2020 Cycle Waitlist Support Thread

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Hiddenleaf09 said:
I genuinely don’t believe you have to completely rewrite a personal statement. I put my sweat, blood, and tears in the last personal statement I wrote. It’s a chronological order of every possible reason to why I want to become a doctor carved from my most intense experiences. (coming from a third world country, going back and proving refugees with Prosthetic devices I build with a team of engineers). So I feel like if you have a good personal statement, and it truly stands out; then it will stand out next time regardless if it’s repeated or not. You’d rather have an amazing personal statement then to change an amazing personal statement and mess it up just to make it look like you wanted to “look like you’re not lazy”
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I feel the same. PS shows your motivation for medicine and if that hasn't changed, your PS likely won't. That being said, you can make a few changes here and there to make it a bit different. For example in my original one I talked about my research experiences as an undergrad. For the next cycle, I'll edit my ps with my new research experiences post grad. That way the sentiment is still the same, but you can switch up some supporting examples.
 
Zen Arcade said:
Based on podcasts I’ve listened to where adcoms specifically answer whether to rewrite the PS, the answer is almost always yes. The reason being is that they can see your previous application and it can seem lazy if you don’t rewrite it. They are specifically looking for what you did differently when you reapply. You may have retaken the MCAT, added more volunteering hours, fixed grades... that’s great! But I think it just looks better when you go the extra mile and rewrite everything. You can use the same framework, anecdotes, etc, but just try to attack the PS from a slightly different angle. Just trying to give advice based on what I have heard from several different admissions sources (this is also what you hear from the adcoms on SDN). Good luck!
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How about secondaries and activities descriptions ( I can't really see how the activities you already have can change).
 
Zen Arcade said:
Based on podcasts I’ve listened to where adcoms specifically answer whether to rewrite the PS, the answer is almost always yes. The reason being is that they can see your previous application and it can seem lazy if you don’t rewrite it. They are specifically looking for what you did differently when you reapply. You may have retaken the MCAT, added more volunteering hours, fixed grades... that’s great! But I think it just looks better when you go the extra mile and rewrite everything. You can use the same framework, anecdotes, etc, but just try to attack the PS from a slightly different angle. Just trying to give advice based on what I have heard from several different admissions sources (this is also what you hear from the adcoms on SDN). Good luck!
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What podcasts do you listen to? I need to give them a listen, I think!
 
16ED2E19-6DDD-4C5C-8ABB-7A621EB89299.png

I am so predictable
 
kittykat318 said:
What podcasts do you listen to? I need to give them a listen, I think!
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Short coat podcast put on by carver college of medicine and all access:med school admissions put on by case western. Both routinely bring in adcoms to talk about admissions and give great advice. The rewriting PS question comes up regularly and the answer has always been ‘it’s better just to rewrite everything’. If you are reapplying these podcasts are excellent resources (particularly all access for info regarding admissions).
 
sun_flower580 said:
In what way are you guys planning on changing up your personal statement? Are you gonna basically change the entire thing or just change the theme of it? And will it be centered around how you’re a re-pp or no? Just tryna brainstorm ideas I’m not too sure how I wanna approach it yet
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If you read my two personal statements you would see a lot of similarities. However, I reflected on a much deeper level and was able to hone in on and refine my real message on why Medicine. Also I took it a step further and talked about who I wanted to care for in particular. (Those marginalized by society and those facing high barriers to care).
 
Hiddenleaf09 said:
I genuinely don’t believe you have to completely rewrite a personal statement. I put my sweat, blood, and tears in the last personal statement I wrote. It’s a chronological order of every possible reason to why I want to become a doctor carved from my most intense experiences. (coming from a third world country, going back and proving refugees with Prosthetic devices I build with a team of engineers). So I feel like if you have a good personal statement, and it truly stands out; then it will stand out next time regardless if it’s repeated or not. You’d rather have an amazing personal statement then to change an amazing personal statement and mess it up just to make it look like you wanted to “look like you’re not lazy”
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I strongly agree, there may be differing opinions out there but what I’ve been told by faculty involved in admissions ( whom I trust) is that unless your PS was particularly weak changing it too much runs the risk of coming off insincere. Especially if you’re applying back to back. In addition to that, if you made it into multiple WLs and received multiple Interviews that means overall your PS was likely not weak.

