Waitlists: Emory, Vanderbilt, Case Western, Pittsburgh

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xaelia

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Has anyone been in touch with the admissions offices of Emory, Vanderbilt, Case Western Reserve, or Pittsburgh for information regarding their progress filling their class or looking to the waiting list? I've exhausted my quota of "keeping-in-touch-without-being-annoying" for the time being.

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Hey Xaelia, I recently emailed Dir of Admissions Pat Sagen, and she said they weren't going to look at the waitlist until more people withdrew. In the meantime, the only we could do was to send letters of interests, which seems like what you've been doing.

Pitt won't tell us anything...I don't know how the waitlists are going.

But the waitlist movement thread points that things may be starting up...<crossing fingers>
 
from reading old posts a couple of weeks ago, last year's applicants got pulled off pitt and vandy waitlists around to 23-26ish. so i guess the end of next week when they've had a chance to look at the updated recoreds of who've withdrawn.
 
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Pitt just moved guys... I got the call about 15 minutes ago... I have four days to decide...

C
 
Called CWRU today, and according to the nice lady that picks up the phone they will not be LOOKING at the alternate list until next week. Due to the late offers of the financial aid department, some people were given extensions until the end of this week to decide. So withdrawls are still rolling in.

She suggested I call back early next week.
 
Originally posted by xaelia
FYI, for those you with CallerID on your cell phones... ;)

Atlanta: (404)
Nashville: (615)
Cleveland: (216)
Pittsburgh: (412)


Keep in Mind, atlanta can also be 678........
 
Ba-dum bump - ching!

Anyone hear back from Ms. Black or Dr. Sagen recently? Has this mystery "short waitlist" materialized for anyone for Vanderbilt? How many people are on the CWRU Alternate List? Is there any hope left for Pitt, or have they already moved as much as they're going to move? Are my strange dreams a consequence of medication or waitlist stress?
 
Called vandy today. They should send notice of who's on/not on the truncated wait list by next week:eek:
 
this is probably not very helpful, but i know at least one spot should be opening up at emory since i am withdrawing my app. do i just send them a letter saying that i'm not going anymore. does anyone know what to do?
 
Originally posted by lipid
this is probably not very helpful, but i know at least one spot should be opening up at emory since i am withdrawing my app. do i just send them a letter saying that i'm not going anymore. does anyone know what to do?

Yes, just send them a short note. Nothing fancy, just keep it simple.

Wrigley
 
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I got the call from Pitt today...so the waitlist is definitely having plenty of movement, I'd say!
 
Called the office yet again today, and no movement on the alternate list yet. She told me they need another week (sigh) and to call back late next week (sigh again). And she did mention that there is no ranking.
 
Got a call from Pitt today, 5/29
 
Anyone get the Vanderbilt short-waitlist letter yet? It doesn't sound like anyone's heard a peep from Emory recently; has anyone called them to see where they are?
 
Check your email for info on the Emory waitlist. Just got one today that says it has begun moving/let us know if you are really interested/it's not ranked but depends on your interest/if accepted you have 48 hours to decide! Good luck all!
 
Hm! I definitely didn't get that e-mail...I wonder if it's because I've been in reasonably frequent contact to the point where there's no question whether I'm interested in sticking around. Thanks for posting the update!
 
hey guys,

if you were offered pitt and emory where would you go? and why? i am in at pitt and waitlisted at emory; i loved the feeling at pitt but love the hospital and pub health options at emory ... i'm just trying to gauge an opinion should an acceptance come through at emory and i have to make a quick decision ... also, if i decide pitt in the next few days, i'll withdraw from emory ... although the weather in hotlanta is more appealing to me than pitt ...
 
As far as I'm concerned, I'd go to whichever one pulled me off the waitlist first; I'm tired of this whole damn process. :)

The strengths of the schools are different enough that it's somewhat apples and oranges, so there's not really separation in my mind.
 
got a call from emory on monday.

i now have 24 hrs to decide whether to go there.

not sure what i'm going to do at this point...as i've said in other posts, i'm currently slated to go to tufts, but i would drop both schools (tufts and emory) for sinai in a second. problem is that emory starts july 23rd, which means if i decide to go there (over tufts) i am decreasing my window of opportunity at sinai.
at this point i'm torn bw that, emory's better reputation, and boston's much better location.

anyway, good luck to all you guys...if i give up my spot, maybe one of you will get it.
 
Is Vandy slow this yr or are ppl not posting?
Want to jump in the band wagon at Pitt...
waitlists suck. whoever said patience is virtue hasn't been dragged along this process for a year...
 
