Waitlist Movement En Masse?

[Green Doc]

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I know this is kind of a difficult question for all of us current applicants to answer without the benefit of experience and hindsight, so maybe some of the current med students and residents can chime in here. . . Given the record number of applicants this year, is it likely that this is going to correlate into greater waitlist movement at every school across the board? That is, do you think that given the current climate applicants are placing more deposits down than they would have in past years, or is there no plausible correlation between record numbers of applicants and the motivation to place a deposit? For those who have placed deposits, did you feel that the climate this cycle "forced your hand" to place more than you would have liked to?

 

[t-funk]

Ow, my brain hurts now. 🙂

 

[ShyRem]

Waitlist movement is difficult to predict. A couple years ago waitlist movement was almost nonexistent. the year afterward the waitlist movement was HUGE.

 

[Green Doc]

If you were a gambling woman, what would you place your bet on in this application cycle? Any inklings you've gained from interacting with the applicant pool this time around?

 

[t-funk]

I know this is kind of a difficult question for all of us current applicants to answer without the benefit of experience and hindsight, so maybe some of the current med students and residents can chime in here. . . Given the record number of applicants this year, is it likely that this is going to correlate into greater waitlist movement at every school across the board? That is, do you think that given the current climate applicants are placing more deposits down than they would have in past years, or is there no plausible correlation between record numbers of applicants and the motivation to place a deposit? For those who have placed deposits, did you feel that the climate this cycle "forced your hand" to place more than you would have liked to?

Yeah, I honestly don't think it is that easy to answer this question. Also, I kind of think the pool of people on SDN is so small and they are likely to be a little more obsessed about their applications and such, that it would be really hard to get a good trend from SDN. Most of the people that I know IRL only apply to a couple of medical schools (2-5) yet SDN is filled with people appying to tons and 'playing their hand' so to speak. Even if a lot of people were paying and ditching deposits on SDN, I'm not sure that that would correlate to the general trend. Anyhow, that is just my opinion.

 

[Green Doc]

Point certainly well taken. I agree that extrapolating too much from the SDN pool is a little problematic. That said, you will also get a pretty good sampling of the larger applicant pool here on SDN (the late-in-life non-trad, the young gunner, the high stat applicant as well as the low stat applicant, and everywhere in between), so I think that there is some value to be had here. Personally, I have received one acceptance that I turned down, one waitlist, and am waiting on two decisions. If the entire pool was like me, there'd be very little waitlist movement, but I think I'm generally the exception to the rule.

 

[ThisIsYourLife]

Point certainly well taken. I agree that extrapolating too much from the SDN pool is a little problematic. That said, you will also get a pretty good sampling of the larger applicant pool here on SDN (the late-in-life non-trad, the young gunner, the high stat applicant as well as the low stat applicant, and everywhere in between), so I think that there is some value to be had here. Personally, I have received one acceptance that I turned down, one waitlist, and am waiting on two decisions. If the entire pool was like me, there'd be very little waitlist movement, but I think I'm generally the exception to the rule.

you turned down an acceptance!?! wow you have got nerve!!! why did you do it? just curious. good luck getting into one of the others, though!

 

[Green Doc]

i turned it down because i realized that i couldn't justify dragging my family (i am married with a 2 year old) across several state lines to fulfill my desire for a medical education. i have certainly put a lot on the line for a very uncertain future (with my waitlist, etc.), but my wife is very supportive, and if it doesn't work out this year, there is next year.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

It moved a little.

 

[Lshapley]

Personally, I think that there would be less waitlist movement this year (at least for DO schools) than some other years. I don't see how more applicants will result in greater waitlist movement. Rather I would think that people who would have had two acceptances last year, will only have one this year.

Also, at least in PCOM's situation, the hefty deposit ($2K) makes me very hesitant to drop it for just some generic MD acceptance off of a waitlist. An MD school would have to offer me a kicka$$ financial aid package that more than compensated for the lost $2K in order for me to seriously consider them.