2020-2021 Western University of Health Sciences (Pomona, California)

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munch12 said:
OMG I just got an II and Its my top choice. I am shook so grateful wow. Less than a week to prepare, anyone else get an II and only say 1/12/21 slot avail?
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Me too!!! 😀 The 12th looks like the only available date for me too
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Hi all,

I'm interviewing this Thursday and was wondering if anyone had any tips? I read through the thread for the most part and saw a mix of relaxed/some unexpected questions that were a little more MMI. I figured I would prep for most of these things, but was hoping for any additional advice 🙂

Also I submitted my secondary way later than the 10-day cutoff (secondary burnout) for anyone that is still debating submitting!
Received: 9/9/2020
Submitted: 11/6/2020
II: 12/11/2020
 
taco_chronicles said:
Hi all,

I'm interviewing this Thursday and was wondering if anyone had any tips? I read through the thread for the most part and saw a mix of relaxed/some unexpected questions that were a little more MMI. I figured I would prep for most of these things, but was hoping for any additional advice 🙂

Also I submitted my secondary way later than the 10-day cutoff (secondary burnout) for anyone that is still debating submitting!
Received: 9/9/2020
Submitted: 11/6/2020
II: 12/11/2020
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I'm also interviewing here this Thursday - good luck!
 
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taco_chronicles said:
Hi all,

I'm interviewing this Thursday and was wondering if anyone had any tips? I read through the thread for the most part and saw a mix of relaxed/some unexpected questions that were a little more MMI. I figured I would prep for most of these things, but was hoping for any additional advice 🙂

Also I submitted my secondary way later than the 10-day cutoff (secondary burnout) for anyone that is still debating submitting!
Received: 9/9/2020
Submitted: 11/6/2020
II: 12/11/2020
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Congratulations! Personally, I would just say know your secondary app, know your motivations of why you want to be a doctor/ DO, and your overall journey that got you here to this point. In most aspects it’s a typical med school interview so if you have interviewed elsewhere this cycle it’s pretty similar. Know those basics stereotypical questions like why do and you weaknesses etc, past experiences and activities to reference to, and again those borderline mmi ethical questions.
 
bublue933 said:
Congratulations! Personally, I would just say know your secondary app, know your motivations of why you want to be a doctor/ DO, and your overall journey that got you here to this point. In most aspects it’s a typical med school interview so if you have interviewed elsewhere this cycle it’s pretty similar. Know those basics stereotypical questions like why do and you weaknesses etc, past experiences and activities to reference to, and again those borderline mmi ethical questions.
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Thank you so much!!
 
I am sorry if this has been asked before but would anyone happen to know where I can find Western's match list for this year? Can't seem to find it anywhere! Thanks so much!
 
Just got an II ! I was trying to schedule the interview but when i refreshed the page the 12th slot became unavailable 🙁 Does interviewing in February decrease chances of getting in (less spots) ? Good luck to everyone interviewing this month btw !!
 
II IS! For those who have interviewed, how long is the interview day and what time is the expected end date?
 
WhatDoYouKnow said:
II IS! For those who have interviewed, how long is the interview day and what time is the expected end date?
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My interview session started at 7:45am and was done by 10am. The interview portion itself (myself, 1 DO, and 1 professor w/ a PhD) was only about 30 minutes or so.
 
nss923 said:
Just got an II ! I was trying to schedule the interview but when i refreshed the page the 12th slot became unavailable 🙁 Does interviewing in February decrease chances of getting in (less spots) ? Good luck to everyone interviewing this month btw !!
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February should be fine and you should NOT be at a disadvantage in terms of gaining admission relative to someone with an earlier interview.
 
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Congrats to all the II recipients 🙂 Just out of curiosity has anyone done an advising appointment with COMP prior to their II or admission? The WesternU website offers appointments for most all of their programs and it seems like anyone can register. If anyone took advantage of this please share I'd love to know what I could ask with regards to being a more competitive applicant
 
Got my third II of this cycle tonight, so excited!! I applied really late because of circumstances having to do with covid and I'm a non-traditional applicant with subpar stats mostly meh undergrad GPA so I'm honestly thrilled I heard back at all!

I tried to schedule an the only open spot for me was in mid Feb but when I tried to schedule it, it wouldn't let me and said it could only be set within 30 days of the scheduled date.
 
cali-native86 said:
My interview session started at 7:45am and was done by 10am. The interview portion itself (myself, 1 DO, and 1 professor w/ a PhD) was only about 30 minutes or so.
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Were there any MMI sessions? I understand that during in-person interviews they did 2 MMI sessions + the panel interview!
 
mochidonuts said:
Were there any MMI sessions? I understand that during in-person interviews they did 2 MMI sessions + the panel interview!
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Nope, just a regular interview

And to give my 2 cents, unlike the majority of the previous posts, my interview felt pretty rigid. Both interviewers were professors, and I felt like one of them either hated me or was trying to keep a straight face the whole time lol

Also, it felt different from other DO interviews bc there was a pretty big emphasis on why OSTEOPATHIC medicine. I was also asked some personal questions that seemed a little out of the blue. I tried to stay calm but parts of the interview was definitely off-putting. That said, I'm sure each interview's unique and depends heavily on the interviewer
 
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mediscene said:
Nope, just a regular interview

And to give my 2 cents, unlike the majority of the previous posts, my interview felt pretty rigid. Both interviewers were professors, and I felt like one of them either hated me or was trying to keep a straight face the whole time lol

Also, it felt different from other DO interviews bc there was a pretty big emphasis on why OSTEOPATHIC medicine. I was also asked some personal questions that seemed a little out of the blue. I tried to stay calm but parts of the interview was definitely off-putting. That said, I'm sure each interview's unique and depends heavily on the interviewer
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My interviewers were both quite nice actually, so I guess youre right - it does depend a lot on what interviewers you get.

