Are you optimistic about getting accepted off a waitlist?

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Doctora Foxy

Doctora Foxy

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I have noticed several posts about people asking to compare schools *just in case* they get in off the waitlists. How realistic are these comparisons? I have 5 waitlists and I honestly don't expect to get any more acceptances. What are the chances? Are you waitlistees optimistic?

<img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" /> Dra. Foxxy Cleopatra <img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" />
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eek gads, what are you doing up so late fox? we should both be in bed *sigh*
 
I'm not really very optimistic either. Of the few schools that have told me my position, I am nowhere near the top. So I just assume that the other schools have me waitlisted in similarly dismal ranks. I used to be happy just to be on a bunch of waitlists, but the more I know about where I stand on them, the more depressing they are.
 
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No. I'm thinking of it more as a bonus because I know the odds aren't that great. My frame of mind is to be really excited about school A that I'm in (I am very excited and happy) and not to expect anything from school B. If B calls, then great. If they don't, that's cool too.

I'm lucky tho that school A is my #2 choice out of the schools I applied to already so I'll be happy at either place.
 
Holy crap, 4 minutes and 4 posts in a thread at 5:24 est. heh
 
Be optimistic as all heck! I just got into duke. This is after I called this week to find out I was in the MIDDLE of the waitlist. Duke's class is only 100 people. The odds were not good at all. And here I am ...accepted.

Foxy, five waitlists is an incredible number. If schools like Duke, historically known for not accepting many off their waitlist, has begun calling already, I say your odds are excellent. Make plans to be at Finch but also keep your options open

Good luck!!!!

Bebe
 
just got in off the waitlist at university of buffalo; still waitlisted in 6 places. statistically, there is a good chance :)
 
I think you have to compare the schools ahead of time, because if you do end up pulled from the waitlist, you may have only 24 hours to make up your mind about which school to attend. I think deciding ahead of time is a good idea.
 
Sorry to ask a question that I should probably know the answer to, but what is with the 24 hour period? I am currently applying for next year application pool and I am just curious about how the waitlist works. Is it that after May 15th an applicant is only allowed to hold one acceptance for a 24 hour period? How does all the shuffling work?
 
3 waitlists.

Not optimistic at all...
 
i think that being optimistic about a waitlist depends on a couple of things. I think that it depends on WHERE you are on the waitlist. If youre near the top you have a really good shot, but if youre at the bottom, then you probably dont. I think that it also depends on how many people the particular school usually takes off the waitlist every year. Oh and it also depends on how big the waitlist. Mostly, I think it all depends on where you are on it. I have one waitlist, and I constantly go back and forth between pessimism and optimism because I have no idea where I am on it(cant find out) but I also know that they take off around 80 people a year. If only I could find out....

if youre on a lot of waitlists, that obviously gives you more probability of being accepted though despite every drawback! Good luck! :)
 
If the Adcom tells you that they expect alot of movement than you shouldn't lose hope. They wouldn't say that if they didn't believe it.
 
I was fairly optimistic until I received a rejection letter last Thursday from one of the schools I was waitlisted at. I even called the school the week before to make sure everything was in order and that they had received my new address. I tried calling the Admissions office after I received the rejection, but so far no one is willing to talk to me. What's the point in putting someone on the alternate list only to kick them off before there's any movement. :confused: I'm hoping it was a mistake, but my optimism has taken a huge downturn because now I'm down to one alternate list.
 
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i'm extremely pessimistic about getting off the waitlist...granted, i was pulled off one (out of 11 <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> ), but as luck would have it...it is not where i want to go :( i think the odds of getting off the waitlist range from poor (for high-priority lists of sorts) to practically non-existent (if you do manage to get off one, go buy a lottery ticket quickly, the odds are about the same <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> )
<img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" />
 
Yes, I'm optimistic about getting accepted off one of my waitlists. :)
 
Very optimistic about my chances at Northwestern. Maybe I'm being naive in believing the Dean when she says the waitlist is unranked, but the tour guide told us that she sent a total of four letters of intent before she was accepted off the waitlist. Also, I was told that the waitlist had a total of 100 people at the beginning and they took about 30 off of it. I'm thinking that maybe of those 100, about 15 or so withdrew before things even began, and the rest, if you are really agressive, you will get in. I certainly hope that's the case. Otherwise, I'd still be very happy with what I have so far.
 
I have to be optimistic about getting off the waitlist. It's all I got. I don't have any acceptances yet and the thought of applying again (for the third time) next year is absolutely painful (although I would re-apply). I'm on 3 waitlists and I would be ecstatic to go to any of those schools if I got in. Since I hate my job and there's no way I can do it again next year without giving myself a heart attack, I am forced to be optimistic that I will get in this year.
 
I'm sitting on four lists, a post-interview hold (which i consider the same thing), and one school still to get back to me post-interview. With each passing day, i'm losing hope. But who knows, what u least expect can certainly happen. If we didn't have any chance, we would have been rejected a long time ago.
 
It's better to be totally pessimistic about it and be surprised than holding too much hope and be totally shattered. I'm waiting one more month and then I'm going to the state school I was accepted at and work my ass off so things won't be this difficult during residency match.
 
