*~*~* Official 2021-2022 School Interview Invites Tracker *~*~* (2024)

FAQs

When to expect medical school interview invites? ›

Medical school interview invitations are typically sent out beginning in late summer or early fall but can continue through winter or even into the following spring.

Parents can expects the school to ask questions about family life, what your child is like as a student, their personality, and what type of school would be ideal for them. The best interviews are more of a conversation, rather than a simple question and answer.

What percentage of med school applicants get interviews? Getting a medical school interview can be tough. It's competitive, and the candidates who get interview invitations are the best of the best. Only around 10-15% of applicants get interview invitations each year for each medical school.

The median number of interviews offered was four, while the median number of interviews attended by MSQ respondents was three interviews.

Most interviews run approximately 30 minutes to an hour. Students are sometimes told that the sign of a good interview is a long one.

Don't fret too much. Many other applicants are in your shoes. We know many applicants who receive medical school invites in February and even as late as March. Starting September of each year, we start getting emails from students who are worried that they have not yet received a medical school interview invitation.

There's no uniform schedule for med school interviews. Many programs start sending out interview invitations shortly after the first secondary applications are received. Others seem to dole them out more gradually and their season can stretch well beyond the new year.

Avoid negativity and talking about other schools.

So, you want to go into your interview with a positive and confident attitude. You want to avoid being negative, both about your own performance and/or interests and, naturally, about the school and other schools. You don't want to put down other colleges or programs.

Admissions committees are looking for well-rounded candidates. You should be prepared to speak eloquently about something that's of interest to you outside of academics, whether it's sports, music or drama. A good answer should also include whether you intend to continue that interest while at a new school.

During the process of applying to a school, you may participate in an admissions interview. Learning what questions interviewers often ask can allow you to prepare and practice your responses. This can also aid you in answering confidently, which may help the interviewer to remember you.

Why do schools do interviews? ›

College interviews give students a chance to shine, and schools will ask for more information about the individual's passions, personality, strengths, weaknesses, goals, extracurriculars, volunteer work, and more. For highly selective colleges, an interview can absolutely impact your admission chances.

Whether it's before you decided to apply, or after you submitted an application, colleges use interviews to help build a more complete picture of you as a person. Fundamentally, an interview is a conversation – an exchange of information between you and a representative of the college.

Typically, medical school interview invitations start being sent out in August to September of each year. However, many students receive their interview invites starting in October through December, and others can get their invitations as late as January or February of the following year.

Your invitation will likely come by email, and typically, programs will give you a list of dates to choose from. It is imperative that you respond as soon as possible, as your preferred interview date could be snatched up by another applicant if you don't act quickly.

In general, somewhere between 25-50% of interviewees are accepted to any given institution. We recommend researching the acceptance rates at the schools you apply to so you can gauge how competitive the process will be compared to other schools. You can find this information for each medical school in MSAR.

Only the brightest and most talented students actually receive an interview invite. You should check MSAR, as well as the admission websites of your schools, to confirm the average accepted stats for the schools you've applied to.