When are you most likely to interview?

[mik30102]

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Hello everyone, I was wondering during what months is a applicant most likely to interview if a school is interested in them assuming a early application (June/July). I ask since I will be doing my pharmacy rotations next year and I am only allowed to take 5 professional days, with any additional time being at the discretion of my preceptor. Due to this I am trying to request certain months off (was thinking October/November) so I would hopefully not have to worry about going over my 5 allowed days. Thanks!

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Every school is different, some have faster and some have slower application cycles. Assuming you apply in June, are verified by the start of July, and complete at schools in early July after you receive secondaries, your interviews could roll in starting in July/August for dates as early as late August/early September. September and October are pretty hot months for interviews for early applicants, then it begins to spread out significantly.

This is from too much time spent on SDN and personal experience, though. I don't have any source to back this up.

 

[nemo123]

Every school is different, some have faster and some have slower application cycles. Assuming you apply in June, are verified by the start of July, and complete at schools in early July after you receive secondaries, your interviews could roll in starting in July/August for dates as early as late August/early September. September and October are pretty hot months for interviews for early applicants, then it begins to spread out significantly.

This is from too much time spent on SDN and personal experience, though. I don't have any source to back this up.

Lol I'll second that. If you're a highly desirable applicant (LizzyM >76-77) with solid ECs, apply to top schools, and are complete sometime during July for all your schools, you'll get interviews almost immediately and will start going to them in late August/early September (and your interview season will most likely end in October).

 

[Pacna]

Lol I'll second that. If you're a highly desirable applicant (LizzyM >76-77) with solid ECs, apply to top schools, and are complete sometime during July for all your schools, you'll get interviews almost immediately and will start going to them in late August/early September (and your interview season will most likely end in October).

I can say that this was exactly my experience. My final interview was October 4, and my first was Some time in mid August.

OP- There's no way to predict how your cycle will go. Unless you can take 3 months off, I fear that you will get no helpful advice here.

 

[lalalapartay012]

so.. what do applicants generally do if their interview season ends in October? Since it seems like some schools don't respond until the new year... do people just hang tight and wait?

 

[kyamh]

Also...if you get interviews you can always choose to schedule them in a given month. Are you allowed to sit on interview invitations if certain dates aren't offered yet?

If I were you, I would take either October or more likely November off. Schedule all your interviews during that month off even if you get them early unless the school is rolling and a top choice, then I would use a vacation day. I speak as someone who works full time and who is currently crushed by interview season travel interfering with work.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

so.. what do applicants generally do if their interview season ends in October? Since it seems like some schools don't respond until the new year... do people just hang tight and wait?

Most people who interview that early will earn acceptances around October 15th, and the rest of the cycle becomes a matter of where they want to go.

 

[SN12357]

so.. what do applicants generally do if their interview season ends in October? Since it seems like some schools don't respond until the new year... do people just hang tight and wait?

If they're interviewing at most schools, they'll get their acceptances by December and then either decide or wait for financial offers to come in a bit later.

If they're interviewing at schools without rolling admissions (either all admissions decisions in March or two big waves in Jan and March), then yeah...lots and lots of waiting.

I was complete in August for almost all schools and had most of my interviews between the last week of Sept and the middle of november. Have a couple interviews in Dec and Jan. Still waiting on several schools, so hard to say when my season will officially end.

If you apply early, when AMCAS opens, and have a fairly strong application, October is probably your best bet for a month off. But honestly it's a major crapshoot.

 

[mik30102]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I realize it's pretty much a crap shoot but I think ill end up asking for 08/18-11/07 off based on what everyone is saying. Hopefully it doesn't backfire on me since I will have a rotation for the rest of the year minus a few breaks here and there.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I realize it's pretty much a crap shoot but I think ill end up asking for 08/18-11/07 off based on what everyone is saying. Hopefully it doesn't backfire on me since I will have a rotation for the rest of the year minus a few breaks here and there.

You could certainly back that up to after the first week of September until December 1st, e.g. 9/~7 to 12/1. While there are August interview dates, they are rarer, and it wouldn't impact you much to move your dates back a bit so that you have a bit more leniency for later interview invites as well. Only a handful of schools really start interviewing significantly before the first week of September.

Also, keep in mind, we're under some assumptions here: you are submitting your Primary Application on Day 1 (June 5th, typically), submitting secondaries upon reception of them (pre-writing secondaries using the school-specific threads for prompts before you formally receive them), and have a competitive application profile (e.g. > 3.6 s/cGPA, > 30 MCAT, no evident gaps in ECs).

These are some formidable assumptions for the average person.

 

[mik30102]

I can't request exact date ranges unfortunately. The year is organized into modules, and I have 2 of these modules free and am able to request which ones I would like off. If I push it to the next 2 modules I would have 9/29-1/2 off. I could use my 5 days though if I ended up getting one in September so maybe that is better to do. I'm planning on prewriting most of my secondaries over winter break, and have a >3.7 s/c, 37 mcat, average EC.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

... have a >3.7 s/c, 37 mcat, average EC.

Take 08/18-11/07 off. Stay on top of your app and your cycle should be over before mid-November. You can use the 5 vacation days to attend a couple schools you're really interested in but decided to wait on their interview invite.

Make sure you take some time to do some solid interview prep, too. It's shamefully overlooked by a lot of applicants, and you will certainly be using those skills in the next cycle.

Best of luck!

 

[SN12357]

Take 08/18-11/07 off. Stay on top of your app and your cycle should be over before mid-November. You can use the 5 vacation days to attend a couple schools you're really interested in but decided to wait on their interview invite.

Make sure you take some time to do some solid interview prep, too. It's shamefully overlooked by a lot of applicants, and you will certainly be using those skills in the next cycle.

