Stanford Waitlist

[Question123]

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Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if not getting a response is better, but, just to ease your fears, the note was by no means encouraging but this is what he wrote:

Thanks for your note, Question. Offers from the wait list are had to predict, and I wish you well.
Gabriel Garcia, MD

 

[mdeast]

Woot! We've reached page 2.

 

[Naijaba]

Nope. I got a response from Arturo and it's added to my file on the Stanford status page, but nothing from Dean Garcia unfortunately.

Hmm..I only sent it to Dr. Garcia, I hope it gets added to my file : \ No response yet from Dr. Garcia.

 

[mdeast]

Hmm..I only sent it to Dr. Garcia, I hope it gets added to my file : \ No response yet from Dr. Garcia.

Yeah, I just cc:ed to Arturo. Check your status page. It'll say whats been added to your file on the first page. Just discovered that recently.

https://med.stanford.edu/aes/

 

[wolfiemd]

I didn't want to mention this before because i didn't want to kill the hopeful mood, but during my interview i spoke with an admissions counselor while I had some downtime. He told me point blank that it is very UNLIKELY to get in off the wait list and that it almost never happens ..big buzz kill

 

[bobsmith]

I didn't want to mention this before because i didn't want to kill the hopeful mood, but during my interview i spoke with an admissions counselor while I had some downtime. He told me point blank that it is very UNLIKELY to get in off the wait list and that it almost never happens (he wasn't exaclty the nicest sounding guy) ..way to be a buzz kill, guy

Yeah, while the guy sounds like a bit of a buzz kill, I can also see where he's coming from. I mean, if he's been there for a few years and has seen very little (or no) waitlist movement most years, there's really no need to sugarcoat things or say something untruthful just to make us feel better.

I think we'd all love to hear something like "you've got a great shot at getting in off the waitlist," but I'd also rather not get my hopes up and then shot down

 

[oze]

I didn't want to mention this before because i didn't want to kill the hopeful mood, but during my interview i spoke with an admissions counselor while I had some downtime. He told me point blank that it is very UNLIKELY to get in off the wait list and that it almost never happens (he wasn't exaclty the nicest sounding guy) ..way to be a buzz kill, guy

Arturo?

 

[wolfiemd]

Arturo?

no, he was older than arturo..had a goatee with some white hair in it

 

[mdeast]

no, he was older than arturo..had a goatee with some white hair in it

Well judging from last year's thread we know this isn't true. I'd say there are definitely years where Stanford doesn't take anyone off the waitlist. But, other years where there is significant movement. 86 is a hard number to get perfect.

Again, with any waitlist it's OK to remain hopeful but also aware that you probably won't get in.

 

[wolfiemd]

Well judging from last year's thread we know this isn't true. I'd say there are definitely years where Stanford doesn't take anyone off the waitlist. But, other years where there is significant movement. 86 is a hard number to get perfect.

Again, with any waitlist it's OK to remain hopeful but also aware that you probably won't get in.

yep..keep things in perspective.

 

[iheartmints]

Got the letter today 🙁

It says they only put people they would be pleased to admit on their wait list while their website says: "Candidates who are not offered immediate acceptance are placed on a wait list." I guess the two groups don't necessarily have to be different

 

[Naijaba]

Got the letter today 🙁

It says they only put people they would be pleased to admit on their wait list while their website says: "Candidates who are not offered immediate acceptance are placed on a wait list." I guess the two groups don't necessarily have to be different

Yeah, the wait list letter usually a tad bit confusing language. If you'd be "pleased to accept us", but didn't, then the must have been ecstatic to accept those they didn't waitlist/reject.

 

[Naijaba]

Oh man, the number of wait listees continues to rise!

 

[mdeast]

Oh many, the number of wait listees continues to rise!

I know...can't remember the last time someone was accepted. Stanford, you're so picky.

 

[wolfiemd]

did you guys send hard copies of your 2009 income tax sheets to Stanford? The wait list letter really gave off that "don't contact us" vibe.

