Jan interview - late for admissions?

[nychila]

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Are January interviews considered late at most schools, or just middle (or late-middle) of the interview pack? I hope that January interview dates still have very good chances of being admitted, provided that you are an adequate candidate. If January interviews are fine, would dates starting in February be considered borderline late at most schools?

 

[darkjedi]

Are January interviews considered late at most schools, or just middle (or late-middle) of the interview pack? I hope that January interview dates still have very good chances of being admitted, provided that you are an adequate candidate. If January interviews are fine, would dates starting in February be considered borderline late at most schools?

It definitely depends on the school, 4 of my 5 interviews were in January. 2 were definitely late in the cycle for those schools, and the other 2 about middle of the pack.

 

[LizzyM]

Even schools with what are called "rolling admission" will have straight up offers of admission for people who interview in January. Sometimes a really good applicant can't come in for an interview until Jan (stationed abroad, etc) and schools know that.

 

[nychila]

Would it be a uphill battle with significant hindrances to admissions for a slightly below-average applicant to interview in January at a school? Ie. All else being equal, January interviewee would need 2-3 points higher on the MCAT to have the same chances of admissions as a October or November interviewee?

 

[linebacker57]

Would it be a uphill battle with significant hindrances to admissions for a slightly below-average applicant to interview in January at a school? Ie. All else being equal, January interviewee would need 2-3 points higher on the MCAT to have the same chances of admissions as a October or November interviewee?

That doesn't make any sense....assuming two applicants are identical, and complete at the same time, the one with the higher MCAT score is going to get the interview first, just the way it works. A January interview is certainly a competitive interview, I had 4 interviews in January/ early February last year, and was accepted into two of the schools, albeit off the wait list. Different schools have different philosophies on handing out acceptances at that point in the game however. Some schools will absolutely not have more acceptances floating out then there are seats, so you will very likely be wait listed, with significant wait list movement. Others will have no problems handing out an acceptance in feb.

 

[cwrig14]

Is it common to receive an interview invite in September for a January interview? It was the end of the month, but still that seemed like an awful long time.

 

[nychila]

That doesn't make any sense....assuming two applicants are identical, and complete at the same time, the one with the higher MCAT score is going to get the interview first, just the way it works. A January interview is certainly a competitive interview, I had 4 interviews in January/ early February last year, and was accepted into two of the schools, albeit off the wait list. Different schools have different philosophies on handing out acceptances at that point in the game however. Some schools will absolutely not have more acceptances floating out then there are seats, so you will very likely be wait listed, with significant wait list movement. Others will have no problems handing out an acceptance in feb.

I'm assuming that the January interviewee was marked complete later than the November interviewee. What I am wondering is whether the January interviewee needs a much stronger application profile than the November interviewee in order to have the same chances of admissions, or are they roughly equal?

 

[LizzyM]

Let me try to give a simplified answer as to how offers might be distributed using just random numbers so that the math is simple.

Let's say that over the course of the season, a school will interview 600 applicants and make offers to 180 (30%) of those who are interviewed. The school knows that the strongest applicants are interviewed early and it plans to make offers to 40% of the first third that are interviewed because based on experience the school knows that the top 40% of the first wave will end up in the top 30% at the end of the cycle. So that's 80 of the first 200 applicants. Of the next third, about 30% will be as strong as the top 40% interviewed at the start of the season and they will get offers (30% of 200 = 60). This leaves 40 offers for the last 200 who interview. In general, the top 20% of the final third would be expected to be about equal to the top 40% of the earliest third.

It isn't that the excellent applicants at the end of the season are less likely to get an offer than excellent applicants who interviewed early, but that there are fewer of them interviewing late in the season compared with early in the season.

 

[nychila]

Let me try to give a simplified answer as to how offers might be distributed using just random numbers so that the math is simple.

Let's say that over the course of the season, a school will interview 600 applicants and make offers to 180 (30%) of those who are interviewed. The school knows that the strongest applicants are interviewed early and it plans to make offers to 40% of the first third that are interviewed because based on experience the school knows that the top 40% of the first wave will end up in the top 30% at the end of the cycle. So that's 80 of the first 200 applicants. Of the next third, about 30% will be as strong as the top 40% interviewed at the start of the season and they will get offers (30% of 200 = 60). This leaves 40 offers for the last 200 who interview. In general, the top 20% of the final third would be expected to be about equal to the top 40% of the earliest third.

It isn't that the excellent applicants at the end of the season are less likely to get an offer than excellent applicants who interviewed early, but that there are fewer of them interviewing late in the season compared with early in the season.

Thank you for your insights, LizzyM. Just to clarify: For 2 borderline applicants applying to the same rolling admissions school, would their chances of admission differ if one interviews in October/November, and the other in January?

 

[LizzyM]

Thank you for your insights, LizzyM. Just to clarify: For 2 borderline applicants applying to the same rolling admissions school, would their chances of admission differ if one interviews in October/November, and the other in January?

Most likely... both will end up on the waitlist.