Deciding which interviews to accept...

[chickenpotpie]

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How do some of you pick and choose which interviews you will accept? It is not affordable to attend all of them (assuming you get several) compounded by the issues of having to miss so much school.... but then there is the fear that you might not get in if you skip one. Any advice from the experienced that might help the rest of us? THANKS!

 

[tinkerbelle]

I think you should accept all your interview invites until you have at least one acceptance. After that, you can pick and choose. You can also try scheduling the schools you don't really care about later in the year. That way, if you get an acceptance soon, you can just cancel your other interviews.

 

[bonez318ti]

I agree with tinkerbelle. Don't reject any until you have an acceptance in hand.

If you have interviews in the same area, just try to schedule them around the same time so you can save on travel time and expenses.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I am having the same problem. I have several interview invites, and haven't even started hearing from my state schools. I am very grateful to have this problem, but am getting worried about how I will balance school with interviewing, especially when the UCs start inviting.

 

[mcjay]

Exactly what Tinkerbelle said. 👍

Think of going to interviews as mini vacations, yeah right!

 

[efex101]

Do NOT turn interviews down I do not care how many you get until you have ONE acceptance in hand. Getting interviews does not automatically means getting accepted...remember they interview hundreds of folks for not that many slots think Vandy here...so beware! I went to my interviews until I had acceptances then and only then did I turn stuff down.

 

[wxl31]

I am having the same problem. I have several interview invites, and haven't even started hearing from my state schools. I am very grateful to have this problem, but am getting worried about how I will balance school with interviewing, especially when the UCs start inviting.

When I was senior, I had this friend in biochem class who was interviewing for grad schools...I took notes for him 2x a week! I even taped lectures on a minirecorder for him. He didn't do as well as he could have in those classes but he's at Cornell now for grad school!

Just find ppl who will help you out. Finding tapes for missed lectures was really helpful.

 

[DocMizzle]

How do some of you pick and choose which interviews you will accept? It is not affordable to attend all of them (assuming you get several) compounded by the issues of having to miss so much school.... but then there is the fear that you might not get in if you skip one. Any advice from the experienced that might help the rest of us? THANKS!

Missing school is not a reason to drop interviews. You don't need all A's for senior year anyway. On the other hand, if you truly can't afford them, then I'd say postpone them. But as everyone has said, until you get that acceptance you should attend all interviews. Of course, the more you skip the more spots are available for us 😀

 

[Psycho Doctor]

How do some of you pick and choose which interviews you will accept? It is not affordable to attend all of them (assuming you get several) compounded by the issues of having to miss so much school.... but then there is the fear that you might not get in if you skip one. Any advice from the experienced that might help the rest of us? THANKS!

honestly i wouldn't apply to a school unless i intended to go thru the entire process including the interview. doesn't it hurt you tremendously if you don't accept their offer of an interview? untl you have an acceptance, don't turn any down.

 

[Johnisit1234]

honestly i wouldn't apply to a school unless i intended to go thru the entire process including the interview. doesn't it hurt you tremendously if you don't accept their offer of an interview?

Well, you're not getting in if you don't interview, so it doesn't really matter.

I agree, wait until you get an acceptance and maybe start cancelling interviews then. You don't want to think, later in the admissions season, "I'm not getting acceptances, maybe I should have interviewed at {Med School}."
Because you will be quite mad at yourself.

 

[chickenpotpie]

but.... you see... some people apply to a ton of schools "just in case"... and when a lot of the just in case interviews come in (more than you can afford to follow through on and more than you thought you would actually get) it makes it hard to know if you should nab less selective ones to better your odds, or if you should take a chance on the better ones. i guess it is just best to balance both and as someone mentioned... try to put off the ones you are not as enthused about for as long as i can. thanks for the feedback.

 

[leechy]

Yeah, I was going to cancel one of mine, but decided to just schedule it way late so i could cancel it if I got accepted at any schools that interview earlier. Actually, I haven't scheduled it yet (the clock is ticking).

 

[DianaLynne]

I'm going to take every interview I get until I get accepted to my top pick! Then I'll think about cancelling. I figure I'm getting ready to go $100K into debt, what's a little more?

If you're in school, maybe it'd be wise to do some of the courses pass-fail. I got my degree a couple of years ago and I'm just taking some "recommended but not required" premed classes, so I'm going pass-fail.

 

[bigbassinbob]

I figure I'm getting ready to go $100K into debt, what's a little more?

Exactly. Why the hell wouldn't you accept an interview invite, considering you've already spent the money on applying to the school!?? You would have to be a complete ***** to turn down any interview invites (unless of course you've already been accepted). And don't assume that interviews = acceptances. I had 4 last year and didn't get accepted anywhere, and I know of a lot of people on here that had more than that with no acceptances. You'll be killing yourself if you don't have an acceptance by the new year and you've been turning interviews down.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Exactly. Why the hell wouldn't you accept an interview invite, considering you've already spent the money on applying to the school!?? You would have to be a complete ***** to turn down any interview invites (unless of course you've already been accepted). And don't assume that interviews = acceptances. I had 4 last year and didn't get accepted anywhere, and I know of a lot of people on here that had more than that with no acceptances. You'll be killing yourself if you don't have an acceptance by the new year and you've been turning interviews down.

wow how many people don't get accepted to ANY med school they apply to? ido these students apply to "safeties"?

 

[bigbassinbob]

wow how many people don't get accepted to ANY med school they apply to? ido these students apply to "safeties"?

Unfortunately, lots of people don't get accepted anywhere. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a "safety" school, unless you have amazing stats. I applied to about 10 schools last year with a 3.85/30, and though several schools to which I applied had stats lower than mine, I didn't get accepted. Just apply to a ton of schools (I'm doing about 21 this year plus a few osteopathic), take all the interviews you're offered, and cross your fingers because this really is a random process.

 

[stinkycheese]

I'm going to take every interview I get until I get accepted to my top pick! Then I'll think about cancelling.

Yeah, me too. I have three interviews so far and two of those are "top picks". I scheduled those first. If I know that I was accepted to one of them by the time of my third interview, I will cancel and save the money. But then again, sometimes you can't get money back for travel arrangements, so that plan isn't always feasible.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Unfortunately, lots of people don't get accepted anywhere. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a "safety" school, unless you have amazing stats. I applied to about 10 schools last year with a 3.85/30, and though several schools to which I applied had stats lower than mine, I didn't get accepted. Just apply to a ton of schools (I'm doing about 21 this year plus a few osteopathic), take all the interviews you're offered, and cross your fingers because this really is a random process.

wow!! i guess i had no idea it was that bad. not even your state school?

 

[liverotcod]

wow how many people don't get accepted to ANY med school they apply to? ido these students apply to "safeties"?

About 50% get no acceptances. No way to know if those not admitted applied to "safeties."

 

[Psycho Doctor]

About 50% get no acceptances. No way to know if those not admitted applied to "safeties."

ok now I'm REALLY worried

 

[liverotcod]

ok now I'm REALLY worried

PD, have you not obsessed (as I have, I must admit) over the numbers available at the AAMC stats page?

 

[dnelsen]

People have been posting that you should interview at your top picks first so that if you are accepted, you can then turn down other interviews. Be careful not to do your top pick FIRST. You might want to do a safety first so that you get one interview under your belt. It would suck to have your first interview be at your top pick and then you blow it because you have no interview experience. Just a thought.