2020 Cycle Waitlist Support Thread
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I'm contemplating what I should do. I'm on the WL at my top choice, which accepts updates and is open to people asking the dean about the chances. I've already sent an update/LOI hybrid in March and have asked the dean about my chances 2 weeks ago. I've only been able to volunteer 15 hours since my last update because the place closed down and have continued working, so idk if that warrants an update. I'm leaning on the side of caution and think I'm better off sending nothing, but would appreciate some advice.
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studentdoctor!
Full Member
How sad is it that activity has started in 2020-2021 threads and you would give anything to not have the need to look at those
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I hate that every time I’ve finally accepted it’s not gonna happen this year, dumb hope creeps back in. My school has had zero waitlist movement that I know of up until this point, but just heard about the first person getting off today. I know this is good news, but I hate getting my hopes up it’s such a distraction, esp if it doesn’t work out. Time to be an anxious wreck all over again
Same.. I am cycling from maybe there is still hope and this is just not the year..
I have mixed feelings about waitlist movement too. More people getting off the waitlist means fewer spots to fill but no movement is not a good sign either.
Dude I know EXACTLY what you mean 🙁
Hiddenleaf09
Full Member
Every day is becoming harder and harder not to lose the last glimmer of hope 🙁
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Hello everyone,
As I may reapply this cycle I’m wondering if I even should. I have a 513-515 MCAT and 3.7-3.8 GPA. I had 3 II which have turned to 3 WL. I believe a huge part of my lack of success were having a low amount of shadowing hours and lack of experience in healthcare. During my application year I was able to increase my shadowing by about 50-60 hours and have worked as pharmacy tech for 5 months (I understand pharm tech isn’t necessary clinical). I would also like to add I applied quite late and my secondaries weren’t complete until mid September.
With what I have presented to you do you think I can be competitive if I reapply now and grind hard to improve my hours shadowing/volunteering as well as get a more clinical premed job? Or should I wait until all is done and apply next cycle ?
As I may reapply this cycle I’m wondering if I even should. I have a 513-515 MCAT and 3.7-3.8 GPA. I had 3 II which have turned to 3 WL. I believe a huge part of my lack of success were having a low amount of shadowing hours and lack of experience in healthcare. During my application year I was able to increase my shadowing by about 50-60 hours and have worked as pharmacy tech for 5 months (I understand pharm tech isn’t necessary clinical). I would also like to add I applied quite late and my secondaries weren’t complete until mid September.
With what I have presented to you do you think I can be competitive if I reapply now and grind hard to improve my hours shadowing/volunteering as well as get a more clinical premed job? Or should I wait until all is done and apply next cycle ?
Hi! I am just a recently accepted incoming medical student, so take this with a grain of salt:
I think that your stats are fine for MD. Now why are you on WLs for all three schools, that is a difficult question to answer. What types of interviews have you had and how do you feel about them? If you think that you could have done better in the interviews then applying this cycle sounds fine with me. Also, how many schools did you apply to and were they within your stats? How could you have changed your school list? I think that these are the types of questions you should be asking yourself, as I don’t think that couple more hours of shadowing or a pharm tech position will cause any great change.
Feel free to pm if you have any question, I recently got accepted and would love to help others who are applying this cycle!
Best
My thought is: which schools were nice enough to give you feedback at all?!
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As long as you have 40 hours shadowing in primary care, you already have more than enough.
D
deleted1025690
I think your stats are good and even shadowing wise you’re fine. Lack of specifically clinical experience may play a role as well as interview skills. I’ve always thought that while shadowing is needed it’s not really comparable to clinical experience which A LOT of schools look for. I can only speak on my experience, I had about 60 shadowing and 150 clinical volunteering and that landed me 1 interview. It wasn’t until I sent an update in December with 500 additional clinical hours from an MA job that I got another interview from a school which I was eventually accepted into. So ultimately, my suggestion would be to get a clinical job and then really perfect your interview skills And reapp to apply again in a year!
thanks for the advice! and yup as hard as it is for me to be blunt, I think I could’ve done much better in my interviews.
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TODAY WAS THE DAY! I just got accepted off the waitlist today! I got the call earlier today! Holy moly! This is so surreal! I can't even describe the feeling right now! I have been looking through this thread for the past month or so and this has been such a great support group to have! So Thank you to you all and GOOD LUCK! Keep your head up! There is still plenty of time to hear back! I hope you all get to have this feeling soon!! I know no matter what, whether it is this year or another year, you will all have success! It's such a long journey to get to where we are now but it's totally worth it! 🙂
Wow, congratulations !!!!!!!