That being said it is always good to rewrite and get yet another improved draft of previous PS/secondaries going because you never know when you may improve the flow of something or be more clear with what you’re trying to express!
 
Currently sitting on 3 WL.. and I am preparing for a possible reapplication. My graduate school provides a committee letter and I am going to use the same letters from last year. Does it matter to change all the dates on the letter to the current date? Should I contact all my professors and my boss to change the date of the recommendation letter? My school said that would be an ideal thing to do but I am not sure how easy that would be given the situation..
 
nurse2doc2367 said:
@gyngyn Are you seeing more wait list movement this year for CA schools as opposed to last year with the new traffic rules?
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It's actually been pretty slow so far. I've seen more movement from east coast schools.
 
lalano1230 said:
Currently sitting on 3 WL.. and I am preparing for a possible reapplication. My graduate school provides a committee letter and I am going to use the same letters from last year. Does it matter to change all the dates on the letter to the current date? Should I contact all my professors and my boss to change the date of the recommendation letter? My school said that would be an ideal thing to do but I am not sure how easy that would be given the situation..
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Yes -- I would try. If you can't its not the end of the world. But its worth trying
 
llamallama10 said:
I'm currently sitting on 1 WL (only one interview) and preparing for reapplication. Is it worth sending an update about running a half marathon I completed solo (it was originally scheduled but moved to run at home because of Corona) ? I have a small theme of sports in my application- college and post grad so I would try to tie it back into those thoughts. The school specifically mentioned quality over quantity of updates... but I would like to reaffirm my interest because I sent my LOI mid February. I do hope to have a paper accepted within a month, so should I just wait for a more academically noteworthy update?
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To add to this I’m also in the same boat but my update is that I’m a biomedical engineer (which they know this), but I got switched to working on designing ventilators because of the massive need due to Covid-19. Is it worth sending this in? I’m on a ranked waitlist, upper tier. And I’m pretty sure my school scores off 7 criteria’s. My guess is that the weakest score out of the 7 is the MCAT score, and my strongest is interview, gpa, and extracurricular scores.
 
llamallama10 said:
I'm currently sitting on 1 WL (only one interview) and preparing for reapplication. Is it worth sending an update about running a half marathon I completed solo (it was originally scheduled but moved to run at home because of Corona) ? I have a small theme of sports in my application- college and post grad so I would try to tie it back into those thoughts. The school specifically mentioned quality over quantity of updates... but I would like to reaffirm my interest because I sent my LOI mid February. I do hope to have a paper accepted within a month, so should I just wait for a more academically noteworthy update?
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Hiddenleaf09 said:
To add to this I’m also in the same boat but my update is that I’m a biomedical engineer (which they know this), but I got switched to working on designing ventilators because of the massive need due to Covid-19. Is it worth sending this in? I’m on a ranked waitlist, upper tier. And I’m pretty sure my school scores off 7 criteria’s. My guess is that the weakest score out of the 7 is the MCAT score, and my strongest is interview, gpa, and extracurricular scores.
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shoot your shot
 
llamallama10 said:
I'm currently sitting on 1 WL (only one interview) and preparing for reapplication. Is it worth sending an update about running a half marathon I completed solo (it was originally scheduled but moved to run at home because of Corona) ? I have a small theme of sports in my application- college and post grad so I would try to tie it back into those thoughts. The school specifically mentioned quality over quantity of updates... but I would like to reaffirm my interest because I sent my LOI mid February. I do hope to have a paper accepted within a month, so should I just wait for a more academically noteworthy update?
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Shooters shoot
 
Still haven’t fully processed it... I was only on 2 waitlists and just got an call from the Dean at one of them saying I was Accepted to my first school!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much for being supportive during the wait! I hope good news is coming for you all as well!
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
Still haven’t fully processed it... I was only on 2 waitlists and just got an call from the Dean at one of them saying I was Accepted to my first school!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much for being supportive during the wait! I hope good news is coming for you all as well!
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Congrats!
 
RJ McReady said:
In your opinion, have waitlists been slower due to covid-19 factors?
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It has affected admissions far less than any other aspect of the medical school.
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
Still haven’t fully processed it... I was only on 2 waitlists and just got an call from the Dean at one of them saying I was Accepted to my first school!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much for being supportive during the wait! I hope good news is coming for you all as well!
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chills for you!! congrats!!! revel in this moment. you earned it! (and to think you were planning on rewriting your PS yesterday...)
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
Still haven’t fully processed it... I was only on 2 waitlists and just got an call from the Dean at one of them saying I was Accepted to my first school!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much for being supportive during the wait! I hope good news is coming for you all as well!
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YAAAAYYYY, this give me hope! Congrats!!
 
