Interview slots

congrats on those interviews...it looks like you're a pretty stellar applicant. w/ that said, keep in mind that you can't expect to get an interview from EVERY school you apply to no matter how strong of an applicant you are. each school has its own idea of what kind of student it wants to fill their class and will pick applicants based on those characteristics. i got a rejection from BU last week even though my mcat score is 5 points higher than their average. it's just how the cookie crumbles. keep your chin up, you're doing more than fine in this process.

--jj

 

its interesting that you havent received word from upenn, cornell or washu. in my experience, those schools have had some of the fastest turn around. yale got back to you, so thats pretty cool - I've found them to be pretty quick too.
honestly, dont sweat it, you might not get interviews at all three, but I would be surprised if at least one didnt get back to you... I know upenn will still be interviewing well into february. cornell also has a ton of interview dates lined up.
as for BU... and to joe joe, I wouldnt be surprised if you got flat rejected. from what I understand about the school, they look at the very good students and actively screen them out - since the school has no secondary, lots of people apply (8000). also folks tend to view them as a safety, which they really arent, because they seem to really like jerking applicants who they think would never go to BU. (their acceptance rate is 3.8% for a reason)
do a search and you'll see what I mean.

 

I also haven't heard a word from BU. Just got a WashU interview, and there are still a lot of spots there I"m pretty sure. I'm going in two weeks, so I wouldn't give up hope there just yet.
Good luck!

 

Hey alphabeta - I am in the same shoes as you (I got all my secondaries in middle of august) - I have interviewed at Hopkins, Penn, Columbia, Pitt, NYU, and Yale. But, I haven't heard anything from Cornell, Harvard, or Tufts (my stats are much higher than the average for all these schools). I just guess that some schools look for different things or have decided to interview some people later. I wouldn't worry about it, I am not.

 

Arsh and alphabeta, I'm wondering the same thing as you guys. I've interviewed at duke, harvard, upenn, dartmouth, uva, and georgetown, but haven't heard a peep from cornell, hopkins, or yale. I've been wondering why I can't seem to get interviews at those schools and it's gettin a little late. Hopkins I can understand because their supercompetitive, but I figure it's probably harder to interview at harvard than yale or cornell. I guess they do look for different things. I only really want interviews to gauge my chances of getting into duke. man I wish they would just let me know now. although I might really like one of those other schools if they'd just invite me for an interview. Maybe I should just give up hope.....

 

alphabet - i agree 100%, I didnt have high expectations of yale, but they do a great job of selling the school.
its probably my first choice right now.

 

If one applied in mid-November, when could one reasonably expect to hear about an interview? How long after you guys applied did you hear about an interview?

 

Yale: since my app went complete, less than 2 weeks.

 

When did you apply to Yale, darkchild?

 

While I can't answer the question regarding turnaround time, there is no doubt that schools, especially top schools that receive many qualified applicants, look for qualities/attributes in addition to #s. As an example, a top school looking to fill a slot may select a first chair violinist from the NY Philharmonic or an accomplished athlete out of several equally qualified candidates. Why? Some claim that it adds diversity to a class, others say such people have demonstrated excellence in other endeavors and hence are more likely to excel in medicine/make better physicians, and the cynical say that schools like to boast such matriculants as human trophies/validation of the school's preeminance.

There is no guarantee that if one is invited to interview at schools considered to be top-tier that they will receive interviews/acceptances at mid or lower tier schools -- at least as far as med schools go.

 

Patrick: I was complete in the last week of October.