Do schools waitlist overqualified applicants?

[natler]

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[gyngyn]

No. This would be the opposite of good strategy for a state school. Accepting your best applicants early is central to this process. One hopes that the lure of low tuition will keep them from attending the rest of their interviews.

 

[tantacles]

I was recently waitlisted by my state school even though my stats are much higher than its averages and my interviews went well (in my opinion). I really liked the school when I visited and I do not think I gave any impression that it might be a safety. I am wondering if I may have nevertheless been waitlisted because the admissions committee believes I would not seriously consider matriculating based on the fact that my stats make me competitive at higher-ranked schools. Do you know if medical schools ever do this? If it turns out that they do not, then I would really start to panic and worry that I am doing something terribly wrong in my interviews.

Thanks!

It's unlikely. If your statistics are in order and a school feels you're a good match for its class based on your interviews, they typically accept you. Not being accepted doesn't necessarily mean you did poorly on your interviews, but that is one of the possibilities. In addition, it's possible that your goals do not coincide with the school's mission.

Myriad factors go into an admissions decision, so don't take it too personally.

 

[gyngyn]

Myriad factors go into an admissions decision, so don't take it too personally.

True.

 

[yehhhboiii]

yeah i bet they do because if there's anything medical schools hate, it's people who would succeed at their school

 

[Reckoner]

yeah i bet they do because if there's anything medical schools hate, it's people who would succeed at their school

I lol'd

 

[Dr Feelgreat]

It's unlikely. If your statistics are in order and a school feels you're a good match for its class based on your interviews, they typically accept you. Not being accepted doesn't necessarily mean you did poorly on your interviews, but that is one of the possibilities. In addition, it's possible that your goals do not coincide with the school's mission.

Myriad factors go into an admissions decision, so don't take it too personally.

I agree with everything tantacles said.

However, I have actually heard of a small number of schools rejecting or wait-listing applicants they consider to have applications so strong that they are unlikely to matriculate. Their motivation here would be to enhance their matriculation rate, the percentage of accepted applicants who ultimately choose to attend. A higher matriculation rate supposedly makes the school appear more desirable.

One of my two sources for this information was my university's premedical advisor, for whatever that's worth. She gave good advise in other situations. That being said, I have only heard of two programs known to do this, so I would guess this happens rarely, if at all.

Also, waitlists are used very differently at different schools. One of my state schools admits around half their class off the waitlist most years; in recent history, no one originally placed on their top tier waitlist has ultimately not been accepted. Another, private medical school comes to mind which waitlists almost all interviewees, and then accepts off this waitlist based on letters of interest written later.

If you're curious about why you were waitlisted, it wouldn't be unheard of or unreasonable to call or write and ask. The school may give you helpful information useful for future interview preparation. The communication itself might be good practice for talking to admissions committees in the months to come, which you may want to do for any number of reasons. If you consider the school a "safety," the real downside of asking seems fairly small. Given waitlist differences between schools and because you mention your stats are well above average for an allopathic medical school, my best advice would be to relax a bit, do your best on interviews and followup, and enjoy the process! I hope this helped.

Good luck!

 

[deleted480308]

It's medical school, how overqualified can someone possibly be for medical school?

 

[deleted393595]

It's medical school, how overqualified can someone possibly be for medical school?

Google William Hwang...

 

[Ansar]

yeah i bet they do because if there's anything medical schools hate, it's people who would succeed at their school

I love you

 

[psswrd]

.

 

[Goro]

Only those who bomb their interviews.

 

[futuremddo]

This is an interesting question. For example, I know somebody who has two Ivy League degrees who, from what I can piece together, has a 3.4ish GPA. He would be happy to go to any MD school in the country, but is concerned that State School X or Random Mid/Low-Tier Private School Y will look at the Harvard and Yale on his app and say "this guy will never attend this school anyway," and toss the app in the trash.

