The waitlist is the most confusing place to land, and I get more questions about it than almost anything else.

First thing: a waitlist is not a rejection. After an interview there are three outcomes, and this is the middle one. It means they liked you. There just wasn't a seat right then.

It's still allowed to feel awful. Sit with that for a day. Then get practical. Send a letter of continued interest if the program accepts them. Keep adding hours. Keep your grades up. And keep your other options moving, because you can't plan a year around a maybe.

People come off waitlists constantly, often late in the summer when accepted students choose somewhere else. It happens more than you'd think.

What I cover:

• What a waitlist actually means and why it happens
• The three outcomes after an interview
• Writing a letter of continued interest
• What to keep working on while you wait
• When movement usually happens on waitlists
• Making a backup plan without giving up

Resources:

PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide

Pre-PA counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Free application timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Welcome to episode 69.

Today we're talking about waitlist and PA school.

What does that mean?

Welcome to the pre PA club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey guys, thank you so so much for tuning in and I just wanted to take a second and tell you that I'm so thankful for all of the listeners and people who have subscribed to the podcast left reviews downloaded episodes from the PA platform.

Really, I just can't thank you enough for taking time out of your busy schedule and busy days just to listen to me ramble about PA things.

But I really, really do appreciate it and I love getting all of your messages and questions and emails and hopefully helping out a little bit.

So I wanted to take a second to thank our sponsor for this episode, which is very appropriate for the period of time we're in, which is mypa Resource.

Now it is middle of January, coming up on February, so if you are planning on applying or reapplying to PA School this April, it is time to work on your personal statement.

And if you need help with that, make sure you check out myparesource.com My PA resource is a professional PA personal statement editing service which I also edit for.

But with this service we edit for content, grammar, flow.

Make sure that your essay is what admissions committees are looking for.

Only PAs are editors.

You're not going to get some English major who doesn't really even know what a PA is.

So make sure you check that out and you can use the code Pre paclub a discount.

Now I also just want to give a reminder since we are coming up on application season and it'll be here before you know it, about all of the different resources we have available to you just so you're not missing out on anything.

So beyond MYPA Resource, which they have a free video workshop to help you prepare for your personal statement.

Definitely worth looking into on the PA platform.

If you go to the paplatform.com downloads and all these links will be in the description, you'll find a lot of different forms that will help you out.

So there's personal statement worksheets to help you brainstorm, there are interview worksheets to help you prepare for interviews.

There's a Healthcare Patient Care Shadowing Experience log that has everything organized exactly the way you'll want to input it into caspa.

There's also a resume template.

Well as a PA school application Timeline checklist, lots of great stuff there.

So make sure you check it out.

On YouTube.

We have a lot of different videos and so you can look at those, make sure that you're following along on YouTube to not miss out on any.

Of the upcoming episodes there.

Instagram.

I try to post lots and lots of tips.

At the PA platform.

We have our Facebook group, the Pre PA Club, and we just hit 4,200 members, which is crazy.

But it's a great group of pre pas and now some PA students who have been accepted, who are great at answering questions.

I'm in there.

Brian from MYPA Resource is in there and a lot of our coaches, so that's available to you.

Also, just remember that at the PA Platform, we do offer pre PA assessments, and coming up soon, those will include video again with one of our former interviewees.

And that's just kind of checking to see where you're at, competitiveness and prepa coaching, email support so that we can help you through this process and figure out your estimate, your Caspa GPAs and help you kind of know where you stand and what you need to work on.

And then beyond that, we do have the mock interviews and the PA School Interview Guide, which, which is on Amazon and on the PA platform.

Lots of stuff, and lots of even more stuff coming this year.

Exciting things.

And if there's anything that you feel like would help you out, please, please let us know.

Now let's jump into our episode about being on the wait list for PA school.

We're talking about a little bit of an uncomfortable subject, but an important one in case you find yourself in this position.

Now, we've talked about how PA school applications are random and unpredictable.

And, you know, if you've been watching or listening for a while, you've heard stories of people who have had a rejection from a school one day and an acceptance to Duke the exact same day.

You know, they're looking for certain things.

It's got to be a great fit on both sides.

And I know it's tough because ultimately you want that acceptance.

So let's talk about the wait list, the alternate list, if you're on hold.

There's a lot of different terms for this, but essentially it's a wait list.

So the wait list is, let's say you applied to PA School, you interviewed.

Basically, there's three options.

After you interview, you're accepted to the program as a future student, and you can choose whether you accept or decline that seat.

