Waitlist Movement

[johne]

Hi,

I have heard from several directors of admissions that they expect significant movement on the waitlists this year due to AMCAS troubles. This does make me happy since I am sitting on 6 lists here. However, I am curious how they are arriving at this conclusion.
Has anybody heard similar?

John

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[ValleyGal]

Hey -- I am on 5 waitlists, so there are those of us out there who definitely feel your pain (nothing like waiting 6 more months to figure out where you are going to med school) This is why I think there are more waitlists this year. Because of the AMCAS problems, they are accepting less people as they go along because they just don't know who could be coming next. If they accept less people and keep more on the waitlist, they end up with the same class, albeit later in the year and with us having a few more grey hairs. As for the non-rolling schools, I know that Duke specifically is accepting 50 less this year because of its high offer acceptance rate last year -- they are hedging their bets against that happening again.

Moral of the story -- we picked a particularly stressful year to apply to med school. Try not to worry too much, because a waitlist is better than a rejection. Good luck!

 

[Trek]

Perhaps valleygal is right. I also think it has to do with who got "weeded" out by the AMCAS. I figure most people who have got good grades, scores, and the whole 9 yards wouldn't be so quick to throw the towel in as the folks with slightly lower grades, scores, etc, who could use a year to beef up their app. As a result, i think this year's applicant pool is a little better than last year's. This translates into a lot of folks getting multiple acceptances (there's a girl at my school with 9!!!) who will eventually have to give them up. I think that case of "a greater number of people taking the acceptance" is just a fluke in Duke's case, because if you think about it, that means a lot of other schools had more people turn them down (since the students went to duke) and so would, by that reasoning, give out MORE acceptances. Not likely. Moral of the story: better applicant pool, more multiple acceptees= more waitlist movement. --Trek

 

[katiep]

I thought they gave out only as many acceptances as there are spots, and they only offer more acceptances as people withdraw. Otherwise, don't they run the risk of overfilling their class? How is the Duke situation possible, then? (I'm not arguing, just asking honestly.)

 

[Trek]

Most schools don't. They know historically, say, 50% show up, then they give just under twice the number of seats. At least the 3 directors of admissions i've talked to have all told me that. --Trek

 

[katiep]

So how do they prevent more students accepting their offers than they have positions, then? I'm pretty sure the number of seats for which they are licensed to teach is fixed (right?). So imagine what would happen if 15 extra students, by chance on a particular year, accept. Can they actually say, sorry, but we don't have the room?

I think those three Deans maybe meant that they ended up accepting 50% more. But they still only accepted them after others withdrew.

 

[alice]

every school does it differently - they have an idea how many people usually accept their offer and give an appropriate # of acceptances. e.g. stanford's class of 82 students - they accept 200. this isn't true for all schools. i know columbia accepts only as many applicants as it has seats for, then fills from the waitlist as needed. thus, half the class comes off the WL. but this is a unique case.

i know that a lot of schools (esp rolling) have given out fewer admits early (vandy, dartmouth) because they don't know what they'll see later due to the amcas debacle. i bet a lot of schools have larger waitlists than usual.

 

[lamyers1]

The dean at South told us that AMCAS hasn't released the info about who has been accepted where yet. They usually have by now. So, our school is not dropping their numbers yet to overcommit until they see what AMCAS supplies them with. Stupid AMCAS fiasco crap.

 

[botticelli]

Wait, I am confused about this. I thought information about who is accepted where was not released until April or May. So if schools know now where you have been accepted, they might not offer you an interview or even a spot in their class? For example, if you have been accepted to your state school, would an out-of-state school say, hey, this person will go there - we're not going to bother with them?

 

[lamyers1]

Hmmm, good point. I just know that he said they are hung up because the "idiots" haven't released the info yet and they usually have let them know by now. Lemme check of that one and get back with ya!

 

[UCLA2000]

Higher ranked schools have less waitlist movement...
I know UCSD has started accepting from its acceptable applicant pool...