I would say if you were invited to an interview, I'm not sure overqualification or perceived overqualification would waitlist you, but I wonder if it could be a factor in not getting iis.

 

[KindofBlue]

I agree with everything tantacles said.
..............

Also, waitlists are used very differently at different schools. One of my state schools admits around half their class off the waitlist most years; in recent history, no one originally placed on their top tier waitlist has ultimately not been accepted. Another, private medical school comes to mind which waitlists almost all interviewees, and then accepts off this waitlist based on letters of interest written later.
................

Good luck!

Care to share exactly which school the bolded is? As long is it's not confidential or anything..
Damn, might have to start writing letters now... when will the writing end..??!!

 

[dsoz]

Care to share exactly which school the bolded is? As long is it's not confidential or anything..
Damn, might have to start writing letters now... when will the writing end..??!!

My impression is that it is Vermont. I have heard this about them. But I don't know because I never even got to the interview stage there. But it is okay, because so far I am happy where I landed.

dsoz

 

[NickNaylor]

Care to share exactly which school the bolded is? As long is it's not confidential or anything..
Damn, might have to start writing letters now... when will the writing end..??!!

dsoz mentioned Vermont, but this seems highly typical of both Georgetown and Boston. I forgot which, but at one of those schools it is essentially a requirement that you send in a letter to get an acceptance.

 

[volcomx]

dsoz mentioned Vermont, but this seems highly typical of both Georgetown and Boston. I forgot which, but at one of those schools it is essentially a requirement that you send in a letter to get an acceptance.

It seems like Wash U does this at well to a certain extent, according to many of the MS1s

 

[volcomx]

yeah i bet they do because if there's anything medical schools hate, it's people who would succeed at their school

I have a few friends who were waitlisted/rejected post interview at their state schools and other "lower tier" med schools, only to end up with full tuition scholarships to top 20 schools. I find it hard to believe that disparities in their interviews could account for that. Then again, I'm not sure why a school would spend resources interviewing someone if they already knew the applicant would choose a higher tier school.

 

[yehhhboiii]

I have a few friends who were waitlisted/rejected post interview at their state schools and other "lower tier" med schools, only to end up with full tuition scholarships to top 20 schools. I find it hard to believe that disparities in their interviews could account for that. Then again, I'm not sure why a school would spend resources interviewing someone if they already knew the applicant would choose a higher tier school.

i can. an applicant that thinks they're overqualified for a school would probably be less enthusiastic about a school and it definitely shows. also people with high stats might not be the most socially competent. not everyone can be richard feynman

 

[volcomx]

i can. an applicant that thinks they're overqualified for a school would probably be less enthusiastic about a school and it definitely shows. also people with high stats might not be the most socially competent. not everyone can be richard feynman

It's crazy that enthusiasm can be the difference between a 200k scholarship and a rejection, but I understand your point. I know them pretty well - they aren't socially incompetent. And if they were in an interview setting, I doubt they would have gotten full rides to top schools.

 

[darkjedi]

From my limited anecdotal experience personally and through friends, it does seem to be the case. While 'match of mission' may be part of it, it seems to me that yield protection is a stronger factor. The schools that seem to be the most notorious for it, such as BU and GWU, also tend to be the most applied to, so it makes sense why they would need to be selective in their choice of candidates. I do think that this is potentially overcome if you express genuine interest in the school however.

 

[dcc23]

I think the most likely scenario here is when you have multiple state schools, and the lesser of the two knows you are very likely going to attend the other. I have seen this before, and I'm convinced qualified applicants were turned away because of their numbers.

 

[volcomx]

SUNY Buffalo straight up told us that they waitlist about 80% of their interviewees. They then accept about 50% off the waitlist later in spring. I'm guessing they do this because only candidates seriously interested in Buffalo will still be on the waitlist come spring. People accepted to other schools that they would rather attend would withdraw.

 

[BlueLabel]

So to summarize, the consensus is that yield protection is purely a myth?

