<p>Congrats to @dheldreth 's DD!</p>
<p>Thank you for the congratulations for my D. This week brought a wait list at a school she really liked. The previous acceptance helps, but she liked this school better. Hopefully the next few months bring better news for her and for all those other students waiting and hoping.</p>
<p>First let me say congrats to all that have been accepted. My S has one med school acceptance so far, which is a big relief! </p>
<p>However, I am baffled by the whole admissions process. My S has a very high GPA and MCAT, above Ivy League med school averages. He has shadowed, volunteered, researched, etc. We didn’t expect him to get an interview everywhere ( he’s had a handful so far and a couple more coming up). But there are some US News mid-ranked schools that he hasn’t heard from at all since he submitted completed supplementary apps in July. He’s been rejected at a couple schools. So he was accepted at one school this month, deferred at a school, rejected at a couple, and no interview yet or any correspondence from many others.</p>
<p>Any insights on this will be appreciated. ( Especially for the schools he has not heard anything from 3 months after completing the supp app. Is it possible they won’t bring him in for an interview because they think he will not attend that school because his stats are way above the average?)</p>
<p>^it is still very early in a process. My D. was accepted at 4 out of 8 that she applied. She had interviews later (she was driving in a snow while we were on vacation in Mexico sometime in December). So, he will get more interviews. I do not think these averages mean much. I believe that they are looking for a student/school match in all kind of aspects including personality. I would refrain taking rejects personally. D. just applied to rsidencies. Every time she gets a reject, my H. is mad, we just laugh. Her goal is 10 interviews for her specialty. H. will be mad many times, we told him to hold his horses and stay cool. At this level, there is no doubt, everybody is looking for a fit after they cut at certain score.
So, staty cool and HUGE CONGRATS on acceptance, this is the most important, this is the only thing that actually counts, it is a great accomplishment!</p>
<p>Congrats to dheldreth and camomof3 and raquetdad! So exciting!! </p>
<p>DS hasn’t had any of his interviews yet, but we’re just happy that he has several interviews. So congrats to the future doctors in the group and good luck to everyone with upcoming interviews!!</p>
<p>Good luck to your DS VAMom2015 and everyone else in the interviews. D finished hers, 2 of the 3 were very laid back. Only one had some tricky ethical questions. </p>
<p>D got a 2nd acceptance this week, so she is on cloud nine, and having a hard time concentrating on school! </p>
<p>Congratulations raquetdad and your S on his acceptance. It definitely is a relief! I am no expert on the process, and there are people here who know a lot. My D followed the same advice Kristen5792 gave on another thread. She applied to all IS publics and 6 OOS privates that had average stats close to hers. The IS publics have been the ones to show her the love. </p>
<p>Congrats on the second acceptance^. It will be great for your D to have some choice in where your she ends up. Applying as a college senior is quite challenging. D has found that the vast majority of interviewees are out of school already- she estimates about 70% or more at each interview have been college graduates. They don’t have to fit in interviews with midterms- it has stressed D out sometimes.</p>
<p>Yes, I find the whole application process bizarre and unpredictable as well. Several kids from D’s school with lower stats have gotten interviews at one specific school, but she and another high stat friend haven’t heard anything since being complete in July. Who knows what they are looking for? We are trying to stay very positive about what she does have (although it can be difficult!).</p>
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<p>Congrats to dheldreth’s D on a second acceptance. Is she doing more interviews?</p>
<p>Congrats to racquetdad’s son on his acceptance.</p>
<p>Can you explain what type of schools he applied to that are mid ranked? Are they private, public in state or out of state? What is the home state? Does he have GPA x 10 + MCAT score over 75?</p>
<p>I remember reading some answers from Blue Devil Mike in the past that he was invited/accepted by schools that were just at the level or slightly above his LizzyMscore while some about 5-10 points below were not as open.</p>
<p>I have seen that in Texas no matter how high the scores are, the instate students get invited by every school and most even admit knowing that they may not show up. I have seen several highly qualified students get into every medical school if they are in state. I am not sure same would apply to someone from OOS. Some schools will invite them for an interview but some of the lower tiered/unranked schools won’t bother. This does not seem to be the case in Cal where many highly qualified students who are residents might not even get an interview.</p>
<p>My S applied to in-state public and private as well as OOS public and private. About 15 total. Lizzy M score >77. A few schools gave him an ii within 7 or 8 days of submitting supp application, while no word yet from many others. All his applications were complete by beginning of August, with most done in July. At least the rejections came right away so no more wondering about those schools. Not sure why he is a fit at some schools but not others. As a very qualified candidate with stats above averages,I would just think that after having his completed application > 3 months the schools would either give him an invite or a rejection. The silence and waiting is what bothers me. </p>
<p>When son was applying (he will be a MS4 next fall, getting MBA this year) he was told by the admin interviewing him at Michigan on Friday that they knew he was interviewing at Harvard on Monday. Son had around 10 interviews in between end of August and mid October. Received acceptances early I think October 15th or so. He applied to 24 schools, after he scheduled his Harvard interview, Oct, he received no more interviews in Nov., Dec. Two or three more came in the spring, late. And only one did NOT mention hms to him. He said nothing about it. Couple other convos with other deans for scholie money revealed they could see more from amcas then we thought.</p>
<p>Don’t know if this plays out with others but for him it answered more questions. No contact with those where his stats were high AFTER hms, not after the interview but AFTER he scheduled it. So who knows what the schools pay for, what info is available to them (what services). I know what the website discloses about other schools seeing who has acceptances where but they don’t disclose what and when they can see other things for a price. Cynical I know, but only revealed when they knew where he had been and where he was going. Spooked him a little, but he figured he had some to pick from so he was ok.</p>
