Current Med Students: Tell us about your waitlist success story
Started by DrPain
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Sorry, someone without "Dr." in their username had to post.
i got a ton i know personally about some people... not close friends, but definitely people that have come and gone in my life... like a kaplan instructor who told the class his story, and a med student who told me his story during his rotation... ill post a new reply.. since it'll be long
in my last two years, i've had the pleasure of knowing 2 extraordinary people who were very very determined to become doctors....
1. he graduated from harvard about a decade ago and in fact, he played football for them. he was the center. very big guy and spend his harvard education partying it up with the boston girls. in the end, his GPA suffered... graduated with a 2.7 CUM. he actually wanted to go to the NFL, but was sidelined with dual knee injuries. but he really wanted to become a doctor because of his sports physician for the football team.
he took the mcat during his junior year and pulled out a 25. and with a 2.7 gpa, he got rejected from every single school he applied to. so he did a masters program and earned a 3.8 there. then he took another year off to study for the mcat.... he got a 36!!! in the meantime, he met his wife and started reapplying to med school. he got waitlisted pretty much everywhere. but in july, he got off the waitlist at his top choice... which was his state school in ohio. now he is doing his residency, 2nd year, at UPMC presbyterian hospital... and he is happily married and they just bought a house.
2. i met this other dude while doing a preceptorship program for UPitt School of Medicine. this guy went to a community college and then dropped out after 2 years. he was just so sick of studying and just wanted to party. he married his long time girlfriend right after he dropped out of college. since he didnt have a college degree, he bounced between jobs for about 2 years.... as a bus driver, janitor, and some other jobs i don't remember. but i know it was **** and he hated it. so he went back to school, but this time, he enrolled into university of maryland. he finished off college with a 3.7 gpa.. he then took the mcat and got a 33. then he started applying to med school... got a lot of waitlists, but in the end, pitt school of medicine took him off the waitlist. i met him when he was a 3rd year med student.. doing rotations. very geniuine nice guy..
both will be exceptional doctors.
1. he graduated from harvard about a decade ago and in fact, he played football for them. he was the center. very big guy and spend his harvard education partying it up with the boston girls. in the end, his GPA suffered... graduated with a 2.7 CUM. he actually wanted to go to the NFL, but was sidelined with dual knee injuries. but he really wanted to become a doctor because of his sports physician for the football team.
he took the mcat during his junior year and pulled out a 25. and with a 2.7 gpa, he got rejected from every single school he applied to. so he did a masters program and earned a 3.8 there. then he took another year off to study for the mcat.... he got a 36!!! in the meantime, he met his wife and started reapplying to med school. he got waitlisted pretty much everywhere. but in july, he got off the waitlist at his top choice... which was his state school in ohio. now he is doing his residency, 2nd year, at UPMC presbyterian hospital... and he is happily married and they just bought a house.
2. i met this other dude while doing a preceptorship program for UPitt School of Medicine. this guy went to a community college and then dropped out after 2 years. he was just so sick of studying and just wanted to party. he married his long time girlfriend right after he dropped out of college. since he didnt have a college degree, he bounced between jobs for about 2 years.... as a bus driver, janitor, and some other jobs i don't remember. but i know it was **** and he hated it. so he went back to school, but this time, he enrolled into university of maryland. he finished off college with a 3.7 gpa.. he then took the mcat and got a 33. then he started applying to med school... got a lot of waitlists, but in the end, pitt school of medicine took him off the waitlist. i met him when he was a 3rd year med student.. doing rotations. very geniuine nice guy..
both will be exceptional doctors.
DrPain said:
School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Where: Unranked list
When: Put on the list 10/20 and was accepted 5/15
What: Not a damn thing, I turned them down with a nasty e-mail. Waitlisted for 6 months at my state school w/ a 4.0 in chemical engineering and a 30+ MCAT! WTF? I went to another school on the east coast for free.
).School: Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)
Rank: unranked (at least they wouldn't tell me my rank)
Dates: Put on in March - Accepted the day before orientation in August
What I did: A friend of mine who graduated 1st in his class @ PCOM & knew the admissions director well gave her a call.
Outcome: Turned them down b/c I had already been at another school for a week and already started exams.
