Early Interviews Myth??

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medikle

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Hi everyone,

Question for adcoms/whoever knows:

I was fortunate enough to get a few interview invites this cycle and was told to schedule my interview later (i.e. pick the latest date possible). I was told that applicants are compared to the interview group they are in and that it would be more difficult to secure an acceptance earlier on.


This doesn't sound like it would be right, so I'm still leaning on picking the earlier dates. I would think adcoms give acceptances at a higher percentage to the first groups. But regardless, I need to schedule my interviews soon, so I was wondering if anyone could help me differentiate fact vs fiction in this case. Thank you everyone in advance!
 
Ad2b said:
More seats available earlier in process v less seats later in process. What's the question? 😉
Click to expand...

I guess the question is: Are you really only compared to the group you were interviewed with?
 
medikle said:
Hi everyone,

Question for adcoms/whoever knows:

I was fortunate enough to get a few interview invites this cycle and was told to schedule my interview later (i.e. pick the latest date possible). I was told that applicants are compared to the interview group they are in and that it would be more difficult to secure an acceptance earlier on.


This doesn't sound like it would be right, so I'm still leaning on picking the earlier dates. I would think adcoms give acceptances at a higher percentage to the first groups. But regardless, I need to schedule my interviews soon, so I was wondering if anyone could help me differentiate fact vs fiction in this case. Thank you everyone in advance!
Click to expand...

Why would you want to push your own cycle back by choice?

medikle said:
I guess the question is: Are you really only compared to the group you were interviewed with?
Click to expand...

Schools know what they're looking for. They're not new to this ya know.
 
ridethecliche said:
Why would you want to push your own cycle back by choice?

So the guy explaining this to me said something like "All of the super competitive applicants interview first, do you really want to be compared against them?"
Click to expand...
 
Ad2b said:
More seats available earlier in process v less seats later in process. What's the question? 😉
Click to expand...

From what I understand, it's like this:

Say there are 10 rounds of interviews and 200 acceptances given out. Each interview day has 40 kids. From each interview day, the school will "budget" 20 acceptances (and some number of waitlists) from those candidates. But this might mean that their criteria for acceptance is more lax at the beginning and gets more stringent towards the end of the season if they end up filling their class too soon.

I could be wrong, but that's how it was explained to me at quite a few if not all (I don't remember) of the schools I interviewed at.

EDIT: You'll be compared to everyone that the school has interviewed up until that point, so if you interview early your competition isn't as stiff. AFAIK schools won't throw you in the acceptance pile in November and then take you back out in January to reevaluate after another batch of interviews has happened. However, if you're an on-the-fence candidate, they won't come to a decision into later on in the cycle. But basically as long as they think you're a good fit for their school, you shouldn't need to worry about this.

Any adcom is free to correct me on this, it's all conjecture. I'm looking into being a student adcom member though so we'll see what info I can bring come next summer.
 
Some schools reportedly do look at it similarly to what you've described. Generally the ones that only release acceptances a set number of times, like three times per cycle. They don't look at you with just the people who interview with you per se, but in clusters of times (e.g. before November, Before January, After January). The rumor about schools like this is that they accept/waitlist/reject the same number of people during each of these decision times. If that were true, then for your strategy to benefit you then the people in that last group would need to be weaker applicants. This could be the case, as strong applicants would presumably be invited sooner or maybe turn down interviews there because they are already holding acceptances. But there could be little difference or they could be strong, but later applicants. But at those schools it wouldn't hurt you. But at the majority of rolling admissions schools, then at the very least you're costing yourself the opportunity to turn down costly interview trips to schools you wouldn't attend after an acceptance. But at most you could be interviewing for fewer spots. Or you could have been the first person to be accepted that matches the fit in the class that the adcom has envisioned for you, but now you get waitlisted while they see if that similar person who they already accepted decides to come or not (I don't know that this happens, but it seems logical since some schools don't rank their waitlist with this rationale).
 
Lost in Translation said:
From what I understand, it's like this:

Say there are 10 rounds of interviews and 200 acceptances given out. Each interview day has 40 kids. From each interview day, the school will "budget" 20 acceptances (and some number of waitlists) from those candidates. But this might mean that their criteria for acceptance is more lax at the beginning and gets more stringent towards the end of the season if they end up filling their class too soon.

I could be wrong, but that's how it was explained to me at quite a few if not all (I don't remember) of the schools I interviewed at.

EDIT: You'll be compared to everyone that the school has interviewed up until that point, so if you interview early your competition isn't as stiff. AFAIK schools won't throw you in the acceptance pile in November and then take you back out in January to reevaluate after another batch of interviews has happened. However, if you're an on-the-fence candidate, they won't come to a decision into later on in the cycle. But basically as long as they think you're a good fit for their school, you shouldn't need to worry about this.

Any adcom is free to correct me on this, it's all conjecture. I'm looking into being a student adcom member though so we'll see what info I can bring come next summer.
Click to expand...
I guess either way, Ill just schedule it early. I figure there will be competitive applicants at all points during the cycle. I'm grateful for the feedback everyone. thank you!
 
