No acceptances for the holidays...do you all feel me on this?

[evescadeceus]

Anybody out there going to be driving long distances the family soon, with no idea what to say to them when they ask THE QUESTION. The only thing I can think of to say is, "Well, it takes a very long time to hear back from these places. Hopefully I'll know by June." (My folks have no idea how many waitlists i'm on, and I don't even want to get into it with them.)

I'm not good at finesse when I'm depressed. SDNers, help me sweet talk...

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[XCanadianRagwee]

It's easy to answer. Tell them:

"As soon as I sleep with the Dean of Admissions, I'm in!"

 

[evescadeceus]

Nice, ragweed. Any others?

 

[StrngoutAS]

Just tell them it's a long process and the majority of schools dont' offer most of their decisions until March or April. It's true for many schools at least...

 

[avhart]

Why not just be honest with them? Are they high-pressure parents? All of my med school mail goes to my parents' house and when my cell phone rings with "Home" I get excited because it means my mom might have opened my mail with more news! I think they like being involved and having a role in the process, too.

 

[Street Philosopher]

my first acceptance was 1/8. it would have been nice to have an acceptance for the holidays (esp. since I was visiting relatives in korea who hadn't seen me in 17 years), but whatever, it worked out... sorta.

 

[bullsI]

My advice: sweet talk yourself first, as it sounds you're more ashamed of your situation than they will be. If you aren't stressing about waitlists, how can they stress you out over it?

 

[Megalofyia]

At least you are on waitlists at this moment. There are MANY MANY people who don't even have interviews at this point.

 

[Mistress S]

Well first off, I'd say to cheer up! I'm sure it's hard, but if you're on a lot of waitlists the chances that you'll be accepted are very good, and as someone else said many applicants right now haven't even had interviews yet and would be happy to be in your shoes. As far as your family goes, I'm not in your position yet (applying next year), but I think in situations like this in general it's best to focus on the positive. So when relatives ask you if you've gotten in yet, talk about all the great interviews you've had, and if they press say that you're being considered for admission at several schools as they are still conducting interviews and that they typically notify students in late winter or spring about acceptances. Obviously it would be best if you could talk about your acceptance over the holidays, but timing is rarely perfect in life and that doesn't mean you shouldn't be proud of what you've accomplished so far. Unless your relatives have ridiculously high expectations, I'm sure they will be proud of you too! Good luck.

 

[MacTavish]

This is a fun story to tell...When I applied to medical school, I interviewed on the Monday after Thanksgiving and was told that I should hear something by mid-December, but definitely before the holidays. So I waited...and heard nothing.

Anyway, I go home for the Christmas holidays to my parents house still not knowing. I called the admissions office around the 20th of Dec. to ask if they had any word, but of course no one was in the office that close to Christmas day. So Christmas eve rolls around (still no word) and we are all busy visiting the grandparents and what not, and I go to bed that night at my parents house. I get woken up by my father Christmas morning (not an unusual thing, since I liked to sleep late, but everyone else seemed to want to wake early on Christmas) and he is just grinning this unusually sheepish grin. "We were so busy yesterday we forgot to check the mail," he says; then I realize that he is holding in his hand a large white envelope from the school. I found out that I had been accepted to medical school on Christmas morning!!

True Story...

 

[twinklz]

Wow! Thats a great story! What could be a better Christmas gift (unless its an acceptance with all expenses paid)

If you're on that many waitlists, I'm sure you'll get in. So as other folks have said, just tell that you haven't heard back from these schools (sometimes its so hard to break that sort of stuff to family, I called my folks with news of an acceptance and a rejection, and they still felt like they had to make me feel better about the rejection!)

Best thing to do in my humble opinion is to pawn off the questions on someone else. Brothers? Sisters? Cousins? It doesn't have to be about medical school. What about college? Picking a major? Job? Significant other?

Maybe not the most Christmasy of things to do, but it gets you off the hot spot :-D