Scheduling Interviews

[gannicus89]

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Is there any disadvantage to receiving an interview invite in July but scheduling that interview for a date in....September? More generally: Is there any disadvantage to scheduling an interview 2-3 months from the actual invitation?

 

[WedgeDawg]

For rolling schools, possibly, as more seats will be filled by the time you interview. For non-rolling schools, once you get the interview, date doesn't matter. However, scheduling for September after getting invited in July is totally fine. It's only if you get an invite in August and schedule for, say, January or something when you might have to worry (depending on how "rolling" the school is). Some schools give out acceptances in 2-3 waves over the course of the cycle, so earlier interviewees would have more advantage than at a completely non-rolling school but less than at a fully rolling school.

Generally schedule for as early as possible, but if circumstances dictate you have to wait a couple months, don't sweat it too much.

 

[gyngyn]

You are still better off with an early interview, even at "non-rolling" schools.
September is fine either way.

 

[WedgeDawg]

You are still better off with an early interview, even at "non-rolling" schools.

It's possible that it varies by school - Duke explicitly said in an email that once you get an interview invite, the date that you interview on will not affect your chances.

Edit: though this may explain why I was 3/3 in 2014 and 0/5 in 2015 😀

 

[gyngyn]

It's possible that it varies by school - Duke explicitly said in an email that once you get an interview invite, the date that you interview on will not affect your chances.

Then, for Duke, so be it.
Practically speaking, you will be evaluated and accepted in order of evaluation. The difference at "non-rolling" schools is the timing of your notification of those results.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Then, for Duke, so be it.
Practically speaking, you will be evaluated and accepted in order of evaluation. The difference at "non-rolling" schools is the timing of your notification of those results.

For the record, I just checked my interview invite emails and Yale said the exact same thing:

"Keep in mind that our admissions process is non-rolling, which means that the date of your interview will have no effect on the final decision."

 

[gyngyn]

For the record, I just checked my interview invite emails and Yale said the exact same thing:

"Keep in mind that our admissions process is non-rolling, which means that the date of your interview will have no effect on the final decision."

They all say that. Otherwise what would be the point of holding you hostage until Spring?

 

[WedgeDawg]

They all say that. Otherwise what would be the point of holding you hostage until Spring?

You're making me more cynical by the passing moment

 

[gyngyn]

You're making me more cynical by the passing moment

Sorry.
You didn't actually believe that they continuously re-calibrated the acceptance list...did you?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Sorry.
You didn't actually believe that they continuously re-calibrated the acceptance list...did you?

I thought they didn't make decisions about applicants until the end of the cycle. Columbia led us to believe this too on the interview day (and I found something on their website to corroborate this). I thought they just kind of gave applicants an overall score or something (based on absolutely everything) and then a month or so before decisions came out lined up applicants by score and took the best x number of students, waitlisted another x, and rejected the rest.

 

[gyngyn]

I thought they didn't make decisions about applicants until the end of the cycle. Columbia led us to believe this too on the interview day (and I found something on their website to corroborate this). I thought they just kind of gave applicants an overall score or something (based on absolutely everything) and then a month or so before decisions came out lined up applicants by score and took the best x number of students, waitlisted another x, and rejected the rest.

Though admissions is a somewhat fluid process, the best candidates are the best candidates on day 1 or day 101. "Non-rolling admissions" is mostly a historical artifact.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Though admissions is a somewhat fluid process, the best candidates are the best candidates on day 1 or day 101.

Sure, but there are a bunch of similar/average candidates floating around that get accepted to some of these schools too (aka me). Not everyone at these schools was a superstar applicant.

 

[gyngyn]

Sure, but there are a bunch of similar/average candidates floating around that get accepted to some of these schools too (aka me). Not everyone at these schools was a superstar applicant.

I'm saying that the biggest difference between rolling and non-rolling admission is the timing of notification of the candidate, nothing more.

 

[WedgeDawg]

snip

My point there is that yes, an outstanding applicant on day 1 is an outstanding applicant on day 100, but not everyone who gets accepted to Harvard etc is an outstanding applicant.

