*** 2018-2019 MD/PhD cycle - Questions, Comments, and other things ***

[MSTPapplicant2018]

Wow, seeing how few people are in my position (still seeking) is both reassuring and terrifying...

Don't worry, I'm in the same boat. My best wishes to everyone.

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[klucket2]

I had radio silence from 3 schools and eventually decided to just pick up the phone and call. All 3 programs gave me an honest answer with where they were at and said I could continue to check in with them. At this point there's really no harm in calling, particularly if it's your top choice. Alllll of that said, I wish programs would do a better job of letting us know our status. Truly just torturing us for no reason.

I called the program I'm wait listed at yesterday, the woman I spoke with on the phone basically said she wasn't at liberty to say whether wait list movement was still occurring or if they were done. She said they (the admissions committee) were currently meeting, and that she would let them I know I had called regarding my status and that I expressed continued interest. I feel like I've done everything I can, I'm not expecting to get any sort of status update from them about my standing unless they're accepting me. I'm tempted to email them to have a written communication about my status, but I don't want to bug them.

 

[MSTPapplicant2018]

Is there a deadline by which waitlisted students must be offered an acceptance or rejected?

 

[Fencer]

Matriculation/Orientation date for each of the MD/PhD programs. The problem is some begin in May and some as late as August. There is an AAMC list of formal orientation dates for MD/PhD programs, but I don't believe that it is a public document (and it might not be accurate). You could just call the programs where you are waitlisted, express interest, and ask about the date for orientation.

 

[Fencer]

Another week in the 2019 cycle... Brief update as of admission actions by Friday 05/10/19 (overnight sync to today) for the 2019 AMCAS MD/PhD cycle (Changes since 05/03 admission actions). This is the BEST result for each individual applicant (WA or AC is better than Active/Looking, which is better than Rejected - PW, PR, RJ).

	11-May	4-May	Change
Total Applicants	1766	1766	0
Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)	7	7	0
Rejected (Prelim Rj, Passive Withdrawal, RJ)	984	996	-12
Active in the cycle (not rejected)	775	763	12
At least 1 MD/PhD Acceptance (AC, DF, WA)	749	736	13
Defer to a later application cycle (DF)	11	8	3
Withdrawal After Acceptance (WA)	58	57	1
Currently Accepted for MD/PhD (AC)	680	671	9
Seeking a position (NA, HO, RS, AL, IN)	26	27	-1

As expected, the 2nd week after May 1 deadline for applicants to reduce to a 1 acceptance results in significant movement in waitlists but at a slower pace than the 1st week. We only had about 2-3 NEW first-time MD/PhD acceptances/weekday. This past week, we had 13 (vs 43) applicants who received their first MD/PhD acceptance! As applicants receive an acceptance from the waitlist, the recommended time allowed for these newly accepted applicants to make a decision between the 2 schools is 5 days, but only 2 days if it is within 30 days of orientation. In prior threads, I had indicated that I was expecting 750-770 applicants with at least 1 MD/PhD acceptance by end of our 2019 cycle (~43% acceptance rate - see recent historical range of 749-791 applicants in post #594 of this thread). We are now at 749, so I suspect the number will be closer to 770....

I expect that MD/PhD waitlists will keep moving this coming week but at much lesser pace, perhaps 1-2 new first-time acceptances/weekday. Most trainees are already set for their studies. Currently, there are only 58 accepted applicants in the WA category but I had predicted a total of 75 by end of the cycle, and another 7-10 joining the DF category for a total of ~20. That results in about ~25 slots, which eventually trickle down into 20 positions for NEW (additional) 1st time MD/PhD accepted applicants as some programs decide not to fill but wait for a year (or fill w someone in their SOM).

While my program has all slots committed, there is a glimpse of opportunity until orientation day.

 

[Fencer]

Another week in the 2019 cycle... Brief update as of admission actions by Friday 05/17/19 (overnight sync to today) for the 2019 AMCAS MD/PhD cycle (Changes since 05/10 admission actions). This is the BEST result for each individual applicant (WA or AC is better than Active/Looking, which is better than Rejected - PW, PR, RJ).

