how do waitlists work?

[secretasianman]

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do schools usually send out the # of acceptances equal to the school's enrollment number, and then waitlist a bunch of people? and do new people that interview get to supercede the waitlist and get acceptances?

 

[constructor]

yes to both.

 

[secretasianman]

yes to both.

aw crap...

 

[mikedc813]

Yes this is generally the case. I believe a few years back, however, UF accepted more than they could really take thinking that enough would turn them down, but that wasn't the case and the number of people who accepted was way more than they could handle.

 

[nervouspremed]

So, the initial acceptance # is equal to the enrollment #, and the reason that many med school's acceptance # is greater than the enrollment # is because ppl decline acceptance, and thus med school has to offer acceptance to the ppl on the waiting-list? If that's true, all I have to say is

 

[iamgoaloriented]

I've heard that at some schools as many as half of the people who matriculate come from the waitlist. It wouldn't suprise me.

Even initially all schools accept more people than there are spots in the class because not everyone will go (even at top schools because people who get into top schools usually have choices and different preferences).

 

[Wiggy73]

Check the awesome "how Stanford does its application process" link in one of the stickies. It even has a comparison chart of people's choices after receiving acceptances from Stanford, Harvard, and UCSF. IIRC they initially accept about 260 for their class of 100, and then take the rest from the waitlist. Vanderbilt is about the same, and they have gone from 20-40 deep into the waitlist (this from the mouth of their director of admissions).