best interview lunches

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

EasyEveryoneWouldDoIt

Full Member
2+ Year Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
456
Reaction score
740
i thought i would start a fun thread. so for the places you have interviewed at what did they give you for lunch and what was the best one ...

Netter gave us Panera which was pretty good

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
UMD (Duluth, MN) had two med students take us to their nice university restaurant. It was nice because it allowed us to ask better questions without feeling like we were judged. Also got to watch my fellow applicant spill BBQ sauce all over his tie. Good food selection.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Thomas Jefferson. Salad, bruschetta chicken, green beans, butternut squash ravioli, and cookies at the end of the day. Such a good meal and so much better than the box lunches I've had at other schools.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Thomas Jefferson. Salad, bruschetta chicken, green beans, butternut squash ravioli, and cookies at the end of the day. Such a good meal and so much better than the box lunches I've had at other schools.

I really liked UMiami's chicken...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Rochester had us pre-select our lunch choice, and then had them waiting in personalized lunch boxes with our names on them :joyful:
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Wash U took us out to a fancy restaurant which was really good.

My worst lunch by far was at case lol. I was one of the last people up to the table and got stuck with some veggie eggplant sandwhich.

Lerner wasn't bad (was the cafeteria in the building) but they only gave $5... Like seriously. Couldn't afford most of the things there. At Mayo they gave like 15$ to use for lunch in contrast which was difficult to spend all of it because everything was already subsidized.

Uchicago also had awesome lunch. It was some thick pizza (apparently not the real deep dish) but tasted great and was super filling.

Sorry for sharing more than one, but those were my most memorable haha
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Thomas Jefferson. Salad, bruschetta chicken, green beans, butternut squash ravioli, and cookies at the end of the day. Such a good meal and so much better than the box lunches I've had at other schools.
I was at Jeff before Thanksgiving, and they did a full Thanksgiving meal for lunch!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8 users
What about worst lunches lol?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Wash U and U chicago, but best food in the area was Columbia (Dominican restaurants everywhere!). Worst lunch was baylor. They had the standard boxed sandwhiches with chips and a cookie but I got a bad sandwhich
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
What about worst lunches lol?

Last in line for the deli sandwiches at Cornell. By the time I had my pick each one was so greasy they were nearly indistinguishable. I chose an option that looked like a Greek phyllo dough wrap. Ended up taking a big, confident bite out of what turned out to be a normal wrap... with the greasy paper still on it.

Really hope they mean it when they say what you do with the current students at lunch doesn't affect your chance at admission, otherwise I'm the ***** who ate paper :rofl:
 
  • Like
Reactions: 12 users
San Antonio has the best in Texas, followed by Southwestern they have a cookie buffet for Pete’s sake.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
ETSU just took us to the hospital for lunch, but the food was actually pretty good. They had a couple of little restaurant things there, including a burger place that made a killer grilled cheese and sweet potato fries. Oh, and they give you a food coupon, and you can literally get as much food as you want. We were encouraged to get stuff to take home lol.

As for worst lunch, Cooper didn't even give us a lunch. They provided a continental breakfast in the morning (at like 0745), but the interview day ended at around 1300, and they didn't provide any lunch. I enjoyed the interview day overall, but I was starving at the end.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
i thought i would start a fun thread. so for the places you have interviewed at what did they give you for lunch and what was the best one ...

Netter gave us Panera which was pretty good

Georgetown >>>
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Wash U took us out to a fancy restaurant which was really good.

My worst lunch by far was at case lol. I was one of the last people up to the table and got stuck with some veggie eggplant sandwhich.

Lerner wasn't bad (was the cafeteria in the building) but they only gave $5... Like seriously. Couldn't afford most of the things there. At Mayo they gave like 15$ to use for lunch in contrast which was difficult to spend all of it because everything was already subsidized.

Uchicago also had awesome lunch. It was some thick pizza (apparently not the real deep dish) but tasted great and was super filling.

Sorry for sharing more than one, but those were my most memorable haha

+1 Wash U was amazing
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
i thought i would start a fun thread. so for the places you have interviewed at what did they give you for lunch and what was the best one ...

