Still no interviews...

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Huskie99

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So it is almost the end of December and I still have NO interview. I thought I would at least have a couple by now considering my stats (12V, 10P, 10B, Q, 3.73cGPA, 3.65 sGPA, a third author publication in science signaling, tons of volunteer and leadership experience, and I am currently a lab manager/research tech at a lab at Harvard Medical School)
I also applied to mostly "middle of the road" schools, my list includes:

Drexel
Temple
BU-rejected
George Washington-rejected (very confused about this)
Yale
Jefferson
Albert Einstein
CMS
Loyola Chicago
Rush
Rosland Franklin
NYMC
Albany-pre-interview hold
TCMC
Hofstra

I have recently sent an update later (my paper was just published earlier this month)...does anyone have any advice on what I can do to get that first interview? Is it already to late? HELP!
 
nope, had my primary in within the first week possible and had all my secondaries in within three weeks of them being sent to me...I am so confused and frustrated😕
 
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Your stats seem to be okay and it appears as though you have all the ECs.. some of those philly schools are really hard to get interviews from it seems.. so is albany I believe, so that might be why. Hope something turns up for you come January!
 
Wow. Impressive app. The only worries I would have is a poor PS or a bad LOR.

I would say keep sending an update letter every month or so... You still have a chance of hearing from Rush, NYMC, and Rosalind IMO. The Philly schools seems really tough to get an interview too if you aren't from the area... and GWU and Loyola are just picky. I'm surprised Hofstra hasn't gotten back to you. 🙁
 
Huskie99 said:
So it is almost the end of December and I still have NO interview. I thought I would at least have a couple by now considering my stats (12V, 10P, 10B, Q, 3.73cGPA, 3.65 sGPA, a third author publication in science signaling, tons of volunteer and leadership experience, and I am currently a lab manager/research tech at a lab at Harvard Medical School)
I also applied to mostly "middle of the road" schools, my list includes:

Drexel
Temple
BU-rejected
George Washington-rejected (very confused about this)
Yale
Jefferson
Albert Einstein
CMS
Loyola Chicago
Rush
Rosland Franklin
NYMC
Albany-pre-interview hold
TCMC
Hofstra

I have recently sent an update later (my paper was just published earlier this month)...does anyone have any advice on what I can do to get that first interview? Is it already to late? HELP!
Click to expand...

Your stats are fine and it seems as though your extracurriculars are as well. I know you've had volunteer experience, but was it medically related? It's important that you have clinical experience.

I'm surprised that you haven't heard back from any of these schools yet, especially if you applied early. If it's not the clinical experience, it could be your personal statement (never underestimate the power of this essay), secondary essays, or a LOR.

You also have some time left. A lot of the schools on your list interview until March and April, I think. You can still hear back in Jan/early Feb. Good Luck!
 
I think my POS is good, I had plenty of people read it including English teachers and my Pre-Med advisor. I agree with you about the LOR, I am worried one of my LORs is poor because I am not really sure what else can be holding me back.
 
Also my volunteer experience includes:
Volunteering in a surgical waiting room
Volunteering in a chem-infusion unit
At school blood drives while in college
At soup kitchens in a urban city
running food drives and fundraisers for Ronald McDonald house
numerous cancer walks...😎
 
Huskie99 said:
So it is almost the end of December and I still have NO interview. I thought I would at least have a couple by now considering my stats (12V, 10P, 10B, Q, 3.73cGPA, 3.65 sGPA, a third author publication in science signaling, tons of volunteer and leadership experience, and I am currently a lab manager/research tech at a lab at Harvard Medical School)
I also applied to mostly "middle of the road" schools, my list includes:

Drexel
Temple
BU-rejected
George Washington-rejected (very confused about this)
Yale
Jefferson
Albert Einstein
CMS
Loyola Chicago
Rush
Rosland Franklin
NYMC
Albany-pre-interview hold
TCMC
Hofstra

I have recently sent an update later (my paper was just published earlier this month)...does anyone have any advice on what I can do to get that first interview? Is it already to late? HELP!
Click to expand...

