GW Hold

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just got put on hold as well 32R and 3.75 science...amazing extra curric....what the hell do they want?
 
33Q + 3.77 GPA, on hold just like everyone else, apparently.

Does anyone else have the sneaking suspicion that this bewildering selectivity is the ironic result of the fact that, according to MSAR, the school has a lower average GPA/MCAT than most schools? And so every last applicant put GW on their list just for the helluvit?
 
I got the Hold too. Anyone know of anyone who got the rejection from them? Or holds are new rejections.
 
i got put on hold too.

what's going on?? i got rejected from georgetown and put on hold at drexel. oh well... maybe they can smell my lack of interest. i thought that for the money i paid they would at least have the decency to insert my name in that letter. instead they just had to go with "applicant." let's see... $130 * 13,000 = $1,690,000!!
 
got the hold as well... 3.99, 35N. It's my third hold... plus a rejection from georgetown.
 
Damn me too... I really wanted to interview at GW.
 
Ditto for the hold today. But man, some of you guys have great stats! I'm surprised you're being put on hold... unless it's because they assume you'll get in elsewhere. 3.35/31R here, so I didn't expect much. I'd rather be on hold than rejected.
 
they must have sent out a massive e-mail today...hmm. staying optimistic over here!
 
received the "hold" e-mail as well today.
 
They must be reading this thread right now and laughing their sorry asses off 👎
 
Looks like the 13,000 apps estimate isn't far off.
 
I was complete on 09/06 and have not heard anything from GW since. Hopefully that is a good sign, but who knows.
 
Has anyone gotten an interview from GW? When were you complete?
 
For a split second, as my inbox refreshed with one message, I thought maybe today GW will give me an interview. But, sadly, I got a hold and this sad sentence "Please understand it will be some time before you hear from us again." There goes my top choice - at least for "some time." It is just so sad that the stats from the MSAR can get ones hopes up only to be dashed with such unintentioned cruelty and the bitterest apologeticism.

I am horribly tempted to send an email with updated activities and a plea to at least give me a chance at my first choice, but their file is already "quite detailed." Although I guess that everyone might want GW as much as me, and I should resign myself to the "unplesant wait."

But, this one stings.
 
Man I'm late. Just got back from an interview and saw this hold message. I think GW is too busy to look at the apps, so they just starting giving out holds to everything.
 
i guess i feel pretty special with my 25S mcat and 3.65 gpa to end up with a hold 😀
 
shadowclaws said:
Man I'm late. Just got back from an interview and saw this hold message. I think GW is too busy to look at the apps, so they just starting giving out holds to everything.
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I totally agree, or they're already reached their interview quota or some sort of limit due to the number of applications and are waiting to accept people and are deciding to throw the rest of us on hold.
 
Deseo said:
For a split second, as my inbox refreshed with one message, I thought maybe today GW will give me an interview. But, sadly, I got a hold and this sad sentence "Please understand it will be some time before you hear from us again." There goes my top choice - at least for "some time." It is just so sad that the stats from the MSAR can get ones hopes up (they will like me and my 34S, they will!) only to be dashed with such unintentioned cruelty and the bitterest apologeticism.

I am horribly tempted to send an email with updated activities and a plea to at least give me a chance at my first choice, but their file is already "quite detailed." Although I guess that everyone might want GW as much as me, and I should resign myself to the "unplesant wait."

But, this one stings.
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I would think that if GWU is really your top choice, that you should definitely send them an LOI and let them know. It can't hurt, and perhaps it could get you an interview. I remember a GWU med student in another thread confirmed this. If you can tell them how you'd be a great fit for their school, and that it's your top choice, I would think that might help a little. And I really can't imagine it would hurt your chances. Good luck!
 
this is so wierd. last year i got an interview late, like in january and waitlisted and eventually the rejection. This year i was complete way early and got the 'hold'. I live a few blocks from GW, so I'm thinking about just going down there and seeing whats up. i know other students that have gotten interviews already.
 
I can't remember the exact number, but GW has around 50 spots reserved for linkage from postbac and UG programs, on top of being the #1 school for apps so don't feel too bad.
 
I mostly pissed off that I wasted 130$ on the GW secondary...could have applied to two better schools for that money
 
Just back from the pub and checking my inbox... yeah, this sucks. My new theory is that the abundance of applicants to safety schools will increase their numbers to the point where they become the new ivies. GW realized that with 10k+ applications, they can raise their numbers a bit. Good for them, bad for me.
 
