4 interview invites...chances?

[AnoeaSarei]

it's late in the season, and I've gotten 4 interview invites. not expecting much more. what's weird is that I haven't heard from/have been rejected from a lot of my "safety" schools. However, I've received interview invites at Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, and Wash U. I'm really scared because these schools are all stretches for me and I don't know if I have much of a chance at an acceptance. I'm terrified that I will not get in anywhere this year.

Anyway, here are my stats:

cGPA: 3.96
MCAT: 39M

President of 3 clubs, research for 2 years (am currently "leader" of my research group), 2 years of hospital volunteering, and 40 hours of shadowing. I am very interested in public health and my ECs sort of back that up - I wrote about this interest in my essays.

Currently, I am 17 (I entered college early). that may be a pretty big negative at some schools (could that be partly why I was rejected from schools I thought I had a pretty good chance at?). Honestly, compared to the other applicants, I haven't had much time to be away from home and gain life experience. I've never held a real job and have never had to support myself. Also, I submitted a lot of my secondary apps very late (mid october-mid november).

how much does the interview matter in the application process? What are my chances? any interview tips?

thanks to all who reply to this post. I'm freaking out and I really appreciate it.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[flodhi1]

it's late in the season, and I've gotten 4 interview invites. not expecting much more. what's weird is that I haven't heard from/have been rejected from a lot of my "safety" schools. However, I've received interview invites at Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, and Wash U. I'm really scared because these schools are all stretches for me and I don't know if I have much of a chance at an acceptance. I'm terrified that I will not get in anywhere this year.

Anyway, here are my stats:

cGPA: 3.96
MCAT: 39M

President of 3 clubs, research for 2 years (am currently "leader" of my research group), 2 years of hospital volunteering, and 40 hours of shadowing. I am very interested in public health and my ECs sort of back that up - I wrote about this interest in my essays.

Currently, I am 17 (I entered college early). that may be a pretty big negative at some schools (could that be partly why I was rejected from schools I thought I had a pretty good chance at?). Honestly, compared to the other applicants, I haven't had much time to be away from home and gain life experience. I've never held a real job and have never had to support myself. Also, I submitted a lot of my secondary apps very late (mid october-mid november).

how much does the interview matter in the application process? What are my chances? any interview tips?

thanks to all who reply to this post. I'm freaking out and I really appreciate it.

Congratulation on your 4 interviews. It's impossible for anyone to really tell you what your chances are at those specific schools because there are so many factors to consider and only the specific school can do that. Either way in my opinion you have a very good chance of getting accepted as long as you're able to prove to the schools during your interview that you're a "mature teenager" and highly committed to the cause. The only major weakness in your application that might be addressed to you during interview date is the minimal shadowing. Your best bet to do well for the interviews is to review questions from the studentdoc interview feedback.
EDIT:- Stand at front of the mirror mock interviews and grab some random professor or doctor preferably and have them ask you questions. The key is to build an intuition towards interview questions and to portray genuine answers that don't seem memorized and regurgitated.

http://studentdoctor.net/schools/?view=allopathic

As mentioned before I can't stress how important it is to answer questions genuinely and try not to memorize them. The key is to be exposed to the questions so you're not caught off guard. Read through your primary application and secondaries. Try to analyze everything and pull out your weaknesses, find a decent answer to address such weaknesses because most likely you will be asked. Make sure to dress properly with a suit, smile, roll your shoulders back and be confident come interview day. You should be fine and good luck!