Medical Are You Toast? – Med School Admissions Officers Reveal Interview Timeline [Episode 555]

In this episode of Admission Straight Talk, host Linda Abraham addresses the concerns of medical school applicants who have not yet received interview invitations. She debunks the myth that not receiving an invitation by Thanksgiving means rejection and shares insights from several admissions directors. She offers tips for both current med school applicants and those preparing for a reapplication.

Show Notes​

Welcome to the 555th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. This episode is for those of you who applied this cycle to medical school and haven’t received any interview invitations or at least haven’t received an interview invitation from your top choice schools. We’re also going to discuss a little bit about what you should be doing now – neither hitting a panic button nor just worrying and chewing your nails – which is preparing for the possibility of a reapplication.

Before we dive in, I have two free resources that I’d like to invite you to take advantage of: The Ultimate Guide to Medical School Interview Success and Medical School Applicant Advice: 6 Tips For Success.

Welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:00]​

If you are a regular listener, you know that during most episodes of Admissions Straight Talk, I interview a guest. Occasionally I give a solo show, but usually I interview a guest and frequently that guest is an admissions directors. I also have many times asked guests who are med school admissions deans or directors, “When do you stop sending out interview invitations?” I started asking this question because many applicants believed incorrectly that if they don’t have an interview invitation by Thanksgiving, they are toast. And here we are in the midst of the Christmas and New Year holidays, and if you haven’t gotten the invitation by now, are you actually burnt toast? Well, let’s hear what five admissions deans and directors have said in response to my question.

The five are:

• Roshini Pinto-Powell, the Associate Dean for Admissions at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
• Paul White, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• Dr. Kristen Goodell, Associate Dean of Admissions at BU’s Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine
• Dr. Michael Ellison, Associate Dean for Admissions at Chicago Medical School at the Rosalind Franklin University
• Dr. Cynthia Boyd, Associate Dean for Admissions and Recruitment at Rush Medical College

Today’s episode is a collection of their answers to that question, “When do you stop sending out interview invitations?” At the end there’s a little commentary from me, but mostly it’s admissions directors and their own words. These are admissions directors at top medical programs sharing what you need to know about the interview invitation timeline.

Dr. Roshini Pinto-Powell, Professor of Medicine and Medical Education and Associate Dean of Admissions at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth University. [4:20]​

[RPP] So, our process is a rolling process. We do rolling admissions and we continue to send out invitations well into March. And similarly with the waitlist, that’s another thing that people worry about. This is a long process, which is why I said I feel sorry for our candidates. It’s a long year. It’s a long year.

Paul White, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. [5:09]​

[PW] Well, when it was in person, the last date would be around the first week of February. With virtual interviews, we literally sometimes invite people three or four days before the interview. I would say at least a week before is ideal.

Mid-February to late February, certainly not the day before. Yeah, we want to give a heads-up, but when it was in person because of travel in February, we always did minimally two weeks in advance.

The reason I asked this question is because there’s this meme out there that if you don’t have an interview invitation by Thanksgiving, you’re toast. And every single admissions’ director I’ve asked says no. We interview into January, February and some into late March. I don’t think anybody goes into April. So I always ask this question. [5:44]​

[PW] This is wrong. Do you know where that’s coming from? I think medical schools are partly to blame, but I also think that there’s a myth out there that it’s best to get your application in as quickly as possible. I know of one really fine medical school that will even tell their fellow applicants, get it in as soon as possible. And they’ve done a statistical analysis to show that the acceptance rate is higher for people who apply earlier to that medical school. Now, what I would want to know is what’s the profile of those students then? You see, because in our experience, first of all, we wait for the verified AMCASapplication.

And we don’t prescreen. But sometime after July 4th, we’ll start delivering access, acknowledging and then providing access to our secondary application. You can take however much time you want to get it in, as long as it’s in my office by November 1st.

It doesn’t matter to me. I do not read anything into it. If someone waits until September, I figured there’s a reason for it. And should some people wait? Absolutely. And I’m talking about someone who is having an incredible summer experience, like the students I just spoke with, they’re not going to be able to write that. We don’t take updates.

