Name and Shame 2019- 2020 Cycle: Full Roasting Letter A-Z

[Icebird]

With the cycle dying down and the sun dialing up, it’s time to pull out your chair, uncork the glass, and pour some wine; the full roasting letter A-Z begins as we reflect and shun all the HORSECRAP and BUFFOONERY these schools and adcoms have inflicted on all our KINGS and QUEENS.

Was your FAP distinction not poor enough to qualify for waived secondary fees at UNC?

Did adcoms invite 24 interviewees each day 6 days every month for 24 possible seats at NYULI?

Did FAU talk about their one Harvard derm match and UMiami repeatedly?

What is REALLY goin on?

The KING wants to separate the TRUTH from the LIES, spill the TEA and MORE so lets share some experiences and ROAST the 2019-2020 application cycle

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[deleted972488]

 

[Marr97]

@Icebird you're my hero

 

[imbesrs]

Im here for it, king

 

[Eagle529]

Asked my interviewer at Quinnipiac if I should go there or to UCONN and they said UCONN

 

[tessellations]

My interviewer at SLU asked me how I got my research coordinator job without relevant clinical research experience

 

[pugpy_dawg]

my interviewer at case western told me the research i do is unethical

... our IRB disagrees with you but go off!

 

[marcosma]

my JHU interviewer implied that I was not only not qualified to go to JHU, but that I should really think about not becoming a physician because I "don't really understand what it takes" because I don't have physician parents

 

[UteFan1234]

My Interviewer at Georgetown told me i'd be better off going to my state school then to GT (for financial reasons)

 

[deleted972488]

Mayo

 

[deleted976595]

Did adcoms invite 24 interviewees each day 6 days every month for 24 possible seats at NYULI?

Lmao also looking at you Kaiser doing 24 interviewees a session for 48 spots and also extending their interview season to interview EVEN more people! As if they couldn’t find 48 people out of hundreds (maybe pushing 1k) who would love the prospect of free-tuition/COL in Pasadena

 

[Pstar9]

My interviewer showed up in shorts and flip flops, coughed the entire duration of the interview and then replied "Thank God" when I said I didnt have any more questions.

This was in the fall so prob not corona.

 

[ALittleBitofHope]

My interviewer at Downstate took two phone calls during my interview...

 

[tessellations]

The student giving me and two other students a tour at Wake Forest told us towards the end that we hadn't asked her the question that everyone always asks her. So, I asked her what that question was and she said, "Does everyone here date each other? And the answer is yes!"

 

[Morc]

I posted this earlier, but I farted loudly during my first station at the VCU MMI, and my interviewer complained to open a window. There were no windows.

Do not eat chipotle for dinner the night before game day.

 

[marcosma]

my [redacted southern school] tour guides FOUGHT the whole tour and kept contradicting one another

 

[ruledaworlds]

Not a roast, but to the cute girl doing MMIs at NYMC, I'm sorry that I'm literally the most awkward person on the planet

You might have scored me a 1, but you're definitely a 10

 

[valkirieas]

One of my interviewers asked me about a C I got taking an architecture class, literally had my grades out in front of her pointing out anything other than an A.

Same lady also repeatedly cut me off and when I asked questions at the end of the interview she said stuff that was completely unrelated to my question. I wonder which questions she was answering.

 

[deleted688779]

Now only if there was a way for medical schools to get dinged for these things, just like how applicants are viewed under a microscope.

 

[DevinBookerMD]

Not really a shame because I loved the school and my interviewer but at Einstein my interviewer was an older doc. He pulled my app up and saw that I took a class at community college and proceeded to ask me why I did that, implying that community college was a red flag lol. It was an international film class I took while I was in high school to fulfill an art requirement lol.

 

[deleted894256]

My interviewer at Downstate took two phone calls during my interview...

one of my ucsf interviewers took FOUR (4) calls during our 40 min interview. I was like...do you need to go? lol

 

[deleted894256]

For the rest, I think I would rather shame without naming. Overall I am happy with how my cycle went, but I had some interesting experiences along the way.

​

A couple of schools handled a disability quite poorly, despite notifying them several weeks in advance (other schools handled it quite well).

An interviewer interrupted me several times to say I was stupid and that I didn't know what I was talking about.

One evaluator was on the phone during an entire MMI station.

