Connections

[bridgie]

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Members don't see this ad.

I feel like at this point in the game, when it seems almost everyone is on a waitlist or two, that people are starting to pull out the big guns and having their connections call up the ad coms or something.

I was wondering, under the anonymity of cyberspace, if people would share what kind of connections they are pulling in. I was wondering what was going on behind the scenes...

 

[SunnyS81]

I'm pulling out my fax machine line and sending withdrawls. Considering the highest ranking school (and I also liked best) accepted me, and lower ranking schools (Vandy, UAB, Georgetown) waitlisted me. Who said this process wasn't random?

 

[Gumshoe]

Bridge, PM me with more specifics, maybe we'll learn something from one another

gumshoe

 

[PMED99]

I dont think that there is much you can do once you are on a waitlist but wait. I wrote the schools I am waitlisted at, and thats about it.

If anyone has any advice for being on waitlists, please pm me or post here.

But, as far as connections go, I just choose the best people for my recs, but I made sure that they knew me very well and wanted to write a good rec.

Just my 2 cents

 

[weirdo700]

There are moments of despair when I ponder emailing the CEO of my company to write me a letter of rec or call up one of the schools I have not heard from post-interview, since he is an ex-medical school faculty member, founded our company, and seems to have a reputable name in the field. However, I always sit back and remember that I have never spoken to him and he is definitely not the best person to give an evaluation of me. If anyone, I might approach the director of my group (also a grad of the school, but no affiliation to the medical school), because I work closely with him. He actually helped me get an interview at a reputable med school, cuz he knew the dean. Sounds shady but he is the one that offered and I'm pretty sure most people would have taken the offer if they were in my shoes.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

One of my professors has strong connections to the med school at my university, and in past years he has made phone calls on behalf of waitlisted students. The med school admissions people always fuss at him when he does it, but then they let the student in, so of course he keeps doing it. He offered the same for me, but I had gotten into a preferred school.

I called a professor at U Chicago to discuss his research, as I was trying to decide if I wanted to stay on the WL. Without my asking, he called the admissions office to "give them a nudge." I don't know whether it would have helped, though, as I got into a preferred school not too long afterwards and wound up withdrawing from Chicago.

I know it doesn't seem fair, but if you have a connection, use it. This sort of thing happens all the time. I imagine, though, that a strong update letter or letter of intent can get you just as far or farther.

If you feel like you hit it off with your interviewer, you might try contacting him or her. Your interviewer also might be willing to discuss your chances of getting off the WL and might be able to work some magic with the committee.

 

[zer0el]

a person i know has mad connections at USC. in fact, he found out i got into USC before i even got the letter. apparently, he was talking with a member of the adcom and asked about my application, and that member told him that i was gonna get in. lo and behold, a couple days letter i get the packet. i had mixed feelings; i was pissed cuz that adcom member was telling him info about my app, but at the same time, i was ecstatic to hear that i got in. i dunno, it was weird.

 

[DoubleDoctor]

My PI knew I was accepted about a week before I found out but he didn't tell me. He said he thought it would be more exciting for me to get the letter and get to go through the process of opening it (the angst and worry🙂.