anybody had an MD/PhD interview

[nadica31]

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Hi Y'all,
i just need some advices from students who have applied for MD/PhD and had some interview, especially in california med schools.If you could share your experiences and what type of questions i should be expecting. If you've interviewd at USC even better, 'cause that's where my interview will be.
Thanks, i appreciate any response🙂
Nadia

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

Hi Y'all,
i just need some advices from students who have applied for MD/PhD and had some interview, especially in california med schools.If you could share your experiences and what type of questions i should be expecting. If you've interviewd at USC even better, 'cause that's where my interview will be.
Thanks, i appreciate any response🙂
Nadia

All the MD/PhD interviews I went, they almost always asked about why both degrees, your previous research experience, and your career goals (on that note, they want to hear that you want to pursue research full-time and do clinical stuff on the side part-time= academic medicine). That was about it. It usually takes about 30 minutes to go over above questions. Then, they will ask why their program in specific. Finally, if you are interested in their research, they will tell a bit about what's going on in their labs.

My advice to you is know why you are going into MD/PhD program and your research. Make sure you sound really really passionate about your projects. Good luck!

 

[Mitro]

In short, be ready to discuss your research and answer why you want both degrees, in addition to all the normal MD questions.

Try searching the MD/PhD forum. Also, check out

www.intransit.us

It's a great site with a ton of info. As far as what to expect, you should be ready for all the usual MD type questions in addition to discussing your research in-depth and answering "why MD/PhD?". As far as how to be ready, you should be able to summarize your research in both a short and long version.

Interviews themselves generally fall into two flavors: faculty interest and admissions committee members.

The faculty interest interviews are more fun. They'll probably ask about your research, some may probe your ability to think critically on your feet. However, these interviews generally are about you getting to learn about research in their lab and at the school. Many will try to sell their school to you.
Admissions committee people generally like to ask "why MD/PhD?" or "Why do you want to come to school here?" They'll ask you to talk about your research, and are more likely to ask you some of the more difficult questions you'll get about your research.

 

[wisteria318]

i interviewed with the usc md/phd program. in my interview group everyone also interviewed at caltech the day before whether they had chose it on their application or not. at caltech they try to match you up with researchers in your field of interest. some applicants interviewed with one researcher while others had more. the interview was pretty conversational. like the previous posters said, they usually ask why md/phd, explain your research and then they explain theirs. current students take you out to lunch at their faculty club, which is very nice with good food. that evening you have dinner with current students and faculty members, which is an informal way to get to know the program (i advise you to ask lots of questions about the program in terms of structure, course requirements, advising, etc. here because there's no formal introduction to the program at anytime).

the next day at usc you meet up with the md applicants and have a student interviewer (mine was an md/phd student, i'm not sure if they all are). the student interview is also pretty relaxed but they are required to ask you an ethics question, mine basically let me choose a topic i wanted to discuss. the main goal of the student interview is for them to see if you can carry on a normal conversation. this is followed by a tour of the school and county hospital, very nice. another good lunch with some current students and then i had a faculty interviewer who conducts a typical md/phd interview. he wasn't someone that i chose nor was he in my field of interest. i was asked a lot of questions about why i wanted to do md/phd and what i was looking for in a program, what my future career goals were, etc. then there was a "lab tour" given by a current student in which they bascially just show you their lab. i also had a very brief meeting with the dean of the medical school at the end of the day whom i later found out was also the director of the md/phd program. i don't think everyone meets with him and i don't really know what the purpose was because he basically just asked me if there were people i was interested in working with at usc and telling me that i should contact them.

overall the interview experience was pretty low stress. let me know if you have anymore questions! good luck!

 

[nadica31]

Hey Wisteria318,
thank you so much, your response was really informative.I will probably ask you some more questions if you don't mind when it gets closer to my interview(which is on 17th of Fev.), but i was just wandering about the dinner dress code, did you wera a formal attire just like for the interview or it was more casual? thanks, and i'll keep in touch🙂
NAdia

 

[scrappysurfer]

two MD/PhD interviews, 3rd pending, many schools haven't replied

i had 3 interviewers at one school and (gulp) 5 interviewers at the other.

they will always ask 1) future career plans 2) how will you balance research with clinical practice 3) why... 4) some details about research 5) why do you think you need both degrees

warning: one interviewer seemed of the opinion that my engineering research is bunk: "have you EVER done any actual benchtop work?" Since I consider my job of 3 years benchtop, I really didn't know how to answer that one.

sorry, i don't know anything about keck, didn't apply there

lots of luck

Hi Y'all,
i just need some advices from students who have applied for MD/PhD and had some interview, especially in california med schools.If you could share your experiences and what type of questions i should be expecting. If you've interviewd at USC even better, 'cause that's where my interview will be.
Thanks, i appreciate any response🙂
Nadia

 

[wisteria318]

Hey Wisteria318,
thank you so much, your response was really informative.I will probably ask you some more questions if you don't mind when it gets closer to my interview(which is on 17th of Fev.), but i was just wandering about the dinner dress code, did you wera a formal attire just like for the interview or it was more casual? thanks, and i'll keep in touch🙂
NAdia

glad i can help. i just dressed casually. i'm pretty sure i wore jeans. most of the applicants dressed casually. i actually felt some of the current students and faculty dressed more business casual, with khakis, etc while others wore jeans. but i don't think it matters what you wear.

 

[abeanatrice]

I know there's a dinner on Thursday night, but do they feed you on Friday night as well? I'll also be there Feb. 18. I just want to know because I'm supposed to meet up with a friend, but she's working until 8 and I want to know if I am going to have to entertain myself. Peace.

 

[wisteria318]

on friday you're done when your interviews are over, which will probably be sometime in the late afternoon

 

[nadica31]

I know there's a dinner on Thursday night, but do they feed you on Friday night as well? I'll also be there Feb. 18. I just want to know because I'm supposed to meet up with a friend, but she's working until 8 and I want to know if I am going to have to entertain myself. Peace.

oh yeah, i was talking about the thursday night dinner, so you'll be there too?that's cool, we'll probably meet🙂

 

[nadica31]

Hi,
i was just wandering if there were other internationals out there either accepted or having an interview at USC coming? Does anybody know how many students do actually get in out of the country?
Thanx 🙂