Kcom!!!

[gonnabeaDO]

I have an interview at KCOM on November 10th. Initially, I told myself that I would go there, have an excellent interview day, call back in 3 days, and get the good news of being accepted. But as you all know, as the time approaches, your confidence begins to spiral into self-questioning, such as: "are my scores and GPA strong enough?, How good are my evaluation letters?, Are my EC activities impressive enough?" You all know the routine. Has anyone interviewed recently and been accepted? Can you tell me about your experience and the atmosphere during the evaluations. One member stated that her interviewer told her that he would recommend her, has any one else had this experience?

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[Shinken]

gonnabeaDO, you can relax. The interview day is very relaxed and very well organized.

My two interviews were very low-stress. The first interview was with a PhD (Biochem instructor) and he was only concerned with answering three questions: (1) can you make it through the program without flunking out, (2) what's the motivation for medicine and (3) why DO?

The second interviewer was a clinical instructor (DO, anesthesiology) and he told me up front that his "job" was to determine if I could carry on a conversation. We just spoke about hobbies, medicine in general (abortion, right to die, rural medicine, DO vs MD, etc. all in conversational terms and not with "what if" questions), and family and children. After the inteview he literally walked me back to the admissions office, shook my hand, and told me "I wouldn't worry if I were you".

My stats aren't impressive (Science GPA 3.0, MCAT 24) and I received a call last week informing me of my acceptance. KCOM puts a lot of emphasis on who you are as a person and how motivated you are for a career in osteopathic medicine. Don't worry about your numbers too much.

Good luck!

 

[gonnabeaDO]

So your interviewer asked you ethical questions about abortion and right to die? How did you respond to those questions, by just staying neutral? That tends to be a touchy issue because if you disagree with their views.....who knows. My MCAT is 27, and my cum. sci. GPA is like a 3.46 I think, and I have a good history of volunteering and shadowing, Extracurriculars, etc., but it seems like everyone else does too, and some of them have been rejected. Did you stay pretty serious throughout the interview, or were you able to joke around and be humorous?

 

[cardiolog]

hey,
i think i had the same anasthesiologist as shinken interview me. was it dr. ernst? if so, he was super nice, and from what i heard before my interview, a very happy person. he didn't ask me about abortion but he did ask me about my thoughts on the current health care system. i spoke for quite a long time discussing things that i basically learned about on the net, and he said he was really impressed. he said i knew more than he did about the issue and that gave me confidence when i got my post interview day jitters while waiting for the ad com decision. he's a cool guy, dont worry about him!
secondly, kcom does a good job bc in the beginning of the day after an ad counselor gives a talk about the curriculum, she then reads from a list about each interviewers hobbies so that we can create good convo with them. so mine, liked to bowl, i think. unfortunately, i didnt bring that up but i know she read about how this one guy loves dogs and loves movies, so the interviewee felt relieved knowing he could talk about that worse comes to worse.
neway, i think with the kcom ad com, there are no surprises unless you really mess up your interview. so relax and be yourself!
good luck!

 

[Runtita]

breathe in...
breathe out...
breathe in...
breathe out...
rinse, repeat...

You will do fine! Just relax and be yourself. It's a very low stress interview day.

 

[DireWolf]

My interview there a couple years ago was very laid back except they stuck me with the bigshot PhD biochemistry guy. Apparently he brings in a ton of money with NIH grants. Anyway, he had the personality of a wall. My interview with him convinced me to disregard KCOM as an option. Unfortunate because KCOM is a very solid school. The ophthalmologist I interviewed with was awesome.

 

[Dr_sax]

Not all interviews at KCOM are wonderful. PM me if you want details. I'm too tired to vent right now.

Dr_sax

 

[Shinken]

Yes, it was Dr. Ernst. Awesome guy. No, he didn't ask me ethical questions or anything of the sort. We were just talking about medicine in general and he asked me if I could think about a current "hot" issue in medicine and I brought up the Terry Schiavo case and the right to die issue, which led us to who decides who lives and who dies, which led us to abortion, which led us to doctors aren't Gods, which led us to MD vs DO, etc. etc. It was very conversational, like two guys having a beer on a weekend just shooting the breeze.

Did you stay pretty serious throughout the interview, or were you able to joke around and be humorous?

I'm not entirely serious in interviews simply because that's who I am. My policy is to be myself, and if they don't like me then that's fine. Now, if they ask me a serious question I'll answer seriously, but if we're just talking then a lighthearted comment here and there won't hurt.

My interview there a couple years ago was very laid back except they stuck me with the bigshot PhD biochemistry guy. Apparently he brings in a ton of money with NIH grants. Anyway, he had the personality of a wall.

Yes! Would that be Dr. Cenedella? He's a pretty serious guy, all business and no play. I tried to loosen him up but he refused. That's fine. It takes all personalitites. He was a little intimidating at first, but then you get used to him. He was very realistic about osteopathic medicine and didn't sugar coat it for me. He asked me point blank if I didn't mind explaining my degree all the time ("are you ready to have 'What's a DO' brochures in your practice?"). He even criticized the AOA for not doing a good job in publicizing the degree. He's a member of the AOA's committee on accreditation, so he's been to almost all DO schools when it comes time to visit and re-accredit the schools. He had very interesting opinions on DO schools.

 

[DireWolf]

Originally posted by Shinken
Yes! Would that be Dr. Cenedella? He's a pretty serious guy, all business and no play. I tried to loosen him up but he refused. That's fine. It takes all personalitites. He was a little intimidating at first, but then you get used to him. He was very realistic about osteopathic medicine and didn't sugar coat it for me. He asked me point blank if I didn't mind explaining my degree all the time ("are you ready to have 'What's a DO' brochures in your practice?"). He even criticized the AOA for not doing a good job in publicizing the degree. He's a member of the AOA's committee on accreditation, so he's been to almost all DO schools when it comes time to visit and re-accredit the schools. He had very interesting opinions on DO schools.

That would be him. Big change of pace after talking about fishing and beer-drinking with the ophthalmologist. I also tried to loosen him up with no avail. He maybe a great asset to the school but has absolutely no business interviewing students. Everyone I talked to that had interviewed with him was turned off and considered it a negative for the school.

 

[Runtita]

Bummer.

I hope you filled out the interview evaluation and submitted it. Supposedly, they really do read those every week and make adjustments as needed.

 

[DireWolf]

Originally posted by Runtita
Bummer.

I hope you filled out the interview evaluation and submitted it. Supposedly, they really do read those every week and make adjustments as needed.

I did fill one out but I doubt they will listen because this guy is the head honcho there. We're talking serious money and influence. Probably a great researcher; just not a good interviewer.

 

[docslytherin]

As a student here at KCOM, I have to sort of offer some observations in Dr. Cenedella's defense. He (as are all of the biochem faculty) is a really good guy. He is very business-like and not too forthcoming with his personality, but is an amazing help with any questions you might have with the coursework or difficulties you might be having. For those of you who haven't interviewed yet, I've heard he is very interested in the stock market (esp. biotech stocks). Anyway... I would hate for anyone to decide against KCOM because of the impression you got from an interview. All of the profs here are really good to deal with and all want you to succeed once you're here.