2021-2022 Waitlist Support Thread

Started by BioPsychotic
BU Medical Sciences
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I am on a WL for a school that has an avg movement of 25, but only moved like 5 spots so far. Should I expect it not to reach the avg this given it's way past May 2nd?
 
Princeton Medical Student said:
It especially sucks because my school starts VERY early and the prospect of
going to orientation and starting school only to have to move, break lease, etc is frustrating to say the least.
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I get it. I have never done it before (UG) and I'm really not sure I'd do it now if given the opportunity.

As others have pointed out, repeatedly, this a draining year long process, PLUS all the years of prep work to get to the point of applying. I get people wanting their dream schools, top choices, whatever. We all have them. But there is also something to be said for not being someone's tenth choice.

If a school cannot see its way clear to accepting you before 4/30, or during the month of May, or whenever, in time for you not to have to move and start school elsewhere, maybe it's not meant to be. I was just spelling out what some people do. If you have seen some of my other posts, I am a big proponent of us setting our own course and determining our own fate, with the resources and prestige of the school playing a limited role.

Yes, DO schools have less impressive match lists than top tier MD programs. I don't think it's due to the schools' lack of prestige, resources or training. I think the students tend to be weaker, but that's changing, rapidly, as whatever stigma is associated with DO fades. DO schools are attracting better candidates every year, and those students are going to match better in the future.

I'm not sure I'd disrupt my whole life to upgrade from DO to MD after I started school, unless the 4 year COA difference in favor of MD made it a worthwhile short term sacrifice. YMMV, but no one is going to force anyone to do anything that doesn't make sense for them.
 
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The school I’m WL at said that their CTE date is at the end of the month, but they also said that the bulk of WL movement happens between April 15 - May 15. My question is: does substantial WL movement actually happen after CTE dates pass? It seems like none of these deadlines are actually enforced lol
 
Dblock45 said:
The school I’m WL at said that their CTE date is at the end of the month, but they also said that the bulk of WL movement happens between April 15 - May 15. My question is: does substantial WL movement actually happen after CTE dates pass? It seems like none of these deadlines are actually enforced lol
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AAMC doesn't enforce CTE at all
 
Dblock45 said:
The school I’m WL at said that their CTE date is at the end of the month, but they also said that the bulk of WL movement happens between April 15 - May 15. My question is: does substantial WL movement actually happen after CTE dates pass? It seems like none of these deadlines are actually enforced lol
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No. What your school is telling you is correct.

WL movement is caused by people dropping multiple As. That happens around 5/1, when people are forced to PTE at a single school, and the weeks thereafter, as people who are called off WLs drop an A if the call causes them to have more than one.

The CTE deadline just causes people to convert PTE to CTE. It does not cause a lot of WL movement, unless someone who is PTE drops the school to go with another school where they hold an A, if that school did not require them to PTE. It's pretty rare, and is not the cause of a lot of movement.
 
KnightDoc said:
No. What your school is telling you is correct.

WL movement is caused by people dropping multiple As. That happens around 5/1, when people are forced to PTE at a single school, and the weeks thereafter, as people who are called off WLs drop an A if the call causes them to have more than one.

The CTE deadline just causes people to convert PTE to CTE. It does not cause a lot of WL movement, unless someone who is PTE drops the school to go with another school where they hold an A, if that school did not require them to PTE. It's pretty rare, and is not the cause of a lot of movement.
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Could this be an atypical year because of where the PTE date fell?

Both schools I'm waitlisted at (one MD, one DO) have seen very slow movement compared to prior years.

The MD program has seen about 50% of their typical movement as of today.

The DO program hasn't seen any yet. They had taken about 20-30 by this time last year.

Edit: Plus, I'm seeing posts here and there from others worrying about their movement compared to prior years.
 
nontradwash said:
Could this be an atypical year because of where the PTE date fell?

Both schools I'm waitlisted at (one MD, one DO) have seen very slow movement compared to prior years.

The MD program has seen about 50% of their typical movement as of today.

The DO program hasn't seen any yet. They had taken about 20-30 by this time last year.

Edit: Plus, I'm seeing posts here and there from others worrying about their movement compared to prior years.
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No. It's the same every year. Plenty of people are reporting movement, and there is certainly more to come.

