Interviewed last time, didn't get in. How does that translate to this year?

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Septimusseverus

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So I interviewed last year at a school and ended up getting on their waitlist, and finally auto-rejected because the waitlist didn't move.

I've applied this year again with slightly better "hard" stats (grades, etc) and many more extracurriculars.

Does the admissions committee take into account the fact they interviewed me last year? Since they obviously liked me enough to interview last year, does that mean that they'll be pretty likely to do so again since my application has only gotten better?

Or is there absolutely no correlation?
 
So I interviewed last year at a school and ended up getting on their waitlist, and finally auto-rejected because the waitlist didn't move.

I've applied this year again with slightly better "hard" stats (grades, etc) and many more extracurriculars.

Does the admissions committee take into account the fact they interviewed me last year? Since they obviously liked me enough to interview last year, does that mean that they'll be pretty likely to do so again since my application has only gotten better?

Or is there absolutely no correlation?
 
Yes, and you'd better show some real improvement. Otherwise, apply broadly.



Does the admissions committee take into account the fact they interviewed me last year?

Possibly, but no guarantee.

Since they obviously liked me enough to interview last year, does that mean that they'll be pretty likely to do so again since my application has only gotten better?
 
According to the 2014 Tulane thread, people who interviewed / rejected last year are getting accepted this year WITHOUT AN INTERVIEW. It's unreal. Like "well you were at the top of last year's waiting list, so what the hell we'll just slip you in this year instead".

I've never heard of such a thing before. I think somebody put whiskey in the dean's water fountain again.
 
According to the 2014 Tulane thread, people who interviewed / rejected last year are getting accepted this year WITHOUT AN INTERVIEW. It's unreal. Like "well you were at the top of last year's waiting list, so what the hell we'll just slip you in this year instead".

I've never heard of such a thing before. I think somebody put whiskey in the dean's water fountain again.

I saw someone on the SLU thread who got an acceptance the same way.
 
From firsthand experience, you are at a distinctive disadvantage as a reapp at almost all schools. Schools receive way more apps than they can interview, and getting rid of their sloppy seconds unfortunately seems to be a preferred way to trim down that list. Or in the case of Tulane, they see last year's leftovers as good enough to reheat lol.
 
:shrug: I think it would depend on the school. They would see that you are a reapp, they will be able to see your app from last year, and they would probably expect a big change in order to give you another chance. How big a change is up to them and probably also how their applicant pool is looking this year.
 
From firsthand experience, you are at a distinctive disadvantage as a reapp at almost all schools. Schools receive way more apps than they can interview, and getting rid of their sloppy seconds unfortunately seems to be a preferred way to trim down that list. Or in the case of Tulane, they see last year's leftovers as good enough to reheat lol.

I know some schools put you in a different pile for review at a later time...which we all know is usually too late.

I wish I knew two years ago that Tulane and SLU loved leftovers 🙁
 
From firsthand experience, you are at a distinctive disadvantage as a reapp at almost all schools. Schools receive way more people than they can interview, and getting rid of their sloppy seconds unfortunately seems to be a preferred way to trim down that list. Or in the case of Tulane, they see last year's leftovers as good enough to reheat lol.

From firsthand experience,this is NOT true..if you are reapplying the very next year its just plain hard to have much improvement, but if you have it shouldn't disadvantage you. Reapplying with a significantly improved app shows them that your are dedicated to medicine and genuinely interested in their school. But I agree, if you've done nothing differently, why would they suddenly accept you?
 
:shrug: I think it would depend on the school. They would see that you are a reapp, they will be able to see your app from last year, and they would probably expect a big change in order to give you another chance. How big a change is up to them and probably also how their applicant pool is looking this year.

Yeah I went from pre-interview rejection at Pitt two years ago to interview invite off the bat (my file wasn't even complete with letters) this year.
 
Congrats! 😀

Thanks!

For other reapplicants, BU is also reapplicant-friendly. I was waitlisted the first time and was granted another interview this cycle. They have a specific prompt about reapplying to state what you have improved.
 
I interviewed at WashU last year, was waitlisted and ultimately auto-rejected. Got an II again this year (albeit, it took them 2months to send me one this time vs 2 weeks last year). I also have interviews at 2 top schools that I am a reapplicant at where I did not get an II previously.

Unless you have some major red flag, I think many schools understand that there are some great applicants who just fall through the cracks and don't get in anywhere for whatever reason (at least that's what I tell myself 😛). There are just too many qualified applicants for too little seats.

Woah, someone who was good enough to get an II to WashU didn't get in anywhere!?!?!

That really scares me. I've already attended 5 interviews and I have 3 left, so I was getting confident of getting admitted. But now, I'm starting to worry :scared:
 
Haha it happens. My good friend interviewed at WashU and Harvard last year and is now on the reapplicant trail with me :laugh:. The last year I had to do some serious soul-searching and I asked myself a lot of "Is there something wrong with me that I'm not seeing 🙁??" I'm very happy with how this cycle is starting to pan out though. A combination of applying earlier (importance cannot be understated) + writing better essays helps a lot.

You've got invites to awesome schools, so this is totally going to be your year!😀 Good luck on the whole process.

I would not worry! With 8 II you are clearly doing something right and I think if you prepared well for the interviews, I'm quite confident you'll get in 🙂.


Thanks for the vote of confidence.Here's hoping someone on the admissions committee agrees :xf:
 
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