The Interview: What Does It Mean?

[mechtel]

Hello All,

I am very fortunate at this point to have received 4 interview invites and am still waiting to hear from most schools.

I was wondering broadly how the interview fit into the scheme of things. Specifically, do interview invitees have a clean slate coming into interview and everything rests on a usually casual conversation with a faculty member? Or, does the faculty member fill out a survey after the interview and this is used as one piece but not the only piece of information in making final decisions. If the latter, I'm sure it varies from school to school, but how much weight does his or her input carry?

Who is this faculty member? Are they members of the adcom or have they volunteered their time? Do they participate directly in final discussions or is their input read by the "real" adcom? Who is on the adcom for that matter? I apologize for my cluelessness in these matters, but they are never clearly articulated by schools during the process.

How are acceptace decision made? Are there a certain number of slots for each interview batch or is it more of a rolling process where strong intervieews are decided on (and notified after 10/15) until the school one day realizes they have no more spots?

Lastly, what explains the drastic difference between interview to acceptance ratios between schools. Looking at US News, Harvard takes 1/5 of those they interview, but other schools take over 50%. I've been told by some medical students that as long as I'm normal and can have a decent conversation, the school has already decided at the point they offer an interview that they want me. But, if some schools take 1 in 5 of those they interview, this clearly can't be the case?

I apologize for all these questions, but I would appreciate any input into any one of them. Thank you very much for any insights into this process.

All my best!

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[SouthernSurgeon]

First, a disclaimer: The answers to all these questions will vary school to school, but I'll give it a shot

I was wondering broadly how the interview fit into the scheme of things. Specifically, do interview invitees have a clean slate coming into interview and everything rests on a usually casual conversation with a faculty member?

At some schools yes, but at most the interivew is one facet of the application

Or, does the faculty member fill out a survey after the interview and this is used as one piece but not the only piece of information in making final decisions. If the latter, I'm sure it varies from school to school, but how much weight does his or her input carry?

There is usually some form to evaluate you after the interview (you won't get to see it). There is little way to know how much input it has.

Who is this faculty member? Are they members of the adcom or have they volunteered their time?

Yes and yes. Most faculty don't get paid to be on the admissions committee, they do it because they want to.

Do they participate directly in final discussions or is their input read by the "real" adcom?

Sometimes they participate in the discussion; others their input is just read to the rest of the committee. Varies by school, and of course by availability (not every interviewer can make it to every review meeting)

Who is on the adcom for that matter?

The dean of admissions, associate dean (if there is one), usually other deans (dean for students, dean for education, etc), a collection of faculty who volunteer their time, and at some schools a few student representatives

How are acceptace decision made? Are there a certain number of slots for each interview batch or is it more of a rolling process where strong intervieews are decided on (and notified after 10/15) until the school one day realizes they have no more spots?

This varies so wildly from school to school that there is no way to answer it. It is also not something schools typically share.

Lastly, what explains the drastic difference between interview to acceptance ratios between schools. Looking at US News, Harvard takes 1/5 of those they interview, but other schools take over 50%. I've been told by some medical students that as long as I'm normal and can have a decent conversation, the school has already decided at the point they offer an interview that they want me. But, if some schools take 1 in 5 of those they interview, this clearly can't be the case?

Some of that is a factor of the school - Harvard gets to be more selective. Some of that is a factor of the # of students they interview - some schools make it very selective to get to the interview stage and then take a good number of those they interview; others will cast a wide net and interview a large number, then make their selection from that big pool.

 

[snwbrdr18]

Hello All,

I am very fortunate at this point to have received 4 interview invites and am still waiting to hear from most schools.

I was wondering broadly how the interview fit into the scheme of things. Specifically, do interview invitees have a clean slate coming into interview and everything rests on a usually casual conversation with a faculty member? Or, does the faculty member fill out a survey after the interview and this is used as one piece but not the only piece of information in making final decisions. If the latter, I'm sure it varies from school to school, but how much weight does his or her input carry?

Who is this faculty member? Are they members of the adcom or have they volunteered their time? Do they participate directly in final discussions or is their input read by the "real" adcom? Who is on the adcom for that matter? I apologize for my cluelessness in these matters, but they are never clearly articulated by schools during the process.

