Interview Rejection Thread 2009-2010

The wait lists are mostly real.

Sometimes when you don't hear from a program, and you think that means rejection (like weeks later.. nothing).. you get a phone call or email from them offering you a spot.

This happened to me on numerous occasions last year. It especially happens with the *hot* interview dates.. second weekend in january, and second week in december.

I have heard plenty of stories of people who matched at places they were on the wait list.

Yes, it is true that many programs pre-rank you, and then change your rank once you interview.. But it is also true that many programs wait for you to come and then rank you. You have to remember, that there are sooo many applications to every single program.. and more than the # that apply are qualified to be interviewed and even attend the program. Sometimes they decide by chance for you to come.. sometimes it's how early you sent in the application.. so you NEVER know.

This whole "wait list" fiasco is due to the huge number of programs that everyone has applied to. If every program initially offers interviews to their top 20% of applicants then you essentially have 20% of applicants holding almost all of the interview spots, initially. Once these applicants figure out that they are going to match and they can be picky, they cancel interviews and spots open up for the wait listed people.

This has become a fear-based application process meaning people see that you need 15 ranks to have 99% chance of matching and just shell out the 1000 dollars to apply to 80+ programs. If you look at the Application Stats thread you see people with 245+ applying to 80 programs. That is kind of over kill. But, nobody wants to lose because they didn't apply widely enough, thus, widespread paranoia is fueling the waitlists. ergo ipso facto. its science.

Last year: 923 applicants for 642 spots.

What would happen if all the ortho applicants were limited to 10 applications?

heh.. this was a big subject last year.. See my post about the rediculousness of it all:, I go through a calculation of how many interviews everyone should get if things were spread out fairly..


orthogate.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... ght=#21087

Arizona - 11/4 email
Case Western - 10/26 email
Fort Worth/JPS - 10/16 email
Georgetown - 11/2 email
Indiana - 10/21 Snail Mail
Medical College of Georgia - 10/30 email
Ohio State - 11/9 email
Penn State – 10/27 email
Summa Health System - 11/5 email
Texas Tech – 11/3 email
University of Missouri-KC – 11/3 email
University of North Carolina – 11/3, 11/5 email
Wake Forest - 10/28 email
Wayne State - 10/28 email
West Virginia - 11/5 email
Yale - 11/6 email[/b]

Waitlist Ohio State email 10/9/09

Arizona - 11/4 email
Carolinas Medical Center - 11/9 emailCase Western - 10/26 email
Fort Worth/JPS - 10/16 email
Georgetown - 11/2 email
Indiana - 10/21 Snail Mail
Medical College of Georgia - 10/30 email
Ohio State - 11/9 email
Penn State – 10/27 email
Summa Health System - 11/5 email
Texas Tech – 11/3 email
University of Missouri-KC – 11/3 email
University of North Carolina – 11/3, 11/5 email
Wake Forest - 10/28 email
Wayne State - 10/28 email
West Virginia - 11/5 email
Yale - 11/6 email

That one hurts...