Do medical schools know about waitlists in previous cycles?

[yeetus]

I know for a fact that if you apply another cycle, all medical schools will know that you have been previously accepted(and reapplying would be a foolish thing to do as you should take the acceptance!) or not.

But do medical schools know about people who were on a waitlist in another school and ultimately rejected in that cycle? Or is that only known between the applicant and the specific med school in question?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[wysdoc]

Only the school that placed you on a Wait List would know that information.
But, if you made it to their WL that is a better sign than being rejected completely, and I would not hesitate to apply to that school again.
Be sure to feature what has improved in your application since last year.

 

[SooConfused]

Only the school that placed you on a Wait List would know that information.
But, if you made it to their WL that is a better sign than being rejected completely, and I would not hesitate to apply to that school again.
Be sure to feature what has improved in your application since last year.

Actually, WL information is communicated to AMCAS through the CYMS tool, so AMCAS would know, but they do not share this information with schools.

Bottom line -- there are certain "tells," such as the date you took the MCAT, who is writing LORs and when you engaged in the related activities, when you graduated, even what your AAMC ID number is, etc., that provide strong clues as to whether you were an applicant in a prior cycle.

In general, schools don't care, unless you previously applied to their school, in which case, as @wysdoc said, you need to show improvement. Otherwise, schools don't know or care whether or not you were straight rejected by other schools in other cycles, not taken off their WLs, or never even applied.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Wait... Applicant access to CYMS only comes to those who get offers, not to waitlisted applicants. Ditto all other CAS processes. So no school will know where you got waitlisted. There may be ways that a CAS compiles waitlisted students if that is shared with the CAS but that could be for end of cycle reports.

 

[SooConfused]

Wait... Applicsnt access to CYMS only comes to those who get offers, not to waitlisted applicants. Ditto all other CAS processes. So no school will know where you got waitlisted. There may be ways that a CAS compiles waitlisted students if that is shared with the CAS but that could be for end of cycle reports.

All true! I was just saying that WLs are reported to AMCAS, in real time, just like acceptances, so they know about them. WLs are not just between the applicant and the school.

OP stated that they "know for a fact" that medical schools know about other acceptances in a prior cycle. That is untrue, which is why many schools ask that specific question on their secondaries. AMCAS knows all, but shares nothing specific with other schools related to a particular applicant, other than where they matriculated, as you suggest, at the very end of the cycle.