December and only 1 interview invite...should I be concerned??

[aspiringdoctor228]

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So I was completely done with my primary by august then September rolled through and I got my first interview invite from upstate, but I haven't heard anything else from any other school yet. My stats are a 3.75 GPA, 31 MCAT (9,9,13). I have done 3 years of research (and 2 summers) currently the head researcher of our group and presented at a two national acs conferences, I am the president of 1 club and the treasurer of another, I have a lot of volunteering its basically all a soup kitchen from home that I've done since high school and this yearly event for mentally challenged children. Ive shadowed a urologist, vascular surgeon, and volunteered in the ER. The schools i applied to are the following

Upstate
Temple
Penn State
Albany Med
Jefferson
FSU
Einstein
Downstate
Buffalo
UConn
Stonybrook
Columbia (just for fun expecting a reject)

Did i apply places to good...im just worried that no other schools have contacted me

Thanks

 

[deleted436726]

If I were you I would have definitely applied more broadly.

 

[aspiringdoctor228]

Thats what I was worried about...our advisor told me since I'm from new york my best bet would be to apply to most of the instate schools

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Contrary to popular belief, Applying to OOS schools is a good thing. Most people think, "Oh well I have the best chances in-state, so if I can't get in here, I can't get in outside". This may be true to a small extent depending on your state. However, maybe the schools you apply to don't appreciate things you've done in your life that some OOS school might like you for. You can never truly tell. To answer your question, I'd say most schools have probably given out >80% of their interview invites. If the unfortunate outcome of you not getting in happens, make sure to bolster your extracurriculars in the Spring with things you are passionate about and apply more broadly. A 3.75 and a 31 should not hold you out because that is around average. LOR's, EC's, and your writing skills are going to be a much bigger factor at this point. Good luck, and I hope your interview turns into an acceptance so you don't have to worry about this.

 

[Osteoth]

You applied late and did not apply broadly enough (after CA, NY exports the most pre-medical kids to other states). This late in the game you should start planning what you'll do to bolster your app before reapplying.

 

[partypantss]

Contrary to popular belief, Applying to OOS schools is a good thing. Most people think, "Oh well I have the best chances in-state, so if I can't get in here, I can't get in outside". This may be true to a small extent depending on your state. However, maybe the schools you apply to don't appreciate things you've done in your life that some OOS school might like you for. You can never truly tell. To answer your question, I'd say most schools have probably given out >80% of their interview invites. If the unfortunate outcome of you not getting in happens, make sure to bolster your extracurriculars in the Spring with things you are passionate about and apply more broadly. A 3.75 and a 31 should not hold you out because that is around average. LOR's, EC's, and your writing skills are going to be a much bigger factor at this point. Good luck, and I hope your interview turns into an acceptance so you don't have to worry about this.

See, I don't understand this. If schools have already given out >80% of their II's, how is it then when looking at school discussions from last cycle, many people were still getting II's well into March? For example, in the Albany thread I saw people who were complete in August getting II's in march.. There are still 3-4 months left of II's to be sent out, so how can that all be filling less than 20% of the spots?

 

[NYCdude]

When did you interview at Upstate? Did you hear back?

 

[johnnytest]

Things change every year and depends on the school. For example, I think boston said in September they already received an unprecendented number of apps but an adcom at ucsf told me two weeks ago that they received almost the exact number of apps +- 1% as last year. He also mentioned that he doesnt think other schools have received a lot more apps than before. Of course, this could mean more people applied earlier and more broadly and hence boston got overwhelmed earlier on but later the number of apps trickled down. So, maybe most schools received enough quality apps to schedule interviews into march already. Just my speculation.

 

[Doug Underhill]

I count about 8 schools where you have a realistic shot of getting an interview at. 1/8 isn't a terrible ratio.

 

[Lamel]

Well you still have a chance at Upstate right? So hope for an acceptance. You may still get a couple more IIs.

I think if you have to reapply, just do so more broadly next year.

 

[emflem]

With those types of stats, how many schools should he have applied to? 20?

 

[Holmwood]

The 80% of II comments may or may not be misleading.

Say for instance by the time 80% of II are given out, 80% of applications have already been rejected, put on hold, or sent invites.

So by the time you receive your March II, yes... there may be a small percentage of seats left. However, you're competing against a smaller proportion of candidates than if you were to receive your II early on. So the detriment of being interviewed later are being weighed against the benefit of having less applicants to compete with.

So perhaps that old adage of "patience is a virtue" is not too far fetched. 'Course, this is speculation.

 

[Lamel]

With those types of stats, how many schools should he have applied to? 20?

