Interview Logic: Schools with 1000+ interview spots

[NoSoupforYou13]

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Can someone please enlighten me? I have always wondered why some schools, even those ranked very highly, interview close to 1000+ applicants each year.

If the average med school size is about 150 students, and typically the matriculation rate is about 40%-50%, then a school should makes offers to about 300 students. Why do they need to interview 3 to 4 times this number? What’s the point if they know they are going to reject more than 3/4 of the people they interview? And, how does it benefit the school?

I have been pondering this for a while and cannot find a logical explanation except for the fact that schools might think that the interview is another “weed out” process, and by interviewing 1000+ candidates they will naturally make selections that will allow them to choose the best candidates.

Thoughts?

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
Often many schools with a national reputation are very expensive to attend. While top students may apply and are accepted, the cost of attendance may be out of reach once all of the financial aid is settled. I ended up turning down a school because I received a full-ride tuition scholarship to another school that was not my top choice. I know that someone at the other school was happy but I am glad to owe $40K instead of $250K now that I am in residency and looking at paying back loan money.

The more people interviewed, the best chance of getting a good class and filling every slot. The worse thing that can happen is to have to pull in marginal candidates because the class does not fill (especially schools with rolling admissions).

njbmd 🙂

 

[NoSoupforYou13]

Hi there,
Often many schools with a national reputation are very expensive to attend. While top students may apply and are accepted, the cost of attendance may be out of reach once all of the financial aid is settled. I ended up turning down a school because I received a full-ride tuition scholarship to another school that was not my top choice. I know that someone at the other school was happy but I am glad to owe $40K instead of $250K now that I am in residency and looking at paying back loan money.

The more people interviewed, the best chance of getting a good class and filling every slot. The worse thing that can happen is to have to pull in marginal candidates because the class does not fill (especially schools with rolling admissions).

njbmd 🙂

I agree with you completely: schools need to guarantee that their classes are filled.

However, I do not understand that given current matriculation rates, why schools need to interview so many people. It seems that if a school has a waitlist of 300+ people they could easily fill their class twice over, and having a waitlist of that size is a bit excessive. (I have yet to hear a school that fills anywhere near 100% of their class from the waitlist.)

 

[Sondra]

I may be completely wrong, but I hope you can follow my train of thought.

Say a school has a rough numbers cutoff say 3.5 BCPM and 28 MCAT. Each can be compensated for the other (i.e. a "22 & 3.9 student" and a "34 & 3.0 student" still get interviewed. Each student who meets the rough cutoff gets an interview. The more applicants you have, the more stringent the cutoff numbers. In this manner, you have narrowed down the applicant pool to a reasonable interviewing number.

There are many, many applicants who have the numbers. You can't possibly know which ones will have the right aptitude unless you meet them, talk with them, and thoroughly review each. The more people you interview the better chance you have of filling the class with the people most desired by the adcom.

 

[Funky]

I may be completely wrong, but I hope you can follow my train of thought.

Say a school has a rough numbers cutoff say 3.5 BCPM and 28 MCAT. Each can be compensated for the other (i.e. a "22 & 3.9 student" and a "34 & 3.0 student" still get interviewed. Each student who meets the rough cutoff gets an interview. The more applicants you have, the more stringent the cutoff numbers. In this manner, you have narrowed down the applicant pool to a reasonable interviewing number.

There are many, many applicants who have the numbers. You can't possibly know which ones will have the right aptitude unless you meet them, talk with them, and thoroughly review each. The more people you interview the better chance you have of filling the class with the people most desired by the adcom.

i think that's about right. Maybe they also feel bad for taking your money and just sending you a rejection letter so instead they give you a tour, free lunch, and hope.