You're wait listed, which means you're put on A list of people that if a spot opens, it may end up being yours or you can be rejected.

Rejected is the one that you do not want.

It is much better to be on a wait list than to get a straight out rejection.

Because at that point for this cycle, your time with that school is done.

There's no way to kind of go back and dispute that in any way, but you kind of just have to move on from that point.

So the wait list can be a little bit frustrating.

I know.

And, you know, one question is, why am I on the wait list?

I get emails like this constantly.

And first of all, being on a wait list does not say anything about you as a person.

It does not mean that you're a failure.

It does not mean they hated you.

There are a lot of factors here.

And you have to be a good fit for that program as much as they feel they're a good fit for you.

And sometimes this is really competitive.

And as much as we say, try to meet your other applicants and get to know them, it is competitive.

And sometimes there's someone who just has a little bit better stats or interviewed just a little bit better, so that can end up with you on a wait list.

And then other times, there is no rhyme or reason to it.

So don't try to read into it too much or use this as something that affects your identity.

It's tough.

It stinks.

It's a huge disappointment to you.

I know, but it doesn't say anything about you.

I just want to clear that up before we move on to talking about what it means to be on a wait list and things you can do about it.

You know, some schools even have wait lists for interviews, and that's a little bit of a different situation.

But just know that this is not an uncommon practice for schools to have, and it does mean that they liked you.

They just aren't ready to commit to you yet because there's only a certain number of spots, and they have to choose who they think is going to fill those spots appropriately and make a nice, cohesive class that's going to do well in the next two years.

So anyway, if you're on the wait list, just know that it's okay to let yourself feel disappointed.

Feel disappointed.

Take a couple days.

You know, don't feel like you should be overly excited about it.

Or it's okay if you don't feel excited about it, but at that point you got to brush off your shoulders, move on, get to work, and prepare for the next time.

If you are Part of the prepa club on Facebook.

There are tons and tons of examples of people who are on waitlist and people who have gotten off waitlist.

I was looking through there yesterday and there was one that said they got pulled off of the wait list a week before school started.

That's a little scary, but we'll talk about that as well.

So, yeah, so, I mean, there are examples out there.

People come off the wait list every single time.

And it's a very, very fluid process.

Just know that each school has a different process as to how they do waitlist.

Some of them will just kind of have a group of applicants on a wait list and if then a spot opens up, they go back to that list and kind of re evaluate everyone and choose some people to offer acceptances to.

So that would be an unranked list.

And then there are schools that rank their list as they come.

And sometimes these ranks are set in place so if they tell you you're number two, you're number two no matter what.

And if they add someone, they'll add it to the end of the list.

Sometimes these are fluid as well.

So if they have another interview group come in and they may put somebody at number two and you bump down to number three.

Schools do not always disclose where you're at on the rank list.

So some do, some don't.

If they're going to tell you, they're going to tell you.

It's not going to be a secret or something that you can call and try to convince them to tell you where you're at.

I mean, it doesn't hurt to ask.

But just know that if they have not disclosed your ranking on a waitlist, most likely they're not going to.

Or that's just not how they do.

Wait list.

I know everyone wants to know what are my chances of gain off the wait list.

And you can call the programs and ask them that, but they probably can't tell you.

There are schools.

I would say most schools have a wait list.

From what I've seen around 40 people.

I mean, that's a lot.

They essentially will keep sometimes a waitlist the same size as their class just in case something happens that they need to pull people from.

Some schools pull a ton of people off the waitlist.

They'll pull 30% of their class off the wait list.

Some people only pull one or two people.

So every school is a little different.

Again, they might divulge that information, they might not.

But you know that being on a wait list again is better than a Rejection and it gives you some hope.

So going into kind of what you should know about being on a wait list and what your chances are, it's hard to say because of all these different processes, but if you think about it, people are getting accepted to different schools every single day and their first choice may not be your first choice.

So if you're on a wait list at your first choice program and then someone else who has been accepted to that program gets into their first choice, hey, that opens up a spot.

And that's why I say this process is so fluid and always changing.

So just know that there's a chance there.

Please don't give up.

I just feel like I've gotten so many sad emails lately and it makes me feel so sad.

But just really, really try to hang in there and know that you can come off the wait list.

When could this happen?

I mentioned earlier, but it can happen up until the program starts.

The thing is, PA programs want to have a full class.

They want to fill every single seat and things happen.

People have emergencies, illnesses, family issues, and sometimes they have to give up their seat last minute.

And so these schools want to have someone in that seat.

