2016-2017 University of Alabama Application Thread

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waitlistUAB said:
I think that it *may* be significant because it could have said something like "the majority of waitlist movement has occurred and we do not expect anymore significant movement"
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Have to remember what waitlist movement means. It's people who are accepted turning down their offers, thus opening up their seat to someone on the waitlist. Movement is entirely dependent on the current student body and their needs and desires. UAB cannot, with any objective measure other than numbers from the past, predict waitlist movement. It is equally likely that no further students turn UAB down. So, UAB can't make statements like the one you mentioned. They can only say what tier they are accepting from currently. By the way, I did email the person at UAB. No reply yet.
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I am waitlisted on the second tier. I called the admissions office this morning and was told they usually fill the class from the first tier. She also gave the same response that they're still "accepting from the first tier". She did not sound very hopeful for those of us on the second tier. But of course, she said "every year is different and it hard to predict anything."
 
BB1989 said:
I am waitlisted on the second tier. I called the admissions office this morning and was told they usually fill the class from the first tier. She also gave the same response that they're still "accepting from the first tier". She did not sound very hopeful for those of us on the second tier. But of course, she said "every year is different and it hard to predict anything."
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Yes, I got a response. Same thing. They are still accepting from first tier and usually go through the entire first tier. Asked me to try again in 2 weeks.
 
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Ak07 said:
Yes, I got a response. Same thing. They are still accepting from first tier and usually go through the entire first tier. Asked me to try again in 2 weeks.
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Cathy said that today?


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While we wait, I was wondering what you guys/gals thought the reasons were for waitlist movement at UAB? It seems to vary from year to year and be "unpredictable."

As mentioned above, a waitlist spot opens up only when a currently accepted student withdraws. On April 30th, students holding multiple acceptances to medical school had to drop it down to one (but they could remain on an unlimited number of waitlists):

The AAMC Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants


Therefore, for any student giving up their spot at UAB after April 30th, their first choice at the time was UAB. Since UAB is ranked in the top40 on USNews, it makes sense that it is the top choice instate, despite south alabama having almost exactly the same matriculant GPA/MCAT statistics. It also makes sense that very talented out of state applicants (usually OOS matriculant stats > IS), especially from the southeast, would also apply to UAB because of its ranking etc. However, on UAB's facts & figures' page, it's clear the OOS students comprise a tiny fraction of the class.

I made a post earlier in this thread after reading through the UAB thread on SDN of each of the last 8 years or so. I found numbers that vary from 69, 49, and 36 students being accepted off of the waitlist at UAB. Some years, this information was not posted in these threads. It also seems like (based on the past threads) most reported waitlist movement on SDN for UAB occurs after April 30th. So:

A minimum of around 36 students are giving up their spots at UAB, after having UAB as their best available choice from the beginning of their application cycle through April 30th. So why do they give their spots up? Did they apply to schools ranked higher in the USNews, like the ivies/hopkins/UCs/duke/vandy/washu? And have they not been accepted at these schools, but instead been waitlisted (just like us)? Are there many students with Alabama residency status, that apply to these schools with UAB as their backup? Are many of these applicants from Mobile and surrounding regions, and see South Alabama as a great school that is close to home? Does South Alabama offer more financial aid than UAB? Are deferrals a real thing? If so how many occur on average? I've heard of this happening because of inability to get loans by the start of the MS1, but otherwise, why would this be allowed?


What caused the waitlist movement so far, and what will cause any from now till orientation?
 
waitlistUAB said:
While we wait, I was wondering what you guys/gals thought the reasons were for waitlist movement at UAB? It seems to vary from year to year and be "unpredictable."

As mentioned above, a waitlist spot opens up only when a currently accepted student withdraws. On April 30th, students holding multiple acceptances to medical school had to drop it down to one (but they could remain on an unlimited number of waitlists):

The AAMC Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants


Therefore, for any student giving up their spot at UAB after April 30th, their first choice at the time was UAB. Since UAB is ranked in the top40 on USNews, it makes sense that it is the top choice instate, despite south alabama having almost exactly the same matriculant GPA/MCAT statistics. It also makes sense that very talented out of state applicants (usually OOS matriculant stats > IS), especially from the southeast, would also apply to UAB because of its ranking etc. However, on UAB's facts & figures' page, it's clear the OOS students comprise a tiny fraction of the class.

I made a post earlier in this thread after reading through the UAB thread on SDN of each of the last 8 years or so. I found numbers that vary from 69, 49, and 36 students being accepted off of the waitlist at UAB. Some years, this information was not posted in these threads. It also seems like (based on the past threads) most reported waitlist movement on SDN for UAB occurs after April 30th. So:

A minimum of around 36 students are giving up their spots at UAB, after having UAB as their best available choice from the beginning of their application cycle through April 30th. So why do they give their spots up? Did they apply to schools ranked higher in the USNews, like the ivies/hopkins/UCs/duke/vandy/washu? And have they not been accepted at these schools, but instead been waitlisted (just like us)? Are there many students with Alabama residency status, that apply to these schools with UAB as their backup? Are many of these applicants from Mobile and surrounding regions, and see South Alabama as a great school that is close to home? Does South Alabama offer more financial aid than UAB? Are deferrals a real thing? If so how many occur on average? I've heard of this happening because of inability to get loans by the start of the MS1, but otherwise, why would this be allowed?


