Northwestern Waitlist Thread

[45408]

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hey, at least you didn't address it to "Mr. Brown"

 

[pnasty]

a special one month left...bump

Good luck everyone Let's hope for a lot of people dropping acceptances. There have been four on the SDN drop list so far, so we only need a couple hundred more!

 

[oneaat]

no-one asked me to my senior prom... i hope that's not an bad omen for mr. feinberg 🙂

 

[hpm4]

a special one month left...bump

Good luck everyone Let's hope for a lot of people dropping acceptances. There have been four on the SDN drop list so far, so we only need a couple hundred more!

I withdrew my acceptance today 🙁 It was a tough decision but I hope one of you gets the spot!!!!!

 

[pnasty]

I withdrew my acceptance today 🙁 It was a tough decision but I hope one of you gets the spot!!!!!

Really? You were one of the SDNers who really loved the school. Any particular reason? How did second look go (if you went)?

 

[eastsidaz]

Really? You were one of the SDNers who really loved the school. Any particular reason? How did second look go (if you went)?

I don't think it was anything to do with Northwestern; I think it was because she got in to UNC and loves it.

 

[eastsidaz]

This thread has really died down. Is everyone still calling weekly, or has that fallen out of vogue? Here's hoping for a good rest-of-April and May.

 

[girlMD03]

This thread has really died down. Is everyone still calling weekly, or has that fallen out of vogue? Here's hoping for a good rest-of-April and May.

i was wondering the same thing...
i've been calling

 

[girlMD03]

does anyone know if they mark down what you say, or only that you've called? thanks.

 

[prettymd05]

I withdrew my acceptance today 🙁 It was a tough decision but I hope one of you gets the spot!!!!!

hpm4,

you dropped? can you pm me to let me know why? were you at second look weekend????

 

[hpm4]

Really? You were one of the SDNers who really loved the school. Any particular reason? How did second look go (if you went)?

It was a really tough decision but it came down to money and where I would be happiest. Chapel Hill, NC is so much less expensive to live than downtown Chicago and I get instate tuition at UNC. But even it it wasn't because of money, my boyfriend and friends are here and I have a really great support system in North Carolina...med school is hard enough with that much less without it.

 

[hpm4]

hpm4,

you dropped? can you pm me to let me know why? were you at second look weekend????

I PM'd you pretty 🙂

 

[pnasty]

i have been calling, and i dont think they mark down what you say

i think people just stopped thinking about it as much so as not to get their hopes up

 

[keedz]

I called today. She just put me down as "still very interested". I guess they just log the number of times that you call.

 

[eastsidaz]

I called today. She just put me down as "still very interested". I guess they just log the number of times that you call.

So does this mean we should call 500 times a day to log the highest total? Or do we just follow the once-per-week standard. Not to sound psycho, but I can't help but wonder how this list, or any other unranked list, works. I'm guessing we just have to show that we have a high level of interest up until they start pulling people.

 

[wildcat05]

So does this mean we should call 500 times a day to log the highest total? Or do we just follow the once-per-week standard. Not to sound psycho, but I can't help but wonder how this list, or any other unranked list, works. I'm guessing we just have to show that we have a high level of interest up until they start pulling people.

I dont think they look at it as whoever is calling the most, but just that you are showing you are interested by calling every once in awhile. The lady in the admissions office said that every other week/ every week was sufficient and there was really no reason to call more than that.

 

[45408]

I doubt the "highest caller" gets in, but if you never called to express interest, they'll take someone who did instead of you.

 

[pnasty]

yeah calling is just about showing interest so they know if they accept you off the waitlist that you will go there and not turn them down so they have to find someone again.

 

[hanjoko]

yeah calling is just about showing interest so they know if they accept you off the waitlist that you will go there and not turn them down so they have to find someone again.

ya...the lady told me that it is "sufficient" to call them once a week...

 

[pnasty]

when she asks if you have a question when you call in, do you always make one up?

