What to do if you have no medical school invites

No medical school interview invites? What can you do next?

No medical school interview invites?

Primary application – check.  Secondary application essays – check.  Now it’s the long waiting game of the application cycle – waiting to hear back from various medical schools for the coveted interview invitation (or, as most premeds call it,”II”).  But what if the application cycle is not going according to plan? What if you are still waiting to hear back from many medical schools for an interview invite or some type of formal decision about your med school application? Or worse, what if you have no medical school interview invites?  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.

If you haven’t received any medical school interview invites …

Do not panic.  The first thing to remember about the application process is that timelines are often flexible. While there is an “aggressive” timeline that follows what we would recommend for a medical school applicant, unexpected things do come up and it is important to be able to weather these challenges with poise.

  • If it is September or October: DO NOT PANIC. The first wave of interviews are given in September. Typically, what our Cracking Med School Interview coaches have seen is that the first students who receive interview invites are: a) students with very high stats (high GPA and high MCAT scores) or b) an interview invite from his or her alma mater. During September and October, medical school applicants also start reading blog posts like this and Reddit forums, concerned that they have no med school interviews yet. That is okay! Do not stress out. It is extremely early in the application cycle and we have had many mentees in the past receive their first interview invites in December/January and still get accepted to multiple medical schools.
  • If it is November:  You should still not overly stress. But, it’s time to start thinking about sending and medical school update letter and medical school letter of interest. Contact our team below if you have questions. Many medical school invites are given in December and January. We recommend in almost all instances that you should wait patiently. Even if you don’t have interview invites yet, one can come soon! We encourage our students to start practicing common questions for traditional interviews, like “Tell me about yourself?” Download our list of common medical school interview questions here: The Cracking Med School Admissions Interview Guide
  • If it is December: Now is the time you should send those medical school update letters and letters of interests if you have not received an interview invite yet. We can edit your med school update letter through our update letter package. 
  • If it is January: Continue to send your update letters to schools you have not heard back from or that you are wait-listed. For updates, emphasize any awards you’ve received, new publications, research presented at conferences, and any significant clinical experience. If you are waitlisted at several medical schools, contact us and we can help you determine whether to send a medical school update letter, medical school letter of interest, or medical school letter of intent.
  • If it is February: Our team recommends that you still try to keep in touch with schools you have not heard back from yet.  If you are waitlisted at your top choice medical school, then you should send a letter of intent. If you don’t have any interview invites at all yet, start analyzing your application and begin considering whether and when you will be re-applying to medical school. While it’s still possible to get last minute interview invites during this month, it is less likely. Reach out to us if you’re at this stage so we can help you figure out a re-application game plan. 

What else can you do? We outline 3 additional steps you can take if you have no interview invites to medical school:

  1. Send a medical school update letter and letter of interest
  2. Tell the admissions committee you will be in the area
  3. Appeal a decision 

Your medical school application Coaches, Mentors, & Cheerleaders

We Personally Advise Every Student We Work With

Dr. Rachel Rizal - Cracking Med School Admissions

Rachel Rizal, M.D.

Changing the trajectory of people’s lives

Undergraduate
Princeton University, cum laude

Medical School
Stanford School of Medicine

Residency
Harvard, Emergency Medicine

Awards & Scholarships
Fulbright Scholar
USA Today Academic First Team
Tylenol Scholarship

Rishi Mediratta, MD, MSc, MA

Rishi Mediratta, M.D., M.Sc., M.A.

Advising students to attend their dream schools

Undergraduate
Johns Hopkins University, Phi Beta Kappa

Medical School
Stanford School of Medicine

Residency
Stanford, Pediatrics

Awards & Scholarships
Marshall Scholar
Tylenol Scholarship
Global Health Scholar

3 Things You Can Do While Waiting For A
Medical School Interview

There are several ways you can be proactive to receive a medical school interview invite.

1. Send an update letter about your activities, jobs, awards, and new medical publications

Medical schools appreciate applicants who are actively trying to improve their case for acceptance. An update letter containing the above topics could be just enough to push you over the edge to land a medical school interview. Activities and awards are important because they show leadership, passion, and drive. Be sure to include short descriptions about new leadership roles and updates about your activities. New publications serve as additional proof of how interested you are in the research aspect of medicine, and substantive research can dramatically improve your candidacy.

Other than the sample medical school update letter below, we wrote a blog post recently on how to write an effective medical school update letter. 

