Interview Thread (Info, Advice, and Schools)

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Freakingzooming

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Hi guys:

I've been asked by a couple Sdners who saw I posted stuff about my interviews to start something like a thread about interview tips, stories, advice, etc. I was also thinking it would be helpful to centralize a thread on advice/tips and stories about schools right before the majority of ya 2006ers will be starting your interviews. I know SDN has an interview feedback section on their forum but I remember how frustrating it was last year to research schools on it.

The interview feedback rarely has enough info about the schools and I felt it was inadequate cuz it was either too shallow or too vague in their descriptions of the schools and interview questions. When doing a search on schools I interviewed at, I found that all I got were scattered threads about comparisons like should I go to NYMC vs SLU or UCI over UCSF. And these were threads from like 2002.

I was hoping to centralize all of our collective stories, tips on interviews into one thread. You don't have to follow my format. If you contribute, I would appreciate it. I'm feeling if we can get a few SDNers like PremedASG and sdnstud on board (each had like 20+ interviews) we'll have most of the schools down.

Hopefully this helps:

About Me: I just want to give a low down on my app last year: I submitted 30 secondaries last year and received 10 interviews- 9 MDs and 1 DO. I'm a 2004 graduate from U of Chicago. I got my NREMT-B certification during the summer following my 2004 graduation and started working as an ER tech for a year around October that year. I had a 3.47 GPA and best of three 30 MCAT. Took the MCAT three times (25, 30, 29). I was accepted to six schools (SLU, Albany, Chicago Med, Drexel, Western (DO) and NYMC) and waitlisted to the other four (Loyola, Vermont, Penn State, and Temple). Currently attend NYMC, class of 2009. My application was complete late September at most schools.

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General advice about interviews: I was working fulltime as an ER tech and well I started my interviews from September to March. To say the least, it was rough. I had to travel on my off-days at work because the ED really needed me to work my fulltime shift so I would work five days, go on interview, come back and work. My suggestion- Try to space out your interviews as best as you can. Try to make it every other week. Or if you can call the schools around the school you are interviewing at (for example temple for drexel or UCSF for stanford) to see if they can give you an interview around the same time as you do one for the other school. Saves you time and money. You would be surprised how often schools will actually agree to do this. Just don't be too pushy about it.

During your interviews, you'll have a lot of downtime. My suggestion is to utilize it by getting to know your interview group. You would be surprised how valuable they can be. Other than the few hardcore pricks, everyone is more than willing to share their stories too. You can glean tips, 411 on schools they've interviewed at already or generally they might know the school better than you do. I didn't start socializing with my interview group until my third one, after I got thru the nervousness and started to notice how much we all had in common. Some of the people I met blew me away- At Vermont, I met a woman who coached the US woman's Olympic Soccer team and played on it. Some of the people you'll interview with will get into the schools you interview at at other places. So it's good to know these people ahead of time. They're an invaluable source of info. Also you'll most likely see them again at another interview.

About preparation for interviews, do your research on SDN of course. Take with a grain of salt the stuff that is said here on SDN when you do a search for schools. Comparison threads are great but they don't give you the complete picture. If you can get alumni or student help from the school you're interviewing at, that would probably be the best. Ask stuff about the curriculum, changes since they've attended, how the school prepared them for boards. Ask about how they liked the lecture hours and opportunities to do away rotations during their clinical years. This will help during your interview when you're asked stuff like why do you want to attend X school? SDN's interview feedback was helpful to an extent. It helped me prepare in a sense that I knew what was generally asked. But I rarely got the same question asked as on SDN interview feedback. In Albany, I had tons of interview questions similar to the ones on SDN interview feedback but not exactly the same. I would look up the website of the school as much as you can. Look into student organizations. Remember names of some of the ones you would truly want to participate in.

Try to stay with a student host- If not only to save money, it'll help you get a more personal look into the school. You can also stay in touch with your student hosts if you have questions about the school later on. If they're really nice, they'll even let you stay again there for a second look if you get in and want to see it again. It seems obvious but not a lot of people do it.

About the thank you card- everyone has their opinion of it and personally I wouldn't have done it but I didn't want to leave anything up to chance so I just decided to send a personalized thank you email to most of my interviewers. Towards the end of your interview, ask your interviewer for a card and if the email's not listed, their email address. Just email them a simple thank you note- try to be personal in it. Mention something specific that stuck out to you during the interview. But remember, you're not obligated to be sending the email. I for the most part enjoyed my interviewers so sending the thank you email was sorta something I wanted to do anyways.

Bring a copy of your personal statement. A lot of times, your interviewer won't even be prepared or ready for the interview and will come in, rushed and ask if you have a PS. Just keep one on the side in a padfolio or whatever.

During your interview, ask your tour guides/admissions director if you could get a copy of their first year schedule. You don't understand how key this can be in your decision process later. You'll be able to see how long a typical first year day will be. If the school focuses more on small group study vs. plain lecturing. How often tests are. Do they offer miniboards. When does school begin and end. Some schools offer guest access to their student class websites so if they dont have printouts, you can get the link for it to look up later.
 
School: Penn State University

Date interviewed: Late October

Description of interview:

This was my second one and I thought it would be alright considering I was interviewing pretty early and I've heard Penn State does a really solid job of selling the school during their interviews. But unfortunately, a combination of my nerves getting the best of me and a bad interviewer, I didn't do as well as I hoped. I did fall in love with the school.

First, I flew into Harrisburg airport (surprisingly big and modern for its location) cuz Hershey was just like a 30 minute drive away. I rented a car and stayed at a hotel nearby. Hershey consists of like two major streets/freeways. I did like the people but I'm more of a city person and the area was really rural. They had this really nice supermarket right across from the school. I got dinner there and walked around the school's campus, trying to get first look.

During my interview day, I got there really early and sat outside the admissions office on the couches, and just talked with felllow interviewees. While we were waiting for our interviews to start, Penn State students actually stopped by to ask if we had any questions. It was real awkward at first but then I noticed how geniune they were with the help. We started our interview day like officially after all the morning ones had finished theirs so we started kinda late. Dr. Davis the dean came in and did a quick speech that almost made me cry (about the state of things in healthcare) after Marc Lubbers presentation about the school. The school is doing a lot of construction to build more parking space and research buildings. It's very ambitious considering how the school/hospital is like the largest thing in Hershey.

Then I think we went on a tour of the hospital/school. The guide was a really old dood who was I guess the hospital's general tour guide. He didn't know anything about the med school really so it was kinda frustrating. But he did give us a very insightful look into the hospital's past history. They had these nifty models of the hospital in the room next to the admissions office. The tour just went through most of the hospital. We didn't even stop thru a room where students took their class. Neither did we get to check out the anatomy labs. Hospital was awesome though. The children's wing was like this huge forest.

Just amazing. I was really impressed with their facilities over. I dig the automatic door openers. It seems like Penn State isn't strapped for cash at all. School seems to be expanding. I went to personally check out the ER myself and it was empty on a Monday night. I used to work at a level 1 trauma center in Chicago and it was packed whether 3 in the morning or 4 pm on Saturday. It was kinda a big jawdropper cuz it was really modern looking and completely clean. The opposite of what you would expect of an emergency department. Though I've heard most of their real cases come from the trauma helicopter response teams.

