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<p>From my experience so far, the MSTP people are much more “Phd” than “MD” as to protocol. “Smart casual attire” should be fine. Best of luck for your S. I hope to be doing interviews in two years. :)</p>
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<p>Last year I found that schools behave very differently as far as interview invites go. Pritzker usually replies within a week or two after the student being complete: you either</p>
<p>-get invited right away
-get rejected right away
-get notified that the Admissions Committee will hold a decision to invite you “for now” and will let you know later. </p>
<p>That “later” seems to be in january, and it is clearly a yield game. Pritzker will delay inviting students they think are not “likely to matriculate” based on their previous experience (credentials have nothing to do with it). They favor midwest, west and south. I know a few who were on hold and later got invited in january, and just like Pritzker had predicted they declined because they were already holding acceptances to more favorable choices.</p>
<p>^D. was rejected within couple days. We are in midwest. It has to be credentials.</p>
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<p>I am sorry my statement was confusing. Of course credentials are always the key, but Pritzker seems to be as obsessed as UC undergrad with the concept of “fit”. They will only accept students from the NE who have some sort of tie to the school (summer internships, research, parents, family in the area, etc). There seems to be a geographic preference, which in their own experience goes both ways. Students from the NE accepted to peer schools in the NE generally end up turning down Pritzker in favor of the NE school.</p>
<p>I was referring to the fact that the students being “held” for consideration have impeccable credentials and could have been invited right away… except for what I mentioned above.</p>
<p>^I agree that location is one of the criteria in general. It seems to be so at least in my D’s experience and somewhat explains her good acceptance rate 4 out of 8. She was happy with that. She applied only to schools within 4.5 driving from home, this wa her own criteria.</p>
<p>^ I agree also. Just like real estate agent often said: Location, location, and location! The fact that internationals are at the bottom of the barrel could possibly be explained in a similar way: Their ties to the medical school and its surrounding community is minimum. So why would they be “desirable” in the eyes of the adcom of the school ? (unless the school would like to use these students as medical science researchers which are more like students in a PhD or MD/PhD program. – This is also why many top graduate schools (but not professional schools) are populated with so many internationals, as the “want” of the graduate school is different.</p>
<p>I was thinking ahead to Thanksgiving, and was wondering if med schools schedule interviews during that week? D has the whole week off so feasably it could be a 10 day trip home. I just hesitate to book flights if she might have in interview that M/T/W.</p>
<p>^The fact is that most of them would not give at option, they will assign the date. Some might give couple dates to choose from. They are not very flexible. My D. has worked with all her profs and other places (like volunteering, Research lab, her SI job) to re-arrange her schedule around interviews. It was not easy, some were more understanding than others. What made it easier was that she could drive to interviews, but she was beating snowstorms by few hours and car broke and there were other adventures when she was completely on her own in totally unfamiliar places very late at night and sometime we were not accessible to call either. So, there are advantages and disadvantages in everybody’s situation. The most important is to remain flexible, since adcoms are dealing with hundreds of applicants, they cannot be flexible. They might not interview during holidays since they are off, but I might be wrong. Sorry for not being very helpful. Best wishes to your D.</p>
<p>In general, med schools will not interview over holidays since those who do the interviewing (i.e. faculty) aren’t in their offices. They’re on vacation like everyone else.</p>
<p>My experience was different from Miami’s D’s. Of my 4 interviews, 3 allowed me to choose any date from approximately 3 weeks away to a few months away. I typically chose the soonest available date (even if it created academic challenges–my professors were understanding of my interview schedule because I told them well in advance about it) to maximize the likelihood of acceptance. Only one of my interviews was on an assigned date–which fortunately worked for my schedule.</p>
<p>Take home point: all schools are different.</p>
<p>BTW, if there is a choice, have interviews before Oct. 15. D. had 3 before, so she knew that she was accepted at 2 right after midnight. Yes, they called and emailed in a middle of the night, they do not sleep waiting. It was exciting, since D. received the call from dean of admissions from one of them literally few minutes after midnight, she had interview there only 2 days before. Another one was in by email at 2am.</p>
<p>Son had several interviews before 10/15 and he too was notified right after the 15th of acceptances. After those acceptances he was able to prioritize other interviews.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>gosh…some schools must have horrible med school advising.</p>
<p>I recently spoke with some friends in Calif and their D is doing the “Glide Year” this year (graduated last May).</p>
<p>She just took the MCAT last FRIDAY!!! And will now start her apps. What the heck??? Are some colleges that bad about advising that they don’t advise about the timeline???</p>
<p>This poor kid is applying to mostly Calif meds…she likely doesn’t stand much of a chance at this point.</p>
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<p>I’ll answer my own question. :rolleyes: My daughter just confirmed an interview for Monday of Thanksgiving week, so I’m glad I didn’t buy her plane ticket home a few days ago.</p>
<p>Don’t really have a good place to put this…so this will have to do. 