Rank: unranked (at least they wouldn't tell me my rank)
Dates: Put on in March - Accepted the day before orientation in August
What I did: A friend of mine who graduated 1st in his class @ PCOM & knew the admissions director well gave her a call.
Outcome: Turned them down b/c I had already been at another school for a week and already started exams.
I don't know about y'all, but unless I hadn't gotten into *any* schools, I'd turn down Harvard/UCSF/Mayo/(insert everyone's favorite school here) - *any* school with the gall to accept me a day before ORIENTATION at the school. That's so incredibly arrogant of the school (not to mention next to impossible, logistically, for the accepted student to re-arrange his/her life and get to the school in time).
Glad some of y'all above felt the same way.
Glad some of y'all above felt the same way.
To take the other point of view, it is not really arrogant of the other school, it is just that a position became available. Since schools start at different times, they may not know that you are already started at your school. I don't know the ethics of withdrawing from a school that has already begun (will they let someone else in?), but four years of your time is a long time, and if you would rather be somewhere else, I would take it. It may be humbly, but you have to look at the long term.
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I'll tell you a few stories from my friends who went through this process in the start of summer 2004 and whom are now finishing MS I this spring.
One friend was a non-native English speaker, so he took the MCAT after sophomore year and got a 25. Took it again in April, and again in august 04 but couldn't could get much higher due to VR. He applied to several schools and got an interview from the state school on last day of interview season. Despite having the last interview at a rolling admissions school, he was able to get and got in 2 days post May 15th date.
Another guy, in the same class, had great stats but was waitlisted at the state school til about late June and finally got in like late June.
A nontrad student, now at another st. school, was an attorney prior to medicine. He was waitlisted at this particular school til about 4 days before classes started for the med students when he got the call for acceptance.
The other waitlist stories aren't as dramatic, because the people had decent stats and got in like late April.
One friend was a non-native English speaker, so he took the MCAT after sophomore year and got a 25. Took it again in April, and again in august 04 but couldn't could get much higher due to VR. He applied to several schools and got an interview from the state school on last day of interview season. Despite having the last interview at a rolling admissions school, he was able to get and got in 2 days post May 15th date.
Another guy, in the same class, had great stats but was waitlisted at the state school til about late June and finally got in like late June.
A nontrad student, now at another st. school, was an attorney prior to medicine. He was waitlisted at this particular school til about 4 days before classes started for the med students when he got the call for acceptance.
The other waitlist stories aren't as dramatic, because the people had decent stats and got in like late April.
Rafa said:
Not arrogant at all. If you want to blame someone, blame the student that held onto the acceptance and waited til the last minute. It is not the school who figures out when a person will withdraw. The school's only real position is to have to fill their whole class.
Its not very uncommon for people to get accepted like a week after school's begun somewhere else. it happens all the time. Sometimes people fly have to fly out the very next day and stay at a hotel or with a student until they they can figure something out. It is just a crapshoot random process. Sometimes these are the way things work out.
hildaluc said:
Yeah i thought there was an AAMC rule against this.
hildaluc said:
I'm not sure. Then maybe those people who got accepted during the first week of class were people who were not accepted elsewhere.
At any rate, I was just pointing out that acceptances do go out even after the first week of classes starts in some rare cases.
- Worked 40 hours a week to put myself through undergrad
- achieved a 2.75 Cum- (I just didnt know what I wanted to do)
- Took 3 Research projects in 3 years.
- Realized I could be a good doctor.
- Started a Master's Program. Ended up with a 3.5
- Took the April MCAT and scored a 31.
- Went to my undergrad's preprofessional committee interview and was told "I've never seen a student with your GPA get in- You have no chance."
- Applied to School and received PSU's annoying "Continue to Review" letter.
- Asked another advisor to write a letter of recommendation and wrote an update letter.
- Unbeknowst to me, the advisor made a phone call and the next thing I knew I had an interview.
- At the interview was told by both the Dean (my first interviewer) and my 2nd interviewer- that I had the lowest GPA they had ever seen, and that basically I should try for PA school. I told them if I didnt get in, I would just reapply next year.
- Was accepted a month later.
