2009-2010 Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) Application Thread

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For what its worth, I interviewed 1/14 and was placed in the hold pool within the past few days.
 
lejeunesage said:
I did not prepare for my interview. Since I wrote the essays, I figured I would know them pretty well. I also figured that they only person I would be good at being was myself, so I went there and acted my normal self. It all depends on your style. But generally, these questions come up:
- Why do you want to go into medicine?
- Do you have a field of preference/favorite organ system?
- Dow have your experiences prepared you to be a physician?
- What do you think you can contribute to the field of medicine?
- Where do you see yourself 10, 20 yrs from now?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?

There are thousands of questions that could come up, so I generally don't try to think about them in advance. I hate for my answers to appear scripted; I prefer to sound genuine, and I figure that there's no such question that I don't have an answer for. So, that's my $0.02.
Good luck.
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Mzungu said:
Be prepared for rough questions at OHSU as well. One of my interviewers really drilled me. They asked question such as: "You have a really impressive resume, but how do I know you didn't do these things just to get into medical school?" and "How much experience do you have 'schmoozing'?" I was really surprised that this interviewer, whether it was an act or not, had very little appreciation for primary care and absolutely refused to hear anything related to reforming the US health-care system. Overall wasn't too bad though, and my other interview was amazing.
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zingiber said:
reezer4: I interviewed on 1/28 so I guess it took around 6-7 weeks to hear back. I wasn't expecting to hear anything until may 15, so it was a surprise.

Zaccac: Thanks for the info! I guess the packet isn't all that exciting afterall, so I won't be too anxious about when it's going to show up in my mailbox🙂


Mzungu: Your interview questions sound very strange. I have never heard anyone say their interviewer asked things like that. Did you write your EC List in your secondary as kind of a laundry list of experiences or something?

For those of you who are wondering how to prepare for an upcoming interview, I would say this:
- know your own experiences and what you got out of them (any shadowing, research, etc)- as they are likely to ask you to talk about these
- just be calm and be able to think critically if they ask you something more difficult (hypothetical situations, how you deal with stress, what you think of this or that). answer thoughtfully.
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Thank you all for sharing your experiences and providing the helpful suggestions.

Ideally, I would like to be able to give spontaneous, but thoughtful responses during the interview. I don't like to sound rehearsed -- it's just not my style; however, this interview means so much to me that I feel as though I can't leave a single stone unturned and be caught off guard...
 
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For those of you who have interviewed for the MD/MPH program, could you tell me some of the questions that came up during your interview? I feel prepared for the MD part, but am a little nervous about my MPH interview and would really appreciate some feedback. 🙂
 
MiniMoo said:
Finally got my packet today! Hopefully you'll be receiving yours soon as well.
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thanks! I actually called and they sent it to my old address so hopefully I will get mine soon also!

Also, have you joined the facebook page ? if not, do so , that is if you have decided on OHSU! already about 25 members for OHSU c/o 2014. Congrats again
 
I've been on hold since December now. Should this be interpreted as a silent rejection? It's so hard with OHSU, what with not being able to have any meaningful contact with them after interviewing.
 
Definitely don't give up hope yet. I don't have any good information on how they do things, but from looking at last year's and this year's thread, I imagine (or more accurately I'm hoping) they might give a few acceptances to people in the post-interview hold group in maybe late April or early/mid May. I don't expect to hear anything though until May 15th. In any case, the waitlist is coming primarily from the hold pool and a low number (I'm thinking under 30 but even under 50 probably has a great shot) is virtually as good as an acceptance. I completely agree it sucks to not be able to give updates, even if they would just throw them out, it would be nice to be able to feel like you're doing something to improve your chances of getting in when you have to wiat 4,5,6+ months to hear a more solid decision.
 
anfielder said:
Definitely don't give up hope yet. I don't have any good information on how they do things, but from looking at last year's and this year's thread, I imagine (or more accurately I'm hoping) they might give a few acceptances to people in the post-interview hold group in maybe late April or early/mid May. I don't expect to hear anything though until May 15th. In any case, the waitlist is coming primarily from the hold pool and a low number (I'm thinking under 30 but even under 50 probably has a great shot) is virtually as good as an acceptance. I completely agree it sucks to not be able to give updates, even if they would just throw them out, it would be nice to be able to feel like you're doing something to improve your chances of getting in when you have to wiat 4,5,6+ months to hear a more solid decision.
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I'd like to agree.
This is my third time around and the waiting is excruciating.
First time, I interviewed in March, was placed on hold and then rejected in April. Second time, I interviewed in March, was placed on hold and didn't hear until May 15th that I was waitlisted at #130- ouch. This time I interviewed in January and I'm on hold again- realllllly hoping to be accepted as they lower the bar before May. I haven't heard any reports of any applicants coming off of hold as of yet, but would love for this to happen in April.
Good luck all.
 
