Do numbers still matter once you've been invited for an interview?

[DoctorInVivo]

I think this is an interesting question and one I would like to know. Do numbers still matter once you've been invited for an interview or is the final decision based on how well you interviewed? What are your thoughts?

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[GomersGoToGround]

It is school dependent, and many people would say that your numbers are only useful to decide whether you'd be extended an interview, and that being invited means that you've passed the "screen".

However, keep in mind that when (/if) a school does a holistic review of a candidate, everything is taken into account, and that includes scores (although the weight placed on them may be considerably less). That's not to say that a below-median MCAT is a death sentence; it's called holistic because your MCAT is not in a vacuum (although extremes certainly detract from your entire app). Thus, I think it'd be wrong to say that your MCAT becomes completely irrelevant, but again, it is school-dependent. That being said, most (probably all) schools that you interview at are okay with your MCAT, and would seriously consider you for admittance, or else they wouldn't have invited you to interview.

There are occasional horror stories (unverifiable without proof) of students having been rejected post-interview due to poor MCAT scores. I believe that more-often than not, this is due to schools receiving re-take scores after the interview, with the student showing no/little/negative improvement. More commonly, it's just being up against a tough group of applicants where the rest of your application doesn't go to bat for you as much as you need it to.

@Goro , @LizzyM , and @gyngyn could probably give you a more accurate answer, although they have discussed this in other (recent) threads that you can search for.

Edit: when I say MCAT, I really meant MCAT + GPA (numbers). I just forgot and wrote only MCAT, so replace "MCAT" with "numbers", because I'm too damn lazy to do it.

 

[sliceofbread136]

For the vast majority of schools the answer is yes.

 

[Instatewaiter]

I think this is an interesting question and one I would like to know. Do numbers still matter once you've been invited for an interview or is the final decision based on how well you interviewed? What are your thoughts?

Yes numbers still matter. You don't get a blank slate because the school decided to interview you. It is not a level playing field at the interview stage.

 

[famoussquamous]

Yes. Numbers can mean the difference between an acceptance or a wait-list spot. Plus some schools will basically take the top X people at any interview day and waitlist the rest while denying the bottom 3, barring those top applicants didn't have a substandard interview.

 

[caffeinemia]

for residency apps they sure as hell do. just my experience being on the other side of the decisions now.

 

[seminoma]

I think this is an interesting question

It's asked and answered every year (the answer is yes). Not that interesting.

 

[LizzyM]

You are new here so you may not have seen my analogy of the staircase. Your grades and scores (combined, if you will, with the formula GPA(10)+MCAT) along with your Experiences (ECs), essays and letters of recommendation (LOR) place you in one of many broad ranked categories. You can think of them as stairs on a wide staircase. (In other words, many of you can be on the same stair.) If a school selects you for interview, in all likelihood you are high enough on the stairs to be admitted or there is the potential that a good interview could boost you up enough to garner admission. That said, someone with a 4.0/40 and an amazing dossier of activities will start out on a higher stair and be more likely to be admitted if your interviews are about the same. Or, the other applicant could bomb the interview and move far down the staircase while you, with a great interview, move up. If a school looks at an applicant and says, "Even with a great interview, we couldn't possibly admit someone with an undergrad gpa of x.xx", then the school is doing you a disservice by inviting you to interview. If you get an interview, it should be a signal that you are "good enough" on paper and the next step is to determine if you are as good (or even better) in person.

 

[DoctorInVivo]

Thanks a lot @LizzyM! That's a really good way to put it. Sorry @seminoma, I'm still new to this and I thought it would be nice to start a fresh conversation.

 

[NickNaylor]

Yes, that matter. We regularly discuss this at our admissions committee meetings, though in most cases numbers add little to the benefit column. Things like interviewer comments, LORs, and activities are much more important.