This is a stressful time in medical school admissions especially for those applicants who received medical school interviews, but have no acceptances and only waitlists.
We know what questions and concerns you have so I will try to address some of them!
Unfortunately, no one can tell you your exact chances of getting accepted off the waitlist. But, if we look at the data we can glean some interesting information. In 2023, 45.8% of medical school matriculants were accepted to only one medical school!!! That’s a pretty impressively high number. Further, 20% of matriculants received only one interview.
Just over 50% of matriculants received three or fewer interviews! So what this tells you is that multiple interviews statistically increases the odds that you will be accepted.
The number of applicants on a medical school waitlist varies from medical school to medical school. Some waitlists have only 70 applicants while others may have up to 600.
How many applicants are usually accepted off a medical school waitlist each year?
How many students are accepted off a waitlist each year varies based on a medical school’s yield (how many accepted students choose to matriculate). Historically, medical schools take anywhere from one to 100 applicants off a waitlist each year.
While some medical schools rank applicants on the waitlist, others review the entire list when deciding whom to accept when a spot opens. How a school decides who to take is anyone’s guess! Sometimes this decision is based on institutional priorities while other schools will do a full holistic review of all waitlisted applicants when a spot opens up.
As of May 1st, applicants are only allowed to hold one medical school acceptance so most waitlists will start to move in May. Applicants can be accepted off a waitlist until the medical school has a fully committed class or before the start of orientation, whichever comes first!
As soon as one medical school waitlist accepts a student, that means a waitlist position may open at another medical school assuming the student was holding another acceptance. This is why one school’s waitlist movement can cause a ripple effect resulting in spots opening at other medical schools.
If the medical school where you are waitlisted accepts letters of intent (not all medical schools will accept them so be careful), we encourage you to send one. A strong and convincing letter of intent can certainly convert a waitlist to an acceptance and we see this happen every year!
We know waiting is so difficult! There is only a week until all of the shifting begins!