School interviewing numbers

[thegenius]

Why do schools interview 4x - 6x the number of spots in their class? It seems like such a large amount that they will never offer a spot to each interviewer. I can see 2x, maybe 2.5x for schools who can't command the top medical applications, but 5x? It's like giving false hope.

Ahh....

One answer might be that they are showcasing their school for potential residents. "If you don't come to Northwestern, then please consider it for your residency."

There was (or still is) a company in Texas called Triligent that used to interview tons of candidates and give them awesome experiences. Going out to fancy dinners, drinks at night, they put you up in a hotel, etc. They only hired a few people but everybody went away from it saying "wow, that is an awesome company."

Med schools can do that too, and it doesn't cost nearly as much.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DrBowtie]

Well typically schools accept ~2 times the amount of their class. So if they interview 4x-6x that makes their interview acceptance rate 33-50%.

I really don't see the problem with those numbers.

 

[t33sg1rl]

Most schools really do need to interview that many. As an adcom, you'd like some choices, so you should plan on accepting perhaps half of your interviewees. The math to watch for is how many offers of admission do you need to give out to fill one spot in your class. For a lower-tiered school, figure many of your offers are going to people who will not have any other offers. You can count on seeing these people in August. For a top tier school, you KNOW that ALL of your accepted students are holding 3+ acceptances... so on average, only about a third might actually attend your school.
Across all medical schools, though, adcoms make about 2.5 times as many offers of admission as they have spaces in the class-obviously different schools might have different averages.
I hope this is helpful, and take heart-if you have an interview, you have a pretty good shot at being admitted to the school. Good luck!

 

[thegenius]

Well typically schools accept ~2 times the amount of their class. So if they interview 4x-6x that makes their interview acceptance rate 33-50%.

I really don't see the problem with those numbers.

Michigan said that last year was the first time they did not offer anyone a spot from the waitlist. In fact, their class was oversubscribed. They had 178 matriculants for 171 spots.

Hmm...I see your point. Some schools interview 1000 people for 150 spots (like Columbia.) I do think part of the reason is that it costs the school very little to interview. If they had to pay for flights and lodging, I think it would be a different story.

 

[DrBowtie]

The point is that the schools have all of the control to pick and choose the best candidates, so they want to see as many as possible.