You interviewed at your dream medical school and anxiously awaited an admissions decision, only to receive news that you’ve been placed on an alternate list (waitlist). While being placed on a medical school waitlist may feel like a rejection, it isn’t! Here’s what it really means and what to do next.
What Is the Medical School Waitlist?
If you’ve made it to the interview stage in the medical school admissions process, you are already among the top candidates the school is considering. Unfortunately, there are nearly always more qualified and talented applicants than the medical school is allowed to accept, due to the limited number of spots they have. The waitlist allows the school to maintain some students under consideration as they fill their class.
Waitlist acceptance rates can vary widely from 0 to nearly 100%, with most schools accepting 10-50% of their waitlisted students.
How Long Does the Medical School Waitlist Process Take?
Accepted students receive their decision sometime between October and March. Students accepted to multiple schools have until April 15 to narrow their choices down to three, and until April 30 to ultimately commit to one school. As schools begin hearing back from their accepted students declining offers in March and April, they often find that they have fewer students committing to the school than spots available. This means they can start to accept students off the waitlist.
Some medical school waitlists are ranked, which means that the school has a specific order in which it will accept students. Some are unranked. Other schools use a hybrid-ranking process that may look at specific characteristics like region or demographics when accepting students off the waitlist.
Medical school waitlist movement can start as early as March and continue as late as July or August, before school starts. You can hold onto your waitlist spot as long as you’d like, and you also have the option to remove yourself from the waitlist at any time.
It is hard to truly predict how much waitlist movement will happen in a given year because it depends on a number of factors, including how many students decide to accept their admission offer that year. The AAMC does offer some information about individual schools’ waitlist processes (found here). Waitlist acceptance rates can vary widely from 0 to nearly 100%, with most schools accepting 10-50% of their waitlisted students. Some schools also provide information to the MSAR about their waitlist type and whether or not they welcome further communication. Reviewing this data can be helpful in setting your expectations about your chances of getting off the waitlist, since it varies by school.
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What To Do If You’re On A Medical School Waitlist
1. Send a letter of intent or update
There are two types of letters you can send to medical schools at this point: letters of intent and letters of update.
Letters of intent tell a school that if accepted, you will absolutely attend. As such, they should only be sent to your top-choice school. On the other hand, letters of update provide an opportunity to express continued interest and share meaningful updates about your application that have transpired since your interview. These updates should ideally add something significant to your application or demonstrate continued effort within your ongoing activities. Updates may include new grades, new MCAT score, new publications or projects, new clinical hours, or other changes that could add more value to your application.
Whether it is a letter of intent or interest, the structure is roughly the same.
- Your letter should start with a brief introduction and expression of gratitude for the opportunity to be interviewed.
- Follow with your meaningful updates and what they add to your application.
- End with the reasons you think you would be a good fit for the school, why you continue to be interested in attending, and a thanks for their consideration.
- For letters of intent, this last section should be very clear in stating that this is your top choice program, and you will absolutely attend if expected.
- For letters of interest, this language can be softened to simply express strong and continued interest.
The cadence of communication can vary widely depending on when you receive your waitlist decision. As a reminder, medical school waitlist movement largely happens in the late spring. If you receive your decision in the fall, consider sending one update letter in late January or early February to share updates and express continued interest. If you receive your decision in the spring, consider waiting until March or April to send your letter. Letters should be sent at least one month apart from each other to avoid pestering the admissions committee, with a maximum of three letters over the course of the year.
2. If accepted elsewhere, keep your spot. Otherwise, consider reapplication.
If you have already been accepted to another school, you should accept your admission offer by April 30 and pay your deposit, even if you are still on a waitlist at another school. You do not want to lose your chance of attending medical school by placing your hopes on a waitlist acceptance! Protect yourself by moving forward with a deposit at another school while you wait.
If you have not yet received any other acceptances, you might consider preparing to reapply to medical school if that is within your goals. Clearly, your application had enough merit to be considered for an interview at one or more schools, but there may be some things that could improve your application for the future. It may be helpful to reach out to the schools you applied to and ask for any feedback on your application to assess your strengths and areas of growth; most schools will not respond, but it is likely worth trying. You can also get helpful feedback from your mentors or advisors to identify areas of growth. Also, you can always choose not to submit a reapplication if you end up being accepted off a waitlist, or reapply in a later year.
3. Be ready for any changes that might come.
If you get accepted off a waitlist, you will likely only have one or two days to make your decision. It is helpful to carefully consider in advance whether or not you are ready and willing to accept a spot if offered by the school you are waitlisted at, knowing that it might entail moving across the country at the last minute or losing money on a deposit at another school. There is no right or wrong answer, and you should take the time to think about it before you hear back so that you are prepared to act quickly if you receive an offer. Continue to keep up your grades and extracurriculars, and prepare financially for the possibility of getting off the waitlist.
Final Thoughts
Being on a medical school waitlist can add to the stress and uncertainty of the medical school application process. However, a lot can change in just a few months. Remember to take care of yourself during this process, and don’t lose hope. With some patience, you just might get an acceptance to your dream school!
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