 

[oze]

did you guys send hard copies of your 2009 income tax sheets to Stanford? The wait list letter really gave off that "don't contact us" vibe.

Financial Aid guy said that if you wanted to know before May 15th what your package was that you needed to get everything in before April 15th. However, since we won't know we're in until after May 15th, it doesn't really matter! And there is no deadline to apply for aid. And it doesn't matter since I'd go to Stanford if I had to sell my soul. Hope that is helpful!

 

[mdeast]

Financial Aid guy said that if you wanted to know before May 15th what your package was that you needed to get everything in before April 15th. However, since we won't know we're in until after May 15th, it doesn't really matter! And there is no deadline to apply for aid. And it doesn't matter since I'd go to Stanford if I had to sell my soul. Hope that is helpful!

Agreed. 👍

 

[wolfiemd]

Financial Aid guy said that if you wanted to know before May 15th what your package was that you needed to get everything in before April 15th. However, since we won't know we're in until after May 15th, it doesn't really matter! And there is no deadline to apply for aid. And it doesn't matter since I'd go to Stanford if I had to sell my soul. Hope that is helpful!

haha you'd sell your soul..but true commitment would be if you were willing to sell your friend's soul for admission.

 

[oze]

haha you'd sell your soul..but true commitment would be if you were willing to sell your friend's soul for admission.

psshh, I'd sell my mother's soul.

 

[mdeast]

Well it looks like there is a very large and committed waitlist this year 🙂

Sometimes I feel like the waitlists (at least in my case) are more of: "He was a nice guy, but just not as impressive as our other candidates. I'd feel bad about rejecting him, so why don't we be nice and just give him a waitlist?"

I guess it's better for me if y'all hate Stanford, but hopefully at least one of us dedicated posters gets in this year.

 

[oze]

Well it looks like there is a very large and committed waitlist this year 🙂

Sometimes I feel like the waitlists (at least in my case) are more of: "He was a nice guy, but just not as impressive as our other candidates. I'd feel bad about rejecting him, so why don't we be nice and just give him a waitlist?"

I guess it's better for me if y'all hate Stanford, but hopefully at least one of us dedicated posters gets in this year.

yeah pretty much. I'm sure one of us will get in. Not like its competition though, good luck to you guys, we'll end up where we best fit.

 

[wolfiemd]

i guess we can hate on stanford a little bit..just to taint our flawless picture of it..here i'll start.


Geez Stanford, you've really let yourself go...have you thought about losing a few pounds?

 

[iheartmints]

did you guys send hard copies of your 2009 income tax sheets to Stanford? The wait list letter really gave off that "don't contact us" vibe.

I distinctly remember the financial aid guy saying do not send that in unless you were accepted, otherwise it goes straight into the trash can

 

[mdeast]

This is pretty much the case at any school. No need for the financial aid office to have more paperwork they don't need. Be patient. You're not coming off the waitlist til after May 15th anyway. Assuming any of us do.

 

[Naijaba]

This is pretty much the case at any school. No need for the financial aid office to have more paperwork they don't need. Be patient. You're not coming off the waitlist til after May 15th anyway. Assuming any of us do.

lol this thread definitely has taken a negative turn. Let's try to keep positive! I'll remind you guys again that last year almost everyone on SDN got off of the waitlist including users redbull928, dcjab, jehrdoc, blue star, meow0206 fbroblastman, schismal, and drjm1. Now there were a few who didn't get off, but it seems that most of them had other stellar options (linguini - UPenn, and shemarty - UCSF).

Further food for thought: In 2008, Stanford interviewed 473 applicants for 86 spots. 50% of accepted applicants chose to attend Stanford.

Let's suppose mdeast is right and about 15% of applicants are rejected post-interview. That reduces 473 applicants to about 403. If you extend the 50% yield to this group, that means approximately 202 applicants would attend Stanford if accepted.

This gives a more accurate picture of your overall chance of acceptance post-interview taking into account the pull from other schools: 86/202 = 42%

Still not great, but better!

