Waitlist Support Group 2017-2018

[medschoolzombie]

Can someone please explain to me what a “pre-matriculation program” is? Is it orientation? Or second look? I was reading through the earlier posts in this thread and I feel like I am completely missing something. I don’t want to break rules I don’t know about lol

It's like a pre-orientation that gets you accustomed to the area, faculty etc. Most of them seem to focus on covering a lot of the topics normally covered in a pre-req class so it may be good for people who need a refresher course on basic concepts or for those who've been out of school for a while

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[gadgor]

Sitting on four waitlists...someone hold me

 

[sopherz333]

I would eat a singular hat, probably not an all-you-can-eat buffet of hats as I would for someone with six waitlists from mid-tier schools.

Your confidence is much appreciated. 2/6 are to Top 50 schools, 2 are to top 100 schools, and the last 2 are fairly new schools so no rank.

If I actually don't get off at least one, I will buy you an edible hat so that at least it'll go down easier.

Much love fam we in this together

 

[Noorh]

I would eat a singular hat, probably not an all-you-can-eat buffet of hats as I would for someone with six waitlists from mid-tier schools.

Ah, this must be why Perelman gives interviewees those embroidered baseball caps.

 

[Dino Ciccarelli]

1 MD II ----> 1 waitlist..... at a school that interviews 1000

I'd rather a rejection and some piece of mind rather than clinging on to this shred of hope

I am in the same boat. It is excruciating. And I was put on the waitlist just a few days ago.

 

[bananafish94]

Currently on 7 WL for mid tier schools, hope you're hungry when i lose all hope in june

A) That's horrific and I'm sorry you've had to experience that many waitlists. I know how brutal it is.
B) I just like to look at statistics...assuming that each school accepts ~50% of the people they interview (which is honestly probably conservative) there's less than a 1% chance of getting 0 acceptances from 7 interviews. You've clearly done many things very right to get that many interviews, and I'm confident that will translate into at least one acceptance, if not several.

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

A) That's horrific and I'm sorry you've had to experience that many waitlists. I know how brutal it is.
B) I just like to look at statistics...assuming that each school accepts ~50% of the people they interview (which is honestly probably conservative) there's less than a 1% chance of getting 0 acceptances from 7 interviews. You've clearly done many things very right to get that many interviews, and I'm confident that will translate into at least one acceptance, if not several.

Is there a specific source/site you got that from??

 

[sopherz333]

A) That's horrific and I'm sorry you've had to experience that many waitlists. I know how brutal it is.
B) I just like to look at statistics...assuming that each school accepts ~50% of the people they interview (which is honestly probably conservative) there's less than a 1% chance of getting 0 acceptances from 7 interviews. You've clearly done many things very right to get that many interviews, and I'm confident that will translate into at least one acceptance, if not several.

I mean while your at it wanna calculate my chances. I'm the chick with the 6 waitlists

 

[DBC03]

I hate to bring this up, but have any of you set a date where you're going to move forward with an acceptance and ignore your other waitlist opportunities? I'm kind of really excited about one of my acceptances and would love to move forward with the move, but at the same time I have one waitlist school I'd be a fool to completely give up on without waiting it out just a bit longer. I'm wondering when I should throw in the towel (also married, so my spouse needs to move forward with transferring to a new office sooner rather than later).

Also, I'm really feeling terrible for all of you with no acceptances and just some WL opportunities. I know many, if not most, of you will gain an acceptance and matriculate this summer, I cannot imagine how stressful this must be for you right now.

 

[Apothecary Aquinas]

I hate to bring this up, but have any of you set a date where you're going to move forward with an acceptance and ignore your other waitlist opportunities? I'm kind of really excited about one of my acceptances and would love to move forward with the move, but at the same time I have one waitlist school I'd be a fool to completely give up on without waiting it out just a bit longer. I'm wondering when I should throw in the towel (also married, so my spouse needs to move forward with transferring to a new office sooner rather than later).

Also, I'm really feeling terrible for all of you with no acceptances and just some WL opportunities. I know many, if not most, of you will gain an acceptance and matriculate this summer, I cannot imagine how stressful this must be for you right now.

