Committee Interview

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So today is my committee interview ! who else has done theirs and how was it?

Originally Posted by boko

So today is my committee interview ! who else has done theirs and how was it?

I did last year. It went well. Turns out my interviewer is my molecular bio seminar professor. It lasted about half hour and was somewhat formal. He also gave me feedback on my PS and what the committee thought.

Originally Posted by octupus

It went well. Turns out my interviewer is my molecular bio seminar professor.

If you don't mind my asking, at what school was this allowed? Typically, the committee interviewers are not to be known to applicants previously to promote fairness and avoid a conflict of interest.

Originally Posted by i will be an md

If you don't mind my asking, at what school was this allowed? Typically, the committee interviewers are not to be known to applicants previously to promote fairness and avoid a conflict of interest.

I went to a very small LAC where everyone knows everyone else, especially in the science departments. It would be pretty hard to avoid that unless they brought in a Spanish or Art History professor to interview me.

You're very lucky to have had a friendly interviewer, some institutions recruit faculty from the humanities or even professors emeritus and alumni for committee interviews. Thank you for broadening my perspective on the general committee interview process.

Originally Posted by i will be an md

You're very lucky to have had a friendly interviewer, some institutions recruit faculty from the humanities or even professors emeritus and alumni for committee interviews. Thank you for broadening my perspective on the general committee interview process.

I was very lucky to have an informed and helpful committee advisor that I can e-mail questions throughout the whole process, even as an alumna, on a Saturday and still get a response within a few hours.

Had I read some of the horror stories on SDN, I may not have even gone to my committee for a letter since I missed the application deadline by a month! Not all schools that boast their acceptance rates are stat-loving nightmares. I was a below average applicant with a late application and they still fully supported me every step of the way. As with everything on SDN, take it with a grain of salt. Good luck with your applications!

I interviewed with my committee over a year ago, but they were LEAGUES tougher than any of my actual med school interviews (and I had eight of those). They made me totally afraid of real interviews.

Originally Posted by TheMightySmiter

I interviewed with my committee over a year ago, but they were LEAGUES tougher than any of my actual med school interviews (and I had eight of those). They made me totally afraid of real interviews.

I would agree with this, but I also did my committee letter at CU so it could just be the way their pre-med committee does interviews. In general, it looks good for the committee to get a high percentage of their students accepted, so I think they would tend to be tougher interviews than actual med school interviews.

What exactly is the advantage of having a committee evaluate you versus individual professors?

Originally Posted by EBTrailRunner

What exactly is the advantage of having a committee evaluate you versus individual professors?

The main advantage I noticed was that the actual committee letter satisfies LOR requirements at most schools. This was helpful for schools with strange LOR requirements that I would not have met without the committee letter. From my understanding, most pre-med committees rank the people who get letters, so schools say this provides a more objective measure of LOR's. In addition, the committee can offer advise on whether or not to apply, how to improve and provides practice interviewing. Some schools also specifically ask on secondaries why you chose not to get a committee letter if your UG school offers one. Overall, the benefits are probably minimal, but it can come in handy.