Premed Perspective: The Application Wait

Yes I’m using the Royal ‘We’.

That’s the mentality that helps you to keep throughout this whole medical school application process.

Solidarity.

Unity.

One-Mindedness.

We.

 After applications were turned in, a little message popped up.

‘Congratulations! Your applications have been submitted. Now comes the hardest part. Waiting.’

We could hear replies up until 5-6 weeks out.

The first response was a quick and definite ‘no’ at the end of week 1 into The Wait.

It’s okay, because it was our last choice with a  VERY small class number.

The second we heard back from about 2 weeks into The Wait.

It was an offer for an interview!

There was a lot of celebrating in the isle of a Target when DH called me from work to tell me.

Commence trip planning for said interview.

Praise the Lord for hotel rates given specifically for those coming to interview, otherwise we would have been out quite a bit of money… Not that it would have kept us from the interview itself.

Things went really great at the interview.

DH always comes off as personable, responsible and professional, so we never worried about the interview itself.

He came out feeling solid and confident in the impression that he made on everyone he met.

The wait continued for a reply from the school.

After 2 weeks we received a letter stating that DH was placed on the Alternate list for this upcoming class.

He could be accepted up until 2 weeks before orientation.

Alternate?

Is that different from a waitlist?

Is he ranked in this ‘Alternate list’?

When would movement start?

Was it common for a lot of movement from this ‘Alternate list’?

We have been trying to get information about it, but as you can imagine it is a little hard to get a hold of anyone, considering they are dealing with dozens to hundreds of people in the exact situation, asking the exact same questions.

That means that until we are told otherwise, we are still in this eternal wait.

The middle of week 3 of The Wait we heard back from THE school.

Our number 1 pick was a ‘No, thank you’.

That was a bad call to get at work.

With half of Our applications being turned down it was time for a little pep talk.

This was not the end of the world.

Maybe it just was not meant to be.

Maybe the Lord has other plans for us.

With half of the applications being negative, at this point it was time to talk about the possibility that this may not be THE year.

If We don’t get into a school this year, We need to try to find out the reasons for being turned down.

I encouraged DH to possibly call and get a little more information about why he was turned down. If it’s something we can do in the possible extra year, then we need to get that in the works and on the books. Being proactive about things is the key to getting things done.

Some people may feel that being persistent after being turned down is a bit pushy… I see it as being assertive, yes, but more determined than anything else.

Committed.

Once he emailed, he got a fairly generic response back.

‘Continue shadowing, take classes to raise your GPA, consider retaking your MCAT to boost your score’… Those kinds of things.

So that got us a ton of great information.

Not.

Our 4^th school never replied to the initial application.

We called and called to see if there was an error, or if something was missing, but never got a response.

Whatever.

We believe, can pretty much bet, that DH’s timing may have hindered his applications this year.

Because of how late his MACT re-take was in the year, it put him submitting his full applications right at the deadlines.

This choice may have cost him his entrance into medical school this year.

It’s the nature of the beast and your impression on a school starts from that very first application.

You have to assume that every little bit of information about the applicant is taken from the beginning, every action is calculated and taken into consideration.

We have decided to learn from this and have turned around and submitted everything again so that he makes the early application timeline for the next cycle of applications.

Yes, that does mean investing more money into this process.

Yes, we still have a chance that DH will be notified of acceptance this cycle.

We are just covering our all of our bases.

If it happens that DH’s name comes up and we get the acceptance letter, we will rescind our applications for next cycle and start our journey.

Multiple application cycles are not abnormal, so our story isn't unique.

The joys of putting your life in the hands of others...

There is nothing that you can do in the meantime.

No amount of stressing or worrying will change your circumstances.

So, we are continuing to just live our lives.

Enjoying the spring weather and continuing to pray for good news.

How are Your applications going?

How many are prepping their families for the next application cycle?

Do you want to share helpful hints that you have for getting through this stage?