Why do they even want to interview me at UNC????

[bladerunner]

Hello all, I am new and would appreciate anyone's thoughts on my bizarre situation.


I just received an invitation to interview at UNC. Elated? You bet. Confused? Big time. This is the deal. I graduated U.C. Berkeley with a 3.64 non-science degree. After graduation I spent two years in Japan as an elementary and junior high school English teacher and volunteered in a hospital in Tokyo which broadened my perspectives and introduced me to medicine. I also taught special education classes while in Japan. After returning to the states I enrolled in a post bacc program and currently have a 4.0 and have literally kicked ass in my sciences, many A+'s. I have also volunteered at Duke doing cancer research. I am a non-traditional student, age 29. These are the strengths of my application as well as some more. But here is what I am baffled about. MCAT: 5V 10P 9B/R. I don't dismiss the 5 as a fluke. It is true that verbal is not my strong point but I do not feel like a 5 is indicative of my true performance, on the practive tests I usually scored 7 or 8, maybe it was the stress of test day.

I know the stats guys, I have never heard of anyone getting in with a 5. I am a native English speaking white male. So why do they want to waste their time by interviewing me? Will they just tell me everything looks cool except the 5 so take it over and reapply next year. If that's the case then it seems like a waste of time and resources because I could easily tell myself the same thing. How am I supposed to interpret this. I want to go in there confident and feeling like I still have a chance. Are they just being courteous? Why waste their time and my time. What can I expect in the interview? I am so confused!!
Any thougths on this mess would be graciously accepted.

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[simseema17]

Hey,
I really don't think they'd interview to be "courteous"...why would they waste their time doing that? If they invited you for an interview, they've accepted your numbers and now they want to see what type of person you are...I would not look at this interview as a bad sign, but as a priviledge...not EVERYBODY gets an interview...if they like you at the interview, chances are you're very likely to get in...good luck

 

[deziballer]

Congratulations on the UNC interview! Only about 500 out of about 5000 applicants are interviewed, i think.
Anyway, my advice is to focus on your non-traditional application. At my UNC interview, i did not really talk about grades, etc. Instead I talked a lot about the other activities I was involved in and I was offered an acceptance in 2 weeks despite the fact that my grades and MCAT, although good, were not stellar.
Good luck and hopefully I may see you there next year!

 

[bladerunner]

deziballer,

Thanx for the reply. One question for you though. My actual interview date hasn't been set but have received the supplementary application which says that as soon as it is returned with letters of rec and everything else they will call to set up the interview. I even called the admissions office to confirm this and they told me that if I got a supplemental then that means they want to invite me for an interview. Is this how it worked for you. I hope they pull the old one two on me after I mail em the 60 bones.

 

[bladerunner]

I meant to say at the end of my last message that I hope they DON'T pull a fast one on me. I'm writing this and getting ready for work at the same time - my apologies.

 

[gower]

Adcoms do not waste their time interviewing people who might not make the grade. It is not a gift you are being offered. They see something in your application that makes them interested, very probably some of your history as recounted here. Make the most of your interview. Be positive in the interview
(let them worry about the 5, let them bring it up if they want to; they saw it and invited you anyway). UNC is a fine medical school on a beautiful campus.

 

[limit]

I don't mean to be negative, but something must be seriously wrong with UC Berkely if they let you graduate with a 3.6 non-science gpa and get a 5 on the verbal.

You couldn't imagine how rediculously stupid that is. Do you know what percentage of people get 5 or below on the verbal ?

If you went to a real school and gotten even a B+ in English I and II like is required for med admissions you'd have received a much higher Verbal grade. Grade inflation, however, is never a student's fault, so sorry for bashing you like this, I just find the situation disturbing.

Back to your concerns, it is often regarded that at an interview (once you reach that step), your grades mean nothing unless they can't grade your personality. They try to see everyone as equals once you are at an interview.

The only reason they start bringing up grades and MCAT scores and ask you about the bad ones, is to see how you interpret your own performance. If they see you start blaming it all on your teacher, or on a foreign language, or on a flu that made you miss a week of classes, they see that you're the kind who will most likely try to bounce mistakes off fellow physicians in the future.

