Medical Pre-Interview Invite Update?

[Question]

Hello SDN, I have a strange question. I have a tremendous amount of experience, however, I've realized now that some of my activity descriptions in AMCAS don't offer insight into what I gained from the experience, what I learned, how I grew, etc. (I would rewrite them if needing to re-apply next year). I was fortunate to receive an II coming up, but am worried the post-interview deliberation process will highlight this weakness in my application. Since I cannot control the interview (to a certain degree), I am worried if I don't have the ability to speak more about my experiences in-depth, the admissions committee may not understand how I've grown from those experiences, how they've contributed to my medical journey, or why they were important to me - resulting in a waitlist or rejection. I am tempted to submit an update letter pre-interview with some greater reflection about my current activities such that if I'm unable to talk about them in the interview (or it doesn't get relayed to the committee), at least the committee will have a chance to learn more about my motivations, passions, and interests. Does anybody have any thoughts about this? Thank you.

— Experts please respond to this post —

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[GoSpursGo]

Please don't do this. You got an interview, so clearly the committee is sufficiently interested in your experiences and applications to give you the chance for an interview. Use that opportunity to speak to what these experiences meant to you.

I generally think that update letters are of dubious utility unless it's a truly meaningful update, and "updating" them with additional reflection upon activities they already know about is just going to be a waste of everyone's time.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Just prepare for your interview and ask how you can update your file prior to deliberations. If you underprepare, it won't matter what the committee will think of your updates or weaknesses.

 

[Goro]

Hello SDN, I have a strange question. I have a tremendous amount of experiences, however, I've realized now that some of my activity descriptions in AMCAS don't offer insight into what I gained from the experience, what I learned, how I grew etc (I would rewrite them if needing to re-apply next year). I was fortunate to receive an II coming up, but am worried the post-interview deliberation process will highlight this weakness in my application. Since I cannot control the interview (to a certain degree), I am worried if I don't have the ability to speak more about my experiences in-depth, the admissions committee may not understand how I've grown from those experiences, how they've contributed to my medical journey, or why they were important to me - resulting in a waitlist or rejection. I am tempted to submit an update letter pre-interview with some greater reflection about my current activities such that if I'm unable to talk about them in the interview (or it doesn't get relayed to the committee), at least the committee will have a chance to learn more about my motivations, passions, and interests. Does anybody have any thoughts about this? Thank you.

— Experts please respond to this post —

I'm getting a strong sense of worthless information. You can update them at the interview

 

[PerioDont]

focus on the interview

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It's probably worthless, I just have a fear when reading application, the committee might think to themselves "Why does this matter to his journey?" - based off just the written application without any meaningful reflection available to them. I guess I'll see how the interview goes!

I assure you, that won't be the question that would sink your application if you bomb your interview.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

You got an interview. Stop worrying.

 

[AlteredScale]

Go to the interview. Try and update in person there. If not send an update email after. Adcom staff are exceptionally busy and an email before may simply get lost in the shuffle because they aren’t expecting them to come that early