Do schools group applicants from the same undergrad?

[X0001234]

Do certain medical schools review applicants from the same undergraduate institution all at once?

I’m just asking because, based on conversations with current medical students who went to the same undergrad I did, none of them received interview invites until September despite submitting quite early and having great stats/experiences (if the med schools they’re attending are any indication).

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[LizzyM]

Most likely coincidence.... or that school sends almost no invites until Sept.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

When were their committee letters delivered? Obviously it didn't affect them getting accepted.

 

[X0001234]

When were their committee letters delivered? Obviously it didn't affect them getting accepted.

Our school tends to send them out mid-August

 

[cj_cregg]

Our school tends to send them out mid-August

That probably has something to do with it then.

 

[LunaOri]

We don’t group applicants from the same undergrad. Undergrad school doesn’t have a huge impact on your application, except that if we have had previous students from your undergrad who have done well (or extremely poorly) we might take note of that.
Even if all the applicants from your undergrad applied on the same day, the applications would be screened by different reviewers who would have no knowledge of the other applicants from your school.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I redact education history before screening. (We can't redact reference letters though.)

 

[X0001234]

I redact education history before screening. (We can't redact reference letters though.)

If you don't mind me asking: why? Isn't that relevant?

 

[cj_cregg]

If you don't mind me asking: why? Isn't that relevant?

I'm not the original person you responded to, but - in our application review, I cannot redact anything without actually seeing it myself first lol. But I really do not take school into account other than perhaps to see if an OOS applicant has ties to the state my school is in/nearby. Undergrad school really doesn't make a difference to me otherwise.

Also, re: your other questions - as an application reviewer I am not comparing within schools, and it's rare that I get a batch of applications to review where there are multiple from one school anyway. There are a million different things that determine the timing of an application review, and most of them have nothing to do with the individual applicant (at least for me, most of them have to do with how busy I am that week). Schools have hundreds to thousands of applications and only a limited number of reviewers, and so by nature it is going to take months to review even the earliest applications. Also, at least at the school I review for, the reviewers don't even get applications until they are complete, so we would never review before a committee letter came in...if your committee letters go out in mid August, give the schools a couple weeks to process/review/make decisions, and a September invite is actually a pretty quick turnaround considering many schools send out interview offers as late as February or March.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you don't mind me asking: why? Isn't that relevant?

Just as applicants are biased when it comes to prestige, many want their prestigious school name to influence screeners. It can introduce bias against community college or postbac applicants when it comes to screening or preparing for interview. People ask whether being from an Ivy school helps your application, so this is one way to limit the bias when possible or reasonable.
That's why many people on WAMC profiles won't toot their school name but they might want to in their applications (XXX University admissions ambassador, Mascots Against Cancer, etc.).

We do this in peer review too.