It's all a crap shoot. I'm sorry for your situation, but please don't have any faith in the system at all. Next year just apply more broadly and maybe one or two more "safety" schools. Any red flags?
 
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Next Year? I hope it doesn't come to that...🙁 no real red flags besides the fact I took the MCAT more than once but from what I hear that really shouldn't matter too much
 
Ursa said:
It's all a crap shoot. I'm sorry for your situation, but please don't have any faith in the system at all. Next year just apply more broadly and maybe one or two more "safety" schools. Any red flags?
Click to expand...


I definitely agree with the crapshoot thing. My roommate and I have basically the same EC's ... shes got a better MCAT than me and I have a better GPA than her. Literally every school she's gotten an interview from I've gotten rejected from and visa versa.

My dad is an interviewer at Case and he said that the way they decide who gets an interview is that they throw everyone's applications in the air and all the ones that land face up they invite.

Pretty sure he was joking but sometimes I wonder....


Good luck to you though. I have no doubt you'll get something:luck:
 
So sorry to hear that! You have decent/good stats, good ECs, you applied early, and you sent an update. I don't get it... it could be the LOR. Do you have your letters at Interfolio? If you do, mail it to yourself and check if they are poor.

But like others said, there's still a lot of time.. I'm certain you'll hear some good news soon. 👍
 
Taking the MCAT more than once is not a red flag unless you scored lower the second time. What did you get the first time?
 
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I got a 27P...significantly lower than my most recent scores
 
Also I know I am complete (I checked multiple times online) but should I call, or is that just a bother to them because it is clearly stated online that I am complete and they know that just as well as I do...
 
Huskie99 said:
Also I know I am complete (I checked multiple times online) but should I call, or is that just a bother to them because it is clearly stated online that I am complete and they know that just as well as I do...
Click to expand...

If you know that you are complete, I would not call. Since they have a place that you can check online, that is likely what they will tell you to do, especially during this busy season (holiday and application wise). Good job on the improvement. Keep us updated.
 
Huskie99 said:
Also my volunteer experience includes:
Volunteering in a surgical waiting room
Volunteering in a chem-infusion unit
At school blood drives while in college
At soup kitchens in a urban city
running food drives and fundraisers for Ronald McDonald house
numerous cancer walks...😎
Click to expand...

Also note that a lot of the schools you applied to get a LOT of applications, so it REALLY is a crapshoot. You still have a couple of months to hear back though so don't give up now. But if you end up applying next year, i would definitely check in with your recommenders AND try to get in some more clinical experience (i.e. shadowing).
 
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Ursa said:
It's all a crap shoot. I'm sorry for your situation, but please don't have any faith in the system at all. Next year just apply more broadly and maybe one or two more "safety" schools. Any red flags?
Click to expand...
Regarding the crap shoot -- I applied to 28 established MD schools -- 14 in the midwest and 14 in the east/south coast.
In the midwest, I have gotten 6 interview invites.
On the east coast, I just got one.

On Monday, NYMC invited me for an interview so there is still time (I completed my secondary there in late July)
 
Avoidthetiger
Congrats on the interviews, if you wouldn't mind, what are you stats like? I am curious since NYMC is on of the schools I applied to.
 
Huskie99 said:
So it is almost the end of December and I still have NO interview. I thought I would at least have a couple by now considering my stats (12V, 10P, 10B, Q, 3.73cGPA, 3.65 sGPA, a third author publication in science signaling, tons of volunteer and leadership experience, and I am currently a lab manager/research tech at a lab at Harvard Medical School)
I also applied to mostly "middle of the road" schools, my list includes:

Drexel
Temple
BU-rejected
George Washington-rejected (very confused about this)
Yale
Jefferson
Albert Einstein
CMS
Loyola Chicago
Rush
Rosland Franklin
NYMC
Albany-pre-interview hold
TCMC
Hofstra

I have recently sent an update later (my paper was just published earlier this month)...does anyone have any advice on what I can do to get that first interview? Is it already to late? HELP!
Click to expand...