I would check the school specific thread from last year and/or the year before to get an idea of how many wait list spots are generally given up and when. Other than that I think a solid date to "give up" would be the last day in May? Doesn't seem like much generally happens past that except for a few random seats coming open possibly. Also, the school may rank you on the wait list so try and email/call for your general place on that list to give you a better idea of what your chances are (if the school is open to that sort of thing; another thing you could find out from past school specific threads).

 

[Noorh]

I mean while your at it wanna calculate my chances. I'm the chick with the 6 waitlists

Likelihood of getting 0 acceptances after x interviews = [(1-avg. acceptance rate of the schools you interviewed at)^x]*100

Here are the post-interview acceptance rates from the 2016 USNWR: USNWR 2016 Medical School Acceptance Info

This formula is based on the assumption that your likelihood of being accepted at one school is independent of your likelihood of being accepted at another, which is not the case (stats, ECs, and general interviewing skills affect your chances at all schools), so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[878956]

Likelihood of getting 0 acceptances after x interviews = [(1-avg. acceptance rate of the schools you interviewed at)^x]*100

Here are the post-interview acceptance rates from the 2016 USNWR:

This formula is based on the assumption that your likelihood of being accepted at one school is independent of your likelihood of being accepted at another, which is not the case (stats, ECs, and general interviewing skills affect your chances at all schools), so take it with a grain of salt.

can't see the document.

 

[Prometheus123]

Hey. I have no experience with this and nothing useful to tell you, but I really hope you guys get in off those waitlists and get resolution soon on what's next for you and your families. I know how brutal ambiguity and not knowing is.

Here's a song that I hope may cheer some of you up a little bit. We don't know what's going to happen, but regardless, keep hope alive and remember that things usually turn out for the best (at least in hindsight). It's natural to hope that all these talented young people may be given the opportunity to fulfill their dreams, as well as the clarity they need in this process to move on with their lives. Ambiguity is stressful.

It's an encouraging song about dreamers "going down a long and winding road" together, still hoping and dreaming to find a home. Please don't read too much into the lyrics though, as it is contemporary popular music, after all.

 

[dapperdoc]

Likelihood of getting 0 acceptances after x interviews = [(1-avg. acceptance rate of the schools you interviewed at)^x]*100

Here are the post-interview acceptance rates from the 2016 USNWR: USNWR 2016 Medical School Acceptance Info

This formula is based on the assumption that your likelihood of being accepted at one school is independent of your likelihood of being accepted at another, which is not the case (stats, ECs, and general interviewing skills affect your chances at all schools), so take it with a grain of salt.

It's funny. The school that I'm waitlisted at isn't on the list lol.

 

[calivianya]

I hate to bring this up, but have any of you set a date where you're going to move forward with an acceptance and ignore your other waitlist opportunities? I'm kind of really excited about one of my acceptances and would love to move forward with the move, but at the same time I have one waitlist school I'd be a fool to completely give up on without waiting it out just a bit longer. I'm wondering when I should throw in the towel (also married, so my spouse needs to move forward with transferring to a new office sooner rather than later).

Also, I'm really feeling terrible for all of you with no acceptances and just some WL opportunities. I know many, if not most, of you will gain an acceptance and matriculate this summer, I cannot imagine how stressful this must be for you right now.

And then if you own property where you currently live... and you're planning on doing one of those buying/selling things where the proceeds from your old house directly go to the down payment on your new house without ever hitting your bank account first...

It's like what if I put my house on the market too late and it doesn't sell before I move? What if I put it on the market today and it sells tomorrow, and I haven't even given notice at my job yet and neither has my spouse and the person wants to move in next week?! What if I sell early and everything goes fine, and I've bought a new place where I think I'm going... and then I get off a waitlist at a school I'd rather go to three hours after I get the keys to my new place, hundreds of miles away from that school?

All the uncertainties. I'm feeling you.