So after the interviews, we had lunch with first and second years. Pretty productive lunch. People were on top of their stuff with their questions. Asking stuff about how they felt about clinical experience. One of the second years mentioned he chose to go to PSU cuz he's heard how med students were allowed more than what would be expected to do hands on clinical work. Like he was interested in pursuing surgery and asked to shadow a surgeon and he was allowed to scrub in his first day. Cuz of the school's remote location, students and profs get to know each other really well.

What really surprised me about the school was their emphasis on medical humanities. PSU was the first school to have a department of humanities in a medical school. I was walking thru their hallways and students had their posters/artwork about medicine on the walls.

So after lunch, I had my two interviews which were thirty minutes each. My first was with the Emergency Department head guy. I thought with my background and work experience and his position, it would be a smooth interview. But it was real awkward. He didn't really know my application at all. I had a feeling like he just was trying to shoot the breeze, get a general sense of my interest in medicine and going to Hershey. I was asked about what I was doing. And after I told him I was working in the ED, he kinda just nodded. I was a little puzzled. Then he started to zone out as I talked about how I was really interested in medical humanities and wanted to do research in hte field at Penn State. I had a feeling I was like at the very end of his interview day so he was getting worned down. He was overall a nice guy. Just not a good interviewer. Felt I was nervous too.

Then my second interview was with a surgeon. He showed up like twenty minutes late and had me wait in his office's waiting room while he looked over my file. He maybe sat down and was in his office for about two minutes before he invited me in. He had this gruffy personality to him. Started asking me questions I saw on SDN's interview feedback forum. Stuff like What would you do if you had an illegal immigrant come to you with cancer in her thyroid gland? I tried to explain my position. He nodded. He asked why I wrote I could play the viola. I told him I could so I wrote it down. Asked me how it would make me a better physician.

The whole time, he kept his face down and at my file. Then he started just going down my transcript. Asking about each class. Asking what I liked about each one. Sorta half assed the rest of the interview. He did walk me back to the admissions office and on the way there, asked me the evil question- what schools I had applied to and where I've gotten in.

Some useful stuff: There's a garage near the hospital's main entrance that you can park in for free. It was sorta packed in hte morning but I found a spot.

Edit: I forgot to mention their patient simulation lab- by far the sweetest thing on the tour you'll see if you go. It's this huge room where they can simulate everything you would expect to see from a patient (TIA, heart attacks, hypertension). You can give the dummy medicine and there's also a dummy arm to practice your phelobotmy skills.

I forgot to mention also the curriculum- it's extremely integrated. I think they go by systems. NYMC's organ based. For most of the first year, they take only one or two classes. The classes are integrated so you'll see everything you would expect to see from different depts in one. I couldn't tell if the class time was any less than expected but it seemed like students really liked the integrative curriculum. I don't know how they do on the boards though. Match wise- they're doing well instate.

Also they have a required research part of their curriculum. You can get an exception from it by submitting your past research. But I think they want students to conduct more research during hte summers of 1st and 2nd year.
 
Keep it up, Freaking. This is good stuff, and really quite helpful to those of us "freaking out" about upcoming interviews.
 
Just thought of more helpful tips:

General Advice:

When you schedule your interview, they'll give you a list of dates to choose from or they'll have you give them a list of preferred dates (Albert Einstein does that). Other than choosing the best day that would fit out your schedule, I would choose the earliest one too. If the difference between your preferred day to interview and the one that is the soonest is like two days, I wouldn't sweat it. But if you're nearing January, a week can really matter. I know for sure Loyola did fill out their school's class by early January. I interviewed in mid January so the best I could was a spot on the alternate list. So if you're interviewing in October and the day you want versus the day is the soonest is like maybe four days, don't sweat it. But come January to February/early march, try to get it the soonest.

You might want to ask too if the class is full when you schedule in January or February, if it is: you could interview towards the end of March and it wouldn't really matter. If the class is full, they'll be as likely to pick someone who interviews in late March versus early January. So choose the best day that fits your schedule. Don't rush it and spend a bundle on a last minute interview. Some schools won't even tell you if the class is filled. So you'll have to ask. Don't worry if you get an annoyed response from the receptionist. You have a right to know. The receptionist does not have any bearing on your acceptance or not. Look on SDN to see what people going to the schoool for interviews say about the class being filled or not.

When you schedule your interview, make sure to mention you want them to contact you if an earlier date should open for an interview before your scheduled one. It'll show you're definitely interested in the school and it'll help if the school doesn't overaccept and you get a late interview. I remember Drexel like booking to March when they were offering interviews like in December. But cuz I happened to call the same day someone who was scheduled to interview in Jan dropped out from it, I got the earlier interview date.

The med school application cycle is really volatile, I like to think of it like an NBA draft. Teams (schools in this case) are trying to choose the best possible player (student). While at the same time, players are trying to get into the best team possible so they'll be a lot of trading, moving up and down. Students will be offered better packages from better teams so they'll cancel interviews and acceptances.
 
Great stuff... got a question. Do you think it is ok to bring a water into an interview. I get dry mouth lately and it can be annoying especially if I am talking alot. I did it for my RWJ interview last year and the interviewer did not seem to care. What do you guys think?

Also perhaps you know something about NYMC. I was complete there on July 27th and never heard anything. People complete in August are still getitng interviews. Is there still hope to get an interview at NYMC and in general if people after you are hearing back already?
 
BOBODR said:
Great stuff... got a question. Do you think it is ok to bring a water into an interview. I get dry mouth lately and it can be annoying especially if I am talking alot. I did it for my RWJ interview last year and the interviewer did not seem to care. What do you guys think?

Also perhaps you know something about NYMC. I was complete there on July 27th and never heard anything. People complete in August are still getitng interviews. Is there still hope to get an interview at NYMC and in general if people after you are hearing back already?
Click to expand...

Yeah water isn't a big deal. Food, I would draw the line on, cuz you might spill some crumbs on yourself or have cream cheese stuck to your lip. Also kinda unprofessional. But a bottle of water should be fine. Don't bring your own jug/canteen or anything huge like that. Just a small bottle of water that you can palm or put next to your seat.

About NYMC, don't sweat it. I turned my thing in like you, late July but wasn't complete there until late September. Not offered interview until maybe end of October to early Nov. or something like that. Got an interview there in late December (will write about that one later). I think the school like what interviews about 1500 students? It's insane to get to a class of what 180 students. So if anything, they're probably slow on looking thru files.

Some schools like Loyola- Even if they look at your application and decide not to grant you an interview when they do a first look of all applicants, they'll do a first round of interviews and offer acceptances and then do a second look and second round of interviews.. and so on for a third round until the interview season ends. So don't count yourself out. It could quite be they haven't even looked at your file yet. Almost like 1 out 4 applicants applies to NYMC.

I signed up as a tour guide and hopefully I'll see you soon here on campus. Good luck and feel free to fire away more questions. Surprised there hasn't be any more questions.
 
