So who gets denied after an interview?

[TheBiologist]

Of all the people called to an interview, what are the main factors that determine which group gets accepted?

Is it 100% the interview, or does your MCAT/gpa still play some role?

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[gyngyn]

The whole package is independently and then collaboratively considered.

 

[desiredmembername123]

They basically re-review your app with the addition of the interview. Sometimes the interview will change the way your app is looked at.

 

[Goro]

This.

It takes talent to bomb an interview.

They basically re-review your app with the addition of the interview. Sometimes the interview will change the way your app is looked at.

 

[Plastic156600sub3]

Of all the people called to an interview, what are the main factors that determine which group gets accepted?

Is it 100% the interview, or does your MCAT/gpa still play some role?

That's actually a question for which the answer may vary. It's like you applying for a job as finance officer for USA Bank, Target Corporate, and FedEx Freight.
I may be the ideal financial officer USA Bank is looking to hire, just average for FedEx, but not so much for Target Corporate.

What each college is looking for in a student is similar in a lot of ways, but generally varies.
The people looking at your application will like your stats and pull you in for an interview. Then they will look at you as a whole.
Interviewers are human. I can't stress that enough. Some people suck as interviewers. Some people are great.

Still others are awful at picking out what would be a great student/employee for the college, and some are great at it.

Long story short---just like a job interview, if you go you have nothing to lose. Give it your best shot and let it go. They'll contact you if you caught their eye.

 

[IlDestriero]

Personality disorders and giant egos don't win you any points. We passed on a stellar faculty candidate because a few of my colleagues and I noted some issues that would make him a bad partner. I'm sure he'll have a fantastic career, somewhere else.


--
Il Destriero

 

[Commer_Knocker]

Depends on the school. Some schools interview because you're practically in and they just want to make sure you're not a sociopath. Other schools interview just so they can craft a massive wait list.

My school tends to accept 60% of interviewees outright and then take 30% more off the wait-list(we're lower tier MD.)

 

[jgear645]

Do most schools anticipate accepting 2-4 people per spot they have available? I'm sure it's more nuanced than that but that's basically what I seem to be hearing
I'm interviewing at Dell (UT Austin's school) and their class size is so small (50) but they give out around 350 interviews so there seems to still be a pretty big cut after interviews.

I think it's amazing that every year many schools give out JUST enough acceptances to fill their spots and don't have 20 people matriculating that they don't have room for or something. Very interesting process

 

[Pinocytosis]

Do most schools anticipate accepting 2-4 people per spot they have available? I'm sure it's more nuanced than that but that's basically what I seem to be hearing
I'm interviewing at Dell (UT Austin's school) and their class size is so small (50) but they give out around 350 interviews so there seems to still be a pretty big cut after interviews.

I think it's amazing that every year many schools give out JUST enough acceptances to fill their spots and don't have 20 people matriculating that they don't have room for or something. Very interesting process

Over-matriculating has happened in the past and it will occur in the future. I do think it is quite amazing that admission staff are able to do this. You would think that they would be a nervous wreck (...and perhaps they are).

 

[Lawpy]

Of all the people called to an interview, what are the main factors that determine which group gets accepted?

Is it 100% the interview, or does your MCAT/gpa still play some role?

From a 2011 AAMC Report:

https://www.aamc.org/download/261106/data/aibvol11_no6.pdf

Note: Mean importance ratings are shown in parentheses. Application data are presented in descending order of importance to admissions committees’ decisions about which applicants to interview and accept into medical school. The admissions data presented standard deviations ranging from 0.9 to 1.7, indicating variation in importance across medical schools. Data about the importance of “interview recommendations” were not collected at the “invite interviewees” stage. See supplemental material for a complete list of application data rated, mean importance ratings, and standard deviations.

I haven't found a recent report to see whether there were some updates made.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

This.

It takes talent to bomb an interview.

Very different than Canada. My school interviews ~500 for 100 spots. Quite common to have numbers like that here. But the interviews all occur on s few designated weekends and they purposefully interview at least 2-3 times the number of offers they make

 

[Goro]

Most schools do this.

My school gets ~6000 apps, we interview 500, accept about 250, seat ~100.

The typical accept to matriculate ratio is 2-4:1.

Very different than Canada. My school interviews ~500 for 100 spots. Quite common to have numbers like that here. But the interviews all occur on s few designated weekends and they purposefully interview at least 2-3 times the number of offers they make