Western Waitlist Party 2019-2020

[NWL@UWO 23]

10 minutes ago, Scrubadubdub said:

I'm NWL and also got the e-mail 9:06 am if that helps 

 

I'm feeling more pessimistic today about my normal waitlist offer especially since I've seen some users comment on how they're worried the high waitlist might not even clear and here I am on the normal  guess this is the start of the roller coaster of emotions I'm about to feel for the next few weeks/months 

I am in the same boat as you. I do think that HWL will get clear and some NWL will probably get invites. I personally don’t think Mac lottery and Covid will have huge impact and still hoping 70-80 ppl might decline the offer. Hang in there  my friend in Windsor got off the NWL last year and said there were quite few of NWL there

[Scrubadubdub 68]

1 minute ago, NWL@UWO said:

I am in the same boat as you. I do think that HWL will get clear and some NWL will probably get invites. I personally don’t think Mac lottery and Covid will have huge impact and still hoping 70-80 ppl might decline the offer. Hang in there  my friend in Windsor got off the NWL last year and said there were quite few of NWL there

Thank you for this  

I'm already really appreciating the sense of community I'm getting on this thread and forum from all of you.  

[DrOzuma 52]

On 5/12/2020 at 2:11 PM, swomenapp said:

I was low waitlisted. I'm devastated. Seems like im the only (?) swomen app who is in that position. Truly devastated.

hey! i was in your position last year and god i know how you (and probs everyone here) feels: down, annoyed, frustrated at this process, and sad. but trust me, youre NOT the only swomen applicant that got low waitlisted, its just for me i was so disappointed i couldnt bring myself to post about it. its really easy to look around you and think "wow everyone except me succeeded. i must be a terrible applicant. i will never get another interview ever again", but (i cant stress this enough) this is NOT the case. you must be exceptional to even get an interview and therefore the interview will come again! its also possible you had a bad interview bc of nerves/ the panel you got, but also speaking from experience interviewing is a skill you can learn.

 

take this experience and learn from it and you come back stronger next year. if youre at western(?) the peer mock interviewers offered by the success centre were a great resource for the this 2nd time around and it really helped me hone my interview skills and i attribute my acceptance this year honestly all to them. feel free to DM me if you need any advice/just need someone to rant to i would love to chat  

 

[dynamite17 10]

9 hours ago, DrOzuma said:

hey! i was in your position last year and god i know how you (and probs everyone here) feels: down, annoyed, frustrated at this process, and sad. but trust me, youre NOT the only swomen applicant that got low waitlisted, its just for me i was so disappointed i couldnt bring myself to post about it. its really easy to look around you and think "wow everyone except me succeeded. i must be a terrible applicant. i will never get another interview ever again", but (i cant stress this enough) this is NOT the case. you must be exceptional to even get an interview and therefore the interview will come again! its also possible you had a bad interview bc of nerves/ the panel you got, but also speaking from experience interviewing is a skill you can learn.

 

take this experience and learn from it and you come back stronger next year. if youre at western(?) the peer mock interviewers offered by the success centre were a great resource for the this 2nd time around and it really helped me hone my interview skills and i attribute my acceptance this year honestly all to them. feel free to DM me if you need any advice/just need someone to rant to i would love to chat  

 

Non-SWOMEN, but it gives me some hope that you went from low waitlist to accepted!  Congratulations on your acceptance!!

[conbrio 124]

3 hours ago, dynamite17 said:

Non-SWOMEN, but it gives me some hope that you went from low waitlist to accepted!  Congratulations on your acceptance!!

I'm Non-SWOMEN as well and was low waisted last year, but got accepted this year. You can definitely do it, you're almost there! I just had to grind out interview practice. Plus you've been through the process already and know what to expect.

[convertedlurker 51]

Based on previous years, I think it's safe to say that HWL movement will start on Friday, May 29th and if we're lucky, us NWL peeps will start being called on Monday, June 1st near the end of the workday. If that's the case, it might be a sign that waitlist movement isn't being negativity impacted by the chaos that is 2020. 

Let's hope for the best!

[dynamite17 10]

4 hours ago, conbrio said:

I'm Non-SWOMEN as well and was low waisted last year, but got accepted this year. You can definitely do it, you're almost there! I just had to grind out interview practice. Plus you've been through the process already and know what to expect.

