Interview: Mixed Signals?

[Enginarian]

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Hi all...I am primarily lurker on this site, but wanted to post a quick question to you all. Back in February I had what I thought was a great interview....my interviewers just asked me why I wanted to switch to vet med from my current career path and after I answered that question, they pretty much said they had asked me all they needed to ask me. They told me they had no question in their minds that I was more then qualified to go to vet school and asked me if I had any questions for them. We ended up talking for about 45 minutes and I walked out feeling great. Come March and I get a letter from them saying I've been waitlisted?! 😕 I've signed up for a case review, but I am still trying to figure out what went wrong, especially since they didn't ask me any other questions besides why I wanted to become a vet. I was just wondering if any of you guys have had a similar experience or know of someone who has. Its been very frustrating, because if they had questions about my qualifications why didn't they ask about them during the interview? Any input or advice would be much appreciated! Thanks! 🙂

 

[twelvetigers]

Interviews can go perfect, but it's still just a portion of a composite score. For some schools, this is just your file review and eLORs, but for others it will include GPA/GRE.

So... a great interview helps, sure, but it's not the only thing affecting your application.

 

[Enginarian]

The school I interviewed at was Wash State...I'm not sure what their criteria is when evaluating candidates after the interview. I supposed I'll find out when I have my case review. 😳 The thing that got me was that they didn't ask me any questions...I had walked in expecting questions on current events, ethics, about my grades (my undergrad grades weren't spectacular). And I didn't get anything, the interviewers showed me the list of questions they were supposed to go through, but they told me they felt it wasn't necessary in my case. So confusing...🙁

 

[twelvetigers]

I agree, it's strange. I would be really disappointed in that situation too.

I hope the file review is a big help for you.

 

[moosenanny]

Keep in mind that the whole time you were talking, they were still interviewing you, without needing to ask formal questions. They are still evaluating you the entire time you're in there with them. I'm not saying you did this, but perhaps in this situation someone would let their guard down thinking they didn't need to be on their best interview behavior, and in the end could have come across too informally. Many interviews are extremely conversational and not question-driven, but the adcoms are still using that time to judge and evaluate the applicant.

I hope you get clarification soon!

 

[awaring1]

I am in a similar situation as you. I interviewed at two schools and was wait-listed for both. I felt that they both went great so I was initially shocked at the result. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense in my situation. I was a first time applicant about to finish my bachelors and I had somewhat low grade stats (3.3 GPA, 1100 GRE). I feel like my experiences/references/personal statement were incredibly solid and allowed me to land the interview. Considering I was going against people with similar experiences that have like a 3.8 or a masters degree or have applied multiple times I learned to be thankful that I even ended up on the wait-list! It is still a chance and there were a lot of applicants that didn't even get that chance. I figure that my interviews were to see if I was good enough to even be given that chance. I assume I was destined for the wait-list no matter what but if I blew the interview I would be rejected totally.

I was accepted at another school, but they didn't interview so it's not really relevant to the situation.

 

[AngSchmange]

Yea, sometimes I felt like I was talking too much and leaving less time for later questions. I've sort of had the same experience with one of my interviews, but like TT said they are 'grading' on a number of different things that gives you a total final 'score'. And then there's the whole, school looking for diversity thing, though I would think being a non-trad (since you said you were switching career paths I'm assuming you're older than 21) would've helped in that category. Who knows...the wonders of the Vet Med application process will always sway us! haha

 

[LetItSnow]

Hi all...I am primarily lurker on this site, but wanted to post a quick question to you all. Back in February I had what I thought was a great interview....my interviewers just asked me why I wanted to switch to vet med from my current career path and after I answered that question, they pretty much said they had asked me all they needed to ask me. They told me they had no question in their minds that I was more then qualified to go to vet school and asked me if I had any questions for them. We ended up talking for about 45 minutes and I walked out feeling great.

Most likely you're going to just have to wait to the review to find out. 🙁

I can't count how many people I've talked to who (like me) thought their interviews went poorly - and got in. Or the other way around. I've come to the conclusion that how we interviewees feel about the interview is more often than not a poor reflection of how it actually went. I'm not saying yours didn't go well, necessarily, just that it can be can really hard to accurately gauge it.

 

[GellaBella]

i don't know how it works at Washington but I know that at Penn they really evaluate each applicant based on how they fit into the already accepted class as a whole. They try to create a diverse class with people with a variety of different interests (large animal, small animal, mixed, equine, research, lab animal, zoo, etc) and backgrounds.

Perhaps at the end of the day you were a fantastic applicant but they had already selected "enough" students with your similar interests and could not extend the admission offer outright. Perhaps they for some reason thought that someone else would be a better fit for the class as it was developing. It's hard to know but as others have said, there are a lot of things that go into the admissions process and sometimes it's not that you were in any way deficient...maybe others that you were up against were just superstar applicants. It's impossible to know, but try not to get too discouraged about it, there is still a chance you could be matriculating in the fall.

 

[Enginarian]

Thanks everyone for the input. This is my second round of applications and I was so excited to get interviews (i was rejected flat out my first time around). I know the process can be frustrating and that everyone I'm up against is amazing. You guys are a great mood booster! 🙂

 

[SouthJerseyBell]

Keep in mind that the whole time you were talking, they were still interviewing you, without needing to ask formal questions. They are still evaluating you the entire time you're in there with them.

Soo True! I thought my Tufts interview went well, casual and conversational. Later I was waitlisted, and upon my app review the interviewers found me to be too equine-focused, even though I mentioned wanting to be a Mixed LA vet, even praising Tufts for having the variety I wanted. We did have a conversation about horseback riding and what we I liked about horses, but i didn't think it related to my academic desires. Apparently they interpreted it as such, so be mindful of how your conversation might be portrayed!