AZCOM 2007 Acceptees...

Hello!
Hey, congrats on having a good interview experience. Historically, these posts don't get good responses, and I can see why. However, I also know very much how important these issues are to some people. Yes, there ARE several factors that weigh into an ADCOM's choice, but it just feels good to know where you stand "by the numbers."

That being said, do you have some credible experience in medicine, and more importantly, with osteopathy? I think that this is SO important. Schools want to know that you know what medicine is about. D.O. schools want that, PLUS some evidence that you know about and believe in osteopathy. I think that it is really important to not only use the D.O. letter of rec, but to elegantly state your zeal for osteopathy in you statement/secondary essays to accomplish this. In my interview, I wasn?t being asked anything referring to osteopathy, so I incorporated it into my responses.

As for my application vitals: My GPA (sci/cum) was just below the average for matriculated students to AZCOM, but my MCAT was pretty good (well above AZCOM?s stated average). That probably helped out a lot for me, since my early college career is littered with Fs. I didn?t have a lot of ?actual experience with osteopathy,? but I believe in it and I made sure they knew it.

I swear, sometimes I feel the app. process is random as hell. I buddy of mine got really into osteopathy in the last year (hung out with me too much) and has better ?stats (#s)? than I do. He has been waitlisted at AZCOM and accepted to TUCOM?so great numbers definitely do not always get you in.

I know that I didn't state any "#s" but I really feel uncomfortable doing that.

Best of Luck!

 

I interviewed in Sept., and the range of MCATs was pretty big in my interview group. Some less than 20 (awaiting August results), some 30+, and a bunch in between.

If you felt the interview went well you are hopefully in pretty good shape. Most people felt pretty good, but a few were pretty upset. (Dang, I use the word "pretty" a lot.) Of course, I don't know which of those got in and which didn't, but eveyone that has gotten in seems to have had a good interview experience. Best of luck.

 

In reference to osteopathy, all I'd done was shadow DOs and study a little bit. I was asked what appealed to me about osteopathy. I had figured that was coming. I figured that many people say something like "I like the holistic philosophy of treating the entire person". That is well and good, but i wanted to focus more on nervous-muscular-skeletal relationships, and how osteopathy really focues there using OMM.

I thought, and still think, that learning about osteopathy as a philosophy is important, but I think it's equally important to identify and express what exactly appeals to a person. For whoever might interview in the future, just be aware that interviewers probably hear the party line about osteopathy every day. Make sure you can express your thoughts on the profession with your own voice. Best of luck to you all.

 

I'm sure you did fine. Best of luck to you.

The whole generic answers thing wasn't directed to you. It's more for those who'll be interviewing later on, maybe even next year. On a side note, at my interview there were like like 5 people who were wearing blue shirts with dark suits and shiny blue ties. It looked like a Regis Philbin look-alike convention. So much for tying to look different.

 

It sounds like you have a lot going for you this time around. I wasn't there, but what you are saying sounds good!

San Juan has a great ponit. The adcoms likely hear something to the tune of "I love the holistic approach to medicine" multiple times/day. And it is cool to have that be your driving force, but do show that you can express a common thought with your own voice and style.

That you mentioned what particularly attracts you to the field is great, I think. Could you get any kind of read from you interviewers? Did they resond in any visible manor to any of you responses?
By the way, who were your interviewers???

 

I had Dr. Quinlan as well. He was really nice and made me feel at ease. So did my other interviewers.

In reference to med schools in general: When you spoke about interview feedback, it made me remember something. Adcoms, or admissions staff at least, read these message boards and the interview feedback stuff. I've heard this from at least two schools. I doubt that anything someone posted would alter their chances at getting in, but is a fact nevertheless that adcoms are watching what we say.