Minimum time frame necessary to schedule interviews?

[TehTeddy]

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Hello everyone,

I'm currently serving as a peace corps volunteer, and I'm trying to figure out how to manage the time I have available to take off if I apply this cycle, and how feasible it would be to fly back for interviews. Mostly, the question is within what time frame can someone reasonably schedule interviews? I can for sure take 3 weeks off (as another volunteer has in the past), but I might be able to take a month, would have to talk with my country director.

Also in case it comes up, there are no other issues that would prevent me from applying this cycle (almost always have electricity and internet), and I have ample free time for secondaries and so on.

 

[LizzyM]

It is challenging but not necessary impossible. You would have to state, maybe at the end of your personal statement that you are available for interviews from date -to-date. You would also want to email every school and note that you will be in the US from date-to-date and otherwise unavailable for interviews. Then you have to hope that the school reads that email in enough time to review your application, select you for interview, and contact you to schedule the interview. Many schools do interviews just 1-3 times per week They will not do interviews during the AAMC annual meeting (early November) and during holiday breaks (Wed-Monday of Thanksgiving weekend and roughtly Dec 20-Jan 2).

You might also find yourself back to back interviews in different cities which means scheduling flights or other transportation with tight turn arounds. You could even find yourself with 4 interviews and the same 3 interview days to choose from meaning that you'd have to skip one of the three. That would suck, wouldn't it?

Overall, the general recommendation is to wait and be available for interviews after you finish your service even if that means waiting an extra year.

 

[TehTeddy]

It is challenging but not necessary impossible. You would have to state, maybe at the end of your personal statement that you are available for interviews from date -to-date. You would also want to email every school and note that you will be in the US from date-to-date and otherwise unavailable for interviews. Then you have to hope that the school reads that email in enough time to review your application, select you for interview, and contact you to schedule the interview. Many schools do interviews just 1-3 times per week They will not do interviews during the AAMC annual meeting (early November) and during holiday breaks (Wed-Monday of Thanksgiving weekend and roughtly Dec 20-Jan 2).

You might also find yourself back to back interviews in different cities which means scheduling flights or other transportation with tight turn arounds. You could even find yourself with 4 interviews and the same 3 interview days to choose from meaning that you'd have to skip one of the three. That would suck, wouldn't it?

Overall, the general recommendation is to wait and be available for interviews after you finish your service even if that means waiting an extra year.

I see - that would be unfortunate. Part of the problem is I don't know how many interviews I'll have - if it's only 3 for example, then restricting the time frame to 1 month probably wouldn't be a big issue, I'd imagine. I remember my pre-med advisor has also said medical schools usually schedule interviews on weekends, although you say they have them in the middle as well.
In that case, if I continue with my plan to take the MCAT this April, would everything be fine in terms of my score for the following cycle? I know that most schools accept scores 2-3 years out, but I often see the words "from the date of matriculation" to "date of application" used almost interchangeably, even though there's over a year difference between the two.

 

[xkcd6330]

I remember my pre-med advisor has also said medical schools usually schedule interviews on weekends, although you say they have them in the middle as well.

Med school interviews are almost never on weekends. Pretty sure the vast majority of schools do weekdays only.

 

[TehTeddy]

My standard advice and caution is much stronger then @LizzyM 's as I consider applying to medical school a full time job from at least May thru September, with being on call from then thru the rest for the year, for possible interview and prematriculation needs, especially if a sudden WL is offered. I do not recommend applicants be away during that time at all. Frankly, by January of application year, you should be already focusing on targeting schools and preparing for the AMCAS and 10-25 secondary applications that you will have to submit

Thanks for the advice gonnif. Is the reason you recommend being in the US from September onward because the interview dates/invitations will be all over the place, and thus impractical to schedule in a short time frame? Or are there other considerations I'm not thinking about - I'd think most of the non-interview things could be done online/phone, so it wouldn't matter if I was away or not. Not that I'm totally against it, I just wasn't planning on it.

