Pre-interview dinners

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KirTen

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Those programs that offer a dinner/tour the day before your interview; do they affect your chances at all? I have a job and the less days I take off the better. Will I be screwing myself over by only attending the actual interview?
 
Those programs that offer a dinner/tour the day before your interview; do they affect your chances at all? I have a job and the less days I take off the better. Will I be screwing myself over by only attending the actual interview?

the one that I know of specifically states that it has absolutely zero impact on the decision making process ... as long as they don't say that it's mandatory I don't think it should matter whatsoever (it's more of a tool to let you meet some of the classmates/see the med school environment ahead of time).
 
I doubt skipping them will have much effect.. I didn't go to those pre-interview happy hours, dinners, etc. last year and it didn't seem to hurt me.
 
I hate set up events like this where they force everyone involved to come.
 
Those programs that offer a dinner/tour the day before your interview; do they affect your chances at all? I have a job and the less days I take off the better. Will I be screwing myself over by only attending the actual interview?

From my experience, they are more for you than for them.

I think the idea is for you to get a little more comfortable and be able to learn more about the school and student body. As long as you don't do anything egregious, it's highly unlikely there's anybody there taking notes.
 
Yah, very informative and casual chance to ask current students about the real experience. Also gives you something to small talk about or ask questions about at your interview. As I understand, no one even mentally takes attendance (other than the caterer to get a head count for food!).
 
definitely not, most of the time no one from the admissions committees are even there and it's just the med students hanging out at the bar/dinner/whatever. It's just a chance for you to get to know the school better.
 
For some reason the Hogwarts dining hall comes to mind...
 
I thought my planned dinner was awesome and very informal. They made it clear it had no effect on admissions decisions. I did learn a lot about the school though as there were students from all four years at the dinner.
 
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