What podcasts do you listen to? I need to give them a listen, I think!
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I am so predictable
I go through this so many times a day you can hear the Doppler effect every time I walk by
(is it obvious I just looked at old physics notes to consider retaking the mcat?)
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).
I’m on a constant loop of anger and depression LOL
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).
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deleted1025690
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!
If anyone would like to help edit/give feedback over each other’s updated personal statements, pm me and lmk.
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..
@gyngyn Are you seeing more wait list movement this year for CA schools as opposed to last year with the new traffic rules?
It's actually been pretty slow so far. I've seen more movement from east coast schools.
In your opinion, have waitlists been slower due to covid-19 factors?
Ah, wonder if that is good or bad news for us waitlisters?? 🙁
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deleted1025690
HAPPY MONDAY!! Here’s hoping this week brings good news!
Yes -- I would try. If you can't its not the end of the world. But its worth trying
Hiddenleaf09
Full Member
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.
Feel free to update them just knowing that this will likely not influence the order in which you will be pulled from the waitlist. I mean theres no need to wait because its May 11th not much more time left! Ya know? Kinda like now or never.
Shooters shoot
Sending positive vibes to everyone on the waitlist train. I have 5 WLs currently with no acceptances as of yet but trying to maintain positivity!
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deleted1025690
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!
Congrats!
It has affected admissions far less than any other aspect of the medical school.
chills for you!! congrats!!! revel in this moment. you earned it! (and to think you were planning on rewriting your PS yesterday...)
YAAAAYYYY, this give me hope! Congrats!!
plsletmeintomedschool26
Full Member
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.
NO WAY SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!
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)
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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
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- 😢
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- 😢
This is literally so real I feel you so hard 😕
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 🙂
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
Waitlists are fun.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN
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
plsletmeintomedschool26
Full Member
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!
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.
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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deleted1025690
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!
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!
Does that mean we will all get accepted from waitlist if spot is available?
A school really did things wrong if everyone on their waitlist gets off. Always need a buffer.
Don’t they decide that before putting someone on waitlist?
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.
probablyneedassistance
Full Member
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.
silvershark3
Full Member
I understand your sentiment. I thought I had all the right elements and well written essays and all that, but part of it does have to do with randomness. Schools are shifting through 5 to 10 thousand applications when they are looking for like 100, so decent application getting looked over is easily plausible
But at the end if the day I'm just drained and sad too
When I explain the process and the numbers game to people, I explain that there could be 10...or 100... EQUALLY qualified and great candidates vying for the LAST spot in a class. At this point, which one of the 100 people gets picked is essentially random and any little "random" thing could be the thing that tips the scales in your favor, at least that's how I understand it. Ex. I studied abroad in Ecuador...perhaps the dean of X medical college also did a medical mission trip to Ecuador, he's more interested in my app because of this connection, I get accepted and the kid who went to Japan did not. Random.
It really depends on who is in the room and what mood they're in that day/what they're looking for that day.
however some people have said that WL acceptances are chosen based on similarity to the person who withdrew which make sense to keep demographic balance but makes me less hopeful...
