School of Medicine

Interviewed MD Applicants

Interviewed applicants are reviewed by our Admissions Committee on a monthly basis and will receive notification of the Committee's decision within the first two weeks of the following month.

The applicant will receive one of the following responses: Offer of Admission, Notification of Rejection or Notification of a Deferred Decision. Notification will be sent via email.

Applicants who have been notified of a deferred decision will continue to be reviewed by the Committee throughout the interview season and can be offered admission at any time subsequent to their Committee review. These applicants will be eligible to move to our wait list (see link below) which becomes active in the spring.

Interviewed applicants are encouraged to review Financial Aid Applications and Awards information prior to receiving notice of the Committee's decision.

Wait List FAQs

  • You could be admitted at any time after you have been placed on the Wait List until the entering class matriculates in late July. This includes the week preceding matriculation, and sometimes even on registration day itself. Once you register at any medical school, you are no longer eligible to be admitted to other schools.

  • The greatest factor affecting your chances is the number of withdrawals we will receive before our class matriculates at the end of July. Any number of individuals currently holding positions in our entering class may also be holding multiple wait list positions at other schools, and any number of those individuals may receive an offer from another school and withdraw from Tufts to accept it. We simply do not know how many withdrawals we will receive between now and matriculation, and hence we cannot give you any meaningful assessment of the likelihood of your admission to Tufts.

  • The number of applicants admitted from the wait list varies greatly from year to year. In some years, we have filled a significant number of seats in the entering class from the wait list; in other years, our class has remained full and we have had very little movement from the wait list.

  • We expect to enroll 200 people in the incoming first-year class. We do not disclose admission statistics while the season is still in progress.

  • After April 30th, applicants admitted to Tufts School of Medicine, who intend to matriculate here, should be holding only one acceptance with Tufts School of Medicine. In addition to the one acceptance, these applicants may hold an unlimited number of wait list positions until 21 days prior to matriculation, and are free to accept any offers which may be extended to them. This means that there should be a very limited number of withdraws (if any) in the 21 days leading up to matriculation. 

  • Yes. Candidates on the wait list of one or more schools are sometimes called upon to make important enrollment decisions quickly especially during the summer months. To make the best decision under pressure, you need to be prepared. We suggest the following steps:

    • Make a list that includes every school where you have been wait-listed and if you are currently holding an acceptance, include that school as well.
    • Make a list of the factors that are most important to you in choosing between or among schools.
    • Gather whatever information you need to compare the schools in terms of the factors that are important to you. If you intend to apply for financial aid, you should be sure your financial aid application is complete at every school on your list. (This is very important! Our Office of Financial Aid can generate an award letter very quickly for a recently admitted student, but only if they already have everything they need from you.
    • Rank-order your list of schools from most preferred to least preferred.

  • This is perhaps the most difficult issue faced by people holding one or more wait list positions but no acceptances. Some candidates in this position intend to apply to medical school for the following year if not admitted this year, and those candidates often begin the reapplication process in June or July. This is not uncommon.

    Other candidates consider employment opportunities or other academic programs. Such alternatives often require a commitment that precludes accepting a late summer medical school admission offer. You must decide how much risk you are willing to tolerate to remain available for a medical school offer, or at what point in time you feel it is in your best interest to withdraw from the wait list and make other commitments for the fall.

    You should not make a commitment for next year based on the assumption that you would be able to defer your matriculation if you are admitted from the wait list late in the summer. We very rarely grant deferrals after June.

  • After the class matriculates in late July, we will write to everyone who is still holding a wait list position and announce that we have concluded the admissions process for the incoming first-year class.

  • We do not rank our wait list. As people withdraw from our class, we monitor the demographic composition of the class (geographical distribution, representation of undergraduate institutions, etc.) and admit candidates from the wait list who would best balance the composition of the class. During the summer months, the Admissions Committee does not meet on a scheduled basis as it does during the academic year; rather, it meets on an ad-hoc basis, reviewing wait list applications as needed.

  • Letting us know that you remain interested and available is most helpful, especially after July 1. Sending an email message to med-admissions@tufts.edu is the most effective method of doing this. Be sure we know your current address, daytime and evening telephone numbers, and email address. We are happy to include in your file any new material you would like to send, such as spring semester transcripts or new letters of recommendation. However, it is not necessary for you to do this, and at this point in the process such material is unlikely to change the outcome of your application.