Toasts said:
For those of you who have interviewed for the MD/MPH program, could you tell me some of the questions that came up during your interview? I feel prepared for the MD part, but am a little nervous about my MPH interview and would really appreciate some feedback. 🙂
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I def felt like the MPH portion of the interview was definitely a little more nerve-wracking than the MD portion. Rather than trying to "grill" people, I think they just really want to make sure that you understand the program and that it will be a good fit.

I'd say that the good things to think about/be able to discuss are:
1.) Your definition of public health
2.) Your definition/understanding of epidemiology/biostats as disciplines, tools and as a the focus of the MD/MPH program at OHSU
3.) Your reasons for wanting to do a combined MD/MPH program (i.e. why not just get your MPH later?)
4.) Specifically, your reasons for wanting to do the epi/biostats track
5.) How you will manage to do both an MD and MPH without going crazy

I found a lot of helpful info in the MPH handbook on the OHSU website - about the public health programs/department in general and specifically related to the MD/MPH program.

Hope this helps - feel free to send me a message if you have other specific questions!
 
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For those who submitted a picture prior to interviewing, did you submit a passport style picture or did you just crop yourself out of a personal (non-passport) picture?
 
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URHere said:
OHSU likes to give all applicants a chance before letting out too many acceptances. This is the reason for the lag time between interview and acceptance and the fairly substantial hold list.

Love it or hate it, but that's the way it's always been here.
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Well, I'm sure there's a way to do that without causing all the applicants to start taking lorazepam or alprazolam.😀
 
MDHopeful14 said:
For those who submitted a picture prior to interviewing, did you submit a passport style picture or did you just crop yourself out of a personal (non-passport) picture?
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Cropped out non-passport picture.. I think as long as its a decent front-on picture of you, the style is not too important.
 
anyone else interviewing here next week? What do you think our chances are interviewing so late?

Does anyone know how late OHSU interviews?
 
OHSU's last day of interviews are this Thursday. I am not sure what the chances are with late interviews. I don't think they have given out too many seats. I was there last week and they assured we were not interviewing for the waitlist. Good Luck!
 
tpham1030 said:
anyone else interviewing here next week? What do you think our chances are interviewing so late?

Does anyone know how late OHSU interviews?
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I was interviewing on tuesday but actually just cancelled it yesterday. but I was also told that they are still interviewing for actual available acceptance spots. good luck to everyone still waiting!!
 
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Has anyone gotten any sort of confirmation after sending in the paper accepting their offer?
 
Does OHSU charge instate tuition after the first year for OOS people or does an OOS person pay nonresident tuition for all 4 years?
 
From what I understand, if you are out-of-state, there is no way to become a resident while you are in school. You will pay out-of-state tuition all 4 years. I think you need to be a resident before the application is submitted to be considered for in-state. On the plus side its only like $10K more 👎
 
I can't guerantee that this is the same at OHSU, but being IS and doing my undergrad in the Oregon University System, I found that my OOS friends could get residency by taking non-full-time credits for either 2 terms or a year and working/living here.
 
Toasts said:
You will pay out-of-state tuition all 4 years.
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This is true. There is a stipulation that you can not become an Oregon resident if you move to the state for the primary purpose of education. Your only shot at IS tuition would be moving here well ahead of time and working in the state before matriculating.

NatrixCaelicola said:
I found that my OOS friends could get residency by taking non-full-time credits for either 2 terms or a year and working/living here.
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In this case, I imagine that you could argue that you moved the Oregon primarily to work (not for school). However, you will be a full time student while in medical school and this plan won't be workable.
 
I don't know if this has been answered in previous posts, but has anyone ever asked OHSU why they have such a high tuition relative to other med schools?
 
chuck84 said:
I don't know if this has been answered in previous posts, but has anyone ever asked OHSU why they have such a high tuition relative to other med schools?
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I've never asked OHSU, but having read The Oregonian (this is my 10th year in Portland) it's clear that OHSU has had poor funding since around 2000.

Back in 2001 Oregon had the highest unemployment rate in the Union, and since OHSU is a state school its budget suffered along with the rest of the state's. One way to deal with the budget shortfall has been to cut faculty and research, which they've done for this past decade. Another is tuition hikes.

Last month I spoke to someone who attended OHSU's MD program back in 1993. Tuition then was $3500/year. That's right - three thousand five hundred US dollars for the entire year. Granted it's been 17 years, but inflation has not been 1,000% from then till now.
 
Ascenda said:
I've never asked OHSU, but having read The Oregonian (this is my 10th year in Portland) it's clear that OHSU has had poor funding since around 2000.

Back in 2001 Oregon had the highest unemployment rate in the Union, and since OHSU is a state school its budget suffered along with the rest of the state's. One way to deal with the budget shortfall has been to cut faculty and research, which they've done for this past decade. Another is tuition hikes.