How are acceptace decision made? Are there a certain number of slots for each interview batch or is it more of a rolling process where strong intervieews are decided on (and notified after 10/15) until the school one day realizes they have no more spots?

Lastly, what explains the drastic difference between interview to acceptance ratios between schools. Looking at US News, Harvard takes 1/5 of those they interview, but other schools take over 50%. I've been told by some medical students that as long as I'm normal and can have a decent conversation, the school has already decided at the point they offer an interview that they want me. But, if some schools take 1 in 5 of those they interview, this clearly can't be the case?

I apologize for all these questions, but I would appreciate any input into any one of them. Thank you very much for any insights into this process.

All my best!

Buy this book: "How to get into med school by someone that has actually done it"

It has an excellent section that lets you know how interviews work. As im writing this, i just realized you posted this question awhile ago. You're probably already done with the interviews. How did they go? Any advice?

 

[Naijaba]

Hi mecthel,

Schools that take > 50% of interviewees are the exception rather than the rule. I don't know where you're looking to be accepted, but here is some data for the top research schools [interview/acceptance ratios from 2008 US News data]:

JHU: 35%
UPenn: 26%
WashUSL: 30%
UCSF: 51%

UCSF screens its secondaries, so that may account for the discrepancy [although I don't know if those other schools do; Harvard doesn't.]

Either way the interview is very important. The first thing you should ask yourself is: "Have I ever been asked by an admissions officer why I want to go to medicine?" You may be inclined to say "Well, no; I haven't interviewed yet!" But, think about it; has a doctor ever asked you why medicine? I was given this question by a former MD/PhD admissions officer yesterday at an NIH poster session. Now I'm a very well spoken individual, but her question threw me off guard. I managed to give a reasonable answer, but it didn't come off smooth.

 

[mechtel]

hi snwbrdr18, i posted this question just a few minutes ago so am interviewing starting in late august.

So, from what I gather so far, the faculty member (and possibly student interviewer) are members of the admissions committee? Their responsibilities are obviously shared between teaching, research, patients, etc. so hence the need for a full time dean of admissions. But the person or persons will surely be members of the admissions committee and could be there for teh final decision?

 

[Mattabet]

At the places I interviewed at (or the two I remember explaining it, anyway), it was all but guaranteed that the person you interviewed with would be there when the decision was made (and if not one of them, someone with whom they discuss the interview in detail). Now, schools vary, and could do it differently, but there's a pretty good chance that the person you interview with will be there (and directly consulted) when the final decision is made.

 

[TopSecret]

In general, if you have an interview invitation, they deem you academically qualified (have the right numbers), but you'll have to impress them with your interpersonal skills to make the final cut. This is where a lot of academic whiz kids tend to fail.

 

[ygree001]

At the places I interviewed at (or the two I remember explaining it, anyway), it was all but guaranteed that the person you interviewed with would be there when the decision was made (and if not one of them, someone with whom they discuss the interview in detail). Now, schools vary, and could do it differently, but there's a pretty good chance that the person you interview with will be there (and directly consulted) when the final decision is made.

At several places I interviewed this was not the case. Many of the interviewers are faculty, students, or physicians who don't even teach. They just submitted evals/comments to the adcom.


OP, with four invites this early you are in pretty good shape as long as you can come across as a normal person in the interview.
It varies from school to school, but often if they invited you for an interview they want you as long as you make a decent impression.

 

[TopSecret]

At several places I interviewed this was not the case. Many of the interviewers are faculty, students, or physicians who don't even teach. They just submitted evals/comments to the adcom.


OP, with four invites this early you are in pretty good shape as long as you can come across as a normal person in the interview.
It varies from school to school, but often if they invited you for an interview they want you as long as you make a decent impression.

For the most part. You just have to remember that doctor's time is valuable. It's at least $200 per hour so that's how much they're spending on you for the interviews.

 

[mechtel]

Thank you all very much for your feedback.

There seems to be a diversity of opinion on some of these topics. I imagine it's because schools vary widely in procedures. Does anyone else have any insight about the role of the interview and interviewer?