- Am currently on Spring Break of MS1.
And that story of being accepted the day before classes start is totally true- I know of somebody accepted the day classes started.
- achieved a 2.75 Cum- (I just didnt know what I wanted to do)
- Took 3 Research projects in 3 years.
- Realized I could be a good doctor.
- Started a Master's Program. Ended up with a 3.5
- Took the April MCAT and scored a 31.
- Went to my undergrad's preprofessional committee interview and was told "I've never seen a student with your GPA get in- You have no chance."
- Applied to School and received PSU's annoying "Continue to Review" letter.
- Asked another advisor to write a letter of recommendation and wrote an update letter.
- Unbeknowst to me, the advisor made a phone call and the next thing I knew I had an interview.
- At the interview was told by both the Dean (my first interviewer) and my 2nd interviewer- that I had the lowest GPA they had ever seen, and that basically I should try for PA school. I told them if I didnt get in, I would just reapply next year.
- Was accepted a month later.
- Am currently on Spring Break of MS1.
And that story of being accepted the day before classes start is totally true- I know of somebody accepted the day classes started.
LionKing said:
Wow that's real inspirational. I was once told by an adcom that if asked what you'll do if you don't get in, the response should be that you'll try to improve your application and reapply. They like to see that, and not a person who'd give up and look the other way to something else because it shows dedication to them.
gujuDoc said:
That's exactly what they wanna hear- That is actually what I said "Identify the weaknesses in my app, fix them to the best of my ability, and reapply next year." Sorry I kinda edited it down. And another typo- the Dean told me to apply to DO school not PA- Sorry.
-Wake Forest University
-Bottom of top 1/3 of waitlist (around 75-90 out of 300 or so)
-I actually met with admissions in order to find out what to do to strengthen my application. They basically told me I wouldn't get in this year.
-Interviewed around the end of Feb., waitlisted early March.
-So I worked in a lab for 6 months, and in Feb. moved out west.
-Waitlisted at a couple schools, no acceptances.
-Rejected from back up programs. Post bacs.
-Received a call from Wake on June 25th to see if I was "still interested", because I was next on the list, and a guy was withdrawing the next day.
-Accepted June 27th, classes started July 25th.
So, hang in there everyone. Meeting with them in person may have helped, but who knows. I wrote one letter to them in March, but didn't have much to update them on.
Good luck everyone!
-Bottom of top 1/3 of waitlist (around 75-90 out of 300 or so)
-I actually met with admissions in order to find out what to do to strengthen my application. They basically told me I wouldn't get in this year.
-Interviewed around the end of Feb., waitlisted early March.
-So I worked in a lab for 6 months, and in Feb. moved out west.
-Waitlisted at a couple schools, no acceptances.
-Rejected from back up programs. Post bacs.
-Received a call from Wake on June 25th to see if I was "still interested", because I was next on the list, and a guy was withdrawing the next day.
-Accepted June 27th, classes started July 25th.
So, hang in there everyone. Meeting with them in person may have helped, but who knows. I wrote one letter to them in March, but didn't have much to update them on.
Good luck everyone!
I don't have an inspirational story (not yet anyway) but since one should withdraw from waitlists at the time they know they will not attend that school even if offered a position (whether because of acceptance to a preferred school or having passed a personally determined "critical mass" timepoint) I don't really think we can fault a school for calling the next person on their list even if it is the day before classes. If you didn't withdraw, how do they know you're not still interested? They're just trying to fill their class after being left in the lurch by some other applicant.
Run on sentences. Oops. Oh well.
Run on sentences. Oops. Oh well.
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I work with an MD/PhD student and told me that the year he entered (OHSU, 2001?) one of his classmates was called on the first day of orientation and found out that she had been accepted. I guess a girl that was originally accepted died in an accident the weekend before school started, so at the last minute they had a space to fill..... tragic, but true.
Last year, I got off of of two waitlists: Columbia (5/16) and Yale (5/17). I wrote follow up letters after being waitlisted and also called the admissions office. I am at Yale now, and so very very happy. Good luck guys- waitlists are very real. Many of my classmates are from the waitlist with the last one being accepted on August 10th. 