Best of luck!

In his place I'd probably take the 9/29-1/2 one, honestly. That way you get Thanksgiving and Christmas...not many schools really start interviewing in Aug and it's easy to ask for a slightly later interview date.

 

[nemo123]

I can't request exact date ranges unfortunately. The year is organized into modules, and I have 2 of these modules free and am able to request which ones I would like off. If I push it to the next 2 modules I would have 9/29-1/2 off. I could use my 5 days though if I ended up getting one in September so maybe that is better to do. I'm planning on prewriting most of my secondaries over winter break, and have a >3.7 s/c, 37 mcat, average EC.

How average are your ECs? As it is, your numbers are solid, but average ECs will hold you back a little unless you have very significant research experiences for the top schools (i.e. a pub).

 

[uscoos1452]

If I were you, I would take either October or more likely November off. Schedule all your interviews during that month off even if you get them early unless the school is rolling and a top choice, then I would use a vacation day. I speak as someone who works full time and who is currently crushed by interview season travel interfering with work.I like this.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

In his place I'd probably take the 9/29-1/2 one, honestly. That way you get Thanksgiving and Christmas...not many schools really start interviewing in Aug and it's easy to ask for a slightly later interview date.

The reason that I think they should shoot for the earlier one is that the entire date timeline is within interview range. OP broke the score barrier that basically guarantees (assuming adequate ECs, >3.8 and >36 is money) a significant number of interviews early on. Good chance is they will also have an October 15th acceptance, which means they can begin to become very selective in the interview process (where to go, what to spend, etc). However, the vacation days still leave open a couple of slots for OP's 'dream' schools that don't offer invites to OP early.

The issue I see with 9/29-1/2 is that this goes over the holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. The application process slows down significantly during this time, including with active interview days. This also means taht OP will not have October 15th acceptances, meaning he/she will be inclined to attend every interview he/she receives. The cost-benefit analytics person that I am really, really favors the 08/18-11/07 dates.

To be fair, neither of us know how the interviews will go, as there is so much 'up to chance' in this process. But that's what I think.

 

[SN12357]

The reason that I think they should shoot for the earlier one is that the entire date timeline is within interview range. OP broke the score barrier that basically guarantees (assuming adequate ECs, >3.8 and >36 is money) a significant number of interviews early on. Good chance is they will also have an October 15th acceptance, which means they can begin to become very selective in the interview process (where to go, what to spend, etc). However, the vacation days still leave open a couple of slots for OP's 'dream' schools that don't offer invites to OP early.

The issue I see with 9/29-1/2 is that this goes over the holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. The application process slows down significantly during this time, including with active interview days. This also means taht OP will not have October 15th acceptances, meaning he/she will be inclined to attend every interview he/she receives. The cost-benefit analytics person that I am really, really favors the 08/18-11/07 dates.

To be fair, neither of us know how the interviews will go, as there is so much 'up to chance' in this process. But that's what I think.

We're running the cost-benefits differently.

Earlier is better if the OP gets those early interviews. But if he doesn't, if he does well but is just more in the schools' second waves, then he could be really screwed over in terms of being able to fit interviews in. The later dates are much safer, because although the holiday season arrives if you ask a school to move your interview later you'll pretty much always be able to, but if you want to move it earlier it's unlikely to happen. Also, many of the schools don't give financial offers until the spring anyway. So it's hard to turn down interviews without that information.

Also personally I would put a very high price on having lots of time off around the holidays so I can be with my family. Choosing to go into medicine means that those opportunities for long lazy holidays with family are going to go by the wayside pretty soon.

But yeah this is basically all speculation.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

We're running the cost-benefits differently.

Earlier is better if the OP gets those early interviews. But if he doesn't, if he does well but is just more in the schools' second waves, then he could be really screwed over in terms of being able to fit interviews in. The later dates are much safer, because although the holiday season arrives if you ask a school to move your interview later you'll pretty much always be able to, but if you want to move it earlier it's unlikely to happen. Also, many of the schools don't give financial offers until the spring anyway. So it's hard to turn down interviews without that information.

Also personally I would put a very high price on having lots of time off around the holidays so I can be with my family. Choosing to go into medicine means that those opportunities for long lazy holidays with family are going to go by the wayside pretty soon.

Even without the financial offers in hand, you can pretty reasonably deduce what most schools will offer and what they will cost to attend.

We certainly have different perspectives, which is good because this situation really comes down to preference. Earlier is slightly more risky, but could save OP a lot of trouble financially. Later is slightly safer, but would likely cost significantly more money while affording more time with family/friends over the holidays.

 

[SN12357]

We certainly have different perspectives, which is good because this situation really comes down to preference. Earlier is slightly more risky, but could save OP a lot of trouble financially. Later is slightly safer, but would likely cost significantly more money while affording more time with family/friends over the holidays.

Yup. That about sums it up.

Good luck, OP. Only thing that is certain is whichever block you choose, you MUST submit your AMCAS by mid June and be complete in July/early Aug. Otherwise all this lovely debate about time off in the fall goes out the window.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Yup. That about sums it up.

Good luck, OP. Only thing that is certain is whichever block you choose, you MUST submit your AMCAS by mid June and be complete in July/early Aug. Otherwise all this lovely debate about time off in the fall goes out the window.

I would replace this this with you MUST submit your AMCAS by early June and prewrite your secondaries using allopathic school-specific forums.

If you're on SDN, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to be the first set of applicants that hits those reviewers' hands. You have nearly 7 months to do this stuff, get it done so you can relax.

But you are right, all this discussion is for nothing if that application isn't completely completed at schools before August.