I got an email from Linda Bernardi-Demo at Pitt asking if I was still interested in going there, as spots were opening up soon there.

Haven't heard from Vandy or Emory though.
 
Apparently, waitlisted folks flooded Dr. Curtiss over at Pittsburgh with e-mails after someone posted his address in another thread. He is Not Happy. It seems they have a "short waitlist" that they're taking people from, and then a long, massive, general waitlist, that they basically haven't even bothered looking at.

If they don't want to risk being harassed, they shouldn't string so many of us along!
 
Any news from CWRU? We were told at the interview that most of the movement happens before June 15 and after that.. chances of getting in off the list are tiny. It's almost June 15!!!
 
I thought I recalled someone saying that CWRU had been having delays with getting their financial aid packages out, and were pushing back their response date. That being said, I thought the committee was supposed to have met this week or last.

Their office welcomes calls, apparently.
 
I have called Case (yet again) and they have said that no offers have been made yet. Dr. Kirby has been out of town for awhile, and just got back today. So they told me to call back again next week. Sigh.
Since the committee meets on Tuesdays, maybe next week some offers will be made.
Add another week to the waiting!
 
Originally posted by vscarlet27
oh no! i posted his email in response to someone asking for it -- i mean, he gave me his card with it on it and all and he sees most of us on the interview day, doesnt he? :(

Yes, his e-mail address is hardly secret, but this is some text from the response I received:
"Mr. xaelia,as I have told many people after my email to a student on our short wait list hit an applicant web site,it is difficult for me to estimate wait list status for individual applicants who are not on our very short wait list. Therefore,it is our policy not to make such estimates. At the present time,you are not on our very short list but that may change as more students withdraw."
 
The Vanderbilt short list letters are out... When I get home I'll transcribe it, if needed.

Good luck guys!
C
 
Well, lemme say that it was snailmail.... So that being said, don't give up until you're 100% sure... I plan to stay on the w/l...

The letter reads:

May 29, 2003

Your application to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine was recently reviewed again by the Admissions Committee, this time in relation to others the wait list. The Committee recommended that your application be retained in what is now a small pool of applicants that can be drawn upon to fill positions in the class as they become available between now and the time classes begin in August.

As the hour is late, we realize that you may have made definite plans to attend another medical school. If this is the case, I should appreciate knowing of your plans so that you can be removed from serious consideration. In the event that Vanderbilt remains an attractive option for you, however, I hope you will continue to bear with us through the weeks ahead.

Please feel free to contact us concerning special needs you may have.

Sincerely,
J. Harold Helderman
Assistant Dean for Admissions
 
Jerkfaces!!

I just got an apartment in Minneapolis and I got the Vandy letter today. Does anybody have any idea what the chances are for a candidate on the "short" list? I'd completely written these fools off and here they are, messing up my life. Oh well, if anybody can provide guidance on how this list works I'd be very thankful :)

Peace out everybody!!

NAS
 
man, i'm back home and my p.o. box is 3000 miles away. anxiously awaiting for forwarded mails via usps....argggh..

anyways, has anyone considered the drawbacks of attending a school like pitt, vandy, case, and emory? they're pretty far away from the hubs in cali and the northeast when it comes to interviewing for residency protgrams.
 
Originally posted by Yogi Bear
anyways, has anyone considered the drawbacks of attending a school like pitt, vandy, case, and emory? they're pretty far away from the hubs in cali and the northeast when it comes to interviewing for residency protgrams.

My thought on the whole issue is that while Cleveland may not be epicenter of culture in the US, but it still have the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals - both of which a good chunk of the students seem to match at. And isn't the Pitt hospital where all the big time athletes go to get healed? The "I just saw (blank blank)" factor might be a bit cool.
 
Originally posted by loyen
My thought on the whole issue is that while Cleveland may not be epicenter of culture in the US, but it still have the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals - both of which a good chunk of the students seem to match at. And isn't the Pitt hospital where all the big time athletes go to get healed? The "I just saw (blank blank)" factor might be a bit cool.

lol. reminds me of wwe and some of the wrestlers going to a neurosurgeon in pittsburgh to get their neck fixed. :eek:
 
Originally posted by Yogi Bear
anyways, has anyone considered the drawbacks of attending a school like pitt, vandy, case, and emory? they're pretty far away from the hubs in cali and the northeast when it comes to interviewing for residency protgrams.