 

[Apothecary Aquinas]

Likelihood of getting 0 acceptances after x interviews = [(1-avg. acceptance rate of the schools you interviewed at)^x]*100

Here are the post-interview acceptance rates from the 2016 USNWR: USNWR 2016 Medical School Acceptance Info

This formula is based on the assumption that your likelihood of being accepted at one school is independent of your likelihood of being accepted at another, which is not the case (stats, ECs, and general interviewing skills affect your chances at all schools), so take it with a grain of salt.

This is great!

Also, I have conflicting data for UTHSC's 2017 matriculating class (assuming that's University of Tennessee and not Texas):

https://www.uthsc.edu/Medicine/documents/admissions/profiles/profile-of-admissions-2017.pdf

494 Interviews
268 Acceptances
170 Enrollees

Whereas the document you posted has much different numbers. Don't know if you care or if I'm missing something but thought I'd just try and help correct that if anyone cared!

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

Likelihood of getting 0 acceptances after x interviews = [(1-avg. acceptance rate of the schools you interviewed at)^x]*100

Here are the post-interview acceptance rates from the 2016 USNWR: USNWR 2016 Medical School Acceptance Info

This formula is based on the assumption that your likelihood of being accepted at one school is independent of your likelihood of being accepted at another, which is not the case (stats, ECs, and general interviewing skills affect your chances at all schools), so take it with a grain of salt.

damn Buffalo and Wright State aren't on there

 

[DBC03]

And then if you own property where you currently live... and you're planning on doing one of those buying/selling things where the proceeds from your old house directly go to the down payment on your new house without ever hitting your bank account first...

It's like what if I put my house on the market too late and it doesn't sell before I move? What if I put it on the market today and it sells tomorrow, and I haven't even given notice at my job yet and neither has my spouse and the person wants to move in next week?! What if I sell early and everything goes fine, and I've bought a new place where I think I'm going... and then I get off a waitlist at a school I'd rather go to three hours after I get the keys to my new place, hundreds of miles away from that school?

All the uncertainties. I'm feeling you.

We put our house up for sale at the end of February. The real estate market is still going pretty strong here and now I'm freaking out because we haven't gotten an offer (and we priced it relatively well - it's the cheapest house in the neighborhood by $100,000 and it's in a really popular location with very limited houses). It would be a blessing in disguise to get off the waitlist as the other school starts almost three weeks later. So now I'm doing mental arithmetic trying to figure out the last possible date we could close on our house and still have time to purchase another and move in. I've got a few weeks before I get REALLY stressed out...

 

[bananafish94]

Is there a specific source/site you got that from??

No, but I know that on average schools like to accept roughly 2:1. Obviously some will be less and some will be more. I remember that when I was trying to calculate acceptance rates off of MSAR when I was applying, getting an acceptance rate from the matriculation rate generally meant that they accepted about 50% of people who interviewed.

I mean while your at it wanna calculate my chances. I'm the chick with the 6 waitlists

Very roughly, let's assume you have a 50% chance at each interview. Obviously we know that's not entirely true in real life because it depends on a whole host of things, but for kicks: (0.5)^6 = 1.5, meaning you would have about a 1.5% chance of getting rejected from all of them, 1.5% chance of getting accepted to all of them, and a 97% chance of getting accepted to at least one.

 

[DBC03]

I would check the school specific thread from last year and/or the year before to get an idea of how many wait list spots are generally given up and when. Other than that I think a solid date to "give up" would be the last day in May? Doesn't seem like much generally happens past that except for a few random seats coming open possibly. Also, the school may rank you on the wait list so try and email/call for your general place on that list to give you a better idea of what your chances are (if the school is open to that sort of thing; another thing you could find out from past school specific threads).

I need to look at it one more time - but it seems like if I set June 1 as my final date I should have allowed sufficient time for wailtlist movement. I'm on a completely unranked list - I need some old married nondescript female to give up a position for any hope of gaining an acceptance. And then I have to wait for financial aid as I have a pretty solid option right now. The school used to take a lot of people off the waitlist, but there are also a ton of people ON the waitlist. And they moved up on US News, so there's a good chance many accepted students will stay there.

Best of luck, again, to others waiting!

 

[Noorh]

This is great!