Hey guys! I’m currently waitlisted at 5 schools, and though I’m still super hopeful, I’ve been working on preparing my application to reapply next cycle to make sure I have all of my bases covered. When it comes to writing a second personal statement, does anybody have any advice they could share? I was in love with my first one and it got me some love with interview season, but obviously I need to start fresh and update it with where I am today. Should I still communicate the same story with the past year added on and should I acknowledge the fact that I’m reapplying? This is super difficult for me, as I’m sure a lot of you guys understand, but I would love any advice anybody has to offer.
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
Still haven’t fully processed it... I was only on 2 waitlists and just got an call from the Dean at one of them saying I was Accepted to my first school!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much for being supportive during the wait! I hope good news is coming for you all as well!
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NO WAY SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!
 
plsletmeintomedschool26 said:
Hey guys! I’m currently waitlisted at 5 schools, and though I’m still super hopeful, I’ve been working on preparing my application to reapply next cycle to make sure I have all of my bases covered. When it comes to writing a second personal statement, does anybody have any advice they could share? I was in love with my first one and it got me some love with interview season, but obviously I need to start fresh and update it with where I am today. Should I still communicate the same story with the past year added on and should I acknowledge the fact that I’m reapplying? This is super difficult for me, as I’m sure a lot of you guys understand, but I would love any advice anybody has to offer.
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I second this. Rewriting a personal statement I put my soul into is the hardest part of reapplying (along with being rejected the first time around)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
plsletmeintomedschool26 said:
Hey guys! I’m currently waitlisted at 5 schools, and though I’m still super hopeful, I’ve been working on preparing my application to reapply next cycle to make sure I have all of my bases covered. When it comes to writing a second personal statement, does anybody have any advice they could share? I was in love with my first one and it got me some love with interview season, but obviously I need to start fresh and update it with where I am today. Should I still communicate the same story with the past year added on and should I acknowledge the fact that I’m reapplying? This is super difficult for me, as I’m sure a lot of you guys understand, but I would love any advice anybody has to offer.
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I pondered over this a lot yesterday because I also was very pleased w my original PS. What I ended up doing is I just completely changed my intro, added a paragraph about my experiences since the last cycle, and then went and elaborated more/differently on the experiences I had already wrote. So most of it was the same in essence but I think it’s still changed enough to where they will notice its def not the same
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
Still haven’t fully processed it... I was only on 2 waitlists and just got an call from the Dean at one of them saying I was Accepted to my first school!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much for being supportive during the wait! I hope good news is coming for you all as well!
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Congrats!!! Relax and take it all in! Woot woot!
 
Just voicing some extreme frustrations i have to rant. But the prices on apartments in my area are going to keep increasing, and ideally I need to sign a lease ASAP because I will not be able to afford a price much higher than they are right now. But I don’t want to sign a year lease only to end off getting off of the waitlist and be stuck. This is also affecting my job hunting and pretty much everything else. I’m just so incredibly frustrated by the whole process. Like if you’re going to reject us, fine. But tell us WAY sooner so that it doesn’t literally ruin everything else UGH.

HOW is it that difficult to come up with a decision when it has been OVER a year since apps opened and when I interviewed over 6 months ago!!! I’m already assuming I won’t get in and in terms of re-applying and things I have been preparing for the next cycle. But when it comes to money one can not afford to play this stupid guessing game. IM SO FED UP AND STRESSED. Thank you for letting me rant -cries- 😢
 
sun_flower580 said:
Just voicing some extreme frustrations i have to rant. But the prices on apartments in my area are going to keep increasing, and ideally I need to sign a lease ASAP because I will not be able to afford a price much higher than they are right now. But I don’t want to sign a year lease only to end off getting off of the waitlist and be stuck. This is also affecting my job hunting and pretty much everything else. I’m just so incredibly frustrated by the whole process. Like if you’re going to reject us, fine. But tell us WAY sooner so that it doesn’t literally ruin everything else UGH.