And that's why, I mean, you could get a call even a few days before school starts.

It can be crazy.

So from the time you get on the wait list, you could get pulled off at any point in time.

Another thing that complicates this is if you're on a wait list but you've been accepted to other schools and you're on, let's say the waitlist for your first choice.

That's tough.

What do you do?

It's my opinion that you've got to think really long and hard before you give up an acceptance just because that may not come again.

You don't know what the next class of applicants is going to look like or if the school changed their requirements.

So if you have an acceptance, really think about giving that up.

And if you just wouldn't be happy at the school and don't feel like you could do it, that might be a good reason to give it up.

But otherwise I would try to stick it out.

You may lose some deposit money if you come off the wait list.

But in the grand scheme of things, that is not the end of the world.

If you have put in a deposit, just know that is non refundable, but it may pay off down the road.

So let's talk about if you're accepted and you're on a wait list.

Some things you can do and Then just in general, what you can do if you're on a waitlist.

So if you've been accepted to one program but you're on the waitlist for another, you can take a chance.

So you can take a chance in telling that program that you're on the wait list of your other acceptances and see how they respond.

I've seen this go both ways.

So sometimes if you tell them that, they will.

That kind of lights a fire and they go, oh my gosh, we want this person so badly, and they end up accepting you.

Versus, on the flip side, there are some programs that go, okay, well, that person already has an acceptance.

They're on our wait list.

We'll kind of just let them go.

So you're taking a risk there.

But again, I've seen it pay off.

And I've seen people who have been accepted by kind of letting the programs know, yes, I have been accepted, but I really want to go here.

I think there is no shame in letting a program know that they are your first choice and that they are somewhere you want to be.

I did that in my interviews and I think it paid off.

I told my first choice, and if you're being genuine about it, they'll be able to see that.

So in the meantime, you get this call that you're on the wait list.

You take a couple days, you take a bath, get a massage, feel sad, eat some ice cream, and now you go, okay, well, what can I do?

So if you're on a wait list,.

Go ahead and start preparing as if you would need to reapply.

Take a very objective look at your applications.

Find out where your weaknesses are.

I found that most people want to focus on their strengths and keep making those stronger instead of making their weaknesses better.

And that's something I've seen in the Pre PA club on Facebook too.

I mean, people will say, I'm not going to take more classes, I'm not going to do more hours, I'm not going to volunteer more.

And that's not really the best attitude to have.

If you really want to get into PA school, you've got to think about making your application as strong as possible and giving the admissions committee no reason not to accept you.

You want them to look at your application and go, they've done everything they can and I don't have a reason not to accept them.

And that comes to volunteering hours, shadowing hours, healthcare experience hours, patient care experience hours.

Gain a variety of experience, a variety of shadowing, showing commitment to the underserved in your community.

Looking at your grades, this is everyone's least favorite.

But looking at your grades, looking at your gpa, do you have B's or better in all of your prerequisites?

Are all of your prerequisites correct?

Are they matching up the way they should with the programs you're applying to?

Could you take more science courses?

Your gre, that's an easy one to improve because you can take it as many times as you need to to try to hit those scores.

So look at every single part of your application and go into this as if you're going to have to reapply.

And you know, if you do something that's significant, if you get a lot more hours, if you take some classes, tell the program you're wait listed at.

Shoot them an email and just say, hey, wanted to let you know that I have 400 more hours of working as an EMT.

I've been volunteering an extra hundred hours and I just finished my repeat of General Chemistry and I got an A.

So give them a little bit of an update.

This does a couple things.

It shows that you're still working towards this goal, that you're not just sitting at home waiting to see what happens and that you are still available and still interested.

I would much rather you send an update to a program than just constantly be asking, am I still on the wait list?

What rank am I?

Has anything changed?

Has anyone come off the waitlist?

You know, that's a little bit annoying to a program and you certainly don't want to annoy them before you're even a student.

So being able to just say, hey, just an FYI, I don't want you to forget about me is a little bit more of a smooth way to do that, to get your name in there, help them to remember you and then hopefully, hopefully, hopefully get off that wait list.

Fingers crossed.

If you are on a wait list, please let us know and we will send all the good vibes and prayers and thoughts your way and support you through that and make sure if you liked this to subscribe either to YouTube for the videos or itunes for the podcast episodes each week and make sure on our weekly newsletter as well so you have content access to all of our content, our blog posts and everything.

And I hope to see you next time.

If you liked it, give me a thumbs up and I would love to hear from you in the comments.

See you guys next time.

Bye.