matriculate to ensure that it fills each seat in its entering class. If a school is unable to confirm an applicant’s intention to matriculate, the school may choose to rescind the acceptance.

I hope that clarifies it a little. Also, read every word of any offer carefully to see how long you have to give them your decision!
 
Can medical schools see where else you've been waitlisted?
 
Can medical schools see where else you've been waitlisted?
@gonnif wrote this back in 2016 on a different thread, hope it helps:


No

The Multiple Acceptance Report, which is released and updated daily in February, allows only schools that have accepted you, where else you are holding acceptances. They will see this only after they have accepted you. It does not show to anything to schools where you have not been accepted, nor does it show to any schools at any time where else you may have applied to and are awaiting actions. This can be used by schools to estimate how many spots they may fill and how many acceptances over the number of seats they should offer.

The National Acceptance Report, which is released starting May 1st (after action deadline of April 30th) allows every school to see all applicants with acceptance or matriculated action. If I am not mistaken, it does not indicate waitlisted status as that is a school specific standard/action. So if you are on a waitlist in mid-May, a school can see if you have acceptances else where prior to offering you a spot.
 
@gonnif wrote this back in 2016 on a different thread, hope it helps:


No

The Multiple Acceptance Report, which is released and updated daily in February, allows only schools that have accepted you, where else you are holding acceptances. They will see this only after they have accepted you. It does not show to anything to schools where you have not been accepted, nor does it show to any schools at any time where else you may have applied to and are awaiting actions. This can be used by schools to estimate how many spots they may fill and how many acceptances over the number of seats they should offer.

The National Acceptance Report, which is released starting May 1st (after action deadline of April 30th) allows every school to see all applicants with acceptance or matriculated action. If I am not mistaken, it does not indicate waitlisted status as that is a school specific standard/action. So if you are on a waitlist in mid-May, a school can see if you have acceptances else where prior to offering you a spot.
I thought these reports were removed from the app process?
 
@gonnif wrote this back in 2016 on a different thread, hope it helps:


No

The Multiple Acceptance Report, which is released and updated daily in February, allows only schools that have accepted you, where else you are holding acceptances. They will see this only after they have accepted you. It does not show to anything to schools where you have not been accepted, nor does it show to any schools at any time where else you may have applied to and are awaiting actions. This can be used by schools to estimate how many spots they may fill and how many acceptances over the number of seats they should offer.

The National Acceptance Report, which is released starting May 1st (after action deadline of April 30th) allows every school to see all applicants with acceptance or matriculated action. If I am not mistaken, it does not indicate waitlisted status as that is a school specific standard/action. So if you are on a waitlist in mid-May, a school can see if you have acceptances else where prior to offering you a spot.
We no longer have a Multiple Accepts Report.
We have never been able to see where you have applied, been interviewed, waitlisted or rejected.
 
The “old” traffic rules included the AMCAS centrally-created national / multiple acceptance reports which never included waitlist information.

The “new” traffic rules are based on decentralized CYMS (choose your medical school) never included a way for a school that has accepted you to see where or even if you have been waitlisted. It does allow schools that have waitlisted you to see if you have acceptance at a school. At no time does any school see where you have been accepted only that you have an acceptance
With all due respect, this is not technically true. It does NOT allow schools to see acceptances. It only allows them to see PTE/CTE. This is an important distinction, because all schools do NOT require a PTE selection on 4/30. Plus, people can have multiple As before 4/30, and never have to make a PTE selection before that date, in which case schools CANNOT see whether or not their WL candidates hold As.
 
With all due respect, this is not technically true. It does NOT allow schools to see acceptances. It only allows them to see PTE/CTE. This is an important distinction, because all schools do NOT require a PTE selection on 4/30. Plus, people can have multiple As before 4/30, and never have to make a PTE selection before that date, in which case schools CANNOT see whether or not their WL candidates hold As
can you elaborate on this a little bit? im confused. i thought the aamc dictates the rule?
 
can you elaborate on this a little bit? im confused. i thought the aamc dictates the rule?
Yup. AAMC controls the CYMS tool. Schools load As into the tool, which allows candidates to select PTE beginning 2/19, and PTE/CTE beginning 4/30. Schools can see aggregate data beginning 2/19 on whether their candidates with As have selected PTE at their school or another, but cannot indentify individual candidates.

