for the accepted: what was it about you?

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jase133

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hello people

for those who are accepted,

what did you think that it was about your interview and your application that got you "in?"

did you travel to a third world country for volunteering, played in a band, etc? what was it that was unique about you... i'm kinda nervous that i have nothing "unique" and am rather dull!

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no worries, there.
i went in thinking that (aside of course from my personality and royal beauty :cool: ) i was a rather "dull" applicant. I did come from a different country a while back, but have fully assimilated. I have played a bunch of sports (which they actually don't know about) but one that was recent is uncommon for women...
i came in with good numbers, but i think as far as the interview goes, i just showed them i'd be fun to have around and people wouldn't be bitching about me (well, most). not sure how helpful this is, but possibly encouraging.
 
Originally posted by senioritisplease:
•no worries, there.
i went in thinking that (aside of course from my personality and royal beauty :cool: ) i was a rather "dull" applicant. I did come from a different country a while back, but have fully assimilated. I have played a bunch of sports (which they actually don't know about) but one that was recent is uncommon for women...
i came in with good numbers, but i think as far as the interview goes, i just showed them i'd be fun to have around and people wouldn't be bitching about me (well, most). not sure how helpful this is, but possibly encouraging.•••


you're a girl?
:p

gosh I always get the sDN genders confused haha
 
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sure....dinner on saturday, and we make up at my place ;) hehehe :p

ur surely political for a girl :D
 
My MCAT scores got me in the door (I have a really crappy GPA) but I believe that my interview was 100% responsible for my acceptance. I did some research in a fairly obscure branch of medicine (nuclear medicine- most people haven't heard of it and barely anybody really knows what it is, even among docs!). I published a few papers. When I was being interviewed, my interviewer kept drilling me about this research, real specific stuff (exactly what drugs and radionuclides we used, what activity levels, things very specific to nuclear medicine). After he finished drilling me (he seemed very impressed with my knowledge of my research) he said "I should probably let you know, I am the senior nuclear medicine researcher here." We then bonded for a while about being a part of such a small field of medicine. He seemed very enthusiastic about me and assured me that he would recommend me very highly to the adcomm. I don't know if it was fate, or if the school set it up so he would be interviewing me (which I doubt, because there were only like 5 faculty interviewers for the 50 interviewees), but that interview totally sealed the deal for me. I haven't gotten in anywhere else (even at lower ranked institutions), so this must have been the deciding factor.
 
Originally posted by WatchaMaCallit:
•ur surely political for a girl :D ••• Hmm. I'm wondering what to make of this comment. ? :rolleyes: I think it speaks for itself, although I'm hoping there's some background or something I missed so that it doesn't speak for itself. <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
 
It was definitely my interview. Nothing about my GPA, MCATs, or extracurriculars made me stand out except that I was well-rounded...basically, I had a little experience. Go into the interview confident and down to earth...don't use it as a bragging session. They already know what's on your application, so I figured this is the time to let your personality shine. I had a great time talking to one of my interviewers about why I love Michael Crichton books and Tom Hanks movies. Good luck.
 
I agree with the others, although in my particular case I think it was both interview and letters of rec that were key.
 
Sometimes the school already knows whether or not they want to accept you before the interview. Sometimes the interview is just there to weed out the weirdos or to find the elusive diamonds-in-the-rough.

If you're in the first category, you'll probably be answering questions like, "Why this school?" If you're in the second category, you'll probably be answering questions like, "Why you? What makes you so special?"

Before anyone rips my head off, this is just my opinion and definitely not always true. In fact, some schools have "blind" interviews in order to avoid cases like the ones I just described.

Just adding my 2 cents.
 
I have to say my grades. I'm sure they were thinking this woman had mad guts to apply to us!!
 
i'll add that my letters of recommendation probably did me some good--one guy has a great reputation and has been my boss the other two i've known for a couple of years and done lots with. if whatchamacallit (sp??) comes through on dinner, he'll be able to vouch for me.
oh, did i mention my looks? :) just a sidenote for choker who is so adamant about ugly NYU interviewees...must've been there on a different day than me :-(
and i'm no gunner, though i did take a pistol shooting class...how do u like that for a girl, whatchamasomething? :D
 
I had very average grades for accepted students. My MCAT was above the school's average for accepted students. I think it was the combination of MCAT and my clinical experience that got me the interview. I have been a paramedic for 4 years and it gave me quite a bit of stuff to draw on in the interview. But, who really knows what they look at?

later
 
My good MCAT scores were the first flag, especially because I graduated in '95 with my bachelor's and '96 with my master's. The interview, though, was great. When you really click with a school, it shows.
 
I think that my long curly dark hair and piercing green eyes sealed the deal...but maybe four years of hard work in school, a good MCAT, great letters of rec, lots of unique experiences and really good interview had something to do with my admits...maybe....
 
My extra-curriculars and experiences, and, I'm beginning to believe, my letters of recommendation. I hadn't really thought about them until an interview last week, when my interviewer suddenly up and told me that they were strong. I think I'm going to be taking time out to send all of my recommenders holiday cards!!!

And to tell you the truth, I think one thing that helped me was the fact that my motivation for entering the field was very obvious. It was apparent from my application and from my interview that I was truly passionate about medicine. I haven't had any of the "why do you want to be a doctor?" interview questions that people dislike so much; one interviewer actually told me that there was no reason for him to ask, because he knew. So that's something that you may want to think about during the process, that isn't immediately obvious...it will really help you if they can tell that you LOVE medicine!
 
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