Snowgirl!
Call them! Or E-mail them! Or go to the admission office! My MCAT score wasn’t awsome, but other than that I knew that my application was quite good and I expected to be invited for interviews in VCU and EVMS. When October came and still hadn’t heard from EVMS, I called them, and it turned out that they sent me an interview invite the previous month, but since I hadn’t replied, they assumed I wasn’t interested any more! And I never reveived this e-mail! So call them and make sure you’re not missing anything! I interviewed in EVMS in December, and go accepted - in the end decided not to go there!!! But I only go the interview b/c I called them.
YOu have nothing to loose! In the worst case they are going to tell you to be patient and wait!!!
Kasia
Hang in there, Megboo. DMU is just one of the schools where you interviewed, and you ARE still waitlisted, which may prove productive in the end (Just ask Mary Renard). Don’t consider it a rejection. . . just as a bump in the road!
Linda
Thanks Linda for the pep… it’s really hard to keep things in perspective sometimes - you all know that! 
Hey Meg, you need to think of a waitlist as “I am good enough to go.” Because YOU ARE. Depending on how things shuffle out through the process, you WOULD be given a seat in the DMU class.
If they did not want you at all, if they truly did find that you didn’t “meet their standards,” you would have been rejected. Instead they told you, “Wow you are good… we wish we had room for everyone. We hope there will be room for you.”
You GOTTA think of it that way. It takes a while after the waitlist letter comes - believe me I know!!!
Mary
waitlisted at Georgetown (eventually withdrew my app but not before I moved from the “not likely” to the "highly likely category by reminding them that I was interested)
waitlisted at GWU from 10/15 until 5/18… and yes I do remember the damn DATE and TIME of the phone call (3:30pm)
Good call, Mary
Meg,
it’s awesome that you got interviews! That means you’re in the game, you’re marketable, and you’re very likely to be occupying a seat next September at some school or other. DMU seems to be a place that prefers a big science background. They gave me a hard time for not having genetics, and I had to promise to take genetics during the glide year to keep my application alive; but ultimately they didn’t invite me for an interview anyway.
If I were you I’d take biochemistry because it’s a big subject in medical school and it can be helpful to have at least been exposed to it beforehand.
Best of luck and keep us posting,
p.s. I interviewed at WVSOM and loved the place. Ultimately for geographical/social reasons we opted to move to a big city instead, but it was (and might still be) my favorite!
meg, like everyone else has said - congratulations! this is a good thing. being waitlisted means they are interested in you and as long as you follow-up w/ them from time to time and show you are interested in them, i am sure things will work out.
congrats once again :).
Kasia, thanks for the vote of confidence! I need that right now. I did talk to EVMS and they said they would not consider me without retaking the MCAT (27Q). They said it is more competitive for out of staters. I hope school is going well and thanks for responding!
Oldpremeds:
I got this email from GW and wonder if it is a polite dismissal or if I should contact them:
“Dear Applicant:
Thank you for your sincere interest in The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. You may be aware that the applicant pool has increased significantly.
At this time, your application file is complete, has been reviewed and is currently on hold. Your desire to become a physician, your understanding of the challenges, and your perseverance is commendable. Please understand it will be some time before you hear from us again and accept our sincere apologies for the unpleasant wait. Should the committee offer you an interview, you will be contacted immediately via email. We truly appreciate your patience.
We do not require any further information or documentation from you at this time.
We fully understand that the application process is daunting. We hope that this update on your current status is helpful to you.”
Well, I hate this category and I wish GWU didn’t bother with it. Basically they find you good enough that they don’t want to turn you down outright, but the only way you’ll be considered for an interview is if a whole lot of other people DON’T take them up on an interview invitation. So it’s not good news.
HOWEVER, you don’t cross them off your list because they didn’t reject you. You write back and say how glad you are to remain in consideration, that you are very interested and would like to be considered because… (say stuff specific about GWU here) blah, blah blah. A lobbying letter on your own behalf, essentially.
Then if you don’t hear from them by the beginning of December, you write again and remind them how interested you are and that you would very much like to have an interview.
If you get any other interviews in the D.C. area, or if you are going to be in D.C. for some other reason, you should contact them and say “I’m going to be there, would sure like to interview!” and see if they’ll add you to the list.
The worst thing that can happen is that you don’t get an interview, which is where you stand right now. So lobbying is perfectly OK to do. Good luck!
Mary
Thank you for being honest Mary and I will take your advice. I will send them a note now and then again in December if I don’t hear anything. I have been told if I can just get an interview I will get in somewhere but so far I haven’t been given that privelege - but its far from over so I will just do the best I can this round and if I need to, I will keep taking courses and retake the MCAT. I appreciate your time and experience!
Tulane rejection last week… looks like they did a massive pruning from what I’ve seen on SDN.
I am curious - do you guys know what the average # of schools people apply to and the average people get into? I am not comparing (so please don’t bash me), I am just curious.
George Washington rejected me. I really wanted to go here. I am going to use this latest rejection to ace my interview at NJMS next week.
I wouldn’t worry about GW. They accept less than 1% of their applicants.
Got another “purgatory” letter from Penn State. Has anyone out there received an interview after being placed in this category?
congrats on the interview obesedude! and here’s hoping for many more!
Snow Girl!
Penn State has a very mysterious admission procedures. They interviewed me very early last year; actually I got the interview invitation in August, but couldn’t schedule until September. After the interview I didn’t hear from them for weeks. I kept calling and e-mailing and often they didn’t even ask my name…just kept repeating ‘Wait’.
Finally just before/ or just after Christmas I got a letter that ‘I was put in ‘on hold’ category’. I kept updating my file and sent them ‘love me/ love you’ letters until the spring, but I gave up after I got accepted to a state school. Although Penn State is a great school, I probably wouldn’t go there if accepted by any Virginia School (tuition would be twice as much).
Last year around this time I kept reading a lot about Penn State on SDN and it only confirmed my impressions of their ‘not-quite-clear’ admission practices. Whoever is put in this ‘weird’ category, according to them, is encouraged to update the file. Supposedly they are comparing these people to all others in the pool at any given time.
Hope it helps,
Kasia
Interesting Kasia! I guess I will just write a quick note to them. I don’t really have anything to update my file with aside from continuing to volunteer/shadow, etc. I am taking a spanish class and planning to go on a mission trip but that is about it. My GPA and MCAT still remain lower than average and that won’t change much. i could take the MCAT again in the Spring. I have hope that some school out there will give me an interview! My friend, Clay, who is on the space station right now, says this whole process is just like being on a “long duration mission”. I thought that was pretty clever and pretty accurate! I appreciate that you are willing to share your experiences with us. Good luck on your mission!
Got my first GFY, from Mayo clinic. Can’t be that shocked - it was a stretch - but it’s disappointing, as it was one of my real favorites.
Adam, that stinks and this is such an emotional roller coaster but hang tough for the next big dip I am sure they don’t know what they are missing! Good things are to come!