Interview selection

[calespine]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Do most EM programs read your "complete" application (CAF, PS, LORs...) prior to selecting applicants to interview or do they rely primarily on computerized filtering to cut down the pool? I know most use some filtering, but I don't know if they read everything else too. Most of their websites say so, but I was just curious. Most programs I've looked at only offer 100-130 interviews.

 

[calespine]

Also, if so many interview invites are sent within a day or two of the MSPE release- what exactly are they waiting for with the MSPE? If they release invites so fast after November 1st, they must already have reviewed the applications (at least to some extent) right?

 

[Emergency!]

Actually, most of mine came before the MSPE release. Only 2 or 3 programs waited until after the MSPE. Technically, I think programs are supposed to wait for the MSPE, but it seems like most of them don't.

 

[GatorsWearJorts]

When did you get most of your interview invitations?

Heres one discrepancy I hear:

Many say that interview invites are mainly based on preliminary cutoffs of scores, but not too much else. Also, people say that once you are at the interview stage everyone is on even ground and it mostly comes down to your interview.
This means that the rest of your application is never really read or paid much attention to- you are often invited to interview based on scores then ranked based mainly on your interview.
Obviously, one or both of these myths are incorrect.

 

[calespine]

So many views- so few replies🙁 Another question- if a program says they don't have a step 1 score cut-off on their website, do you believe them?

 

[ccfccp]

So many views- so few replies🙁 Another question- if a program says they don't have a step 1 score cut-off on their website, do you believe them?

Yes and no. If you have a 190 step one score, turned around and got a good step 2, good clinical grades, and great LORs, then they're likely not to "weed you out." Unfortunately, those candidates are pretty rare.

Usualy a particulary poor step 1 score is followed by a mediocre step 2 score with average to below average grades. In that situation, one may be in trouble when it comes to getting interview offers.

 

[ccfccp]

I don't know what other programs do, but we break the applications into parts and weigh each part pretty much the same: grades, step 1, step 2, each individual LOR, interview, etc. The interview and whether you rotated with us may bump you up or down a little bit (sometimes a fair amount...) but it's not like just rocking the interview will move you ahead of a bunch of more qualified people (most of whom are also likely to interview well... med students tend to be dynamic people no matter what the stereotype says...)

 

[GatorsWearJorts]

When did yall get most of your invites? October-November?

 

[Emergency!]

When did yall get most of your invites? October-November?

I got a few in September after submitting (submitted ~ early 2nd week of September), vast majority in October. I got a couple more (plus my rejections) in November after the MSPEs came out. One program didn't invite myself or any of my classmates until December.

Your timing may also depend on when you do your EM rotation and get all of your letters submitted. I didn't get any invites until at least 2 of my letters were uploaded and most started coming after my 3rd letter was in. I did my rotation in July and all of my letters were in by the end of September. Some of my friends did EM in September and didn't have their letters in until middle of October, so their invites were mostly in late October/early November. They were pretty stressed out about it, but they ended up getting just as many interviews as those of use who did our rotations early.