Interview invite last week and I attended that interview last week as well! I was absolutely blown away by this school. Here's a summary of my experience for anyone that has an upcoming interview and wants more info about what to expect.
Schedule for the day:
Interviews - 1 student interview (blind) and 1 faculty interview (open). These interviews can either be in the morning before the info sessions/tour/lunch or in the afternoon after, or split (1 morning and 1 afternoon).
1) General information presentation about temple
2) Financial aid presentation
3) Student led tour of the medical research and education building (MERB)
4) Lunch
My interview group was about a dozen people who all were very friendly and from all different parts of the country. The general information session was very informal and was basically an admissions officer talking to us about the school, curriculum, living in Philadelphia, programs and opportunities offered, etc. in a room in the admissions office. The finaid session was informal as well and a rep from that office discussed that process. The student tour was led by a few 2nd year students that were extremely friendly and obviously enjoyed attending Temple. They took us around the building showing us all the bells and whistles and answering any questions we had. We had lunch with these tour guides as well where we talked about anything related to and not related to Temple/med school.
The facilities are incredible:
-brand new building
-state of the art simulation center with robots to practice clinical skills
-baller anatomy lab - highly vented so you could barely smell the formaldehyde, swiveling computers at every workstation
-big library
-plenty of study space (individual, group tables, group study rooms, etc.)
-cafe
-main hospital is right across the street (but there are multiple clinical locations for years 3-4)
My student interview was with a 2nd year student and was very relaxed. We even talked in the main lobby/atrium area where many of the current students were eating lunch. Since the student interview was blind, most of my questions were very generalized like "tell me about yourself" and "tell me about your activities/jobs during college" etc. I wasn't asked anything too difficult or touchy ethical/moral questions etc. in this or my faculty interview. The student was also willing to answer all my questions about the school and talked about how engaging the faculty is and how the clinical training at Temple is first class.
The faculty interview was also low stress and very conversational. Since this was the open interview, I was asked more detailed questions about my experiences, amcas activities, etc. that were on my application. The only curveball question I had was "what would you do to fix our country's healthcare," but even that was more of a discussion than a situation putting me on the spot. The faculty also addressed all of my questions about the school and was very personable.
As far as hearing back, they explained that the admissions committee meets on Fridays and that our files will be discussed this upcoming Friday and hopefully our decision would come shortly after (as long as our interviewers are on-time completing their evaluations). However they also said to give them about a month if we don't hear back right away, which seems to be more of the norm judging by this thread. I don't have any acceptances yet and I would be thrilled to attend here! I'm hoping for some good news
Good luck to everyone still waiting!
Two weeks for a decision isn't long at all.
