2020 Cycle Waitlist Support Thread

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MC2024 said:
The school in waitlisted at said 500 intervied, 110 accepted, 100 waitlisted. But they are also known to take a significant amount off the waitlist too.

Really depends on the school.
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Sorry so many grammatical errors/ misspellings! I am at work on my phone. 🙂
 
babygreenbeans said:
this was actually the consensus on last years thread as well and they even had more WL movement by now. starting to get more pessimistic as well
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ok but they also weren't in a pandemic where committees couldn't meet in person to make decisions and may 1 wasn't on a friday last year! i know it's hard to stay positive and this is a stressful time, but committees have had basically 13 business hours to make these decisions. i think we all just need to be more patient here
 
fishzebra said:
ok but they also weren't in a pandemic where committees couldn't meet in person to make decisions and may 1 wasn't on a friday last year! i know it's hard to stay positive and this is a stressful time, but committees have had basically 13 business hours to make these decisions. i think we all just need to be more patient here
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Not arguing, just offering a different view. What you said would make sense for schools with unranked WLs, but what about ranked ones? Those schools already have the candidates they want to offer spots to as they open up decided. Why would they need to reconvene for that?
 
B14899A5-C664-4D30-8850-FE73B7242007.png

what do you guys think about this?
a) worth a shot
b) pointless
c) could end up being more harmful than helpful
 
sun_flower580 said:
View attachment 305108
what do you guys think about this?
a) worth a shot
b) pointless
c) could end up being more harmful than helpful
Click to expand...

I wouldn’t do this now as it’s early in waitlist movement but maybe when things are looking bleak and hopeless in late June I might give it a shot.
 
Take this with as much weight as you want BUT my advisor said that her students this year received a lot of waitlist offers and she expects this to be because of traffic rules changing and she expects there to be more movement this year than any other year. She has over 15 years of experience.

Coronavirus is causing a lot of delays. If you’re working rn you definitely know how crazy it can be to be managing things from home...

we’ll be hearing back soon. Patience.
 
In other news, let’s make sure all our dogs and other animal companions stay safe from murder hornets!

Sidenote: I think I’ve reached the point where I get nauseous/tense talking about med school apps whether it’s about this cycle or the 2020-2021 cycle so I just don’t haha

But more importantly save the Doggos!
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
In other news, let’s make sure all our dogs and other animal companions stay safe from murder hornets!

Sidenote: I think I’ve reached the point where I get nauseous/tense talking about med school apps whether it’s about this cycle or the 2020-2021 cycle so I just don’t haha

But more importantly save the Doggos!
Click to expand...
Uh..Excuse me? Murder hornets??
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
In other news, let’s make sure all our dogs and other animal companions stay safe from murder hornets!

Sidenote: I think I’ve reached the point where I get nauseous/tense talking about med school apps whether it’s about this cycle or the 2020-2021 cycle so I just don’t haha

But more importantly save the Doggos!
Click to expand...

I’m honestly more concerned about the honey bee population. Every time I think this year can’t get worse it does... Low key expecting aliens to invade at some point this summer.
 
justrandomthings said:
Take this with as much weight as you want BUT my advisor said that her students this year received a lot of waitlist offers and she expects this to be because of traffic rules changing and she expects there to be more movement this year than any other year. She has over 15 years of experience.

Coronavirus is causing a lot of delays. If you’re working rn you definitely know how crazy it can be to be managing things from home...

we’ll be hearing back soon. Patience.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the encouraging message among all the chaos lol! I hope everyone hear back soon! I myself am on waitlists for 2 schools which I would love to attend. I have a feeling good news will come for everyone soon. Stay strong and enjoy all the little things we haven't been able to appreciate before as busy premeds. I have been enjoying good sunny weather here in the Northeast and this is definitely a great mood booster!
 
