Another "chances after interview" thread

[Dr_Dan_the_man]

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OK so here's my question:

the general consensus around here seems to be that ~1/3 of OOS and ~2/3 of IS interviewees will be accepted (depending on the school of course)

My question is... with rolling admissions there is obviously an advantage to applying earlier as you are competing for more spots. But do you really have a better chance?

For example, if the school interviews 100 people a month from october - march, so that is 600 people for a class of 150 (im pulling these #'s out of my a** by the way)
---> When the adcom meets every month (for instance), are they looking to fill a certain percentage of the class (i.e. admit ~25 people per month so that they fill it evenly) or do they accept more people in earlier months ?

Sorry if my post is confusing, if anyone has any insight specifically those who have been on admissions committees I would appreciate it 🙂

 

[armybound]

most early interviews are those who the school feels are the best candidates, so you probably do have the best chance at admission since they want you to go there.

but who knows, you'd have to ask an adcomm.

 

[premeddick]

OK so here's my question:

the general consensus around here seems to be that ~1/3 of OOS and ~2/3 of IS interviewees will be accepted (depending on the school of course)

My question is... with rolling admissions there is obviously an advantage to applying earlier as you are competing for more spots. But do you really have a better chance?

For example, if the school interviews 100 people a month from october - march, so that is 600 people for a class of 150 (im pulling these #'s out of my a** by the way)
---> When the adcom meets every month (for instance), are they looking to fill a certain percentage of the class (i.e. admit ~25 people per month so that they fill it evenly) or do they accept more people in earlier months ?

Sorry if my post is confusing, if anyone has any insight specifically those who have been on admissions committees I would appreciate it 🙂

Before October 15th adcomms have 600 seats available to fill. As they start filling and the season gets futher along, they have fewer and fewer seats available. It seems to me that if you are going to accept a less qualified candidate you are going to do it when there are more seats available. You are going to want to fill those last seats with the best candidates possible not with someone with lesser stats.

 

[go lakers]

cousin was on adcom at a chicago school. he said by the end of the cycle, the same things that impressed them before would become not as exciting anymore.

so maybe part of applying early is just the psychology of the people on the other side of the process?

 

[drizzt3117]

Yeah, at the beginning they're looking for "acceptable" students, but at the end you have to be not only acceptable but better than the people that are on hold as well.

 

[Law2Doc]

cousin was on adcom at a chicago school. he said by the end of the cycle, the same things that impressed them before would become not as exciting anymore.

so maybe part of applying early is just the psychology of the people on the other side of the process?

Agree with this. Bear in mind that stats have been going up each year. So if you apply really early, you are basically competing with notions of what was good enough to merit an interview in the previous year. Once more data is in, a particular school may realize that instead of an applicant pool full of 3.5/30 types applying to their school, this year it is really full of 3.7/32 types. They may also realize that the 1000 early applications they got are, in fact, not representative of the other 9000 applications they ultimately get. So they adjust their interview offers appropriately. Thus if your application is okay but not amazing, you may get a better reception earlier than later.

 

[medguy83]

I know that some schools typically fill up their class before Jan/Feb via rolling admissions; with many applicants being left on a wait list. I guess the consensus is that a certain percentage of accepted students may decide to go elsewhere. Heck, even the wait lists for many schools are ranked. However, I'm almost certain that most schools reserve a few spots open even until march, or so I've heard. Typically, your chances are approx. 30% after the interview. Which goes to show that the game's not yet over once you reach interview status.

 

[Law2Doc]

However, I'm almost certain that most schools reserve a few spots open even until march, or so I've heard.

I know a couple of people who got into med schools directly (and not off waitlist) very late in the process (early spring, long after folks on SDN were already posting about only interviewing for waitlist spots). But these were extremely well qualified people. For an exceptional applicant, schools may make exceptions. But if you aren't at that extreme, don't play this game -- get your application in in June.