Interview expectations from top schools

[jj6vcb]

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First, lets not let this even come close to an argument about school prestige. I had a thought today and wanted to see what people's opinions were on this subject.

Do you think the expectations for interview performance are higher at "better" medical schools, or do you think that you can get in with the same interview as a relatively worse school, but higher stats. To simplify, if a 3.6/30 with a B+ interview gets you in to school B, would a 3.9/35 with the same interview get you in to school A, or would you be expected to perform better in person?

Just trying to start a discussion here that might be useful to those applying now. This is coming from the perspective of someone finished with apps, and looking back... it seems to me that the "better" schools expected more than just higher stats... you had to be better in person as well.

 

[chutzpah]

I think...
you have to give THE B interview to get into school B, and the A interview to get into school A, but I don't think I answered your question.

 

[christina30]

I think what the above poster was trying to say is: they don't expect BETTER, the expectations are just DIFFERENT.

You have to read up on the specific school prior to interview and sort of play to their agenda - convince them that you're a good fit for their school.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

..

 

[JmanDO]

All they can ask for is your best. Give it.

 

[NotAsking4Much]

Really depends on how you fit with your interviewer.
I had some interviewers love me and some that clearly did not click.

So a "good" interview might be "average" to another person.

Then again, this is going with the assumption that you're not socially awkward and can actually hold a conversation.

 

[JJMrK]

Just do your best and see what happens. This is not something worth worrying about.

 

[Vadoff]

First, we need to ask whether or not the percentage of people accepted from the interview pool from both schools are similar or not. If it is, then we can move onto the next step. However it could be that the high ranked school gives out 1000 interviews and only accepts 50 (5%), whereas the less ranked could give out 100 interviews and accept 50 (50%), or vice-versa. If the school has a lower acceptance rate from the interview pool, it will mean that you have to perform that much better to stand out from the crowd in the eyes of the interviewers.

Next, we have to look at the quality of the applicants and how well they do overall as a whole. I don't think it's a stretch to say that interviewees from a high ranked school will be stronger overall than those from a low ranked school. I say "stronger" in the sense that they'll likely be stronger speakers, have more enthusiasm/charisma, have more outstanding experiences to talk about, and just be a bit more impressive. How much "stronger" these interviewees are is subjective to opinion - it'll most likely not be a lot, at least not evident enough to notice on an individual basis - however, overall I'd say it'll still be a slight, but statistically significant amount.

So yeah, you'll most likely have to perform better at the high ranked school (maybe on the scale of a B+ instead of a B, and not an A instead of a B).

 

[marele86]

In my experience, at my "top tier" interviews I was asked fewer "is this person cut out for medicine" questions (no "Why do you want to be a doctor?" no "What is your perception of a doctor's day-to-day life?") It's like they figured, "hey, she seems smart, she probably knows why sher wants to be a doctor and frankly we're tired of listening to the same answers over and over."

Instead their questions focused more on me as a person and (maybe) how well I'd fit into their institution.

The "lower" tier interviews I were on were all about the "why do you want to be a doctor" kind of questions, and then only a little bit directed at me and my life.

I wouldn't read too much into this, since I'm just one person, but there you go.