Albany Med- Union Coll 8 yr

[Moneyless]

Hey... I am about to go on my interview for Albany Medical College soon for the 8 yr program with Union College... I've heard AMC focuses on ethics and stuff... But I'm just a high school student! Do they still ask the same type of stuff for the 8 yr applicants? Like I don't even know how HMOs work...

Thanks! Any advice would be great!

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[2003Applicant]

I know someone who interviewed there and also at other 7/8 yr programs, and those interviews are much worse than regular med interviews. They want to make sure you're committed to medicine and know what you're getting into. Have you spoken with physicians about healthcare issues? You'll definitely get ethics questions and HMO questions and many other health care questions. The person I know said that these interviews are extremely confrontational and challenging. They expect you to not only be on par with those 4 years older than you, but they also need to make sure that you'll definitely continue on the course towards becoming a doctor.

Definitely read the interview feedback and also study healthcare and ethics questions.

Many best wishes.

 

[Moneyless]

wow, thanks! I appreciate you help!

is there anyone with firsthand experience with an interview with AMC that can give me some advice?

 

[gower]

A word of caution: there is nothing in life that is guaranteed, except that we will all die someday. Always read the fine print: if you get accepted to such programs, there is always the stipulation that you must perform adequately in the college phase. Do poorly, and the guaranty is voided.

Eight years is the usual college-MD timeline. You can commit to that in the Albany program, but if you do very well you can probably opt out and apply more widely. Albany medical school is a private medical school and expensive.

 

[Mike59]

I interviewed there (traditional 4 yr MD program) last week and it was my hardest interview of the schools I've been to so far. Be ready for ethical issues, political issues, current events, I saw it all.

The first interview was pretty social, allowing me to ramble about my hobbies and other fun stuff. The second interviewer was a interviewing pro. He escalated the stress level slowly until I really felt like I was under the lights, and it was tough! I brought my best stuff to the table and survived (I think.....I'll find out soon enough!) but be ready for anything and everything, that's my tip.

You really need to know why you want to be an MD, and how you would react in situations involving ethical dilemma- whether its good or bad, Albany likes to probe the gray areas of ethics where there is no right answer, then they probe further with why this, why that, what about if this happens. Just when you think you cleared the hurdle, they immediately place another in front of you. It's nothing you can prepare for other than staying calm, thinking clearly and responding intelligently. I even took 10-15 second pauses after some questions just to think about what I would say. I literally told the interviewer "hold on a second", thought for a bit, then elaborated- the interview was that tough! Always realize that they have nothing against you, they just want to know how you think and how sincere you are in your interest in medicine.

Not trying to scare you, just trying to warn you about what you're up against. Albany rocks, and I would go there in a heartbeat if their tuition wasn't so high. Enjoy your interview day and good luck!

 

[sfjohn]

i also interview at albany earlier this season and was later accepted. it's funny - if you ask 10 different people for advice or about their experience, you'll get 10 different answers. here's mine - hope it helps. i had two 1-hour+ interviews. they were both very relaxed and conversational. this may have something to do with the fact that i'm an older applicant.

many other people interviewing on the same day cited the "ethics questions" that so many people speak of sdn. not that all schools are not interested in this, but i think albany wants to pride itself on turning out socially conscious doctors. to address this, they've incorporated an ethics program that all students take while there. thus the focus on ethics. i don't think that any school expects you to have perfect answers to these questions. rather, they want to see that you've thought about an issue, acknowledge multiple perspectives (even if you don't necessarily believe in them), and can logically support your particular stance on the issue. remember, there's a lot to learn or they wouldn't have the course. on the other hand, many seemingly "ethical" issues do have legal precedent. remember that as a doc you'll be holding a state license and need to abide by the law to keep that license. also - many of these issues are simply buttons. they're emotional. adcoms want to see if you are rational. they want to make sure that your personal beliefs are not going to contribute to harming a patient.

for some interesting reads on ethics - especially if you watch ER, UPenn's ethics department has (at least used to have) a website where their med ethics grad students post interesting/academic/legal essays about the issues that arise in NBC's ER. sorry, not sure of the link anymore though. it's worth searching for.

as far as not knowing about hmo's, well, you should know the basics about how the health care industry operates. albany has accelerated programs w/ 3 schools - union, rpi, and siena. albany has these programs so that they'll diversify their class. rpi people bring more of a science/research background. siena - i think service. union - public health or administration? not sure about the last two (i went to rpi), but you should figure out (before you get there) what albany wants from you with respect to union.

hope this helps. albany's a great school. most important thing for any interview is to know yourself and to relax. doctors need to operate under pressure. show them you can.

my last 2 cents - i would also strongly agree with one of the previous posters. i would do undergrad, then apply to med school. you might be really surprised where your life actually takes you four years from now. you may not want to be a doctor. you may not want to live in ny. you may want a break after undergrad before you go into medschool/internship/residency. it's early to be locking yourself into something. i took almost 10 years off between undergrad and medical school. looking back, i wouldn't have done anything differently. 14 years ago, i would never have guessed my life path to follow the one it did. then again, you may also want to be done w/ residency by the time you're 30.

best of luck.

 

[arsh]

Hey moneyless, I had appied to the RPI/Albany program when I was a senior in high school (4 years ago). At my interview (which, you should remember, was 4 years ago), there were a number of ethical questions. One interviewer asked about whether or not I would allow parents to pull the plugs on a terminally ill-newborn. He then asked the same question with some different circumstances. He also asked what I would do if I was practicing in a rural area with only one respirator and one patient who was on it when another patient who absolutely needed it came to my clinic. (assuming that the first patient would probably, but not definetely, survive). There were many questions like that. Like most ethical and moral questions, they were most interested in WHY you chose a specific answer. Anyway, I didn't really prepare for the interview. But, I just tried to put together coherent and convincing answers. When I interviewed, I thought it was pretty low stress and both interviewers were really nice (but remember, that was 4 years ago and maybe I just got lucky with the interviewers I got).

I was accepted but realized that the combied BA/MD route was not for me and chose to go the more traditional route. In retrospect, I am very very happy that I didn't go to one of the combined programs (even though I had to take MCATs, do AMCAS, interviewes, orgo, and everything else). But, I guess each of us has our own preferences - Good Luck!