That’s great to hear! Congrats and thanks for the motivation! :)

[Zuk 27]

4 hours ago, conbrio said:

I'm Non-SWOMEN as well and was low waisted last year, but got accepted this year. You can definitely do it, you're almost there! I just had to grind out interview practice. Plus you've been through the process already and know what to expect.

I think there is a fair amount of luck in the process too. I did exactly this, 200hrs + interview practice converted to a much improved interview. I ended up with low waitlist for the second straight year. 

[theevilsloth 107]

22 minutes ago, Zuk said:

I think there is a fair amount of luck in the process too. I did exactly this, 200hrs + interview practice converted to a much improved interview. I ended up with low waitlist for the second straight year. 

Hey, I feel this. Last year I practiced mostly by myself, and looking back the content of my answers was lacking. I got rejected post-interview. This year, I practiced for like 6 weeks straight with med students, other med applicants, friends / family etc. I felt confident in the interview, prepared with answers for most of the questions asked, and practiced for a total of probably about 150 hours. I got low-waitlist at western and rejected from two other schools. Not super sure what to change moving forward.. 

[conbrio 124]

15 hours ago, Zuk said:

I think there is a fair amount of luck in the process too. I did exactly this, 200hrs + interview practice converted to a much improved interview. I ended up with low waitlist for the second straight year. 

 

15 hours ago, theevilsloth said:

Hey, I feel this. Last year I practiced mostly by myself, and looking back the content of my answers was lacking. I got rejected post-interview. This year, I practiced for like 6 weeks straight with med students, other med applicants, friends / family etc. I felt confident in the interview, prepared with answers for most of the questions asked, and practiced for a total of probably about 150 hours. I got low-waitlist at western and rejected from two other schools. Not super sure what to change moving forward.. 

Could be luck for sure and how you vibe with your interviewers. Another thing to consider would be whether you are receiving the right feedback from knowledgeable sources for your practice. For example, this year I was able to get interview feedback from doctors who've been through the admissions process. Their advice was different from what I was hearing from other applicants or med students. One more thing could be whether you are reading/learning about ethics, healthcare issues, news and integrating it into your answers to make them more nuanced. Another would be whether you are practicing soft skills.. eye contact, expression, gestures, not fidgeting.

[theevilsloth 107]

40 minutes ago, conbrio said:

One more thing could be whether you are reading/learning about ethics, healthcare issues, news and integrating it into your answers to make them more nuanced. Another would be whether you are practicing soft skills.. eye contact, expression, gestures, not fidgeting.

I read CMAJ and CBC Health articles every day for months, and took notes on all the controversial and topical health issues in Canada. Pros and cons for MAID / forcing referrals / doctor strikes etc. I had studied and was prepared for the ethical / health type questions I got in the interview. I practiced staring into my webcam, recording myself answer questions, and looking at my body language to try and get better at the soft skills. 

I'm at a loss of how to move forward at this point.

[anonymouspanda 26]

I can't help but wish that I had an in-person interview rather than a virtual one. No way of knowing whether that might have changed the result for me but I wish there was some transparency with the stats comparing # of applicants accepted from in-person vs. virtual interviews to put my mind at ease.

[convertedlurker 51]

1 hour ago, anonymouspanda said:

I can't help but wish that I had an in-person interview rather than a virtual one. No way of knowing whether that might have changed the result for me but I wish there was some transparency with the stats comparing # of applicants accepted from in-person vs. virtual interviews to put my mind at ease.

I agree. I was much more comfortable at my in person interview at another school. It was hard to connect with the interviewers without direct eye contact and I think I cut them off once or twice because of the audio lag. 

However, I imagined they would standardize it to some degree by accepting half the class from in person interviews and half from online...or something along those lines. I hope they did but I wouldn't put too much hope in them disclosing their selection process.

[deedee908 12]

Apologies if this has already been asked, but are we 100% sure that western does not make calls to WL prior to the first 2 weeks being up? I have another offer and am wondering if I should just accept or if I should wait out the first 13 days just to be sure. Thanks in advance!

