Interviews Three, A Doctor You'll Be?

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Interviews Three, A Doctor You'll Be?

  • Yes, I had three interviews (or fewer) and received an offer of admission (MD or DO)

    Votes: 183 38.8%
  • No, I had three interviews or more but received no offer of admission, even from the waitlist

    Votes: 41 8.7%
  • I had two interviews or fewer and received no offer of admission, even from the waitlist

    Votes: 30 6.4%
  • I had far more than three interviews and received at least one offer of admission.

    Votes: 218 46.2%

  • Total voters
    472
Didn't vote since I was a reapplicant, but I got 3 IIs and 1 acceptance.

On the note of the poll itself, if you're trying to figure out if 3 is the magic number, shouldn't "3" and "fewer" have been separate options?

Hmmm.... The early decision folks have only one and some people will withdraw their other applications and stop accepting interview invites once they have an offer from their top choice. I could have split them and then combined them in the analysis. However, the real info is in the "no offers" groups. There we'll see if how often three (or more) is not enough.

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I got 6 II's (3 MD and 3 DO) and was offered one acceptance after attending 3 of the interviews.
 
Last call for votes. Thus far, it is the rare first time applicant who does not have an offer of admission if they have the good fortune of at least 3 interviews.
 
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So if I have >3 interviews lined up already, I should feel pretty good about my chances of becoming a doctor, yes? Unless it turns out that I am totally weird, but I don't think that is the case (I passed job and grad school interviews so I'm not that weird...).
 
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So if I have >3 interviews lined up already, I should feel pretty good about my chances of becoming a doctor, yes? Unless it turns out that I am totally weird, but I don't think that is the case (I passed job and grad school interviews so I'm not that weird...).

Scientists are eccentric people, so you never know...:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Just kidding! Congrats on all the IIs. :)
 
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Two interviews,
one acceptance
one waitlist(->acceptance)
 
I have 3 II's as of now....praying one turns acceptance later this cycle


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I interviewed at 2 MD schools last cycle and was wait-listed at both-- did not eventually get accepted to either.
 
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I have 3 II's as of now....praying one turns acceptance later this cycle


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I know, even with some IIs it's pretty nerve racking. I just want to get in early so I can save my wife and I some money
 
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Last call for votes. Thus far, it is the rare first time applicant who does not have an offer of admission if they have the good fortune of at least 3 interviews.

Just a few concerns that you may be already aware. There seems to be two problems inherent in SDN surveys: response bias and SDN possibly not being a good sample of the overall applicant population. Would the 3 II/1 acceptance ratio still apply for the general applicant population despite these limitations?
 
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This is more for fun than anything else. It is in no way a scientifically valid poll. If it were just a flip of a coin, the likelihood of getting heads three times out of three is 12.5%
 
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Received two interviews, attended one, and was offered admission to this school (no waitlist).
 
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:prof:
http://www.mathsteacher.com.au/year10/ch05_probability/06_further_representation/Image3890.gif

Taking it out from heads 2 times in a row being a 1 in 4 chance, heads 3 times in a row is 1 in 8 chance or 12.5%.

Here heads stands in for no offer despite an interview.

Of course, admission decisions aren't decided by chance (coin flip).

How does this account for when the coin lands on its side? While your chart is well reasoned, it doesn't seem to be a very rigorous methodology.
 
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How does this account for when the coin lands on its side? While your chart is well reasoned, it doesn't seem to be a very rigorous methodology.

http://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.48.2547

An experiment is reported in which an object which can rest in multiple stable configurations is dropped with randomized initial conditions from a height onto a flat surface. The effect of varying the object’s shape on the probability of landing in the less stable configuration is measured. A dynamical model of the experiment is introduced and solved by numerical simulations. Results of the experiments and simulations are in good agreement, confirming that the model incorporates the essential features of the dynamics of the tossing experiment. Extrapolations based on the model suggest that the probability of an American nickel landing on edge is approximately 1 in 6000 tosses.

It'll be similar for other coins, so 1 in 6000 is a good approximation for a flat surface.
 
7 II (attended 6), WL 3, accepted 1, rejected 2. I kinda stopped trying after that acceptance (which happened to be at my realistic top choice.)
 
Dang that's rough... 1/6


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Yea, it wasn't too successful (all it takes is one anyway). However, 2 of my WL decisions came after my acceptance so I felt less incentivized to really push to get in off those WLs. There's no way I was getting any sort of grant scholarship (welcome to the tax bracket of "my parents make too much but they also make too little") so money wasn't a factor, meaning how much I liked the school was the ultimate decider. Since my one acceptance was at my number 1, that's all the reason I needed to not waste my time sending updates and writing LOIs.
 
Yea, it wasn't too successful (all it takes is one anyway). However, 2 of my WL decisions came after my acceptance so I felt less incentivized to really push to get in off those WLs. There's no way I was getting any sort of grant scholarship (welcome to the tax bracket of "my parents make too much but they also make too little") so money wasn't a factor, meaning how much I liked the school was the ultimate decider. Since my one acceptance was at my number 1, that's all the reason I needed to not waste my time sending updates and writing LOIs.

How did you feel about your interviews? Do you feel like a strong interviewee?
 
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How did you feel about your interviews? Do you feel like a strong interviewee?

