Do schools notify you if you're put on pre-interview hold?

[lalarubies]

If a school puts you on pre-interview hold, will they notify you via email or update the portal? or is it just the silent treatment? I know they will notify you if you're placed on post-interview hold.

I submitted my secondaries from early to late August. Did 3 interviews at end of September/early October, but haven't heard from anywhere else regarding interview invites.

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[sunshine02]

Some schools do notify you if you are put on pre-interview hold. Others do not.

 

[lalarubies]

Some schools do notify you if you are put on pre-interview hold. Others do not.

Thanks! That's what I figured...

 

[gyngyn]

What is pre-interview hold?

 

[lalarubies]

What is pre-interview hold?

After you're secondary is reviewed, you're put into 3 categories: interview invite, rejection, or "on-hold". II or rejection they let you know right away. Some schools don't reject until March though. On-hold means you might have the chance to be interview invited later in the cycle, but for some schools it basically just means rejection. Apparently, Some schools notify you if you're on hold, others just give you the silent treatment. Just wish schools were more transparent about this...

 

[Cuetec]

After you're secondary is reviewed, you're put into 3 categories: interview invite, rejection, or "on-hold". II or rejection they let you know right away. Some schools don't reject until March though. On-hold means you might have the chance to be interview invited later in the cycle, but for some schools it basically just means rejection. Apparently, Some schools notify you if you're on hold, others just give you the silent treatment. Just wish schools were more transparent about this...

This is too general of a characterization. There is no guarantee that all schools put you on any official "hold" status. Your app may just be sitting there

 

[gyngyn]

After you're secondary is reviewed, you're put into 3 categories: interview invite, rejection, or "on-hold". II or rejection they let you know right away. Some schools don't reject until March though. On-hold means you might have the chance to be interview invited later in the cycle, but for some schools it basically just means rejection. Apparently, Some schools notify you if you're on hold, others just give you the silent treatment. Just wish schools were more transparent about this...

At schools that send out rejections all year, if you have heard nothing after a few months, you can assume you are on "interview hold."

 

[Cuetec]

I see. Would you feel better knowing that your application has been reviewed, though no decision has been made regarding an interview? A lot of applicants ore ok, but no one can predict if we will get to them.

Are there situations where people complete over the summer, by this point, have not been reviewed even once at some schools? I find it unlikely unless there's some really weird loop arounds being made lol

 

[gyngyn]

Are there situations where people complete over the summer, by this point, have not been reviewed even once at some schools? I find it unlikely unless there's some really weird loop arounds being made lol

At schools with weak data management, applications may not get reviewed for months (we used to have this problem).
At this point in the cycle we have reviewed all applications and have stratified them.
I am sure that efficient review remains a problem for many schools, though.

 

[lalarubies]

This is too general of a characterization. There is no guarantee that all schools put you on any official "hold" status. Your app may just be sitting there

Are you saying that if it's "just sitting there" then it's probably a rejection?

 

[Cuetec]

Are you saying that if it's "just sitting there" then it's probably a rejection?

....no. They may be less organized as @gyngyn said and don't organize/sort people into ranks so readily. They may not have reviewed yet. They may have reviewed but you're not a top choice for an II, so left aside until later. They may have reviewed and rejected you. They may have reviewed and you are in the next batch of IIs when the next batch go out. They may have put you into the next five batches to go out. They may want to discuss in committee more as to who else they want to invite as the season grows late. They may have lost your file in their data banks. The keyword here is "may." Because who dafuq knows?

You need to stop fussing over this. Posting the same question on every school thread isn't going to get you anywhere. Every school is different and no one knows how their processes are really run. Like people say, it's not a linear process. Don't be so impatient.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Are you saying that if it's "just sitting there" then it's probably a rejection?

For schools that interview 10% of applicants, it's probably a rejection anyway, even on Day 1. You can't go into this process expecting to get accepted at a given school.

 

[lalarubies]

....no. They may be less organized as @gyngyn said and don't organize/sort people into ranks so readily. They may not have reviewed yet. They may have reviewed but you're not a top choice for an II, so left aside until later. They may have reviewed and rejected you. They may have reviewed and you are in the next batch of IIs when the next batch go out. They may have put you into the next five batches to go out. They may want to discuss in committee more as to who else they want to invite as the season grows late. They may have lost your file in their data banks. The keyword here is "may." Because who dafuq knows?

You need to stop fussing over this. Posting the same question on every school thread isn't going to get you anywhere. Every school is different and no one knows how their processes are really run. Like people say, it's not a linear process. Don't be so impatient.

Cool, thanks for your help Cuetec. Yeah i'm definitely overreacting/fussing.

Just to put things in context, I'm leaving the country beginning of January for work and it'll be hard to come back for interviews after that which is why I've started to worry a little more recently. I think I may have come in a little overconfident (LizzyM 78, east coast ivy, strong ECs/leadership, couple publications) but yeah just got to come to terms w/ waiting

 

[lalarubies]

For schools that interview 10% of applicants, it's probably a rejection anyway, even on Day 1. You can't go into this process expecting to get accepted at a given school.

That's really not a good attitude to have. Plus, I haven't expected to get accepted at a given school, but I think it's reasonable to expect an interview

 

[Doug Underhill]

Specifically, I'm referring to schools that interview a small percentage of applicants. For schools that interview a large percentage (>50%) of applicants, expectations may be different. These schools are almost always state schools with a heavy in-state preference, but they do exist.

On the other hand, many schools only interview a small percentage of their applicant pool. For example, I didn't get an interview at Temple or Tulane, despite being at or above their median for both GPA and MCAT, and with some impressive ECs. I didn't apply there with the mindset that these schools would be a "lock" for me. I thought there was a decent enough chance of a II to where if I applied to enough one school in that category would send me one.