Will the absence of the acceptance report in the 2019 cycle impact decisions before February?

[FigmundSreud]

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People are predicting more waitlisting in general, but will this be the case for earlier interviews? The acceptance report wouldn’t have even been released before February anyway.

 

[sinigang14]

Probably not since they did not receive any reports before February in previous cycles anyways.

It might change how schools award scholarships to entice people to matriculate at their schools.

It might affect how schools pick people off the waitlist later on in the cycle.

Hopefully our lovely adcoms have some insight on this

 

[efle]

In my opinion yeah, it will still have an impact.

Previously: Let's admit this very good candidate, if we see later in February that they got into [top x] and are unlikely to attend, we will factor that into our expectations and admit an extra person off our undecided pile before the end of the regular admits cycle.

Now: We might not want to admit this candidate, since we will no longer get to see in February whether they're like to come. We need to try and admit a cohort that will yield a lot of matriculants, otherwise it will be chaos trying to replace a huge portion of our admits off of the waitlist in the summer.

 

[premedalt]

Maybe IS vs OOS status will start to matter more, at least for initial acceptances. From what I've seen on USNEWS, yield is significantly higher for IS applicants even for private schools.

 

[efle]

So you see waitlist numbers staying the same or increasing marginally and outright acceptance numbers dropping?

I think schools that want to play it safe will try to minimize the amount of waitlist chaos, so probably a similar numbers of interview invites and outright admits, but more emphasis on giving those invites and admits to people that are likely to actually attend. The goal is just to avoid a scenario where you frantically burn through your waitlist trying to replace the majority of your admitted cohort, because you got blindsided by the numbers admitted to preferred alternatives. We might also see more programs go the way of Penn and waitlist nearly every interviewed student, as an insurance policy that if they do have to burn through waitlist, they'll have a very long waitlist to use.

Maybe IS vs OOS status will start to matter more, at least for initial acceptances. From what I've seen on USNEWS, yield is significantly higher for IS applicants even for private schools.

I'm sure this is one of the things they'll be examining. E.g. how often to Californian applicants really enroll at private schools in the far northeast like Albany? Predicting yield correctly in new ways becomes the name of the game when you've been blinded to one of the biggest variables.

 

[Goro]

People are predicting more waitlisting in general, but will this be the case for earlier interviews? The acceptance report wouldn’t have even been released before February anyway.

My suspicion is that now that MD schools are in the same boat as DO schools in this part of the process, the earliest interviews will be more likely to be accepted, lest the Admission dean pester the adcom by saying "if we don't take him/her, s/he'll go elsewhere!"

Wise @Med Ed , @Pathdocmd what say you?

 

[Med Ed]

My suspicion is that now that MD schools are in the same boat as DO schools in this part of the process, the earliest interviews will be more likely to be accepted, lest the Admission dean pester the adcom by saying "if we don't take him/her, s/he'll go elsewhere!"

Wise @Med Ed , @Pathdocmd what say you?

We will certainly accept a record number of EDP applicants this year, with no plans of stopping in the future. I agree that schools will probably construct longer waitlists, and offer fewer outright rejections. Silent rejections may become even more prevalent. One thing I am waiting to see is if schools will start to make offers of acceptance contingent on certain actions, like initiating financial aid paperwork, immunizations, etcetera, by a certain date. Another is whether private schools will start demanding sizable deposits to hold seats after April 30. Stay tuned.

 

[efle]

It seems yield protection of higher stats applicants is likely to increase, based on this logic. Of course, there are still the same number of seats as last year, so the same number of students will matriculate. Maybe the mean MCAT/GPA for matriculants drops a little bit?

Yeah I think schools will expect some kind of special reason for interest in their program, like family in the area, before interviewing someone that looks too perfect on paper. Nobody wants to burn their interviews on someone who is 99% likely to be using them as a "safety school".

 

[DokterMom]

I'm thinking also that some well-written, well-timed love letters might be more impactful than in years past.

 

[BabyYoureAFireworl]

What's going on?

 

[Med Ed]

What's going on?

The mods are waiting for a call from the governor (it's not coming).

 

[PursuingHappy]

Off topic. I don't understand why some premeds are so annoying. We're talking about an important issue and you're stalking my post. Baby, I know I'm interesting..but you doing too much. On the other hand, what I'm getting from this post is more medical schools are waiting listing people. Wow. That's stomach turning, especially for the people being wait listed.

A. She/He isnt a premed (at least I don't believe so).
B. You're trolling again.

 

[FigmundSreud]

I'm thinking also that some well-written, well-timed love letters might be more impactful than in years past.

Hypothetically, what would good timing for pre-October 15th interviews be? I’d assume it would be late September or early October?

 

[DokterMom]

Honestly, I'd save your love letters for after the interview.

The rare exception might be if your stats are super-high and for some reason, you are particularly interested in a school that has numbers well below yours and you're afraid they might 'low-yield-shelf' your file.

 

[FigmundSreud]

Honestly, I'd save your love letters for after the interview.

The rare exception might be if your stats are super-high and for some reason, you are particularly interested in a school that has numbers well below yours and you're afraid they might 'low-yield-shelf' your file.

So if our interview were several weeks before October 15 (the first purported acceptance release day for the school), we should still send the letter in perhaps 1-2 weeks after the interview?

 

[Goro]

So if our interview were several weeks before October 15 (the first purported acceptance release day for the school), we should still send the letter in perhaps 1-2 weeks after the interview?

Only if it's a school that accepts updates. Save love letters for the needy schools or those that like to see candidates grovel (Mayo, Jefferson, Gtown). But keep in mind that most Admissions Deans treat LOIs as lies.

EDIT: kudos to the mods for wielding that Banhammer!

 

[DameJulie]

This sounds like another thing that applicants w/o II now can be worry/neurotic about...

 

[TheRealCookieMonster]

I'm thinking also that some well-written, well-timed love letters might be more impactful than in years past.

I hope not... I'm under the impression "love letters" don't correlate well (if at all) with the truth about where someone actually wants to attend or does attend.

 

[efle]

I hope not... I'm under the impression "love letters" don't correlate well (if at all) with the truth about where someone actually wants to attend or does attend.

I have heard of schools, I think Georgetown is an example, that like repeat letters of interest/intent from their waitlisted candidates. I guess even if it's BS 95% of the time, they still get some use of out using it to stratify slightly higher yield waitlist peeps from the rest