2020-2021 Waitlist Support Thread

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wegotthis20201234 said:
Is anyone else unable to enjoy their weekends knowing that they may need to reapply and reapply fast? I'm fine one second and then incredibly sad the next
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Weekends, holidays, family celebrations, hobbies, friends, etc... as depressing as it sounds, nothing really brings me any joy these days. This process has felt incredibly demoralizing and dehumanizing, and to think that we may need to endure this bs for another year...
 
SicilianDragon said:
Weekends, holidays, family celebrations, hobbies, friends, etc... as depressing as it sounds, nothing really brings me any joy these days. This process has felt incredibly demoralizing and dehumanizing, and to think that we may need to endure this bs for another year...
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I couldn't agree more - it's one thing if it took <6 months to complete the process but it's a whole year's commitment for most people unless you score an early interview/acceptance 🙁 my stats while having done well in grad school aren't up to par for that :/
 
wegotthis20201234 said:
Is anyone else unable to enjoy their weekends knowing that they may need to reapply and reapply fast? I'm fine one second and then incredibly sad the next
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Yeah. I just want to move on into a school. I know this is merely the first step on this journey after all.

It is frankly a cloud of dread over my head -_-.
 
Putting on Clown Makeup 31052021191941.jpg
found this meme in the Toledo thread
 
Sorry if this has been posted before, but how would it be perceived to send my top choice school that waitlisted me the CTE date of another school I am accepted at and ask for a decision before then?
 
penguinspenguins said:
Sorry if this has been posted before, but how would it be perceived to send my top choice school that waitlisted me the CTE date of another school I am accepted at and ask for a decision before then?
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I did that and received a generic response that pretty much says they’ll get to me when they do....
 
Microbe_Hunter said:
so I guess WL movement has really ground to a halt... I still don't get how schools that historically take in like 50%+ of their WL have had no reported movement on sdn (ubuff, umass, etc.)??
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It only seems that way. It's less than it was, but it's chugging along. Just like it does every year. And like it will continue to do. It will absolutely grind to a halt, at every school, within a few days of orientation. For some schools that's right around now. For others, it won't be for another 6 weeks or so.

Hang in there. One way or the other, it's almost over. Where are you on a reapp?
 
KnightDoc said:
It only seems that way. It's less than it was, but it's chugging along. Just like it does every year. And like it will continue to do. It will absolutely grind to a halt, at every school, within a few days of orientation. For some schools that's right around now. For others, it won't be for another 6 weeks or so.

Hang in there. One way or the other, it's almost over. Where are you on a reapp?
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how come those schools have literally 0 reported movement on sdn this whole time tho?
 
Microbe_Hunter said:
how come those schools have literally 0 reported movement on sdn this whole time tho?
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Dunno. SDN is not the entire universe of applicants. Some schools over accepted and are actually bribing people to defer, so they certainly won't have WL movement. It's honestly all over the place. Some schools are normal, some above, some below. You can't honestly say we haven't seen very healthy movement in the past month, just based on posts on this single thread, can you?

It's not over yet, but yeah -- everyone freaking out on 5/1 was told to chill for a few weeks and see what happens. Many of them have happily moved along their merry way. It's now 6/2, and things are a little more serious. There is historic movement in June and July, but, it's a lot less than April and May. Time is running out, there are far fewer people holding multiple As than before. In addition, people are selecting CTE and removing themselves from WLs every day, so the few people still receiving As are far more likely to not already be holding one than last month, meaning their call is not going precipitate another call, which happened often in the beginning of May.

If you haven't already done so, it's time to start thinking about what you are going to be doing next year other than attending med school. The door isn't closed yet, but, as the late great Yogi Berra liked to say, "it's getting late early around here."
 
Though I’m out of the running for MD, I dread seeing the waitlists slow down or stop.

...because that is going to eat into the DO waitlists. Those that got into the latter and not the former are going to keep their slots...probably.
 
KnightDoc said:
It only seems that way. It's less than it was, but it's chugging along. Just like it does every year. And like it will continue to do. It will absolutely grind to a halt, at every school, within a few days of orientation. For some schools that's right around now. For others, it won't be for another 6 weeks or so.

Hang in there. One way or the other, it's almost over. Where are you on a reapp?
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I'm trying to re-submit AMCAS within the next week. My advisor said to 100% change my PS (even though she really liked it last year, just thinks it needs to be fresh and avoid someone remembering it) so that's the thing holding me back 😭 did others' say the same thing? sending love to everyone feeling as stressed as meeeee!
 
tunaktunak said:
No way. I really want to know which schools and what the bribes were lol. I personally would settle for nothing less than a full tuition scholarship.
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Missing the mark by over-accepting happens every year.
The number of schools and degree of over-acceptance vary but it doesn't happen twice in a row at the same school.
Inducements to defer vary. Sometimes an MPH or other degree is offered.
 
kgisking said:
I'm trying to re-submit AMCAS within the next week. My advisor said to 100% change my PS (even though she really liked it last year, just thinks it needs to be fresh and avoid someone remembering it) so that's the thing holding me back 😭 did others' say the same thing? sending love to everyone feeling as stressed as meeeee!
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I completely redid my PS! I still had the same major themes and one of the specific situations I talked about was the same (but completely rewritten). It was definitetly a hard thing to do, but once I just started writing it was kind of like riding a bike. Obviously, I did a lot of revisions on it afterwards, but starting to write was the biggest hurdle. It sounds dumb, but if you just sit down and say to yourself "okay, I'm going to write my whole PS (no matter how bad/long/short it is) in the next hour without thinking about word choice or sentence structure", youll be able to get at least a rough draft on paper.
 