I'm with you brickmanli.......i'm accepted at a school I'm not too keen on attending, and waitlisted at the place I REALLY, REALLY want to attend. I've been on the waitlist since January, and was really upbeat, but now things are dubious at best. I will be busting my ass in med school, so this experience has a lesser likelihood of occuring for residency match.
 
strike my last post <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
I'm going to buy a lottery ticket! :clap:
I'm off my 2nd waitlist, this time, it is where I want to go :D
 
Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!! :clap:
 
If you are on at least 4 waitlists, chances are you are bound to get into 1 :clap:
 
•••quote:•••I'm off my 2nd waitlist, this time, it is where I want to go ••••Which school would that be, Assassin?
Congrats!
 
Congrats assassin. you give me hope.
 
I'm in the same boat as a couple of others. I actually had NO acceptances, just waitlists. One of the waitlists won't even let me know where I'm at because "they don't rank their alternate list." Don't tell me they go and review the entire pile every time a spot opens!! Anyway, just to be on the safe side, I'm taking a prep course and getting ready to reapply for 2003 admission. I still have a glimmer of hope, though, in the back of my mind.
 
Some schools like Duke have very little waitlist movement.

Some schools like UCSD accept 220 for a class of 122 and waitlist 100 applicants. They will only accept people off the waitlist once the entering list has reached below 122.

Some schools like OHSU will only accept up to the class size and waitlist the rest. But movement of waitlist should be high since they are not over compensating.

So answer to foxy's question: Yes.. <img src="http://a256.g.akamai.net/7/256/5527/V001/forums.fanhome.com/images/smilies/uhh.gif" alt=" - " /> and no.

<img src="http://a256.g.akamai.net/7/256/5527/V001/forums.fanhome.com/images/smilies/smilies.gif" alt=" - " />
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Assassin:
•strike my last post <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
I'm going to buy a lottery ticket! :clap:
I'm off my 2nd waitlist, this time, it is where I want to go :D •••••Congrats assasin...how did you find out? You called/they called you???
 
Well I think we should all learn from Assassin's experience. One moment we are "extremely pessimistic" and think that we never have a chance. Then a second later it could all turn around and we are laughing about the entire situation. <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
Just cling to the thought that if you REALLY had no chance then you would have been rejected already.
 
ok, so I see some mixed feelings. How bout this: if you were accepted off of a waitlist, how many waitlists did you have total? I'm just curious about the probability of it all....

For me:

UF has little movement b/c everyone wants to go there (and 7 MS1's failed so they are taking up 7 seats :()

BU and GW interview so many people that I feel like I can't stand out on their waitlists...BUT I just called BU and they said they only have 150 people on it...too bad I'm not one of the 150 (yet :confused: )

Temple likes in-staters so I don't think I'll get off the CCL

UVM ranked me in the bottom third, prolly b/c I wrote in my practice vision that I like big cities....well I would rather go to Finch anyway :rolleyes:

So, that is why I'm pessimistic.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by johne:
•Well I think we should all learn from Assassin's experience. One moment we are "extremely pessimistic" and think that we never have a chance. Then a second later it could all turn around and we are laughing about the entire situation. <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
Just cling to the thought that if you REALLY had no chance then you would have been rejected already.•••••yep, I just ate my own words <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
but honestly, I never thought it was possible - 2 phone calls (from my waitlist schools) within a week :confused: it's like all of a sudden they decided they like me after all <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
maybe the odds really are better than I once thought; good luck to the rest! :D
 
I'm optimistically pessimistic.
 
you all should be very optimistic if you are on several waitlists; I was on 6 at this time last year and was totally bummed and pessimistic, but I got in off of 2 waitlists! I just finished my first year of med school (one important grade still pending) and am happy with where I ended up. good luck to all still waiting!

Kate
TUSM '05
 
i just got waitlisted at UIC... and no, i'm not optimistic.. 2 waitlists.. my only 2.. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by brickmanli:
•I'm optimistically pessimistic.•••••I just found your comment pretty interesting. How do you go about staying positively negative? :wink:
 
Be optimistic people. I just got off two waitlists at schools I never dreamed I would get into. It can be done. If you're really keen on a particular school, be in contact with the head honchos and let them know how set you are on that school.

Good luck and keep the faith. :)
 
I echo many of the above posters'. It's too early to say much about the waitlist movement in general yet. May 15 was only about 5 days ago...it will take a few weeks for the schools to process their waitlists to fill in the spots that have become recently available. Keep sending in updates and continue expressing your interest.
 
I am optimistic! Well, I guess that depends on the school. See, it goes a little something like this . . . .

I found out today by e-mail that I was given an admissions offer by MCV (medical college of viriginia). woo-hoo! :D It's my first, so I'm pretty hyped! I interviewed the very last day on Tuesday March 12th and was given the waitlist letter 1st week of April, I think. But I was also out-of-state. It was my FIRST interview and I thought it went pretty crappy, but I guess not!

Sorry - had to get that brief monologue out of my system.