Far yes...but they all have names that carry a lot of weight - and faculty that are really the shiznit in their fields (particularly Vandy - which a lot of people lump together with Cornell/Yale etc.). So, maybe you'll have to fly a bit more, but I don't think that top residency programs will be anything but enthusiastic about the fact that you went to school at any one of these top notch institutions. One other thing to consider is that these schools might even give you a boost regionally. It's just a theory, but you might have a better shot at somewhere in the south having gone to Vandy than having gone to a Yankee school. Sounds silly...but not implausible. Just my completely unejumacated opinion :)
 
just got my vandy "smalll pool" dated 6/2/03 letter today. i wonder how small is small?
 
well, just gave them a call and about 300 are on the small pool...(geez...that's huge to me), from which "a couple dozen" will get accepted off the waitlist (some of whom have already gotten in before the small pool). before this small pool, there were a "a few hundred" who had belonged to the bigger waitlist but weren't placed on small pool.
 
Originally posted by Yogi Bear
well, just gave them a call and about 300 are on the small pool...(geez...that's huge to me), from which "a couple dozen" will get accepted off the waitlist (some of whom have already gotten in before the small pool). before this small pool, there were a "a few hundred" who had belonged to the bigger waitlist but weren't placed on small pool.

That's asinine. The small pool is what, 3 times larger than their entering class?! What douchebags!

Would they tell you where you ranked in the small pool (quartile, "near the top" anything?)?

In your estimation, Yogi Bear, would you write off this letter completely and just not hope to get in?
 
Originally posted by medicnas
That's asinine. The small pool is what, 3 times larger than their entering class?! What douchebags!

Would they tell you where you ranked in the small pool (quartile, "near the top" anything?)?

In your estimation, Yogi Bear, would you write off this letter completely and just not hope to get in?

yeah...it's pretty ridiculous. i thought it was somethign great originally, but after the call, i woulnd't look too much into the letter. to me, it sounds as if maybe the only people who weren't placed on the small waitlist had withdrawn or had some major flaws. this is unlike pitt's small pool where only a few got emails. i'm not holding my hopes high.
 
Originally posted by Yogi Bear
this is unlike pitt's small pool where only a few got emails. i'm not holding my hopes high.
How large is that short waitlist of Pitt's? I wonder if there is any hope for folks not on that very short waitlist....
 
I got Vandy's short wait list letter this week too. With 300 waitlistees on it, it kinda takes the sails out of getting the letter. I wonder if anyone got rejected from the waitlist, and if so, how many...Anyways, here's to hoping.

It seems like we're on a lot of the same waitlists xaelia. Any luck getting off of any yet? Do you know whether any of the schools will let you know where on the waitlist you are ranked, assuming they rank you of course, if you call and ask?
 
Yeah, I'm on a lot of waiting lists, but I think these schools are effectively "stretches" for me, and none are terribly likely. I sent frequent updates, more letters of recommendations, and a letter of intent to Vanderbilt and still couldn't get onto that short waiting list. I wonder if Dr. Sagen would enlighten me....

Emory seems to be a slow-moving massive unpredictable list that is "unranked". Pittsburgh looks to have already accepted a large quantity of folks, and I haven't been placed on any of the shorter lists. Case Western, at least, I made their Alternate List which last I heard had ~175 people on it, so I'm mildly optimistic about that one. I'm also waiting on University of Southern California, as well as Columbia like everyone else on the planet.

Kind of annoying these lists; I'm really excited about Ohio State, but every time I send updates to these other schools it's like I'm talking myself out of OSU and would only ever be happy at School X.
 
Originally posted by xaelia
Kind of annoying these lists; I'm really excited about Ohio State, but every time I send updates to these other schools it's like I'm talking myself out of OSU and would only ever be happy at School X.


Heh, I feel the same way. Vandy wasn't even on my radar anymore since they hadn't sent anything out in months and I hadn't sent anything to them since my interview in the fall. However, as soon as I got the letter I got all excited and had myself talked out of UMN (which I do really love) - but, thanks in large part to the size of the pool @ Vandy I think I've settled back into accepting my lot and moving on with life :) Unwittingly I'm playing the waitlist game even though I have no need to do so.
 
Ditto for me. I've been holding off on making plans down at OSU in the hopes that Case would come through. But everytime they tell me "Just one more week!" my heart drops a little. OSU is a great school and I'm shortchanging them.

But I'm finally going to suck it up and go down Columbus and find an apartment next weekend. Knowing my luck, the waitlist gods are just waiting until I put a big fat deposit down!
 
i just sent pitt my final transcript. that's pretty much all that i can do besides waiting.
 
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