No Medical School Interview Invite Tip: Read our blog post Medical School Update Letter: What. When, How & Why

Medical School Update Letter Example

Get the Cracking Med School Admissions Team's Help With Your Update Letter

On the medical school admissions wait list of waiting for an interview? Bump yourself off the “maybe” list with the Cracking Med School Admissions team’s help!

Our team will help:

  • Brainstorm content of our update letter
  • Edit your update letter
  • Use our formatting expertise so your accomplishments and letter stand out

We’ve gotten people accepted off the wait list. Your acceptance can be one letter away.

2. Send the medical school admissions committee a letter telling them you will be in the area and that you are very interested in their school

This is especially pertinent to students who are doing some portion of his or her gap year abroad, or if you are studying abroad your senior year fall semester.

It’s important to remember that the admissions office is not a black box – admissions offices are staffed by real people who care about selecting the best fit applicants for their school. They also are quite reasonable when it comes to respecting applicants’ travel schedules and the challenges of going on medical school interviews around the country. Oftentimes, if a candidate is in the area, the school will allow them to come and interview if they have already traveled great distances to interview at another school (or even if you happen to be in the area at the time). You can send a letter or an email in advance of your travel, expressing interest in interviewing at the medical school of your choice. If you receive a favorable response in return, you can adjust your travel accordingly and get your interview. This strategy does not always work, but it’s a win-win situation when it does. The important thing is to make an effort!

No Medical School Interview Invite Tip: Remember, don’t just tell the school you will be in the area. Mention a few key aspects about the school that make it one of your top choices.

Get Our proven Update Letter Templates

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Get off the wait list today!

3. Some Medical Schools Allow You to Send An Appeal

This is increasingly rare. But, some medical schools allow you to appeal a rejection decision. Actively keep communication open with the schools that didn’t grant you a medical school interview, and if there is an appeals process in place, take advantage of it to have the admissions committee take one more look at your application! Even if there is no formal appeals process mentioned on a school’s website, if you are particularly interested in a school it may be worth asking if there is an appeals process and supplying a brief statement for why they should reconsider. A thoughtful letter to the admissions office just might make a difference to help you land a medical school interview. We have also seen letters of recommendation writers or pre-med advisors at certain schools write appeal letters/emails to the medical schools’ Admissions offices.

If you are placed on hold for a medical school interview invite, we absolutely recommend sending a letter of interest to the medical school admissions committee. We have helped dozens of applicants each year receive 

No Medical School Interview Invite Tip: Before you send any correspondence, including an appeal letter or an update letter, do some homework: look online or call ahead to acquire the name of the admissions coordinator. 

Other Related Questions We Receive With Regards to Med School Interview Invites

Question: If I get a medical school interview invite later in the cycle, does that put me at a disadvantage? Most schools are not on strict rolling admissions, meaning, just because you interview later does not mean the medical school will think of your application as “inferior.” In general, think about it this way: if you received an interview invite, that means the medical school is excited to meet with you! And, if you do well on your interview, then you have a strong chance of getting accepted! We know many current medical students who were accepted to various medical schools and interviewed during the final interview day for a given medical school!

 

Question: Is it possible to move my interview date once I set it? 

Different medical schools have different policies about this. We’ve heard of one medical school giving applicants the opportunity to change the interview date a maximum of two times. In general, though, Dr. Mediratta and Dr. Rizal recommend not changing your interview date once it’s set, unless you have extenuating circumstances. It doesn’t look great to change a coveted interview date. And, you will need a good reason for changing the date. 

 

Question: Should I start prepping for interviews even before an interview invite?

In general, we don’t think you need to go overboard and prepare for interviews before an official invite, because a lot of your interview answers should be tailored towards the medical school you will be interviewing for. However, it doesn’t hurt to start preparing the common medical school interview questions! Practice makes perfect, and you can start brainstorming your responses so you can polish your interview skills once you receive the long-awaited II. Download our Cracking Med interview guide here.

 

We know the medical school admissions cycle can be stressful and long. But be patient. And hopefully through following these steps, the interview process will start turning around!

Need help or worried about your application?

Each year, several students contact us because they are worried, “I have no medical school interview invites.”

Our Cracking Med School Admissions team can help evaluate your application and help you figure out:

  1. When to update the medical school admissions committees
  2. What to tell each medical school admissions committee
  3. Other strategies to express your interest to the medical school

Email us at info@crackingmedadmissions.com with your concern or fill out the contact page below. You can read more information about our update letter package here.

Send us your questions about update letters and med school interviews!

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