Interview or Study for Finals

[Gentle]

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OK... I got a call from one of the state schools that I applied to. They wanted me to interview but their interview dates happen to coincide with crucial moments in school (I'm senior Bchm maj.). The first date that they offered coincided with my end of term presentation in one of my lab classes. It's out of question to discuss this with the prof. b/c she doesn't understand. She even deducted points for turning in a lab rep. late when I told her that I had to go for interview.
The second date coincides with my finals. I've got finals the day b/4 & after this date. I don't want to jeorpadize my grades at this point given the fact that I haven't had an acceptance yet (Aug. MCATer).

I was wondering if my unavailability would rub them off the wrong way. They might think I'm not serious in attending that school (I'm very interested in this school though). If I miss on these dates then I'm lookin' only around mid Jan for an interview. Fellow SDNers...any thoughts?

Gentle.

 

[Nikki2002]

Can you take the finals early?? Talk to your profs! mid-jan doesn't seem like a long time but who knows how many more interviews they will have done by then?

 

[Law2Doc]

OK... I got a call from one of the state schools that I applied to. They wanted me to interview but their interview dates happen to coincide with crucial moments in school (I'm senior Bchm maj.). The first date that they offered coincided with my end of term presentation in one of my lab classes. It's out of question to discuss this with the prof. b/c she doesn't understand. She even deducted points for turning in a lab rep. late when I told her that I had to go for interview.
The second date coincides with my finals. I've got finals the day b/4 & after this date. I don't want to jeorpadize my grades at this point given the fact that I haven't had an acceptance yet (Aug. MCATer).

I was wondering if my unavailability would rub them off the wrong way. They might think I'm not serious in attending that school (I'm very interested in this school though). If I miss on these dates then I'm lookin' only around mid Jan for an interview. Fellow SDNers...any thoughts?

Gentle.

In the greater scheme of things, a good interview and a mediocre final exam will do more for your career than a good exam and no interview. Do what you have to to rock the interview and still squeak by on the test.

 

[anystream]

I would try to change the interview date. I don't think they will think anything of it, since usually its a secretary who does the scheduling and not the adcom. Like one poster said, the best thing to do would be to ace the interview and do fine in your class, but I think its pretty likely that you would not do your best in either and stress yourself out at the same time.

I think the fact that the next available interview spots are in January is proof that a lot of other applicants are focusing on finals at this time and waiting to interview during winter vacation.

 

[Gentle]

Thanks for the replies....

anystream, No. Can't interview during winter vacation b/c there're "no spots available for the interview schedule during that period"

 

[drmota]

for 3 of my interviews i had the option of interviewing in december but i passed them up in order to concentrate on finals. but i'm in 5 classes. and i'm also not concentrating. so...ya
-mota

 

[msdoc]

Your long term goal is to get into med school, not go get A's in undergrad (although that may be a goal of yours). I had a similar situation earlier when I had to miss classes for interviews (I'm in a masters program). A professor of mine told me that he would have to mark me down for not attending class (it's a discussion class). Of course he's a jerk to do this, but you have to prioritize. Good luck!

 

[medicalbound]

Talk to your professor. If you think that you cannot still do well in your class, I recommend that you take one of the later interview dates. Consider getting waitlisted at the school you are interviewing at and they request updated transcripts. I think that a later interview and a great fall semester would be better than an earlier interview (still with no guarantees) and a poor fall showing.

 

[jon0013]

yeah try to talk to her....yesterday this professor calls me out and was like "i need to talk to you because you've been missing class lately and i expected more from you"...i told her i've been at interviews and had given her notices...then she said "i can drop you a letter grade since you have over 5 absences" and i was like "arent med school interviews excused?" and she said yeah and so i was like "so all of mine are excused"...and she was like "i don't see how you need to miss so many classes for interviews" and i was like "uhh, i've had 6 interviews in november" and she was like "you're really telling me you've been to 6 universities the past 3 weeks" and i was like "yup".....

so unaccomadating...told me not to miss anymore classes...i have a state school int this thursday which is the last day of classes for me as an undergrad...they have an available date the 15th but i have a final that day...the final date available is the 5th of january, but i want to keep that open since i will most likely go to the rose bowl...........

 

[Nikki2002]

gawd you guys have horribly mean profs........and what's up with them taking attendance??

 

[theunderdog]

f*ck that man.

i have an interview next week. and i will flying out to texas. dont mess.

screw finals.

 

[Gentle]

theunderdog, I kinda felt that way too but....yeah, I'll just put the interviews for a later date and do the finals. These profs are so f*cking mean man. Some are conscienceless, I will have to say.....I believe they've got kids too who will one day want someone to understand certain situations going on in their lifes....well.

 

[dr_keki]

I say, go to your interview. Screw your prof who's so anal and so what if you get a B instead of an A. What's more important is whether you'll be a doctor or not.

 

[drmota]

you guys are getting me paranoid as f*ck.
-mota

 

[ms1finally]

INTERVIEW - non-rolling schools start filling their classes soon. The sooner you interview the better!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[remo]

OK... I got a call from one of the state schools that I applied to. They wanted me to interview but their interview dates happen to coincide with crucial moments in school (I'm senior Bchm maj.). The first date that they offered coincided with my end of term presentation in one of my lab classes. It's out of question to discuss this with the prof. b/c she doesn't understand. She even deducted points for turning in a lab rep. late when I told her that I had to go for interview.
The second date coincides with my finals. I've got finals the day b/4 & after this date. I don't want to jeorpadize my grades at this point given the fact that I haven't had an acceptance yet (Aug. MCATer).

I was wondering if my unavailability would rub them off the wrong way. They might think I'm not serious in attending that school (I'm very interested in this school though). If I miss on these dates then I'm lookin' only around mid Jan for an interview. Fellow SDNers...any thoughts?

Gentle.

Not to be negative but if you think you might have to re-apply next year you will be extremely happy that you postponed the interview and crushed your finals.

 

[drmota]

INTERVIEW - non-rolling schools start filling their classes soon. The sooner you interview the better!!!!!!!!!!!!

is january considered late?
-mota

 

[doublepeak]

It think another issue of not doing well on your final that someone else vaguely mentioned is that you will be stressed at your interview because you have a final the day before and after (and I'm not sure about the logistics of travel time).

I had missed this Monday class 3 times for interviews, it got cancelled twice because of hurricanes, and then I got another notice of an interview on the last monday (the final). I also have other finals around that time. I think the teacher would have been alright with it and tried to work it out (its public health and she flies around all the time), but I decided to change my interview until next month (this school only interviews once a week). I basically told my story to the receptionist at the school and said that I really wanted to go to the school and didn't want to jeopardize my chances or anything - that interviewing was more important than this class - and she basically convinced me to do the next interview session and said that it doesn't matter at all in this stage of the process. She explained that their school is rolling but their class will not be filled for a long time and I would have the same chances now as next month. She said that if it was between febuary and march or march and april I should interview, but now it doesn't matter.

I would call to schedule and ask the person straight up. In my experience she was really nice about it and it was at a school where others had even said they got rude people when they called.

 

[ms1finally]

I was at two schools (two years ago) in early February. Their classes were filled and I was waitlisted. I feel confident that I would have gotten into one of the schools if I had been there earlier, but the waitlist is pretty much a death sentence because they admit very few off of it. The other one I might have had a better shot at, but it really would have been a crapshoot.