Also, I have conflicting data for UTHSC's 2017 matriculating class (assuming that's University of Tennessee and not Texas):

https://www.uthsc.edu/Medicine/documents/admissions/profiles/profile-of-admissions-2017.pdf

494 Interviews
268 Acceptances
170 Enrollees

Whereas the document you posted has much different numbers. Don't know if you care or if I'm missing something but thought I'd just try and help correct that if anyone cared!

Thanks for pointing that out. I think the graph is referring to the UT Houston, which has a class size of 240. I agree that the acronyms are confusing. Unfortunately, it's not my document, so I can't edit it.

 

[Welshman]

Currently on 7 WL for mid tier schools, hope you're hungry when i lose all hope in june

I mean while your at it wanna calculate my chances. I'm the chick with the 6 waitlists

Joining the club, 6 waitlists from mid tier schools. The anxiety is unbearable

 

[boogiecousins94]

Anyone wanna gauge my chances of getting off WL at one of either Netter, USF, and UVM? I still have to hear from UVM post II but let's assume a WL because why not more waiting!

For what it's worth I noticed UVM and Quinnipiac didn't reject post-II in the past until this cycle it seems so who knows what that means for the waitlist, I just assume it's less people

 

[Dino Ciccarelli]

Thank you, i guess my major flaw was that my gpa is mediocre (3.57) with alright mcat (514) but I applied straight through with no gap year, there are enough candidates with 2-3 gap years with similar stats and more pubs than me so its a losing battle

WD9201NY, you are in great shape. Your mcat score is not alright, it’s awesome. And your GPA is just fine. If at least one of those schools doesn’t pull you off the list, I will be very very surprised.

 

[DBC03]

Anyone wanna gauge my chances of getting off WL at one of either Netter, USF, and UVM? I still have to hear from UVM post II but let's assume a WL because why not more waiting!

For what it's worth I noticed UVM and Quinnipiac didn't reject post-II in the past until this cycle it seems so who knows what that means for the waitlist, I just assume it's less people

From what I gather, USF only accepts the minimum to fill its class, then takes most students off the waitlist. If it's any consolation, there's a very good chance an opening will be available after this weekend. I'm not as familiar with UVM and Quinnipaic. Good luck - I really think you'll get off of one of those, but it will be a waiting game.

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

Anyone got an inside scoop on Buffalo, Wright State, WVU or VCU? Really appreciate it


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[boogiecousins94]

From what I gather, USF only accepts the minimum to fill its class, then takes most students off the waitlist. If it's any consolation, there's a very good chance an opening will be available after this weekend. I'm not as familiar with UVM and Quinnipaic. Good luck - I really think you'll get off of one of those, but it will be a waiting game.

That's what I've gathered as well. I'm out of state in the northeast but a lot of my app actually revolves around USF (rec letters, pubs, shadowing, etc) and I honestly feel like it was my best interview/it's been my #1 choice before I even applied so I hope so!

 

[bananafish94]

Thank you, i guess my major flaw was that my gpa is mediocre (3.57) with alright mcat (514) but I applied straight through with no gap year, there are enough candidates with 2-3 gap years with similar stats and more pubs than me so its a losing battle

This is very true. Now that I'm in medical school, I can say that I severely underestimated how many truly extraordinary people there are that you're competing with. That being said, you don't get that many interviews by accident! You've done the work. You have a phenomenal MCAT. Your GPA is completely fine. I'm sure your extracurriculars are great, and the medical schools have obviously taken notice. You have a great deal to be proud of, and I think that come May you will have some good news.

 

[SCN1a]

since we are all listing schools how about Mayo MN, Geisel at Dartmouth, UMN and still haven’t heard from UCLA. 2 post II rs are not listed. Honestly feeling remarkably unremarkable

 

[MareNostrummm]

Anyone got an inside scoop on Buffalo, Wright State, WVU or VCU? Really appreciate it


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xhttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XbbsYd0S_dstw6qizyWqxhOrIY3xF-Sl_Zk_JveLTeQ/edit#gid=0

(Take out the x at the beginning and paste into your browser)

Acceptance rate includes people coming off the waitlist. I believe this is 2015-2016 data (for Wright State at least).

