Purgatory a.k.a. wait listed

[Fenrez]

My number one choice, Nova, put me on a waiting list. So as I was banging my head into the wall, I got to wondering about it.

Does anyone know the actual numbers involved with wait lists? As far as how many people on average get a seat from the alternate list?

It's hard to find those kind of numbers so I was wondering if there was someone "on the inside" that had access to alternate list data over the past couple of years.

Thanks in advance!

Okay, back to that wall...

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[jcschultz]

In my experience, it is different for every school. I would say on average that most schools take approximately 50-70 people from their wait-list. It takes some time though, many people hang onto acceptances until the end. I would say that if you are in the top 25 of the waitlist you can count on acceptance for sure. I am accepted at DO schools and have been waitlisted at a few MD schools, I am waiting for them to make my final decision. I am in the top quartile of each waitlist, and the adcom said to begin celebrating now... but having been through this process once already I don't count any chickens until they are hatched. Don't panic, there will be a lot of waitlist movement in the next few months, it is a painful process, but one that will seem like nothing compared to the stress of 1st year! Good luck