	18-May	11-May	Change
Total Applicants	1766	1766	0
Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)	7	7	0
Rejected (Prelim Rj, Passive Withdrawal, RJ)	976	984	-8
Active in the cycle (not rejected)	783	775	8
At least 1 MD/PhD Acceptance (AC, DF, WA)	757	749	8
Defer to a later application cycle (DF)	12	11	1
Withdrawal After Acceptance (WA)	62	58	4
Currently Accepted for MD/PhD (AC)	683	680	3
Seeking a position (NA, HO, RS, AL, IN)	26	26	0

As expected, the 3rd week after the May 1 deadline, the waitlist movement (measured by 1st MD/PhD acceptance) slows down considerably. We had 43 new first MD/PhD acceptances during the first week, 13 during the second week, and now 8 during the third week. While these numbers might seem small, they reflect the last domino to fall out (open up) after 2-4 slots change hands (estimated from data last year when we had names & schools) per new acceptance.

Applicants who receive an acceptance from the waitlist need to make a decision between the 2 schools in 5 days, but only 2 days if it is within 30 days of orientation. In prior threads, I had indicated that I was expecting 750-770 applicants with at least 1 MD/PhD acceptance by end of our 2019 cycle (~43% acceptance rate - see recent historical range of 749-791 applicants in post #594 of this thread). We are now at 757... I suspect the final number at end of the cycle will be around 770-775.... I expect about 3-5 new accepted applicants/week in the ensuing 3-4 weeks. Most trainees are already set for their studies. We only have 62 MD/PhD accepted applicants in the WA category (withdrawn after acceptance) and while I expected around 75 by the end of the cycle, and another 6-8 joining the DF category (defer to a later year) for a total of around 15 additional first time acceptances. Some programs might decide not to fill the vacant spot but wait for a year (or fill with someone in their SOM).

 

[Fencer]

Another week in the 2019 cycle... Brief update as of admission actions by Friday 05/24/19 (overnight sync to today) for the 2019 AMCAS MD/PhD cycle (Changes since 05/17 admission actions). This is the BEST result for each individual applicant (WA or AC is better than Active/Looking, which is better than Rejected - PW, PR, RJ).

	25-May	18-May	Change
Total Applicants	1767	1766	1
Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)	7	7	0
Rejected (Prelim Rj, Passive Withdrawal, RJ)	977	976	1
Active in the cycle (not rejected)	783	783	0
At least 1 MD/PhD Acceptance (AC, DF, WA)	759	757	2
Defer to a later application cycle (DF)	14	12	2
Withdrawal After Acceptance (WA)	65	62	3
Currently Accepted for MD/PhD (AC)	680	683	-3
Seeking a position (NA, HO, RS, AL, IN)	24	26	-2

As expected, the 4th week after the May 1 deadline, the waitlist movement (measured by 1st MD/PhD acceptance) slows down to just a couple of changes. We had 43 new first MD/PhD acceptances during the first week, 13 during the second week, 8 during the third week, and now 2 on the fourth week. While these numbers might seem small, they reflect the last domino to fall out (open up) after 2-4 slots change hands (estimated from open data from prior years when we had names & schools) per new acceptance. Most trainees are already set for their studies. We only have 65 MD/PhD accepted applicants in the WA category (withdrawn after acceptance) and while I expected around 75 by the end of the cycle, and around 20 in the DF category (defer to a later year). Some programs might decide not to fill the vacant spot but wait for a year (or fill with someone in their SOM). We have 759 applicants with at least 1 MD/PhD acceptance for the 2019 cycle (~43% acceptance rate - see recent 10-year historical data in post #594 of this thread). I still expect about 10 additional accepted applicants over the next 6 weeks, but some might be prior year deferrals.

 

[Fencer]

This is my last regular weekly report for the 2019 MD/PhD application cycle. This was an unusual cycle because the extra caution by programs associated with the new traffic rules. In the end, it only delayed a bit the domino effect of applicants choosing programs (changing chairs game). I hope that the weekly updates helped relieving the anxiety of some of applicants who eventually received their first MD/PhD acceptance a bit too late.