 

[Naijaba]

I used the data in this survey to confirm my analysis in the post above:

Again assuming that 473 applicants were interviewed and that the 34 survey responders are a representative sample, we have:

195 Accepted
264 Waitlisted
14 Rejected

If the 50% yield holds true for the accepted and wait list applicants we have:

473 - 14 - 0.5 * 195 - 0.5 * 265 = 229 applicants who are either accepted or wait listed and would attend Stanford upon acceptance.

This puts your chance of acceptance at: 86/229 = 37.5%

I think the discrepancy is mainly due to the low number of post-interview rejected applicant responses.

EDIT: Wow, the results are almost exactly in-line if I increase the number of post-interview rejects to 15%..then the chance of acceptances returns to 42%.

 

[Naijaba]

Lol, sorry to go post-crazy here, but I did the same calculation one more time using mdeast's data from mdapps.

14 Waitlists, 8 acceptances, 5 rejections (all post-interview)

Again assuming 473 total interviewees:
245 Accepted Post-Interview
140 Wait-listed Post-Interview
88 Rejected Post-Interview

Performing the same calculation:

473 - 88 - 0.5*245 - 0.5*140 = 193

That gives an acceptance percentage of 86/193 = 44%.

 

[mdeast]

Lol, sorry to go post-crazy here, but I did the same calculation one more time using mdeast's data from mdapps.



Again assuming 473 total interviewees:
245 Accepted Post-Interview
140 Wait-listed Post-Interview
88 Rejected Post-Interview

Performing the same calculation:

473 - 88 - 0.5*245 - 0.5*140 = 193

That gives an acceptance percentage of 86/193 = 44%.

Here's the more relevant way to look at it.

140 accepted. 1/2 will attend. 70 will enrolling initially.

That leaves 16 spots. For 245 waitlisted students. Stanford is more selective about this, so lets say 3/4 students accepted off the waitlist will take the spot. That's about 21 acceptances to fill 16 spots.

So 21/245, is 9% accepted off the waitlist. I doubt there are many who withdraw from the waitlist, because Stanford doesn't ask you to reply to their waitlist offer and there really isn't a big incentive for them to. So it's still sitting at 245 students. Only a percentage will write letters/keep Stanford updated. I assume many have moved on. But, still. We do have a very small chance guys 🙁

 

[Naijaba]

Haha so much for improving spirits : /

 

[mdeast]

Haha so much for improving spirits : /

Sorry, I've been super pessimistic this weekend on all fronts! Going through past threads and looking at the reality that some years Stanford doesn't even take from the waitlist doesn't make it better.

Stanford's still my top choice. But, we got 34 days til May 15th and I assume not much will happen. Interviews are over....admit weekend is probably almost done. I'm resisting the urge to send Stanford any sort of additional updates til mid-May. Everyone there is so California chilled out that I don't want Dean Garcia to be scared off by my east coast neuroticism 🙂

 

[Feef]

Statistically, Stanford interviews only 7% of the applicants, so our interviews should probably not have happened. 🙄

 

[mdeast]

Statistically, Stanford interviews only 7% of the applicants, so our interviews should probably not have happened. 🙄

Touche Feef. Touche.

Although this time around, I think our competition for that 9% is much, much steeper than it was pre-interview. I'm sure there are some pretty crazy all-stars among us waitlisters.

mdeast <----Not an all star

 

[wolfiemd]

Touche Feef. Touche.

Although this time around, I think our competition for that 9% is much, much steeper than it was pre-interview. I'm sure there are some pretty crazy all-stars among us waitlisters.

mdeast <----Not an all star

i'd assume all waitlisters are relatively similar (hence the waitlisting). If any of us were all-stars..we would've been accepted right off the bat.

 

[Feef]

Although this time around, I think our competition for that 9% is much, much steeper than it was pre-interview. I'm sure there are some pretty crazy all-stars among us waitlisters.

Agreed. 👍 Most of the Stanford interviewees I've met were pretty awesome. I'm glad most of these ppl will become great physicians, if not at Stanford then some other place.

mdeast <----Not an all star.

