admissions decisions

[Guest hcruz496]

I am just curious, and maybe some folks with experience on admissions committees can chime in on this:

If you are invited to a school to interview, do admissions committees base their selections for the next class just on how well your interview goes or do they continue to look at your application?  Is it fair to speculate that if you made it to the interview you are on a level playing field with fellow interviewees and the interview is the deciding factor? 

[UGoLong]

In general, yes. It is, however, a subjective process carried out by people so nothing is certain. Depending on the rest of your application, you may have more or less "ground" to make up in your interview. A marginal student might have to come across really well (or have something unique about them) while a really good student with lots of HCE might be OK with an acceptable performance.

Still, if you got an interview, you're in the game, and that's better than sitting at home.

Good luck!

[Luxen]

I've read from others that they rank the candidates after going through your application and the interview determines whether you move up,down, or stay in the same spot in the rankings. 

[MT2PA]

If two students interview equally, the one with the better app on paper will get in.

Two students that are the same on paper, the one who interviews better will get in.

It's not so much that you are on a level playing field but that you've passed the first hurdle.  Everyone who gets to interview has met some minimum level of impressiveness to get the interview offer but that doesn't mean that they aren't looking forward to some students more than others.

[GoldenGirl90]

I really think it depends on the school. At the school I'll be attending (Butler University), it said right on the website that after the academic evaluation, scores would be zeroed and all candidates would be considered equal coming into the interview day. I'm sure every school is different, though!

[ajames]

During the small group interview at MWU, the faculty member stated that they did not know anything about us expect for what we say during the interview to eliminate bias and to level the playing field. So they didn't know about my GPA, HCE, GRE scores when making their remarks about what I had to say during the small group panel.  I don't know if that helped or hurt me. I almost wish they knew my background a little better. At my interview with NAU, my 1:1 interviewer stated she read my entire application and was very impressed. She then based her questions off anything that wasn't directly answered. I felt she really knew who I was because I spent so much time on my application and I interview poorly as nerves get the best of me and my confidence is low until I am familiar with a routine. 

[Guest hcruz496]

1 hour ago, ajames said:

During the small group interview at MWU, the faculty member stated that they did not know anything about us expect for what we say during the interview to eliminate bias and to level the playing field. So they didn't know about my GPA, HCE, GRE scores when making their remarks about what I had to say during the small group panel.  I don't know if that helped or hurt me. I almost wish they knew my background a little better. At my interview with NAU, my 1:1 interviewer stated she read my entire application and was very impressed. She then based her questions off anything that wasn't directly answered. I felt she really knew who I was because I spent so much time on my application and I interview poorly as nerves get the best of me and my confidence is low until I am familiar with a routine. 

I asked this because I was questioning my own interview skills, but I look very good on paper. I got an acceptance to MWU so maybe I’m not doing as bad as I thought. 

[SHU-CH]

In my experience, getting to an interview means 2 things:

1. You have pretty much convinced a school that you would survive academically.

2. Something seomwhere in your application convinced them that you are a good fit for the mission of the program.

In general, the academics alone are not enough. I like to see something in a letter, essay, work experience, etc. that you really have a spark for being a PA.