I have a basic question regarding waitlist procedures used by schools, because I think I might have misinterpreted waitlist statistics from 2 sources.
The following AAMC document indicates that NYU-Grossman accepted only 50 students from the waitlist (during the 2022-2023 cycle?)
https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/7056/download
On the other hand, the following SDN post indicates that NYU-Grossman accepted 103 students from the waitlist (during the 2019-2020 cycle?).
i.e., my math was as follows:
Number of waitlisted applicants accepted = ( IS accept + OOS accept) - (IS enroll + OOS enroll) = (33 + 172) - (20+82) = 103
~*~*~*~ Updated Post II Acceptance Rates 2021 ~*~*~*~
Admittedly these appear to be figures from different cycles (and AAMC is likely a more authoritative source), but I was not expecting such a significant swing from year to year. Other schools also show a similar pattern.
Do most/all schools use the following procedure?
-- Initially, they only send out a number of acceptances EQUAL to their desired class size.
-- Thereafter, once "Plan to Enroll" data is available by April 30, they start accepting certain waitlisted applicants to fill vacancies.
(My math for NYU-Grossman is predicated on this assumption, which seems “safer” from a school’s perspective.)
OR
Do schools usually initially accept (a lot) more students than their desired class-size (i.e., based on their expected yield)?
(That would explain why relatively fewer students seem to be accepted off waitlists, as compared to yield data.)
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
I understand procedures would vary by school but was trying to get a general idea, to the extent possible.