School : Albany Medical College

Date of Interview: Middle of November

Description:

I flew in the day before to the Albany airport. It was alright. Southwest flies in so I got a pretty discounted ticket. I decided to rent a car and stay at the Red Carpet Inn (big mistake). The hotel was kinda seedy. I strongly discourage anyone from staying there. It was like 50 dollars for a crappy room and bathroom. The shower was like a stall in this dark corner. Creepy locker room style. Anyways, so Albany was a big surprise. I was expecting small, more like a suburby feel.

Instead, it had a decent urban feel once you get away from the airport. There was an actual downtown that was more than just two streets. Other than AMC, there are a couple colleges- I think a PACE? or SUNY nearby? It seemed like a really good college town. Overall, I felt there were some really nice areas of Albany and some really seedy areas, especially when you get to downtown. The campus was in the not so great area of downtown. But it was hard to say cuz around the park area, there were some nice townhouses but then you turn to go downhill towards the medical center and you go thru some seedy neighborhoods. I've heard some students live downtown. I can see why cuz it seems like you would get the most of the city night life and be in the nicer area of the city.

What really took me back too was that weird Egg shape dome- the center for Arts? And then the missile silo looking buildings which were the government buildings. They're like together and you'll drive thru it to get thru a certain part of downtown. The weather was kinda crappy for late November. I remember it being cold and very windy. I looked up average temps and it was significantly colder than NYC and Chicago throughout the year. I guess it's upstate NY.

So the very next day, I drove to the medical center for my interview, parked next to the med school building. It was kinda hard to tell which building was what. Then I sat on the couches with others while we waited for our interviews to start. I think we had our group meeting with the admissions director and student lunch before interviews (I was in the afternoon group). The admissions director was really nice. I think she said she was just starting so relatively new to the process. She sorta gave a short presentation on the school and the couple joint programs they have with local colleges (union). The grading was sorta like ABCF (Honors, Highpass, pass, fail). Seems like they're also trying to introduce some more humanities programs into the curriculum. They offer a bioethics distinction. I think they were trying to expand on that on some sorta masters in bioethics offered too with the MD. double check with this.

Our lunch with the first/second year students was alright. Sorta didn't get a good vibe only cuz only one of the students was vocal. The first year sorta hung back and let the other one talk. our interview group was kinda large (both afternoon and morning together was like 16?) too so it was kinda hard to hear when I was sitting there in the back, eating my lunch to what was being discussed. Someone asked about the weather and I think, the student laughed about it and made some passing remark that it helped harden you for the challenges ahead.

Then we had our tour of the hospital and med school. Unlike the Penn State one, they actually showed us some classrooms. The hospital was a very good size. I was pleasantly surprised on how large it was. The VA hospital? is nearby. They are like hte only level 1 trauma regional center in the area north of NYC. So they pretty much cover a lot of space and patients. Get a good size patient population already from the urban setting. They were telling me they do a lot of charity/medicaid work. The ED was packed. Ambulances were taxing in when I went to check it out later. They also have a helicopter response team that sees a lot of action. The children's wing was really nice too. Their cafeteria in the hospital is actually a decent size. Not bad. About the same or even larger than PSU. The hospital was a lot nicer than the med school.

Our tour of the campus/medschool really disappointed me. Compared to PSU, Albany looked like it could use a couple rennovations or two. It's a very old school and their classroom was really in bad shape. There wasn't wireless in yet. Didn't quite understand where the 40K + tuition was going to. Again, we didn't get to see the anatomy lab so can't comment about it.

After the tour, I went back to the couches outside the admissions office to wait for my first interview. I was a little nervous cuz I had heard that they liked to drill their interviewees with ethic questions. Tons of them (read over some of the SDN feedback to get the gist of them). My first interview was with a basics science professor. She was real nice. I sorta felt like I was talking to my grandmother. She asked me some general questions to warm up to the ethical ones. I was asked about my major. Then she asked me if I could do anything, non medicine wise or medicine wise, what would I become the CEO of. I gave my response then she asked me about abortion and how I stood on it. She asked me what would I do if a developmentally stunted underaged teenage girl went to a party and got pregnant and her mom and her came to me to ask for an abortion. That sorta unnerved me and all my prep. Never heard of that question and it's sorta a no win no win question/answer.

I gave my response to it as best I could. She asked me why I would want to come to Albany versus other schools. Told her in my interest in medical humanities and how my ethics prof recommended the school. It turns out the prof that runs the ethics program there used to work at the U of C's med ethics and knew my professor. She took me to meet him. He was a really nice guy. Gave me lots of info about where to start and some students to contact about the program.

Went back to couches to wait for my second interview. Finally got to it, it turns out I had a fourth year med student. First thing we did was go to the library (it's alright, a good size but seems kinda old) where we booked a room upstairs to do the interview. It was a small room, the kind you would study in with a group and go over a problem session. Kinda cosy and tight. First he did was told me to relax cuz of my early interview, it meant I wasn't a borderline applicant. He was there to ask me some general questions to get to know me. I talked to him about my work experience. Asked him about his upcoming match and what he wanted to do. He asked some ethic questions. Seemed like just wanted to know where I stood on abortion. I gave my pov. He was a hometown guy so he lived and grew up in Albany. Told me to contact him if I had any more questions. I wanted to know more about the area. He told me also he was on the alternate list and was pulled off last minute. Told me to contact him if I ever got in the same position. Was my first student interview and really liked it. Was able to relax more and get more honest questions off my chest.

After the interview, I went to a local restaurant near the college hangouts to getthe local scene vibe. It was this taco place. Had a bar/restaurant attached. Really nice and cheap.
 
Thanks for the response... ans taking your time to write out these detailed interview days.....
 
BOBODR said:
Thanks for the response... ans taking your time to write out these detailed interview days.....
Click to expand...

Yea I agree! Thank you for being so detailed! 🙂
 
School : NYMC

Date attended : Four days before Christmas, i.e. late December

Description :

I flew into Newark cuz my sister lived in Hoboken. It was a crappy week to come in; my plane barely got in right after the snow storm. Surprisingly the airport decided to close the airtrain between the terminals and train station. So I and others had to huddle in the cold and snow outside to wait for their crappy terminal buses. When I finally got to my sister's place, I was bitter and extremely cold.

So this is for any of ya that are thinking of staying in NJ and getting to NYMC via the PATH to Metro North: I got up at 5:45 in the morning to make the 9 am interview? Not sure if it was 9 or 8 or 10. Anyways, it took me about two hours and half to get from Hoboken to NYMC's campus. I had to take the PATH, take a taxi from the 33rd street station, take the Metro North from Grand Central, and then at the White Plains station, take another taxi to the school. Cost about 30 dollars each way. In hindsight, I should've just rented a car and drove up thru upstate Jersey and cross the Tapan Zee Bridge. The weather was really bad for commuting via public system. I did like the Metro North train. It was clean and quiet. Although a little expensive.

So I finally got to the campus, after hailing a taxi from the Metro North White Plains station (the taxi drivers all know about NYMC so don't worry about getting directions here). We passed by the prison and the hospital on the way to the school. The campus looked kinda small. You have essentially one building that contains everything outside of adminstration/admissions.