Last month I spoke to someone who attended OHSU's MD program back in 1993. Tuition then was $3500/year. That's right - three thousand five hundred US dollars for the entire year. Granted it's been 17 years, but inflation has not been 1,000% from then till now.
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Holy s*&t! $3500/year? Damn. I was born too late.
 
Ascenda said:
I've never asked OHSU, but having read The Oregonian (this is my 10th year in Portland) it's clear that OHSU has had poor funding since around 2000.

Back in 2001 Oregon had the highest unemployment rate in the Union, and since OHSU is a state school its budget suffered along with the rest of the state's. One way to deal with the budget shortfall has been to cut faculty and research, which they've done for this past decade. Another is tuition hikes.

Last month I spoke to someone who attended OHSU's MD program back in 1993. Tuition then was $3500/year. That's right - three thousand five hundred US dollars for the entire year. Granted it's been 17 years, but inflation has not been 1,000% from then till now.
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When I saw the tuition for IS at OHSU I was shocked - its actually more than UCs.

You know, us CA students have a way to revolt against huge tuition increases at the UCs. We tend to take to the streets, cause some mayhem. We are so uncivil like that.
 
Ascenda said:
I've never asked OHSU, but having read The Oregonian (this is my 10th year in Portland) it's clear that OHSU has had poor funding since around 2000.

Back in 2001 Oregon had the highest unemployment rate in the Union, and since OHSU is a state school its budget suffered along with the rest of the state's. One way to deal with the budget shortfall has been to cut faculty and research, which they've done for this past decade. Another is tuition hikes.

Last month I spoke to someone who attended OHSU's MD program back in 1993. Tuition then was $3500/year. That's right - three thousand five hundred US dollars for the entire year. Granted it's been 17 years, but inflation has not been 1,000% from then till now.
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when i interviewed there they also explained that OHSU is considered a "public corporation" as of 1995, which makes it different from all the other higher education in oregon (and most other places). Governance of OHSU changed from the Board of Higher Education to the OHSU Board of Directors, whose members are nominated by the governor and approved by the Oregon Senate... with this change also came funding changes. As a public corporation they get less government funding as other public medical schools would, but are allowed other freedoms because of this as well.
 
pipette said:
when i interviewed there they also explained that OHSU is considered a "public corporation" as of 1995, which makes it different from all the other higher education in oregon (and most other places). Governance of OHSU changed from the Board of Higher Education to the OHSU Board of Directors, whose members are nominated by the governor and approved by the Oregon Senate... with this change also came funding changes. As a public corporation they get less government funding as other public medical schools would, but are allowed other freedoms because of this as well.
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oh interesting.

so this means no grant monies for anyone, let alone OOS? i can look for $70,000 in loans on my financial aid package statement? 🙁 (if so, goodbye portland).
 
MiniMoo said:
Yeah really sucks that tuition is so high, it's scary. 🙁 Reason why I withdrew.
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i wanted to stick it out just to see what it would look like.

on that note, does anyone know when they plan on releasing the financial (no-)aid packages?
 
RunningDiva said:
oh interesting.

so this means no grant monies for anyone, let alone OOS? i can look for $70,000 in loans on my financial aid package statement? 🙁 (if so, goodbye portland).
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First aid is generally 100% loans for incoming MS1 students. During the fall/winter of first year, you can opt to apply for scholarships that will kick in during your MS2 year, but most are small and there is no guarantee that you will be awarded one.

If you are considering OHSU, assume that you will be paying for full tuition using loan money.
 
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URHere said:
First aid is generally 100% loans for incoming MS1 students. During the fall/winter of first year, you can opt to apply for scholarships that will kick in during your MS2 year, but most are small and there is no guarantee that you will be awarded one.

If you are considering OHSU, assume that you will be paying for full tuition using loan money.
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did you say first aid? he he.
 
URHere said:
First aid is generally 100% loans for incoming MS1 students. During the fall/winter of first year, you can opt to apply for scholarships that will kick in during your MS2 year, but most are small and there is no guarantee that you will be awarded one.

If you are considering OHSU, assume that you will be paying for full tuition using loan money.
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I figured. Bummer. I wish OHSU was more affordable to OOS and offered aid like the Michigan's. But then again, I understand why they don't. If they want to education physicians to serve the peope of Oregon, an OOS is not likely to stick around after graduating.

reezer4 said:
did you say first aid? he he.
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Haha I might need some after I see the loans in the financial aid package.
 
RunningDiva said:
I figured. Bummer. I wish OHSU was more affordable to OOS and offered aid like the Michigan's. But then again, I understand why they don't. If they want to education physicians to serve the peope of Oregon, an OOS is not likely to stick around after graduating.
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Probably true in part, but I believe the real answer lies in incentives for the actual doctors, like subsidizing pay for residents. Texas is extremely generous to its in-state medical students, but we still have one of the lowest doctor rates, per capita.
 
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