 

[botticelli]

Thanks, Lamyers! Lemme know what you find out!

 

[lamyers1]

According to the dean, I think he said AMCAS is released it March 15 (16th?). When he was asked about bias towards acceptances, etc when it is known where a student is accepted, he said that "that doesn't really happen." Well, whatever. Didn't learn much there. But the point is that AMCAS is releasing in mid-March.

 

[botticelli]

Thanks, lamyers! The rumors I have heard about schools like Boston for example are that once they see that you have accepted a place at your state school, they will think that you'll go there because of the difference in cost and thus won't offer you a place. Of course people are going to accept a place in their state school, especially at first, until they see where else they get in, but that doesn't mean they will end up there, right? I think AMCAS letting schools know who has been accepted is just another way to screw us!

 

[Ronaldinho]

accepted out of the waitlist at MCPHU!!
Iguess it started to move! (I was waitlisted in November)... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

 

[Jalopycat]

Yeah. I got off my waitlist too. I was waitlisted in late February and just got notified the other day. Pretty quick, I thought..

 

[oldman]

i just got off wake's waitlist

 

[altaskier]

I've also heard that by now, AMCAS should've released where everyone has been accepted and where everyone is waitlisted at. But they haven't yet.

 

[SeeGulz]

Jalopycat, what waitlist did you get pulled from?

 

[Doctora Foxy]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by altaskier:
•I've also heard that by now, AMCAS should've released where everyone has been accepted and where everyone is waitlisted at. But they haven't yet.•••••ok I have heard of this before, but for some reason I thought that was May 15th. Is that what was traditionally supposed to happen on March 15th but was puched back this year? Where did you hear that?

Questions:
When schools see that people have no acceptances, does that make them more likely to offer an acceptance because of a high expected yield? Or do they look down on the applicant because of it?
And can they see where applicants are waitlisted?

 

[johne]

I would guess that they are MORE likely to accept you, especially if you are waitlisted. Waitlisted means that you are a qualified applicant. If nobody has accepted you, then it should give them more of a reason to want to snatch you up. Especially since often schools waitlist candidates that are overqualified.

 

[ValleyGal]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by johne:
•Especially since often schools waitlist candidates that are overqualified.•••••Can you elaborate/give examples of this?

 

[Papa Smurf]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by ValleyGal:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by johne:
•Especially since often schools waitlist candidates that are overqualified.•••••Can you elaborate/give examples of this?•••••Some schools hesitate to accept applicants that they feel will not matriculate. By waitlisting them, they're essentially increasing their yield, thus bumping up their US NEWS rank. Twisted, I know!

 

[Hero]

These schools that waitlist you because you are 'over qualified,' they must be 2nd tier schools right?

Do med schools actually send AMCAS a list of students that they have waitlisted (either officially such as UCSD's 'acceptable-pool' or unofficially such as USC's silence)?

Thanks

 

[Papa Smurf]

AMCAS sends to med schools a list of where you're holding acceptances come May 15th. Thus, all the schools know if you've gotten in or not. They don't know what waitlists you're on. I've never heard of schools sending AMCAS a list of their waitlisted candidates, maybe it's a UC thing? As for the schools that waitlist overqualified applicants, I suppose they're primarily middle tier, but I dunno. I know the system is abused at the undergraduate level by schools such as WashU. (Good school, not IVY, but is willing to use these tactics to improve their yield). It's definitely not as widespread a practice at medical schools as it is at the undergraduate level, but to think it doesn't happen at all would be inaccurate.

 

[waitingwaiting]

Hi guys,
I haven't been waitlisted anywhere yet, I'm still waiting to hear (i'm on "hold"). Here are my stats. Can you tell me what you think will happen? My GPA is a a 3.5 (3.7 last few sems w/ A's in upper level bio classes like biochem, etc) and my MCATs go like this:

9's accross the board

good activities
good LORs

What do you think? Please, any input would be much loved!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jonquille]

Waitingwaiting,
Where are you on hold?

 

[waitingwaiting]

on hold at UNC!