Interviewers have almost no say in admission after the interview. I think the misconception is that they take the time to email admissions about how they received an interest email from a candidate they interviewed months before? Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s the case. My mentor who was on an admissions committee before said that the decision lies with the director of admission not the interviewer. This also explains why you can have a GREAT interview, have your interviewers reply back to you in a thank you email saying you’ll make a fantastic physician, and still get rejected post interview.

letters of interest, update letters, and intent letters play a bigger role. IMO
 
babygreenbeans said:
last year's thread made a valid point that ultimately, waitlist movement is driven by people having multiple acceptances. if most people are now getting 1-2 acceptances with the rest being waitlists, then waitlist movement essentially becomes nothing. there were quite a few posts on the x vs y threads, so who knows...my waitlists are unranked so that would explain delay but for those who are on ranked waitlists, frankly i dont see why there would be a delay...april 30 has already passed and schools know how many slots they have left. this whole process is really getting to me haha
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Yes but the number of students to fill all spots remains the same. So for instance, lets say last year more offers were given out from each school. Many students have multiple offers. If school A needs to fill 150 spots and offers 200, but 100 withdraw (because again of multiple offers), they still need to pull 50 from the WL.

This year, if schools were not offering a lot of acceptances. Then for example, school A only offers 150 acceptances to fill 150 spots. Only 50 withdraw this year (because less offers were given out from each school). School A still needs to pull 50 from the WL.

Idk this is my sort of reasoning, unsure if it makes sense, and I have nothing else better to do lol.
 
MDMVP15 said:
Yes but the number of students to fill all spots remains the same. So for instance, lets say last year more offers were given out from each school. Many students have multiple offers. If school A needs to fill 150 spots and offers 200, but 100 withdraw (because again of multiple offers), they still need to pull 50 from the WL.

This year, if schools were not offering a lot of acceptances. Then for example, school A only offers 150 acceptances to fill 150 spots. Only 50 withdraw this year (because less offers were given out from each school). School A still needs to pull 50 from the WL.

Idk this is my sort of reasoning, unsure if it makes sense, and I have nothing else better to do lol.
Click to expand...

I think he’s talking more about the timeline of waitlist movement. If a school with a ranked waitlist needs to pull 50 like you said, those 50 spots would become available May 1st, so there’s no reason to delay giving out those 50 if there is a ranked waitlist, they know who they’ll accept May 1st. After the initial wave of movement happens, only people getting in off unranked waitlists open up spots for others if that makes sense. So basically this next week or two is key.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Gastrula44 said:
I think he’s talking more about the timeline of waitlist movement. If a school with a ranked waitlist needs to pull 50 like you said, those 50 spots would become available May 1st, so there’s no reason to delay giving out those 50 if there is a ranked waitlist, they know who they’ll accept May 1st. After the initial wave of movement happens, only people getting in off unranked waitlists open up spots for others if that makes sense. So basically this next week or two is key.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
But as a counterpoint, not all schools have April 30th commit to enroll deadline. The AAMC's guideline date for April 30th is a strong suggestion, but the hard dates are school specific. It is likely waitlist movements occur after those specific commit to enroll deadlines.
 
Hey guys just wanted to check in here. I have been seeing a lot of wild speculation going on since traffic day so I was hoping to share some words of wisdom as someone who sat through 4 WL last year and did not receive an acceptance.

1) Waitlist trends are SCHOOL specific. I see people talking about there not being a lot of waitlist movement this year... a) each school handles the waitlist differently. It is impossible to generalize that sentiment. b) it has been 3 DAYS the waitlist season is 3 MONTHS. It is wayyyy to early to be speculating about waitlist movement at individual schools let alone generalize 100+ allopathic school waitlist movement in one statement.

2) Kind of going on what I just said it is important to realize that the waitlist season is 3 months. As someone who didn't get off a waitlist I held out hope until august 1st. If y'all are going this crazy 3 days in you are going to need to take a step back. Its important to remember that you will drive yourself insane if you speculate for every single one of the next 90 days.

3) Your fate has/ will be decided and is completely out of your hands. Something that has been lost this year more than last cycle is that Letters of Intent don't mean anything if you do not have another acceptance. At this point, schools can see whether you have an acceptance or not (yes or no) and if you don't... they know you are coming to them if you get in. A letter of intent with no acceptances is essentially going to be viewed as a letter of interest. At most schools at this point it is TRULY and check of the box. On a ranked waitlist, this may make the difference if you are tied with someone one else. At UNRANKED schools-- you have already been fully evaluated by an executive admissions committee. You have been voted on and most likely given a score. When the waitlist committee goes back and re-evaluates each candidate they are looking at your already completed FULL evaluation by the executive admissions committee. A letter of interest or update or email to an interviewer is just gonna be a notation next to your already completed full evaluation. My point is not to give up hope. But to realize that there is no game here. There is no manipulation. There is no getting ahead. Your opportunity to do so was when you submitted your complete application and during your interview. From here forward, it is simply a numbers game. You could be the next person or you could be the last.

