Repercussions of withdrawing app after scheduling an interview

[osprey099]

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I'm fortunate enough to have a lot of interview invitations this cycle but the school that I really want to go is my state school. However, my state school interview happened very early this cycle and I'll most likely hear back Oct 15th. I have 10+ interviews scheduled after Oct. 15th and if I get accepted to my state school, I'm planning to call the schools that I'm already scheduled for an interview and tell them I'm withdrawing. However, I have heard people say that this is a bad practice because you will be disrespecting the other schools since they have put aside time to pick interviewers and have them read your file. People also said that some schools might even call my pre-med advisor and notify him about my withdrawal even though I scheduled an interview and that may hurt future applicants from my undergrad when they apply to their medical school. Does anyone know if this is true?

 

[yehhhboiii]

who knows if you'll like another school better
or if they'll give you more money
just go interview and see what happens

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

Medical schools are much less vindictive than you think.

No one will feel disrespected if you turn down an interview.

 

[volcomx]

I'm fortunate enough to have a lot of interview invitations this cycle but the school that I really want to go is my state school. However, my state school interview happened very early this cycle and I'll most likely hear back Oct 15th. I have 10+ interviews scheduled after Oct. 15th and if I get accepted to my state school, I'm planning to call the schools that I'm already scheduled for an interview and tell them I'm withdrawing. However, I have heard people say that this is a bad practice because you will be disrespecting the other schools since they have put aside time to pick interviewers and have them read your file. People also said that some schools might even call my pre-med advisor and notify him about my withdrawal even though I scheduled an interview and that may hurt future applicants from my undergrad when they apply to their medical school. Does anyone know if this is true?

Definitely withdraw if you are taking the state school and not seriously considering any of the other schools. The schools are investing resources into interviewing you which will be wasted if you aren't actually considering the school. If you withdraw, your interview slot will be filled up by another interested applicant.

I'd still go to at least a few medical school interviews (maybe your top 3-5) to at least make sure your state school is what you want.

 

[IonClaws]

I'm fortunate enough to have a lot of interview invitations this cycle but the school that I really want to go is my state school. However, my state school interview happened very early this cycle and I'll most likely hear back Oct 15th. I have 10+ interviews scheduled after Oct. 15th and if I get accepted to my state school, I'm planning to call the schools that I'm already scheduled for an interview and tell them I'm withdrawing. However, I have heard people say that this is a bad practice because you will be disrespecting the other schools since they have put aside time to pick interviewers and have them read your file. People also said that some schools might even call my pre-med advisor and notify him about my withdrawal even though I scheduled an interview and that may hurt future applicants from my undergrad when they apply to their medical school. Does anyone know if this is true?

I have no idea whether the admissions committees do this, but don't concern yourself with how pre-meds at your future alma mater will fare at the admissions game. I'm sure applicants cancel interviews often enough, and the adcoms read thousands of applications, so it's not like it's a huge loss on their part. Also, I don't think they really sacrifice all that much in inviting you for an interview - think about it, are they paying for your housing or transportation?

I would say it's actually more polite to cancel an interview than not, since you'd actually be wasting their time in the processes of deciding whether to accept you, generating the waitlist, etc. if you've been accepted to your desired state school and aren't really interested in their school anymore.

Hope that helps...

 

[okokok]

I agree with ionclaws & volcomx. It's better to cancel (hopefully with 3+ weeks of notice) and let a different applicant interview. I've heard of the calling the premed advisor thing, but only if in the case of a no-show who didn't bother canceling. Like everyone said, showing up and being considered afterwards uses up way more of their time and resources than just canceling.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

It's not like medical schools will hold a grudge against you. They've got plenty of qualified applicants to look towards in the event you aren't interested any more.

 

[Ismet]

I'm fortunate enough to have a lot of interview invitations this cycle but the school that I really want to go is my state school. However, my state school interview happened very early this cycle and I'll most likely hear back Oct 15th. I have 10+ interviews scheduled after Oct. 15th and if I get accepted to my state school, I'm planning to call the schools that I'm already scheduled for an interview and tell them I'm withdrawing. However, I have heard people say that this is a bad practice because you will be disrespecting the other schools since they have put aside time to pick interviewers and have them read your file. People also said that some schools might even call my pre-med advisor and notify him about my withdrawal even though I scheduled an interview and that may hurt future applicants from my undergrad when they apply to their medical school. Does anyone know if this is true?

Lolll gotta love the misinformation that pre-meds spread around.

