If you’re waitlisted for med school, work in this order: confirm your spot if the school asks, read its waitlist policy, update your contact details, send one substantive update through the channel it names, and keep any acceptance you already hold. Choose one school for a letter of intent before mid-April. Then stay reachable, because most MD offers come after April 30.
Being on a med school waitlist is not the end of the world. Many schools keep waitlists because they receive more qualified applicants than they have seats. When you’re on the waitlist, the school has already decided you are qualified, but you’re not out of the woods yet. This page is the practical checklist: what to do first, what to do next, and what to do while you wait, step by step. For background on how waitlists are ranked and how many people come off them, see our guide to how the medical school waitlist works.
There are some steps you still need to take to receive that coveted acceptance letter. Let’s go through practical methods for how to get off a waitlist, in the order you should use them.
Understanding the Waitlist Process
Many people aspire to attend medical school. In the US, 52,577 applicants applied for the 2023-2024 academic year, and 54,699 applied in the 2025 cycle, according to AAMC data. Some are accepted, others rejected, and a few are stuck in between: waitlisted.
The number of waitlisted applicants varies by school. Some may waitlist only dozens, while others have a few hundred. Timeframes for decisions also vary. For instance, one school may offer spots on a rolling basis as they become available. Another school might have a set date to notify its waitlisted applicants. Offers often come around May and June, which gives those who enroll in August time to prepare.
Admissions committees typically weigh a few factors when pulling applicants off the med school waitlist. Sometimes they’ll focus on your additional achievements or your demonstrated interest in their school. Others rely only on the committee’s original review. When you understand how the waitlist process at your chosen med school works, you’ll know which of the steps below matter most for that school.
Exploring Strategies for Success: Your Step-by-Step Plan
Step 1: In the First 48 Hours, Read the Fine Print
Start with the waitlist notice itself. Some schools ask you to confirm that you want to stay on the list by a deadline. Do that first. Then read the school’s waitlist policy. The AAMC’s advice from admissions officers says each school’s policies appear in its waitlist notification and in the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School tool, and are also visible in its MSAR profile. Look for four things: whether the school accepts updates, how it wants them sent, whether it accepts letters of intent, and when it expects to make decisions.
Next, check your contact information in every application service and school portal. Admissions officers warn that schools may move to the next candidate if they cannot reach you. If you plan to travel for a long stretch, the AAMC’s applicant protocols suggest naming a responsible person who can act on your application and telling each school who that person is.
Step 2: Within Two Weeks, Reaffirm Your Interest
The first thing you can send is a short note of continued interest. If the school is your clear first choice, this can later become a letter of intent (LOI). An LOI is your chance to tell the admissions committee why you want to study at its school and that you will attend if admitted. Avoid restating what’s already on your application. Add something new, like your reaffirmation of interest and commitment to your goals. Visit the school’s website to check for any preferred format so the admissions committee will consider your LOI.
Even if your chosen school doesn’t request an LOI, it can pay to reach out, as long as the school’s policy allows it. A simple email expressing your continued interest can go a long way. Keep it to a few short paragraphs, and send it to the address or portal the school names.
Step 3: Demonstrate Continued Growth
Volunteered at your local clinic? Won notable awards or a scholarship? Don’t take them for granted. They could strengthen your file and help you get off the med school waitlist. For example, research-focused med schools may give extra weight to additional scholarly achievements, such as publishing a research paper.
Focus on achievements that show your dedication to medicine, and send updates that highlight your growth as a future medical student. Review the school’s guidelines so you update the admissions committee correctly. If a school requires a secure portal, the AAMC advises not to email updates instead. Our guide to the medical school update letter shows what to include and how long to make it.
Step 4: Stay Engaged
Just because you haven’t been accepted or rejected yet doesn’t mean you should drop off the school’s radar. Some schools offer virtual events or information sessions for waitlisted applicants. Attending them can show your continued, genuine interest and help you learn more about the program.
After the event, follow up with a brief thank-you email mentioning something specific you found interesting. Keep in touch with the admissions office only as often as its policy invites. The AAMC notes that some schools view contact outside a formal process as unwelcome, so avoid being intrusive, which could hurt your chances.
Step 5: Before Mid-April, Make Your Big Decisions
Early spring is when the calendar starts to matter. For MD schools, the AAMC’s Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants ask applicants with multiple acceptances to narrow to no more than three schools on or before April 15 and to choose one school on or before April 30. Use the weeks before those dates to do three things:
- Pick your one letter of intent school. Send it in late March or early April, if the school accepts letters.
- Rank your acceptances and waitlists. Know which acceptance you would keep and which waitlist offer would make you leave it. Our guide to choosing between an acceptance and a waitlist offer walks through that choice.
- Know the DO dates if they apply to you. DO colleges follow the AACOMAS Traffic Guidelines, not the AAMC protocols. Our MD and DO waitlist strategy guide compares the two calendars.
