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.

Application Update - Interview at a Top School

No.  It wasn't actually Harvard.  That would just be silly.

          Recently, I interviewed at a top med school.  We are talking top 10 or 15 depending which ranking system you're looking at.  As I described in this article, I am not a stellar applicant.  I have a wildly mediocre GPA only partially balanced by a good MCAT.  Typically these top schools interview kids with great GPAs and great MCATs who have been published and done other spectacular things.  So yeah, I was surprised when I got the invite.  In all honesty, I thought this school in particular was the one I had the least shot at of all 25 on my list.

          I went into town a few days early, because I actually have friends who go/went there for undergrad.  I met up with them for coffee and to watch some football and all the usual things.  The funny thing is that I knew most of these kids from way back in high school or summer vacations.  What does that mean?  Well, when they heard I got an interview there, they had with some shock assumed I had turned myself into a top notch med school applicant who gave up his undergrad experience for perfect grades, when they know me more as the decent student and frat boy.  I was quick to reassure them that things had changed... but not that much.