4) So whats my point? Live in the present. If you are re-applying I would suggest that you proceed as if you did not get in this cycle. It is time to start rewriting all of your essays, reaching out to your Letter of REC writers to update your letters/ committee letters, reach out to schools that rejected you (especially your state schools) to see if they can provide you a file review, pre-write your secondaries so that you can submit early, get your transcripts and mcat scores in, take your casper. As helpless as it may feel, your fate is out of your hands. There is no way to predict it. So my advice is to stop trying to speculate every single day because TRUST ME take it from me it will drive you crazy. With 90 more days to go.... imagine how you are going to feel.

If you are on the east coast get outside. ITS BEAUTIFUL today. Go on a run, play with your dog, cook your favorite meal. Log off SDN for the day. I can see with my own eyes (having experienced myself) a lot of unhealthy behaviors. And the best thing you can do is log off and enjoy the 70 degrees and sunny.

Love you all, hope you all the best. I believe in every single one of you and just want to make sure you are doing whats best for your mental/physical health.

And remember, if you don't get in off the waitlist it doesn't mean a school thinks you wont be a good doctor. On the contrary, being on a waitlist (at least 3 of the 4 told me) that it meant I was qualified to be a member of their class. You will all be amazing doctors, just take care of yourselves.
 
PinetreeDoc95 said:
Obviously every school will have different policies, but is it generally possible to defer an acceptance to the fall of 2021 if I were to get accepted off of a waitlist?
Click to expand...

Possible yes, likely no. You need a good reason, illness/family circumstances/once in a lifetime opportunity.
 
Talldoctor96 said:
Hey guys just wanted to check in here. I have been seeing a lot of wild speculation going on since traffic day so I was hoping to share some words of wisdom as someone who sat through 4 WL last year and did not receive an acceptance.

1) Waitlist trends are SCHOOL specific. I see people talking about there not being a lot of waitlist movement this year... a) each school handles the waitlist differently. It is impossible to generalize that sentiment. b) it has been 3 DAYS the waitlist season is 3 MONTHS. It is wayyyy to early to be speculating about waitlist movement at individual schools let alone generalize 100+ allopathic school waitlist movement in one statement.

2) Kind of going on what I just said it is important to realize that the waitlist season is 3 months. As someone who didn't get off a waitlist I held out hope until august 1st. If y'all are going this crazy 3 days in you are going to need to take a step back. Its important to remember that you will drive yourself insane if you speculate for every single one of the next 90 days.

3) Your fate has/ will be decided and is completely out of your hands. Something that has been lost this year more than last cycle is that Letters of Intent don't mean anything if you do not have another acceptance. At this point, schools can see whether you have an acceptance or not (yes or no) and if you don't... they know you are coming to them if you get in. A letter of intent with no acceptances is essentially going to be viewed as a letter of interest. At most schools at this point it is TRULY and check of the box. On a ranked waitlist, this may make the difference if you are tied with someone one else. At UNRANKED schools-- you have already been fully evaluated by an executive admissions committee. You have been voted on and most likely given a score. When the waitlist committee goes back and re-evaluates each candidate they are looking at your already completed FULL evaluation by the executive admissions committee. A letter of interest or update or email to an interviewer is just gonna be a notation next to your already completed full evaluation. My point is not to give up hope. But to realize that there is no game here. There is no manipulation. There is no getting ahead. Your opportunity to do so was when you submitted your complete application and during your interview. From here forward, it is simply a numbers game. You could be the next person or you could be the last.

4) So whats my point? Live in the present. If you are re-applying I would suggest that you proceed as if you did not get in this cycle. It is time to start rewriting all of your essays, reaching out to your Letter of REC writers to update your letters/ committee letters, reach out to schools that rejected you (especially your state schools) to see if they can provide you a file review, pre-write your secondaries so that you can submit early, get your transcripts and mcat scores in, take your casper. As helpless as it may feel, your fate is out of your hands. There is no way to predict it. So my advice is to stop trying to speculate every single day because TRUST ME take it from me it will drive you crazy. With 90 more days to go.... imagine how you are going to feel.

