I would say it's your interview skills as well. An okay interview does not always lead to rejection. At those schools you may have just missed the mark by a bit, good enough to get waitlisted but not stellar enough for an immediate yes - depends on rest of the interviewee pool.
Congrats on those acceptances!
Hol up, so you do have acceptances at a couple of top20s already? Lol what’s this post for again?
Seems like the title was overly dramatic and clickbaity as the OP was not actually waitlisted "everywhere"..
Seems like the title was overly dramatic and clickbaity as the OP was not actually waitlisted "everywhere"..
There are some schools on my list that I’d go to over others due to location, name, fit, etc...
Sure, that's normal, but wouldn't be a source of concern to me, as you said in your OP. You're in and have choices. Only about 20% of all applicants get to have a choice for multiple admissions. Chill! It's not the end of the world if you dont get your first choice.
The reason for P/F Step 1 was allegedly to reduce angst in the pre-clinical curriculum...
It appears to be the case this cycle, and last.
Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Stanford/MIT
Not picking on the OP, but I have noticed a mindset on SDN that goes something like this: "I got accepted to Harvard and Stanford, why am I waitlisted at U Chicago and NYU???!!!!"
To add on to this, ultimately, one can only attend one institution. There is no benefit in collecting acceptances like they’re trophies.
To an extent!
What’s stopping me from telling all schools they’re my first choice? I feel that it’s unfair to expect applicants to not act in their best interests by forcing them to choose one school at the expense of others, especially since a letter of intent far from guarantees a spot in the class.
"I really, REALLY like your school and would love to attend, but honestly if a better offer comes along I would ditch your school in a heartbeat"
But then won’t the school know you’re not writing a letter of intent? That you’re essentially choosing another school over them? I’m genuinely curious about this too since I’m expecting around 5 waitlists and then having to beg them to let me in lol.
That's why I think they're most useful to send towards the end of the cycle. It's usefulness will depend on the institution though and how much they consider these updates (if at all)
No, not at my school. This past year students had let my school know that their CTE deadline was approaching but that they would to attend our school. I know of at least two students who got off the waitlist this way, hence my advice above. Of course, they were still very accomplished and competitive applicants to begin with
What’s a CTE deadline?
NOthing. And that's why Admissions deans treat them as lies.
In order for an applicant to be invited for interview, the screeners believe that that applicant has the potential to be a good addition to the upcoming class. At our school, each application is screened by at least two screeners. In making this decision, the highlights of their application (including demographic data, breadth and depth of experiences, etc) are considered, within limitations of what can be considered during the screening process anyways. This is why it's important to ensure the highlights of an application are not buried in the midst of paragraphs. Help us, help you.
So in the process you are describing, does the adcom separately read the application, or do they just use the cliffnotes from the screener?
Screeners and interviewers give their impressions, and adcom members are free to look as in-depth as they want (particularly for applicants who are not slam dunks or have discordant evaluations). Most of our interviewers are quite thoughtful in their assessments
