Did you just finish an interview and are wondering if you were first in line? Maybe you haven’t gotten one yet and are worried they are looking at “better” applicants. Whatever your reason is, let’s talk through what I think schools want.
Medical School Interviews
Medical Schools only interview a small percentage of applicants as you probably already know. If not, its usually around 5-10% of applicants, although this can be lower or higher based on school. After this, only an even smaller percentage get an acceptance afterwards. This can be anywhere between 10% and 50% of this group. It’s competitive.
So, how do these schools pick who’s first? Well, many applicants and folks on StudentDoctorNetwork and Reddit claim that it can be based off of timing of your submissions. Generally, you want to have your primary AMCAS application sent in within a week or so and then your secondaries sent in within a week or two of receiving them from each school. See here for my write up on timing.
Those that turn in both aspects of the application are ready to be considered for interview and should, by principle, be first in line for an interview. Generally, I found this to be true. I received the majority of my interviews in August, September, and October. I received some in January, but most were earlier on. Schools I submitted to earlier sent their interviews earlier.
So do think about that!
As for “Better” applicants, you need to sit down and consider what a “better” applicant is in the eyes of the school. They want someone that is close to are above their MCAT and GPA medians and more importantly, someone that is a good fit for their program.
Fit can mean a lot of things, but I have found that this is mostly having a good reason why you want to attend the school, having family connections at the school, living in that state for X years, or some aspect of their research/clinicals that they are well known for and you are very passionate about. I go more into detail here.
So before you get worried about not being the “best” candidate, I received acceptances to medical schools from interviews as late as February. It’s possible and you are not “out of luck” or “bottom of the barrel” if you get one in February. You may have just applied late or maybe weren’t the exact fit they initially wanted.
When you apply, I highly recommend trying to make sure that your MCAT and GPA are close to or above the school’s median and also take a lot of time on your secondaries to yell to these schools “I WANT TO GO HERE AND I KNOW EXACTLY WHY”. That can put you ahead of so many that give vague and non-school specific answers.
The short answer here is that yes, these programs will interview their best candidates first. It’s just like any other job. However, your perspective of what a good candidate is is way more than just your scores. They matter, but you can become a better candidate than many just by showing a school how YOU fit THEIR school based on their current strengths and their future goals for their program.