super late interviews already!

[siempre595]

So I was really excited yesterday cause I got an interview at Vanderbilt. Then I called today. Their first available date was none other than Valentine's Day. I'd like to say this is a problem cause I've got a great date lined up, but in reality.....omigod! that seems so late already!! I'm an August MCATer, so now I'm starting to worry, cause that's only my second interview, and I applied to 16 schools. At this rate, I'll get there, and the class will already be full!!! Are other schools scheduling this late already??

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[pillowhead]

Not rain on your parade too much, but Vanderbilt seems to interview a heck of a lot of people. If that's the first available, just take it and don't sweat it and hope something else comes up before then. But no, I haven't heard of any schools not having free dates until quite that late. that does seem pretty extreme and indicates to me that Vanderbilt is over-interviewing and making a lot of people waste time and money!

 

[BrainDrain]

It also could be that Vanderbilt does not interview everyday of the week and that the interview groups are small. That's how it was last year.

BrainDrain

 

[UCLAMAN]

here are the latest us news stats on vandy.

USNews Vandy Info
total number of applicants 3427
applicants interviewed 835
accepted 302
enrolled 104
avg gpa 3.75

avgmcat11.1
avg verbal10.7
avg physics11.4
avg bio11.3

 

[SolidGold]

Originally posted by pillowhead
Not rain on your parade too much, but Vanderbilt seems to interview a heck of a lot of people. If that's the first available, just take it and don't sweat it and hope something else comes up before then. But no, I haven't heard of any schools not having free dates until quite that late. that does seem pretty extreme and indicates to me that Vanderbilt is over-interviewing and making a lot of people waste time and money!

I don't think that is necessarily the case. I think that Vandy is one of those schools that heavily favors those who apply early, and take the MCAT in April, and tends to invite the majority of the people they will interview based on those who complete their applications early. They must have the belief that those who complete their applications early are the most serious about the school, and Vandy sure is a competitive school to get into. Since you took the August MCAT, it could explain why they are already scheduling for Feb. based on this theory.

 

[Katie]

While most schools will not have to schedule you so far in advance, you can probably expect to receive a few late interviews and interview invites. When I applied in 2000-2001, my application was complete at SLU in Sept. (april MCAT) and I didn't get an invite until late February. I ended up going to interview in April, waitlisted 2 weeks later, acceptance in July. I also know plenty of my classmates at Tufts who interviewed in late April or on the last day of interviews in May. So I wouldn't worry too much about it; I don't know Vandy's policy, but if you have applied to a wide range of schools and are getting interviewed by high-profile places like Vandy you should be fine. good luck!

 

[tryingagain]

Try to find out if someone were to cancel if you could possibly get their spot to interview earlier.

 

[UCLAMAN]

SolidGold

I think your theory may be correct. I applied to Vandy last year with mcat scores from 2000 and I received my interview invite the last week of October and was scheduled for an interview Thanksgiving week.

 

[jwin]

siempre

don't worry. my file was just complete a few weeks ago and i have been offered a few interviews which were not for valentine's day! two of them are in november and the third is still being scheduled but i do not anticipate it being later than december. so don't worry, not everyone is so far into scheduling.

 

[Woots32]

It could be that Vandy just schedules interviews far in advance. I submitted my AMCAS in June and got an invite to Vandy in early-mid August, and the first date available was Oct. 18th. Some school seem to schedule invites only a month or so in advance, but maybe they're trying to get their whole set of interviewees scheduled already.

 

[uclachris]

Thats strange, because I completed my AMCAS in June and Vandy offered me an interview early in August-- but I guess I got lucky and was able to schedule an interview for the last week of August... When did you call to schedule?

C