It depends on how balanced the school list is, but yeah 15-20 should be the minimum I think. Even when the school list is catered well to the individual and balanced, sometimes there are just little factors that no one can predict, so it is good to have some back ups.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

See, I don't understand this. If schools have already given out >80% of their II's, how is it then when looking at school discussions from last cycle, many people were still getting II's well into March? For example, in the Albany thread I saw people who were complete in August getting II's in march.. There are still 3-4 months left of II's to be sent out, so how can that all be filling less than 20% of the spots?

This is probably school specific, but it may be due to people dropping interviews who get accepted elsewhere. I know my school has an interview tracker, and currently it is sitting at 472/475 (475 is the anticipated amount). We interview all the way into March, but those spots have been filled.

 

[ridethecliche]

The 80% of II comments may or may not be misleading.

Say for instance by the time 80% of II are given out, 80% of applications have already been rejected, put on hold, or sent invites.

So by the time you receive your March II, yes... there may be a small percentage of seats left. However, you're competing against a smaller proportion of candidates than if you were to receive your II early on. So the detriment of being interviewed later are being weighed against the benefit of having less applicants to compete with.

So perhaps that old adage of "patience is a virtue" is not too far fetched. 'Course, this is speculation.

Lots of schools have an 'under consideration' or 'deferred decision' status, where they wait to decide on previous applicants towards the end of a cycle. Late interviewers are competing with those people as well, there isn't really 'less competition' so to speak.

 

[emflem]

It depends on how balanced the school list is, but yeah 15-20 should be the minimum I think. Even when the school list is catered well to the individual and balanced, sometimes there are just little factors that no one can predict, so it is good to have some back ups.

Great reminder. My understanding is that, even with an interview, only about 1 in 3 interviewed people get accepted. Ugh.

 

[claduva94]

Great reminder. My understanding is that, even with an interview, only about 1 in 3 interviewed people get accepted. Ugh.

It varies. One of mine accepts 80%.

 

[Holmwood]

Lots of schools have an 'under consideration' or 'deferred decision' status, where they wait to decide on previous applicants towards the end of a cycle. Late interviewers are competing with those people as well, there isn't really 'less competition' so to speak.

You're right... I think? I'll blather for a bit.

My understanding is that the quality of your application is converted to some numerical value by which they re-order the ranking. If you are a top notch applicant, you can be placed on top of the list even if you were interviewed much later. Some people were competitive enough to be accepted late into the cycle immediately after interviewing, bypassing the waitlist altogether. In such schools, there would be no advantage to be waitlisted early in the cycle over being waitlisted later in the cycle. However, since a great proportion of seats are already filled by the time you're around march, your likelihood of being waitlisted increases.

So the TLDR version of my thinking is that in terms of direct acceptances, you'll be at a disadvantage interviewing later in the cycle. However, your chances of being accepted off the waitlist are no different if you interviewed early or later since your ranking is not determined by the order in which you interviewed. And if your school makes gratuitous use of the waitlist, it doesn't matter whether you interview early or late as the decisions are made at the end.


Whatever man. I'm going to have an eggnog and worry about something else.

 

[miamiheatfan]

So I was completely done with my primary by august then September rolled through and I got my first interview invite from upstate, but I haven't heard anything else from any other school yet. My stats are a 3.75 GPA, 31 MCAT (9,9,13). I have done 3 years of research (and 2 summers) currently the head researcher of our group and presented at a two national acs conferences, I am the president of 1 club and the treasurer of another, I have a lot of volunteering its basically all a soup kitchen from home that I've done since high school and this yearly event for mentally challenged children. Ive shadowed a urologist, vascular surgeon, and volunteered in the ER. The schools i applied to are the following

Upstate
Temple
Penn State
Albany Med
Jefferson
FSU
Einstein
Downstate
Buffalo
UConn
Stonybrook
Columbia (just for fun expecting a reject)

Did i apply places to good...im just worried that no other schools have contacted me

Thanks

By looking at your list I'm guessing you're a NY resident. FSU takes like 5 OOS people out of 2500 applicants, they are practically only for FL residents. I'm also pretty sure UCONN is heavily instate. If you have to reapply, definitely use MSAR well and apply to like 25 schools, try to avoid schools that get 9,000 or more applicants.

 

[masaraksh]

You probably should have applied to more programs than you did. Having 2 MCAT sections <10 is not ideal. As many will tell you, if you have to reapply, it is far from the end of the world. Just consider that may be a possibility and plan ahead (thick of what you want to do work-wise for the next year & determine if you can retake MCAT to significantly increase score).