Disadvantage for interviewing late??

[texaninphilly]

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Hi everyone,

I am a August MCATer and still have about all my interviews coming up in late january and early February. Am I at a huge disadvantage for schools that have rolling admissions, such as Baylor and Hopkins?

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Hi everyone,

I am a August MCATer and still have about all my interviews coming up in late january and early February. Am I at a huge disadvantage for schools that have rolling admissions, such as Baylor and Hopkins?

probably for those with rolling admissions but i'm in the same boat as you so i feel your pain 🙁

 

[njbmd]

Hi everyone,

I am a August MCATer and still have about all my interviews coming up in late january and early February. Am I at a huge disadvantage for schools that have rolling admissions, such as Baylor and Hopkins?

Hi there,
You are not at a disadvantage unless you are a marginal candidate to begin with. The less-competitive you are, the earlier you should apply. That being said, I took the August MCAT, had my first interview in December and got into six out of the six medical schools that I applied to.

Rolling admissions is an advantage for you if you are a good candidate. This means that the class at medical schools is not filled and you have the same shot as someone who interviewed in September. Many schools that have huge numbers of applicants favor the rolling admissions because they can get the best candidates early or late.

Relax and plan on hitting your interviews with lots of enthusiasm. Nothing is as irresistable as a good candidate with lots of energy. If the class was full, you would not have been invited for an interview so put your best foot forward and give it your best shot.

As with this process, have an elaborate Plan B in case you do not get accepted. The more detailed and elaborate your Plan B, the more likely you are to be accepted to medical school. Besides, working on your Plan B keeps you sane at this date.

njbmd 🙂

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Hi there,
You are not at a disadvantage unless you are a marginal candidate to begin with. The less-competitive you are, the earlier you should apply. That being said, I took the August MCAT, had my first interview in December and got into six out of the six medical schools that I applied to.

Rolling admissions is an advantage for you if you are a good candidate. This means that the class at medical schools is not filled and you have the same shot as someone who interviewed in September. Many schools that have huge numbers of applicants favor the rolling admissions because they can get the best candidates early or late.

Relax and plan on hitting your interviews with lots of enthusiasm. Nothing is as irresistable as a good candidate with lots of energy. If the class was full, you would not have been invited for an interview so put your best foot forward and give it your best shot.

As with this process, have an elaborate Plan B in case you do not get accepted. The more detailed and elaborate your Plan B, the more likely you are to be accepted to medical school. Besides, working on your Plan B keeps you sane at this date.

njbmd 🙂

wow congrats! I thought rolling admissions meant "first with the apps in got first chance of getting in" I also thought if there were no spots left for you by the time you were complete, no matter how good you are, you don't get in. I have heard of schools who under-estimated their applicant pool and accepted people early that they wished they didn't b/c then they had no room left for later better applicants, and had to waitlist them.

when were you complete and how good are your stats?

mine wasn't complete until they had my August MCAT score which makes it mid to late October; that is late for rolling admissions, and I think compared to everyone here i'm probably just an average candidate. 🙁 I have gotten a couple acceptances and interviews at most schools so far, 3 more still to hear anything from...

 

[Law2Doc]

wow congrats! I thought rolling admissions meant "first with the apps in got first chance of getting in" I also thought if there were no spots left for you by the time you were complete, no matter how good you are, you don't get in. I have heard of schools who under-estimated their applicant pool and accepted people early that they wished they didn't b/c then they had no room left for later better applicants, and had to waitlist them.

when were you complete and how good are your stats?

mine wasn't complete until they had my August MCAT score which makes it mid to late October; that is late for rolling admissions, and I think compared to everyone here i'm probably just an average candidate. 🙁 I have gotten a couple acceptances and interviews at most schools so far, 3 more still to hear anything from...

I sort of agree with you in my own understanding/theory that rolling admissions means that the earlier applicants get first shot at all the spots. That certainly is consistant with the schools suggesting that applicants apply as early as possible notwithstanding the deadlines provided. However I assumed that they set the bar slightly higher in the beginning (and used the waitlist more significantly early) to make sure they weren't filling the class with people who weren't as strong as those that they might get to later, and that this typically resulted in open spots still existing by the time they got to the end of their interviews. I truly doubt that any school would waste their own faculty or adcom members time interviewing candidates if there was not a significant chance of the applicant getting in (unless perhaps the interviewers were med students), so I don't really buy the suggestion that many schools just interview for the waitlist (at least not prior to May). That's my own, unsubstantiated theory, though.