Interview Drought

Started by davlives
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davlives

davlives

Full Member
7+ Year Member
I had been receiving II's pretty steadily from late august until a couple weeks ago, but now I feel as though I'm in a drought. Each (multiple time per) day I check my inbox I'm left empty handed. Anyone else in the same boat and, if so, how do you mentally justify it??
 
davlives said:
I had been receiving II's pretty steadily from late august until a couple weeks ago, but now I feel as though I'm in a drought. Each (multiple time per) day I check my inbox I'm left empty handed. Anyone else in the same boat and, if so, how do you mentally justify it??
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How many interview invites do you have, OP?
 
lol.JPG
 
I got 3 really early on and figured it was going to be a great cycle, and now I've just gotten a ton of rejections since then. Definitely would feel better with a few more interviews...
 
It's simply not realistic to expect that you'll be flooded with IIs. You are, as my mom would say "crying with a loaf of bread under your arm".
davlives said:
I had been receiving II's pretty steadily from late august until a couple weeks ago, but now I feel as though I'm in a drought. Each (multiple time per) day I check my inbox I'm left empty handed. Anyone else in the same boat and, if so, how do you mentally justify it??
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gannicus89 said:
I figure I'm competitive at the schools that invited me early on, not as competitive at the ones who haven't gotten back to me. It's quite random. I got IIs from places I never expected to, and the ones I thought I had a really great shot at are ignoring me. Oh well.
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I agree with this. I would have never expected some of the interviews I got, and thought I might get interviews from schools that have now already rejected me or put me on hold. It may feel like you're in an "interview drought" but the process is so nonlinear it really doesn't make sense to expect to get interviews in steady time intervals. For the remaining schools, all you can do is wait.

Congrats on the interviews you already have though!! You should be celebrating those!🙂
 
I'm in the exact same boat and I think what's getting to me is that I don't know if they're done coming since they stopped so abruptly and it's been a few weeks now. I guess I'm just having that nagging question of whether a large pause is normal or if that means that I shouldn't expect any from the ones I haven't heard from yet. Doesn't mean I'm not grateful for the ones I have. This process is just kind of a mind f*ck and it's hard to not over analyze. Be kind to OP and e/o!! Wishing best of luck to all!
 
davlives said:
I had been receiving II's pretty steadily from late august until a couple weeks ago, but now I feel as though I'm in a drought. Each (multiple time per) day I check my inbox I'm left empty handed. Anyone else in the same boat and, if so, how do you mentally justify it??
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Staying off sdn helps a lot ive noticed. Just be grateful for what you have already and hope for the best.
 
Currently I have 12 II's. And I did get one yesterday so I feel a little better about my "drought." Sorry to those who were annoyed by my post, and I'd appreciate a lack of trolling following this comment as I was just responding to what other people asked me.
Best of luck to you all
 
davlives said:
Currently I have 12 II's. And I did get one yesterday so I feel a little better about my "drought." Sorry to those who were annoyed by my post, and I'd appreciate a lack of trolling following this comment as I was just responding to what other people asked me.
Best of luck to you all
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You have TWELVE? TWELVE INTERVIEW INVITATIONS????????

Please kindly go shut the **** up about your "drought" 🙂
 
Settle down. Invites continue to go out at a decent rate through the holiday season. Just because you haven't received any for a while doesn't mean they've stopped coming. Focusing on the interviews you have coming up is the best use of your energy.
 
davlives said:
I had been receiving II's pretty steadily from late august until a couple weeks ago, but now I feel as though I'm in a drought. Each (multiple time per) day I check my inbox I'm left empty handed. Anyone else in the same boat and, if so, how do you mentally justify it??
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Yea, I made a 44 MCAT, and have a 42.6 GPA. I just dont know what to do anymore either. I have only obtained 20 invites from the top 20 MD schools, but I'm really feeling bad since I did not receive an II from every medical school in the country.


/sarcasm

/triple facepalm
 
davlives said:
Currently I have 12 II's. And I did get one yesterday so I feel a little better about my "drought." Sorry to those who were annoyed by my post, and I'd appreciate a lack of trolling following this comment as I was just responding to what other people asked me.
Best of luck to you all
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How many IIs do you need to keep your self esteem intact? I mean, 12 is enough to net you between 4 and 6 acceptances if you're not socially inept already, how many more do you need?
 
Mad Jack said:
How many IIs do you need to keep your self esteem intact? I mean, 12 is enough to net you between 4 and 6 acceptances if you're not socially inept already, how many more do you need?
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There's no golden number of II's required for me to "keep my self esteem intact," but obviously receiving an II from all of my applied schools would be ideal (18). That being said, you can all agree that you want an II or an acceptance from some schools more than others, and 5/6 of the ones I haven't heard from yet are high on my list. Again, I'm not unhappy with my II's so far, but that doesn't preclude my eagerness to receive the rest of them.
 
davlives said:
There's no golden number of II's required for me to "keep my self esteem intact," but obviously receiving an II from all of my applied schools would be ideal (18). That being said, you can all agree that you want an II or an acceptance from some schools more than others, and 5/6 of the ones I haven't heard from yet are high on my list. Again, I'm not unhappy with my II's so far, but that doesn't preclude my eagerness to receive the rest of them.
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I mean its the fact that you are complaining about having a "drought" of II's even though you have 12 IIs. You even made a separate thread about.

