tran1123 said:
I got the exact letter, stating the same thing about be approved and whatnot. When did you get waitlisted? If after late January, I am ahead of you on the AF list and I have not heard a final decision yet.
The following info on the USUHS waitlist was garnered from the adcom, and students there during the application cycle of 1998-9....
At your interview, you have to fill out a form on which you state your preference of branch assignment. Although there is some small print that basically says that you will consider any spot, this rank/preference thing is extrememly important for your acceptance chances to USUHS.
Here is how the adcom uses this info: they take your #1 choice and if you are accepted and pass all the physical/security crap, and if a spot is available in your #1 choice, they will offer that spot to you. If your #1 choice branch has no spot available then you are placed on the waitlist for that branch. Later on if a spot opens up in your #1 branch, and your name is at the top of the waitlist for that branch, then you will be offerred the spot.
So you can see how this preference plays a big role in whether you will get a spot. Let me give you an example in case you still don't see how the preference thing can work against you. Let's say 2 guys are accepted at the same time. Guy A put army at the top of his preference list. Guy B put air force at the top of his list. Even though these applicants are identical in every objective, and subjective way, the army guy gets an offer because there are open spaces in the army, and the air force guy gets waitlisted and never gets in because the air force waitlist never really moves.
When I applied in '98-'99 I put navy as my first choice. I was told by students there to put army as my first choice since the aramy has the most spots available, and has the biggest quota for USUHS... also the army waitlist moved a lot faster because of this. But I decided that if I was going to go to USUHS, I wanted to be in the navy (kind of a family tradition thing). I was accepted and placed on the navy waitlist. Well I got a call in June of '99 from the USUHS adcom asking me if I would be willing to take an army spot if one opened up. The lady fromt he adcom said that the army waitlist was the fastest moving list and it looked like the list would be exhausted any moment... there were only a couple of people left on the army waitlist. Anyway, I wound up withdrawing my name at that time from the waitlist since I was already accepted at a different med school.
To summarize, it matters a whole lot which branch you put down on that form. If you get waitlisted, you get put on a waitlist for your #1 branch choice. If your preferred branch take many people off of the waitlist, and you interview very late in the cycle, you are essentially dooming your chances at USUHS. Consider that when I appliied (and it probably isn't much different now), army was the easiest to get, followed by navy , followed by air force for which it was practically impossible to get off of the waitlist. Apparently air force is the smallest branch for physicians, has the cushiest bases, and the cushiest work environment. Therefore it is very popular, with not many spots available. If you picked air force, and are waitlisted, well... good luck.
p.s. - i posted this info last summer/fall but i guess it went unnoticed...