What caused the waitlist movement so far, and what will cause any from now till orientation?
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Generally, it's because UAB is their backup. It is a top 40 school, but there are many schools several tiers above UAB. It can also be due to extreme circumstances like health problems or family emergencies. Another reason can be living circumstances and financial concerns that may accompany them. Those are the main reasons that I can think of off the top of my head.
 
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The silence is actually killing me. Can't believe no one has heard anything yet.
 
Ak07 said:
The silence is actually killing me. Can't believe no one has heard anything yet.
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Fwiw, it seems like the last reported movement was the first week of May so almost no movement (on SDN) in three weeks. This makes me think of the idea proposed here on page 8 about how maybe UAB is waiting to make a giant last batch of waitlist acceptances. A reason for doing this could be because the committee might not want to meet every time one student withdraws from UAB. I also think it is noteworthy that this is the first cycle for the current admissions committee. Dr. Smith stepped down last year, and this group seems to take a different approach to admissions than previous cycles (e.g. the alternate list was released on March 14, a lot earlier than in years' past).

However, as you mentioned earlier, UAB cannot really predict what will and will not happen to the students currently accepted. It is based on their needs and desires. So if they are going to do this last giant wave of acceptances, it makes sense that they would do it later than sooner once most national movement has ended. This might happen closer to orientation.
 
waitlistUAB said:
Fwiw, it seems like the last reported movement was the first week of May so almost no movement (on SDN) in three weeks. This makes me think of the idea proposed here on page 8 about how maybe UAB is waiting to make a giant last batch of waitlist acceptances. A reason for doing this could be because the committee might not want to meet every time one student withdraws from UAB. I also think it is noteworthy that this is the first cycle for the current admissions committee. Dr. Smith stepped down last year, and this group seems to take a different approach to admissions than previous cycles (e.g. the alternate list was released on March 14, a lot earlier than in years' past).

However, as you mentioned earlier, UAB cannot really predict what will and will not happen to the students currently accepted. It is based on their needs and desires. So if they are going to do this last giant wave of acceptances, it makes sense that they would do it later than sooner once most national movement has ended. This might happen closer to orientation.
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The Vice President of admissions (I think) told me they send out acceptances basically the same day they get word of a withdrawal. Also, I don't think the adcom has to meet to send out invites?
 
waitlistUAB said:
Fwiw, it seems like the last reported movement was the first week of May so almost no movement (on SDN) in three weeks. This makes me think of the idea proposed here on page 8 about how maybe UAB is waiting to make a giant last batch of waitlist acceptances. A reason for doing this could be because the committee might not want to meet every time one student withdraws from UAB. I also think it is noteworthy that this is the first cycle for the current admissions committee. Dr. Smith stepped down last year, and this group seems to take a different approach to admissions than previous cycles (e.g. the alternate list was released on March 14, a lot earlier than in years' past).

However, as you mentioned earlier, UAB cannot really predict what will and will not happen to the students currently accepted. It is based on their needs and desires. So if they are going to do this last giant wave of acceptances, it makes sense that they would do it later than sooner once most national movement has ended. This might happen closer to orientation.
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By the way, on sdn, only a handful got in off the waitlist between mar 14 and April 30
 
Ak07 said:
The Vice President of admissions (I think) told me they send out acceptances basically the same day they get word of a withdrawal. Also, I don't think the adcom has to meet to send out invites?
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idk bro. if this is true, it's not a good sign that there have been no withdrawals in three weeks

My reasoning for the committee needing to meet is for the particular scenario (since we're all just guessing) that they accept from the tier, but not necessarily in order, even if there is an established order within the tiers. Consider a scenario in which many of the most recent withdrawals have been female, and therefore have significantly altered the close to 50:50 ratio that UAB likes to have in its classes. If it was important to make up for this, simply accepting the next in line on the alternate list would not necessarily solve this problem. The committee would have to meet to discuss this issue, and to develop a strategy to fix this problem (if it was a problem at all). Similar problems could be maybe not having enough nontrads, urm, etc. I have read about stuff like this on SDN. All hypothetical.

Ak07 said:
By the way, on sdn, only a handful got in off the waitlist between mar 14 and April 30
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In real life, I have a few friends that are already accepted. The general consensus is that almost all of the first tiers have been accepted already. And as you know, the average class size is like 170+, and if you count up the number of unique individuals that have posted in this thread (from the beginning), it is nowhere close to what the entering class size would be
 
Ak07 said:
The silence is actually killing me. Can't believe no one has heard anything yet.
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I also find it funny that nobody has heard anything in basically a month
waitlistUAB said:
idk bro. if this is true, it's not a good sign that there have been no withdrawals in three weeks

My reasoning for the committee needing to meet is for the particular scenario (since we're all just guessing) that they accept from the tier, but not necessarily in order, even if there is an established order within the tiers. Consider a scenario in which many of the most recent withdrawals have been female, and therefore have significantly altered the close to 50:50 ratio that UAB likes to have in its classes. If it was important to make up for this, simply accepting the next in line on the alternate list would not necessarily solve this problem. The committee would have to meet to discuss this issue, and to develop a strategy to fix this problem (if it was a problem at all). Similar problems could be maybe not having enough nontrads, urm, etc. I have read about stuff like this on SDN. All hypothetical.



