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Admissions and Waitlist: play the Game
Now you are done with your interviews, what now? You sit back and wait for all your acceptances to roll in! You may begin getting these as early as December or as late as April or May! If you are lucky enough to hold more than one acceptance, you must declare your school of choice by May 15th. At that time, schools will require you to commit. If you are on the wait list at another school, and you get in off the wait list later on (June, July), you can always change your mind.
So, how do they make their decisions?
Having sat on an admissions committee at a large state medical school for 2 years, participated in med student tours, and interviewing prospective students, I have a few comments to make on how the process is made.
The Process:Most schools have one or several pre-screeners, who eyeball your GPA, MCATs, activities, and research experience. From this group, they decide on who warrants further review. After the initial review, further screening occurs, and the personal statements are read, and a closer look at your extracurricular activities, and background. From this group, a select few (or in some cases a lot more) are asked to schedule an interview.
After your interview day, probably in 2-6 weeks, your application is reviewed by a committee. The committee has a chair, several members (MDs) of the admissions committee, the person(s) who interviewed you, and maybe some current medical students.
One person, usually your interviewer will make a background statement to introduce you to the group. “This is Homer Simpson, he is a senior at Springfield University, majoring in Beerology, his GPA is 3.4, his MCATs scores are X,Y,Z, and he is from Springfield, USA.” From there, expect a short recap of your interview. Most interviews are somewhat structured. Interviewers are asked to remember particular details about the encounter. (Activities, cultural, ties to the medical school, ties to that geographic area, reason for wanting to attend medical school x, etc…)
From there, other members will ask about you. So, did you really think Homer wanted to attend our school? What are the chances he will come if accepted? Do you think the fact that he failed biology once will impact his chances of success here? Did he come off as impersonal? What about his family? Why was he out of school for one semester? Did he say which specialty he was interested in? Why? Do you believe him?
At the conclusion of this discussion, lasting from 5-20 minutes, the committee will vote, and assign you some sort of objective/numerical score. Scales can be 1-10, or subjective: “All Star, Outstanding, Excellent, Solid, Average, Below Average, Marginal, Reject.” From there, you belong to a pool of potential acceptances, and most schools will accept students in batches. After accepting the first 20-50 students, they will continue to accept students from the list as applicants accept or decline offers for admission. As a courtesy to other applicants, try NOT to hold too many acceptances at any given time. If you like one school more than another, accept the invitation, and be nice enough to contact the other school and politely decline.
Playing the Waiting Game
Never lose hope! If you are on the wait list at a school you REALLY want to attend, I suggest sending in a brief letter of interest about every 4-6 weeks after you are initially placed on the wait list. With this letter (be polite) express your continued interest in their Med School, and if your status changes to please call/email you.
Schools are admitting people off the wait list through the summer until the very last day prior to their orientation! (In fact I know one person accepted at UCLA the day before orientation started!). Many applicants receive several late acceptances off the wait list during the summer months. Just don’t overdo it, and don’t call too often! As a note, I think they tend to accept people off the wait list who they know have a strong chance of wanting to attend their particular medical school. This way, they can minimize their need to search for students to fill a spot. No school wants to open a year with a class smaller than they wanted!
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