Ok here is the problem I see. You under applied and you applied to schools that are very applicant dense. The grand majority of the schools you applied to are mid tier schools. They often don't like to touch people they doubt will attend their schools. It cost alot to interview a person so they want to make sure a person will fit the school and apart of fit is the desire to go there. Also most of the top tier schools you have picked don't make decisions until March. Albert Einstein starts making decisions on January 15.
In march if you don't get into any place, you need to call the school that rejected you and ask wht you can do to improve your app for their school. Often these calls will tell you if you have a bad LOR, PS, ECs or if it is because they fell you lacked interest in their school and did not seem to fit with what they are looking for. If the upper level schools dump you it is because you were out done this round by other applicants.

If you need to apply next round I recommend you apply to 20 different schools including your state schools. Make sure at least 5 are top tier ( most competive/ crap shot schools), 10 are mid-tier, with 5 being high volume and 5 being low volume and 5 safeties. Get it out of your head that high scores lets you get into any school you want, it is about fit.
 
I don't really consider my stats high I felt they where middle of the road just like the schools I applied to, that is why I only applied to one top tier school...I wish my pre-med advisor had given me the the same advice as you, but if i unfortunately do need to re-apply I will take your advice into consideration
 
I think the schools you've chose to apply to are perfectly fine. My only question and concern, is that you didn't apply to any state schools, and that these are all private schools primarily in both Chicago and Philly (both very attractive locations for applicants and these schools received 10,000+ applications). Everyone needs to apply to their state schools, I don't care what the "ranking" of the school is or how strong of an applicant someone is: everyone should apply to their state schools.
 
Well...I guess I left out that I did apply to my state school...everyone I work with is always on SDN (since literally everyone my age here is applying to medical school or else we wouldn't be working these hours for pennies) and I was afraid they would know it was me...:idea:
 
There have been instances that I am aware of where applicants have had competitive profiles much like yourself but were cold on the interview trail also. It is hard to put a finger on any one specific reason, but my best guess is the way you conveyed yourself through your primary application could have been better. Specifically, your personal statement and the explanation on your 15 (or however many) activities.

Bear in mind, you can always call an adcom and ask where your application fell short. I would definitely do this at schools which reject your application.

Hope this helps!
 
Huskie99 said:
I don't really consider my stats high I felt they where middle of the road just like the schools I applied to, that is why I only applied to one top tier school...I wish my pre-med advisor had given me the the same advice as you, but if i unfortunately do need to re-apply I will take your advice into consideration
Click to expand...


See that is the thing with this place and advisors. 3.7 is great grades. I mean it i a damn A-. Your grades are wonderful but here is the thing I see a lot on here and from pre-med advisors. They only see top scores as the best. Keep in mind the average accepted applicant has a 3.6 cGPA and a 32 MCAT. So is it any surprise that the majority of schools like the 3.6 applicant. Mid tier schools are most friendly to the 3.5 to 3.6 applicant, safe and brand new schools like to take a big bite out of the spectrum so they often take people as low as 3.0 to as high as 4.0, while the top tier schools love those with 3.7 to 4.0. Schools like U of Chicago are obsessed with "fit" while schools like Albert and Wash U love fit and high score. So with top tier schools it is a dice roll because you are going hed to head with everybody applying to the school, compairing scores and desire but with mid tier schools they want people that fit the mission and believe in the school. Scores don't win them over desire and heart does. If you have score that they see as above their normal matriculation (which a 3.7 is) you have to show desire to go there and a fit with there mission statement. This can be done on the secondaries and in letters of interest. Get on their websites, find out about the school and tell them why you will add to the school.
 
An up to date MSAR can help to ... Amazon.com is a great place to get one. It can help you pick the school that are right for you and will give you the best fit.
 