Womialas said:
Just back from the pub and checking my inbox... yeah, this sucks. My new theory is that the abundance of applicants to safety schools will increase their numbers to the point where they become the new ivies. GW realized that with 10k+ applications, they can raise their numbers a bit. Good for them, bad for me.
Click to expand...

No such thing as a safety with medical school. College admissions, yes. Medical admissions, no. I wish people would not refer to schools as "low tier" or "safeties." Three schools I can think of that are typically branded as this, BU, GW, and NYMC, recieve more applications than anyone else (~10,000) so are thus extremely competitive to get into. They are fine institutions and don't deserve to be called safeties or low tier.
 
Yup, I'm added to the hold list as well.

Scorecard:

2 holds
1 rejection
0 interviews


...Ouch. 🙁
 
Rooter76 said:
No such thing as a safety with medical school. College admissions, yes. Medical admissions, no. I wish people would not refer to schools as "low tier" or "safeties." Three schools I can think of that are typically branded as this, BU, GW, and NYMC, recieve more applications than anyone else (~10,000) so are thus extremely competitive to get into. They are fine institutions and don't deserve to be called safeties or low tier.
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It's also ridiculous to say that all medical schools in the United States are of equal caliber. I think it's perfectly fine to organize schools into tiers because naturally, one school will have better faculty, better facilities, better environment, better planned opportunities than another school.

Granted, good doctors come from every school, but that's more of a product of an individual than of a school. People should just be less sensitive about it and admit that nothing is equal in the world.
 
koko_eats said:
It's also ridiculous to say that all medical schools in the United States are of equal caliber. I think it's perfectly fine to organize schools into tiers because naturally, one school will have better faculty, better facilities, better environment, better planned opportunities than another school.

Granted, good doctors come from every school, but that's more of a product of an individual than of a school. People should just be less sensitive about it and admit that nothing is equal in the world.
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Hmm. My apologies, my intended point was that there is no such thing as a safety school, I shouldnt have included the words "low tier" becasue I agree with you to some extent that schools can be classified and that's not what I was trying to say. Again, my point was that there is no such thing as a safety school (as in easy to get into), GW or elsewhere, and that the content of this thread proves it.

But we are both getting away from the topic here...This mass email gw sent...
 
Rooter76 said:
Hmm. My apologies, my intended point was that there is no such thing as a safety school, I shouldnt have included the words "low tier" becasue I agree with you to some extent that schools can be classified and that's not what I was trying to say. Again, my point was that there is no such thing as a safety school (as in easy to get into), GW or elsewhere, and that the content of this thread proves it.

But we are both getting away from the topic here...This mass email gw sent...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree with the idea that there's no such thing as a safety school (defined as a school you will surely get into if all else fails). A lot of people apply to what they would consider "safety schools" simply because the average stats of matriculants is lower. The appearance that these schools are less selective results in a huge number of people applying to them. These schools are simply forced to turn down a large number of applicants by gauging the likelihood that they will actually end up at their school. It's not surprising that with 13,000 applications, GWU would turn down many strong candidates. However, if you are really really positively sure that GWU is right for you, a LOI might come in handy. If you commit yourself to the school in writing, they will have a strong rationale for offering you an interview.
 
Womialas said:
Just back from the pub and checking my inbox... yeah, this sucks. My new theory is that the abundance of applicants to safety schools will increase their numbers to the point where they become the new ivies. GW realized that with 10k+ applications, they can raise their numbers a bit. Good for them, bad for me.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. I have a 30 on the MCAT too, and I got an invite (although my gpa is 3.7). I think that this year it really helped at GW that I sent my application in on 6/25 and was complete on 7/12. I didn't get the feeling at all from the people I was interviewing with that day that they had picked people with stellar numbers or anything (unlike at RFU, where all the other interviewees were just coming from interviews at Vandy, Northwestern, etc.). I think they really do like to look for people who have similar interests to what their school has to offer (health care policy and global health, for example), and that getting your app in super early this year was key. Just my half a cent.
 
