"Alternate" List

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norcaldds

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Hey guys, im new here and i just wanted some feedback. i just reiceved a letter from nova stating that im on thier alternaive list, what does that mean? is that bad news, good news? like is it a nice way of nova telling students thier rejected? i dunno im just really down right now because i felt my interview went very well and etc...
any advice before my brakdown?
thanks

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usually alternate lists mean that they think they have enough acceptances sent out before you to fill their class, but if more people than they expected choose to go elsewhere, or send their deposit but then change their mind and don't enroll, then you would be one of their top choices to fill the seats. basically it is like you just missed the 'accepted' cut, probably by less than 100 applicants. for what that's worth.

if people wanted, we could make this the "official alternate list thread" :p
 
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yes yes..interested in your stats ::salivates in surprise and euphoric envy of all accepted::
 
dexadental said:
yes yes..interested in your stats ::salivates in surprise and euphoric envy of all accepted::

3.0 undergrad, 3.85 grad school; 19's across the boards and 22 ochem
 
When did you have your interview, if you don't mind? These are good stats. I'm sure you'll get in this year, if not at Nova than somewhere else. 1st thing I'd do is call Nova and find out exactly where you stand, and what all this means for you. I'm sure that more than half of the people who get accepted to any one school end up not going there. So don't panic yet, it's not a rejection. Also, I don't think it means that they already sent out enough acceptances to fill their class. What if more people than they expected decide to go there? I would think that so far they just sent out the first 105. I could be wrong though. Either way, good luck
 
anya14 said:
When did you have your interview, if you don't mind? These are good stats. I'm sure you'll get in this year, if not at Nova than somewhere else. 1st thing I'd do is call Nova and find out exactly where you stand, and what all this means to you. I'm sure that more than half of the people who get accepted to any one school end up not going there. So don't panic yet, it's not a rejection. Also, I don't think it means that they already sent out enough acceptances to fill their class. What if more people than they expected decide to go there? I would think that so far they just sent out the first 105. I could be wrong though. Either way, good luck

hey thanks, i got my interview in early october. the interview really seemed like a formality and they really didnt seem to ask me that many relevant questions. also the interview was like 10 minutes long. so i figure that they had already made thier decision of me befoe i even walked into the door. i dunno im still waiting on another school now, but i really liked my chances here, okay well im over it... okay im not !
 
WOW!! Alternate list notifications already??? Does that mean everyone that's interviewing in the next couple of months in the same boat... competing for alt spots???
 
boogaking said:
WOW!! Alternate list notifications already??? Does that mean everyone that's interviewing in the next couple of months in the same boat... competing for alt spots???

i know, that was really quick.
has anyone else been placed on an alternate list yet? or is it just me?
 
CWRU is interviewing for alternate spots starting in March. I'm one of them, but don't get your head down.
 
boogaking said:
WOW!! Alternate list notifications already??? Does that mean everyone that's interviewing in the next couple of months in the same boat... competing for alt spots???

No, that does not mean that everyone interview in the near future is for the alternate list! There are plenty of open seats left. When you interview at Nova, you will either be accepted, denied, or waitlisted. Since Nova receive 2000+ applicants and interviews 1000+ for 105 seats, we can't fill our seats right away. There are plenty of over qualified applicants who don't apply until late. Therefore, those who interviewed before 12/1/04, not all of you received an acceptance letter. Remember, rolling admission does not mean early interviews equal acceptances. All it is, is that if you applied early, your chances of being interviewed is greater since your completed application was reviewed before others.
 
norcaldds said:
hey thanks, i got my interview in early october. the interview really seemed like a formality and they really didnt seem to ask me that many relevant questions. also the interview was like 10 minutes long. so i figure that they had already made thier decision of me befoe i even walked into the door. i dunno im still waiting on another school now, but i really liked my chances here, okay well im over it... okay im not !

If your interview was only 10 minutes long, then there is your potential acceptance killer. I always tell applicants, although not a law, but rule of thumb, your interview at Nova here should be more than 20 minutes in length. If your interview is only 10 minutes long, then that means you as a applicant bored the heck out of the interviewers or that you were not very talkative in answer or asking questions.

At Nova here, your interview should be 20 - 30 minutes of chatting to your interviewers like they're your family members at a family reunion. Chat and shoot the sh1ts with them. You should be smiling, laughing and having fun. Any dead air or "silences" are bad signs. I believe your numbers are fine, but unfortunately, the interviewers must not see you as outgoing or interesting if your interview was only 10 minutes long. In the years that I've been interacting with the admissions personal here at Nova, everyone's interview that lasted 10 minutes or less had a negative outcome.

Listen bud, not to cause you any more stress or discourage you, but we hardly move our waitlist. Each year, we only remove around 10 applicants off our waitlist out of 200+ applicants on that list. Other characteristics of Nova's waitlist:

1) there are no rankings like who's next off the list and who's second...
2) you won't find out if you're in or not until the end of March 2005 when all applicants have been interviewed (meaning Nova adcoms will not even look at the waitlist until everyone has been interviewed in late March 2005)

Good luck and you never know!
 
norcaldds

I'm in the same boat :( ... just got back home and found an envelope from NOVA stating that I have been placed on their Alternate List. It totaly crashed my day :(

For those interested, here's my stats:
18/19/20
Sci GPA 3.30
flawless resume, over 200 hours of shadowing, published research...

P.S. My interview was over 45 minutes long without a single second of silence. As the matter of fact, after that interview I got more confident of my acceptance at NOVA :oops:
 
DDS2BE said:
norcaldds

I'm in the same boat :( ... just got back home and found an envelope from NOVA stating that I have been placed on their Alternate List. It totaly crashed my day :(

For those interested, here's my stats:
18/19/20
Sci GPA 3.30
flawless resume, over 200 hours of shadowing, published research...

P.S. My interview was over 45 minutes long without a single second of silence. As the matter of fact, after that interview I got more confident of my acceptance at NOVA :oops:

yeah i just got word from one of my buddies that had an interview there too and he was placed on the alernate list as well. his stats are similar to mine AND his interview was like 25 minuites long. after his interview he felt very confident as well as i of being accepted. its wierd but i think the admissions committee made thier decision before the interviews. taking those with the highest gpa's and dat's regardless of how well the interview went. well thats just my opinion and i HOPE im wrong.

But hey what can you do? just hope!
 
Yah-E said:
Remember, rolling admission does not mean early interviews equal acceptances.

THANKS for saying this - it gives hope to those of us who sent in our apps later than the rest. while you all are anxiously waiting for december 1, i'm sitting here happy that my stupid app is finally in the hands of adcoms and not floating around the aadsas office anymore. i'm trying to stay sane while i wait, and wait, and wait....
 
jessUMD said:
THANKS for saying this - it gives hope to those of us who sent in our apps later than the rest. while you all are anxiously waiting for december 1, i'm sitting here happy that my stupid app is finally in the hands of adcoms and not floating around the aadsas office anymore. i'm trying to stay sane while i wait, and wait, and wait....
Same here.
 
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