And here, I thought I’d covered all of the likely outcomes.
Boeing
The University of Iowa
Well, I probably should turn this into a rejection.
Apparently, “I guess last year they went to #31 on waitlist and #23 the year before.” I’m sitting at #39.
Boeing
The University of Iowa
Amy_Beaupre
Ohio State
Well, okay, I got “deferred”. Technically, I think that means that they can still accept or reject me, but I prefer to think of it as “waitlisted”.
Boeing
The University of Iowa
Amy_Beaupre
Ohio State
SPN
Harvard School of Public Health
could be worse, you guys… if I’m not mistaken, both Boeing and Amy Beaupre are also sitting on acceptances. Waitlist Hell is a very special place when you do NOT have a fall-back plan!
Mary
whose first, and only, acceptance arrived by phone on May 18… after getting waitlisted on October 20 of the previous year, not that I remember it or anything.
Very true, Mary. I’m not sitting around feeling sorry for myself or anything like that. The deferred at Ohio State is a little depressing, though, because it is pretty much the only school I can go to and still live with my husband for the next four years. The other schools will require my living there during the week and coming home on weekends.
Who knows, though. I lived in Columbus this summer to take organic chemistry, coming home on weekends, and that worked out fairly well. However, that was only for 8 weeks, not 4 years.
Time will tell . . .
Waitlisted at Wright State, and won’t know my priority on the list until late May. If I ever get in, I swear I will try to make the Geneva convention apply here – I think this is an incredibly tough process to endure.
Quote:
I’m not sitting around feeling sorry for myself or anything like that. The deferred at Ohio State is a little depressing, though, because it is pretty much the only school I can go to and still live with my husband for the next four years. The other schools will require my living there during the week and coming home on weekends.
Amy, you’re sending them a strong letter telling them how much you’d like to go there, right? You definitely want to speak up and make sure they know how Ohio State is far and away your top choice. Don’t send them one of your shoes in the mail (you know, the old “get my foot in the door” trick) but do be very persistent and be sure there is NO WAY they can’t know that you’d go there if selected.
For everyone on a waitlist, believe me, I KNOW how hard this is. It seems ludicrous and Pollyanna-ish, but try, try to think of this in a glass-half-full way. You are an acceptable candidate for med school. Now it’s just a numbers game, and the numbers are on your side. For allopathic schools, the fun really begins after May 15 when folks like Pushkin have to decide and cut loose their multiple acceptances. In general, you have a VERY good chance of getting in off a waitlist.
Mary
Mary & others–Not sure how much I should write, call, etc my dream med school. Ok, it’s the only medschool where I’m still viable, so that makes it my dream school!
I wrote a letter immediately on receiving the waitlist news, and about 2 months after that called & chatted with the Dean (who remembered me)–that was about a month ago.
Questions:
1–Should I send another letter–perhaps asking a question, like how many people get on their waitlist & expressing my desire to go there? Should this be an email?
2–Should the above communication go to the same Dean who remembers me? He’s the #2 man; my letter went to the #1 man.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Barb
Mary -
I definitely do need to send a LOI. I’m actually not sure if I’m technically “waitlisted” yet. The actual terminology is that they “deferred decision on my application in order to consider other qualified applicants”. I’m kind of under the impression that they could still decide to reject me, although they did send me a link to accept or decline a position in the alternate pool.
In all my free time (I’m in the middle of yet another 80 hour week), I will start working on the LOI and get it out in the very near future.
Amy
Boeing
The University of Iowa
Amy_Beaupre
Ohio State
SPN
Harvard School of Public Health
pushkin
Columbia
UPenn
Hello, this is my first post. Let me say that it is very encouraging to finally find a group of non-trads. Thank you.
I’m currently waitlisted at one school. I interviewed very late and one of my interviewers said “Let me be frank, I want you to come to this school. Obviously you’re going to get waitlisted. Write me every week.” I have. I’m on my tenth letter. I’m glad to see that 10 weeks isn’t terribly long to be on a waitlist, but I’m a bit concerned that others have been waitlisted for a very long time, long before I got on a wait list. I have to assume I’m not getting in, though I continue to send my letters, so I’m on to plan B.
Plan B: Reapplying now and moving my wife and two kids in with my parents so I can go to school full-time and get a BS in Biology this year at University of Texas at Arlington. My advisor thinks it’s doable at rate of 18 hours per semester. If I do get accepted I’ll move to the school and be a geographic bachelor for a year. Questions:
1) The schools all say don’t reapply if you don’t show us more. I’m working 60-80hrs/wk + volunteering 5 hours on weekends, + director of a collegiate cycling team (10 hrs/wk) + husband + father + 3 to 8 hours of class per semester. Does my plan B, 18 hrs per semester + husband + father sound like “more”? If not, how much more would be “more”? I could add volunteer hours, but how much? I haven’t taken this much class since undergrad and I was in a whole different life then.
2) It’s June. Who was accepted from the waitlist after 1 June?
3) Has anyone experienced geographic separation of family for a year? What did your spouse (and children?) do? What did you do? What could you have done better? What resources are out there?
I’m just applying this year, so I don’t know about the waitlist, but I would get some more information before you jump into taking 18 credit hours and working full time. Ask the admissions committees what you need to improve on. Was it grades, MCAT scores? Sounds like you’re fine on volunteering and other activities. Did you only apply to the one school? Sometimes that makes a difference. Perhaps if you find out specifically what the committee thought you were missing, the people here can help you find out how to fix it. Good luck!
Gina
People get accepted off the waitlist until the first day of class! I know it seems odd, since May 15 is the date that people must “declare” for an allopathic school, but in fact there continues to be waitlist movement throughout the summer. So although I think having a plan B in place (and I can’t comment on your plan B as I’ve not done anything like it) is prudent, I don’t think you should conclude that you’re out of the running yet.
Since this person strongly encouraged you, I would suggest you write/call him/her and ask to find out your place on the waitlist and your prospects, if at all possible. You DO have planning to do, so it’s a reasonable request.
Mary
Gina, plan B is 18 hours per semester, no full-time job (maybe some consulting on the side). In the 2005 cycle I completed secondaries for 17 schools, had 3 interviews, turns out I physically couldn’t complete the pre-reqs for my state schools (Texas), recieved 16 rejection letters and one waitlist letter, that one being the topic here. More details on me here: http://nielsolson.us/MedSchool/index.html (I’m quite proud of the section on odds).
Mary, thanks, yes, it’s not over until classes start (and maybe even a day after that), but I’m close enough at this point that I need to at least make the commitments necessary to look after my wife and kids.
Looks like I’ll be able to make it out for Friday’s conference, maybe Thursday evening also. How many are attending?