[convertedlurker 51]

37 minutes ago, deedee908 said:

Apologies if this has already been asked, but are we 100% sure that western does not make calls to WL prior to the first 2 weeks being up? I have another offer and am wondering if I should just accept or if I should wait out the first 13 days just to be sure. Thanks in advance!

From what I've seen, I'm pretty confident that they don't make WL calls until after 2 weeks. Historically it's been the Friday of the 2nd week after acceptances go out, so that would be May 29th this year.

Congrats on your Ottawa acceptance!  Do you mind me asking if you were high, normal or low waitlist?

[Scrubadubdub 68]

1 hour ago, deedee908 said:

Apologies if this has already been asked, but are we 100% sure that western does not make calls to WL prior to the first 2 weeks being up? I have another offer and am wondering if I should just accept or if I should wait out the first 13 days just to be sure. Thanks in advance!

From what I've seen in the accepted/rejected/waitlisted thread pinned in this forum it seems like they'll wait 2-3 days after May 26 before they start sending out offers to those on the high wait list (last year, first round offers expired on May 28th and the earliest acceptance from high wait list posted on this forum was on May 30th). McMaster does offer spots to those on the wait list on a rolling basis, but Western has not (I wish they did though!) 

I didn't get this information from official sources, I just went through the accepted/rejected/waitlisted thread for the last couple years to get an idea of when those on the WL would be called and that seems to be the general trend  

[deedee908 12]

7 hours ago, convertedlurker said:

From what I've seen, I'm pretty confident that they don't make WL calls until after 2 weeks. Historically it's been the Friday of the 2nd week after acceptances go out, so that would be May 29th this year.

Congrats on your Ottawa acceptance!  Do you mind me asking if you were high, normal or low waitlist?

Thank you! I'm very excited about Ottawa, just wanted to see if there's any point in waiting at all, just for curiousity's sake! I'm normal waitlist, so I guess there are absolutely zero chances of hearing before May 26!

[BobSmith777 2]

The Facebook group is at around 120 people already..... Is that a bad sign for us waitlisters? 

 

[CHG 137]

6 minutes ago, BobSmith777 said:

The Facebook group is at around 120 people already..... Is that a bad sign for us waitlisters? 

 

Some people will join the FB group to get the vibe and end up accepting somewhere else. There may also be people who are on the normal/low waitlist in a position below you - I wouldn't let that number worry you too much!

[Sweesy 12]

Does Western phone people off waitlist or email?

 

[convertedlurker 51]

Just now, Sweesy said:

Does Western phone people off waitlist or email?

 

I believe they phone first.

[Sweesy 12]

12 minutes ago, convertedlurker said:

I believe they phone first.

first? So they'll try to phone and if no answer hey email?

 

[convertedlurker 51]

57 minutes ago, Sweesy said:

first? So they'll try to phone and if no answer hey email?

 

I'm not absolutely sure about emailing but I've heard from previous years' threads that they make an active effort to try to reach you in as many ways possible. Most people get the call first and a follow up email. Not entirely sure what they do if you don't answer your phone but I would make sure your voicemail inbox is clear for them to leave a voicemail. You can also provide an alternate contact on the student center demographics tab in case they can't reach you directly.

[NWL@UWO 23]

Anyone have a guess how many ppl are on high waitlist and normal waitlist? This suspense is exhausting....

[convertedlurker 51]

18 minutes ago, NWL@UWO said:

Anyone have a guess how many ppl are on high waitlist and normal waitlist? This suspense is exhausting....

Given that they adjusted the HWL so that they could be fairly confident it would clear every year, I would estimate about 50-60 on the HWL. This is a super rough estimate based on very little evidence so don't take my word for it.

It's almost impossible to know how many people are on the NWL because they've never completely cleared it before. I've seen someone in previous years say that they clear about a third to half of the NWL. I don't know their source or how reliable that is though. Based on that and my estimate of 50-60 on HWL, that could mean anywhere from 40-90 on NWL (if waitlist movement is averaged at about 80 ppl). However, my gut tells me that HWL has more people than that. 

By the way, all of this is on the assumption that Western doesn't over offer from the start.

Feel free to challenge or debate this below because I'm jealous of the neurotic collaboration on the Ottawa WL thread.