Also when I gave my answer to why DO, one asked if I had anything else to add. She said it in a very nice way, but now I'm worried if I should of went into more detail/should of gave more reasons on why osteopathic medicine. Oh well.
 
mediscene said:
Nope, just a regular interview

And to give my 2 cents, unlike the majority of the previous posts, my interview felt pretty rigid. Both interviewers were professors, and I felt like one of them either hated me or was trying to keep a straight face the whole time lol

Also, it felt different from other DO interviews bc there was a pretty big emphasis on why OSTEOPATHIC medicine. I was also asked some personal questions that seemed a little out of the blue. I tried to stay calm but parts of the interview was definitely off-putting. That said, I'm sure each interview's unique and depends heavily on the interviewer
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I think we had the same interviewers lol
 
mediscene said:
Nope, just a regular interview

And to give my 2 cents, unlike the majority of the previous posts, my interview felt pretty rigid. Both interviewers were professors, and I felt like one of them either hated me or was trying to keep a straight face the whole time lol

Also, it felt different from other DO interviews bc there was a pretty big emphasis on why OSTEOPATHIC medicine. I was also asked some personal questions that seemed a little out of the blue. I tried to stay calm but parts of the interview was definitely off-putting. That said, I'm sure each interview's unique and depends heavily on the interviewer
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I felt the same way haha, fortunately I only had one professor who seemed that he hated me. The second person was a student who was super nice but I really didn't feel great about the interview overall. Maybe we had the same professor lol
 
I interviewed December 4th, and I still haven't heard back. Anyone else? It's been longer than I thought!
 
HRL said:
I interviewed December 4th, and I still haven't heard back. Anyone else? It's been longer than I thought!
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Dec 8th interviewee and crickets. I would be pretty surprised if December interviewees do not hear this week or next week, altho the admissions office emailed on 12/18 just saying decisions would be finalized in January but didn't specify when in January. Having said that, it seemed most people who interviewed prior to Thanksgiving were hearing back within 15 business days or so.
 
cali-native86 said:
Dec 8th interviewee and crickets. I would be pretty surprised if December interviewees do not hear this week or next week, altho the admissions office emailed on 12/18 just saying decisions would be finalized in January but didn't specify when in January. Having said that, it seemed most people who interviewed prior to Thanksgiving were hearing back within 15 business days or so.
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I think they mentioned that admissions meet on specific days of the week so maybe thats why its taking a while
 
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s34 said:
I think they mentioned that admissions meet on specific days of the week so maybe thats why its taking a while
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I can confirm this is true. I interviewed on 9/14, and didn’t hear back until a little over a month in mid-October.
 
mediscene said:
Nope, just a regular interview

And to give my 2 cents, unlike the majority of the previous posts, my interview felt pretty rigid. Both interviewers were professors, and I felt like one of them either hated me or was trying to keep a straight face the whole time lol

Also, it felt different from other DO interviews bc there was a pretty big emphasis on why OSTEOPATHIC medicine. I was also asked some personal questions that seemed a little out of the blue. I tried to stay calm but parts of the interview was definitely off-putting. That said, I'm sure each interview's unique and depends heavily on the interviewer
Click to expand...

I actually had wonderful interviewers! Both were professors/physicians and they were actually talking about a big part of my app when I got into the break out room. They were very friendly and very curious and gave me a lot of positive feedback during the interview about how much they loved/enjoyed my answers. I think I just got lucky 🤔
 
taco_chronicles said:
I actually had wonderful interviewers! Both were professors/physicians and they were actually talking about a big part of my app when I got into the break out room. They were very friendly and very curious and gave me a lot of positive feedback during the interview about how much they loved/enjoyed my answers. I think I just got lucky 🤔
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I feel the same way! I actually connected with one of my interviewers because they personally taught two of my friends (I name dropped them lol), both of who are in their program! I remember the other interviewer seemed cold to me, but to my surprise, they responded to my thank you e-mail saying they hope to see me in the fall.
 
Raverlane said:
I feel the same way! I actually connected with one of my interviewers because they personally taught two of my friends (I name dropped them lol), both of who are in their program! I remember the other interviewer seemed cold to me, but to my surprise, they responded to my thank you e-mail saying they hope to see me in the fall.
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If the interviewers said they hope to see you in Fall, I would receive that as a good sign. When I sent my thank you emails, only 1 of the 2 interviewers responded and said it was great to meet me and learn more about background/experiences, and said best of luck in the next steps in my academic career. Personally, I am trying not to read into the professor's response much and am just waiting for the real deal.
 
mochidonuts said:
Does anyone know if the program welcomes thank you emails to interviewers? Thanks in advance 😀
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Yes they do, you can contact the admissions office and ask them for your your interviewer's email addresses if you can't find them online. If you didn't take note of your interviewer's names or forgot them, you can also ask admissions about that and they will look them up for you and provide you with the relevant email addresses.
 
For those that interviewed today/ early this month, did they say when you should hear back from them?
 
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LALASA said:
I had mine on Jan 7th, I think they said 3 weeks. It's been less than a week, i already can't wait 🙁
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SAME. I think they specifically said 15 business days but from what I've seen on this thread that may vary by a couple days either way.
 
mimkool said:
To those of you who have been admitted, did you get anything in the mail or just an email/portal status change?
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I got a phone call a couple days before the email. Then an email informing me of a status change on my portal.
 
still no response from this school and submitted secondary early August. Does this school send out pre II R's? Should I send them an email expressing continued interest?
 
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