I do believe that the Wayne State waitlist is larger than the 600 they list on MSAR.
1528 people have been interviewed this cycle. Of which, 518 have been accepted. Assuming that they WL 600 people that would leave around 410 post-II rejections.
While we don't have all the data there are a few things wrong with this metric:
- We haven't seen many post-II rejections yet. Could this be due to some reporting bias (people could be less likely to report this)? Possibly, but unlikely given ~400 possible post-II rejections there haven't been hardly any posted. This could also be because they keep those possible post-II rejection people to the end with their massive rejection wave ~June. This is hard to say as there isn't any data on this to my knowledge. However, there is some weak anecdotal data through the years in the forums to possibly argue that this is unlikely, but this cannot be ruled out.
Regardless, even if it is 600 people waitlisted (at least) this is a very substantial number. Despite them mentioning that the waitlist is unranked, I believe its not "ranked" but it is stratified with commentary from the admissions committee. They likely keep tabs on what their current accepted pool looks like an try to fill in an deficits based on the WL. For instance, if they take too many OOS they may look for IS people on the waitlist. Same with certain experiences (non-trad, demographics, etc) they may look for these people on the waitlist, again with these "comments" on stratification. Without this commentary, the admissions committee would have to sift through possible 600 people, all again, to find these people, thats why I argue that it is likely stratified, as this would take too much time.
Wayne State, like many medical schools, is a public institution that receives taxpayer funding to operate. In the state of Michigan, due to this public status, certain procedural information, such as the size of the waitlist and general selection processes, may be subject to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. If individuals are seeking more explicit information about these procedures, they have the legal right to request such information through FOIA.
For procedural structures and general selection processes related to waitlists at public institutions, there is typically no expectation of privacy. This principle applies broadly to public universities. While institutional policies may state otherwise (saying this potential information may not be revealed), internal policies do not supersede the law.
As an aside (before I get a bunch of people dinging me for this post), I recognize that FOIA requests would not reveal admissions committee deliberations, individual applicant information, or confidential evaluation materials, as those are protected under laws such as FERPA. However, FOIA can still provide transparency regarding institutional procedures and policies. For instance, high-level documents describing admissions workflows or waitlist management practices may still be subject to disclosure at public institutions, even if individual decisions remain protected.
--Sincerely speaking as a tired applicant on the WL.
----EDIT: I wanted to revise this (only by adding this EDIT) stating that I was wrong. About a week after writing this, Wayne State has sent some post-II rejections.