Medforlifee said:
Was this stated somewhere on SDN or do you have inside information?
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Yes. I have friends, and I communicate with people via DM who do not post publicly.

It's not exactly inside information, and, if it wasn't stated somewhere on SDN, it is now! There are absolutely people at schools who received invitations to defer admission, with financial inducements to do so. This only happens for one reason, although, no, the dean of admissions did not reach out and share it with me. 😎
 
tunaktunak said:
No way. I really want to know which schools and what the bribes were lol. I personally would settle for nothing less than a full tuition scholarship.
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It's like being bumped on an overbooked flight. Since you would settle for nothing less than a full tuition scholarship, you would not be deferring. The offers are typically FAR less than that, and plenty of people jump at the opportunity to have a stress-free break with a guaranteed seat on the back end.
 
ilovetofu said:
I completely redid my PS! I still had the same major themes and one of the specific situations I talked about was the same (but completely rewritten). It was definitetly a hard thing to do, but once I just started writing it was kind of like riding a bike. Obviously, I did a lot of revisions on it afterwards, but starting to write was the biggest hurdle. It sounds dumb, but if you just sit down and say to yourself "okay, I'm going to write my whole PS (no matter how bad/long/short it is) in the next hour without thinking about word choice or sentence structure", youll be able to get at least a rough draft on paper.
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Thank you! That's what I'm trying to do now. also <3 tofu lmao
 
KnightDoc said:
Yes. I have friends, and I communicate with people via DM who do not post publicly.

It's not exactly inside information, and, if it wasn't stated somewhere on SDN, it is now! There are absolutely people at schools who received invitations to defer admission, with financial inducements to do so. This only happens for one reason, although, no, the dean of admissions did not reach out and share it with me. 😎
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It was stated on SDN a handful of times for different institutions.
 
faze_contusion said:
Med schools really need to revamp the whole application process/timeline so that all decisions are finalized and the waitlist is closed by the end of April. That way applicants (such as myself) could have closure and make decisions about what do to moving forward (ie reapplying, taking a year off, etc). There is no good reason why a cycle should span over an entire year... Anyway, just submitted my reapp while still waiting to hear back from a school from the 2020-2021 cycle *sigh*
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

You are laboring under the misconception that they care about you. Good luck with that! You are an input into their machine. Nothing more, nothing less. Why on earth would they care whether you have closure in April or August? WLs will ALWAYS remain open until after classes begin. This is not unreasonable, since people will drop out for a variety of reasons, and there is absolutely no reason for someone else not to be able to benefit from that opportunity.

My peeve is with schools having CTE deadlines all over the place, which allows some people the opportunity to benefit from late WL movement while others cannot. What is even more obnoxious is some schools having CTE dates as early as 4/30, which serves no purpose other than totally denying their accepted students the opportunity to be called off any WLs. If AAMC doesn't care about that, what makes you think they care about your issue?

For the record, any one of us can have closure at any time by simply withdrawing from all WLs and calling it a cycle. There is no good reason for anyone to be forced to deal with the anxiety into the late spring and summer when they have the ability to withdraw on 4/30 and move forward with whatever it is they want to do.

MANY people holding As do just this in order to be in a position to make plans. If you are holding no As, believe me, you are not doing the schools any favors by staying on WLs until classes begin, and you would not be better off if they kicked you off on 4/30 in order to provide you the requested closure, while allowing others to stay on the list in case openings arise.
 
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KnightDoc said:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

You are laboring under the misconception that they care about you. Good luck with that! You are an input into their machine. Nothing more, nothing less. Why on earth would they care whether you have closure in April or August? WLs will ALWAYS remain open until after classes begin. This is not unreasonable, since people will drop out for a variety of reasons, and there is absolutely no reason for someone else no to be able to benefit from that opportunity.

My peeve is with schools having CTE deadlines all over the place, which allows some people the opportunity to benefit from late WL movement while others cannot. What is even more obnoxious is some schools having CTE dates as early as 4/30, which serves no purpose other than totally denying their accepted students the opportunity to be called off any WLs. If AAMC doesn't care about that, what makes you think they care about your issue?