 

[LizzyM]

I see - that would be unfortunate. Part of the problem is I don't know how many interviews I'll have - if it's only 3 for example, then restricting the time frame to 1 month probably wouldn't be a big issue, I'd imagine. I remember my pre-med advisor has also said medical schools usually schedule interviews on weekends, although you say they have them in the middle as well.
In that case, if I continue with my plan to take the MCAT this April, would everything be fine in terms of my score for the following cycle? I know that most schools accept scores 2-3 years out, but I often see the words "from the date of matriculation" to "date of application" used almost interchangeably, even though there's over a year difference between the two.

Traditionally, applicants take the MCAT at the start or end of junior year and matriculate in the summer after senior year. Extrapolate from there as to when would be too early or too late for you based on your desired matriculation date.

 

[p4m123]

Hey, I was in PC as well. I COSed before this interview season started but I did most of the applications in-country without much issue. It was stressful but I managed. I have a friend who applied between our 1st and 2nd year's like you're planning on doing though and I can tell you what he did. First he emailed a bunch of schools wayyyy before application season started (around this time probably) informing them he's in the Peace Corps etc and asking if they would be flexible in scheduling interview dates in the future. If they said no, he didn't apply. He only applied to 6-7 schools he liked/felt confident about getting into (with the plan to reapply to more the following year if he had no luck). When he got his IIs he scheduled them within a week of each other, and was only back in the States for maybe 10 days. He then emailed the schools (I think only 1 at that point) who he hadn't heard from letting them know he'd be in the States and asking if they had made a decision/could review his application (refer to ITA posts for how to phrase that). Also, in reference to the MCAT, if you take it in 2020 it will be valid until the 2022/2023 application cycle at most schools, sometimes longer. Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

[TehTeddy]

Hey, I was in PC as well. I COSed before this interview season started but I did most of the applications in-country without much issue. It was stressful but I managed. I have a friend who applied between our 1st and 2nd year's like you're planning on doing though and I can tell you what he did. First he emailed a bunch of schools wayyyy before application season started (around this time probably) informing them he's in the Peace Corps etc and asking if they would be flexible in scheduling interview dates in the future. If they said no, he didn't apply. He only applied to 6-7 schools he liked/felt confident about getting into (with the plan to reapply to more the following year if he had no luck). When he got his IIs he scheduled them within a week of each other, and was only back in the States for maybe 10 days. He then emailed the schools (I think only 1 at that point) who he hadn't heard from letting them know he'd be in the States and asking if they had made a decision/could review his application (refer to ITA posts for how to phrase that). Also, in reference to the MCAT, if you take it in 2020 it will be valid until the 2022/2023 application cycle at most schools, sometimes longer. Hope that helps! Good luck!

Wow thanks - also that was a gutsy move on his part! He must have been really confident in his application. Was he a strong candidate otherwise? I think I'd want to have the standard reach/average stats school spread, simply to maximize my chances. But it sounds like it's working for him.

 

[p4m123]

He had decent stats but not amazing, probably average. Peace Corps was a nice boost as well of course. I think he got 4 As. It helps he was aiming for his state school which happens to be one of the best public schools. I’ll also say that taking some time between peace corps and med school would be a good option as well. You’d have more time to travel and would be able to adjust better before med school. Going from a very laid back lifestyle (like most PC countries have) to studying in med school 24/7 is difficult, on top of dealing with readjusting to American life. I know my friend has struggled a lot with that, which was affecting his academics at the beginning of the semester. He loves it though, so I guess if you can make it work there’s no harm in giving it a shot. Just be aware that there will be a lot of hurdles to overcome, as people above have said. It can’t hurt to keep your options open.

 

[relm]

Hey! I just did this applying from outside of the country. My suggestions would be apply as early as possible! I submitted my primary on the first day, and all my secondaries were submitted by mid August (I would say prewrite and submit then way earlier than mid-august). My interview invites started trickling in and I scheduled them all for 2.5 weeks in November. Once I knew the weeks I would be in the states, I emailed several schools that I would be in the ´country´ (they took it the same as being in the area). Two of those schools were extremely accommodating and gave me interview invites soon thereafter and one of them even scheduled me in for 4 days after the invite. Thankfully, the schools I have interviewed at are some of my favorites. So now I am scheduling any more invites for January, that way if I get accepted to one of the schools I liked this upcoming month then I can just withdraw my invitation from said schools in January.