The admissions building looked sorta like a weird fancy mansion. I got there and sat on the couches waiting for it to start. Surprisingly enough, there was another guy there ahead of me. We talked for a bit. (It turned out later he ended up coming to NYMC with me too) Finally someone came in and opened the admissions office. We had to take pictures for ID badges. After that, we had breakfast and the director of admissions came in and did a presentation. It was a relaxed, sorta about the application process. What to expect (they're not kidding when they say it takes 10 weeks post interview to hear back from them) They interview a ton of people- around 1600 or so? I think we went around the room, introducing ourselves. Everyone was from every state or region in the country. A lot of Californians though.

Then I don't remember the exact order but the Financial Aid guy came in (Tony) and he went over loans. A lot of us were sorta nervous, not really listening to most of it. I just remember something about how only 1 % of NYMC students default on their loans versus the national average of 5%. Average debt was up there in the 150 K.

Then a fourth year came in to talk about the school. She was doing her rotations in Westchester. And she gave us an inside view of the rotations. She liked doing it near the school cuz she was able to still live in the housing instead of spending a ton on rent. She also told us Westchester allowed its students to do more during their rotations in stuff like surgery. Westchester's center also is a tertiary care center. We asked her about the closing of the 95th street housing complex. She gave us an evasive answer about it but told us that althought it was being closed, there were still landlords that would rent out to NYMC students for a very good rate. They had a preference for medical students. I don't know how many there are out there but I guess I'll know come 3rd year. The 4th year was on the Student Senate.

So after talking with her for a while, we started our interviews. I had to do two because one of my interviewers was new to the admissions committee. My first one was with a plastic surgeon- ENT guy. He was really nice but also new to the process. We talked about my work experience and he asked why I would want to come to New York. Told him my sister was nearby. Told him how I liked hte location (not in NYC but close enough). He asked about what schools I applied in NYC. He got a phone call in the middle of our interview. It was from the hospital he just was working in, the night before. He had to do an emergency tracheo-something. He apologized and then we just shot the breeze for the rest of the interview.

I had to wait for my second interview. Got to talk to the other interviewees. I liked my interview group. I don't know if any of them also started the school with me but a couple of them were accepted already to different schools. A couple were just testing out their other options. So my second one started- it was with a physical therapist with children. Started talking in general about why she got into medicine. I asked her about her practice. She helped relax my nerves down and then we started talkinga bout my work experience. She asked if I had to work Christmas. I actually had to. I think she empathized. Then she asked if I could use one word to describe myself to the committee what would it be. Sorta a simple/hard question. Then we both realized my interview had gone past the hour mark and I was late for my tour. So I left and joined my interviewee group that was being led by first years. The tour was good cuz we got to see

the anatomy lab
Modules
1st and 2nd year classrooms
library
fitness center
student lounge.
a dorm room in housing

But we didnt get to the hospital cuz there was a ton of snow on the ground. I'm guessing too, we didn't cuz most of the first years hadn't really been in it either. Overall, very impressed with the facilities. The anatomy lab is on the top floor of the MEC building. There are skylights that let in natural light into the lab. At night, you can actually see stars from the inside. The room is well ventillated. The 1st year classroom was alright. 2nd year classroom was better. Library was on the small side but quaint.

Modules on the 3rd and 2nd floor were sweet. they're open 24 hours. Students use them for histology labs/quizzes. Clinical correlates and anatomy focus groups. The whole building is connected. So like in histology labs, the professor can project a slide/presentation of cells and point to them from one of the modules and talk about them over a speaker system. All the modules are connected and will see the presentation. This goes for the lecture rooms as well.

So we concluded our tour with a lunch. Just laidback and talked about school. It seemed like they kept their students busy. Testing is sorta rigorous in that there's one almost every three weeks. But they explained it was good cuz then you didn't have tons and tons of stuff pile up so every test would be extremely tolling. Med school is way different from college. There's just so much information you have to absorb. I can't even imagine people who have to take two exams a semester that account for their whole grade. The exams here aren't cummulative but at the end of each class is a miniboard aka final that is cummulative. Sorta geared to prepare you to do well for the boards, step 1 and 2. Averages there were well above the average. Explains our performance in the match. Place well in NYC and in California.

Overall, the dorms and educational building are so close to each other, I was thinking it would be sorta a dormitory boarding school feel if I came here. I've been here maybe like 5 weeks and cant really feel that way. People get out and drive into the city. The campus, although it may feel secluded, you can get to the whiteplains area in like 10 minutes and go shopping. I can't explain it but having lived in a boarding school for highschool and most of my college years in a dorm, I don't feel its the same here. In med school, especially, everyone is always studying. Sure there are parties here and there in apartments but everyone is off doing their own thing the majority of time.

I like being close to the campus, cuz you can walk to class in five minutes and to the anatomy lab. You can study in the library and decide to go back to your room for lunch. It's convient and inexpensive. I've been to the city every weekend and have found time to study.

I was worried about competition when I came here, thinking with the testing schedule, it would be cut throat and I couldn't be more pleasantly surprised by how helpful and friendly students are here. 2nd years did a mock practical before our first anatomy exam on a Friday night. A ton of them forwarded links to websites that summarized a lot of the anatomy sections. The 2nd years also sent us an anatomy study guide that has been passed down from each 2nd year class to the lower class as the years have gone by. My big sib lives like hte down the hall and helps answers my questions when they come. Most of the 1st years have sent emails explaining problems they've ran into with the reading. Some of them will ask questions to the whole class and will get a response in like an hour. The attitude here is we're all going to be colleagues and we've tried to help each other out. the 1st year class is going to throw a party for the 2nd years for helping us out on our anatomy exam. Overall, I've felt everyone wants each other to succeed.

A little about the area around the school- It's upstate in Westchester. Sorta nice but spread out. But you can find everything ya'll need and more. I used to go to school in Chicago and Chicago's chinatown was pitiful. I remember there being only like one Asian supermarket there and it was extremely small. To just give ya a picture of how the area is around here, there are two. One in white plains and another off in hartsdale. The one in Whiteplains is a whole floor in a mall. It's got amazing fresh produce and you can get like meat from everywhere there. You'll need a car if you go here. I haven't ridden the bus yet but the area is so spread out you'll need one. I think most of my class has cars.
 
wow, thats very insightful and in-depth, thx! 🙂
 
These narratives are excellent. I'd be interested in hearing about your experience at UVM.
 
School : UVM

Date : Early March

Description :

I flew into the Burlington airport. I had trouble finding decently priced tickets to there. It's really out of the way and only a couple major airlines fly there from Chicago. To say the least, it was expensive. But, the airport was nice for a town of 40,000. They have a ton of Ben and Jerry's (made in Vermont).

My cousin's wife is attending UVM so I got to stay with them at the Center Courtyard? Apartments. They were like a 5 minute walk from the main medschool campus and hospital. Mostly grad students live there. I got in rather later or I would've gone exploring. My cousin gave me the tour of the town. It's actually quite large. At night, you can tell how scenic and gorgeous the place can be. Burlington is small but extremely extremely gorgeous during the summer/spring time. I was there near early spring/later winter and didn't get the full beauty of it but I saw the potential.

