Application Update - Late Interview Offer

I just thought this was hilarious.

          In the last week I was offered another interview, this one at a school that is right on the cusp between the mid and upper tier.  If I were to be blunt and honest, I would say a mid/upper tier school would be the best fit for me from an admissions standpoint, with a low GPA coming from a relatively prestigious school balanced by a very strong MCAT.

          I think a school of that tier might also be the best fit for me in terms of how I would fare at the school.  As I explained in this post, I have some misgivings about going to a top school.  Even as I am excited by the potentially better access to stellar teachers, facilities, research, and equipment, I am worried about the potential for a highly competitive atmosphere.


          This may be a carry-over from my time at Cornell, but sometimes the Cornell students who go on to attend top med schools more closely resemble machines than people.  Not to go frat boy on you, but I like to party and drink and play sports (and... yeah, okay, video games).  I'm serious about my work and studies, but I want to play too.  I sometimes worry that those parts of life might take the back seat at a top school.  If they say med school is really tough and crushes people everywhere, what the heck would it be like at a top school with highly competitive classmates?  Balance is critical.

I can tell she is a pre-med... look!  See the gears spinning?

          A school that's on the cusp of the mid/upper tier presents a different opportunity.  I feel like it is far enough removed from the absolute top tier that there would be less of a competitive, get-an-A-or-die attitude.  On the other hand, it's still close enough to the upper tier that it might confer some prestige benefits on a graduate.

          As I continue with these interviews, I'll continue to ponder these questions more.  This process will start to get really interesting in about a month or two, when responses will start flooding back in earnest.  I always have to keep in mind that these schools might make the decisions for me (aka, rejection).

          Anyway, about the school itself.  It is a southern private school.  The word private is big here, because it poses a nice drop in tuition compared to what I am, at the moment, set to pay next year to attend the southern state school I have been accepted to.  Overall, I have heard pretty decent things about it, and, as a high school student, I was set to apply there for undergrad (if I hadn't gotten into Cornell ED), because I like the campus and attitude.  Hopefully I'll feel the same about the medical school.

          The last thought is that this interview is coming relatively late in the cycle.  I was given the offer in late January and won't be interviewing until late February, probably one of the last dates they offer interviews.  The sad fact is that at most rolling admissions schools, by late February, the vast majority of acceptances have already been handed out.  From a statistical standpoint, the odds of translating a late interview into an acceptance are much lower than for an early interview.  On the flip side, statistics don't account for peoples' subjective qualities.  Schools do continue offering interviews for a reason, and a knockout day could definitely result in an acceptance.

It looks like I'm gonna become a Southerner.

          This interview continues what I think is an odd trend in my applications.  I am from a state in the Northeast.  Most of the applications I sent out were to schools in the Northeast, partially due to familiarity and partially due to the concentration of mid-tier private med schools in the Northeast.  I only sent 4 applications to the South.  What's the weird part?  I have had interview invitations at 3 of those 4.  In the Northeast, I have only had 2 interview offers, and one of them was at my home state, making my interview percentage in the Northeast absolutely abysmal.  Not only that, but you tend to expect schools to have at least a small degree of regional selectivity toward people who live nearby.  Not in my case, I guess.

          I have to wonder if something I wrote in my application resonates more with Southerners, or maybe they could just tell that I kind of want to move to another part of the country.

          In other news, Weill Cornell recently rejected me.  I have to admit I never really had much hope or even desire for that application, but given that I was an undergrad there, I'm a little irked they didn't interview me.  I do understand it, though.  They interview more Cornellians than anyone else... but everyone who goes to Cornell applies there.  Plus, I have a mediocre GPA.  They don't do mediocrity.
     

          I apologize if this post was somewhat ponderous!  I have had a busy week and just wanted to provide an update and maybe a few thoughts on the current state of my application cycle.