Phoenix. said:
I don't know about that. I have a 30 on the MCAT too, and I got an invite (although my gpa is 3.7). I think that this year it really helped at GW that I sent my application in on 6/25 and was complete on 7/12. I didn't get the feeling at all from the people I was interviewing with that day that they had picked people with stellar numbers or anything (unlike at RFU, where all the other interviewees were just coming from interviews at Vandy, Northwestern, etc.). I think they really do like to look for people who have similar interests to what their school has to offer (health care policy and global health, for example), and that getting your app in super early this year was key. Just my half a cent.
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Agreed. My numbers are less than impressive and I got an interview. I suspect it has a lot to do with the significant experiences I have had in the realm of health care policy....GW would actually be the perfect place for me to go to achieve my future goals and ambitions...
 
Phoenix. said:
I don't know about that. I have a 30 on the MCAT too, and I got an invite (although my gpa is 3.7). I think that this year it really helped at GW that I sent my application in on 6/25 and was complete on 7/12. I didn't get the feeling at all from the people I was interviewing with that day that they had picked people with stellar numbers or anything (unlike at RFU, where all the other interviewees were just coming from interviews at Vandy, Northwestern, etc.). I think they really do like to look for people who have similar interests to what their school has to offer (health care policy and global health, for example), and that getting your app in super early this year was key. Just my half a cent.
Click to expand...

I agree with some of the things you said in your post. I think GW was certainly interested in you because you are interested in areas of health care that they specialize in (as you said, global health and public policy).

However, no offense intended, I also think they expressed interest because they feel that you're the caliber of candidate that would have a very good chance of going there if you were accepted. If you were applying with a 40 MCAT rather than a 30 MCAT, there is a very good chance they would have passed, IMO.

IMO, there's nothing wrong with that. Stats are as much a part of fit as ECs/personality. If they have 13,000 applicants, they have every right to target applicants that they feel have a very strong chance to attend the school if they enjoyed their interview and were accepted.
 
drizzt3117 said:
I agree with some of the things you said in your post. I think GW was certainly interested in you because you are interested in areas of health care that they specialize in (as you said, global health and public policy).

However, no offense intended, I also think they expressed interest because they feel that you're the caliber of candidate that would have a very good chance of going there if you were accepted. If you were applying with a 40 MCAT rather than a 30 MCAT, there is a very good chance they would have passed, IMO.

IMO, there's nothing wrong with that. Stats are as much a part of fit as ECs/personality. If they have 13,000 applicants, they have every right to target applicants that they feel have a very strong chance to attend the school if they enjoyed their interview and were accepted.
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So, are you saying GWU doesn't think I can get into a better school 😉

This process is a crapshoot. The majority of the 13,000 apps are bound to look the same. They can't interview them all so whether you get an invite or not may depend on something as frivolous as the reviewer's mood on that day or the number of invites he had already given out on that day. This happens at every med school. You will find similar applicants who have received different decisions. This issue is magnified at GWU because it gets so many applications and is bound to reject a number of qualified applicants.
 
drizzt3117 said:
I agree with some of the things you said in your post. I think GW was certainly interested in you because you are interested in areas of health care that they specialize in (as you said, global health and public policy).

However, no offense intended, I also think they expressed interest because they feel that you're the caliber of candidate that would have a very good chance of going there if you were accepted. If you were applying with a 40 MCAT rather than a 30 MCAT, there is a very good chance they would have passed, IMO.

IMO, there's nothing wrong with that. Stats are as much a part of fit as ECs/personality. If they have 13,000 applicants, they have every right to target applicants that they feel have a very strong chance to attend the school if they enjoyed their interview and were accepted.
Click to expand...

Well, I was specifically responding to the post above by Womialas, where they said: "My new theory is that the abundance of applicants to safety schools will increase their numbers to the point where they become the new ivies. GW realized that with 10k+ applications, they can raise their numbers a bit." Like me, Womialas has a 30. They were suggesting that the reason they didn't get an invite was because GWU is trying to "raise its numbers" and go for applicants with higher stats this year. I was just commenting that I didn't think that's what GWU is up to.

As for your comment, I agree. If I were GWU, I probably wouldn't invite someone with a 40 MCAT unless they made a very compelling "why us" argument (which unfortunately is not given a lot of space on the secondary) and that their activities/interests matched with GWU's as well. Otherwise, it would be very practical and realistic of them to realize that an invite extended to that person would be unlikely to yield a potential matriculating student. However, I think that's true with most schools, not just GWU. The exception would probably be state schools. I tend to think that they'll invite students with much higher stats than their averages since they generally can offer low IS tuition which may attract those students.
 
Also, I don't think people fully understand just how many spots at GW are taken by linkage students.

A cursory glance shows that 20 students in each class are from GW's own BS/MD program, with some more from the 8 year BS/MD program that GW has with St. Bonaventure.