Netter gave us Panera which was pretty good
Tulane had a full New Orleans cuisine, it was awesome
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Sinai's lunch was unreal -- the whole private buffet was awesome down to the mini hot dogs and cannolis.
Apparently all is not equal there because they gave us sandwhiches and brownies . They were good but nothing special
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
No purchase limit at the school's food court, Could have stocked up for the week.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
WashU was fantastic—they had this incredible mac n cheese that I still think about lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
I can’t have gluten or dairy and so couldn’t really eat at almost all my interviews. I carry RX bars everywhere I go but I appreciated Mayo’s interview lunch in Arizona because they gave us a $15 dollar voucher that covered so much and I was able to stick to my food restrictions.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
MSU CHM was so yummy. they had us choose from like 3 different soups and salads and different breads. it was lit
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Georgetown - during my application year, they took applicants to the faculty dining room. Great buffet, all you can eat.

I distinctly remember the lunch happened before the only interview an applicant has in the afternoon, so most people didn't really get to enjoy the food from nervousness. I'm happy to report that I ate 3 full plates with another plate of dessert and fruits.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
Vermont. Holy cripes, Vermont.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
UCincy was the worst for me... last in line so I got stuck with my least favorite, PLUS they had us eat standing up. ...who does that?! Couldn’t even provide chairs?!

WashU was delicious. Hofstra was also pretty good buffet if I recall. The rest have all been boring box lunches :/
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
UVA- we went to a faculty restaurant with a buffet. Delicious, especially dessert.

Creighton- several different types of lasagna, salad, garlic bread, green beans almondine, giant cookies. Plus they provided a nice breakfast (coffee, tea, lots of different fruits and pastries).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Tulane was pretty solid-chicken creole over rice with salad, chips, cookies.

FIU was my only interview thus far that’s given a box lunch (Panera) but it was still pretty good
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Minnesota TC had catered Middle Eastern food from my favorite local restaurant. Case had the worst boxed lunches and Indiana didn't even provide lunch at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Best:
McGovern: Mexican food and famous chocolate cake (the tres leches is just as good and deserves more recognition)
Pritzker: deep dish-ish pizza
Georgetown: good food, buffet style

Worst:
Drexel: gross tuna deli sandwiches and bland iceberg lettuce salad (and the only utensils they had were knives...)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Best thus far has been Mayo-AZ. They gave us $15 to spend, and there were plenty of delicious food options.
Worst was UCSD. Typical boxed lunch with sandwich/salad, but the sandwich was not good. Also, the conference room table didn't have enough space for all of the applicants to sit around it, so some of us had to eat out of our laps. I was paranoid about getting salad dressing on my shirt.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
AZ Tucson was by far the best. We had that real, authentic Mexican you only get being close to the border. Pork and chicken verde, rice & beans, homemade tortillas, chips, and three different kinds of salsa.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I literally just warned a friend who was interviewing at UTMB that they had a pretty amazing lunch so he needed to be cautious not to overeat or he would feel bloated for his interview, lol. Of the 7 interviews I attended, ARCOM was the one with the most attention to detail when it came to dietary restrictions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
UM had salmon fillets and a Taco bar when I interviewed. 10/10

Tulane did some New Orleans spicy soup thing which was delicious 9/10

South Carolina didn’t have memorable food, but did reserved parking spots with our names on them which was awesome.

LECOM had these terrible cold sandwich wraps and I will never forgive them for it 0/10
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
I can’t have gluten or dairy and so couldn’t really eat at almost all my interviews. I carry RX bars everywhere I go but I appreciated Mayo’s interview lunch in Arizona because they gave us a $15 dollar voucher that covered so much and I was able to stick to my food restrictions.
UWash asks for dietary restrictions - gluten dairy and vegetarian/vegan IIRC.
 
Vermont, easily. They had a full buffet with Halal food but the med students also mentioned stuff like korean barbecue in the past
 
Vermont, easily. They had a full buffet with Halal food but the med students also mentioned stuff like korean barbecue in the past

They are trying to show you how diverse, culturally competent, and holisthiccc their school is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I can’t have gluten or dairy and so couldn’t really eat at almost all my interviews. I carry RX bars everywhere I go but I appreciated Mayo’s interview lunch in Arizona because they gave us a $15 dollar voucher that covered so much and I was able to stick to my food restrictions.
Fellow celiac sufferer. I feel ya.
 
Tulane! I know it was mentioned but that was the first time I've ever finished a plate and wanted to go back for seconds.
 
One of our tour guides at ETSU has Celiac. Sucks. Fortunately the cafe at the hospital had gluten free stuff.
I pretty much just eat meat, vegetables, fruit and rice these days anyway.
 
Top