MMI influence on application

[maplecookie]

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Hello,

Had a question about how influential the MMI interview becomes in determining applicant status (acceptance/WL/rejectance).

I read in another thread (can’t remember exactly which one) someone saying that when the committee meets to decide a candidate’s status, the interview becomes a wild card since the interviewer can really argue for or against you. But in an MMI interview situation, I was under the impression each station just gets graded on a scale and all the stations get averaged for a final score. In that case, does the interview portion of your application just really become another stat in your file? How much weight does it have in deciding an applicant’s ultimate status?

Please let me know your thoughts thank you.

 

[bubba21]

This definitely depends on the school. An adcom from one school told me that while MCAT and GPA are huge factors in deciding who gets an interview, they became less important after the interview and focus was shifted to MMI reviews, letters of rec, and experiences (in that order). I think this varies greatly from school to school.

 

[21Rush12]

Your interview very heavily influences the decision. Up until that MMI, you’re a piece of paper. The interview tells the school who you are, how you think, and what you’re like.

Generally the interviewers will both score you and write comments. Score gives an idea, but comments are the voice of your interview at the committee meeting and can sometimes make or break. Glowing reviews or stark red flags can be the difference between Accept and Reject.

 

[Lannister]

You do get an average score, but each interviewer also provides comments for the admissions committee to review. So no, the MMI isn't just another stat.

And keep in mind that even at traditional interview schools, the person who interviewed you does not necessarily sit on the admissions committee. So it's not always true that your interviewer is there to argue for or against you.

 

[aldol16]

Depends heavily on the school. I know of schools at which the interview, MMI or not, makes or breaks you. At other MMI schools, the MMI score is just another component of your application. Most of these schools take a holistic approach to admissions anyway so it's not going to be possible to assign the MMI score any specific weight for a particular applicant. But many things are taken into account. Plus, not everyone goes into the interview on the same footing. There's always a distribution of people who interview, i.e. those the school really wants and those the school don't want as much but may accept if they're amazing people.

 

[maplecookie]

Thank you all for the responses!

I guess the main point I was missing was that there would be a qualitative component of the MMI with comments not just quantitative with scores. I guess then it does become very similar to a traditional interview: just instead of one/two interviewer asking 10 questions in a row, those 10 questions are asked separately by individual interviewers.

I also did think that there would be heavy school variance but since MMI is a relatively newer interview style taken up by some but not all schools I was hoping there would be a trend reflected in what types of school decide to go with MMI instead of traditional.

 

[aldol16]

I guess the main point I was missing was that there would be a qualitative component of the MMI with comments not just quantitative with scores. I guess then it does become very similar to a traditional interview: just instead of one/two interviewer asking 10 questions in a row, those 10 questions are asked separately by individual interviewers.

There are qualitative measures on there but the importance of that will inevitably vary by admissions committee. I doubt that they put much store in the qualitative comments unless they're super amazing or super poor relative to the quantitative score.