With all that said, I think you should absolutely reapply. If you are able to gain additional hours clinically that’s great, but the fact that you got 3 IIs shows what you had was enough for a lot if schools. Otherwise just definitely work on your interviewing skills and you should be good. The cycle is just such a crapshoot in certain ways, I wish you the best the rest of this cycle and next.
loopybasket
LM: 69
Hi guys! I'm on three WL right now with no acceptances. Definitely feeling like trash. I wanted to see what you guys thought about something.
I applied later (secondaries complete late august) yet had some early interviews (October) - good sign right? - but I'm still waitlisted at these schools. Does that indicate that the issue was likely my interviewing skills?? I felt like I did really great in my interviews but I'm not sure why else they would keep an early interviewee on the WL so long, if not forever, if I actually interviewed well. Sorry if that's confusing or just a stupid question/idea, but I'm rethinking every step in my life right now. If anyone has any insight please let me know. Thanks!!
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I applied later (secondaries complete late august) yet had some early interviews (October) - good sign right? - but I'm still waitlisted at these schools. Does that indicate that the issue was likely my interviewing skills?? I felt like I did really great in my interviews but I'm not sure why else they would keep an early interviewee on the WL so long, if not forever, if I actually interviewed well. Sorry if that's confusing or just a stupid question/idea, but I'm rethinking every step in my life right now. If anyone has any insight please let me know. Thanks!!
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The process is so random. Difficult to say if your interviews were a factor without more specifics. But, I would not give up hope yet. It’s just mid may and I truly believe wl year are slower because of covid. If you do have to reapply I would definitely start earlier getting your apps in and also work on your interview skills.
D
deleted1025690
Also, if the schools you interviewed at do Post II rejections and you’ve been kept around for so long that tells you that they definitely see something in you that they like! Keep your head up!
Roughcollie44
Full Member
Why did you withdraw if you didnt have another acceptance
Roughcollie44
Full Member
@loopybasket
Busted!!
Plot twist
loopybasket
LM: 69
hahahahah oh god here we go.
I never wanted to say this on here, but I've been called out so please forgive me...
I really disliked the school I withdrew from (I actually took a while to respond to them, so they withdrew my acceptance from me, understandably. They said I could respond if they "misunderstood" but I replied that I did indeed wish to withdraw). I would rather reapply than go there. I did not feel that it was a good fit at all, nor would it give me a great education or clinical rotations (their hospital system was recently dismantled). This is just my personal opinion and decision.
I understand that some people might be pissed at this, but I would rather not settle - even if I have to reapply! Right now, I do not have any acceptances.
loopybasket
LM: 69
naw... no fish here. it is what it is. might seem weird to others, but I dont want to spend a ton of money (that school was especially expensive) and time at a place I dislike. I'd rather wait a year and try again, if need be. I'm feeling like trash now (and I posted on here) because I'm not quite sure why I didn't get accepted at the schools where I'm waitlisted. My MCAT is higher than their average and I have a pretty good resume otherwise. I guess there are just better applicants than me! Just wanted support, certainly wasn't looking for hate when I posted my original post hahahahha but I can see why it may be frustrating to others to find out that I once had an A. Didn't really feel like an A to me though.
I actually had a friend this cycle who rejected 2 interviews because they didn't think the school was the right fit for them. They decided they would retake the mcat this year and reapply. I dont think what @loopybasket did is fishy, just uncommon/hard to understand for some people.
loopybasket
LM: 69
Thank you! my brother is an orthopedic surgeon (much much smarter than I) and told me to not settle and supported my decision. One of my WL is a school I'm not suuuuper thrilled about, but I would attend. I'm really not being super picky here, I promise. You just have to set your boundaries somewhere I guess!
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Kofi_medicine
Full Member
I respect your decision. Honestly it’s better to know yourself that well and make the best decision for yourself. Wishing you the best of luck!!
D
deleted1025690
Honestly, is it that deep? Loopybasket came on here because they are on waitlists and wanted some support, regardless of the details of their personal situation. If we can’t offer that at the very least we don’t have to be coming at them. This process is hard on everyone, let’s not get stuck on the little things!
loopybasket
LM: 69
Are we sure I'm the troll? *accused by someone with "Probationary Status"*
"I have no acceptances" is accurate. As of now, I am going to have to reapply. Which I knew was a possibility when I declined an acceptance from a school at which I think I would not be happy. How dare I! The whole point of my original post was to ask where I went wrong with my WL schools.
Dude just drop it. No one needs this type of negativity rn.