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<p>A few weeks into MS2 , I think my D has finally gone to medical school. lol</p>
<p>She was very well-prepared for her first year courses and, to be blunt, kinda sailed through MS1 while other students (who hadn’t taken Histology in UG, for example) were killing themselves to keep up with the flow of material. </p>
<p>Fast forward to now. Other than Micro-bio, she seems just as screwed as everybody else. So it really begins now. Her advantage has dissipated . And for you bicycle racing fans , the peloton has caught her breakaway attempt (the recent Vuelta de Espana has been playing in re-runs). Of course, based on last year, she has completely over-committed herself but hey. Such is life. </p>
<p>Better stay in front of that wave, kiddo. Surf’s up. ;)</p>
<p>Oh, I’m sending a spy in soon to reconnoiter. Make sure she’s not holed up in cave with an ipad2 and a grimace. I’ll be expecting a detailed report. ;)</p>
<p>Ask and you shall receive. 
(that is assuming the whole thing isn’t a complete blur to my side)</p>
<p>curm–</p>
<p>LOL at your description. (Huge bike racing fan here.) D1 is keeping her head above water as a MS1. Minimal bio background, but holding her own. (I guess the long hours she put in learning grad quantum prepared her for the long hours she’s putting learning human systems.) She says she’s not in the top 20%, but still well above the class median. And she’s getting 1-2 afternoons/week to go climbing. Which is the really important part.</p>
<p>She says she really likes nephrology since it’s all physics. (Any time you start pushing around charged ions, Mom, it’s all just physics…) And she and her radiology instructor have bonded over electron spins and quantum jumps.</p>
<p>D1 is also doing well in clinicals. Getting high marks from her standard patients (actors) as well as her real patients. Her peers are less impressed because she doesn’t follow the "script’ of questions they’re supposed to ask. (Hey, Mom the patient was showing signs of a PE, I’m NOT going to ask about their psychiatric history before tagging them as an emergency and sending them to IR and cards for clot busting.) She scored in the 93rd percentile on diagnostic skills and that’s the typical score for the MS3s.</p>
<p>Big adjustment for my MS1 after very easy senior year in UG, but she is OK so far, got into 3 EC’s, she has to have some fun, she cannot have her nose into Anatomy all the time. She misses her UG lots and lots and lots but figuring out ways at her new place. I am glad she likes driving much more than I do.</p>
<p>We do not know much about DS’s MS1 life. As he has “grown up” and become more independent, it is only natural that he has less time for us. (In the future, after he has a gf, we would likely have even less time with him.)</p>
<p>Last time we had a chance to talk to him, we heard that the “party scene” at the beginning of the school year was not as insane any more. Likely they have more real schoolwork now.</p>
<p>He did not take histology (what is that?!) as an UG – I think there is no such class at his UG college. I guess it will likely keep him busy on the new stuff. It is likely he has not been overwhelmed yet (no preclinical grades definitely helps too), as it appears he now spends even more time on volunteering than when he was a premed. I wonder whether it has something to do the fact that he happens to have several friends who are very big on volunteering.</p>
<p>He said his group got a “thin” (and very old) body in their anatomy class. He said if a student got a “fat” one, he or she will have more work to do. I do not know it would make such a big difference here.</p>