Interviewing: earlier is better, but how late is too late?

[circulus vitios]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I understand that it's best to interview as early as possible, and that some schools still interview into March. Is it reasonable to say that it's still ok to interview in October over possible dates in August and September?

 

[eefen]

I understand that it's best to interview as early as possible, and that some schools still interview into March. Is it reasonable to say that it's still ok to interview in October over possible dates in August and September?

Any interview opportunity is a good thing. I guess I would maybe be worried about interviewing in February/March, but otherwise you should be fine.

For what it's worth, all of my interview dates were in September/October. Turned out fine. Good luck!

 

[dsoz]

Anything before December is fine. January is pushing it.

Once you hit February or March then you risk interviewing for wait list spots at schools with rolling admissions.

Some schools don't have rolling admissions. U of Arizona, Phoenix and OHSU are two that I know about. They only pick a certain number of applicants and hold spots open for later interviews. It is nice for the later interviewers, but sucks for those that pushed to get everything in early. All that effort seems to have been wasted on those schools.

dsoz

 

[JohnQuincyAdams]

Why do you want to wait?

 

[circulus vitios]

Why do you want to wait?

I started a new job and I have 0 vacation, so I'm going to get fired for missing too much work. I'd rather push some of my interviews into October so I can work for as long as possible, as long as it doesn't hurt my chances of getting into med school.

 

[Pacna]

I'm thinking about this, too. I already confirmed a date with school x, but school y sent me an invite for a month later. I want to call and push back school x... wondering if September is significantly worse than August.

 

[Ismet]

October is fine. My first interview was in October and I got accepted 3 weeks later. My last interview was in like February and I got accepted a few weeks later too. Depends on the school and how quickly they fill the class with early interviews though.

 

[Cambover]

I started a new job and I have 0 vacation, so I'm going to get fired for missing too much work. I'd rather push some of my interviews into October so I can work for as long as possible, as long as it doesn't hurt my chances of getting into med school.

Have you tried talking to your boss about the situation? What have they said?

 

[TheShaker]

I started a new job and I have 0 vacation, so I'm going to get fired for missing too much work. I'd rather push some of my interviews into October so I can work for as long as possible, as long as it doesn't hurt my chances of getting into med school.

I'm doing the same. Scheduling everything Oct - Dec.

 

[circulus vitios]

Have you tried talking to your boss about the situation? What have they said?

Yeah, they about freaked out when I asked for a few days off. It's a really ****ty blue collar job. They don't understand the applications process. Whatever, I guess.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Anything before December is fine. January is pushing it.

Once you hit February or March then you risk interviewing for wait list spots at schools with rolling admissions.

Some schools don't have rolling admissions. U of Arizona, Phoenix and OHSU are two that I know about. They only pick a certain number of applicants and hold spots open for later interviews. It is nice for the later interviewers, but sucks for those that pushed to get everything in early. All that effort seems to have been wasted on those schools.

dsoz

This really depends on the school though. Some schools end their interviewing season in December. Other schools don't even start until January. It's all relative, and what you don't want is to be interviewing so late in a school's season that you're fighting other applicants for the last few open spots.

 

[candbgirl]

That's interesting. Who doesn't start interviewing until January?

 

[darkjedi]

After January or so, you are starting to fight for waitlist spots at many (though definitely not all) schools.

Personally for me, 4/5 of my interviews were in January, which all resulted in waitlists. My only outright acceptance was from an interview in December.

 

[notbobtrustme]

It really depends, but after Dec, you are fighting for the waitlist, IMO. I had a couple interviews in Jan and Dec and I was waitlisted.

 

[chillaxbro]

Interesting
I had 5 interviews last cycle, all from Jan-May and got rejected from every school, only 1 waitlist
I thought it was because of poor interviewing skills

Is it possible that interviewing late was the bigger factor?