what are my chances (aka 3 waitlists and no offers)

[haberdash1]

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Hi friends,

I have been waitlisted at AZCOM, Western, and TUCOM-MI.

Looking for input, wise words, etc., into my situation.

31yo. 27M (9, 9, 9) 3.4gpa. A little shadowing, 6 mos research (no pubs.), 3.5 years clinical experience (currently a E.D. mental health tech, previous inpatient behavioral therapist position)

Western interview I was shaky.
I felt both AZCOM and TUCOM went well.
No other interviews scheduled.

I have written one letter one intention to Western, and am going to follow up with letters of interest to the other schools.

I got some new books for the MCAT retake that seems inevitable.

thank you all, haberdash1

 

[boone95]

Hi friends,

I have been waitlisted at AZCOM, Western, and TUCOM-MI.

Looking for input, wise words, etc., into my situation.

31yo. 27M (9, 9, 9) 3.4gpa. A little shadowing, 6 mos research (no pubs.), 3.5 years clinical experience (currently a E.D. mental health tech, previous inpatient behavioral therapist position)

Western interview I was shaky.
I felt both AZCOM and TUCOM went well.
No other interviews scheduled.

I have written one letter one intention to Western, and am going to follow up with letters of interest to the other schools.

I got some new books for the MCAT retake that seems inevitable.

thank you all, haberdash1

whoa. have a little faith. 3 waitlists means that you're doing something right. stay strong, and get ready to move somewhere when you get the call!

 

[J ROD]

I think you will be fine....just be patient. 🙂

 

[ejay1518]

yea stay calm! But don't sit idly by, you need to really show your interest!!! That is definitely the key, don't just sit around, do what you can to to show them you want to go there! If they have an open house coming up I would suggest going to show your interest. Many schools tell waitlisters that attending the open house could be what you need to get the interview (if they place you on the fence, you going and showing interest will tip you on the right side). You can also meet with the director of admissions and ask him/her what else you can do to improve your chances/file.

 

[BNHopeful]

Don't get discouraged... I was waitlisted to the first three schools I interviewed at... but got accepted to the fourth school I interviewed at! Interview invites, I hear, are still rolling in so keep your head up!

 

[matrica]

OP,

I don't think you should get discouraged just yet. (I guess it is easy to say, but don't). I had a bad MCAT, high GPA, I have 1 acceptance and 4 interviews that I withdrew from, since I liked the school where I got accepted.
If I were you I would not retake the MCAT, your MCAT is not the problem.
I would recommend to send an e-mail to the people who interviewed you. I guess you can find their e-mail on the faculty list. I would ask for recommendation what you could do to get off their waitlist, and assure them you would like to go there. You can also call the admission office, but I would prefer to e-mail the profs.
I would also add some back up schools to your list maybe 2 more, where you could see yourself going unless the above schools are the only ones you want to attend.
Also, I would send a lot of letter of intent to the admission people/faculty/dean (whoever could make a difference in your case) to the schools.
Also, I heard people who acquired a second interview opportunity, and they got it and got accepted, maybe something to think about.

Don't give it up, but don't just sit around and wait for an acceptance.
If you can update on what you are doing, or share more info with them about you the better. Don't be passive!!!!
Good luck.👍

 

[nikon]

Letter of intent/interest is overrated. I am not discouraging you to write one; I am just saying once a decision is made you need some substantial update to get the committee to review their position. It may, however, increase your ranking in the queue.

I would move on to other schools. Focus on the rest of your application.

Hi friends,

I have been waitlisted at AZCOM, Western, and TUCOM-MI.

Looking for input, wise words, etc., into my situation.

31yo. 27M (9, 9, 9) 3.4gpa. A little shadowing, 6 mos research (no pubs.), 3.5 years clinical experience (currently a E.D. mental health tech, previous inpatient behavioral therapist position)
​

Western interview I was shaky.
I felt both AZCOM and TUCOM went well.
No other interviews scheduled.

I have written one letter one intention to Western, and am going to follow up with letters of interest to the other schools.

I got some new books for the MCAT retake that seems inevitable.

thank you all, haberdash1

 

[lawyerdoc2b]

Three interviews and three wait lists and your stats look good. Perhaps it is your interview skills?

Send a letter to the Director of Admissions and express your interest.

Call and ask to speak to the Director of Admissions directly and express your interest in your number 1 school.

Check prior year SDN threads to see how many people were pulled from the waitlist and offered admissions from April to August. Most schools have a large class deposit due April 15th. Applicants with multiple acceptances decide by then to commit to one school. After April 15th, several seats usually open up. At that time, the schools go over the wait list or rather the "not now" list and offer admission.

You are not out yet. You could expand your list of schools on
AACOMAS and by casting a wider net improve your chances elesewhere.

Lastly, call some of the schools that you have not heard from and verify that your application is complete and inquire about an interview.

If invited to an interview, have some mock interviews.
perhaps you can polish your skills.

 

[haberdash1]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind responses.

I am thinking of retaking the MCAT in the chance that I don't get in this year and need to reapply. I am confident that I can get a higher score and don't want to chance my application.

I am going to shadow again (another letter) and thinking about taking the biochemistry sequence. I am looking at it from the perspective that I should be willing and able to do anything to get in.

SDN has been a great help to me in figuring out these problems, so I wanted to say thank you.

haberdash1

 

[upandaway]

haberdash1, I wish you the best of luck with getting off the waitlist. I am also in a similar position as you. I also have nearly identical stats as you (27N (9,9,9) and 3.46 sgpa) and was waitlisted at western too (my first choice!). You can try calling up your admission counselor at western and see if they tell you anything. When i called my admission counselor at western she told me i got good remarks from the adcoms. She didn't think it was my interview either when i asked her. The only red flag she saw was that i didn't shadow enough. Apparently my 50 hrs wasn't enough bc the applicants she saw shadowed between 100-400 hrs and she told me my letter from the doctor i shadowed was kind of "short." Other than that she told me this year applicant pool was very competitive and blah blah. Well anyway, my advice would be to try calling the schools up and ask what you can do to improve. I think most are more than happy to enough to go over your application.

Good luck to you and I hope you get good news!

 

[sandra1]

It seems like they are putting a higher percentage of people with solid stats like yours on the alternate list this year at Western. When you called admissions, did you sense that they are playing it really cautious after over admitting last year? I am still waiting for an interview invite but it's looking grim...

 

[upandaway]

In response to sandra's question (Sorry, i'm not trying to hijack your thread haberdash1 🙂) I don't know if the admissions people were being extra cautious this year due to over acceptance last year, but the admission counselor did have a hard time coming up with what i can do to improve my app while i wait. The only pertinent information she gave was my shadowing experience. Other than that she simply told me that they received a lot of "good" candidates who were simply better than me due to the competitive nature of the candidate pool. And i guess the school is in california which makes it more competitive and their average mcat last year was a 28.

Hope you hear from Western soon sandra1. They got back to me in 2 weeks after my completion date. Yea, the process can seem really random at times. Good luck guys!

 

[SolanoDoc]

I think you should apply to more schools, last year, I only applied to a handful of Allopathic schools and got nowhere.

 

[millepora]

I think you will get in, as long as your interview went well. Just wait. Usually DO schools have to accept about double of what their class sizes are because a lot of people defer their acceptances. So, AZCOM will probably accept 400-450 by the time the application cycle is over.