How much does GPA count during/after interview?

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Suppose an individual is invited for an interview, during and after the interview, will his/her GPA still play a role in the admissions process? In other words, does the GPA and MCAT score only help an applicant get an interview, after which the competitiveness of the applicant is judged solely on the performance of his/her interview?

Or do admission committees still place an emphasis on the GPA even after the interview?

Originally Posted by mariambaby3

Suppose an individual is invited for an interview, during and after the interview, will his/her GPA still play a role in the admissions process? In other words, does the GPA and MCAT score only help an applicant get an interview, after which the competitiveness of the applicant is judged solely on the performance of his/her interview?

Or do admission committees still place an emphasis on the GPA even after the interview?

Of course the GPA is used as a tie breaker between two equal applicants, but the way the interview goes matters substantially more at that point. Don't mess up the interview.

Only defensible answer: it depends on the school.

Originally Posted by gettheleadout

Only defensible answer: it depends on the school.

+1. There's simply no way to know how schools handle this without one of them explicitly stating it.

Originally Posted by mariambaby3

Suppose an individual is invited for an interview, during and after the interview, will his/her GPA still play a role in the admissions process? In other words, does the GPA and MCAT score only help an applicant get an interview, after which the competitiveness of the applicant is judged solely on the performance of his/her interview? (emphasis added)

It is unlikely the case that interview will solely decide the applicant

Originally Posted by mariambaby3

Or do admission committees still place an emphasis on the GPA even after the interview?

Many students lose the forest for the trees in worrying about each factor separately of their application instead of the overall pattern and how it fits together. Also, the process and dynamics of each school adcom will work differently.

Some will have each member of the committee read your application, then argue and rank for interview. Others will have a primary reader or two, who then presents your app to the whole committee (who are reading it at that meeting). Or another of a dozen different ways it will work

Carry this to interview. You wont get say a dozen people interviewing you but 2 or 3. They will write a summary and they may present your application at a adcom meeting, arguing with other members who are representing their interviewees. Others will simply read the interview reports and the whole app, then rank all of them (say 1 to 4 or 5 scale), kind of a match, then meet about and decide on the all the "1" and "2" candidate. And agian, another dozen ways that this could work

So picture this in your head, 6, to 12 members who have 200, 300, apps in the should accept pile with 100 seats open. Who knows what factors and points each will argue about. Well this student has a great story, that one had a higher GPA, this one was great at interview But see the MCAT was weak in PS. yeah but....

My point is the social dynamics will differ from school to school, from year to year even.

Getting worried about what may or may not impact your application is feeding FUD -- Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. It will serve only premed neurosis

Originally Posted by mariambaby3

Suppose an individual is invited for an interview, during and after the interview, will his/her GPA still play a role in the admissions process? In other words, does the GPA and MCAT score only help an applicant get an interview, after which the competitiveness of the applicant is judged solely on the performance of his/her interview?

Or do admission committees still place an emphasis on the GPA even after the interview?

Very school specific. Mayo, for example, disregards GPA and MCAT once you interview. Michigan, on the other hand, seems to minimize the importance of the interview somewhat: on my interview day the admissions director implied that giving the interview more importance than your multi-year record as described on AMCAS made little sense. It depends on each school's philosophy for choosing future students.

Originally Posted by gettheleadout

Only defensible answer: it depends on the school.

Originally Posted by Narmerguy

+1. There's simply no way to know how schools handle this without one of them explicitly stating it.

Originally Posted by gonnif

My point is the social dynamics will differ from school to school, from year to year even.

Originally Posted by NickNaylor

It depends on each school's philosophy for choosing future students.

All true.

In my experience most schools definitely look at GPA again when re-reviewing after the interview.

Again, it really depends. But I would imagine that it could be a deciding factor. People get interviews for all sorts of reasons and when it really comes down to two almost equally compelling applicants, GPA might start to factor in a bit.

Just do your best in GPA and you won't have to worry about this too much.