Wright state interviewed 435 people and accepted 250 people to fill a class of ~100 people (back in 2016). In other words, 150 people ended up turning down the acceptance. Of the 185 who were rejected it is unknown how many of that were straight rejected post interview or from the waitlist who didn't end up getting an acceptance.

 

[Hau5MD]

4II's: 3 waitlists (same exact schools as last cycle) and 1 pending decision

 

[sopherz333]

No, but I know that on average schools like to accept roughly 2:1. Obviously some will be less and some will be more. I remember that when I was trying to calculate acceptance rates off of MSAR when I was applying, getting an acceptance rate from the matriculation rate generally meant that they accepted about 50% of people who interviewed.

Very roughly, let's assume you have a 50% chance at each interview. Obviously we know that's not entirely true in real life because it depends on a whole host of things, but for kicks: (0.5)^6 = 1.5, meaning you would have about a 1.5% chance of getting rejected from all of them, 1.5% chance of getting accepted to all of them, and a 97% chance of getting accepted to at least one.

Wow making my odds seem real good. blessssss

 

[medschoolzombie]

2 are to top 100 schools, and the last 2 are fairly new schools so no rank.

Much love fam we in this together

How many non-top 100 schools are there? Does that include DO too?

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

since we are all listing schools how about Mayo MN, Geisel at Dartmouth, UMN and still haven’t heard from UCLA. 2 post II rs are not listed.

Guessing you saw in UMN thread that waitlist won’t hear any type of rank until after 4/30. I think they overfilled the class honestly, no acceptances on SDN for the last 6 weeks of interviews is weird.

 

[Apothecary Aquinas]

How many non-top 100 schools are there? Does that include DO too?

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools

Only 93 are ranked if we're talking USNWR as of the 2019 rankings (maybe more will be ranked later?).

Research rankings don't appear to include DO schools while primary care rankings do include some DO schools. Although, when people talk about rank in general I believe they are generally referring to the research ranking.

Only considering the aforementioned lists there appear to be around ~80 unranked schools (including DO) on them.

 

[medschoolzombie]

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools

Only 93 are ranked if we're talking USNWR as of the 2019 rankings (maybe more will be ranked later?).

Research rankings don't appear to include DO schools while primary care rankings do include some DO schools. Although, when people talk about rank in general I believe they are generally referring to the research ranking.

Only considering the aforementioned lists there appear to be around ~80 unranked schools (including DO) on them.

I guess saying 'I go to a top 100 school' doesn't have the same ring to it as 'I go to a top 50/30 school' if there's only ~100 ranked. Many of those are also ranked at the same ranking lol

 

[tekkenman11]

I guess saying 'I go to a top 100 school' doesn't have the same ring to it as 'I go to a top 50/30 school' if there's only ~100 ranked. Many of those are also ranked at the same ranking lol

RNP schools are not given a rank because they’re in the bottom third according to USNews. So technically they would be rank 100-150

 

[Apothecary Aquinas]

I guess saying 'I go to a top 100 school' doesn't have the same ring to it as 'I go to a top 50/30 school' if there's only ~100 ranked. Many of those are also ranked at the same ranking lol

I agree, haha. There's this weird double-think that I've noticed that happens on SDN and in the premed community as a whole where everyone 'agrees' that USNews rankings are almost meaningless but simultaneously people always talk about school rank and ask about school ranks in a way in which they are held up as meaningful. Maybe I'm just missing something though...

 

[aaronrodgers]

Anyone else using lucky charms?

I have a lucky $5 Canadian bill and a lucky first-gen Yu-gi-oh blue eyes white dragon.

 

[sopherz333]

How many non-top 100 schools are there? Does that include DO too?

As in like their rank is between 50-100. It’s obviously not exact, just wanted to give everyone an idea of the competitiveness of each of my waitlist schools. All my schools are MD!

 

[DBC03]

Anyone else using lucky charms?