Huskie99 said:
So it is almost the end of December and I still have NO interview. I thought I would at least have a couple by now considering my stats (12V, 10P, 10B, Q, 3.73cGPA, 3.65 sGPA, a third author publication in science signaling, tons of volunteer and leadership experience, and I am currently a lab manager/research tech at a lab at Harvard Medical School)
I also applied to mostly "middle of the road" schools, my list includes:

Drexel
Temple
BU-rejected
George Washington-rejected (very confused about this)
Yale
Jefferson
Albert Einstein
CMS
Loyola Chicago
Rush
Rosland Franklin
NYMC
Albany-pre-interview hold
TCMC
Hofstra

I have recently sent an update later (my paper was just published earlier this month)...does anyone have any advice on what I can do to get that first interview? Is it already to late? HELP!
Click to expand...

I really feel for you, with your stats and ECs and based on what you said about your PS, it is really surprising that you haven't been invited anywhere yet. Hang in there, I know of may people got recently got invites to schools they had long ago written off thinking the school already rejected them.

I know you don't want to think about reapplying, no one does - especially when they had the stats to get in the first time around - but if you do I'd definitely say apply to more schools schools.

It's crazy to think that 15 schools isn't enough, but our stats are similar and I applied to 20 schools and got 5 invites so far. If I had cut those 5 and applied only to the other 15 I'd have no invites at this point. Also, where are you from? Do you have a state school? Did you apply?

Good luck and hang in there!!
 
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Huskie99 said:
Avoidthetiger
Congrats on the interviews, if you wouldn't mind, what are you stats like? I am curious since NYMC is on of the schools I applied to.
Click to expand...
I have a 3.6cGPA, 3.5sGPA and a 32 MCAT. So your application stat wise is much better than mine but I have very strong LORs and very good experiences. I completed my application at NYMC on July 30th. good luck.
 
I just wish some school would at least give me a chance to interview....:xf:
 
Huskie99 said:
I just wish some school would at least give me a chance to interview....:xf:
Click to expand...
I know how you feel. This is my second time applying and the first time I got no interviews. You atleast applied smartly though -- I applied late and to mostly top tier schools my first time applying.
 
I think the importance of "fit" is overrated, especially pre-interview. I do think that it matters more after the interview, and with some schools only before the interview. MCAT/GPA/PS/essays/LORs/ECs/evaulators' subjective ratings are what get you interviews.
 
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Huskie99 said:
I wish my pre-med advisor had given me the the same advice as you, but if i unfortunately do need to re-apply I will take your advice into consideration
Click to expand...

Don't rely on your pre-med advisor too heavily. I've had to read hundreds of pages on SDN to get good information, none of which was told to me by my advisor.

You did good by sending an update letter, I've done that and gotten responses from it.

I just want to tell you not to beat yourself up if you have to re-apply. I'm a reapplicant who got zero interviews last year (late applications), and have had interviews this time. Now is the time to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Make sure you have a backup plan so you can say you did something solid to improve your app for next time if it comes to that.
 
I applied to about 20 MD schools. My stats are ok (3.85/33) but I have a 8 in verbal. Its hard to figure out why I haven't received any interviews... 🙄


Also, apply to DO schools. I am glad I did.
 
I did apply to one DO school and I have been accepted...but I am not sure I am going to send my deposit in their....I just do not feel like I fit at the school at all
 
I really just want to get an MD and I would be happy to go anywhere I was accepted...should I send a letter to each of the school telling them I am still very interested in hearing from there school, giving reasons why? Or should I avoid bothering them, I already sent them an update earlier this month so I do not want to push my luck...😎
 
Huskie99 said:
I really just want to get an MD and I would be happy to go anywhere I was accepted...should I send a letter to each of the school telling them I am still very interested in hearing from there school, giving reasons why? Or should I avoid bothering them, I already sent them an update earlier this month so I do not want to push my luck...😎
Click to expand...

I would advise not to send "letters of interest" until you actually interviewed at the school. The schools you applied to already know you're interested, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered with the secondary and spend lots of $$$ submitting the primary and secondary.

I think it'll be helpful if you sent an update instead. Those are my two cents. Let me know if others beg to differ.
 