The medschool is sorta off to one side away from the main campus (quads) or so. The undergrad is just a street away and it's pretty good size. The hospital the students rotate thru is sorta indirectly connected to the school? I'm not sure exactly because there was a lot of construction and it was cold outside so I didn't get to walk around. But there was a ton of new stuff coming up. The undergrad campus is pretty amazing. UVM is one of the oldest colleges in the country so some of the buildings look like they could be straight out of a stereotypical gorgeous college movie. There was a building that was supposed to be a replica of a library in Oxford. I think that was a social science building. The med school campus itself was contained in one large building. It was extremely modern inside. Most of the biomedical research labs are all contained in it. There was an agriculture/animal husbandry lab too not too far from it.

So the next day, I went to my interview. On the first floor, there were couches where they have you wait after you sign in, down the hall from the admissions office. Sorta in the hustle bustle of the medschool building. We happened to be there when most students were entering and leaving classrooms. The lockers were all around us. They gave us these dinky folders for the interview day. It was pretty much a brocheure. Really skimpy. I couldn't tell whether it was my interview group was late in the year. My interview group was a good size about 13 or 14 of us. A lot of them were from NY, just one local from Vermont.

We had a group presentation from one of the admissions deans? not sure of it but anyways it was about the school and the admissions process. It was extremely laid back. We went around introducing ourselves. It seemed like I was the only one representing the midwest. A ton of them were from either the West Coast or Northeast. The admissions person went over the UVM VIC curriculum. It's really unique because students finish their first two years of preclinical education in 1 1/2 years. Then they take their step 1 during the winter/early spring time. Start rotations before summer. It's relatively new so the first class to start it hadn't graduated it yet. I've heard of problems though from the VIC, with the testing and how students aren't prepared enough from it. But it seemed with their integrated curriculum, there was less class time and more "leadership" classes. I wasn't quite sure what went on in those classes. Overall, it seemed like they're still getting the hang of VIC.

Then we had the tour with first years. There were three of them. Really nice girls. I didn't have that many questions so I hung back and just talked with my fellow interviewees. It seemed like the majority of us had gone thru like a good size of interviews before UVM's. The tour was sorta neat cuz we went thru the student lounge (which was kinda small), the library which was relocated into this weird indoor atrium (with weird umbrellas) because of the construction. We didn't really see any of the nitty gritty stuff I wanted to see like the anatomy lab or lecture room but I was kinda tired of seeing medschool campuses. Overall, I was impressed though, it seemed like the medschool building was real modern.

We went to lunch at their cafeteria. The food wasn't bad. I liked my interview group. We were sorta like laidback. Not caring much. When we finished lunch, we went back to this conference room to go over financial aid. UVM is really expensive and they don't seem to give any scholarships or they seemed to be saying tuition would go up to. I remember the financial aid guy being really cynical and pessimistic. He wasn't even supposed to be giving the presentation; he was from the undergrad financial aid office so he didn't really care or know much either. I had to leave early to catch my interview at 1:30 pm. It was with a pediatrician-radiologist. Nice lady.

She had done her residency in radiology at Harvard after she graduated from UVM and wanted to go back to work at Burlington. We talked mostly about my work experience. Since she was a peditrician-radiologist, she has worked with kids who have been abused and she wanted to know if I had seen any instances of child abuse. I sorta didn't know how to answer that cuz I'm sure I had but I couldn't like have known for sure. She was really nice and patient. I totally bombed the interview because I was sorta nervous. But she asked why medicine. Why UVM. What I was interested in. Like what field of medicine. It was an hour long interview. The rest of the questions were informal, like what class I liked the most and then she asked about one of the classes I had done at the U of C: a philosophy course. What I had read and what I liked about it. I looked her up a little later and she taught a couple radiology courses at the medschool.

So I concluded my interview, went back to my interview group. We all commiserated on how we could've done better. I met up with my cousin. We went to go check out downtown Burlington (I know there is one!). Church street. Just amazing. There were quaint restaurants and shops along that stretch. Cars aren't allowed in so you can just walk up and down the blvd. I suggest anyone interviewing there to stay nearby there or the lake. You get a good sense of how awesome Burlington can be. There was a mall nearby from the downtown area and it was huge. It had what you would expect out of an upper middle class mall- Ann taylor lofts, gallore. My cousin told me there was another mall at the other side of Burlington. So two malls in a town of 40,000. We went to the only Chinese restaurant in town and ate lunch and just relaxed before my flight left.

Edit: Forgot to mention about the rotations. So students after their 1.5 years of preclinical stuff start rotations. Most of the rotations are in Burlington at the Fletcher Allen Medical Center. The main hospital is next to the medschool but there are several smaller tertiary centers around Burlington where they go thru. They're a good size for the patient population. Then I forgot when they have to do a rotation in Portland, Maine. It's required, only exception is if you have a significant other (married or with family). So depending on how much you like Maine, you can spend a lot of your clinical years there or just do the mandatory time. I did a spreadsheet comparing clinical electives from the schools I interviewed at. UVM was up there in flexibility. They allow you to do a lot of electives your fourth year and away rotations. Which is key if you want to try out different fields before the match. I think there were like just two or three required rotations 4th year.

Weather- forgot to mention how cold it was for early March. If you go, by all means, bring lots of clothing. I don't care when you go. Nightime, it can be windy and bitterly cold. Bring gloves. I didn't get to ride the bus or anything around there but there was a public transportation system. Just get the sense it doesn't run too often cuz the city is so small. Diversity wise- you won't see much. The undergrad campus has a good mix but a lot of those people tend to be rich to middle class. The city is a big ski resort town so again not much diversity there. But Vermont as a state in general is extremely liberal so if you're an URM, I wouldnt find any problems living there. You won't find any ethnic hoods there like a Chinatown or Polishtown but you'll have the occasional Indian, Ethiopan restaurant. Hope this helps.
 
General Advice :

When looking at the curriculum at each school, it can be a little confusing because almost every school out there flaunts or says they're integrating this and that. You want to look at their class schedules to put together the bigger picture. If you can, google on their individual school sites and try to find a typical week for a first year.

Most students will start off with Gross anatomy with a little developmental bio included and histology. That's the norm so whatever fancy names they may call it like "Host Defense," everyone starts off as the same (they may have epidemology or statistics before that but it's just before anatomy/histo). What changes is later in the year, when we start neuro and behavioral sciences and the fun stuff. Try to look to see how classes are stacked up. In general integrative curriculums have less class time and more small group discussion sessions. This is the norm but there will be some exceptions.

I know some schools have year round anatomy and some schools have it only for a semester. Some schools will integrate their curriculum by going back to anatomy to discuss each different body system. So they'll start off at the cardio and discuss the heart and go into the lab and dissect the heart. So on and so on.

NYMC is on a more traditional/organ based system if we can call it that. It's just we go over anatomy from organ to organ. Like we started in the general region of the thorax and then moved to abdomen and then the pelvis. But each class was by organ to organ.
 
this thread is great! thanks for taking the time to give us all this advice 🙂 👍
 
Yes, these perspectives are really helpful. Thanks for taking the time!

I suspect that the vast majority of people reading this thread haven't had any interviews yet, which the main reason why others haven't contributed. Hopefully we can keep the thread alive (or resurrect it) as interview season gets into full swing.
 
humuhumu said:
Yes, these perspectives are really helpful. Thanks for taking the time!

