Insight into adcom process post interview

[sockpupet]

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Hello does anyone know what goes on at admission committee meetings after they interview you at a school?
Do they meet and grade your app overall based on supporting docs and how well you interviewed?
Is this the point they call around and verify your ECs and letters of evaluation?

 

[vellez]

Who ****ing knows...

 

[deleted702880]

I'm pretty sure they go out, get some drinks, have a laugh remembering the guy who came in wearing the bright purple suit.

 

[Spector1]

Why don't you ask goro?

 

[VitaminVater]

I believe it's a similar process to this:

 

[Affiche]

By this point, since your GPA/MCAT, Primary, LOR/LOE, Secondary have been deemed worthy, your interview is likely to carry most weight so recommendation/evaluation of interviewer is important[/ATTACH]

Oh, good! From the start of your post it sounded like they all re-review your GPA/MCAT after the interview and will ding you for that if it's lower than their average. I hope that doesn't happen, 'cause methinks that's double jeopardy.

 

[LizzyM]

Who ****ing knows...

I do.

It can vary from school to school and it can vary over time. At my school, the applications are reviewed independently by each member of the subcommittee responsible for reviewing a subset of all applicants and interviewees. Everything is under review including the paper application (including GPA and MCAT*) and the written descriptions of the interviews. Each reviewer assigns a numeric rating to the application.

Now the committee sits together and goes over the applicants with particular focus on those where there is a wide discrepancy among post-interview reviewers regarding the rating. Reviewers can justify their scoring, ask for more information from an interviewer if the interviewer happens to be present (sometime but not always), argue over policy, express enthusiasm for an applicant and point out aspects of the application that might have been overlooked by others, or express a lack of enthusiasm and point out why. A reviewer might choose to revise a score at that point.

Scores are averaged and all applicants, from all subcommittees (there are subcommittees because having just one group reviewing everything would be too much work for a group of faculty members), and rank ordered by average score. It is quite remarkable that the subcommittees produce a rank list that meshes with the other subcommittee(s). I've never seen one subcommittee be more lenient than the others(s) such that applicants randomly assigned to that group would have a better chance.

The committee with final decision making power goes over the list, reviews the evidence for or against admission and generally decides to admit those at the top of the list, waitlist the middle and deny those who have mean committee scores indicative of serious reservations about the candidate.

We also sit back and laugh about some of the more outrageous things applicants have been known to do.


*Why are GPA and MCAT under consideration after interview? Because all things being equal, the school wants the applicants with the highest numbers. If there are two applicants with similar interview ratings in the middle of the pack but one has a 3.5/30 and the other has a 3.9/38, should we consider both to be equal or is one applicant stronger than the other?

 

[Goro]

Dig up my post on interviews-"behind the curtain", and my "guide to interviews".

Hello does anyone know what goes on at admission committee meetings after they interview you at a school?
Do they meet and grade your app overall based on supporting docs and how well you interviewed?
Is this the point they call around and verify your ECs and letters of evaluation?

To follow up my learned colleague's comments, at my school, we don't pre-screen, and the wily old Admissions Dean has a different mandate than the Faculty's. His is to fill seats with bodies, as long as they meet the minimum criteria.

We, on the other hand, have actually teach these people, so we want the best possible students. Hence, if we have concerns about someone's sGPA being too low, we'll ding them for it.

 

[Affiche]

This is medical school admission and not a court of law.

I was kidding. Lighten up, @gonnif!