We’re serious about that. I don’t want an update. I want to know what you’re doing, what you’ve done, okay. And if you get invited to interview through Hopkins, I’m just talking about Hopkins, then you can provide an update after the interview.

So if for any reason you’re having an incredible summer experience and you want to write about it knowledgeably, it can wait.

There’s no disadvantage. We notify students. If you’ve been to my website, you can see we say we notify students mid-December, end of January, and end of March. I once heard or read on one of those studentdoctor.net or interviewed feedback someone said, “If you’re interviewing in January or February, you’re interviewing for the wait list.” That was news to me. Okay? Why bother? Right? Why would we bother? And why would a student invest in it as well? Instead, some of our most interesting students, we don’t get their applications in terms of the review until December and January and I’m like, this is great. Wow. Let’s bring this person in and we don’t want anyone to lose interest in us. And don’t take that as an indication of unlikely to be admitted. Some of our best applicants were taken in the last month. Absolutely wonderful people.

Dr. Kristen Goodell, Associate Dean of Admissions at BU’s Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. [9:09]​

[KD] For us it’s the end of January or beginning of February. We extended our interview season last year. So, we historically had stopped at the end of January, and then last year I wanted to do some more interviews, and so we extended it a bit. So, then we were sending out invitations later. This year, we’re planning to have our last interview day on February 16th. So, I think we’ll be done sending invitations by end of January. When I say end of January, I mean January 31st, since they’re virtual. If we have a cancellation, we’ll reach out to somebody.

Dr. Michael Ellison, Associate Dean for Admissions at Chicago Medical School at the Rosalind Franklin University. [10:17]​

[ME] Our deadline date for submitting their primary application is November 1st, followed by December 1st which is the deadline for their supplemental. We invite applicants as late as March to interview. So we hope that students are applying early in the cycle, but for the student who may have had some challenges getting their resources together or getting enough people to write them letters of recommendation, we know that things happen that prevent people from always submitting an application at the beginning of the cycle. So, if you complete an application by November 1st, there is still a possibility that you will could be invited for an interview. We are on rolling admissions.

Dr. Cynthia Boyd, Associate Dean for Admissions and Recruitment at Rush Medical College. [11:09]​

[CB] We interview usually up until the first to third week in February. So again, as I said, it’s a rolling admissions and what that means is we’re interviewing people and the committee is making decisions whether to accept or not accept or they might end up on the waitlist. So, we interview until we fill our class. So, that’s why it’s a rolling admissions, ongoing review, interviews, and some schools may have different deadlines or whatever. Some fill their class maybe quicker because they have a smaller denominator of what they’re looking for. But we definitely, if you haven’t heard anything, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not going to get an interview.

What should you do if you haven’t received an invitation? [12:01]​

Now these are just a sample of answers I’ve gotten when I asked, when do you stop sending out interview invitations? However, the reality is that I’ve asked this question many times and not one admissions dean or director has said that Thanksgiving is when they stop sending out interview invitations. In fact, I don’t remember anyone saying that they stop in December. So you don’t have to hit the panic button if you do not yet have an interview invitation. Number one, it wouldn’t do you any good. It won’t matter. Hitting the panic button, biting your nails, not sleeping, worrying, having anxiety attacks, none of that will do any good because you still could get an interview invitation, and it won’t also help you in event that you have to reapply. So, what you should be doing now is not sitting on your hands at this point or doing any of those other behaviors I was just mentioning.

Pursue parallel tracks. [12:54]​

What you should be doing, you should pursue parallel tracks.

Parallel tracks that enhance your chances of acceptance this time around, and also will enhance your chances of acceptance if you do need to reapply. There’s some overlap between the two tracks, but I’m going to treat them separately.

Track number one, do everything you can do to get accepted this cycle. And what do I mean by that? Because you already have submitted your primary, your secondary applications, and you are waiting for results. All right? Let me tell you.

1. Try to mitigate weaknesses that you have in your application so that you can discuss in any interview how you are an even better applicant, new and improved, than you were when you submitted your primary and secondaries and got their attention and enough interest to warrant the interview invitation. These mitigation efforts can help you both in an interview and if you are waitlisted. So again, whether it’s GPA repair, more clinical exposure, community service, whatever is your weakness other than actually the presentation of your qualifications in your application that you can fix now that will enhance your chances of acceptance, go for it. Do it. That was number one.