I also feel like, don't these schools already know if they are going to give me an interview or not?!? I was complete almost everywhere between July and August, also they already have a very good idea of what their applicant pool is going to be like...I know not every/most school will want to interview me, but seriously, so can't they just tell me you are denied or give me an interview...I wish I would know which school where "silently" rejecting me so I could stop hoping to get an email from them...🙁
 
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Huskie99 said:
I really just want to get an MD and I would be happy to go anywhere I was accepted...should I send a letter to each of the school telling them I am still very interested in hearing from there school, giving reasons why? Or should I avoid bothering them, I already sent them an update earlier this month so I do not want to push my luck...😎
Click to expand...

Did you not say this in your update letter?
 
No...should I have... My update letter went as follows:

I am excited to inform you that a paper from my current laboratory, “*name of paper*” has been accepted to Science Signaling and will be published in an upcoming issue. I am the third author on this paper and am thrilled to be part of such a stimulating publication. I would value the opportunity to discuss this update as well as other aspects of my application in person, through means of an interview. Most importantly I would relish the chance to demonstrate the un-matched drive, passion, and aptitude I posses for the medical field.
 
I didn't want to be to pushy...maybe that was a mistake
 
Huskie99 said:
No...should I have... My update letter went as follows:

I am excited to inform you that a paper from my current laboratory, “*name of paper*” has been accepted to Science Signaling and will be published in an upcoming issue. I am the third author on this paper and am thrilled to be part of such a stimulating publication. I would value the opportunity to discuss this update as well as other aspects of my application in person, through means of an interview. Most importantly I would relish the chance to demonstrate the un-matched drive, passion, and aptitude I posses for the medical field.
Click to expand...
I think your verbiage here is a little juvenile and a bit too perky.

Schools know that correspondence at this point in the cycle is from applicants who are lagging the pack. That doesn't make it good or bad to contact them, it's just how it is. I'd wait another 4-6 weeks before any future contact. The schools know you're interested, you have a pending app.

I suspect there's a flaw or two in your app. There has to be something that is distracting or not positive going on.

I also agree with many of the other comments, you probably should have applied more carefully and to a more schools.
 
I think that's a good letter. I wouldn't worry about sending anything else unless you have something significant to update them with.
 
Never underestimate your essays, I applied last year with half-assed essays and got 2 late interviews that turned into wait lists and eventually rejections. And I had a 3.6+/34+, now given I did add some ec's but academically my app was the same essentially and I spent a ton of time on my essays this year and got ten early invites, either way good luck and prepare to reapply just In case
 
OGMD said:
Never underestimate your essays, I applied last year with half-assed essays and got 2 late interviews that turned into wait lists and eventually rejections. And I had a 3.6+/34+, now given I did add some ec's but academically my app was the same essentially and I spent a ton of time on my essays this year and got ten early invites, either way good luck and prepare to reapply just In case
Click to expand...


Agreed. I feel like my essay was the reason I got interviewed at a lot of places. Literally every interviewer started our conversation with "I loved your PS, you have a real talent for writing and an interesting style."

Make sure that your essay isn't just proficient. It's a minimum that you answer the prompt with appropriate grammar, spelling and syntax. If you've done that you have an essay, not necessarily a good essay.
 
eli20 said:
agreed. i feel like my essay was the reason i got interviewed at a lot of places. Literally every interviewer started our conversation with "i loved your ps, you have a real talent for writing and an interesting style."

make sure that your essay isn't just proficient. It's a minimum that you answer the prompt with appropriate grammar, spelling and syntax. If you've done that you have an essay, not necessarily a good essay.
Click to expand...
+1
 
I agree with the essay thing. I've seen quite a few applicants on this site complain that their apps aren't taken seriously by particular schools (due to being "overqualified"), and I attribute getting a lot of interviews partially to writing "optional" essays for every school that gave me the opportunity to do so. I think having very quick secondary turnarounds was also very helpful.
 
I felt I spent a lot of time and effort on my secondaries that is literally all I did for weeks...that being said I have never been the best writer but...although I did have my best friend who is a great writer read ALL of my essays, maybe that is my downfall🙁
 
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