Does Vandy Interview = MD acceptance?

[Disinence2]

Hello,

While eating lunch at my Vanderbilt interview a 4th year med student made an interesting point. After hearing how stressed out some of us were about trying to get just one acceptance to a US allopathic school he said that “If vandy gives you an interview, and you applied broadly, then you WILL get in somewhere”. He repeated this a couple times in different words and actually made me feel a lot better. I got my first acceptance the next day, but it made me wonder…

Did anyone interview and Vandy and not get accepted anywhere?
Are they really that selective in who they invite?
So far from what I’ve seen on MD apps this guy’s statement seems true.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

There are exceptions and I'm sure there's a handful (like 5-10) people who interview at Vandy don't get in anywhere. But to get an interview at a school like Vandy and not get in, you probably failed to apply to enough schools or applied to only top schools.

 

[pyrois]

Hello,

While eating lunch at my Vanderbilt interview a 4th year med student made an interesting point. After hearing how stressed out some of us were about trying to get just one acceptance to a US allopathic school he said that “If vandy gives you an interview, and you applied broadly, then you WILL get in somewhere”. He repeated this a couple times in different words and actually made me feel a lot better. I got my first acceptance the next day, but it made me wonder…

Did anyone interview and Vandy and not get accepted anywhere?
Are they really that selective in who they invite?
So far from what I’ve seen on MD apps this guy’s statement seems true.

"applied broadly" is the trump card in his statement that makes it absolutely true no matter if there are anecdotal cases of people interviewing at Vanderbilt and not getting in anywhere.

 

[PeripateticMD]

I don't think it's Vandy interview=Acceptance. I think it's top 20= Acceptance (somewhere). UCSF told us the same thing. I think it's logical that if you have interviews at top schools, you're going to have an acceptance somewhere, unless you only applied to a handful of top schools, but then maybe you'll get lucky there too.

 

[TSK]

His statement probably was true. Similarly, the Dean of Admissions at UMich said something along the lines of, "If you're interviewing here, there's a 99% chance that you'll get into a med school" I believe that ad comms see where applicants applied and were accepted at the end of the cycle and keep track of this type of thing. Congrats on the acceptance!

 

[Disinence2]

haha, I still havent heard back from vandy, but thought this was an interesting statment.

Might re-assure someother poeple out there who have top 20 interviews, but still havent heard anything from some unranked schools.

 

[dude1344]

I've interviewed at 4 top 25 schools (including Vandy), and have been WLed at them all. I currently don't have an acceptance...

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I've interviewed at 4 top 25 schools (including Vandy), and have been WLed at them all. I currently don't have an acceptance...

did you apply to more than 10 schools? did you apply to any lower tier schools?

 

[dude1344]

the so called "low tier" schools i applied to were basically MSU-CHM and Wayne. I haven't heard anything from MSU, and I'm on the alternates at Wayne. Hopefully one of these will pull through.

 

[Numan79]

I have interviewed at Vandy twice (I'm a reapplicant), and I have not gotten an acceptance anywhere. I applied to mostly low and middle tier schools. But I'm not very good at interviewing...

 

[hb2998]

I have interviewed at Vandy twice (I'm a reapplicant), and I have not gotten an acceptance anywhere. I applied to mostly low and middle tier schools. But I'm not very good at interviewing...

Nice illustration of life history bursting our hopeful bubbles but thanks for the sad sad reality that medical school applications is random. I know a guy who had 1 interview at a top 10 school and that was it. Talk about having a straight flush just to be beaten by the royal flush.

 

[Stolenspatulas]

Acceptance=Acceptance

and that is all.

I have a friend (acquaintance?) who is on his second cycle applying through. He has a 39 mcat and a 3.9+ gpa.

He has had interviews at UMich, UCSF, WashU last year... and did not get in anywhere. This time he has applied more broadly (versus just top-30s last year) and he still has no acceptances (though again, good interviews).

He has little to no volunteer experience and LORs from profs that don't really know him as a person. He's an uber-nerd with no personal skills. He has trouble looking at you when he talks to you. I'm not making any of this up.

 

[future_dr_house]

I'll let you know in a little over a day from now. I interviewed at vandy and was waitlisted. Now I'm waiting on 4 tx schools and penn st.

 

[Disinence2]

Hmm, interesting... I guess this doesn't account at all for poeple who don't interview well...

Oh well! i thought it had it all figured out for a moment there!

Good luck everyone!

 

[khadija]

what is applying broadly: 10 schools? 20 schools? And if a person has a 39 MCAT and a 3.9 GPA without significant research and volunteer experiences, then lower tier schools will just ignore them. They will (justly) think they are a safety school and won't even interview u. Y should u waste their time if u're not serious. But the top schools won't take u either, because u don't have research or volunteer experience. (They will probably interview u though.) So in the end u loose.

**disclaimer: i did not make this up, i have seen this happen to several of my friends this application season

 

[Stolenspatulas]

what is applying broadly: 10 schools? 20 schools? And if a person has a 39 MCAT and a 3.9 GPA without significant research and volunteer experiences, then lower tier schools will just ignore them. They will (justly) think they are a safety school and won't even interview u. Y should u waste their time if u're not serious. But the top schools won't take u either, because u don't have research or volunteer experience. So in the end u loose.

**disclaimer: i did not make this up, i have seen this happen to several of my friends this application season

he has a 39 and 3.9+ gpa with lots of research (and pubs).

he has no volunteer experience and I believe one semester of clinical experience (that was pretty weak anyway).

im not sure how many schools he is applying to this time (he did tell me he was applying broadly --- which means a lot since he didnt think ~15 schools last year was 'broadly'). I believe he doesnt have any acceptances at this point.

 

[Disinence2]

To me applying broadly referes to more a number and mix of schools.

Its all such a game! Its not hard to convince a saftey school there not a saftey school, just send a letter of interest to be included in your file...they get the pictures.