Not at every school, but, every year, until they get a call, people say movement is less than in prior years. If this were true, there would no movement at all by now! PTE being Monday, 5/2, instead of Friday, 4/30, meant nothing other than maybe the first wave starting a day or two later at some schools. Plenty of schools started making calls right on cue on 5/2, just like they did last year on 4/30.

Yes, a lot of people are observing that movement seems less than before. In the aggregate, it's just not true, although it surely is true at some schools. But just look at all the posts in this thread since 5/2, and compare it to the first 2 weeks of May in the 2020-21 thread, and tell me there is less movement. There isn't. You can also see movement by looking in every active school specific thread over the past 2 weeks.

Also, please keep in mind that SDN is a small subset of the premed universe and, even so, there are MANY more lurkers than posters. Every report of an A should be multiplied by maybe 5-20 to get real numbers, depending on the school (SDN participation ranging from between 5 and 20% of the total population).

My advice is to try to be patient a little longer. We are literally in the peak movement period right now. There have already been a few posts with people complaining about no movement in the morning and then reporting an A the same afternoon! You'll have a better indication of where you stand in 2 or 3 weeks. Good luck!
 
KnightDoc said:
No. It's the same every year. Plenty of people are reporting movement, and there is certainly more to come.

Not at every school, but, every year, until they get a call, people say movement is less than in prior years. If this were true, there would no movement at all by now! PTE being Monday, 5/2, instead of Friday, 4/30, meant nothing other than maybe the first wave starting a day or two later at some schools. Plenty of schools started making calls right on cue on 5/2, just like they did last year on 4/30.

Yes, a lot of people are observing that movement seems less than before. In the aggregate, it's just not true, although it surely is true at some schools. But just look at all the posts in this thread since 5/2, and compare it to the first 2 weeks of May in the 2020-21 thread, and tell me there is less movement. There isn't. You can also see movement by looking in every active school specific thread over the past 2 weeks.

Also, please keep in mind that SDN is a small subset of the premed universe and, even so, there are MANY more lurkers than posters. Every report of an A should be multiplied by maybe 5-20 to get real numbers, depending on the school (SDN participation ranging from between 5 and 20% of the total population).

My advice is to try to be patient a little longer. We are literally in the peak movement period right now. There have already been a few posts with people complaining about no movement in the morning and then reporting an A the same afternoon! You'll have a better indication of where you stand in 2 or 3 weeks. Good luck!
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Yea, I know WL has been going on...I'm just wondering if the bulk of it is going to be shifted by a week. Like I was saying the DO program is probably a week a behind on seeing any of theirs.

I guess I wasn't clear in my use of ''atypical.'' Not atypical in terms of overall movement, atypical in terms of how long it takes to get to that movement. If waitlist movement is reactionary, and it started 3 days later than prior years, then it seems possible to have a day or two delay tacked on here and there, delaying the overall movement at a lot of schools.
 
KnightDoc said:
No. It's the same every year. Plenty of people are reporting movement, and there is certainly more to come.

Not at every school, but, every year, until they get a call, people say movement is less than in prior years. If this were true, there would no movement at all by now! PTE being Monday, 5/2, instead of Friday, 4/30, meant nothing other than maybe the first wave starting a day or two later at some schools. Plenty of schools started making calls right on cue on 5/2, just like they did last year on 4/30.

Yes, a lot of people are observing that movement seems less than before. In the aggregate, it's just not true, although it surely is true at some schools. But just look at all the posts in this thread since 5/2, and compare it to the first 2 weeks of May in the 2020-21 thread, and tell me there is less movement. There isn't. You can also see movement by looking in every active school specific thread over the past 2 weeks.

Also, please keep in mind that SDN is a small subset of the premed universe and, even so, there are MANY more lurkers than posters. Every report of an A should be multiplied by maybe 5-20 to get real numbers, depending on the school (SDN participation ranging from between 5 and 20% of the total population).

My advice is to try to be patient a little longer. We are literally in the peak movement period right now. There have already been a few posts with people complaining about no movement in the morning and then reporting an A the same afternoon! You'll have a better indication of where you stand in 2 or 3 weeks. Good luck!
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I wish people would participate and actually speak more than 👀.
 
nontradwash said:
Yea, I know WL has been going on...I'm just wondering if the bulk of it is going to be shifted by a week. Like I was saying the DO program is probably a week a behind on seeing any of theirs.