 

[dcc23]

So to summarize, the consensus is that yield protection is purely a myth?

Maybe from others, but not IMO.

 

[mcloaf]

So to summarize, the consensus is that yield protection is purely a myth?

Depends on who you ask and probably varies between schools.

There are far too many unknowns from the applicant's side of things to know if schools turned you down for being "overqualified" or any other of the hundreds of reasons they might not have been interested. The only way to know for sure would be to have somebody on the Adcom say it to your face.


Edit: I believe it exists.

 

[darkjedi]

So to summarize, the consensus is that yield protection is purely a myth?

I think the consensus is that yield protection is not a myth at some institutions.

 

[ANATOMYgirl22]

deleted.

 

[jazzfanzz]

Definitely it exists. The worst scenario is that you are in between “Too Good” for some schools and “Not Good Enough” for some other schools. Without interview invites, you even have no chance to say “I love you” to a medical school.

 

[487806]

I think the most likely scenario here is when you have multiple state schools, and the lesser of the two knows you are very likely going to attend the other. I have seen this before, and I'm convinced qualified applicants were turned away because of their numbers.

I agree with this to some extent. However, if a strong applicant views a school as a safety and their essays reflect it, the school will know and reject them as such.

This is why 4.0/40+ get rejected from DO schools.

 

[BlueLabel]

I think the consensus is that yield protection is not a myth at some institutions.

Great, haha I'm certainly not complaining

 

[solitarius]

My state school routinely rejects a lot of high-stats in-state candidates pre- and post-interview. And I know the state school in the next state over has a reputation for doing the same.

So....

 

[dcc23]

I agree with this to some extent. However, if a strong applicant views a school as a safety and their essays reflect it, the school will know and reject them as such.

This is why 4.0/40+ get rejected from DO schools.

Yeah, there's definitely other reasons why top applicants don't get in to "safety" schools, but I do believe this is sometimes one of those reasons.

 

[yehhhboiii]

So to summarize, the consensus is that yield protection is purely a myth?

i'm not saying that yield protection is a myth
it definitely exists and schools keep an eye on how many people they accept vs how many choose to attend
what i am saying that if a school likes you enough, you'll probably get a nod
people look different on paper and in person. so if you show little interest in the school, can't demonstrate that you are actually interested in being a doctor, etc. they probably won't be too crazy about giving you a spot when there are plenty of great applicants out there

 

[solitarius]

i'm not saying that yield protection is a myth
it definitely exists and schools keep an eye on how many people they accept vs how many choose to attend
what i am saying that if a school likes you enough, you'll probably get a nod
people look different on paper and in person. so if you show little interest in the school, can't demonstrate that you are actually interested in being a doctor, etc. they probably won't be too crazy about giving you a spot when there are plenty of great applicants out there

Yield protection has to be a factor for a lot of schools. They probably have a long history of knowing the type of candidates they can get to matriculate. The Texas schools probably enroll a lot of top in-state candidates on the cost factor alone, while a state school with more expensive tuition cannot. And the UCs routinely matriculate top-tier candidates. So... the state school experience probably varies and cannot be generalized.

For my state, I think it's likely a mismatch between applicant and school mission. My state school is driven by primary care, and a superstar applicant is likely to want to pursue a top-end specialty in private practice or a research career. And they probably haven't had much success in matriculating those type of candidates in the past.

 

[ANATOMYgirl22]

This thread came at the worst time. Waiting to hear back from a state school tomorrow and now I'm sure I'll get rejected . Why do I let myself continue to go on SDN during app season

 

[NickNaylor]

...a superstar applicant is likely to want to pursue a top-end specialty in private practice or a research career.

 

[leagueofDravenMD]

bump.

Hoping @darkjedi is right for my sake. Was heavily leaning towards the in state tuition at UCONN until the alternate email...... not even high alternate. I guess I will send my pandering email begging for admission if that's what it takes.