Waitlists and orientations

[Apparition]

Does anyone knows what happens if you get pulled off the waitlist at a school that starts later while you are already at orientation at another school? Can we still take the spot? Thanks.

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[braluk]

i suppose you could...but its going to be a big hassle to rework your loans, and im not even sure where contracts stand, if you had to sign em. Usually, if you are choosing to attend another school, wouldnt it make sense to withdraw applications

 

[Highclimber]

Technically I believe once you begin orientation you are considered enrolled at a school and thus no longer allowed (by aamc) to accept a place at another institution... you can check around but I doubt you will find anyone who has been able to do this... Schools won't "steal" students from other institutions in this situation cuz it leaves the original school in quite a bind...

 

[LauraPaz]

Technically I believe once you begin orientation you are considered enrolled at a school and thus no longer allowed (by aamc) to accept a place at another institution... you can check around but I doubt you will find anyone who has been able to do this... Schools won't "steal" students from other institutions in this situation cuz it leaves the original school in quite a bind...

Yeah, that's about right. I have friends who accepted a spot at Case Western but were also on wait-lists and they were worried about this same thing. Case starts next week, for some weird reason, and once you start, you're done with your wait-lists.

 

[Apparition]

Yeah, that's about right. I have friends who accepted a spot at Case Western but were also on wait-lists and they were worried about this same thing. Case starts next week, for some weird reason, and once you start, you're done with your wait-lists.

This really sucks. I love the school I'm going to but I'm on a waitlist for the state school which is half the price and in the same city. I heard of people getting accepted after like the first day of orientation so I thought that it's after the first day of actual classes that the waitlists are done with.

 

[LauraPaz]

This really sucks. I love the school I'm going to but I'm on a waitlist for the state school which is half the price and in the same city. I heard of people getting accepted after like the first day of orientation so I thought that it's after the first day of actual classes that the waitlists are done with.

Call and ask. I'm not actually sure whether AAMC considers orientation to be the cut-off, but I do know for sure that once classes start you're definitely going to whatever school you start at.

 

[tacrum43]

Call and ask. I'm not actually sure whether AAMC considers orientation to be the cut-off, but I do know for sure that once classes start you're definitely going to whatever school you start at.

It says in the MSAR (under the AAMC's "traffic rules") that once you start orientation at a school, you cannot matriculate at any other school and you should withdraw any remaining waitlists.

 

[LT2]

It says in the MSAR (under the AAMC's "traffic rules") that once you start orientation at a school, you cannot matriculate at any other school and you should withdraw any remaining waitlists.

this is correct, once you start orientation at a school, you are "out of bounds" to the school you're waitlisted at. 😳 too bad the school i'm waitlisted at starts a MONTH after the one i'm accepted at. oh well.

 

[psu student]

what if you start orientation at a DO school and then get off a waitlist at an MD school?

 

[braluk]

good point, since MSAR rules are only applicable to allopathic schools, i would assume it only to be for other allopathic schools.

 

[spospo]

did they change these traffic rules recently? because i know two people who had, from what i hear, started at one med school and then got off the waitlist at another and went there. one had to move from the NE to cali, the other just had to move across NY. maybe i heard the story wrong, but i could have sworn at least one of the people had actually started. hmmmm. what you all are saying though makes sense.

 

[strawberryfield]

what if you start orientation at a DO school and then get off a waitlist at an MD school?

I don't think the rule applies to DO schools, I think you should do them the courtesy of not going to an MD school after classes start, but I'd say orientation week is fair game. May want to check w/ AACOM to be sure if you're in this situation. good luck

Doesn't matter much in my case as the DO school I am accepted at's orientation starts a week later than the orientations of the 2 MD schools I am WLed at. 🙄

 

[ahumdinger]

This really sucks. I love the school I'm going to but I'm on a waitlist for the state school which is half the price and in the same city. I heard of people getting accepted after like the first day of orientation so I thought that it's after the first day of actual classes that the waitlists are done with.

I feel your pain, apparition. I was almost in the same situation. I was in at Mizzou but I was on a waitlist at UWashington and WashU. Mizzou had a super early start -- August 1! So what i did was in my letter/email of interest to the dean (or the committee, if that's the case at your school), I was honest about my situation and explained the time sensitive nature. Express you undying love for this school and that it would kill you to think that you got in one day after orientation at the other school. The dean wrote back and said that he would take that into consideration. (dunno if he was lying, but still it made me feel better)

I still have the email I wrote, so PM if me if you want to see how I worded it.