For the record, any one of us can have closure at any time by simply withdrawing from all WLs and calling it a cycle. There is no good reason for anyone to be forced to deal with the anxiety into the late spring and summer when they have the ability to withdraw on 4/30 and move forward with whatever it is they want to do.
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I generally agree with you but if college admissions (which is a lot bigger with a lloooot more people applying) can have cycles not overlap, then i think med school application cycle def can make cycles stay apart. I guess the main issue is that the cycle itself is too long
 
faze_contusion said:
Oh, I know that the process won't change -- med schools have no incentive whatsoever to do so. I was just venting about how horrible the process is and I stand by my opinion that it is unreasonable.
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I totally feel for you, but it's not quite as bad as it seems to you. It is natural for all of us to perceive everything from our own perspective, but, it's worth noting that the cycle was over for most people, win or lose, back in March or April. Relatively few people were able to either trade up or get their first A through WL movement in April and May.

You really are now a relatively smallish slice of the 60,000+ pool hanging on in June with no As but one or more WLs. There really is no alternative to the timing.

How much earlier than 4/30 would you suggest people be forced to reduce to one A in order to get the WL ball rolling earlier? You think people agonizing over their decisions would be okay with that?

How much earlier than July or August would you suggest med school orientation begin? THIS is the reason you are still hanging and don't have closure.

Adcoms struggle as it is to sift through 5,000-10,000+ applications per school right now. How much later would you suggest they begin so that reapplicants can have closure before the cycle begins?

It's not just that adcoms have no incentive and they don't care about us. That's true, but, it's also true that there really is no good alternative to the timing. What they can and should improve, however, is their transparency. The vast majority of people currently sitting on WLs are never going to receive a call, and adcoms know this.

They don't share the information with you because they don't have to, and because they don't care about what you are going through. And THAT is truly inexcusable.
 
Julatteluver said:
I generally agree with you but if college admissions (which is a lot bigger with a lloooot more people applying) can have cycles not overlap, then i think med school application cycle def can make cycles stay apart. I guess the main issue is that the cycle itself is too long
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Thanks for the kind words. The answer lies in the fact that med schools are much more intimate than UGs (hundreds per class as opposed to thousands), so the classes are much more carefully curated (e.g., interviews) and they are blessed with many more applicants per available seat. When do you think the UG application cycle would begin if they had to personally interview anywhere from 1.5 to 7 applicants for every one who would be offered an acceptance?

Yes, UGs have a lot more people applying, but the review process for the vast majority of them is extremely superficial as compared to the med school process, which is why a school like Penn can grind through 56,000 applications in less than 4 months. Can you imagine the level of screaming here if people were summarily rejected that quickly, after spending months agonizing over every punctuation mark in their essays and activity descriptions? 🙂

The cycle is never going to end any earlier, because that is ultimately keyed to when classes begin. Expecting adcoms to begin later, thereby compressing the cycle, to accommodate reapplicants who they already have a bias against (and, all things, considered, generally prefer them to skip a cycle between applications anyway), is honestly expecting way too much from them!!
 
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faze_contusion said:
Med schools really need to revamp the whole application process/timeline so that all decisions are finalized and the waitlist is closed by the end of April.
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Nothing would make me happier than closing in April.
The AAMC "organizes" this mess, not the medical schools.
We are also frustrated.
 
SuperSpies said:
Are you insane?????????????
omg i cant even
i have no words
im speechless

how dare you question our beloved med schools!!!!!! u sir, deserve the highest punishment
who are you to desire for equal and just treatment with proper transparency from a process that is so unforgiving
what a vile request

u ppl disgust me

#AAMCrules
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Felt like this post fit well here again 😅🤣😞
 
gyngyn said:
Nothing would make me happier than closing in April.
The AAMC "organizes" this mess, not the medical schools.
We are also frustrated.
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Aren't you allowed to "close" by requiring CTE as early as 4/30 if your school wanted to? It would totally disadvantage your matriculants, but, it certainly would move things along for your school! 😎

Still, regardless of what AAMC does, wouldn't you still keep a WL open until classes begin in order to have a pool from which to fill any last minute vacancies?
 
KnightDoc said:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

You are laboring under the misconception that they care about you.
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KnightDoc said:
Aren't you allowed to "close" by requiring CTE as early as 4/30 if your school wanted to? It would totally disadvantage your matriculants, but, it certainly would move things along for your school! 😎

Still, regardless of what AAMC does, wouldn't you still keep a WL open until classes begin in order to have a pool from which to fill any last minute vacancies?
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If our start date were much later, we could not, in good conscience, close off opportunities to accepted students who might hope to get off a waitlist at another school.
A waitlist can be pared down as time goes on, commensurate with the odds of needing to fill a slot.
In reality, even rejected students could be offered a spot in an unexpected turn of events.
 
Do schools find it extremely annoying when applicants on the waitlist email to ask if there has been any waitlist movement/how much is anticipated? Thinking about emailing one of the schools I'm on the waitlist for to inquire since I haven't heard anything about movement from the school or on SDN
 
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