I suspect that the vast majority of people reading this thread haven't had any interviews yet, which the main reason why others haven't contributed. Hopefully we can keep the thread alive (or resurrect it) as interview season gets into full swing.
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Yeah - this thread is really amazing. I know that the interview feedback is supposed to accomplish the same thing in theory, but somehow the name-associated accountability makes this thread more valuable to me.
 
drinklord said:
Yeah - this thread is really amazing. I know that the interview feedback is supposed to accomplish the same thing in theory, but somehow the name-associated accountability makes this thread more valuable to me.
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thanks for taking the time to write down experiences. very valuable/
 
wow...thanks for taking the time to write all of that...i havent read it all but you are badass...
 
Great…!!! Nothing goes to waste!!! keep it up!!!
Anything from Illinois rings bell?
I have not had any interview, but I will post my weird fun crazy stories if they happen down the road.
 
There's a bunch of people who have had interviews for this cycle already. It would be great if you all could share your experiences! 🙂
 
jj08 said:
There's a bunch of people who have had interviews for this cycle already. It would be great if you all could share your experiences! 🙂
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Hello- I had an interview at GW this weekend. I don't have as much to say as the OP, but overall it was a pretty good experience. This was not one of my top choices, but I was very impressed by the school after I visited. The day was very well organized- we met in a conference room, and got cute GW folders with lots of info about the school, fin. aid and the names of our interviewers.. Then the dean of admissions came to speak with us. She emphasized how non-competitative the school is (this seemed to be the theme for the day), and she said that if anyone feels that they had a stressful interview to please let her know because they are supposed to be completely stress-free. Then we had the tour and lunch and then the interviews. The first was with a student and was so easy, no big deal at all. Asked me what I did for fun. The second was with a faculty member and was also very relaxed. Both interviews took place in little rooms in the library, so it seemed very informal (as opposed to a fancy office). Also while we waited for our interviewers, first and seocnd year students came to answer any questions we had. They added to the relaxed atmosphere by cracking jokes, etc... Overall, it was a fun day!

Hope this helps a little!
 
This is great. Everyone please contribute.

fiddler
 
I posted an interview feedback, but for more info I thought I'd add to this thread. Indy was my first interview, and was a terrific experience. I am so excited to get to the rest of mine.
ON INDIANAPOLIS: Steel city, has some slummy parts and some nicer parts. The campus is super close to downtown, and about 15 min from the airport. The Indy area is pretty big, but downtown Indy has a great small feel to it, lots of cool bars and neat resturants. (I got to see a lot since my best friend lives there and I stayed with her.)
ON THE SCHOOL: Except for the out of state $$$$$$, Indy would be a decent school to attend. They are really throwing money at their building projects, two new research buildings and a cancer institute on the way. There is also access to 4 hospitals, all are different and present medical care to a different slice of the population. The students were nice, except for my tour guide. He was really honest, which is good, but none too enthused to be a student there, or a tour guide. I ended up skipping out early since I had been there all day. But the faculty were cool too, even the Dean of Admissions came and talked to us.
ON THE INTERVIEW: My interviewer was really cool. A young 30-something anesthesiologist, I totally didn't think he was faculty until he presented himself. (Plus he was hot, can I say that???!!) We seriously sat and chatted for about 20 minutes. Half of the questions came straight from the SDN website, the others were about me, my family, my childhood, my research, my travel experiences, my goals and the geography of Africe. (He'd been to Swaziland and I'm going to Malawi) So we had a great time, a lot of laughs and jokes, and he gave me super positive feedback. I'm so glad it went well, I am not worried at all for any more interviews.
 
I posted an interview feedback, but for more info I thought I'd add to this thread. Indy was my first interview, and was a terrific experience. I am so excited to get to the rest of mine.
ON INDIANAPOLIS: Steel city, has some slummy parts and some nicer parts. The campus is super close to downtown, and about 15 min from the airport. The Indy area is pretty big, but downtown Indy has a great small feel to it, lots of cool bars and neat resturants. (I got to see a lot since my best friend lives there and I stayed with her.)
ON THE SCHOOL: Except for the out of state $$$$$$, Indy would be a decent school to attend. They are really throwing money at their building projects, two new research buildings and a cancer institute on the way. There is also access to 4 hospitals, all are different and present medical care to a different slice of the population. The students were nice, except for my tour guide. He was really honest, which is good, but none too enthused to be a student there, or a tour guide. I ended up skipping out early since I had been there all day. But the faculty were cool too, even the Dean of Admissions came and talked to us.
ON THE INTERVIEW: My interviewer was really cool. A young 30-something anesthesiologist, I totally didn't think he was faculty until he presented himself. (Plus he was hot, can I say that???!!) We seriously sat and chatted for about 20 minutes. Half of the questions came straight from the SDN website, the others were about me, my family, my childhood, my research, my travel experiences, my goals and the geography of Africe. (He'd been to Swaziland and I'm going to Malawi) So we had a great time, a lot of laughs and jokes, and he gave me super positive feedback. I'm so glad it went well, I am not worried at all for any more interviews.
 
blee said:
I had my interview day at EVMS yesterday (9/9). Here are my impressions:

Campus: Small, but clean and attractive. The school is located in or just next to Ghent, a very nice part of Norfolk that seems to have a number of high-dollar homes. The school library looks to be quite new, but the rest of the facilities appear to be somewhat older. School facilities are not ultra-modern. The Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters, however, was beautiful and amazing.

Norfolk itself is an up-and-coming city. It's located right next to the Chesapeake Bay and within 20-30 minutes of the beach. Within the last 10 years, there's been quite a lot of change in the upscale direction. You now have your pick between high-end shopping and entertainment and small-town charm; MacArthur center, a large multistory shopping mall, is located just minutes away from a 50-year-old drive-in diner whose founder claimed to have invented the waffle cone in 1904. There's a well-regarded aquarium, a zoo, a very impressive art museum, and lots of other cultural attractions nearby.

Academics: EVMS places a high priority on developing excellent clinicians. The first presentation of the day was from the director of their standardized patient program, who brought with him one of their standardized patients. His portrayal of the condition was impressive (depression/slightly suicidal), but the feedback he then gave the volunteer interviewer was amazing. Students apparently spend a significant portion of their time with the program, and it seems to me that it would almost certainly lead to a well developed clinical skillset well before the clinical years.

There was some mention of the quality of the science curriculum. EVMS boasts the highest board pass rate among the three Virginia schools, comfortably above the national average, along with a strong showing in the residency match each year. All of the students we met said that their professors have been very accessible and willing to help outside of the classroom. I wish there had been more discussion about the basic science years during the interview day, although I wouldn't have wanted to miss the standardized patient presentation.

Student Life: Being a smaller med school has its advantages. Everyone I met at EVMS was friendly and happy to be there, and there was a very cohesive, tight-knit feel to the community. At the lunchtime presentation, the outgoing director of admissions was cracking jokes about an M2 who had just given a presentation on the school; I was impressed that he knew the students at a level where he could do such a thing. (Maybe it helped that the slide show included a photo of the director, a 60-70-year-old man, wearing a pink wig.) There seemed to be a very non-competitive and helpful atmosphere, to the extent that class notes/study guides/crib sheets/old exams were shared freely.