If you have a very good reason for performing how you did, I think you stand a very good chance of admissions.

good luck

 

[RudyF]

Hey,

At least you got a secondary! I'm still waiting (and hoping). I am also a non-traditional student, a few years older than you, and I am worried about the age thing. I admit, getting a low score on one section of the MCAT would have bummed me out, but your strengths sound like they overcome that one weakness. I think everyone has one weak spot on their app. I don't have much medical experience, and I think that is a much bigger deal than one low score.

Besides, they already read your essay so they know you can read and write well. As long as you continue be yourself in the interview and just show them that you have a good command of the language like you obviously do, you should do fine.

And btw, I don't think many people will claim that Berkely is not a real school; It is one of the most respected schools in the country, so just ignore the name calling and bashing that sometimes takes place on this board. Good luck!

 

[MSepo]

Originally posted by limit:
"I don't mean to be negative, but something must be seriously wrong with UC Berkely if they let you graduate with a 3.6 non-science gpa and get a 5 on the verbal.

You couldn't imagine how rediculously stupid that is. Do you know what percentage of people get 5 or below on the verbal ?

If you went to a real school and gotten even a B+ in English I and II like is required for med admissions you'd have received a much higher Verbal grade."

I disagree with this interpretation. No english/literature course I've ever heard of administers exams like the MCAT verbal section - i.e. college english courses don't prepare you for that, so there's no reason to expect that a 3.6 non-science at Berkeley should translate into a high VR. Rather, notice that bladerunner's essay score of "R" is pretty darn good (at least i wish i'd gotten that) and is probably a lot more reflective of the traditional essay-writing that is required in most english courses. As for that 5, my guess is that it is most likely just a fluke; or possibly that bladerunner doesn't test well/didn't prepare well for the particular type of exam that the VR section is.

[This message has been edited by MSepo (edited 12-02-2000).]

 

[MSepo]

bladerunner, stop worrying! Schools don't extend interview invites to people whom they don't think will cut it academically, so you've already cleared that hurdle. As for the interview itself, if it is closed-file you won't even have to explain the 5. And if it's open-file, just give a brief, honest explanation without making excuses and they won't even give it a second thought. Finally, despite what you say about the stats and i don't know about UNC, but I personally know a guy who got an 8 TOTAL on the MCAT and who is now an MD in a residency position. OK, so he had to go the caribbean route, but who cares? He's a doctor now.

 

[alceria]

I don't mean to be negative, but something must be seriously wrong with UC Berkely if they let you graduate with a 3.6 non-science gpa and get a 5 on the verbal.
You couldn't imagine how rediculously stupid that is. Do you know what percentage of people get 5 or below on the verbal ?

If you went to a real school and gotten even a B+ in English I and II like is required for med admissions you'd have received a much higher Verbal grade.

Argh, I think that "real" school bit was way out of line. I find it hard to believe that this person got a 5 though as well. I think it's very likely that perhaps there was a grid error on that section - meaning that maybe bladerunner was entering the answer to #4 in the slot for #5 and so on, or perhaps even there was an error with the scantron machine. Especially considering that bladerunner has good grades. Something doesn't add up. I would be very skeptical about whether or not that 5 was an accurate assesment. We don't know what really happened, and it sounds like even Bladerunner is a bit confused about whether it was an extreme case of stress or what, so we shouldn't be judging him/her.

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^v^

 

[Benzeno]

Look at yourself kid, you've been around the world, demonstrated ablilty to work with other cultures, handled children, have worked with mr. medicine, rocked your post-bacc... Do you know how that sounds next to a 23 yo who is graduating this spring after 16 straight years of school? Adcoms take people outside the mold with the heart and drive to become a good doctor. They DO want to talk to You.

 

[limit]

Regarding the question that you wrote in the topic, "Why do they want to interview me?"

I think the real question is why you would send an application if you'd be seriously questioning their actions?

 

[deziballer]

hey, bladerunner, the ad com told you correctly-you are pretty much assured an interview as long as you return the supplementary. UNC takes a much longer time to send out supplementaries than other schools because they screen applications. I was called in less than 2 weeks after I handed in my secondary and was asked to come in for my interview in a week. This, I have heard is the case for everybody interviewed.
Once again, good luck and focus on your positives. Dont bring up the 5 on the MCAT verbal unless they do.