If some dude with a 3.8/36/strong everything interviews on day 1 and a dude with 3.8/36/strong everything + something slightly better than dude 1 interviews on day 98 (ad infinitum), are these schools going to really want to take dude 1 over dude 2 or are they going to want to wait and see if a dude 2 (or 3 or 4) shows up and accept them instead (yes - I know that this isn't exactly how it works, but please humor me for the sake of the argument), particularly given the fact that they're waiting until the end of the cycle anyway?

How are they going to differentiate between all these good but not outstanding/superstar candidates that they end up accepting? What incentive is there for the school to stay non-rolling then, if not to craft the best possible accept list, if other schools of this caliber (including Stanford, Chicago, Michigan, and Hopkins among a lot of others) are rolling and can easily snatch up applicants that these schools might be able to get by handing out acceptances earlier?

Sorry, I don't mean to be contrary, but this is something I'm very curious about, given that I went an entire cycle believing exactly the opposite.

Edit: I see your edit now - I guess my main question is what incentive do the schools have to delay notification until the end if they make decisions soon after the interview, given that they could easily lose candidates to rolling schools of similar caliber by waiting.

 

[gyngyn]

My point there is that yes, an outstanding applicant on day 1 is an outstanding applicant on day 100, but not everyone who gets accepted to Harvard etc is an outstanding applicant.

If some dude with a 3.8/36/strong everything interviews on day 1 and a dude with 3.8/36/strong everything + something slightly better than dude 1 interviews on day 98 (ad infinitum), are these schools going to really want to take dude 1 over dude 2 or are they going to want to wait and see if a dude 2 (or 3 or 4) shows up and accept them instead (yes - I know that this isn't exactly how it works, but please humor me for the sake of the argument), particularly given the fact that they're waiting until the end of the cycle anyway?

How are they going to differentiate between all these good but not outstanding/superstar candidates that they end up accepting? What incentive is there for the school to stay non-rolling then, if not to craft the best possible accept list, if other schools of this caliber (including Stanford, Chicago, Michigan, and Hopkins among a lot of others) are rolling and can easily snatch up applicants that these schools might be able to get by handing out acceptances earlier?

Sorry, I don't mean to be contrary, but this is something I'm very curious about, given that I went an entire cycle believing exactly the opposite.

Edit: I see your edit now - I guess my main question is what incentive do the schools have to delay notification until the end if they make decisions soon after the interview, given that they could easily lose candidates to rolling schools of similar caliber by waiting.

The software to actually achieve the type of discrimination that you are proposing did not even exist until very recently. I am confident that the large majority of the candidates that they will ultimately accept are apparent from the beginning of the evaluation process.
These schools are banking on the hope that their exclusivity will outweigh the delay in notification.
As I said, it's a historical artifact that has outlived its usefulness. Given their position in the constellation of medical schools they will persist despite the drawbacks in using it, though.

 

[WedgeDawg]

The software to actually achieve the type of discrimination that you are proposing did not even exist until very recently. I am confident that the large majority of the candidates that they will ultimately accept are apparent from the beginning of the evaluation process.
These schools are banking on the hope that their exclusivity will outweigh the delay in notification.
As I said, it's a historical artifact that has outlived its usefulness. Given their position in the constellation of medical schools they will persist despite the drawbacks in using it, though.

Thank you for taking the time to clarify for me and for humorist my questions. I do greatly appreciate it.

 

[ridethecliche]

They all say that. Otherwise what would be the point of holding you hostage until Spring?

Torture?
Rejoicing at our tears?

 

[MarcyTweets]

Does anyone have any advice/feedback on scheduling interviews back-to-back? For example, September 10th and September 11th if the two schools are ~ 2 hours apart? Thanks!

 

[WedgeDawg]

Does anyone have any advice/feedback on scheduling interviews back-to-back? For example, September 10th and September 11th if the two schools are ~ 2 hours apart? Thanks!

I did that with two schools that weren't super close. What I ended up doing was day 1 flying to location of interview 1 and staying in a hotel. Day 2 I did interview 1 and immediately after flew to location of interview 2. Day 3 I did interview 2 and immediately after flew back to school. Kind of annoying but I missed less class that way.