Here are the admissions actions up to Friday May 31 (sync overnight to today).... The big news is that we started the process of matriculation of MD/PhD students out of the accepted pool. The national MD/PhD class seems to be 682 students. A few more spots than in prior years, perhaps, as some programs are growing to compete for MSTP awards from NIH. In a few weeks, the overwhelming majority will start their studies. I still expect a few additional first-time MD/PhD acceptances but just in single digits before the end of the cycle.

	1-Jun	25-May	Change
Total Applicants	1767	1767	0
Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)	7	7	0
Rejected (Prelim Rj, Passive Withdrawal, RJ)	975	977	-2
Active in the cycle (not rejected)	785	783	2
At least 1 MD/PhD Acceptance (AC, DF, WA)	762	759	3
Defer to a later application cycle (DF)	14	14	0
Withdrawal After Acceptance (WA)	66	65	1
Matriculated (MA)	9	0	9
Currently Accepted for MD/PhD (AC)	673	680	-7
Seeking a position (NA, HO, RS, AL, IN)	23	24	-1

 

[looptheloop]

This is my last regular weekly report for the 2019 MD/PhD application cycle. This was an unusual cycle because the extra caution by programs associated with the new traffic rules. In the end, it only delayed a bit the domino effect of applicants choosing programs (changing chairs game). I hope that the weekly updates helped relieving the anxiety of some of applicants who eventually received their first MD/PhD acceptance a bit too late.

Here are the admissions actions up to Friday May 31 (sync overnight to today).... The big news is that we started the process of matriculation of MD/PhD students out of the accepted pool. The national MD/PhD class seems to be 682 students. A few more spots than in prior years, perhaps, as some programs are growing to compete for MSTP awards from NIH. In a few weeks, the overwhelming majority will start their studies. I still expect a few additional first-time MD/PhD acceptances but just in single digits before the end of the cycle.

	1-Jun	25-May	Change
Total Applicants	1767	1767	0
Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)	7	7	0
Rejected (Prelim Rj, Passive Withdrawal, RJ)	975	977	-2
Active in the cycle (not rejected)	785	783	2
At least 1 MD/PhD Acceptance (AC, DF, WA)	762	759	3
Defer to a later application cycle (DF)	14	14	0
Withdrawal After Acceptance (WA)	66	65	1
Matriculated (MA)	9	0	9
Currently Accepted for MD/PhD (AC)	673	680	-7
Seeking a position (NA, HO, RS, AL, IN)	23	24	-1

Fencer, thank you so much for your weekly updates throughout this application cycle! They were great to read, and having a more behind-the-scenes look really helped me to understand the process while going through it. Hard to believe the new cycle is now starting and that a bunch of us here will shortly begin our studies!

 

[Fencer]

This is an update for the past 2 weeks of admission actions on the 2019 cycle. There are a few additional people requesting deferrals or withdrawing (to MD only), and those spots are being replaced with people who have no MD/PhD acceptances (first time MD/PhD acceptance). Two of those actions were recorded yesterday. The apparent size of the first-year MD/PhD class enrolling in 2019 has barely changed (682 --> 683). The 6 people who withdrew (after AC) or deferred to later class were eventually replaced with 7 applicants who received their first acceptance. There are only 37 applicants who have been posted as matriculating students despite that 16 programs (including 6 MSTPs) have already had orientation as per our national spreadsheet (available to PDs/PAs).

	15-Jun	1-Jun	Change
Total Applicants	1767	1767	0
Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)	8	7	1
Rejected (Prelim Rj, Passive Withdrawal, RJ)	971	975	-4
Active in the cycle (not rejected)	788	785	3
At least 1 MD/PhD Acceptance (AC, DF, WA, MA, EM)	769	762	7
Defer to a later application cycle (DF)	17	14	3
Withdrawal After Acceptance (WA)	69	66	3
Matriculated (MA)	29	9	20
Early Matriculation (EM)	8	0	8
Currently Accepted for MD/PhD (AC)	646	673	-27
Seeking a position (NA, HO, RS, AL, IN)	19	23	-4

I heard a webinar from AMCAS indicating that despite all our collective angst due to lack of information, the 2019 admissions cycle seems to have followed historical standards. The caveat is the only data shown has been for MD acceptances and other admission actions. They need to show the MD/PhD data, which likely would be presented at our national AAMC MD/PhD section meeting.

