Finch Interview

[ocean11]

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Hello everybody,

I have a quick question to ask... has anyone gone to Finch for interviews? if so what was it like? what kind of questions do they ask? what are the chances for AMCAS applicants to get an interview... ie: 5%, 10%,30%? and once one has an interview what is the percentage chance that they will be accepted: 10%, 30% etc...?

Thanks so much in advance.... you see Finch is my first choice among all the medical schools I applied for, I think their M.D education program is great, as well as their facilities and I've wanted to go to Finch for 3 years now! Wish me luck...

 

[exmike]

Finch is your first choice? Wow. I guess everyone looks for different things in a school.

They interview about 10% of the 5000 applicants, I think they accept about 60% of those interviewed.

Originally posted by ocean11
Hello everybody,

I have a quick question to ask... has anyone gone to Finch for interviews? if so what was it like? what kind of questions do they ask? what are the chances for AMCAS applicants to get an interview... ie: 5%, 10%,30%? and once one has an interview what is the percentage chance that they will be accepted: 10%, 30% etc...?

Thanks so much in advance.... you see Finch is my first choice among all the medical schools I applied for, I think their M.D education program is great, as well as their facilities and I've wanted to go to Finch for 3 years now! Wish me luck...

 

[surfsup]

for the type of questions they would ask during the interview,
go to interview feedback right here on SDN. Pretty informative me thinks. . .

 

[plusminus]

Finch being a first choice may cause some sort of rift in the space-time continuum. I suggest you move it to the bottom half of the list immediately.

 

[lisa13579]

Could someone please clear up this reputation that Finch has. When I interviewed there, I thought the facilities were nice and the student guide was really happy there. Granted, it was just one person. But where does the bad rap come from? Does anyone have any justifiable reasons. I'm just curious in case it becomes one of my options. The only thing I do know is that it is very expensive, almost $37,000.

 

[bokermmk]

Whats wrong with Finch?

I am not a big proponent of it or anything. I did apply to it though. Just curious what makes it not so great.

 

[ocean11]

Thanx all.... how do I go to Interview Feedback... do you mean plug in that term on search?

 

[ocean11]

Hi all.... ok some updated information for everybody.... I just called Finch and they told me that they receive approximately 8,000 (completed) applications and out of those 800 are invited to interview. So yes around 10%, now they have approximately 160-170 seats for their first year so.... I suppose that would be approximately 20% chance after the interview.... however, I suppose there is always the waitlist right? and getting off the waitlist...

Well good luck all....

 

[emily69]

Well, I went there for an interview late October. I was in the first "batch" of folks interviewed there. I was complete mid September and they sent me an interview invite a few weeks after that, just to give you a timeline.

As for the interview itself:

the toughest question to answer honestly was, "What will you do if you don't get into medical school?" (This was like the worst question ever since I already have an acceptance to a school I'd prefer over Finch.)

Other questions: "What do you do for fun?"
"Why would someone from California apply to Finch?"
"Why medicine?"
Tough ethical questions by this one pediatrician interviewer. He was very very nice, however, and told me, "I think you'll become a fine doctor." That was like THE nicest thing to hear at an interview. I hope you get him for your interviewer!!! 🙂

Overall, the interviews were very informal but a bit more formal than I had expected. I knew I wouldn't fit in there because I am much more of a city person. I fell in love with Chicago esp. Northwestern as a result of that trip...

Good luck at your Finch interview though. I am sure you'll have a pleasant time there!!! good luck!

 

[DrWuStar]

Finch has a bad rep around here. many on SDN call it THE WORST MEDICAL SCHOOL.

but i think a lot of that is just hype. i have heard that their facilities were pretty outdated for a while, but they are now very nice. their average MCAT and GPA stats are on the low end, and for crazy overly competitive SDNers (of which there are many), that means it's a ****ty school. in other pre-med forums and in real life conversations, i do not hear nearly as much negative stuff about Finch as i do here on SDN.

it is not my top choice, but i say all med schools are good med schools. don't listen to the haters.

 

[DrBodacious]

When I was nosing around in the surgical specialties threads, I read ALOT of bad stuff about their residency programs and attending physicians attitudes and behavior. I also have read that they are planning not to follow the 80hr/week working cap after M2. So I've gathered that it isn't the most lax environment, relativly speaking.

I care about what people have said because I'm interested in surgery, but I don't really know about the MD program overall. Oh yea, I did hear that they have a comparitively low graduation rate.

 

[Sonya]

hi,

I finished my interview yesterday.

Mostly it was standard questions.
The biggest thing I should have known (i figured this out after my first interviewer with them, and did a better job talking to the second prof) is that they want YOU to talk. well of course. but, they are going to throw out open ended questions. you are to tell them what YOU want THEM to know. Fill up pauses in times. Elaborate on your answers. I know, this applies everywhere, but it seemed to apply much more so at finch then other school I interviewed at.

The interview was freaking disorganized. Well, actually the main problem is they did not tell us, they did not KNOW when we would interview who. Just sometime between 9:30 and 2. Well, the waiting is at all interview. but the suspense of not knowing whether you'll be called in 10 minutes or 1.5hrs was awful. it got me so much more nervous.


at the begining of the interview they gave me a sheet to give to each interviewer. It was a grading sheet. They were to rate us (score of 1-5) based on the interview on three attributes.
a. How personable we are. empathy, communication skills, leadership, etc.
b. whether we had a solid motivation for out career in medicine and understanding of the field.
c. understanding of ethical issues and or recent changes in medical delivery.

One interviewer asked me about my research and clinical experiences.
after that, he asked what I learned from them about LIFE (ie, not relevant to research or medicine).
They will give ethical scenarios, and you have to handle them or say how you will react (ie, helping a patient decide if they should get genetic testing, or what do if a coworker behaves unethically)

They had a student give a tour.
They talked quite a bit about their masters in applied physiology, a program to help students get into medschool in case they don't make it.

Sonya

 

[jasonparks]

The new facilities at Finch were very nice, especially the mock doctors office. Just for the record, Finch doesn't have a waitlist, and the literature they gave me said that they planned to interview 3 percent of all applicants.