I have a lucky $5 Canadian bill and a lucky first-gen Yu-gi-oh blue eyes white dragon.

I bought a jacket with one school’s logo, saying I’d go there unless I got a scholarship elsewhere. Apparently I’m not going to that school next year, so I plan to wear that jacket May 1 as well. Stupid lucky jacket.


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[medschoolzombie]

As in like their rank is between 50-100. It’s obviously not exact, just wanted to give everyone an idea of the competitiveness of each of my waitlist schools. All my schools are MD!

That makes sense haha. I had it in my mind that there weren't more than a 100 MD schools which is why I confused for a sec

 

[medschoolzombie]

I agree, haha. There's this weird double-think that I've noticed that happens on SDN and in the premed community as a whole where everyone 'agrees' that USNews rankings are almost meaningless but simultaneously people always talk about school rank and ask about school ranks in a way in which they are held up as meaningful. Maybe I'm just missing something though...

I agree. Everyone refers to top 10/20/30/50 schools while simultaneously trying to downplay the importance of rank. I wish US News had other rankings besides just research/primary care (unless I'm missing something)

 

[drgreyy]

anyone have the scoop on University of Arizona - Tucson?

 

[SCN1a]

Anyone else using lucky charms?

I have a lucky $5 Canadian bill and a lucky first-gen Yu-gi-oh blue eyes white dragon.

Have a few. A ring I found in a field and a few items on my key chain. Love the blue eyes lol

 

[Juice313]

I need to look at it one more time - but it seems like if I set June 1 as my final date I should have allowed sufficient time for wailtlist movement. I'm on a completely unranked list - I need some old married nondescript female to give up a position for any hope of gaining an acceptance. And then I have to wait for financial aid as I have a pretty solid option right now. The school used to take a lot of people off the waitlist, but there are also a ton of people ON the waitlist. And they moved up on US News, so there's a good chance many accepted students will stay there.

Best of luck, again, to others waiting!

I'm setting June 1 as my final date for waitlist movement as well! I have one acceptance but am waitlisted at my #1 and #2 choices that I interviewed at. Fingers crossed for us, and best of luck to all still waiting!

 

[DosageMTP]

I'm on a completely unranked list - I need some old married nondescript female to give up a position for any hope of gaining an acceptance.

I am in the same boat. I hope that's not the only way to get off the waitlist...there are probably not too many of us in the applicant pool to begin with.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

I bought a jacket with one school’s logo, saying I’d go there unless I got a scholarship elsewhere. Apparently I’m not going to that school next year, so I plan to wear that jacket May 1 as well. Stupid lucky jacket.


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My mom got a sticker for her car with the logo of a program I won’t make it off the ranked waitlist into. Hoping my friend gets in and it can be a gift for them. Haven’t asked mom if she ripped it into shreds from being mad yet lol. (She’s not extreme just has to get work emails weekly from my faculty interviewer and it annoys her)

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

I'm setting June 1 as my final date for waitlist movement as well! I have one acceptance but am waitlisted at my #1 and #2 choices that I interviewed at. Fingers crossed for us, and best of luck to all still waiting!

FYI Maybe start finding housing at the acceptance now so there’s more options if you can. This would be best if your waitlist schools are cheaper, so losing the deposit at the current acceptance apartment isn’t a big deal in the long run if you make it in off the WL, and if you don’t make it in you get to live somewhere you actually want at the current acceptance.

 

[sammyers_sm]

Hey guys!

Just coming across this thread and thought I'd share my situation with y'all. I'm a MD/PhD Applicant, was accepted to 1 program but was waitlisted at my dream reach program (hilarious actually. Just applied on a whim, so sure they'd probably reject my application off the bat. Didn't submit my primary until end of August, then my secondary until late October. Suddenly had an interview invite in November and was/am still dumbfounded. Didn't even think I had a shot of getting an interview at, let alone a waitlist!). The program I was accepted to wants me to start June 1st, and the program I was waitlisted at doesn't accept people off the waitlist until after April 30th. They accept people until the end of July, so here's to hoping I hear back before I matriculate at the other school!

Sending good thoughts for all you guys still holding on!