Prepare for the interview. [14:07]​

1. Prepare for the interview if you are invited to interview. For most medical schools, the acceptance rate for interviewed applicants goes way up. Most are between 25% and 50%, which is far better than the one to 10% acceptance rate for applicants as a whole at most schools. You are so close. Take advantage not only of the free resource I mentioned earlier, but of mock interview options. Have a dress rehearsal with an experienced supportive mentor before you have the real thing. That way you can perfect your answers. You can be critiqued, again, not from somebody who was evaluating you to admit you or reject you, but from somebody who’s trying to support you and help you. Again, have a dress rehearsal.

Provide updates. [14:52]​

1. If the school is open to updates – again that’s a big if — provide meaningful updates, but don’t waste their time repeating what’s in your application or merely reiterating your interest. There needs to be more substance than that.

You can send them information on a recent great grade, a publication, a new job that provided insight into your alignment with their school, new community service or leadership position, or perhaps, and this would be for the schools that are most open to updates, I would say interactions with current students that really piqued your interest or perhaps even faculty members that again, reinforce the idea that this is the right place for you.

So, that’s track one, trying to get accepted in this cycle.

Track two, simultaneously prepare to reapply until you get an offer of acceptance that you would be happy to accept, and you should be happy to accept any of them frankly.

In brief, here are the steps you should be taking now to prepare for a reapplication, especially if you would like to reapply in the 2024-2025 cycle:

1. Evaluate your application holistically. You can start with the stats, right? I have a GPA of X, I have an MCAT of Y, I have Z hours of all different kinds of experience, but don’t stop there. Examine school alignment. In other words, your choice of schools to apply to. Is there a mission fit, fit between your interests and the school’s strengths? Did you present your qualifications effectively? And then of course, just based on the stats, are you competitive? They do count, but don’t stop with the stats. I see so many posts and I get so many inquiries. “I have this MCAT or I have this GPA, this MCAT, X hours of this, Y hours of that. Do I qualify? Am I competitive?” Well, I don’t really know. I haven’t seen your application. So again, holistically evaluate your application and then evaluate, address, and

1. Eliminate weaknesses in your application. Yes, that overlaps with track one very directly. So, if you take these steps in terms of pursuing acceptance this cycle and you don’t do it enough, or there are other issues that you also have to address, realize that you’re that much farther ahead in terms of preparing for a reapplication process.
2. If you weren’t competitive at the schools you applied to, either improve your competitiveness – retake the MCAT, go for a postbac, whether formal or informal. Improve the community service, improve the clinical exposure –or apply to programs where you are competitive.. Don’t do the same thing you did last time.

Fix your presentation. [17:41]​

1. And then if you believe that you failed in your presentation of your qualifications to present yourself effectively, fix your presentation. Make sure that you show connections between your activities and what you learned, what you acquired, what you contributed, how you grew from those activities, how you contributed, how you changed, how what you gave made a difference, and then how those activities made a difference to you. Fix your presentation.

Apply as early as possible. [18:09]​

1. Apply as early as possible without rushing, or skip a cycle so that you can apply with an improved and competitive application early in the following cycle. Again, Accepted can support you as you pursue track two, checkout Accepted’s Reapplication Packages, which start with a critique of this year’s application and provide support for your next application. Or just start with a Reapplication Review, which will provide you with a critique of one primary application and up to two secondary applications.

So remember, if you do not yet have an interview invitation, you are not toast, nor are your med school ambitions. BUT,don’t take this episode as an excuse to sit on your hands because you really weren’t listening to me and wait for the interview invitation. Pursue those parallel tracks and be prepared whether you get that invitation – and I hope you do – or not And by the way, if you don’t get that interview invitation or if this cycle does not end up with the acceptance that you hope for, having already prepared yourself for a reapplication effort will make that rejection a little bit easier emotionally.

This article was originally posted on blog.accepted.com.

---

Members don't see this ad.