Should you attend every interview?

[Cmemmr]

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Hi guys, I was fortunate enough to have been accepted to my state school. I have since received more interviews, some IS and some OOS. I initially wanted to cancel, but I was wondering if holding multiple acceptances confers any benefits, i.e. if it is possible to leverage your position to bargain for lower tuition costs for public or/and private schools and if it strengthens your position if you hold not just one but multiple acceptances.

 

[Eleithyia]

You can attend the interviews if you want, but if you already know you're not going to go there it's kind of a waste of money and a waste of the school's time. I don't think you can use it for leverage--there are too many qualified applicants for that to work to your advantage.
On the other hand, if there's a chance you would go to one of the other schools that has offered an interview, you should definitely attend.

 

[Goro]

It's a pre-med delusion that leverage comes from multiple accepts, unless one is a superstar.

Attend more interviews IF there are schools you'd rather attend than your state school.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

but I was wondering if holding multiple acceptances confers any benefits, i.e. if it is possible to leverage your position to bargain for lower tuition

Leverage? No. It's bad form to be calling up med schools and saying I have 3 acceptances but if you want me to choose you, I need XXX in merit.

However, if these are MD acceptances, then around Feb they will learn that you're holding multiple acceptances. At that point, they will privately decide whether to offer you some merit in an attempt to protect their yield. It may not be a lot, or it could be a lot if your MCAT is high or you're very desired maybe due to UIM status. I've seen anything from $5k awards to half-tuition to full-tuition. The full tuition awards that I've seen were offered by schools like Northwestern to poach from higher ranked schools. The half-tuition awards I've seen were to an instate school. I've also seen at least one OOS student get a $1k award to a Tx med which then qualified her to get instate rates.

As for leverage, if you were offered merit from each of your schools, but your favorite gave you a smaller offer and is similarly ranked/cost as the others then you could politely contact them. But if the fave is a top ranked school, they may not care.

 

[Spectar]

Congrats! On the flip side, maybe going on more interviews would be good practice?

 

[efle]

Regardless of the whole leverage thing you might want to attend all interviews because the way financial aid packages are calculated can vary a lot, and a private school might give you aid that brings it to similar price as your public school. I'd only start skipping other interviews if you expect not to qualify for aid and can be certain instate = cheapest option.

 

[Cmemmr]

Thanks for everyone's feedback so far! I should specify that I would consider the schools I have interviews at if they were able to grant me tuition awards beyond what my state school can offer, but I wasn't sure if holding multiple acceptances would make it more likely for me to receive said award. It seems like @PreMedMissteps and @Goro contradict each other but I probably phrased my initial post wrong. I didn't mean to say actually bargaining with schools about tuition costs but whether having multiple acceptances could potentially benefit me in any way financially beyond just interview practice. Also, regarding "superstar" applicants, is there an absolute threshold by which you would be considered a superstar applicant or is there a relative weighing depending on the school? For example, I have a LM of 77 and 2 publications, 1 first author, and am a nontrad business major. I would consider that average at best at an Ivy but above average at "lower tier" schools. Is it more likely to receive a tuition award at a less competitive school or does it not matter?

 

[efle]

Thanks for everyone's feedback so far! I should specify that I would consider the schools I have interviews at if they were able to grant me tuition awards beyond what my state school can offer, but I wasn't sure if holding multiple acceptances would make it more likely for me to receive said award. It seems like @PreMedMissteps and @Goro contradict each other but I probably phrased my initial post wrong. I didn't mean to say actually bargaining with schools about tuition costs but whether having multiple acceptances could potentially benefit me in any way financially beyond just interview practice. Also, regarding "superstar" applicants, is there an absolute threshold by which you would be considered a superstar applicant or is there a relative weighing depending on the school? For example, I have a LM of 77 and 2 publications, 1 first author, and am a nontrad business major. I would consider that average at best at an Ivy but above average at "lower tier" schools. Is it more likely to receive a tuition award at a less competitive school or does it not matter?

Something like a 3.9/521 with scientific pubs and a unique background is absolutely in the running for merit/recruitment money. It is true that competition for merit money is fiercer at more competitive schools, so yes in a sense you are most likely to get merit money from less competitive places. With what you described here I would 100% attend all interviews

 

[Cmemmr]

Cool, thanks!

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

You might not be in a position a bargain but, you never know what kind of financial aid a school will offer you. I'd only drop interviews (especially IS where the travel costs will be less) if you were 100% sure you wouldn't go there over your state school no matter what.