EVMS seems to offer a lot of opportunities to get involved with the school and the community at large. Students volunteer in and around Norfolk and run some of their own charity drives. There are also opportunities to travel abroad, both to volunteer and to get some medical experience.

Overall: I walked into the interview expecting to find a decent school: Good academics, decent facilities, reasonable community. My expectations were greatly exceeded. EVMS is quite serious about training great doctors, and the quality of their education is clearly excellent. Moreover, I get the sense that the students and faculty form a very supportive, tight-knit community that fosters greatness in everyone. It's hard to rank med schools before finishing my interviews, but I know that I'd be happy to call EVMS home.
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blee said:
Quick notes on the interview. I plan to add to the SDN med school interview database, but the entries there are pretty accurate. You sit in a room with two or three interviewers. One of them has access to your entire file and is a member of the admissions committee. The other(s) have your secondary app and part of AMCAS (no transcript), but serve only to provide their feedback/impressions to the adcom member. I guess the idea is to prevent one bad personal interaction from ruining the interview.

I was geared up for a stressful interview, but it was not so bad. The interviewers were pleasant with me and didn't play any mind games. They pointed out what they found to be weaknesses in my application and gave me a chance to discuss or defend them. After that, they moved on to the ethical questions. I think the key is to BE YOURSELF, pick a position that you actually believe, and be prepared to defend it. The questions were probing but not accusatory or aggressive. You will probably also be asked the typical questions: why medicine, why EVMS. Again, just be yourself. If you don't put up pretenses, everything will go smoothly.

So I guess the one-line summary would be that the interview was challenging but not nerve-wracking. I know it has a lot to do with getting a good interviewer and getting along with them, but I truly felt that they were committed to EVMS and committed to picking good candidates for the school.
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Here's the link to her thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=2939345#post2939345
 
tigress said:
btw, another person posted feedback for this week, so there are now 2 Einstein feedbacks from this year.

Here is what I wrote as a summary:
I was prepared for the day from previous sdn feedback. I arrived for my 9 a.m. interview at about 8:40, but security wouldn't let me in the building (but today was the first interview day of the year, after all, and the guard didn't know). Three other people were waiting with me by the time they let us in, after 9. Then the very nice woman in the admissions office told me my interview was at Jacobi, which is about a 10 minute walk from the main school building. Thankfully she called the interviewer to let her know I was coming and why I was late. The interview itself was really cool. It was in the pediatric emergency department, which was neat. The admissions office hands you a sealed folder with your file in it and you hand this to the interviewer. So I sat out in the office with the ER secretaries for 30+ minutes while my interviewer read my file. That wasn't so bad though; at least she was paying attention! The interview was actually a conversation, not an interview. She didn't ask me any hard questions, or really many questions at all. We just talked. A guy who also interviewed today said that his interview was really tough and that his interviewer grilled him, though, so I'm sure it depends on how lucky you are with your interviewer. My interview lasted a really long time (over an hour), so I didn't have a chance to go to a first year lecture. I met up with my friend who is a student for lunch in the cafeteria, which they gave us a voucher for. Actually the wonderful admissions lady gave me an extra one for my husband, who came with me. I skipped the tour because I know the school, and visited with friends (in the housing and at Jacobi Hospital) instead. The tour doesn't show much anyway. Overall I think it was a good day, and I just hope my interviewer felt the same!

How did you prepare for the interview: I read sdn feedback, glanced over my AMCAS and college research thesis, etc. Nothing major.

What positively impressed you: The students were enthusiastic about the school. The first year lecture hall is awesome. Housing is inexpensive and fairly nice. A fourth year I talked to was very positive about the clinical education.

What negatively impressed you: No audio or visual of lectures available to students. Student-run transcript services seem dated to me at this point. The gym is tiny. The library is supposedly getting renovated at some point; now it's tiny.

What did you wish you had known ahead of time: When people say to wear comfortable shoes, they mean it. You may have to do a bit of walking to get to your interview. Also, don't listen to people who say Einstein is in a horrible location. One direction from the school isn't exactly nice, but it's not bad, and not dangerous. The other way (towards the Jacobi area) is middle class brick homes, some of which are quite nice, with families and such. The closest grocery store is really ghetto though.

What was the most interesting question you were asked: We had an interesting discussion about poverty and obesity, and about Hurricane Katrina (aspects of poverty involved).

What was the most difficult question you were asked: What are you looking for in a medical school?

Specific Questions
Question 1: Where are you from? What's it like there?

Question 2: What are you looking for in a medical school? I wish I could think of more questions, but truthfully she didn't ask me much. We just talked.

Question 3: Do you have any questions for me? She also told me to contact her at any time if I have questions, and she was awfully nice.
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🙂
 
My interview day started at 8:30am, I had the first appointment of the day. My interviewer was an MSIV. He was one of 8 MSIV’s on the admissions committee. The committee consists of approx 35 members. We walked for a few minutes to the department of family medicine lounge where he conducted the interview. His style was very laid back. He asked why I wanted to be a physician. He asked about my experience as an EMT (noted on my AMCAS) as well as where I saw myself in 10 years (this question was also on the MCV secondary, but he wanted an expanded version). He then asked what I saw as the greatest ethical challenge facing medicine. Next he asked about issues of access in medicine and how I propose some of them get fixed. He also asked what the greatest challenge facing departments of emergency medicine were. The whole thing was very casual.

I finished the interview at approximately 9:15 and spent the next 1hr 45 minutes walking around the area surrounding MCV. I was surprised at how good the area looked, not the utter ghetto I was expecting based on others’ stories. I especially liked the townhouses along Memorial drive. I returned to the admissions office for the 11am talk by the Dean of Admissions. At this point all the students who were interviewing today were there. There was a total of 7. 6 interviewed in the morning, 1 in the afternoon. There were 5 males, 2 females. 5 out of the 7 were taking on or more years off (I was surprised that I was one of only 2 traditional applicants there). 5 were in state, 2 were out of state. The admissions dean spoke about the MCV selection process and financial aid. Basically the admissions committee all sits down for three hours on Monday afternoons and discusses applicants. Your grades, MCAT score and demographics data are displayed on a screen for everyone to see. Your interviewer then presents you to the committee and says basically whatever he or she wants about how you answered questions, your AMCAS, any deficiencies that you discussed, etc. A second person then presents you and covers any areas missed by the interviewer. This person is the file reviewer and is the one responsible for you being granted an interview. His or her job is to know your AMCAS and secondary application and mention any significant points not discussed by your interviewer. The committee then asks questions of those two individuals or have the opportunity to make statements (i.e. I really like this, or this person wouldn’t make a good physician because of no clinical experience, etc). Everyone then casts a vote on a scantron sheet from 1-5 in 0.5 increments, 1 being the highest. The highest and lowest score is dropped and all other numbers are averaged to give you a score rounded to the nearest tenth. You are then ranked against all other applicants with decimal ties being broken by GPA, then by MCAT. The committee then decides four times a year (Oct 15th-ish, Dec 15th-ish, Jan something and March something) how many applicants to admit and that number of offers are made starting with the highest ranked students (and also trying to keep in state/out of state numbers proportional to the final number).

