This email discusses:
*Preparing for interviews
*Updates to your application
*Appointments and our schedules
Preparing for Interviews
It is exciting and a bit unnerving to get an interview invitation. Please do not wait until you receive an interview invitation to begin preparing. Our interview handout can get you started on thinking about what to expect and how to prepare. Reading is key – newspapers, magazines, and books - so you are informed and can be articulate.
We do not do formal mock interviews. Students do sometimes schedule appointments with us to discuss the interview and how to prepare. But we will not be available on short notice if you receive an invitation for the upcoming week and need to see us urgently beforehand. So plan ahead.
A relatively new format for interviews is the Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Visit our website and scroll down to find a number of articles about this format to help you know what to expect. This approach has proven to be popular with students.
Updates
If you need to update information in your application, you should read instructions carefully. For example, AMCAS will not update information except for a very few items such as contact information and date of planned MCAT. All other updates must go directly to the schools. AADSAS does allow a mid-year academic update.
If you want to update/add to your letters, you will do this directly with the application service. Once your committee letter is written, no letters can be added to your packet. You arrange to send individual additional letters directly through AMCAS, AACOMAS or AADSAS.
Do not continue to bombard schools with additional information, particularly at this early date. Ask yourself if it is really necessary – with your application just having been sent and your committee packet just having been completed – to add something already. One or two updates in the course of the cycle make more sense. Late fall is probably a more logical time to send anything significant to add to your application. Typically applicants who are in school will send an update with grades in January.
Appointments
The new school year begins again in September. We will continue to have appointments and open hours in the coming 3-4 weeks but once students return things will be very busy. Appointments are booked by calling 617-627-2000. If you need to talk with us about something try and do it before then. If you are completing secondaries and keeping up with things, there is no need to schedule time to talk with us. We do like to hear good news, though, so let us know about interview invites.
Take care.
Carol and Stephanie