Okay
Can someone explain why a school would have WL movement in late late May-June? My top choice (Emory) over accepts, and I’m just trying to understand logistically how WL movement trickles down? It seems to me that most WL movement happens in early May after traffic day, and it slows down after?
Let's all keep it professional, guys - tensions in the WL thread can get astronomically high and we should try to support others as best as possible. Fingers crossed for everyone waiting to hear back 🙂
studentdoctor!
Full Member
I hope you are at least leveraged your acceptance with the WL schools [emoji102]
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loopybasket
LM: 69
I mentioned in my letter of intent to my top school (when I had yet to decline the other) that I held another acceptance 🙂 hasn't made a single difference though lmao
Honestly good for you. There was one school I interviewed at (that ended up rejecting me post-ii anyways) but when I look back on it I hated the city, the weather, the school, AND the people and likely would have been very miserable there. As future doctors who will be caring about others well-being we have to care for ours too. Go where makes you happy 🙂
The way it works is some people are holding a ton of acceptances, but have to drop all but 1 of them on traffic day (at least that’s how it’s supposed to work). Those freed spots go to the people on the waitlist. They have 5 days to accept the new offer and then when they do they free up spots at their accepted schools. This goes on and on until those with no acceptances get off the waitlist and then the movement stops.
The bulk of the movement used to happen in early May because of the multiple acceptance report. This meant that schools could target who to accept and also take off the waitlist. Say for instance University of Wisconsin needed to fill a spot in their class. They would pick the applicant who was accepted to Rosalind Franklin over the applicant accepted to Harvard. They could pick applicants who were more likely to attend and matriculate. Since last cycle schools can’t see where else you are accepted so they might pick the applicant accepted to Harvard because they had a more desirable application. This applicant might be so good that they got a full ride to U of Wisconsin. This applicant will then try to leverage their scholarship to get aid at Harvard. This sort of lag time of people holding their acceptances to leverage for financial aid delays the process. Some applicants might wait until CTE(in June/July) to actually narrow down their acceptances, if their top choice isn’t enforcing the AMCAS rules. Since schools can no longer target applicants likely to matriculate, the waitlist movement might spread throughout the summer.
Because everyone leaves DO schools to go to MD schools so that’s why DO schools have waitlist movement in that period. But it seems slow this year. Maybe because of covid. I promise you will become a big potato from a baby potato dude and get into Emory from Emory waitlist. I believe in you.
Thanks @bigmoney
Well this week has been another slice of torture.
Going on 8 months of not only being on my top WL with cricket silence, but also not having any EtOh, or getting laid. At least this builds character???
Daily reminder to just keep it cool and keep it cute. We will get through this everyone!
Going on 8 months of not only being on my top WL with cricket silence, but also not having any EtOh, or getting laid. At least this builds character???
Daily reminder to just keep it cool and keep it cute. We will get through this everyone!
Not to be a bad influence but theoretically you could control the no EtOH part 😉
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Just thinking about the wait-list situation. I'm curious how people think today's May 15 milepost for DO schools could affect WL movement, if at all? Would a student with an A for a DO school choose that over an A for a MD school? Would this bump all Waitlists a bit? Would someone accepted to a DO school release their WL spots at MD schools?
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Yes some would and have. Some liked the DO school they got accepted to better than the MD schools they interviewed at. It may even be scholarships that drive them to the DO school. If you want to do primary care, then it really doesn't matter whether you do DO or MD
I had a dream I finally got the acceptance call ... but then I woke up. Can I go back to dreaming?
Hiddenleaf09
Full Member
I send an email to my school admission administrator with an update to my application. Then I asked her if she believes Covid is affection the process, and an update on my progress and this is what she responded.
“Thank you for your update, I’ll include this in your application. Your position remains the same and thankfully Covid-19 has not affected our admissions process with the waitlist. I realize this feels like a long period of limbo and please know that we will contact you immediately with if you status changes. The movement of the waitlist literally depends on those holding multiple acceptances and when/what they decide. We appreciate your continued interest and patience. Feel free to reach out if you need anything or have any questions. Always happy to help! Stay safe out there!”
🙁
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“Thank you for your update, I’ll include this in your application. Your position remains the same and thankfully Covid-19 has not affected our admissions process with the waitlist. I realize this feels like a long period of limbo and please know that we will contact you immediately with if you status changes. The movement of the waitlist literally depends on those holding multiple acceptances and when/what they decide. We appreciate your continued interest and patience. Feel free to reach out if you need anything or have any questions. Always happy to help! Stay safe out there!”
🙁
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D
deleted1049311
wow so people are STILL holding on to multiple acceptances? wow
