Thanks for your willingness to answer questions. I have a few for you when you get a chance:
Which campus are you attending?
Why did you choose MCW?
What was your interview experience like? Did they welcome you and did you feel a sense of collaboration?
Thank you!
DISCLAIMER: NOVEL TO FOLLOW!!
Sorry for the delayed response. My best friend was visiting from out of state so I didn't have much free time and I like to be thorough with my responses...
I'm going to the Milwaukee campus. MCW was the only medical school I got into, but I interviewed at both Green Bay and Milwaukee campuses and was waitlisted at both after interviewing. I can tell you that I applied to MCW because Milwaukee is my hometown and moving back to be closer to family was appealing. I have spent my college years in Madison and graduate years in Chicago. I also was a regular patient at MCW/Froedtert Hospital growing up. As you can tell by my screen name, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and I was only 16 years old. I was extremely impressed with the staff and facilities at the hospital that it just felt like some place I wanted to be. My adult rheumatologist also went to MCW. Another feature I loved about MCW was the ease with which to obtain research experience. There's no undergraduate institution and so it's not very difficult to find research positions. I have always lived in the Midwest so it's not very shocking to me, but if you're coming from anywhere else, MCW (and the Midwest) is very friendly and the staff is eager to help so please don't ever be afraid to call them during this process. I'll add to that to try to be patient. Do not call them every single day; that's neurotic and reflects poorly on you. If you're worried about if your application is complete or have error messages or are missing documents, then definitely call.
Since I didn't interview elsewhere, I can tell you that I have several friends that interviewed at most every school I applied to and have heard some of their experiences. No horror stories to date. What I can also tell you is that aside from Loyola, UW-Madison, or
maybe UIC (which I was out of state for the application process so huge in state bias to overcome), I would have chosen MCW had I received multiples acceptances. Loyola and UIC both have their positives and negatives, and to be perfectly honest, I loved them mostly for their location as I wouldn't have minded staying in Chicago for 4 more years (as much as I do love my family
). It would have come down to how much I loved the location and financial aid packages that would've determined where I had gone in the case of multiple acceptances there. UW-Madison is my alma mater and I love the city, plus it's cheaper which is why I would have gone there over MCW. I like the curriculum at MCW. I like that you learn how each system works and then revisit it as an M2 to learn pathology. Personally, I feel its necessary for me to revisit systems again just as a refresher of how things are supposed to work when I'm learning how processes go wrong. This is why, while I attended Rush University for graduate school, I was not too excited about their curriculum among other things. The fact that lectures are recorded makes my schedule extremely flexible. Do I NEED the flexibility? Not really. Is it nice to have? Absolutely. I'm a person that needs to go to lecture to stay focused, so I do plan on attending lecture. My family just got a new corgi puppy and so it may come up that I need to stay home to watch him, so the flexibility is more than helpful there. I am extremely happy to be at MCW and that is separated from the happiness that I got into one school and that's enough to be a doctor. I really think it's a great place for your medical education.
My interview experience was what I expected it to be. Well organized, informative, and everyone I interacted with was very nice including other applicants (that goes for the Green Bay campus as well). There was a sense of collaboration among everyone but it was most noticeable among students when/if you attended the casual social held the night before the interview day. The students had a neuro test the next day and for one were still at this social to talk with us, and two, were helping each other briefly with test review in between the lulls in conversations. I felt everyone was being honest with their experiences with MCW and knowing that students also need to see if MCW fits for them. I would recommend going to the social, if you can. Don't pay more for a flight just to experience it though. You'll get to talk to some of the same students at the interview day itself. It was also nice to meet other applicants in street clothes and have casual conversations with them. Walking into the interview day was less stressful knowing I'd see some friendly faces. Lunch on interview day was from Panera, I believe. There were several different sandwich options with cookies and chips and maybe salad. I can't remember. It was nice to have those healthier options and something other than pizza (forgive me, pizza, I still love you).
Like most interviews, there's a series of informative sessions and I felt there was ample time devoted for applicants to ask questions. There's two groups of interviews. Either you interview first and have informative sessions later or informative sessions first and interviews later. I was of the latter group so my nerves got to build during the tour. As for the actual interviews themselves, I can only reiterate what students told us that day and which was totally easier to say on the other side of things (as I am now) - don't stress too much about them! The interviews I had, they were only trying to get to know me more. There were no questions designed to trap me or see if I'd say something "wrong". They're two 30 minutes interviews. Some applicants had a faculty and a student interview, some had two faculty interviews. I had two faculty interviews. You need to know your application forwards and backwards. You need to be comfortable with who you are and where life has taken you. I am a non-traditional reapplicant so I had prepared for questions like how have you improved and the like. You need to know what each experience you have had, whether its in your application or not, has taught you and made you grow. Go into the interview with key points you want to fit into your answers and leave everything on the table. Overall, besides my own nerves about the interviews, it was a pleasant day.