<p>Didn’t mean to distract from all the good news, was hoping to shed some light on the process.</p>
<p>Congrats to all those receiving the great news and my very best to those waiting. And yes it is still early. Many times it does seem like no rhyme or reason but I am SURE there is.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Thanks Texaspg, No, interviews are done I think. D had 3 II in October. Heard from 2 and the third will notify mid November. Silence from the other schools she has applied to. </p>
<p>@racquetd</p>
<p>The “why” of holds and silent rejections are a mystery to me. But LizzyM and gyngyn over at SDN suggested some reasons as to why this happens.</p>
<p>Some schools prefer to send out all their rejections at the same time for administrative reasons.</p>
<p>Some schools hold almost all candidates until the spring “just in case” they need to add more interviews </p>
<p>–just in case they haven’t had as strong of a commitment from accepted students as they wanted</p>
<p>–just in case an applicant might be a “special situation” (scion of a big donor, legacy, friend of the University’s President, etc)</p>
<p>–just in case they need to balance their incoming class by adding more students with certain characteristics (gender, ethnic diversity, geographic diversity, etc)</p>
<p>Some schools are reluctant to interview applicants with stats significantly above their mean because they believe they won’t matriculate if accepted. (Thus using up the limited number of available interview slots and wasting the time of the interviewers who could be interviewing someone who will matriculate.)</p>
<p>Med admissions is fine balancing act. Schools don’t want to over accept (and risk having too many students matriculating and not enough seats/resources–this has happened at Michigan twice in as many years) or under accept (and risk having to dig deep down into the waitlist). LizzyM mentioned that applicants with very high stats get multiple offers and are notoriously hard to predict whether they will matriculate at a given school or not. For some schools this uncertainty makes them too risky to interview/accept unless they get some signal they will definitely matriculate there if accepted. </p>
<p>At 76.3, WashU has the highest score as of 2011. So greater than 77 implies there is no school which should be out of reach. May be he should have applied to only schools in 70+ range?</p>
<p>Congrats to all with good news!</p>
<p>Two years ago, my son had his first interview on Oct 30, so he didn’t have any acceptances at this point…so don’t give up hope! And, all of his acceptances came after Christmas… (I remember sweating bullets during that holiday season.)</p>
<p>Mom3collegekids–I will be following in your footsteps this holiday season! DS’s first interview isn’t until mid-November and he has another in Nov, one in Dec and one in Jan. It’s going to be a long wait for hopeful acceptances!</p>
<p>@VAMom2015 Well, I hope you have good news in the New Year. </p>
<p>Son’s first acceptance actually came on Jan 2. We weren’t expecting it at all that day because the school hadn’t yet resumed…but I guess the med school office had. He got a phone call that morning…and he called us right after. I still remember exactly where I was. After a nervous Christmas, it was such a relief. </p>
<p>That first acceptance is so sweet. I don’t remember any details about the second one…lol. I do remember the 3rd one because that was our first choice (his and ours…lol). He played a joke on me and didn’t tell me for a couple of days (brat!).</p>
<p>Congratulations, again, on the early acceptances. This is definitely early in the process and you guys are lucky to be where you are! A few years ago, my first interview was in mid-Nov and my other 3 were in Dec. I did get accepted to the school I currently attend in Dec, so withdrew my remaining applications where I hadn’t heard from.</p>
<p>As far as “Why isn’t he hearing more?” I have a few theories that I share with my friends who are applicants. The first is to recognize that this field of other applicants is stronger than any other you have ever faced for the most part. While you are used to being the cream of the crop for (scholarships, summer programs, college admission, whatever) that simply isn’t true any more. Which is nothing against you, just the state of things. The implication of this is that there are simply too many qualified applicants for any school to interview every single one of them, and sometimes you are on the wrong end of the numbers game. There’s really nothing you can do about it, which is frustrating as an applicant (or parent).</p>
<p>If there’s any silver lining (and of course I understand how easy it is to wallow in your rejection(s)!) it’s that in the end, you only need one acceptance, and you can literally only attend one school. It certainly is luxurious to have multiple programs to choose from, but it’s not necessary. </p>
<p>So in my experience, it’s not something your kid did or failed to do. They must be doing things correctly to have already collected some interview invites and even an October acceptance. They’re probably just falling on the wrong side of the numbers game for some of the schools. It feels like the end of the world when it happens, but using my (extensive!) been there, done that wisdom, I assure you it is not, in fact, the end of the world. Good luck!</p>
<p>D is definitely happy to have an acceptance. However, as the cost differential between schools can be > $100K (double that or more with interest repayment), having more than one acceptance is pretty important still. Most CA applicants end up OOS or at privates and face daunting loan repayments. </p>
<p>It was a good week here – S2 had 2 acceptances – one from a public IS school and one from a private OOS. So relieved and thrilled to have a choice. His last scheduled interview was Friday…he had 9 in the month of October which was really stressful for him. He may hear from some of the others in the next month or two, but he has several schools that won’t release decisions until January/February/March. More waiting ahead.</p>
<p>Like many of you, the logic of the II escapes me. I thought he’d have more success with IS schools, but he didn’t get much interest from those where his stats were higher than their averages.</p>
<p>Good luck to those with upcoming interviews!</p>
<p>Congratulations to Ohiomom24 and S2. He seems to have a very successful interview season with 9 (?) interviews and 2 acceptances.</p>