List the Most Pleasant Schools You Encountered Along the Interview Trail

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I, and I am sure others, are curious which schools seem to be filled with great people. You can also take into account pleasant experiences with the admissions offices of various schools you have encountered. This thread might serve the 2015 class and later in adding schools they may not have normally added.

 

[mybubbles14]

Iowa

The people there were really friendly, helpful and overall just amazing. Great school! 👍

 

[cher25]

Creighton! The people, faculty, staff, students were awesome. I didn't want to leave because they made me feel right at home.

 

[txprodigal]

any texas school - they make it feel like it's an honor to host you

 

[rockaction]

University of Pittsburgh, Case Western, Ohio State

 

[brooklynblunder]

1. Ohio State
2. Judy at Vanderbilt (I only had 3 ppl in my interview date though)
3. Louisville (1 on 1 tour guides)

 

[Evergrey]

Good thread. 👍

Looking forward to hearing the responses.

 

[marele86]

SUNY Buffalo. Check their interview feedback page, everyone agrees that these people are just the best - really friendly, and they'll go out of their way to help you out.

 

[artx2008]

UT Southwestern and UT Houston

 

[PinkIvy08]

Tulane!!! 👍

Everyone from the secretary to my student hosts to the interviewers, admissions directors, and random students I bumped into went out of their way to make me feel at home. I couldn't have scripted a more pleasant, stress-free interview day. The spirit of the Big Easy probably didn't hurt either 🙄

 

[jojo420]

Des Moines University! Their staff and admissions dean are great! The students were great too!

 

[alibai3ah]

Tulane!!! 👍

Everyone from the secretary to my student hosts to the interviewers, admissions directors, and random students I bumped into went out of their way to make me feel at home. I couldn't have scripted a more pleasant, stress-free interview day. The spirit of the Big Easy probably didn't hurt either 🙄

Loved Tulane also. A really great and friendly school. Plus New Orleans is a awesome city too.

Hmm, I think it's interesting someone mentioned Case Western. My friend who interviewed there had a very negative experience....

 

[gr33n]

Iowa.
Everyone was so welcoming and friendly!

 

[J ROD]

Univ. of SC

 

[ApoK]

Probably UVa or Penn for me.

 

[medchicago]

Creighton! The people, faculty, staff, students were awesome. I didn't want to leave because they made me feel right at home.

I felt the same at Loyola, must be a Jesuit thing (although I can't say the same for my day at Georgetown). Wonderful people... literally everyone was nice and seemed to go out of their way to make us feel welcome, including Dean Jones. Awesome facilities, great hospital. Students were super happy and Chicago's a blast.

Great thread!

 

[SirSpicious]

UVA for sure

 

[JJMrK]

OSU and UCSF.

 

[silverhorse84]

Most pleasant admissions office: Southern Cali
Most pleasant/friendly students: usuhs

 

[TaylorMDhopeful]

University of Pittsburgh, Case Western, Ohio State

+1 for Pitt, all of the students and faculty that I met were really chill

 

[Fedekz]

Loved Tulane also. A really great and friendly school. Plus New Orleans is a awesome city too.

Hmm, I think it's interesting someone mentioned Case Western. My friend who interviewed there had a very negative experience....

Have you lived in New Orleans at all? or is that just from the pictures? ...

 

[metallica81788]

UVA fo sho.

Judy at Vandy was very nice, also - but I wasn't a huge fan of their interview day.

 

[EulerianCircuit]

WashU and Vanderbilt.

 

[ksmi117]

Vandy and Tulane seemed to have the happiest students, but UVa had the best food. Hands down.

 

[TaylorMDhopeful]

Loved Tulane also. A really great and friendly school. Plus New Orleans is a awesome city too.

Hmm, I think it's interesting someone mentioned Case Western. My friend who interviewed there had a very negative experience....

I had a mixed (good/bad) experience at Case Western, faculty interviewer was arrogant and not so personable but the students that I met were ok. wouldn't label them the most pleasant though but overall it was cool (probably a little jaded tho bc they put me on post interview hold) 🙄.

 

[livebetter]

Wake Forest. They are very friendly!!

 

[Janieve]

I haven't interviewed for it (haven't even put in my applications yet, lol), but I have to go to OHSU all the time, and it's amazing. The people are all so ridiculously nice, everyone's always got something sweet to say, and the environment is pretty laid back, all things considered.

That might just be because it's Portland, though. I've lived and traveled over two continents (North America and Asia), and I've never found a place I liked better than Portland. It's beautiful, ecologically friendly, healthy, and safe, and the public transit is amazing. There's a lot of research done there, too, and a lot to love. Plus, I've never found a more welcoming and tolerant city.