It's a pre-med delusion that you're at a disadvantage with a later interview. Now, if it was in March, that's a different story. But Sept vs Oct vs Nov? No.


medikle said:
Hi everyone,

Question for adcoms/whoever knows:

I was fortunate enough to get a few interview invites this cycle and was told to schedule my interview later (i.e. pick the latest date possible). I was told that applicants are compared to the interview group they are in and that it would be more difficult to secure an acceptance earlier on.


This doesn't sound like it would be right, so I'm still leaning on picking the earlier dates. I would think adcoms give acceptances at a higher percentage to the first groups. But regardless, I need to schedule my interviews soon, so I was wondering if anyone could help me differentiate fact vs fiction in this case. Thank you everyone in advance!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Nope. Another pre-med delusion is that schools invite multiple people to compete for a single seat, like how Yale does tenure for professors. You're competing against yourself.



medikle said:
I guess the question is: Are you really only compared to the group you were interviewed with?
Click to expand...
 
For rolling admissions schools, if you interview earlier, you may get an acceptance earlier, which could potentially save you a lot of money if you can then withdraw from a lot of other schools you wouldn't attend over that one. It would save you money in terms of interview costs and all.
 
Goro said:
It's a pre-med delusion that you're at a disadvantage with aleter interview. Now, it's it was in March, that's a different story. But Sept vs Oct vs Nov? No.
Click to expand...

That is very helpful to know. Thank you 🙂
 
ChrisMack390 said:
I've been scheduling mine as early as possible. Based in part because of my understanding of rolling admissions and in part because I am anxious to get this thing going.
Click to expand...
I've been grouping them in interviews of 2-3 per trip because I can't afford to just fly to each school alone lol. Also I wanna travel around the country and spend time in these cities! I've never been to most of them. Tryna make the most out of my opportunities.

Also I want to interview as many before Oct 15 as possible to maximize my chances of getting 1 acceptance then. Sweet relief please come to me.
 
GrumpyGus said:
I've been grouping them in interviews of 2-3 per trip because I can't afford to just fly to each school alone lol. Also I wanna travel around the country and spend time in these cities! I've never been to most of them. Tryna make the most out of my opportunities.

Also I want to interview as many before Oct 15 as possible to maximize my chances of getting 1 acceptance then. Sweet relief please come to me.
Click to expand...

Yes, same. REALLY hoping for any acceptance on or around 10/15 so I can start discerning which IIs I actually want to accept.
 
GrumpyGus said:
Also I want to interview as many before Oct 15 as possible to maximize my chances of getting 1 acceptance then. Sweet relief please come to me.
Click to expand...

Is there anything significant about this date or you just chose it randomly?
 
An acceptance in October would be a dream.

I wonder why med schools invite the students they like the most first (if they do at all? who knows).
 
Yeah, I've always wondered. Does getting an interview before people who submitted months before you even mean anything or is the process 'random' (aka unknown to us) even in that regard?
 
jgear645 said:
Yeah, I've always wondered. Does getting an interview before people who submitted months before you even mean anything or is the process 'random' (aka unknown to us) even in that regard?
Click to expand...
Either way, does it really matter? Doesn't change anything on your part.

I wouldn't get caught up in those things
 
jgear645 said:
Nope doesn't matter at all actually--just curious. I agree with you though!
Click to expand...
Of course. I only said that because you're in for a long, stressful year that's going to feel like an emotional rollercoaster. So minimize the worry when you can!
 
ConfusedChemist said:
Of course. I only said that because you're in for a long, stressful year that's going to feel like an emotional rollercoaster. So minimize the worry when you can!
Click to expand...

Thank you 🙂 I'm slowly getting better at handling it haha
 
If you have a super-abundance of interview invitations -- so MORE than you can realistically afford to attend -- it might make sense to delay interviews for those schools that are both expensive to get to and low on your preference list. Otherwise, I wouldn't delay --
 
ChrisMack390 said:
I've been scheduling mine as early as possible. Based in part because of my understanding of rolling admissions and in part because I am anxious to get this thing going.
Click to expand...
Side note...you are gonna do great! I have confidence in your interviews...good luck for whenever they are!
 
gyngyn said:
The only difference between rolling and "nonrolling" schools is when they notify the candidate
Click to expand...

So you're saying that all medical schools claiming to be non-rolling are actually using a rolling acceptance procedure and should be treated as if they were rolling? Just wanted to make sure because this is my first time hearing about this.
 
DoodleDa said:
So you're saying that all medical schools claiming to be non-rolling are actually using a rolling acceptance procedure and should be treated as if they were rolling? Just wanted to make sure because this is my first time hearing about this.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Decisions are made on a rolling basis. They are delivered expeditiously by some schools and held back by others.
 
medikle said:
I was fortunate enough to get a few interview invites this cycle and was told to schedule my interview later (i.e. pick the latest date possible).
Click to expand...
This sounds suspiciously like a gunner-initiated ploy to steer you wrong.
zerox117 said:
They almost got you OP....... they almost got you........
Click to expand...
I'm glad you used your better judgement and asked for more input on the issue.
 
Early interview means more seats open. But I've seen plenty of people get wait-listed after a Septmeber interview.

Depends totally on the school too.
 
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