 

[hanjoko]

when she asks if you have a question when you call in, do you always make one up?

err...i always have a question though... 😳

 

[eastsidaz]

OK, since this is my go-to thread for any and all questions about waitlists (because I secretly pray LizzyM will come out and answer, since this thread must be dear to her heart), I'm gonna put this out there: I've heard of people requesting second interviews after being waitlisted. Is this feasible for NU (or any other comparable school), and how would you go about it? I don't think I would have the guts to ever request one, but thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

 

[lookslikerain]

OK, since this is my go-to thread for any and all questions about waitlists (because I secretly pray LizzyM will come out and answer, since this thread must be dear to her heart), I'm gonna put this out there: I've heard of people requesting second interviews after being waitlisted. Is this feasible for NU (or any other comparable school), and how would you go about it? I don't think I would have the guts to ever request one, but thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

Yeah, this is the best (read: most informative) wl thread. I asked this question recently and people said that for schools which wl tons of people, second interviews usually aren't granted, which I'd imagine to be most top 20 schools, NU included. But if I were to request one, I'd ask someone who is not the dean if second interviews are routinely done at that school and then proceed from there.

 

[pnasty]

hey guys

there are some top 20 schools that do second interviews (columbia). I think usually these are done by deans only, and with NU they do not allow waitlisters to talk to dean brown (ive asked).

i posted this in the other thread on good/bad waitlists to be on, but i figured it would make more sense here


This year
312 were accepted
273 waitlisted

The MSAR data i have is that 323 is accepted (not sure what year this is from). This would mean that about 11 waitlisters were offered acceptances, or 4% out of 273. I heard last year 50 were accepted off the waitlist. Maybe they accepted more people this year than in previous years to compensate for that?

 

[eastsidaz]

hey guys

there are some top 20 schools that do second interviews (columbia). I think usually these are done by deans only, and with NU they do not allow waitlisters to talk to dean brown (ive asked).

i posted this in the other thread on good/bad waitlists to be on, but i figured it would make more sense here


This year
312 were accepted
273 waitlisted

The MSAR data i have is that 323 is accepted (not sure what year this is from). This would mean that about 11 waitlisters were offered acceptances, or 4% out of 273. I heard last year 50 were accepted off the waitlist. Maybe they accepted more people this year than in previous years to compensate for that?

Possible...but they'd have to accept more than 50 more to compensate entirely--it's likely a drop ratio of at least 2:1, so they have to take 3 more people to get 1 more in terms of yield. Suppose they took an initial 250 last year, and still needed to pull 50...that means that 190 of those 250 dropped.

With the waitlist its easier for them because you can just take the people who've shown intent. Pulling people off the waitlist has a failure rate close to zero, assuming they call the people who have said NU is their first choice. So the total number of people who end up with acceptance letters doesn't say much. Those 312 are gambles--the waitlisters are sure things.

Oh, I forgot to add something. Extrapolating the 190/250 thing suggests that ~35 people would come off the waitlist this year, or about 13%. But I'm sure plenty of people have withdrawn from the waitlist and will continue to do so as they get their finaid packages. So it's not hopeless (or so we have to tell ourselves).

 

[luhando]

theres not a lot of point in speculating. the person who works at the adimssions office says it ranges kind of sporadically from 2 or 3 people off the waitlist come years to 50 (like last year) in other years. lets just all pray 🙂

 

[45408]

It's useless to look at the numbers, really. It's NOT a "crapshoot," because they're going to pick the best candidates who are most interested in the school. People who got waitlisted and gave up aren't getting in! I'm a bit hopeful still.

 

[luhando]

It's useless to look at the numbers, really. It's NOT a "crapshoot," because they're going to pick the best candidates who are most interested in the school. People who got waitlisted and gave up aren't getting in! I'm a bit hopeful still.

yeah that 🙂

 

[girlMD03]

When i called today the lady said 'there has not been any change in your status, we'll be sure to let you know if there is'. This made me wonder if people had alreay started getting in off the waitlist?!! But then she said something like the alternate list will start moving soon so I guess not. Anyone hear anything recently?

 

[wildcat05]

When i called today the lady said 'there has not been any change in your status, we'll be sure to let you know if there is'. This made me wonder if people had alreay started getting in off the waitlist?!! But then she said something like the alternate list will start moving soon so I guess not. Anyone hear anything recently?

I called today and the lady told me there has already been a little movement but there will be more closer to may 15th. I didn't think theirs started moving until late in the month! 🙁 Anyone else know anything?

 

[pnasty]

When I called last Wednesday she said no one has been taken off yet and wont be until May 15th....unless they let someone in after that, or she was mistaken

I hope not

 

[eastsidaz]

I called today and the lady told me there has already been a little movement but there will be more closer to may 15th. I didn't think theirs started moving until late in the month! 🙁 Anyone else know anything?