Forgive me, but I've known too many modest all-stars to believe that. 🙂

 

[Feef]

i'd assume all waitlisters are relatively similar (hence the waitlisting). If any of us were all-stars..we would've been accepted right off the bat.

True...

But I consider the 93rd percentile to be all-star . Especially among ppl who "had the cojones to apply to Stanford." (quote from a friend, and I apologize to any ladies here).

 

[Naijaba]

True...

But I consider the 93rd percentile to be all-star . Especially among ppl who "had the cojones to apply to Stanford." (quote from a friend, and I apologize to any ladies here).

Anyone else find it weird that Stanford didn't use the AMCAS letter processing service?

 

[wolfiemd]

i found it weird that some schools required sending the app in the mail...how 20th century.

 

[mdeast]

Believe me, I am NOT an all star. If I was, I wouldn't be on so many waitlists 🙂

I figure I got an interview because I have a lot of research experience and 1 decent pub. Outside of that, my MCAT and GPA are pretty mediocre/below average for Stanford, and meeting current students I kept asking myself: "Why in the world did they give me an interview?" Everyone seemed to be choosing from Harvard, WashU, Penn, and Stanford...some had patents, others published in Nature, some had won Fulbrights or worked abroad for multiple years after college. I'm just an average lab rat who happens to really like medicine and helping people.

I was perusing some old threads and found one of the waitlisters 2-3 years ago got to defer a year (even coming in off the waitlist) after winning a UK fulbright to study at Oxford.

Believe me, Believe me, I actually applied for both the UK Fulbright and the Gates Cambridge scholarship to study at Cambridge next year (and defer from medical school) and was quickly rejected from both without an interview. The UK Fulbright (English speaking country) is so incredibly competitive it's mind-boggling...this guy was without doubt an all-star.

 

[mdeast]

True...

But I consider the 93rd percentile to be all-star . Especially among ppl who "had the cojones to apply to Stanford." (quote from a friend, and I apologize to any ladies here).

I like this quote.

 

[PsiG]

I know personally one accepted student who is not going to Stanford so there is hope.

 

[Naijaba]

I know personally one accepted student who is not going to Stanford so there is hope.

Very exciting, thanks for letting us know!

 

[bfg9000]

.

 

[Naijaba]

Not to feed the frenzy, but +1
(hopefully it's not the same person!)

Awesomeness! 👍

 

[bfg9000]

Awesomeness! 👍

See above. Sorry! Was accepted straight, not off the waitlist. But still, that's a spot...

 

[Naijaba]

See above. Sorry! Was accepted straight, not off the waitlist. But still, that's a spot...

Yeah, I got you. Nobody (to my knowledge) has been, or will be, accepted off of the waitlist until May 15th. It's good to know that there is an increasing number of straight acceptees not attending.

 

[mdeast]

Yeah, I got you. Nobody (to my knowledge) has been, or will be, accepted off of the waitlist until May 15th. It's good to know that there is an increasing number of straight acceptees not attending.

Well...those who post on SDN. I think 2 withdraws means...nothing. But, trying to stay positive 🙂

On another note, US News rankings come out tomorrow with new figures. They'll list the number of students accepted last year, which will give us a good idea on whether or 130/140 is a typical number or it is really normally 170.

Good luck y'all.

 

[bfg9000]

Well...those who post on SDN. I think 2 withdraws means...nothing. But, trying to stay positive 🙂

Haha, I completely agree. You guys seem awesome so I had a weak moment and fed the frenzy with basically useless info. Will butt out, sorry 🙂

 

[Feef]

Yeah, I got you. Nobody (to my knowledge) has been, or will be, accepted off of the waitlist until May 15th. It's good to know that there is an increasing number of straight acceptees not attending.

Why? B/c it's close to San Francisco? I kid, I kid...

 

[mdeast]

Why? B/c it's close to San Francisco? I kid, I kid...

OMG. I was thinking this as well but didn't want to sound like too much of a homo.

 

[Naijaba]

Bump!