How We Helped a Reapplicant Get Off the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine Waitlist

We changed the details below to protect our client’s privacy. However, we didn’t alter the guidance, insights, and level of support he received.

Inspira Advantage helped Scott get accepted into SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University College of Medicine (COM), despite being a reapplicant. We paired him with one of our expert waitlist advisors who has years of experience helping applicants get off the waitlist.

Scott’s advisor was a former admissions officer at SUNY Downstate COM, and he earned an MD from the same school. With our matching system, we were confident that this was the perfect expert for the job.

By working with one of our experts, Scott got off the waitlist and into the matriculating student body at SUNY Downstate COM in just 10 days. 

Here’s exactly how we helped Scott get accepted:

Challenges Scott Faced

Scott wanted to get into at least one school, so he applied to a broad mix of schools. In total, Scott applied to 29 medical schools, but aside from SUNY Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine, Scott didn’t hear back from any other schools. Right before coming to us, he thought his chances of getting accepted this cycle were hopeless.

Scott’s biggest challenge was the fact that he was rejected from so many school and he didn’t think he’d make it off the waitlist. He had seen many friends and colleagues get accepted to their dream school, especially since he had already delayed his education by one year. This crushed his confidence, and he worried he might have to take another gap year.

Scott was also concerned about his writing. He wasn’t confident in the personal statement or secondary essays he submitted and was already preparing to reapply.

Once he got in touch with us and we learned he was still on the waitlist at SUNY Downstate COM, we paired him with an admissions expert who could turn his waitlist into an acceptance.

Here’s what Scott’s counselor said about his time working with him:

“I felt confident that Scott would get off the waitlist. I’m glad Scott’s Student Success Manager connected him with me, because I knew exactly what Scott needed to emphasize to stand out. He had an excellent story; he just needed to know the strategy I always tell applicants to use when they’re put on a waitlist.”

The 3 Steps We Took to Get Scott Off the SUNY Downstate COM Waitlist and Secure a Spot in the Class

Many applicants get put on the waitlist and wait to hear back from an admissions officer, but that’s a severely missed opportunity. A lot of applicants we work with don’t realize that you can take action when you’re on the waitlist to stand out and get accepted.

Scott’s counselor shared specific tips on how to get off a waitlist:

“When I hear that an applicant is on a waitlist, I like to tackle this challenge head-on. In Scott’s case, I knew that he needed to send a specific update letter, a letter of intent, and new letters of recommendation. If he wrote those effectively, that would be enough to move him up the waitlist and eventually get accepted. There are sometimes forces out of your control, but there are also many forces within your control when you’re on the waitlist.”

Getting off SUNY Downstate COM’s waitlist (they call it the alternate list) largely comes down to timing, responsiveness, and fit with the school. They start forming the alternate list in early April, and acceptances from the alternate list run from April through the summer as seats open.

Knowing Scott had the stats, story, and motivation to get off the waitlist, our admissions expert used his three-step waitlist plan to get Scott accepted.

Step 1: Helping Scott Write an Update Letter Specific to SUNY Downstate COM

Scott’s admissions expert knew that writing an update letter specific to SUNY Downstate COM would help him stand out. Together, they wrote an effective one-page update letter that introduced new, meaningful, post-interview developments to Scott’s application. This included:

• A strong terminal-semester grade boost in upper-level sciences
• A new Brooklyn-based clinical volunteer role at a community clinic serving medically underserved patients
• A poster presentation at a regional public health conference

Scott tied these new achievements directly to Downstate’s mission, emphasizing his experience helping diverse, underserved New York City communities and his commitment to practicing in New York after graduation. Scott sent the letter as a PDF to Downstate’s admissions email listed on their site, with his AMCAS ID in the subject line.

Here’s a look at what the letter had to say:

Step 2: Working with Scott to Write an Effective Letter of Intent That Confirmed SUNY Downstate COM Was His No. 1 Choice

Next, Scott’s admissions counselor helped him write a short, genuine letter of intent that left no doubt that SUNY Downstate COM was his first choice. It stated clearly that SUNY Downstate COM was Scott’s first-choice medical school, which mattered because the admissions committee tracks stated interest when accepting students from the waitlist.

The letter also confirmed that Scott would accept and respond immediately if they extended an offer. Including this in a letter of intent helps schools protect their yield rate, since otherwise they’d have no way of knowing whether you’d actually accept their offer.

Scott’s counselor also helped him reiterate his fit with Downstate’s focus on urban, public-hospital-based training. Scott was applying as an out-of-state student, so admissions officers needed to know he was committed to serving urban populations in New York.

Here’s what Scott’s letter of intent looked like:

Step 3: Helping Scott Update His Letters of Recommendation to Include One Faculty Recommendation

Scott’s admissions advisor helped him secure an updated letter of recommendation from a faculty member who knew Scott’s recent work well. In Scott’s case, this included a science professor who had seen his academic growth and a clinical supervisor from his new role at a Brooklyn clinic.

The letter highlighted Scott’s recent academic improvement, which he hadn’t included in his primary application. This gave admissions officers something new to read and learn about him, rather than repeating information they already had.

You can read an anonymized version of this letter of recommendation below:

In another recommendation letter from his clinical volunteering experience, we helped Scott emphasize transferable skills, such as clinical reliability, teamwork, and patient-centered care. Scott learned these skills in his recent experiences, and his admissions expert knew they would translate well to medical school.

Here’s an anonymized version of that second letter of recommendation:

Scott’s new recommendations also directly endorsed Scott as ready to thrive in a clinically-driven program like SUNY Downstate COM. This showed admissions officers that Scott was genuinely ready to study medicine at SUNY Downstate COM.

This new perspective gave the admissions committee a current, third-party validation of Scott’s readiness for medical school, which is especially important for an applicant being reconsidered months after the original application review.

Results

With a custom-built three-step waitlist plan, Scott moved from alternate-list candidate to accepted student. Each new piece of information explained why Scott would make a great medical student at SUNY Downstate COM and aligned with the school’s priorities. Scott went from initial waitlist placement to acceptance in just 10 days, thanks to our counselor's expert strategy.

By working with our admissions expert, Scott gained:

• A new perspective on how to make himself competitive, even if he was put on the waitlist
• New knowledge on exactly what to send to help him get off the waitlist
• New confidence that enabled him to gather and write all the important documents
• Admission to one of the top medical schools in New York

Without his expert’s plan and insider knowledge of how med school admissions committees review and assess waitlist candidates, Scott may not have gotten off the waitlist. Or worse, he might’ve had to delay his application by another year after not hearing back from any school at all. We have the nation’s largest team of former admissions officers, so we paired Scott with a former admissions officer at SUNY Downstate COM to ensure he got accepted.