Well, I was also waitlisted in top 1/3rd at UVM so I expect an acceptance there. I only say that because the admissions office keeps telling me that that's how the trend goes (top 1/3rd get in)

I'm also swimming around in UC San Diego's acceptable pool. More on the pessimistic side with that school, but I don't know why. I think it's because that is where I want to go with extreme passion, but since I want it so badly, then I might not get it.

Dr. Foxy, keep your head up! Good things can happen. It will just take a lot longer than we might have wanted. Personally, I would have liked to do some archaeology work in Belize again and do the cliched "backpacking across Europe," but that's not happening this summer. I know we are all bummed about certain things, but in the end everything will work out for the best. :)
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by labrynth79:
•
Well, I was also waitlisted in top 1/3rd at UVM so I expect an acceptance there. I only say that because the admissions office keeps telling me that that's how the trend goes (top 1/3rd get in)

•••••Labrynth, have you talked to uvm since 5/1??...they said the same to me(on 5/1)...but relying on trends is so disconcerting, esp knowing that NYMC only ended up taking 2 off their waitlist last year (totally unexpected, and had never happen before)...

i am v. bad at waiting....am addicted to voicemail, email, sdn, and mailbox..it is quite pathetic...

uugh...
 
I am on a waitlist at one school. My interviewer asked where else i'd interviewed, so she knows my only chance is at this school since it was my only interview. Do you think it would help to send a letter of intent to the only school considering me this application cycle, even though they know they are my only chance?
 
I'm optimistic about getting off of the waitlists. :rolleyes: I'm also optimistic that entropy will spontaneously decrease.

So optimistic, in fact, that I'm going apartment hunting already where I'm holding an acceptance...
 
This thread is very interesting. I am on seven waitlists and waiting decisions from two schools in new york (mt. sinai and albert einstein)! Talk about a pain in trying to keep all of them updated! Anyways, I have been fairly optimistic that I would get in but as the days go by my hopes are dwindiling-especially as I hear about others getting accepted off of waitlists on SDN. I don't know what to think because on most of the waitlists I am on they are unranked. However, I am waitlisted No. 2 at one school and am pretty sure I will get in so I will accept their offer, although it is still not that much of an improvement over my current situation (more money, but better reputation.) I think I'll be optimistic until the first week of June-after that just scared out of my mind!!
 
My mind changes every day.

Sometimes I think that I will get in and sometimes I can't believe that I have no acceptances.

I am waitslisted at Pritzker of course. They're waitlist has 120 people and they take about 20 so I don't know. My chances may not be too bad.

I am also waitlisted at Emory but they have a huge waitlist, so I am not counting on Emory.

Keep hope alive.
 
Regarding waitlists, I'm curious as to why they don't all move a little bit after May 15, when the bulk of withdrawals come in (with a little time for the admissions office to process paperwork, etc. factored in)

Afterwards, it should only be a slow trickle, with most of the withdrawals coming only when the person is pulled off a waitlist at another school, thereby vacating a spot at his original school.

But it seems that most waitlists don't really move until June or July... So I guess schools just like to take their sweet time to figure out who to give the spots that were returned on May15?
 
I think Matthew hit the nail on the head when he wrote "take their sweet time." They do whatever they please without any penalty. Doing nothing is easier so that is what they do, who cares about the applicants' stress/anxiety.
 
From a waitlist veteran who got in....

Hang in there, guys. It's REALLY early yet. The May 15 deadline is actually kind of soft. I knew people who were still waiting to hear about financial aid awards, who simply could not decide between acceptances until they knew which school was going to give them more FA. Admissions Offices gave them leeway for that; obviously if that school's FA office was the one holding up the works, the admissions folks couldn't very well ditch someone while they tried to figure out their financial picture.

I also think the numbers are REALLY in your favor this year. You know that the overall number of candidates went down this year. That's a trend that's gone on for the past few years now. However, schools have established a "formula" of # of acceptances to offer vs. # of slots in a class, and I am willing to bet you that they haven't changed their formulas even with lower #s of applications. To me, it just seems logical that there will be more people pulled off waitlists this year.

My advice to all of you is to TRY and figure that you won't hear from anyone until June. That way if you get the call sooner you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Oh, and someone mentioned a 24-hour rule: this may vary by schools, I don't know, but it doesn't sound very practical or likely. Schools know that you all are in this position, and they are not going to be unreasonable in what they expect of you. I recommend honesty: when you get the call, TELL THEM that you've got other waitlist spots and ask them what is their policy regarding a commitment date. For me, it was easy - the $3K deposit for GWU was non-refundable after July 1 so when I hadn't gotten off another waitlist by then, that sealed the deal.

Rx for waitlist anxiety: 12 oz. cold beer, repeat prn. :D
 
I don't understand why everyone thinks that they will hear as early as May. The waitlist process can stretch throughout the entire summer. Many people find out just before classes start. I'm not going to start worrying until mid-August.
Am I wrong in assuming this?
 
I am on 5 waitlists also and am positively negative about my chances. Anyways, getting back to fill out AMCAS 2003 again.
 
Anyone know why many schools who do have ranked wait-lists won't reveal your position on that waitlist?
 
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