I guess I wasn't clear in my use of ''atypical.'' Not atypical in terms of overall movement, atypical in terms of how long it takes to get to that movement. If waitlist movement is reactionary, and it started 3 days later than prior years, then it seems possible to have a day or two delay tacked on here and there, delaying the overall movement at a lot of schools.
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Okay. But it wouldn't be a week, because the PTE deadline wasn't pushed back a week. It was literally pushed back a business day, from a Friday to a Monday.

3 days weren't lost. 2 days were, and they were Saturday and Sunday. The only delay is that first calls went out this year on a Monday instead of a Friday. Delays after that, which are much more significant and can last days or weeks, are dictated by whether people ask for and receive extensions. But that happens every year, so wouldn't account for any differences this year.
 
medschoolapplicant101. said:
Anyone tried calling schools where you have been placed on a waitlist? Wondering what was the reply from the admissions.
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It won't hurt, unless you make yourself a real PITA, but it also doesn't help, other than to give you some sense of being proactive and doing all you can. Schools that want to be communicative communicate. The rest just tell you to sit tight, and that they pull people off the WL right up until the time classes start.
 
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KnightDoc said:
Okay. But it wouldn't be a week, because the PTE deadline wasn't pushed back a week. It was literally pushed back a business day, from a Friday to a Monday.

3 days weren't lost. 2 days were, and they were Saturday and Sunday. The only delay is that first calls went out this year on a Monday instead of a Friday. Delays after that, which are much more significant and can last days or weeks, are dictated by whether people ask for and receive extensions. But that happens every year, so wouldn't account for any differences this year.
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I imagine there could be a ripple effect. The first wave is delayed by 2 days, and the delay has resonance as people wait to hear back and/or ask for extensions, ultimately slowing things down.

Don't get me wrong, I'm expecting movement to resemble years' past and am expecting to hear back from at least the DO program with some good news by the end of the month or early June, but after inspecting prior year's threads it just seems to be playing out differently in terms of the dates.
 
nontradwash said:
I imagine there could be a ripple effect. The first wave is delayed by 2 days, and the delay has resonance as people wait to hear back and/or ask for extensions, ultimately slowing things down.

Don't get me wrong, I'm expecting movement to resemble years' past and am expecting to hear back from at least the DO program with some good news by the end of the month or early June, but after inspecting prior year's threads it just seems to be playing out differently in terms of the dates.
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Could just be me but one of the MD schools I interviewed at last year had a plethora of posts of people getting off the WL around May 5th. This year, total silence :/ But the page itself this year has been quieter in general.
 
hopetobedoctor101010 said:
Could just be me but one of the MD schools I interviewed at last year had a plethora of posts of people getting off the WL around May 5th. This year, total silence :/ But the page itself this year has been quieter in general.
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Noting the same as well. People are simply are not talking in threads much. I am being the loud mouth trying to upkeep conversations and still can’t get people to communicate.
 
medschoolapplicant101. said:
Noting the same as well. People are simply are not talking in threads much. I am being the loud mouth trying to upkeep conversations and still can’t get people to communicate.
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That is definitely true. There were only two of us out of 30 that shared we received an email that we were in the DO's ranked 30 WL. So it's definitely possible some have received calls since then but haven't shared it. Though, if that's the case, there hasn't been a single poster yet. Last couple of years maybe there were about 10 a week immediately after the ranked email came out.

Though, the MD WL is on the web and updates daily. It's moving really slowly. There's only been one to come off of it since mid-April.
 
cheetolover14 said:
anyone prepping for a mcat retake? what is the latest date to reapply this upcoming cycle
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Starting studying tomorrow for a July 29th retake. It’s gonna be a little late but I don’t care lol. Going to try and have my primary in with a throwaway school by mid June so I’m verified by the time I get my score back. Then I can just add schools based off of my score and they’ll get my app by late August
 
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highlander11 said:
Starting studying tomorrow for a July 29th retake. It’s gonna be a little late but I don’t care lol. Going to try and have my primary in with a throwaway school by mid June so I’m verified by the time I get my score back. Then I can just add schools based off of my score and they’ll get my app by late August
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1st day in update: this somehow sucks more than the first time around. Literally on my knees praying that I get in this week
 
highlander11 said:
1st day in update: this somehow sucks more than the first time around. Literally on my knees praying that I get in this week
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I'm with you. I'm taking it end of June so I started studying before you, and it's still been sucking. I just have to mentally tell myself it's not going to happen in order to not slack off. But when you're not studying, definitely still hope and manifest that A! We got this.
 
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