:trembles:

 

[wildcat05]

When I called last Wednesday she said no one has been taken off yet and wont be until May 15th....unless they let someone in after that, or she was mistaken

That's good news. Maybe by movement she meant off of the acceptance list, as in some people have declined but there will be more people declining as it gets closer to may 15th.

 

[luhando]

movement woul actually be good news. that means that they already have spots open and its still 2 weeks away from may 15, many more spots will open soon. cheer up guys...were gonna make it! 🙂

 

[Nexus777]

NW MSTP waitlist movement has occurred recently in case it is relevant.

 

[pnasty]

NW MSTP waitlist movement has occurred recently in case it is relevant.

dont know if it is or not, but i think they have been doing waitlist movement for the MSTP for a couple weeks now

i think i remember the admissions lady saying that they wait to do waitlist movement until there is a significant amount of spots open so that the adcom can meet and decide, instead of meeting every week (could be imagining this tho)

 

[hanjoko]

It's useless to look at the numbers, really. It's NOT a "crapshoot," because they're going to pick the best candidates who are most interested in the school. People who got waitlisted and gave up aren't getting in! I'm a bit hopeful still.

hm...so if you are not the best candidate but you still show a lot of interests...does that mean that the chances are small...??

 

[pnasty]

just wanted to let you guys know that when i called today she said there had been no movement yet, and usually is none until late may or early june

 

[luhando]

just wanted to let you guys know that when i called today she said there had been no movement yet, and usually is none until late may or early june

thats odd. what time did you call? i called at ~10:30AM and she said their had been movement. When I asked if it was MSTP movement she said she didn't have that info. Maybe after I asked that she checked and realized it was MSTP?

 

[pnasty]

i called around 4 eastern

may have been a different person. im pretty confused, but it doesnt really matter

 

[eastsidaz]

dont know if it is or not, but i think they have been doing waitlist movement for the MSTP for a couple weeks now

i think i remember the admissions lady saying that they wait to do waitlist movement until there is a significant amount of spots open so that the adcom can meet and decide, instead of meeting every week (could be imagining this tho)

The adcom doesn't meet anymore, supposedly. Dean Brown plucks everyone off the list herself.

 

[45408]

hm...so if you are not the best candidate but you still show a lot of interests...does that mean that the chances are small...??

Think of it this way - if you weren't a good candidate, you wouldn't have gotten an interview. Keep the faith. 😉


eastsidaz, I think you're right, although I think Dean Brown has input from other deans (or so the admissions office lady told me)

 

[girlMD03]

Seems like that gives an unfair advantage to people who met with dean brown during their interview day because she will know and remember these students best.

 

[45408]

700 people? Not likely she'll remember one. I met with her, and trust me, it's no consolation to me.

 

[eastsidaz]

700 people? Not likely she'll remember one. I met with her, and trust me, it's no consolation to me.

More like 350--she and the other dean split them up I think.

 

[girlMD03]

Yeah except I didn't meet with either of the 2 deans that it seems like everyone else did. I met with Dr. Curry, the "executive associate dean" (whatever that means). He was very nice and I really liked talking with him. I assume he's on the admissions committee but I definitely didn't meet with one of the 2 admissions deans. Hopefully that doesn't mean anything or matter at all, but obviously I'm obsessing over it because I really want to get iiiiiiinnnnn!!

 

[pnasty]

i dont think that any of them will really remember us. they meet so many students every year. if anything you should be glad because it sounds like executive associate is higher than associate....so dont worry

 

[eastsidaz]

Is it just me, or does it seem like there aren't that many people on this thread? You'd think, with the waitlist as big as it is, that more people would be on here. Makes me feel a bit inferior to the people on waitlists at other schools 😳 Does no one else care about Northwestern? :sigh:

 

[luhando]

Is it just me, or does it seem like there aren't that many people on this thread? You'd think, with the waitlist as big as it is, that more people would be on here. Makes me feel a bit inferior to the people on waitlists at other schools 😳 Does no one else care about Northwestern? :sigh:

um...i dont nkow about you...but i see this as a plus... 🙂

 

[girlMD03]

I find that interesting too... oh well, can't read too much into anything. People should start hearing soon though and maybe we'll get some new posters if people get in or start freaking out about not hearing.