- Joined
- Oct 8, 2015
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 26
Just finished my interview yesterday. It was an awesome experience, much better than I could have imagined. Checked in at 8:30am, then there were a few presentations i.e. financial aid, offered programs, etc, the regular spiel. Then I had my interview at 10:15am with two faculty members. It consisted of a structured portion with the routine medschool questions and then an unstructured portion where we discussed some of my previous answers and things I had talked about.
After the interview we did a Case Based Learning session (CBL), which is meant to be representative of the group sessions that are integrated into the curriculum. From what I was told from some medstudents, it's not graded and only meant to weed out the people that are incapable of working in groups. So long as you don't do anything egregious (Dominating the discussion, not letting others speak, etc) then you should be fine. After the CBL, the day ended with lunch with some students that then took us on a short tour, ending around 1:00pm. That was the end of the official interview day, but one of the medstudents we met there invited another applicant and I to go get dinner and hang out with some other students. During dinner, the other medstudents invited us out to a kickback party that the first year students were having. That's where we got to hear about how awesome Carver COM really is.
During the party we got to hear some rather candid answers to the questions we had asked during the official interview. And to my relief, the reviews were even more glowing than the ones we had heard during the official day. I got the impression during the interview that the administration truly cares about the success of their students. At other schools I've interviewed at, I felt like a number rather than a potential member of their community, I felt the complete opposite during my Carver interview. And during the M1 party, students reaffirmed this observation by regaling us with stories of how receptive the administration has been to student input. Additionally, when I first read that they take their step 1 exam halfway into third year, I was somewhat worried about being away from the didactic portion of medschool for so long before taking the exam. To the contrary, many students felt that it only helped them. It was easier for them to learn the various topics when they were able to associate the concepts with actual clinical experiences. In fact, the M4 class had a 100% pass rate. Furthermore, the additional semester in clinical rotations helped them be more confidant in deciding which specialities to pursue.
Overall it was an amazing experience. The curriculum is cutting edge, the administration is super invested in your future, but my absolute favorite part was the students. This is my fourth interview, but it was absolutely my best experience so far! To be honest, Carver wasn't my top choice when I arrived in Iowa, but after that experience, it is now. It would be an absolute honor and privilege to come back in the fall.
After the interview we did a Case Based Learning session (CBL), which is meant to be representative of the group sessions that are integrated into the curriculum. From what I was told from some medstudents, it's not graded and only meant to weed out the people that are incapable of working in groups. So long as you don't do anything egregious (Dominating the discussion, not letting others speak, etc) then you should be fine. After the CBL, the day ended with lunch with some students that then took us on a short tour, ending around 1:00pm. That was the end of the official interview day, but one of the medstudents we met there invited another applicant and I to go get dinner and hang out with some other students. During dinner, the other medstudents invited us out to a kickback party that the first year students were having. That's where we got to hear about how awesome Carver COM really is.
During the party we got to hear some rather candid answers to the questions we had asked during the official interview. And to my relief, the reviews were even more glowing than the ones we had heard during the official day. I got the impression during the interview that the administration truly cares about the success of their students. At other schools I've interviewed at, I felt like a number rather than a potential member of their community, I felt the complete opposite during my Carver interview. And during the M1 party, students reaffirmed this observation by regaling us with stories of how receptive the administration has been to student input. Additionally, when I first read that they take their step 1 exam halfway into third year, I was somewhat worried about being away from the didactic portion of medschool for so long before taking the exam. To the contrary, many students felt that it only helped them. It was easier for them to learn the various topics when they were able to associate the concepts with actual clinical experiences. In fact, the M4 class had a 100% pass rate. Furthermore, the additional semester in clinical rotations helped them be more confidant in deciding which specialities to pursue.
Overall it was an amazing experience. The curriculum is cutting edge, the administration is super invested in your future, but my absolute favorite part was the students. This is my fourth interview, but it was absolutely my best experience so far! To be honest, Carver wasn't my top choice when I arrived in Iowa, but after that experience, it is now. It would be an absolute honor and privilege to come back in the fall.
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Mcat 520 gpa 3.9+. Also have Relative at school and in state so had that extra stuff helping me out but I’ll take it haha
! Are you IS or OOS? 