If you are on the east coast get outside. ITS BEAUTIFUL today. Go on a run, play with your dog, cook your favorite meal. Log off SDN for the day. I can see with my own eyes (having experienced myself) a lot of unhealthy behaviors. And the best thing you can do is log off and enjoy the 70 degrees and sunny.

Love you all, hope you all the best. I believe in every single one of you and just want to make sure you are doing whats best for your mental/physical health.

And remember, if you don't get in off the waitlist it doesn't mean a school thinks you wont be a good doctor. On the contrary, being on a waitlist (at least 3 of the 4 told me) that it meant I was qualified to be a member of their class. You will all be amazing doctors, just take care of yourselves.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the wise words. Congrats on getting accepted!
 
Talldoctor96 said:
Hey guys just wanted to check in here. I have been seeing a lot of wild speculation going on since traffic day so I was hoping to share some words of wisdom as someone who sat through 4 WL last year and did not receive an acceptance.

1) Waitlist trends are SCHOOL specific. I see people talking about there not being a lot of waitlist movement this year... a) each school handles the waitlist differently. It is impossible to generalize that sentiment. b) it has been 3 DAYS the waitlist season is 3 MONTHS. It is wayyyy to early to be speculating about waitlist movement at individual schools let alone generalize 100+ allopathic school waitlist movement in one statement.

2) Kind of going on what I just said it is important to realize that the waitlist season is 3 months. As someone who didn't get off a waitlist I held out hope until august 1st. If y'all are going this crazy 3 days in you are going to need to take a step back. Its important to remember that you will drive yourself insane if you speculate for every single one of the next 90 days.

3) Your fate has/ will be decided and is completely out of your hands. Something that has been lost this year more than last cycle is that Letters of Intent don't mean anything if you do not have another acceptance. At this point, schools can see whether you have an acceptance or not (yes or no) and if you don't... they know you are coming to them if you get in. A letter of intent with no acceptances is essentially going to be viewed as a letter of interest. At most schools at this point it is TRULY and check of the box. On a ranked waitlist, this may make the difference if you are tied with someone one else. At UNRANKED schools-- you have already been fully evaluated by an executive admissions committee. You have been voted on and most likely given a score. When the waitlist committee goes back and re-evaluates each candidate they are looking at your already completed FULL evaluation by the executive admissions committee. A letter of interest or update or email to an interviewer is just gonna be a notation next to your already completed full evaluation. My point is not to give up hope. But to realize that there is no game here. There is no manipulation. There is no getting ahead. Your opportunity to do so was when you submitted your complete application and during your interview. From here forward, it is simply a numbers game. You could be the next person or you could be the last.

4) So whats my point? Live in the present. If you are re-applying I would suggest that you proceed as if you did not get in this cycle. It is time to start rewriting all of your essays, reaching out to your Letter of REC writers to update your letters/ committee letters, reach out to schools that rejected you (especially your state schools) to see if they can provide you a file review, pre-write your secondaries so that you can submit early, get your transcripts and mcat scores in, take your casper. As helpless as it may feel, your fate is out of your hands. There is no way to predict it. So my advice is to stop trying to speculate every single day because TRUST ME take it from me it will drive you crazy. With 90 more days to go.... imagine how you are going to feel.

If you are on the east coast get outside. ITS BEAUTIFUL today. Go on a run, play with your dog, cook your favorite meal. Log off SDN for the day. I can see with my own eyes (having experienced myself) a lot of unhealthy behaviors. And the best thing you can do is log off and enjoy the 70 degrees and sunny.

Love you all, hope you all the best. I believe in every single one of you and just want to make sure you are doing whats best for your mental/physical health.

And remember, if you don't get in off the waitlist it doesn't mean a school thinks you wont be a good doctor. On the contrary, being on a waitlist (at least 3 of the 4 told me) that it meant I was qualified to be a member of their class. You will all be amazing doctors, just take care of yourselves.
Click to expand...

This made my day! Thanks much 🙂


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Is there a way to find out how reapplicants do compared with regular students? I got 5 interviews, and got waitlisted at 3, and still no acceptances. Is there a way to find out what I could improve upon for next year?
 
babygreenbeans said:
last year's thread made a valid point that ultimately, waitlist movement is driven by people having multiple acceptances. if most people are now getting 1-2 acceptances with the rest being waitlists, then waitlist movement essentially becomes nothing. there were quite a few posts on the x vs y threads, so who knows...my waitlists are unranked so that would explain delay but for those who are on ranked waitlists, frankly i dont see why there would be a delay...april 30 has already passed and schools know how many slots they have left. this whole process is really getting to me haha
Click to expand...