Others apply for early selection, where they apply after sophomore year and don't have to take the MCAT if they attend one of a list of schools (Lyon, Colgate, Claremont McKenna, Maryland, Knox, Rowan, Franklin and Marshall, George Mason, Hamden-Sydney, and St. Bonaventure) I don't know how many total students go from this route but I have to assume it's at least more than one per school.

Also, another 30+ students will link to GW from postbac programs that have linkages with GW (Scripps, where more than half the class will typically link, Bryn Mawr, and Goucher, U Penn, Brandeis, NYU, Hopkins).

That means that out of 177 seats, 1/3 of them may be taken by linkage students, which might put things into perspective when you realize that 13,000 people are competing for 120 seats. They have to reject 99% of applicants, ultimately.
 
Phoenix. said:
As for your comment, I agree. If I were GWU, I probably wouldn't invite someone with a 40 MCAT unless they made a very compelling "why us" argument (which unfortunately is not given a lot of space on the secondary) and that their activities/interests matched with GWU's as well. Otherwise, it would be very practical and realistic of them to realize that an invite extended to that person would be unlikely to yield a potential matriculating student. However, I think that's true with most schools, not just GWU. The exception would probably be state schools. I tend to think that they'll invite students with much higher stats than their averages since they generally can offer low IS tuition which may attract those students.
Click to expand...

I think the converse is also true, though. If you had a 40 MCAT you would likely be applying to a different set of schools which likely may not have included GW. I guess my point was that med schools are going to look for fit in all areas just like people applying for med school are going to look for fit in those areas.
 
drizzt3117 said:
That means that out of 177 seats, 1/3 of them may be taken by linkage students, which might put things into perspective when you realize that 13,000 people are competing for 120 seats. They have to reject 99% of applicants, ultimately.
Click to expand...

Poor GW. What hard existence they have. They should have to screen, then. It's of questionable ethics, IMO, to take so much money from so many people who have virtually zero shot at an interview.
 
zipmedic said:
Poor GW. What hard existence they have. They should have to screen, then. It's of questionable ethics, IMO, to take so much money from so many people who have virtually zero shot at an interview.
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The question, is whether it's in the best interest of either the student or the school for them to screen.

In the case of GW, I don't think it is, for the simple fact that they're looking for something as nebulous as fit, and they do ask for essays that they presumably read, to have a better idea of whether a student is a good fit. If they had a NYMC style secondary where they're basically saying please send us $100, and have no essays, then absolutely, I would say that they're just out to take money, but who knows, they might actually read those essays.

It seems that most of the students that GW interviews are ones that would be a good fit both interest and statwise and therefore would be willing to go there.

However, they will probably interview a smaller segment of top tier students that have either ties to the area, they're very interested in for whatever reason, or have family ties. Think of these as their "reach" students, who don't have a really high chance to get there, but they will have a small chance of landing at least a few of these.

Ultimately, I think it's in the best interests of both students and GW not to screen because neither party knows whether there will be interest and since a screen is numeric and fairly cursory, would they just knock out everyone that is below 3.3 and above 3.8 on GPA or everyone that MCAT + GPA x 10 isn't within 5 points of their averages? I just don't see how a screen could be easily done to look for fit.

An example of a school that absolutely should screen, though, IMO, is Wash U, where the average matriculant has 3.8/38. By not screening, they allow people with much lower numbers to apply when they have extremely low chance of acceptance just because that lowers the percentage of people accepted which makes them look better. Since they are SO stat focused they should at least screen out people below the national average for matriculants (3.6/31) since they are unlikely to be admitted w/o URM status.

Part of this, though, is on the student, who should research schools before they apply there to determine if they have a realistic chance of being accepted.
 
Rooter76 said:
No such thing as a safety with medical school. College admissions, yes. Medical admissions, no. I wish people would not refer to schools as "low tier" or "safeties." Three schools I can think of that are typically branded as this, BU, GW, and NYMC, recieve more applications than anyone else (~10,000) so are thus extremely competitive to get into. They are fine institutions and don't deserve to be called safeties or low tier.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree with you on this one. Note: never post buzzed and angry. The reasons these schools do get so many apps is because of their lower MSAR numbers and ideal location. That is what I was referring to, and I have no doubt they are fine facilities (why else would I apply there?) that produce great doctors. Just frustrated cause I really wanted to check out GW. Oh well.
 
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