The Waitlist

Much to her chagrin, my mother had to give me the bad news. I was driving down to Atlanta on the day Duke sent out their waitlist/rejection emails. Personally, I think this is a particularly cruel way to let prospective students down: for a week after decisions were supposed to come out, I had a mini acute MI every time I saw "INBOX (1)" on my gmail. Obviously I was hoping for a letter. But as I drove down to the ATL, mom was checking my email (damn I need a blackberry) and studentdoctor.net for the latest on the message boards (my hate for this website and the people on it is unparalleled, and perhaps I will have time to rant later on why these forums are complete crap).

Long story short, after much agonizing, I have been waitlisted at Duke. It is both an honor and a disappointment. I am honored to be one of the top students considered by one of the top institutions in the country, but of course I was hoping for a fat envelop in my mailbox. So now through the end of May I get to play the waitlist game. I will try to show Duke how badly I want to go there (and I want to go there very badly), without becoming annoying to the committee. This can be a very fine line. This past Monday I emailed the director and associate director of admissions to make sure I was on the radar, and since then I've been trying to pull in every contact I know. As long as I'm not the one emailing the committee every day, I think I'm okay. But if others put in a good word for me and badger them...

After hearing the news I really wasn't too miffed. To be honest, I am so excited to already have been accepted by UNC and Emory, so there really was no pressure on my Duke interview or their decision. Any acceptance I get from them would be a huge bonus; it's not the end of the world. I'm excited for my "Second Look Day" at UNC, and one in April for Emory. I can't wait to meet my (potential) fellow classmates, and those who will be my peers in the years to come. But this process with Duke will give me good experience, as I probably will be going through the same type of thing four (maybe five?) years from now for residency matching.

In the meantime, I meet with Dr. Bashford at UNC next week to ask some questions, try to find some money, and see if UNC and Duke could do a MD/MPP partnership for me. That way I get my MD from Carolina, and my MPP at Duke. They have so many partnerships, why not try this one? I'll be the pioneer.

I also got rejected from Harvard today... oh well! I'll keep that letter.