Unranked waitlists - How do schools explain them?

[Jezzielin]

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I am just curious of how schools explain an unranked waitlist. I have heard that they pull people off the waitlist by picking people with the same numbers or something as the person that dropped their seat. Is there any other explainations you have gotten from schools?

For my waitlist I heard that it was unranked but the timing of your interview played the biggest role, e.g. The earlier the interview, the better the odds.

I don't know if that is true and starting to think that my hopes were falsely set high but I am just curious if anyone else has heard this explaination or any others???

 

[Touchdown]

You want the real answer?

Waitlists are the schools insurence policy, they are not ment to be a benifit to med applicants. If they dont rank then they can do whatever they want while you dangle like a fish on a hook the whole summer.

 

[ND2005]

For the most part, an "unranked" waitlist simply means the school doesn't want to be tied down by telling you what your rank on the list is.

They obviously have prioritization within the list, otherwise they'd just be picking names out of a hat.

From what I've seen/heard they do match the people they pull of the waitlist to people who've dropped out, but not in the sense that "well, Tom with a 35 MCAT and a 3.88 GPA dropped out, so we better let in Ted with a 34 MCAT and a 3.86".

The matching more comes in when they look at the composition of the class and what they need to balance out -- eg too many of one gender, too few minorities, too few research-oriented students, too few kids from in state, etc.

 

[Jezzielin]

You want the real answer?

Waitlists are the schools insurence policy, they are not ment to be a benifit to med applicants. If they dont rank then they can do whatever they want while you dangle like a fish on a hook the whole summer.

Ha, interesting answer. But that was what I was told by the school that many people have dropped seats, they will be taking people off the waitlist and the first people to be called would be the people who interviewed early.

Not just curious about my situation but also of what other schools give as reasons to take people off the waitlist that isn't ranked

But man, do I feel like a giant fish on a hook anyway!

 

[snobored18]

Ha, interesting answer. But that was what I was told by the school that many people have dropped seats, they will be taking people off the waitlist and the first people to be called would be the people who interviewed early.

Not just curious about my situation but also of what other schools give as reasons to take people off the waitlist that isn't ranked

But man, do I feel like a giant fish on a hook anyway!

Hmmm...is this MCW????

 

[tacrum43]

I was told by the school that many people have dropped seats, they will be taking people off the waitlist and the first people to be called would be the people who interviewed early.

Not just curious about my situation but also of what other schools give as reasons to take people off the waitlist that isn't ranked

Strange. I've never heard of a school doing that. Which one is that, if you don't mind saying?

I think most schools that have an unranked list take the people who show the most interest in the school. I've also heard that schools that do have some form of ranking (like EVMS with its thirds) still take people that are similar to the ones that have dropped an acceptance (like ND2005 was talking about). Apparently, some schools, like Tulane for example, re-review all of the people on their waitlist when it comes time to send out some acceptances.

 

[Jezzielin]

Hmmm...is this MCW????

No actually this is one of my osteo schools I applied to LECOM-Erie. I was just curious about what everyone thought 👍 .

Since the interview I have written 2 LOIs (spaced about 2-3 months apart), another LOR is currently being sent and I am sending my transcript of this semester that should be a 4.0. Well see! 😳

 

[snobored18]

Awww....well the osteos seem to do stuff a little differently, I know Mayo has an "unranked" waitlist in the sense they won't tell you your rank. Now I don't know how they move people off the list, but my gut feeling is it that as someone fitting a certain "profile" drops they try and compensate for that person by fitting someone similar in. I think the smaller schools really can afford to pay this level of attention to detail, I'm not sure if the larger schools have the same luxury.

 

[Jezzielin]

Awww....well the osteos seem to do stuff a little differently, I know Mayo has an "unranked" waitlist in the sense they won't tell you your rank. Now I don't know how they move people off the list, but my gut feeling is it that as someone fitting a certain "profile" drops they try and compensate for that person by fitting someone similar in. I think the smaller schools really can afford to pay this level of attention to detail, I'm not sure if the larger schools have the same luxury.

Ah okay, thanks for the info!

 

[emeraldcity]

Yeah.
depends on the school.

Univ of Washington has both: a ranked list (25 spots) and an unranked list (about 30-40).

They pretty much make it thru the entire ranked list every year, the unranked is an insurance policy for them.
The past 4-5 years they've pulled about 2 off the unranked list each year.
The unranked list at UW is a crap shoot. The dean gets to decide who gets off the list...

 

[ahumdinger]

Yeah.
depends on the school.

Univ of Washington has both: a ranked list (25 spots) and an unranked list (about 30-40).

They pretty much make it thru the entire ranked list every year, the unranked is an insurance policy for them.
The past 4-5 years they've pulled about 2 off the unranked list each year.
The unranked list at UW is a crap shoot. The dean gets to decide who gets off the list...

eeek. I'm on the unranked list. bah. I doubt I'll be one of the lucky 2.