Name: 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Scheduling Med School Interviews
Uploaded: 2026-01-02T10:16:10.000Z
Duration: 7 min 40 s
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How you schedule your medical school interviews directly affects your chances of success.

As with most aspects of the application process, timing is everything.

Dr. Jubbal medschoolinsiders.com Medical school interviews are the final step before acceptance.

Interview invites arrive earliest between August and September and continue into the spring of the following year.

It is vital that you schedule your interviews strategically to optimize your chance of success at your top choice schools.

You want to build a foundation of experience while also ensuring you get to your top choice schools as soon as possible.

First and foremost, don't delay scheduling your interviews.

The later you schedule them, the worse your chances of acceptance due to rolling admissions.

Rolling admissions means medical schools review applications on a continuous basis.

Admissions committees do not wait until they have received all of their applications to begin making decisions.

They review applications as they are submitted, so students who are ahead of the game are at an advantage.

Applying as soon as applications open in the spring is one of the most essential strategies for gaining an edge over other applicants.

Applicants and this strategy applies to the entire application process.

Offers are only made while there are spots available.

The longer you delay, the fewer spots there are.

Schedule your interviews as soon as possible for your best chance of acceptance.

That said, if you receive multiple interview invites, it's critical to be strategic with how you schedule them.

Practice is vital when it comes to med school interviews.

You don't want your first interview to be at your top school because this is when you'll have the least experience.

Don't dive straight into your most important interviews without first familiarizing yourself with the process.

Schedule lower tier options first to get a feel for how interviews are conducted and how you perform under pressure.

Understanding how the interview process works and what to expect will boost your confidence and help you relax.

You can then enter the interviews you're most excited about with all of the lessons you've learned so far.

Continue to assess your performance and tweak your approach as you get to more important interviews.

While you don't want to schedule your top interviews first, don't schedule them last either.

Placing competitive programs later in the interview season gives other applicants a leg up.

Scheduling these interviews late in the game could also cause you to run out of steam.

Feeling drained and apathetic is a terrible way to enter an interview at your top choice med school.

Take a Goldilocks approach of not too early and not too late when scheduling your most important interviews.

Place them strategically toward the middle of your interview schedule, but don't keep your top choice schools waiting.

It's careless to be surprised by interview requests.

Prepare for your interviews well in advance and keep your schedule flexible to ensure you are able to schedule interviews as requests arrive.

Don't plan any trips or make commitments that can't be rescheduled.

For example, don't splurge on expensive, non refundable concert tickets in September, since interview invites could arrive during this time.

Make sure your spouse, family, friends and employers understand you need to be flexible with your commitments during interview season.

Be sure to actively monitor your email throughout the entirety of this process.

Don't wait until you receive interview invitations to begin practicing your personal the original timeline for preparing for interviews should begin months before receiving an invitation.

Include interview prep in your medical school application schedule so you feel confident and prepared when your interview invitations come through.

Practice in front of a mirror and watch for any timid or distracting body language.

Record yourself answering questions and play them back.

it will help you analyze your body language, tone of voice, confidence and overall effectiveness.

Ask friends and family to interview you and surprise yourself with unfamiliar interview questions by shuffling through various questions at random.

Preparation doesn't mean perfectly memorizing exact responses.

You need to be adaptable and able to evolve your answers depending on how a question is asked, how the conversation is going, and

what you've learned about the interviewer.

Perfectly memorized answers will trip you up as you could lose your spot or be thrown off by a differently worded question.

Mock interviews simulate the experience of a real interview, which can help you pinpoint weak areas early on.

Participating in mock interviews is especially beneficial for students who are concerned about their interview skills, struggle with confidence, or are nervous about how they will perform under pressure.

Med School Insiders offers mock interviews with doctors who have been on both sides of the interview process.

They will provide insightful and objective feedback on your performance and how you can improve more information below.

Additionally, we have a number of comprehensive resources for acing both medical school and residency interviews here on the Med School Insiders channel, as well as loads more on our blog links to our top interview prep guides below.

Lastly, no matter how drained by the process you may feel, don't give up or lose focus come interview season.

The medical school application process is long, tedious and demanding.

Getting your interviews is a big step, but

as pre meds get further into the interview process, they can begin to lose steam.

You've come a long way, so don't give up now.

Ensure you maintain your dedication all the way to the finish line Pay attention to your energy, enthusiasm and state of mind during interview season.

Each admissions committee expects you to show genuine interest in attending their school, no matter how drained you feel.

You may have nailed a a handful of interviews already, or you may have even received a few acceptance letters.

Continue pushing on Even if you think you know what school you want to attend once you get accepted, you can still consider other schools to increase your scholarship opportunities.

You can say, hey, I got this scholarship.

What can you the school I want to attend more do about it.

This can maximize your scholarship potential and is a strategy I used to leverage a full tuition scholarship from my preferred school.

At the same time, you don't need to go to every interview you receive.

If you already have a number of offers, you're more interested.

Don't go to interviews at schools you know you won't choose, as this wastes both your time and the programs.

It's also bad etiquette if you're already confident in the school you'll attend and have a few backup options to leverage scholarships.

Be courteous to students who are eagerly awaiting an interview.

Lifeline the other students applying to medical school are not your competition, but rather your future colleagues.

How you schedule your interviews can affect your performance, and

if you're not careful, you may end up fumbling at your top choice school.

Take care in scheduling your interviews to ensure your top schools are ideally placed.

Hone your skills in advance with mock interviews and build your experience and confidence at schools you're less interested in before jumping into your most important interviews.

Optimize your energy and enthusiasm by not scheduling your top choice schools too late in the process and be as proactive as possible during the entirety of interview season.

While you might look great on paper, interviews can make or break you.

We've seen plenty of applicants who have stellar scores and impressive primary and secondary applications get rejected from medical school due to poor interview skills.

We've also seen talented interviewers who have loads of confidence fumble their interview due to lack of preparation.

Med School Insiders offers a course on how to ace the medical school interview, which provides thorough and thoughtful training to prepare you for the entire interview process.

We also have a large selection of resources on the Med School Insiders blog, including advice for acing your interview and strategies that will help you succeed in every ASP of the medical school application process.

If you enjoyed this video, check out how to answer the why Medicine Interview question.