interviews and acceptances at us meds

[Alastriss]

Ok I just wanted to post this here mainly because its been a recurrent theme on SDN

 

ON SDN many people were discussing how their low stats got them interviewed at certain schools in an argument concerning gpa vs mcat: which is more important. Often people replied with "Yes you were interviewed, but were you accepted?". I also was reading about how applying early will only increase your chances of getting more interviews, not necessarily advantageous in terms of increasing your chances of gaining an acceptance.

The point: it seems that the vibe i got was that American med schools may interview you even though they know that you probably have a slim-to-none chance of getting accepted..it doesn't make sense to me as to why a school would interview you knowing that they probably won't accept you...is there any truth to this?

[KennethToronto]

Because of their rolling admission system, I'm of the opinion that if you're a 'average' applicant, applying early can have a significant impact on your chances. That said, there's no substitute for a solid application - meaning well written AMCAS statement, great LORs and a good mix of ECs.

 

Regarding interviews - many of the US schools receive substantially more applications than Canadian ones. Out of these, they can logistically only interview a fraction (unless they start adopting "factory style" interviewing aka mmi). Consequently, it seems like a foolish waste of both the faculty's, student's, and applicant's time if the school did not feel the applicant was an "acceptable" candidate on paper.

[justletmein]

I disagree completely.

 

A school will not waste their time interviewing an applicant they believe has a "slim to none" chance of being accepted.

[toffeetree]

i agree...schools are definitely interested in the candidates that they invite for interviews.

 

about the gpa/mcat thing - i think there's more leeway in the states because different schools look for different things...and there are SO many schools. some schools LOVE high scores (washu, hopkins), while some schools look for certain personalities, special activities, letters, etc. almost all schools look for the big picture, and take into account many mitigating circumstances (that's why the US premedical committee letter is so important).