Getting worried/Should I add more schools?

[dragonbush]

My friends (who are all applying MD only) are starting to get interviews like crazy. I haven't heard anything, is this normal for MD/PhD? I am starting to think I should add more schools.

I graduated this summer with a 3.6 and sGPA of 3.65 from a fairly prestigious liberal arts school and have MCAT of 37S. I have 8 summers of research, one full year and will be working for half of this year at my same lab. I have two publications, one accepted manuscript and three in preparation. I played a varsity sport for 4 years, tutored, TAed, was involved in other clubs for four years, did EC music for four years, and did some (not enough) volunteering.

So far I applied to (keep in mind, I know alot of these are extreme reaches):
Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Stonybrook, Penn, Duke, Northwestern, U Wisconsin, U Minn, Mayo, WashU, SLU, U Missouri, U Colorado, U Utah, U Wash, OHSU, UCSF, Stanford, USC
I have gotten and completed secondaries from all the schools except U Wash.

Should I add more lower tier schools?

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[Kodiak10]

I have similar stats and applied to 16 similarly ranked schools. I've submitted 12 of 16 secondaries and currently don't have any interview invites. My guess is that MD-PhD interview invites come out a bit later. Is that the general consensus?

Also, is there an Interview Invite thread just for MD-PhD (analogous to the one for MD only)? If not, we should start one!


So to answer your question...No, I don't think you need to apply to any more schools just because you haven't received any interview invites. If you aren't confident in your application though, it's better to apply to extras just to be safe!

 

[dragonbush]

I didn't see an interview invite thread for MD/PhD, but it seems like not many people are floating around here. Maybe it would be better in the regular pre-MD forum?

 

[silvermuse]

I think you should be fine, since MD/PhD seems to give out interview invites much later than MD-only (you can check the MD/PhD interview threads from past cycles to verify this).

I'm also applying MD/PhD and have been complete at some schools for a month without hearing anything interview or rejection-wise.

If you're really worried it wouldn't hurt to apply to more schools though it would be a monetary investment. Also, consider the time spent doing secondaries.

 

[dmblue]

When I applied, I didn't get my first invite til mid november. it's not time to panic

 

[dragonbush]

This is making me feel better! Thanks!

 

[StIGMA]

I had about 6 pre-interview rejections before my first interview invite (mid-November), after which a few invites came quickly after and more trickled in. I received my last invite in early February to a school I had my secondary complete in late September.

It depends on when you apply (I sent in most of my secondaries in September), but don't be discouraged until at least December or so!

 

[marie78]

I got 13 interview invites last cycle and I received almost all of them between September and November. I think by the end of August I only had 1 or 2 interviews lined up, so I wouldn't worry if you haven't heard anything yet.

 

[tortuga87]

Okay, phew... I need to stop checking my inbox every 15 minutes...

 

[dragonbush]

Okay, phew... I need to stop checking my inbox every 15 minutes...

Ditto!

 

[achamess]

Yeah it's chill out time. MD-PhD admissions, I found, was quite a bit behind MD-only. Look at last year's interview thread and you'll see a handful of interview invites in August but almost all of them coming between Sept to Nov. So just relax for now

 

[bd4727]

You are a strong candidate and will get into many of those schools. Just relax.

 

[tortuga87]

NYU, Cornell and Chicago are sending out first batches of interview decisions for MSTP now

 

[dragonbush]

Based on last year and their website, UWisc should sometime soon... On their website they mention that if you are complete by Aug 20th you will be considered for the first interview date (beginning of Oct) and last year they sent out mid-late august for the first ones...