Beginning on 4/30, schools can run reports to see whether their WL and A candidates have selected PTE/CTE. They can identify the candidate, but cannot see the other school. They can never see other As, or other WLs. They can only see PTE/CTE, and only after 4/30.
 
can you elaborate on this a little bit? im confused. i thought the aamc dictates the rule?
I really wouldn't think too hard about it. If you are accepted, you PTE to the school you want to go to on April 30th. When you are certain you want to commit, you select CTE. You can get lost in the sauce for hours, but please dont over think it.
 
I really wouldn't think too hard about it. If you are accepted, you PTE to the school you want to go to on April 30th. When you are certain you want to commit, you select CTE. You can get lost in the sauce for hours, but please dont over think it.
Joke's on you, I'm always lost in the sauce.
 
We no longer have a Multiple Accepts Report.
We have never been able to see where you have applied, been interviewed, waitlisted or rejected.
That's interesting, I always assumed schools had access to the "designated programs" pages in the primary that list the applicant's "school name", "program type", and "previously applied?" but perhaps this is only viewable on this applicant's copy of the primary?
 
Medical schools never know where else you have ever applied to
I don't know for sure if this is true specifically for TMDSAS. I'm a student going to a Texas state school for undergraduate and our prehealth advisors told us that the school list you select is sent as part of the primary application, and that some previous students have been asked during interviews to explain why they didn't apply to all of the Texas schools if they really wanted to be a doctor. This is secondhand so maybe it's not true, but it's what I heard from the advisors at my school's prehealth office.

Edit: Just to be clear, TMDSAS is just a potential exception. It does hold true for AMCAS.
 
I stand corrected. Prior to 4/30 medical schools only have aggregate reports for total number of students. After 4/30 its acceptances per student. Just to reiterate, at no time can a medical school where you hold an acceptance or on the waitlist can ever see where else you have an acceptance. All they know is you have one somewhere
Also, in case you are unaware, I know of at least two schools that do NOT require use of PTE on 4/30, even though one of them still requires a deposit to hold the seat. The only reason for this would be to allow people to mask their A to WL schools.

This is why the difference between an A and PTE is not inconsequential. PTE means you are holding an A, but not selecting PTE does not necessarily mean you are not holding one. WL schools can see PTEs, but not As.
 
I thought these reports were removed from the app process?

I don't know for sure if this is true specifically for TMDSAS. I'm a student going to a Texas state school for undergraduate and our prehealth advisors told us that the school list you select is sent as part of the primary application, and that some previous students have been asked during interviews to explain why they didn't apply to all of the Texas schools if they really wanted to be a doctor. This is secondhand so maybe it's not true, but it's what I heard from the advisors at my school's prehealth office.

Edit: Just to be clear, TMDSAS is just a potential exception. It does hold true for AMCAS.
@JustinGr56 I think this may be a long-circulated myth that TMDSAS schools can see whether you applied to them all or look down on you if you didn't.
I'll ask someone at TMDSAS about this.
 
That's interesting, I always assumed schools had access to the "designated programs" pages in the primary that list the applicant's "school name", "program type", and "previously applied?" but perhaps this is only viewable on this applicant's copy of the primary?
Bolded is correct.
 
So I’m interested...with April 30th being on a Friday this year, will we have to wait until May 3th to witness the full effect of people withdrawing their A’s / selecting CTE in terms of WL movement? I know it’s a steady trickle into May as well, but I’m mostly referring to the big movement that is expected on that day.
 
So I’m interested...with April 30th being on a Friday this year, will we have to wait until May 3th to witness the full effect of people withdrawing their A’s / selecting CTE in terms of WL movement? I know it’s a steady trickle into May as well, but I’m mostly referring to the big movement that is expected on that day.
I honestly think you might be setting yourself up for disappointment if you are expecting big movement on that particular day. Candidates waiting until the last minute will have until midnight to make a selection. After that, schools will have to go into the system, see what's what, decide whether to unilaterally rescind people who didn't make a selection and withdraw, or to reach out to them to remind them of their obligations, etc., etc., etc. And then, first make decisions about who to call.

