Put on Hold! Why?!?!

[nsxnorcal]

Has anyone else been put on hold at a few med schools? I've been put on hold at GW, Penn State, and UCSD (equals rejection there). It's frustrating as hell, and are the holds at penn and gw rejections?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Why do you assume UCSD to be a rejection but not GW. I've actually found 5 or 6 people on mdapps that got interviews at UCSD aftering being put on hold. I still haven't found a GW hold person who got an interview.

 

[dochachi]

Why do you assume UCSD to be a rejection but not GW. I've actually found 5 or 6 people on mdapps that got interviews at UCSD aftering being put on hold. I still haven't found a GW hold person who got an interview.

Awww..darn...all those people including myself on hold for GW will basically be receiving a rejection...a VERY long drawn out rejection. Gosh, why doesnt GW just flat out reject instead of stringing people along!!!! GRRR

 

[alwaysaangel]

Awww..darn...all those people including myself on hold for GW will basically be receiving a rejection...a VERY long drawn out rejection. Gosh, why doesnt GW just flat out reject instead of stringing people along!!!! GRRR

Sorry didn't mean to be depressing - granted I didn't look too hard on mdapps since its a pain in the butt search (a lot of people are put on hold there) so maybe there are a few.

I just didn't understand how the OP automatically jumped to those conclusions.

 

[DrVanNostran]

Awww..darn...all those people including myself on hold for GW will basically be receiving a rejection...a VERY long drawn out rejection. Gosh, why doesnt GW just flat out reject instead of stringing people along!!!! GRRR

Just in case they need to interview more people since they receive around
10K applications and GW is a number 2 or 3 choice for a lot of applicants. We, the hold category have become the safety net of GW (at least I think )

 

[diosa428]

Hold at GW does not necessarily mean rejection. They get waaay too many applications to interview everyone and they put a lot of people on hold who they think are using them as a backup school. And why waste all their interviews on students who they know are using them as a safty, who probably won't go there? So what they do is put you on hold, and then re-review your file in Jan/Feb. So if you WANT to interview at GW (or any other school that has put you on hold), send update letters when you get your grades or when anything else important happens, and it probably wouldn't hurt to send in a letter of interest (just say something like "in regards to the recent decision to put my application on hold, I would like to reiterate why I am interested in GW" and then talk about why you like the school. Good luck!

 

[Law2Doc]

Has anyone else been put on hold at a few med schools? I've been put on hold at GW, Penn State, and UCSD (equals rejection there). It's frustrating as hell, and are the holds at penn and gw rejections?

Being put on hold is the equivalent of not getting picked for the kickball team in the early rounds. It doesn't mean you won't get picked eventually for an interview. It just means that for whatever reason, the school liked other options better for now. But they may still ultimately settle on you in a later round when the pickings get slimmer.

 

[Lulu8]

Hold at GW does not necessarily mean rejection. They get waaay too many applications to interview everyone and they put a lot of people on hold who they think are using them as a backup school. And why waste all their interviews on students who they know are using them as a safty, who probably won't go there? So what they do is put you on hold, and then re-review your file in Jan/Feb. So if you WANT to interview at GW (or any other school that has put you on hold), send update letters when you get your grades or when anything else important happens, and it probably wouldn't hurt to send in a letter of interest (just say something like "in regards to the recent decision to put my application on hold, I would like to reiterate why I am interested in GW" and then talk about why you like the school. Good luck!

I've been thinking about this "being put on hold because you're too good" idea. Has anyone actually had this happen to them? What constitutes stats that are too good? I've gotten interviews at a wide range of schools (top 5 to the very bottom of the flawed rankings) so I was just curious how this plays out.

 

[Law2Doc]

I've been thinking about this "being put on hold because you're too good" idea. Has anyone actually had this happen to them? What constitutes stats that are too good? I've gotten interviews at a wide range of schools (top 5 to the very bottom of the flawed rankings) so I was just curious how this plays out.

The problem with the "too good" notion is that people don't really know what specific schools are looking for in terms of "good fit" and so, for all they know, they simply didn't meet all the desired criteria tightly, notwithstanding how strong they thought they were.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

I've been thinking about this "being put on hold because you're too good" idea. Has anyone actually had this happen to them? What constitutes stats that are too good? I've gotten interviews at a wide range of schools (top 5 to the very bottom of the flawed rankings) so I was just curious how this plays out.

I think it's pretty rare. You'd have to have some incredible numbers and be applying to lower-name schools to which you seemed to have no "connection." I.e. I guess I could understand a state school in the South not immediately interviewing a 41/4.0 Cali native from UCLA.

I had some pretty good numbers when I applied and I certainly didn't fail to get early interviews at less-than-prestigious schools.

Holds do not equal rejections. Keep in mind that most schools have rolling admissions, so it behooves them to interview the strongest candidates first so as to have a crack at getting those students. It is still VERY early in the interview season. I know it's a frustrating process, just try to breathe.

 

[piggi]

Being put on hold is the equivalent of not getting picked for the kickball team in the early rounds. It doesn't mean you won't get picked eventually for an interview. It just means that for whatever reason, the school liked other options better for now. But they may still ultimately settle on you in a later round when the pickings get slimmer.

has anyone who was put on hold at UCSD gotten an interview yet?? it seems like they're putting everyone on hold, including me today

 

[maestro1625]

Hold at Loyola and MCW... wasnt happy to find out about Loyola.

...then I've got at least 5 schools I submitted last august and I still have no idea what they've done with my application... not put on hold, not given an interview... OMG! DOES THIS MEAN I'M REJECTED!?!?!?!?! :O

...just kidding... relax people.