HOW is it that difficult to come up with a decision when it has been OVER a year since apps opened and when I interviewed over 6 months ago!!! I’m already assuming I won’t get in and in terms of re-applying and things I have been preparing for the next cycle. But when it comes to money one can not afford to play this stupid guessing game. IM SO FED UP AND STRESSED. Thank you for letting me rant -cries- 😢
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This is literally so real I feel you so hard 😕
 
I listen to podcasts on my commute and today anytime there was an abnormally long pause in the conversation I became convinced it meant I had an incoming phone call.

Waitlists are fun.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN
 
kittytower said:
Got a call this morning, I’m officially a member of the class of 2024! Thank you so much for the support everyone has provided during this stressful cycle 🙂
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Wow congrats!!!!!! It’s so nice to hear multiple accounts of good news for the first time in a while!
 
Sitting on 3 WL, one of which I’ve sent like 2 letters of intent to plus update letters, and other 2 schools to which I’ve sent 3 or so updates/strong interest letters. Was thinking my luck was running out, but starting to feel that I had no luck to begin with lol. tears of laughter or tears of sorrow, who knows anymore haha
 
I will say, two of the orthopedic surgeons I work with (both of whom have been named to the Best Doctors in America list multiple times) told me about how they didn’t get into any schools and just had waitlists until they got off end of May or mid-June. There is ABSOLUTELY still so much hope, it’s still the beginning of May!
 
plsletmeintomedschool26 said:
I will say, two of the orthopedic surgeons I work with (both of whom have been named to the Best Doctors in America list multiple times) told me about how they didn’t get into any schools and just had waitlists until they got off end of May or mid-June. There is ABSOLUTELY still so much hope, it’s still the beginning of May!
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Just to add to that, at one of the schools I interviewed at, the Dean of Admissions himself was accepted last minute to medical school off the waitlist. I’m personally holding out hope until Mid-August, 1 week after my waitlist schools start.
 
plsletmeintomedschool26 said:
I will say, two of the orthopedic surgeons I work with (both of whom have been named to the Best Doctors in America list multiple times) told me about how they didn’t get into any schools and just had waitlists until they got off end of May or mid-June. There is ABSOLUTELY still so much hope, it’s still the beginning of May!
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I work with a lot of gen surg residents and over half of them told me they attended a school that accepted them off a waitlist! Lots of hope left to go around my friends!

and at the very least -- I'm thankful to have some strangers on the internet to commiserate with because, regular people don't get it lol.
 
Yes definitely don’t lose hope!! I remember on one of my interviews they mentioned how some of the top preforming students in their class were folks accepted off waitlists! Also several times different faculty and med students have said that WL means you’re good enough to be there, they just ran out of seats as annoying as that is.

Also def got to take advantage of uplifting each other through this forum! No reason to go through it alone when there’s so many of us holding on to this dream we have for our futures!
 
LiveLoveLaugh4444 said:
Yes definitely don’t lose hope!! I remember on one of my interviews they mentioned how some of the top preforming students in their class were folks accepted off waitlists! Also several times different faculty and med students have said that WL means you’re good enough to be they just ran out of seats as annoying as that is.

Also def got to take advantage of uplifting each other through this forum! No reason to go through it alone when there’s so many of us holding on to this dream we have for our futures!
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Does that mean we will all get accepted from waitlist if spot is available?
 
bigmoney said:
Don’t they decide that before putting someone on waitlist?
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Not sure I understand your question. The reality is at most schools they have this **** down to a science. They give the same amount of As and expect the same amount to come off a waitlist. A lot of schools don't reject many and put way more on the waitlist than they need. A waitlist is designed to be big enough to always have extra. IF they finished their waitlist and more people withdrew theyd be screwed.
 
jbuch08 said:
I work with a lot of gen surg residents and over half of them told me they attended a school that accepted them off a waitlist! Lots of hope left to go around my friends!

and at the very least -- I'm thankful to have some strangers on the internet to commiserate with because, regular people don't get it lol.
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Everyone warned me to stay off SDN because it's "toxic", but I'm so thankful as well to have you all to commiserate with. I don't have people in my "real life" that I feel comfortable venting about all this to. My close friends and family don't get it so I don't want to bother or burden them with what I'm feeling because all I receive is pity. None of my med school friends were actually waitlisted and I know they mean well, but their go-to response is always that they don't understand why I haven't gotten in because they didn't do "x" or have "y" and still got in, which isn't helpful either.

I try so hard to stay positive, but truthfully I just feel so disappointed and empty.
 
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