Waitlists

Started by fifthcupofcoffee
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fifthcupofcoffee

fifthcupofcoffee

Full Member
7+ Year Member
If a school says their waitlist is "not ranked", how is it that they decide who to admit from the waitlist if one of the accepted students declines the acceptance? It doesn't really make sense to me. Is it a lotto style system?


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The skeptic in me wants to say there has to still be some sort of ranking or GPA/MCAT tier kind of thing. I think a lottery system is unlikely, but heck who knows. I'm sure there's some way in which they keep certain alternate list candidates that have sent in updates, LOI, local/school ties, etc higher on the "list".
 
fifthcupofcoffee said:
If a school says their waitlist is "not ranked", how is it that they decide who to admit from the waitlist if one of the accepted students declines the acceptance? It doesn't really make sense to me. Is it a lotto style system?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
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Perhaps the waitlist is in order of when they interview. Those who were waitlisted earlier get first dibs over those who got waitlisted later in the cycle.

Or they could be choosing those who were waitlisted at random, or it depends on the demographics of their class. For example, if they have too many males in the class, they'll choose females, etc.
 
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