Just a heads up. One school I'm waitlisted at thatsaid there are 20 (out of a class of 150) that dd not follow AMCAS guidelines to PTE. They are contacting them before trying to fill the seats, which will take a few days. So, likely the same concept at other schools. The unclear traffic rules makes things harder. All schools need to either enforce AMCAS or have explicit dates they give to applicants.
 
Does anyone here have advice for applying for jobs while being on multiple waitlists? Just in case this doesn't work?

I'm thinking about getting back into paid clinical research work, but my hire-ability will probably be extremely bad if employers find out I'm on waitlists.. I'm thinking about working for academic medical centers (the med schools themselves) too which means I could burn bridges if I lie about this stuff?
 
BeingForItself said:
Does anyone here have advice for applying for jobs while being on multiple waitlists? Just in case this doesn't work?

I'm thinking about getting back into paid clinical research work, but my hire-ability will probably be extremely bad if employers find out I'm on waitlists.. I'm thinking about working for academic medical centers (the med schools themselves) too which means I could burn bridges if I lie about this stuff?
Click to expand...
Hey, so last year when I did really poorly on my mcat I decided to retake and take a year off before applying. I quit my scribe job, and applied broadly to jobs of all kind that applied to my degree(chemistry). I ended up landing a chemical engineering position that pays fairly well and is pretty cool.

One of my mentors told me to do something unrelated to medicine to make sure it is what I wanted to do. I enjoy my job now but I can't wait to start school in August!
 
MDMVP15 said:
Yes but the number of students to fill all spots remains the same. So for instance, lets say last year more offers were given out from each school. Many students have multiple offers. If school A needs to fill 150 spots and offers 200, but 100 withdraw (because again of multiple offers), they still need to pull 50 from the WL.

This year, if schools were not offering a lot of acceptances. Then for example, school A only offers 150 acceptances to fill 150 spots. Only 50 withdraw this year (because less offers were given out from each school). School A still needs to pull 50 from the WL.

Idk this is my sort of reasoning, unsure if it makes sense, and I have nothing else better to do lol.
Click to expand...

I think that this was the mindset last year, and most people were waiting until school specific CTE deadlines for movement. Unfortunately, movement was slow even afterwards. Unless something changes, I'm just going off the assumption that this year will be similar - a slow trickle throughout these next 3 months, with less movement overall.
 
babygreenbeans said:
did your school not specifically list deadlines? one of my WL the school explicitly says on the site that PTE is required
Click to expand...

Most of my schools did not specifically mention it. One school I applied actually said the only thing they require was CTE.
 
BeingForItself said:
Does anyone here have advice for applying for jobs while being on multiple waitlists? Just in case this doesn't work?

I'm thinking about getting back into paid clinical research work, but my hire-ability will probably be extremely bad if employers find out I'm on waitlists.. I'm thinking about working for academic medical centers (the med schools themselves) too which means I could burn bridges if I lie about this stuff?
Click to expand...

I recommend working for a biotech company if you can! You can lie about saying where you want to go in your career (example: you want to be an applications scientist or engineer 10 years from now blah blah). companies don't really care if you leave early and it won't impact you if you know for certain you want to go into medicine. and another bonus, biotech pays super well. And you get some additional working skills along the way. Most biotech work is still relevant to medicine. It's most certainly a win-win. If you don't lie and you do end up getting hired, you could get a LOR from your boss. I would only do the LOR from an employer if they have some form of higher education like a PhD or an MD (not uncommon in biotech).
 
Last edited:
DrOwenHunt said:
My first ever post. I didn't want to come without an acceptance in hand but I am on 4 waitlists at the moment with 0 acceptances. I am just here for the community and camaraderie
Click to expand...
Right there with you bud, 4 waitlists and no acceptances, but happy to have such a great community on here uplifting our spirits.
 
It’s sad but also funny and comforting that the same people have been immediately liking all the posts ALL day.... meaning those same ppl (myself included) have been neurotically lurking literally all day, even though we all subconsciously know that there is zero good to come out of doing such a thing HAHA. Glad to know I’m not the only psycho path on here. We r in this together, my fellow anxious/neurotic peeps 😆
 
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