Hey guys! I hope the interview season is going well for you. I'm a fourth year OSUCOM student, just checking in and wishing you all the best of luck. I perused a bit of this thread and thought I would add a few comments-
For those interviewing: in terms of places to stay, try to hit up the Visiting Students Housing options (i.e. we medical students do host interviewing applicants; albeit, sometimes its busy and we can't host but we try our best - so take advantage of free housing). When getting to the interview, use an Uber or a Lyft. Columbus is super rideshare-friendly and Uber's pricing is at an all-time low.
Additionally, I know everywhere says this, but since almost every single one of my friends is on the admissions committee, I can vouch for the fact that we want to know YOU as a person. Once you've gotten the interview, we do not care about scores or numbers. We want you to enjoy yourself while you're here. We want you to make lifetime friends and/or romances, if you wish. Basically, we want this to be a place where you want to be. So invest in figuring out if being at Ohio State is what YOU want. It's far more convincing when the answer is that it is.
WHY would anyone want to be at OSUCOM?
I think the interview process is tough because you're being asked to assess what you want out of a program, without really having the knowledge of what a program entails and what is and is not important. Here's my view (which may not be akin to what you need) - For the most part, regardless of what programs say, they're all very similar in terms of what they teach in you in the end. The sweet spot is finding a place that is A) a solid education system (i.e. How many people failed Step 1 within the last 5 years? (inevitably, almost every place has some people fail each year, but do they retake it? do they pass? What percentage pass? What's the average score?)), B) a willingness to rearrange the curriculum to mirror the demands of the healthcare system (i.e. OSUCOM recently updated their curriculum to a LSI (Lead, Serve, Inspire) structure, in order to better prepare students for healthcare in a continuous method), C) a hospital that can sustain students and expose you to every opportunity (Seriously? Its Ohio State. We have everything here. Every niche is here. This is also where rankings come into play - does the hospital have highly ranked hematology, ID, OBGYN, cancer programs (we, do, in fact, in each of these divisions)). D) A NAME (this is the one that everyone stresses about - "Well, don't I need to go to Hopkins? So that everyone recognized where I'm from and so that I can go to the best residency and become amazing?" NO. Seriously. NO. I just interviewed for residency, and I can tell you that there's something that matters more than a name - it's your letterwriter's names. Everyone across the country has this system of connections -everyone knows everyone. And what do they really care about? Not that you came from a NAME, but that your letterwriters, who they know, can vouch for your abilities as a future physician. That means something. And we have so many well-known, hard-working, inspiring, diligent and well-regarded physicians, its kind of unbelievable. Every single interview I went to, at least one of my letter-writers were regarded by the Program Director as impressive, and the fact that that person would vouch for me, even more impressive. You need to go to a place that can place you up on that pedestal (but only if you work for it) and allow you to shine. I 100% believe Ohio State does this.
Phew - okay - tirade over. Just wanted to give 2 cents. Best of luck, guys! 🙂