Waitlisted Applicants May Submit Updates, Additional Materials

There are five main steps to get through the entire medical school application process. Upon submitting your secondary application to the MSU College of Human Medicine (CHM), the Assistant Dean for Admissions will review select factors and applicants will either be deemed unsuccessful, placed on hold, or invited to interview.

As part of the selection process, one of the outcomes from the committee on admissions after interviewing can be the waitlist. Schools may also refer to this as the alternate list. While it's not the ideal outcome you'd like to initially hear, there are steps you can take moving forward.

Last year, we wrote a post entitled, "So You've Been Placed on the Waitlist: What's Next?," that offers some good tidbits. 

If you are placed on the alternate list, your file will remain under consideration for acceptance until we notify you of a change in your status. One of the actions you can take is to submit additional information or, in other words, updates.

Please note that per CHM policy, only applicants who are placed on the alternate list may submit updates. This may not be the case at other schools as policies may differ.

Some schools may accept updates from all of their applicants. Schools may only accept updates within a specific time frame. CHM applicants who are waitlisted may submit updates at any time prior to a final decision.

Additional and/or updated grades, new clinical, volunteer, and/or research experiences, additional letters of evaluation, and a letter of continued interest are all suitable updates.

Ultimately, updates don't need to be major achievements but should be new developments beyond what's already been established in your primary and secondary applications. Highlight new experiences and accomplishments.

Remember that the goal is to sell yourself. Good luck!

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