I got 4 interviews done before I had my acceptance. My first one was in August, and I know I bombed (half of it, anyway, since it was a student + faculty interview and I did really well with the student but really poorly with the faculty.) I ended up WL at that school, got the notice around late September. The next 3 were spread out during the remainder of the fall (those resulted in 1 acceptance, 1 rejection, 1 WL). My other interviews after the acceptance I felt like I did fine in, but again, after I got that acceptance notice in late December (and the remainder of my interviews were after), I kinda stopped trying. The remaining 2 I got 1 WL and 1 rejection. As for the 7th II, I actually didn't even know I had been extended one until I decided to check their portal one day because I had heard no news from them. This was after December so I declined the invite.

So if you want to look at it as if I only did 4 interviews, that would mean: 2 WL, 1 reject, 1 accept. A much more reassuring spread. I'm pretty sure I could have converted at least 1 of those WLs into an acceptance if I really tried (felt like I really aced that interview, bonded really well with my interviewer) but that's all hypothetical.
 
"Interviews Two, Good Freaking Luck to You."

:)
 
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It's still really early in the cycle, but I'd like to share my data:
31 primaries
3 interviews SO FAR (for those of you in the future reading this, it's late August)
1 Acceptance!
 
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I attended 4 MD interviews (with 5 IIs) and was accepted off my first waitlist mid-April.
hi mcatjelly, congrats on the acceptance. i remember you from the may 2015 mcat thread.

do you mind sharing when more or less you were complete and when you received your interviews?
 
hi mcatjelly, congrats on the acceptance. i remember you from the may 2015 mcat thread.

do you mind sharing when more or less you were complete and when you received your interviews?

Hey!

Was (generally) complete mid-August through mid-September. Received IIs in September, October, November, January, and April (did not attend).
 
I had 3 ii, attended 3 interviews, waitlisted at 2 and outright accepted at 1, US MD first time applicant

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2 interviews, attended both, waitlisted at both, then made it off waitlist the last day of June
Clutch?
Yes, but the last people to get into medschool still become doctors :D
 
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Been on 4 interviews (all MDs) with the first one in mid-October of this year and the other about one month ago, accepted at both 5 days ago. The other two interviews were less than a week ago and still have one pending. I think the interview is the easiest part of the process. I'm a first time applicant from CA.
 
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4 interviews between the beginning of October and the beginning of November. Accepted outright to one in December and waitlisted at others, then accepted to the other three in the spring.
 
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Also this has not taken into consideration timing of interviews and which schools the interviews are at... not all interviews are equal given the difference of % of post-interview acceptance offers at each school, and the % of acceptances offered for the cycle timeline (dwindling as the season progresses)

Despite this, it would be interesting to see a general rule of thumb applied to interviews, and if this were considered specifically as a rule during the Fall
 
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2 interviews in September.
3 in November.
1 in Dec.

So far accepted to one school that I interviewed at in September. Still waiting to hear back from all other schools.
 
Also this has not taken into consideration timing of interviews and which schools the interviews are at... not all interviews are equal given the difference of % of post-interview acceptance offers at each school, and the % of acceptances offered for the cycle timeline (dwindling as the season progresses)

Despite this, it would be interesting to see a general rule of thumb applied to interviews, and if this were considered specifically as a rule during the Fall

I do not agree that the proportion of interviewees offered acceptance changes over the course of the cycle. It may in some schools but others will be deliberate in allotting offers proportionally throughout the season. In some cases they will delay making decisions until the end of the cycle to figure out exactly how the "mushy middle" plays out. In those cases, later applicants who perform better than the early applicants could get the nod.
 
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Two Interviews in August
Two Interviews in September

Accepted to one from both months. Also still waiting to hear back from other schools.
 
I do not agree that the proportion of interviewees offered acceptance changes over the course of the cycle. It may in some schools but others will be deliberate in allotting offers proportionally throughout the season. In some cases they will delay making decisions until the end of the cycle to figure out exactly how the "mushy middle" plays out. In those cases, later applicants who perform better than the early applicants could get the nod.

Okay, that may be true in a general sense across the board.

I only stated it as a concern which may impact several schools because we had an admissions officer on interview day state that their ratio changes over the course of the cycle in that fashion, however this was only one school
 
3 DO II in october, accepted at the first two 2 weeks post interview so I denied the third II. 1 MD interview beginning of December still waiting to hear back.
 
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Answer the poll and leave a comment about how many interviews you attended before you received your first offer, regardless of how many interviews you eventually attended.

How much value is there to know how many interviews were attended before receiving the first acceptance? Doesn't this really depend on the school list?

My own example. I attended 6 before the first acceptance, but that acceptance came from Interview #3, which was the only one that gave responses in 4-6 weeks and I received the acceptance at 3 weeks post-II. One other sends in 6-8 weeks, it's been 5 weeks, and all the others aren't released until the end of January and later.

So how would that add any valuable information for number attended before the first acceptance if the decisions simply aren't released until a set date (non-rolling/semi-rolling) for the schools applied/interviewed while on the other hand someone else could have all their interviews at institutions with rolling decisions.
 
This has been an interesting correlation to see; can anyone weigh in on whether this trend flies out the door for non-first time applicants/reapplicants?

I've had 5 IIs so far, 4 within the TX Match System, all within mid November - early December, and am now at the mercy of TX Match Day in February.
 
2 interviews so far, 1 DO acceptance and 1 MD waitlist. One more DO interview for Feb.
 
5 MD II's: 5 acceptances (first one came in November 15'). My previous profession, which shouldn't be hard to guess, endowed me with the gift of gab.
 
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