A number of folks have PMed me about the difference between the waitlist and the alternate list at VCOM. I got the answer from Megan Price, dean of admissions and wanted to post it here. Hope this clears up some of the confusion.
Mrs Price said, "we are working with a waitlist and an alternate list. The waitlist comes into play at the end of the year when we?ve filled the class. The waitlist is for individuals to whom we would like to offer a seat but are unable to do so because all of the seats are filled. These are folks who would have been offered a seat outright would they have interviewed two months ago. We work directly from the waitlist in order to fill the class. The waitlist is ranked by applicant strength ? not by date of interview. So, when a seat becomes available, the first person on the waitlist is offered a seat automatically. The alternate list is a different animal.
We?ve been using the alternate list all year. We place a candidate on the alternate list when we feel their application could use some improvement. We encourage these individuals to provide us with updated grades (as they finish their semester), updated MCAT scores (when appropriate), additional letters of recommendation, and a letter of intent (when appropriate). We will review the alternate list once a month. Once the list is reviewed, we will move some candidates up to the waitlist and the remaining candidates will stay on the alternate list to be reviewed the following month. The alternate list is not ranked.