After you get accepted, it is completely acceptable to withdraw from other interviews. If you withdraw well enough in advance, it opens up an interview spot for someone else. The "disrespectful" thing would be to withdraw like the week of the interview because they won't have time to find a replacement. But even if you do withdraw then, there won't be repercussions.

 

[Doodledog]

Lolll gotta love the misinformation that pre-meds spread around.

After you get accepted, it is completely acceptable to withdraw from other interviews. If you withdraw well enough in advance, it opens up an interview spot for someone else. The "disrespectful" thing would be to withdraw like the week of the interview because they won't have time to find a replacement. But even if you do withdraw then, there won't be repercussions.

I strongly disagree with the sentence bolded. Interviewing an applicant takes faculty and student time on the interview day. All schools understand that some interviewees will cancel at the very last minute because they were just accepted to a school that they are certain they wish to attend more than that school. Many students cancel the day before or the day of an interview for that reason. The correct thing to do is to immediately call the school and explain the situation and that you are canceling. They will appreciate your not wasting your faculty's time on someone who will not be attending their school. Be polite and grateful for the invitation. Otherwise do not show up and just interview for the heck of it.

 

[Hipocrates]

I strongly disagree with the sentence bolded. Interviewing an applicant takes faculty and student time on the interview day. All schools understand that some interviewees will cancel at the very last minute because they were just accepted to a school that they are certain they wish to attend more than that school. Many students cancel the day before or the day of an interview for that reason. The correct thing to do is to immediately call the school and explain the situation and that you are canceling. They will appreciate your not wasting your faculty's time on someone who will not be attending their school. Be polite and grateful for the invitation. Otherwise do not show up and just interview for the heck of it.

Ditto.

 

[Goro]

Strongly concur, so OP, quit fussing.

Medical schools are much less vindictive than you think.

No one will feel disrespected if you turn down an interview.

 

[mvenus929]

I strongly disagree with the sentence bolded. Interviewing an applicant takes faculty and student time on the interview day. All schools understand that some interviewees will cancel at the very last minute because they were just accepted to a school that they are certain they wish to attend more than that school. Many students cancel the day before or the day of an interview for that reason. The correct thing to do is to immediately call the school and explain the situation and that you are canceling. They will appreciate your not wasting your faculty's time on someone who will not be attending their school. Be polite and grateful for the invitation. Otherwise do not show up and just interview for the heck of it.

I don't understand why you disagree. It isn't great to call the week leading up to the interview, because many times, they won't be able to fill the slot you would have otherwise taken. In the case of my school, the interviewers will still show up, because they interview up to 4 people in one day--they'll just have a 30 minute break if someone doesn't show up.

Ideally, you should give the school at least 10 business days notice. This doesn't always happen, and schools realize this, but it is the ideal. It isn't considered bad if you don't provide that much notice (which is why she used quotes around disrespectful), but I'm sure the admissions offices prefer more notice.

 

[Ismet]

I strongly disagree with the sentence bolded. Interviewing an applicant takes faculty and student time on the interview day. All schools understand that some interviewees will cancel at the very last minute because they were just accepted to a school that they are certain they wish to attend more than that school. Many students cancel the day before or the day of an interview for that reason. The correct thing to do is to immediately call the school and explain the situation and that you are canceling. They will appreciate your not wasting your faculty's time on someone who will not be attending their school. Be polite and grateful for the invitation. Otherwise do not show up and just interview for the heck of it.

😕

I understand what you're saying and I agree that it's worse to show up for the interview when you have no desire to attend that school, but what I meant was that one shouldn't wait until the last minute to cancel an interview if they can help it. In OP's case, that means if they got accepted on Oct 15 but had an interview scheduled for Nov 15, it would be worse to wait until Nov 10 to cancel rather than doing so closer to Oct 15. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

[circulus vitios]

Who cares. Not everyone is made of money. If they're going to hold a grudge because you got an acceptance at another, better school, so be it. I'm not going to blow $250 on a plane ticket and another $250 on hotels/transportation/food just to appease some stuffy administrators.

 

[gyngyn]

Who cares. Not everyone is made of money. If they're going to hold a grudge because you got an acceptance at another, better school, so be it. I'm not going to blow $250 on a plane ticket and another $250 on hotels/transportation/food just to appease some stuffy administrators.

We're not stuffy and we can deal with withdrawals. We are not vindictive.

I have been faculty at places that didn't interview me for med school.