What does an AdCom want to hear when considering someone on WL?

[lostinthemaze]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I got on the WL at my top school, where I have a very strong connection and have done research in the past. I've already sent my letter of intent and update, but my PI (who is also a faculty member at this school, and who wrote me a LOR) has offered to email and/or call members of the admissions committee on my behalf. However, he wanted me to look into what he should say to give me the best chances and/or if he just basically repeat my LOR?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Read

From Waitlist to Offer: Inside an Admissions Committee | Student Doctor Network | SDN

When you are on a waitlist, it can feel like you'll never get an update. Learn how admissions committees determine how to fill their class.

www.studentdoctor.net

Your fate may already be sealed/cooked/baked. There may also be protocols handling references from faculty in favor of waitlisted candidates (though I can't tell you what this school does). Med school admissions is highly scrutinized, so a positive referral from a faculty member is treated in a way that doesn't put those without a faculty champion at a disadvantage.

 

[LizzyM]

In some cases, the waitlist is ranked and it doesn't matter. You are either next on the list or you aren't.

Or the school is looking for geographic diversity or diversity of undergrad institutions and if everyone who declined the offer was from "downstate" or "upstate" or had the (Rural) designation, then the school might specifically choose (Rural) applicants from the waitlist to make up for the low enrollment of that group.

Or perhaps the highest stats applicants declined the offers and the numbers-conscious Dean has decreed that the waitlisted applicants with the highest MCATs are to be prioritized.

As you can see, it can go any one of a variety of ways without in any way caring what is said in a LOR.

Also, keep in mind that at this time of year, the schools, unless prohibited by State legislature, have made 100+ offers in excess of the number of seats they have to fill. The waitlist is there in the unlikely event that too many people turn them down but dozens need to say no before even one person will be selected from the waitlist.

 

[Med Ed]

I got on the WL at my top school, where I have a very strong connection and have done research in the past. I've already sent my letter of intent and update, but my PI (who is also a faculty member at this school, and who wrote me a LOR) has offered to email and/or call members of the admissions committee on my behalf. However, he wanted me to look into what he should say to give me the best chances and/or if he just basically repeat my LOR?

The last thing an admissions committee member wants is to be badgered by someone they don't know regarding an applicant that has already been reviewed.

 

[LizzyM]

The last thing an admissions committee member wants is to be badgered by someone they don't know regarding an applicant that has already been reviewed.

And they only slightly less wish to be badgered by someone they do know and who are likely to see tomorrow in the line for coffee.

 

[Goro]

I got on the WL at my top school, where I have a very strong connection and have done research in the past. I've already sent my letter of intent and update, but my PI (who is also a faculty member at this school, and who wrote me a LOR) has offered to email and/or call members of the admissions committee on my behalf. However, he wanted me to look into what he should say to give me the best chances and/or if he just basically repeat my LOR?

Please do not have him do this. It's not going to move the needle

 

[Doodledog]

I got on the WL at my top school, where I have a very strong connection and have done research in the past. I've already sent my letter of intent and update, but my PI (who is also a faculty member at this school, and who wrote me a LOR) has offered to email and/or call members of the admissions committee on my behalf. However, he wanted me to look into what he should say to give me the best chances and/or if he just basically repeat my LOR?

Well, I like to read that you're kind to dogs and give them lots of treats and tummy rubs. But, please don't have your faculty send that letter or make that call. LCME specifically asks med school leadership if faculty outside the adcom have influenced admissions decisions. This makes us really not like these kind of letters or calls as it puts us in a very uncomfortable situation.