All this could happen at any time, starting now if seats are open, and extending into the first few weeks of May. April 30th is a trigger. It's not the be all, end all of WL movement. I'd temper expectations and focus more on the first week of May rather than Friday, April 30th. Better to set expectations low and maybe be pleasantly surprised rather than setting yourself for a very anxious weekend. JMHO.
 
So I’m interested...with April 30th being on a Friday this year, will we have to wait until May 3th to witness the full effect of people withdrawing their A’s / selecting CTE in terms of WL movement? I know it’s a steady trickle into May as well, but I’m mostly referring to the big movement that is expected on that day.
If I had to guess- yes. My guess is that it takes time for the administrative side of making an A offer which hopefully will take place over the weekend!
 
Besides your own or a friend's, you aren't going to see many posts indicating they just got off the WL to maintain anonymity.

It's also not May 1st yet!
yea WL movement is a trickle like someone said earlier, no one wants to just out themself online (I doubt adcoms really care to read these boards to find out who's who, but I understand the thought process)
 
So I’m interested...with April 30th being on a Friday this year, will we have to wait until May 3th to witness the full effect of people withdrawing their A’s / selecting CTE in terms of WL movement? I know it’s a steady trickle into May as well, but I’m mostly referring to the big movement that is expected on that day.
It is Not a single day of big movement, the acceptances pretty much come in waves.
 
Like beach waves...just stressful and scarier xD... if anyone hears back feel free to say it in this group so we know the chains are moving!
Will do. I’m still interested in what was said earlier in this thread about the people that heard from adcoms that they will be pulling from the WL more since there were fewer initial A’s handed out, and what that means for us on the WL.
 
Will do. I’m still interested in what was said earlier in this thread about the people that heard from adcoms that they will be pulling from the WL more since there were fewer initial A’s handed out, and what that means for us on the WL.
Okay so we are depending on A's to be withdrawn, and there are less A's handed out... does that mean this cycle will have limited WL mvmt or will the chains get rolling like usual but we just waiting on those specific peeps with multiple A's?
 
Okay so we are depending on A's to be withdrawn, and there are less A's handed out... does that mean this cycle will have limited WL mvmt or will the chains get rolling like usual but we just waiting on those specific peeps with multiple A's?
@KnightDoc, I call upon you here.
 
I honestly think you might be setting yourself up for disappointment if you are expecting big movement on that particular day. Candidates waiting until the last minute will have until midnight to make a selection. After that, schools will have to go into the system, see what's what, decide whether to unilaterally rescind people who didn't make a selection and withdraw, or to reach out to them to remind them of their obligations, etc., etc., etc. And then, first make decisions about who to call.

All this could happen at any time, starting now if seats are open, and extending into the first few weeks of May. April 30th is a trigger. It's not the be all, end all of WL movement. I'd temper expectations and focus more on the first week of May rather than Friday, April 30th. Better to set expectations low and maybe be pleasantly surprised rather than setting yourself for a very anxious weekend. JMHO.
I guess I’m confused now... wouldn’t the need to narrow down acceptances to one lead to some students coming off the WL due to people rescinding their A? Like of course there will be more A’s withdrawn over the next couple weeks in May [in total], but in terms of a single-day movement, April 30 (and May 1st or the following day) would be the biggest fallout in terms of immediate movement d/t the deadline.
 
Okay so we are depending on A's to be withdrawn, and there are less A's handed out... does that mean this cycle will have limited WL mvmt or will the chains get rolling like usual but we just waiting on those specific peeps with multiple A's?
Omg last week, this thread gave me hope, and now this thread is taking away my hope. Dont do this..........🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲
 
@KnightDoc, I call upon you here.
🙂 I'm flattered! Two years ago, when CYMS and PTE/CTE first started, the speculation was that, since schools lost their precious MAR, they would be more conservative with As, and that would lead to increased WL movement. It never happened, and the post-mortem consensus was that fewer initial As lead to fewer people holding fewer multiple As, and that led to less WL movement, counteracting whatever increased movement might have been caused by fewer initial As.

This year might be different, because virtual interviews might have led to more stars holding more multiple As than usual, which would lead to more WL movement, even with fewer overall As being handed out. There really is no way to know until it happens. The only good news here is that it is very close to being over.
 
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