Dartmouth Experimental and Molecular Medicine (PEMM) Interview

[Stan Pokras]

Hey guys,

I got invited to interview at Dartmouth for the PEMM program March 2-4. What I'm wondering is the admission rate post-interview. They said they'll email you within 2 weeks of interviewing regarding their decision.

But since they're paying nearly $800 per student (flights, hotel accomodations, food, bus travel, etc.) per interview, I would assume they've pretty much made up their minds already. It seems like a huge waste for them to spend hundreds of dollars just to decide later they don't want these people. Med schools don't pay a penny for you to come in for an interview, after all.

According to recent statistics here: http://www.petersons...3825_10088.aspx

24 of 128 applicants were admitted and 15 of those chose enrollment. Based on the email list I received, there were 30 interview applicants (including me) for Fall 2012.

So, are we basically assured a spot provided we don't massively blow the interview? It seems like no more than 20 people will ultimately choose enrollment anyways.

Does anyone have any experiences with this?

Edited February 24, 2012 by Stan Pokras

[Hillary Emick]

I'm not sure what Dartmouth's interview rate is. But at my interview at my top choice, they told me they had about 500 applications and were interviewing about 50 people for about 30 spots (department-wide, 3 separate PhD programs). So they were definitely interviewing about 20 more people than they were accepting, at their expense.

[coonskee]

Same with CU integrated bio - interviewing 65-70 people for 30-35 admissions, with interviews also fully funded. But other programs have post-interview acceptance rates of almost 100%, and the one you mention sounds like it could be one of those

[snes]

I was at a competitive interview weekend where the school paid for (and organized) everything, and even had us in a pretty nice hotel a block from campus. For a humanities, not a science! Still, they accepted fewer than half that were invited.

moral of the story: it's ultimately pointless to speculate about this, as much as we all love to.