 

[Fencer]

FYI.... on Friday, it was reported that another applicant received a first-MD/PhD acceptance and two were reported on Tuesday. As of last night, we have 772 applicants who received at least one MD/PhD acceptance and the national class looks about 685 first-year matriculants into MD/PhD programs.

 

[Seihai]

FYI.... on Friday, it was reported that another applicant received a first-MD/PhD acceptance and two were reported on Tuesday. As of last night, we have 772 applicants who received at least one MD/PhD acceptance and the national class looks about 685 first-year matriculants into MD/PhD programs.

Interesting. It looks like all the waitlist movement for MD/PhD has essentially come to a halt.

772/1767 = 43.7% acceptance for MD-PhD.

I'm curious - do you have numbers on how many people of those who weren't accepted might have received an MD acceptance instead? My understanding is that the number of MD-PhD applicants includes everyone who applied to at least one MD-PhD program, so I'm interested to see if the number of MD-PhD applicants is inflated by people who applied to both MD and MD-PhD and received an MD acceptance.

 

[Fencer]

All of these are MD/PhD acceptances. All 685 currently accepted or matriculated into MD/PhD programs. There are applicants who withdrew before (WB) or after (WA) a MD/PhD acceptance and took instead a MD acceptance in most cases. Some might have taken a PhD acceptance.

 

[Maebea]

Looking back on 15 years of data, 4% of those who declined our program ended up in MD-only programs, and 0.2% elected to do only a PhD or a DPhil. Admittedly, this is just one data point, but I would guess that other programs would have a similar story to tell.

 

[MSTPadvocate]

Looking back on 15 years of data, 4% of those who declined our program ended up in MD-only programs, and 0.2% elected to do only a PhD or a DPhil. Admittedly, this is just one data point, but I would guess that other programs would have a similar story to tell.

same.

 

[Fencer]

This is the final update for the cycle, as it has officially being closed and reported today as final.

	10/3/2019 (FINAL)	15-Jun	Change
Total Applicants	1789	1767	22
Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)	7	8	-1
Rejected (Prelim Rj, Passive Withdrawal, RJ)	979	971	8
Active in the cycle (not rejected)	803	788	15
At least 1 MD/PhD Acceptance (AC, DF, WA)	803	769	34
Defer to a later application cycle (DF)	22	17	5
Withdrawal After Acceptance (WA)	73	69	4
Matriculated (MA)	708	29	679
Early Matriculation (EM)	0	8	-8
Currently Accepted for MD/PhD (AC)	0	646	-646
Seeking a position (NA, HO, RS, AL, IN)	0	19	-19
Total MD/PhD class size	708	683	25

Notice that there were 22 new applicants to MD/PhD applicants after June 15. These are likely single-school applicants who were accepted in prior cycles, deferred to a later cycle, and finally reactivated their prior AMCAS application. Having said that, there were a total of 34 late MD/PhD acceptances for the first time in this cycle, meaning that at least 12 people were pulled out of waitlists after June 15. In the end, the effective MD/PhD class size only grew by 25 people to 708, as additional accepted applicants withdrew after acceptance (4) or deferred to a later year (5). This is the largest national MD/PhD class ever starting the program.

	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
Total Applicants	1789	1832	1824	1903	1856	1853	1891	1826	1779	1743
At least one MD/PhD Acceptance	803	791	778	785	749	776	763	764	773	741
Withdraw After AC (WA)	73	88	98	111	103	120	127	112	117	111
Rescinded Acceptance (RA)	0	2	2	2	1	1	3	0	3	4
Deferral to later class (DF)	22	29	32	23	22	29	25	22	20	25
Matriculated (MA)	708	672	646	649	623	626	608	630	633	601
Success to 1 Acceptance	45%	43%	43%	41%	40%	42%	40%	42%	43%	43%
Success to Matriculation	40%	37%	35%	34%	34%	34%	32%	35%	36%	34%

Our average MD/PhD matriculant had:

• MCAT - 516.13
• Science GPA - 3.77
• cGPA - 3.80