waitlist stats?

[lala2626]

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hey guys, where can we find the waitlist stats? as in how many people get off it eventually? and by the way, how do schools end up deciding which ppl to take off the list?

 

[njbmd]

hey guys, where can we find the waitlist stats? as in how many people get off it eventually? and by the way, how do schools end up deciding which ppl to take off the list?

Varies from school to school. Some schools have a "ranked" waitlist and others have a system that they won't share with you. In general, if you are on a waitlist, you need to contact the school to find out the rules. Most schools will let you know how and when they will contact you if you are waitlisted. Some will even let you know your chances of getting off their waitlist.

For my two medical schools, as seats open up, we fill them with people from the waitlist in the order that they went on the waitlist. We have non-rolling admissions. We generally open more interview slots from the pre-interview hold group if we think that we need to interview more folks but we don't actually "interview" for the waitlist. This gives an advantage to people who applied early and went on the waitlist early but in general, we don't waitlist folks that we wouldn't accept if we had a slot open anyway.

 

[FlowLimited]

hey guys, where can we find the waitlist stats? as in how many people get off it eventually? and by the way, how do schools end up deciding which ppl to take off the list?

It's hard to find solid stats because the number of people who get accepted off the waitlist is highly variable each year.

 

[Rutgers06]

It's hard to find solid stats because the number of people who get accepted off the waitlist is highly variable each year.

Yeah, the numbers can swing wildly from year to year. I know that for my school, the number of people who came off the waitlist for this past year was noticeably lower when compared to previous years and the admissions people called it a statistical anomaly. Some schools will rank their waitlist and group people into a "high waitlist". In those cases, the chance of getting off the high waitlist is relatively good.

 

[zenlike]

Last year, I know one "lower-tier" school that had no waitlist movement, one "lower-tier" school that filled 2/3 of their class off of the waitlist, and one higher tier school that has three waitlists--high, middle, and low--where the high waitlist is all but a guaranteed acceptance.

 

[luvumeanit]

Remember, schools -- even top schools -- accept more people than they have slots.

Many schools accept double the number that they hope to seat. Even a school like Yale, I think, accepts 30% more than they want.

Accordingly, many schools last cycle took NO ONE off the waitlist. I was on 5 waitlists and got accepted to one of them.

 

[EpiPEN]

Just fyi, check with schools (admin office, students you know or that you met when you interviewed, any other insider information) to see if there is anything you can do to increase your chances. For example, writing LOI for some schools will help you get off the waitlist, for some they won't do jack.

 

[dannyboy1]

Last year, I know one "lower-tier" school that had no waitlist movement, one "lower-tier" school that filled 2/3 of their class off of the waitlist, and one higher tier school that has three waitlists--high, middle, and low--where the high waitlist is all but a guaranteed acceptance.

how can you have NO waitlist movement? the average applicant applies to around 20 places and it does not make sense that a lower tier school would be the top choice for everybody.

 

[luvumeanit]

how can you have NO waitlist movement? the average applicant applies to around 20 places and it does not make sense that a lower tier school would be the top choice for everybody.

Some of the schools, like Buffalo and NYMC, have quite a bit of waitlist movement.

But if you do the math, you can see that if twice as many people get accepted to all the med schools than the med schools can seat, even after the multiple acceptance stuff sorts itself out, there isn't much left for waitlisters.

Example, a school like BU for example, accepts about 350 to end up with 165 students. Last cycle, 180ish decided to matriculate. Result: zero waitlist movement.

And there are other examples just like that.

 

[dannyboy1]

does that mean that they originally accept more than they can seat? what do they do if too many people decide to matriculate ? i always thought that when a school says that they accepted 300 and had 150 matriculants it was including the waitlist.

 

[kalia]

I also assumed that under the US news headings, when they state that they've accepted say 300 ppl for 180 spots, that includes waitlisters....

 

[luvumeanit]

I also assumed that under the US news headings, when they state that they've accepted say 300 ppl for 180 spots, that includes waitlisters....

It does, like 5 of them!!! Or in the case of BU Class of 2012, none of them.