In real life, I have a few friends that are already accepted. The general consensus is that almost all of the first tiers have been accepted already. And as you know, the average class size is like 170+, and if you count up the number of unique individuals that have posted in this thread (from the beginning), it is nowhere close to what the entering class size would be
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The usual class size is 186, but there have been rumors for a couple of years about them wanting to bump that number up to 200.
 
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Tealc22 said:
I also find it funny that nobody has heard anything in basically a month


The usual class size is 186, but there have been rumors for a couple of years about them wanting to bump that number up to 200.
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Yeah my bad. But wouldn't that mean that when the waitlist was created, the first student on the first tier would be class member #201? So every time someone withdraws, they accept a waitlist student to get back to 200. So increasing the class size has no benefit to the alternate list?
 
waitlistUAB said:
Yeah my bad. But wouldn't that mean that when the waitlist was created, the first student on the first tier would be class member #201? So every time someone withdraws, they accept a waitlist student to get back to 200. So increasing the class size has no benefit to the alternate list?
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That would be my guess unless they are holding off to see who on their wait list is getting pulled off of other wait lists. I've heard that, with regards to USA, UAB will send an acceptance almost immediately if USA sends one.
 
waitlistUAB said:
idk bro. if this is true, it's not a good sign that there have been no withdrawals in three weeks

My reasoning for the committee needing to meet is for the particular scenario (since we're all just guessing) that they accept from the tier, but not necessarily in order, even if there is an established order within the tiers. Consider a scenario in which many of the most recent withdrawals have been female, and therefore have significantly altered the close to 50:50 ratio that UAB likes to have in its classes. If it was important to make up for this, simply accepting the next in line on the alternate list would not necessarily solve this problem. The committee would have to meet to discuss this issue, and to develop a strategy to fix this problem (if it was a problem at all). Similar problems could be maybe not having enough nontrads, urm, etc. I have read about stuff like this on SDN. All hypothetical.



In real life, I have a few friends that are already accepted. The general consensus is that almost all of the first tiers have been accepted already. And as you know, the average class size is like 170+, and if you count up the number of unique individuals that have posted in this thread (from the beginning), it is nowhere close to what the entering class size would be
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Well, either the couple of us first tiers left on sdn are just unrealistically unlucky and are literally the last 2 spots in the first tier or the first tier of the the alternate list is gigantic because this really doesn't make any sense. If you just give 5 from each time span real life acceptances then about 18-20 first tiers have been accepted. I think that's lower than their lowest ever accepted off the wait list. It would also mean that zero 2nd tiers will get in, which is surprising.
 
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Accepted off the waitlist yesterday. First tier in state. LizzyM 65. First time applicant.
 
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Could those who have been accepted on here do some homework and find out if those that remain on the alternate list have a realistic chance of getting in? :D Pretty please? :D
 
waitlistUAB said:
Could those who have been accepted on here do some homework and find out if those that remain on the alternate list have a realistic chance of getting in? :D Pretty please? :D
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It's going to be difficult to get a definitive answer. I have friends in the medical school and they've said that it's highly likely that they won't close the class until after the first day. If they see that they have empty seats, they'll start making calls. Until then, it's all a matter of people that have acceptances telling the school that they aren't coming and then UAB going to the next person on the list. What tier are you in if you don't mind me asking?
 
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I'm on the second tier. I also have friends that are current students and some that will start this year. I heard as far back as multiple weeks ago that UAB had almost completely exhausted the first tier. This cycle has seemed different than the past, and I think it is unpredictable because of the change at the top of the admissions' committee (Dr. Smith stepped down last year).
 
waitlistUAB said:
I'm on the second tier. I also have friends that are current students and some that will start this year. I heard as far back as multiple weeks ago that UAB had almost completely exhausted the first tier. This cycle has seemed different than the past, and I think it is unpredictable because of the change at the top of the admissions' committee (Dr. Smith stepped down last year).
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I'm also on the second tier. I agree this cycle has been much different than last year, but from what I've heard, that has been for the best with regards to the change at the top of the committee. I can't confirm or deny how far down the first tier UAB has gotten since they tend not to disclose that. I have heard some encouraging information in the last week and a half in terms of those still on the wait list getting in this cycle, but it is not a guarantee at the moment. The only thing that I hear is that no news at this point is good news.
 
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waitlistUAB said:
a first tier was accepted this week
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How do you know? Details? I asked for feedback again yesterday and they were not ready to give it out yet still.
 
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Accepted today off of the first tier.
 
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Just got an email saying that they aren't accepting applicants from my spot on the second tier. Good luck to everyone still waiting.
 
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Just accepted off second tier!
 
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Any luck recently? I'm also on second tier hoping for some love.
 
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