Interview invitation/acceptance ratio

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Amazingmuzmo

Amazingmuzmo

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So I have a question for people who have gone through a cycle or can already answer this question: Of the number of interview invitations you have received, how many of them have ended up in an acceptance? I'm wondering if there seems to be a general trend among applicants for a number of interviews that seems to provide at least one acceptance. I know that this is a very random process and is hard to predict, but it might be useful for some people to consider.
 
It really depends on your application.

I had 5 interviews, had one acceptance.
I think that I had somewhat of an interesting application that incited more interviews than warranted.
 
I had 4 interviews and accepted into 2 schools. I also had two other interviews that i turned down after getting accepted into the school i wanted
 
Interviews three, a doctor you'll be. Not sure who originated that saying.
 
Was wondering this very question. Does anyone know where this rule comes from? Any hard numbers?
 
"A third of the time, it works every time."

You can find this information in MSAR IIRC.
 
I think based on aggregated MSAR data, the aggregate average acceptance of all interviewees was about one in three. I'm asking this question because the SDN demographic is by no means representative of the general public. Most applicants are ecstatic to recieve even one interview invite, let alone the multiple invitations we get. Let's also not forget the fact that SDN members are a lot more neurotic and unstable than the general public as well...😀
 
Yeah totally dependent on the school. USNews would tell you on a per school basis, but it's really not worth the money knowing these stats.
 
I was 2 out of 5 as well. I had 2 waitlists (found out later that one of those would've been an acceptance if I'd e-mailed the Associate Dean earlier) and 1 rejection.
 
I was 0-4 in the last application cycle.. but 3 of the rejections/waitlists came from Cornell, Columbia, and Emory. My application was definitely on the weaker side of these schools so that probably had something to do with it. Or maybe I suck more at interviews than I thought.
 
2:1 for me. I have heard the 9:3:1 rule works pretty well. For me, it was 4:2:1 overall.... It really depends upon where you apply and how strong your app is as well as how both of those two things fit together (e.g., a high stats/weak EC student will probably get into places the WashU acceptee with high stats/weak ECs doesn't because guess what WashU cares about....)
 
TheMightySmiter said:
I attended 8 interviews with 2 outright acceptances and 2 acceptances off the WL.
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That makes me worried. That's only a 1 in 4 chance...🙁 I mean you did get off the waitlist at two schools but I sure wouldn't want to be in limbo for so long.
 
TheMightySmiter said:
I attended 8 interviews with 2 outright acceptances and 2 acceptances off the WL.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you remember me but you helped me with my personal statement earlier this summer. I'm at 5 interview invites now, hopefully more to come. I took your suggestions seriously and it looks like it's paying off, thanks again for the help.
 
music2doc said:
2:1 for me. I have heard the 9:3:1 rule works pretty well. For me, it was 4:2:1 overall.... It really depends upon where you apply and how strong your app is as well as how both of those two things fit together (e.g., a high stats/weak EC student will probably get into places the WashU acceptee with high stats/weak ECs doesn't because guess what WashU cares about....)
Click to expand...

Lol, what? Is it your mission to have an [poorly written and supported] agenda in every single one of your posts?
 
Amazingmuzmo said:
So I have a question for people who have gone through a cycle or can already answer this question: Of the number of interview invitations you have received, how many of them have ended up in an acceptance? I'm wondering if there seems to be a general trend among applicants for a number of interviews that seems to provide at least one acceptance. I know that this is a very random process and is hard to predict, but it might be useful for some people to consider.
Click to expand...

I think the acceptances/interviews percentage ranges anywhere from 25% to 60% as far as I know. I'd peg the average somewhere around 40%, but if you can find that data for the specific schools you're interviewing at you'll probably get a more accurate figure. So 1:2.5, including acceptances from the waitlist (since the 25% to 60% is calculated from the total number of acceptances offered when all is said and done).
 
Actually, I think the info from the MSAR is misleading. I was calculating it before by looking at the ratio of interviewed students to matriculated when I realized that schools must be giving out more acceptances than possible seats because they know that not every acceptance they give will be attending their school. Thus the chance of getting in must be higher than the 25-33% that I was averaging before. Maybe it's more likely around 40%? So far, the ratio that I'm seeing people post puts it around 1/3 or slightly above...
 
Amazingmuzmo said:
Actually, I think the info from the MSAR is misleading. I was calculating it before by looking at the ratio of interviewed students to matriculated when I realized that schools must be giving out more acceptances than possible seats because they know that not every acceptance they give will be attending their school. Thus the chance of getting in must be higher than the 25-33% that I was averaging before. Maybe it's more likely around 40%? So far, the ratio that I'm seeing people post puts it around 1/3 or slightly above...
Click to expand...

It sounds like you are a candidate for US News Report...
 