Step 6: From May Through August, Stay Reachable
Once April 30 passes, offers can arrive with little warning. The AAMC’s protocols for admission officers give applicants at least five business days to respond to an MD offer after April 30, and schools may shorten that to two business days within 30 days of orientation. Check email, spam, and voicemail every day. If you are holding an acceptance in the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School tool, keep it as “Plan to Enroll” if you still want waitlist offers. Choosing “Commit to Enroll” withdraws your waitlist positions.
If an offer comes, answer within the deadline. Admissions officers say schools sometimes allow a day or two of extra time, but if you can’t meet a deadline, contact the office promptly and professionally. If you accept a new offer, notify the school you are leaving right away and follow its withdrawal process.
Step 7: Set a Personal Cutoff Date
Waiting indefinitely is hard on your plans and your health. Pick a date, such as July 1 or the first day of orientation at your waitlist school, after which you will commit fully to your backup plan. Write it down. If the school calls after that date, you can still decide, but you won’t have put your whole year on hold.
A Sample Waitlist Calendar for This Cycle
Here is how the steps above line up with the dates that apply to MD applicants starting medical school in 2027. For the full Plan to Enroll and Commit to Enroll rules, see the AAMC’s Choose Your Medical School tool page.
- Winter, when the decision arrives: Steps 1 and 2. Confirm, read the policy, update contact details, send a short note of interest.
- February 19, 2027: Applicants with at least one acceptance can select “Plan to Enroll” in the Choose Your Medical School tool.
- March to early April: Steps 3 and 5. Send your one substantive update and your one letter of intent.
- April 15, 2027: Applicants holding multiple acceptances narrow to no more than three.
- April 30, 2027: Applicants choose one school. “Commit to Enroll” becomes available. Many schools begin working through their waitlists.
- May through August: Steps 6 and 7. Stay reachable, answer offers within the deadline, and use your cutoff date.
Keeping Your Options Open
While it helps to stay hopeful, it’s often wiser to keep your mind and your options open. The med school waitlist process can be unpredictable. So, remember the other schools you’ve applied to. Some may have already accepted you or taken you off their waitlist early. Stay in touch with these schools and consider them if you don’t get into your first choice. Hold any acceptance you have until you are sure you will not need it.
If luck isn’t on your side at any of your schools, don’t give up. Use the experience as a learning opportunity to improve your application for the next cycle. Try to figure out what held you back. For example, it could be a lack of clinical experience or an MCAT score below a school’s range. Our article on why applicants get rejected from medical school covers the most common gaps. Make good use of your waiting time by volunteering or preparing for an MCAT retake if your score is holding you back. For context, the mean MCAT score for 2025 matriculants was 512.1, according to AAMC News. If you do reapply, our guide to reapplying to medical school shows how to present your growth.
Where Clinical Hours Fit
If you need fresh experience to report in an update, or for a reapplication, our clinical internships for pre-med students give you supervised direct patient care hours, where you observe, help with triage and scribe. Interns never diagnose, prescribe or perform procedures. Choose any experience because it builds real skills and gives you something true to write about, not because it promises an admission result.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do first after being waitlisted for medical school?
Confirm your spot if the school asks you to, then read its waitlist policy in the notification or its MSAR profile. Update your contact information everywhere. Only then send a short note of continued interest through the channel the school names.
How many updates should I send while waitlisted?
Usually one substantive update and, for your top choice only, one letter of intent. Send more only if something significant changes and the school’s policy invites it.
Should I accept another school’s offer while I am waitlisted?
Yes. Hold your acceptance. For MD schools, selecting “Plan to Enroll” in the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School tool after April 30 lets you keep one acceptance and stay on waitlists. Selecting “Commit to Enroll” withdraws your waitlist positions.
How fast do I have to answer a waitlist offer?
For MD schools after April 30, AAMC protocols give at least five business days, and schools can shorten that to two business days within 30 days of orientation. DO colleges may ask for an immediate deposit from applicants accepted on or after May 1.
When should I send a letter of intent if I am waitlisted?
Send it only to your clear first choice, and only if you would enroll if admitted. Aim to send it before mid-April: the AAMC asks applicants with multiple acceptances to narrow to no more than three schools by April 15 and to choose one by April 30, and many schools review their waitlists around those dates. Our guide to letters of intent and letters of interest explains what to write.
Final Thoughts
When you receive a waitlist letter from your dream med school, don’t be discouraged. It’s a sign that you’re still in the running for an acceptance. But you need to take some extra steps to get there.
Stay hopeful and productive while you wait. Follow the steps in order, write a sincere LOI for one school, gain more relevant experience, and be open to other med schools, locally or abroad. Reaching out to your advisers or medical school admissions counselors for more detailed strategies also helps. People who’ve been through the process and now have thriving careers may also offer valuable medical school waitlist advice.
When you have a clear plan for how to get off a waitlist, you’ll be more at ease and focused on the work. Soon, you could get that acceptance letter too.
See more of our guides in your Google results: add International Medical Aid as a preferred source on Google.