Just like @Spector1 said, many of the MD applicants here have 1 or 0 interviews thus far as many of us are experiencing a deafening silence from many allopathic schools.

And here you are with 12 IIs. What kind of response did you expect?
 
Gandyy said:
I mean its the fact that you are complaining about having a "drought" of II's even though you have 12 IIs. You even made a separate thread about.

Just like @Spector1 said, many of the MD applicants here have 1 or 0 interviews thus far as many of us are experiencing a deafening silence from many allopathic schools.

And here you are with 12 IIs. What kind of response did you expect?
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12 out of 18 schools none the less. Here I am sitting with a less than 10% interview to school ratio.
 
Mad Jack said:
How many IIs do you need to keep your self esteem intact? I mean, 12 is enough to net you between 4 and 6 acceptances if you're not socially inept already, how many more do you need?
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S/he needs IIs from all the schools applied to. Judging by the neuroticism, probably ~30-35ish schools.

Edit: ok so it's only 18 schools. But I called it exactly, OP wants an II from every school to feel safe. Can't make this stuff up :laugh:

but obviously receiving an II from all of my applied schools would be ideal (18)
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davlives said:
There's no golden number of II's required for me to "keep my self esteem intact," but obviously receiving an II from all of my applied schools would be ideal (18). That being said, you can all agree that you want an II or an acceptance from some schools more than others, and 5/6 of the ones I haven't heard from yet are high on my list. Again, I'm not unhappy with my II's so far, but that doesn't preclude my eagerness to receive the rest of them.
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You're basically coming off like a guy who's like, "I made a million dollars so far on my $500,000 investment this year, but I'm having a drought and haven't made any more money in the past few weeks! Each day I check my brokerage account, I come away empty handed!"

You've got it really, really good. And you're coming off like a guy who's oblivious to how good he's got it. You don't have a "drought," you had a hurricane and you're upset that the sky won't keep drizzling.
 
Maybe you should focus on preparing for the 12 interviews you already have instead of worrying about the other schools. Unless you think you tanked all 12 interviews. If the other schools want to interview you, they will in good time.

This isn't a contest to see who can get the most interview invites. if and hopefully when you gain an acceptance to any of these 12 schools, remember it is common courtesy to only hold as few acceptances as possible.
 
davlives said:
I had been receiving II's pretty steadily from late august until a couple weeks ago, but now I feel as though I'm in a drought. Each (multiple time per) day I check my inbox I'm left empty handed. Anyone else in the same boat and, if so, how do you mentally justify it??
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You've gotta be trolling. If not you're welcome to step in this door here:

*opens door that leads off a cliff*
 
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Monster_Cat said:
Also, a lot of people can't afford to travel to so many places should they get that many interviews. This is process is so hard and brutal at every stage, and saying "I have a drought with 12 interviews" just makes OP come across as privileged and entitled.
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^ I actually can't afford to travel much given that my monetary situation/family situation is not a privileged one. That adds to why I want II's from the rest of my schools, because they're closer to home for me and I could drive to them to avoid hotel and airfare costs. A lot of the other misc. schools I've received are far away. Thanks for making the assumption though..
 
Monster_Cat said:
Assuming each flight costs $500 and he has 30 interviews, that's $30,000 on flights (gotta include return flights). If he stays at hotels for roughly $100 a night so $100*30=$3000. If you include a car rental + under 24 costs that's easily for $40,000+. Getting that excited about spending $40k is ridiculous unless you're Donald Trump, and interview invites mean FAR less than an acceptance.

If OP is going to get that neurotic and excited about spending that much he should just go out and buy a new corvette. Around the same cost, and far less effort on his part.
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To be fair, 1000$ per flight is pretty ridiculous. Across coast has ranged from $380-480 RT, excluding a current II for me (I'm trying to find a way to cheap this one out)
But I agree 100%, there's no plausible way to do 30 IIs.
 
breezy16 said:
To be fair, 1000$ per flight is pretty ridiculous. Across coast has ranged from $380-480 RT, excluding a current II for me (I'm trying to find a way to cheap this one out)
But I agree 100%, there's no plausible way to do 30 IIs.
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Yea unless you do absolutely nothing but go on IIs and have everything paid for by parents or someone else, 30 II's is completely impractical.
 
davlives said:
Thank you for the support. This is the first SDN thread I've ever created... didn't realize this site was such a hostile place.
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In my experience SDN is not a hostile place, but it is full of people trying their hardest to enter one of the most difficult professions on earth with one of the most rigorous paths of education and resume building. These are things you have to consider when you gripe about having 11 interviews and now none. I'm not saying you are wrong for asking, but consider how comments and complaints like that might impact someone who has zero interviews, or who has gotten nothing but denials.

Food for thought, friend. We are all in this together.
 
davlives said:
Thank you for the support. This is the first SDN thread I've ever created... didn't realize this site was such a hostile place.
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Hmmmm. Yeah. It's like this. We're all very stressed out, coping with fears of inadequacy, rejection, failure, etc.
 
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