Did most of the schools stop send out interview invites already???

People get invites and acceptances throughout the winter. Too early to panic yet. But if wouldn't hurt to update the schools with anything new you may have done.

 

I just got an invite this week. It ain't over, not by a long shot.

Good luck!

 

I believe the only school (that I know of) that stops interviewing this month is NYU...

 

I'm an August MCATer, and I've just started getting a few of mine this week. Don't worry; they're just slow... Or at least that's what I'm hoping

 

check out the Aug MCAT interview invites thread. It gets updated many times a day, so obviously interviews are still going out. Having said that, yea, i'm in the same boat. Hang in there; they'll come.

 

I too had a long break and got 2 on the same day. Don't worry still time in the game!

 

You can be offered an interview as late as the spring. It all depends on how late you applied and how many interview slots the school has already given out.

 

Hi, I can (and most of the people here) can relate to your situation. But invites can be sent out well into spring so, no they haven't stopped but I think they have significantly slowed down because of the holiday season.

 

speaking of the devil.... I just got an interview invitation to Brown an hour ago. That was after a 2 month drought. I'm sure you'll get more too.

 

I have talked to the secretaries at 2 of my state schools (Ohio), and it appears their applicant numbers have almost doubled from last year. So they are trudging through the applicants at a much slower pace. This can be a reason that our interview offers are dragging.

I am not a stats expert, but I do think what we are forgetting is the fact that there were approximately 4500 more 2005 MCAT test takers than in 2004. This being said, if someone received a 30 (at the 81 percentile), this means that even with such a great score, there are 855 people who took the test with a "higher" score. This being said, it is obvious that there are a finite amount of spots for medical school. I predict that the average MCAT score at ALL schools will be up.

I am philosophically surprised at this fact, because of the malpractice crisis in this country, along with the great tuition increases at medical schools nationwide.

 

wow i didn't know about this huge increase. why is that, because the perception of stable economy & job stability is down?

either way, not encouraging news for those of us with a 30 mcat score.

 

You betcha. It sucks how there are so many applicants this year when you think about how 10 years ago, someone with lower stats than our applicant pool would have been considered a competitive candidate. Oh why can't there be a community college for med school?

 

c'mon bush, let's get out of iraq! dady needs a new stethoscope . . .

 

i think the most competetive year for medschool admission was like 1994 or 1995 (.... just what i remember though)

 

Actually, for the combined 2005 MCAT administrations there were about 12622 people who scored higher than 30:

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/combined05.pdf

(Edit) Also, why did you put the word 'higher' in quotes? Do you mean to suggest than there is in fact no numerical ordering of MCAT scores???

 

that's what i thought, too. hasn't admissions become less competitive? (not that it feels that way; it's just what i've heard.)

 

Sorry to hear that, aspiringdoctor. I have had some rejections, too, and it is not fun. How did you hear from OHSU?

 

I just meant that 30 is a good MCAT number to shoot for. With the additional people taking the test in 2005, there are more people with a score of 31 or above.

 

Applications are creeping up but seriously if you want to look at the trend UNMC (University of Nebraska) actually publishes all of their application stats dating back to 1980 on their website. I used it to weigh the overall application trend and while we are in an upswing at the moment we haven't begun to reach the applicant numbers seen in the late 80's and early 90's...there were way more applicants back then, albeit a different MCAT was used I think this indicates it could be worse. On that note I am an August MCATerwho stupidly waited to get my first scores to submit...I got my first 4 invites this week and all of them scheduled me before X-mas. Most schools interview til march and what I don't think most people get is that is still the rolling admission period...you just have far fewer review dates to get that acceptance before you are thrown into the final pool. Hope is not lost as a previous poster said it things slow a little during the holidays I'm sure over the weeks leading up to christmas you will start to hear from a few more schools.

 

I just got an interview yesterday and its scheduled for february 3rd!

 

the applicant pool may not be as large as it once was, but my impression is that it's getting deeper. People are going the extra mile more and more.

 

One admissions person I spoke to mentioned that the numbers of applicants who passed their initial numbers screenings is higher than ever. Perhaps it was related to their own rising stature or a mirror of the nation's application pool.

 

Aug was 4500 bigger because of more canadians were eligible to take the test. A 30 is still a 30, get a grip.

 

I just got an interview invite at Duke....but after trying to schedule it, I realized they're booked through Jan. 17th. Also, it looks like they stop interviewing at the end of February. So, they're still sending out invites, but there might not be tons of them left...

 

This is the most insightful comment that I've read all week. Perhaps it's because information is now disseminated so rapidly (at places like SDN), but my feeling is that most applicants these days have learned "the game" thoroughly and have every base covered. It's like the disappearing middle class... there seem to be fewer "so-so" applicants.

Which is why I was a little surprised by the "can I replace volunteering with shadowing thread." Well, sure you can, volunteering isn't a requirement to apply... but we all know that medical schools like to see some evidence of a willingness to contribute something to the community. If you've got an interviewer (or reviewer) who is a strong believer in volunteer service, you'll have an easily-avoidable "ding" against your application. Why not just go do some volunteering and have yourself "covered"?