(Can you tell I'm planning to live in Portland when I go back to America? I'd stay there as long as I could, even with the rain it notoriously suffers)

 

[ApoK]

OSU and UCSF.

Hmm, I did like Hallen. Haha, she's got that cute asian thing going for her. I had absolutely no idea she was the director of admissions until several months after my interview! I hope I didn't say anything inappropriate lol.

http://directory.ucsf.edu/people_de...ool_code=all&last_name=&first_name=&offset=20

 

[twostep376]

UConn!

 

[dw2158]

not that it matters for the vast majority of people posting on SDN, but UMass had amazing staff, faculty and students. plus a great lunch with good dessert 😀

 

[guyski79]

.

 

[sleepy425]

Vandy and Tulane seemed to have the happiest students, but UVa had the best food. Hands down.

Just wait a couple of weeks.... You'll see.

 

[McPoyle]

Wisconsin I obviously got a great vibe from, but I am a little biased since thats where I chose to attend.

However, SUNY-Stony Brook gave me a great vibe too. Tons of students stopped into see us and chat during the interview day and they all seemed really happy to be there and to be talking to us. Plus, my interview time got pushed back so it made my travel arrangements very tight. I literally had less than ten minutes to leave my interview, catch a cab, and get on the train to JFK or I would miss my flight. So, the secretary went way out of her way to arrange a taxi for me and help me out with that. And then, when I was out waiting for the cab, a pharmacology professor and his wife were walking out of the hospital and recognized me as an interviewee, though they thought initially I was a resident interviewee, but they noticed I was a lil stressed about the travel and offered to drive me to the train station themselves! So that was really unexpected and cool.

Penn State was also very nice, though I cancelled my interview after my WI acceptance. But, every time I talked to them they were very positive and would go out of there way to help me with things-rearranging interview dates and the such.

 

[rockaction]

Hmm, I think it's interesting someone mentioned Case Western. My friend who interviewed there had a very negative experience....

Must have been an off day. Case blew me away. There were tons of cool students that talked to us, we got to sit in on classes and IQ groups, and our tour-guides were great. And all the faculty I interacted with were awesome. The group of people who interviewed that day were really cool too. My faculty interviewer himself was the one that sold me on the school...he was the coolest doctor I've ever met. Your friend really missed out on a good Case interview day 🙁

 

[loljkttyl]

Mount Sinai

 

[SteinUmStein]

Iowa, Michigan, and UPitt had some of the nicest people I've met.

UChicago was also much warmer and friendlier than I was expecting.

 

[bravofleet4]

At UVA my interview group consisted of only 3 people including myself. The person giving the orientation memorized our names and paused to ask us questions to make sure we were following along during the power point presentation. We had two tour guides and got to eat at the university club where we were served lobster brisque and steak followed by desert. There were two interviewers one student and one faculty and both times it was very relaxed and non-threatening.

 

[brickandlace]

UNC - students come in periodically to talk to interviewees, good food (accomodated dietary restrictions), laid back feel, candidates are taken to their interviewers (no anxiety about getting lost 😛), friendly place, good environment in which to learn

ECU - small class size, students seemed really friendly and laid back, med student office seemed like it does all that it can to help their students be successful

 

[red10]

Iowa. The school, the town, everyone was sooo welcoming and nice. I felt so at home

 

[jturkel]

UChicago was also much warmer and friendlier than I was expecting.

i also thought this. the administration and students were very friendly when I was there. and we had deep dish pizza for lunch...mmmm 😀

 

[bamtuba]

For me, the best:

#1 Mayo, hands down the friendliest throughout the process for me.

#2 Johns Hopkins was a close second, but was not nearly as organized.

I also really enjoyed the following interview days/schools and their interview experience:

Virginia Tech
University of Rochester

The worst interview day for me:

SUNY Downstate

Too many reasons to go into here, but this was one interview day that showed me how things should never go.

Best food:

South Carolina
Sweet tea...nuff said.

Most awkward experience:

Wake Forest

Many reasons, but nice students and a good lunch.

with the process everyone!

 

[DRMRL]

Oklahoma State University college of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Oklahoma, UVA, and Hopkins.

 

[BBender716]

University of Pittsburgh, Case Western, Ohio State

These three. Fo sho. And Loyola for sure!

 

[Lycheegal]

UCSF (amazing students), UPEnn (incredibly friendly staff/faculty and some of the happiest students I had ever seen), Dartmouth (friendly faculty and admissions staff) and MCW (students and admissions were super friendly) 🙂