Amazingmuzmo said:
Actually, I think the info from the MSAR is misleading. I was calculating it before by looking at the ratio of interviewed students to matriculated when I realized that schools must be giving out more acceptances than possible seats because they know that not every acceptance they give will be attending their school. Thus the chance of getting in must be higher than the 25-33% that I was averaging before. Maybe it's more likely around 40%? So far, the ratio that I'm seeing people post puts it around 1/3 or slightly above...
Click to expand...

No, it's actually less because of BA/MD programs and such.


(J/K, you are correct. You can find better data for this use in the US News Rankings details. Most schools appear to ultiamtely accept somewhere around 1.5-2.5x the anticipated number of matriculants....)
 
penndoc said:
I was invited to 5 interviews and got accepted to all 5 outright. In retrospect, it's unusual, to say the least.
Click to expand...

very nice. How did you prepare for your interviews, if you don't mind me asking? There's too much "advice" on these sites from unsuccessful applicants. And S\some say just act normally, but that won't work for me.
 
Amazingmuzmo said:
Well, my PI (who happens to be an interviewer for a school in Philly) told me outright on friday to go to the interview feedback portion of SDN and practice with the questions you'll find there with someone.

This kind of scares me because I don't know how much info I've put that could be traced back to my application. A little unnerving that people responsible for our decisions into med school are reading what we say on here, definitely shows the importance of not acting like an idiot.
Click to expand...

I wish more people on SDN realized this.
 
Two things I can see skewing this number:

1) Schools that interview an abnormally high number of people.

2) OOS interviews. I would imagine that, at some schools, they might do something along the lines of interview 50% OOS and 50% IS but have a quota of, say, 70% in-staters, so an IS interview could very well be above the 1/3 or whatever the average is. Though of course, that would also put some OOS interviews below 1/3.
 
kdavidlee25 said:
very nice. How did you prepare for your interviews, if you don't mind me asking? There's too much "advice" on these sites from unsuccessful applicants. And S\some say just act normally, but that won't work for me.
Click to expand...

don't act like the way you've been acting on these forums
 
Moosepig said:
Two things I can see skewing this number:

1) Schools that interview an abnormally high number of people.

2) OOS interviews. I would imagine that, at some schools, they might do something along the lines of interview 50% OOS and 50% IS but have a quota of, say, 70% in-staters, so an IS interview could very well be above the 1/3 or whatever the average is. Though of course, that would also put some OOS interviews below 1/3.
Click to expand...

Possible, but at Michigan, for example, they interview 400 OOS for 250 acceptances and 200 IS for 100 acceptances. Source: UM Director of Admissions
 
virtuoso735 said:
That makes me worried. That's only a 1 in 4 chance...🙁 I mean you did get off the waitlist at two schools but I sure wouldn't want to be in limbo for so long.
Click to expand...

Well, everyone's cycle turns out differently, so I wouldn't worry. It was unbelievably frustrating to get so many waitlists but it worked out for the best in the end.
 
Amazingmuzmo said:
Not sure if you remember me but you helped me with my personal statement earlier this summer. I'm at 5 interview invites now, hopefully more to come. I took your suggestions seriously and it looks like it's paying off, thanks again for the help.
Click to expand...

Glad I could be of some small use, and best of luck! 🙂
 
kdavidlee25 said:
very nice. How did you prepare for your interviews, if you don't mind me asking? There's too much "advice" on these sites from unsuccessful applicants. And S\some say just act normally, but that won't work for me.
Click to expand...

I glanced at the Interview Feedback section of SDN a day or two before the interview, and skimmed over my application the night before. Most importantly, I made sure I got a good night's sleep and had plenty of time to get ready in the morning. There's nothing worse than waking up late and feeling like you're already off to a bad start.
 
Number also gets skewed if someone has a lot of late interviews at more aggressive rolling schools.

Last year: 6 interviews, 3 acc outright, 3 WLs with 1 ending up as an acceptance
 
Mine was around 50% if I remember correctly.
 
You should also factor in the fact that a lot of applicants end up not going to every interview they get invited for. I got 12 IIs, went to 10 of them, and 6 turned into acceptance with 2 WLs and 2 rejections.
 
Amazingmuzmo said:
Actually, I think the info from the MSAR is misleading. I was calculating it before by looking at the ratio of interviewed students to matriculated when I realized that schools must be giving out more acceptances than possible seats because they know that not every acceptance they give will be attending their school. Thus the chance of getting in must be higher than the 25-33% that I was averaging before. Maybe it's more likely around 40%? So far, the ratio that I'm seeing people post puts it around 1/3 or slightly above...
Click to expand...
That reminds me of this graph I saw earlier. ~50% acceptance for UCI.
how_to_apply.jpg
 
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