I then toured the facilities with second year medical students. MCV paid for our lunch at the cafeteria. I saw the PICU, the first year classroom, the second year classroom, the computer labs, and one of their libraries. I was very impressed with the size of the facilites. MCV has the 8th largest medical center in the US. They have over 800 beds (these were stats given me by the med students, so if they are incorrect, don’t blame me). At any rate, the clinical facilities really looked top notch. I was impressed.

The students also spoke a bit about the curriculum. There is a class you take 1st and 2nd year on clinical medicine where you get some practice dealing with patients. The class only meets once a week and is designed as an intro and not to be too stressful. Otherwise the classes are lecture based from 8-12 everyday. Exams are approximately every 2 weeks and usually on Fridays. Lectures are available online as well.

Overall I came away quite impressed with the clinical facilities at MCV. The students I spoke with all seemed to like it. The admissions office was also friendly and helpful. The area of Richmond near the medical center was much nicer looking than I expected and looking at apartment rents the cost of living is pretty reasonable. It’s hard to judge based on only one interview thus far, but MCV has definitely moved up on my list.
 
Does anyone have the list of questions that are given to UCD interviewers. I know this is probably available throughout the interview feedback of the school but I thought I would try the easy route first.
 
Wonderful thread. Thanks.
 
wildcatbio06 said:
Does anyone have the list of questions that are given to UCD interviewers. I know this is probably available throughout the interview feedback of the school but I thought I would try the easy route first.
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Your question is based on a premise that may or may not be true, depending on the school, i.e. interviewers may or may not have a "list of questions" that they're all supposed to ask. Unless someone here happens to be on the UCD Admissions Committee, your best best will be SDN's interview feedback...
 
Bump
 
anyone have comments about the Georgetown interview?
 
anystream said:
anyone have comments about the Georgetown interview?
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Georgetown

I stayed with a friend who did their physio program and lived about a block away, so I cant really help with accomodations, but it is off the metro, so it would be easiest to stay at the hotel on campus i would think. Ok, you walk into the medical school and there is a big glass room on the left where you sit down with your fellow interviewees (they call it the fishbowl, you'll figure out why). It's a little weird because there is no one there to greet you. The interview coordinator then comes in at about 10 and tells you how your day is set up. There is then a financial aid talk, the guy who normally gives it wasnt there my day, so they just gave us a handout and told us to email the guy if we had any questions. Mrs. Sullivan then comes in and gives a long talk about Georgetown and some good general advice about interviewing. After that, the student tour guides come and you go have lunch. Be warned, eat your lunch fast, they dont give you much time. I finished mine(i eat really fast), but most people only ate about half of theirs before they said we had to go. The tour was pretty thorough and it was good because there were three tour guides, so ask them all of your questions about the school. It was nice to get three different student opinions. After the tour, it's back to the fishbowl where you sit to wait for your interview. I fortunately was one of the first ones to go. I went to the building next door and interviewed with a neurologist. It's a little weird, the admissions department gives you a folder with a piece of your AMCAS application in it. You bring it with you and give it to your interviewer, he reads it over and starts asking you questions. He asked me about my research, why medicine, why DC, why georgetown, what do i think i'll be doing in 20 years, asked me about my clinical experience, issues in healthcare. Overall, the most important quesion seemed to be why georgetown, so have a good answer. Mine was about 45 minutes. Then I went back to the admissions department and left. My interview started at about 2, but when i got back at about 2:50 there were still three or four people who hadn't even been called for their interview and were still sitting in the fishbowl. So, hope that you are an early one because then you get it over with and can leave when you are done. Overall, I was really impressed with the school and they really have an amazing match list, 19/19 in ortho last year and 3/3 in plastics.

Hope this helps

Jim
 
anyone have comments on OSU interview?

thanks.
 
humuhumu said:
Your question is based on a premise that may or may not be true, depending on the school, i.e. interviewers may or may not have a "list of questions" that they're all supposed to ask. Unless someone here happens to be on the UCD Admissions Committee, your best best will be SDN's interview feedback...
Click to expand...
Student interviewers at UC Davis are indeed given an actual printed list of questions to ask, encompassing most of the usual interview questions, with ethical and policy ones as well.
 
Hi guys,

I have an interview at U. of Washington soon and am searching for someone willing to do a mock med-school interview for hire. Must be in the greater Seattle area. I am a post-baccalaureate student, and my post-bac program (on the east coast) did not offer mock interviews as part of their pre-med advising, so I'm looking to pay someone to provide this service for me. Anybody know of anyone in Seattle who does this, or have any suggestions? Any help *very* much appreciated.
 
Has anyone had interviews with the following schools... or minor factoids about them? *grin*

- University of Mississippi
- University of South Alabama
- University of Alabama-Birmingham
- Vanderbilt University

- Thanks...
 
This thread is great! anyone who's been at Tufts and Uconn mind to write a little about their interview day and advice?
thanks!!
 
doctoresse said:
This thread is great! anyone who's been at Tufts and Uconn mind to write a little about their interview day and advice?
thanks!!
Click to expand...

I I didn't apply to UConn, but I did apply to Tufts.

Interview day: A little crazy. I think that they do interviews like once a week, and there are forty interviewees per day. Good food, though. They even serve mini muffins in the morning.

I got great vibes from the school; I was very impressed and felt as though the faculty really cared about the well-being of their students, and I thought the med students were overall really nice and laid back. They didn't seem stressed at all. They told me that Tufts does a really good job easing you into medical school, putting the tougher courses like anatomy off until the second semester. The atmosphere seemed very non-competitive.

One thing that impressed me that I wasn't expecting was TUSK-- it's an online knowledge base for med students that has all the lectures recorded on MP3 format, has a ton of information that is totally useful, etc.

My interview went great; even if they're short, don't sweat it because both of mine were relatively short and I still managed to get in. Just be yourself. I was really impressed by the other interviewees too-- even though a lot of them were from really prestigious schools, they were down to earth and so nice. I think that the adcoms do a really good job of weeding out the asses. The interviewers were both very nice, and I was very glad not to get the guy who looks like Elton John.

Major downside: The cost. But since I don't have a state school, I'm pretty much screwed anyways, so I'm pretty sure I'll be at Tufts next year.

If you have anymore questions, please feel free to ask.
 
Not sure if this thread is still active, but does anyone have comments on Tufts or Rush interviews? I love these summaries on the site, they're awesome and beyond helpful. Don't make me feel like I'm walking blindly into these interviews!
 
Wow,
Thanks for the info on the schools! Will definitley use them.
 
Great thread!
I have a question that may be silly but just popped into my head. What do ya'll bring to the interviews to keep papers/folders/personal statements in? Brief case? Back pack? Just a folder? A large purse??
 
i have a Q:
should you check out of your hotel when going to the interview in the morning? or come back to pick up luggage, etc after the interview? also, if you leave the hotel with your luggage, where do you put that stuff when you're at the school???

thanks
 
anyone care to contribute?
 
Hi. Does anyone have suggestions for books on preparing for interviews? I was searching on amazon and found one called "The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success" by Jeremiah Fleenor. Published May 31, 2006. Has anyone heard of it...is it good?

Thanks.
 
Does anyone have any insight on the interviews at UMass Med?

Thanks! 🙂
 
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