Am I a bad interview or is admissions this rough?

[IntoTheNight]

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Had 3 T5 interviews (WL at Penn, CR—> R at NYU, R at H)

Interviewed at 5 other T20s; WL at 4; waiting to hear back from the other

4 other II at T50; WL all

Got one A to my low tier state school

Was I a horrible interviewer, considering I never got any outright rejections (except at H who doesn’t WL much? Or is that just sometimes the way it crumbles?


76 LizzyM, URM, okay ECs

 

[Frigidcold]

Could very well just be getting unlucky. There's a lot of luck in this process.

Like you're alluding to, I think horrible interviewers would be getting rejections instead of waitlists. Interviews are also just one piece of the puzzle.

Congrats on the A!

 

[EmbryonalCarcinoma]

How did you feel your interviews went? Do you think nerves may have negatively impacted your performance? Nobody here can tell you whether or not you interviewed poorly because we weren't there. It does sound like you have had some trouble turning interviews into acceptances and the interviews themselves may have played a role. But the important thing is that you will walk away from this cycle with at least one acceptance (you already have one). Congratulations! How you come across in interviews will be something to keep in mind and work to improve before it comes time to interview for residency positions.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

Congratulations on your acceptance! Not sure what the complaint is. Sounds like you did a good job interviewing.

 

[lacrossegirl420]

Sorry to hear about that, it could partially be your interviewing skills, but my feeling is the “okay EC’s” might have been more of a problem for the T5 schools

 

[LizzyM]

Are you familiar with my staircase analogy? You were high enough on the broad staircase to get in the door for an interview but after the interview, when only a subset of interviewed applicants can be offered admission, you were not high enough (yet) for an offer but not so far down the staircase that the school will cut you lose with a R. So you are in that middle group of waitlisted applicants who might be offered admission if too many of those higher on the staircase choose to withdraw and attend elsewhere.

The competition is fierce and being interviewed is not a guarantee of admission. To the contrary, at most schools, fewer than 50% of interviewed applicants are admitted and this might be most true at the T5 who are going to be conservative in making offers as their yield (proportion of offers that are accepted) tends to be high.

 

[IntoTheNight]

How did you feel your interviews went? Do you think nerves may have negatively impacted your performance? Nobody here can tell you whether or not you interviewed poorly because we weren't there. It does sound like you have had some trouble turning interviews into acceptances and the interviews themselves may have played a role. But the important thing is that you will walk away from this cycle with at least one acceptance (you already have one). Congratulations! How you come across in interviews will be something to keep in mind and work to improve before it comes time to interview for residency positions.

I mean I think interviews went generally well but A dean at one of the schools I interviewed at said perception vs reality of interviewees is poorly corrrlated so who knows. I will definitely get an interview practice for residency. Thanks!

 

[IntoTheNight]

Congratulations on your acceptance! Not sure what the complaint is. Sounds like you did a good job interviewing.

Not complaining! Just expected a bit different results

 

[IntoTheNight]

Sorry to hear about that, it could partially be your interviewing skills, but my feeling is the “okay EC’s” might have been more of a problem for the T5 schools

Gotcha, yea that’s what I was thinking. My clinical was around 150? and that’s the weakest part but I think I was mostly just missing out on a really significant EC like a pub, or great non profit.

 

[IntoTheNight]

Are you familiar with my staircase analogy? You were high enough on the broad staircase to get in the door for an interview but after the interview, when only a subset of interviewed applicants can be offered, admission, you were not high enough (yet) for an offer but not so far down the staircase that the school will cut you lose with a R. So you are in that middle group of waitlisted applicants who might be offered admission if too many of those higher on the staircase choose to withdraw and attend elsewhere.

The competition is fierce and being interviewed is not a guarantee of admission. To the contrary, at most schools, fewer than 50% of interviewed applicants are admitted and this might be most true at the T5 who are going to be conservative in making offers as their yield (proportion of offers that are accepted) tends to be high.

I am familiar with it. Only reason I ask is because I saw a comment here that talked about when applicants get multiple II to T5s, they usually get into one because their application is quite desirable.

In my head, I can see that I was just making the interview threshold for all the schools and that for any single one I didn’t move up into A territory. Just didn’t know how realistic that view was.

A bit strange to think that with all the II I got I wasn’t higher on the list but makes sense to me.

 

[deleted1135362]

I feel your pain. WL to all T5 and T15 schools I interviewed at.

 

[Goro]

I suspect that interview skills need sharpening

 

[a_distant_dream]

Always room to improve but I think it’s unfortunately quite plausible to be a good interviewer and not get accepted at T20s, whether due to the staircase analogy or the application not resonating with the particular interviewer / adcom (even if presented well). I worked at a Fortune 500 company for a while and their HR team reached out to me because they said my interviews were by far the most impressive of that year. Currently batting <20% on interview to acceptance conversion for medical schools (admittedly corporate interviewing is a whole different ball game but I did practice with several current med students).

 

[Angus Avagadro]

The interview is important. You should prepare for that just like the MCAT. When I interviewed I looked to see if you can connect with me, project warmth and provide original, unrehearsed answers. It is a talking exam/test so you must practice talking and getting the words out. It's amazing how awkward it is the first few times. Find a faculty person to help give you practice interviews. Good luck and best wishes

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I don't see the OP's WAMC.

Deliberations are particularly tricky. You could actually be a good interview and still not measure up to everyone else in the pool. I don't think there really are that many schools that make a final decision based solely on interview scores, and we should stop believing this is how holistic review works.

The goal is to show you can keep up with the median student in the class based on historical performance of how previous students did. You need to show you are consistently good, give or take a minor mistake.

 

[EArlyBirdGetsTheWorm]

I’ve had 5 interviews so far. The first two were Acceptances. Out of those two, I thought I did amazing in one of them and the other not so much. My last three interviews I thought I did well in two of them and the other one not so much. I got WL on all 3 of them. I suspect that it was because the schools were region biased and even though I was in state for them, I am not from there originally.

The point of this, is that we do not know how we perform in interviews and they are not the ultimate decider.