Summer Med School Contact

[bufer1]

I am in the unfortunate position of being on several waitlists (SUNY Upstate, Buffalo, MSSM, Michigan, Northwestern, NYU) . In preparation for a long summer of calling/writing/emailing admissions committees, I have a few questions:

1) How often should I contact the schools, and which form would be most effective in showing my interest w/o pissing them off?
2) I may be out of the country for the summer,... in which case I will not be there to receive the potential good news.. how do most schools notify waitlist acceptees (phone, email, mail)?
3) How long do they give you to reply after receving an acceptance?

Please let me know if you have any specific knowledge of the above schools policies, or any other advice!

 

[bufer1]

.

 

[2112_rush]

1) Not too often. About once a month seems right to me.

2) Call the admissions office and tell them your situation and see what they say.

3) Probably varies, one month in my experience.

 

[bufer1]

bump..................................

 

[Lochmoor]

I've had several friends get into med school off the wl and this is what I know from them.

Schools will try your current and permanent contact. One friend was in Europe and the school called his parents to let him know. I think he had to get some stuff faxed over to Europe and stuff. A bit of a hassle, but in the end it worked out. Let the schools know how to contact you--directly (or indirectly ie parents if necessary).

As for the timelne to decide once accepted, I've heard of someone getting as little as 1 weekend. It was late in the summer, so the school probably wanted to expedite the process of filling the class.

Best of luck,
Lochmoor

 

[vinoyp]

I was in Europe when I found out. I notified the schools of this before I left. The school to which I was accepted told me they'd email me the decision, in addition to sending a letter to my home address. I went to a cyber cafe one night in Rome, found out I was accepted, then got trashed.

--Vinoy

 

[DrJ2B]

I am in the unfortunate position of being on several waitlists (SUNY Upstate, Buffalo, MSSM, Michigan, Northwestern, NYU) . In preparation for a long summer of calling/writing/emailing admissions committees, I have a few questions:

1) How often should I contact the schools, and which form would be most effective in showing my interest w/o pissing them off?
2) I may be out of the country for the summer,... in which case I will not be there to receive the potential good news.. how do most schools notify waitlist acceptees (phone, email, mail)?
3) How long do they give you to reply after receving an acceptance?

Please let me know if you have any specific knowledge of the above schools policies, or any other advice!

1) About every 3-4 weeks. I think you should send a letter a month with a different theme (one may be an update, another a letter about what you love about the school, another letter about what you would contribute, a letter of intent for the school that is your top choice). I would call every so often as well, maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks (since most schools give you about 2 weeks to decide after being taken off the waitlist). You can also send e-mails to the dean of admissions. If you have a top choice or are close to one or more of the schools, you can ask to meet with the dean of admissions if at all possible.

2) Most schools I have heard either call or e-mail waitlist acceptances. Some schools also send letters. The later in the summer, the greater the likelihood the method will be much faster in this case a call or e-mail. For the most part, they call or e-mail so as to quicken the process. If you are out of the country and have access to e-mail or have a phone number where you can be contacted, mention that in a letter or call them with that info. If not, then you can have a "proxy" (parents, sibling, S/O) that can check your mail, e-mail, or take calls, and then contact you. Make sure you inform all the schools about who this person/people is/are. Just make sure you have some way of being contacted.

3) For the most part, I have heard you have about 2 weeks. I believe this is done because they want enough time to notify other waitlistees before class starts. I doubt it is a month because if you decide not to accept the offer, they need time to offer other people spots in the class. The situation may be different if you are offered a waitlist spot very early on, but I doubt it is more than 2-3 weeks.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to PM me.

 

[hypersting]

What happens if you get off one waitlist, accept, and then later on get off another one? Do you lose any deposit you put down or anything? Just a distinct possibility I would think for many people.

 

[redstar18]

I believe the deposit is not refundable after May 15 for most (if not all) schools.