at the interview stage, is everyone really on an equal footing?

[dingleberry007]

I keep hearing people say

"if you get to the interview, then you've passed the academic aspect of your application and from here on out you're on an equal footing with the other applicants".

is this true? The reason why I ask is that I recently interviewed at a program with other fellow interviewees that board scores wise and medical school wise were significantly superior to my application.

does a 15 mins interview make that much of a difference?

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[gutonc]

I keep hearing people say

"if you get to the interview, then you've passed the academic aspect of your application and from here on out you're on an equal footing with the other applicants".

is this true? The reason why I ask is that I recently interviewed at a program with other fellow interviewees that board scores wise and medical school wise were significantly superior to my application.

does a 15 mins interview make that much of a difference?

Does it matter at this point? If you loved the place, rank it highly. If you hated it, rank it low/not at all. By offering you an interview, they've shown that they might be interested in you. Assuming you didn't completely blow it on interview day, you'll probably wind up somewhere on their rank list. So just go with the flow and hope for the best.

 

[stapleit]

I've heard different things, from the applicants are already pre-ranked pre-interview and then the interview shifts people up/down, to a clean slate at the interview. Are we ever going to know which? Does it matter? Probably not. Like said ^, just do your best and see what happens.

 

[clement]

I keep hearing people say

"if you get to the interview, then you've passed the academic aspect of your application and from here on out you're on an equal footing with the other applicants".

is this true? The reason why I ask is that I recently interviewed at a program with other fellow interviewees that board scores wise and medical school wise were significantly superior to my application.

does a 15 mins interview make that much of a difference?

I'd think it matters more when they can't decide btwn you and someone else? My gut tells me the interview is king though...At most places. They're not going to be working side-by-side for 3-5 years with your board scores and your research credentials, but the person behind those things. Granted this is program and specialty dependent I'd imagine, i.e., IM prelims is all about the numbers, whereas psych might be all about the interview. Check the NRMP survey of program directors.