An admissions person tried to tell me that I don't have a degree which I, in fact, do have.

An "open file" interviewer asked me if I had ever done research before.

An interviewer told me I was wasting their time and mine by being there because I would end up going somewhere else.

An interviewer asked me to "explain" being LGBT.​

were there ways for you to report these people to admissions leadership? these people should not be allowed to interview!! holy f

 

[ThetisAntithesis]

One of my interviewers at a school I really loved talked about himself and his research the entire time. I had to find ways to insert myself into the conversation.

 

[coffee&scrubs]

My Dartmouth interviewer showed up to my interview without reading my file, sat back, and asked me to tell him my "life story." Which is fine, in theory. But somewhere around when I said I grew up as a child of immigrant parents, he interjected, and asked if they were now US citizens. I then paused, as did he, and there was silence until I curtly said yes and moved on to the next portion of my "life story" while internally screaming. I loved you Dartmouth, but that left a bad taste in my mouth...

 

[Cornfed101]

First of all, thank you for making this thread @Icebird. I am laughing so hard right now.

I had an interviewer ask me why I repeated a class... Um, cause I got a D and you don't take Ds?

 

[Etopn23]

One of the medical schools in Florida:

I get there and I am told that I will be touring first, then interviewing. I follow the schedule - get back from the tour and someone is calling my name. I stand up, she introduces me to a doctor. I say hello, we stare at each other awkwardly, and then admissions office lady tells me to sit back down.

Okay. Weird.

An hour passes, people are done with their interviews and I'm the only one who hasn't had an interview. Eventually the admissions office lady asks me for my schedule and then she comes back and says there's a mistake, your interviewers were switched at the last second and I missed my interviews. I should have interviewed then toured the campus. No one ever updated my folder so my itinerary never reflected that.

Okay. Whatever.

They find other people to interview me. It goes well enough. We are told we will have a decision in 6-8 weeks. This is repeated on the portal. I interviewed in October. My portal never updated, I never received a decision. I emailed after a couple of months and was ignored. I called and was told they can't tell me anything and I may hear "at some point". It's been almost 5 months and I haven't heard anything.

I have other options now but IDK what the deal was. None of the other schools I interviewed at had any issues like this.

_________________________________________________

One of my interviewers at a top 10 program spent the entire interview criticizing my application. I mean ripped me a new one. The significant activities I chose, the reason I was applying to the program, my background, how unorganized my application was. Told me that I would be better off at Henry Ford in Detroit after reading my personal statement. Then brought up how my stats are too good for Henry Ford?? Finished by asking me if I had even been accepted anywhere (this was the only school that did this). I smiled, shook hands, and walked off. I sent her an email later thanking her for reviewing my application.

_________________________________________________

An interviewer at a humid school in Texas completely mixed up my application with another applicants and it threw him off. His first question was asking about my experience in massage therapy and eastern medicine...... I have no experience in either of those subjects. Literally ended up being a 5 minute interview because he was so flustered. I still ended up getting accepted??

_________________________________________________

I strongly suspect that I picked up bed bugs from the Marriott in Lebanon during my Dartmouth interview. I don't blame the school for that. I just wouldn't recommend staying there if you are headed in that direction.

 

[Cakepop514]

my JHU interviewer implied that I was not only not qualified to go to JHU, but that I should really think about not becoming a physician because I "don't really understand what it takes" because I don't have physician parents

send them your Harvard acceptance <3

 

[imbesrs]

Literally ended up being a 5 minute interview because he was so flustered. I still ended up getting accepted??

They realized that you had better emotional stability than someone that conducts interviews, so they had to accept you

 

[enchantments]

Had a 45 min interview with a doc at IU. One of the questions he asked was what I felt was wrong with American healthcare. Gave my usual, carefully prepared "e t h i c a l and t h o u g h t f u l" response, to which he responded with a 20 minute tirade on why fat people are to blame.

 

[TheDataKing]

Louisville asked me what I was interested in at their school and I spoke about the research track and how it would help me continue what I'm doing now with research, etc. My answer was met with "med students don't have time for research." Later I asked what resources are available for minorities and women and my interviewer straight up said "I have no idea. I don't think there are any"

Geisinger asked me to explain the details of a sexual assault which was very uncomfortable and led me to not enjoy the day at alla

One of my interviewers at OUWB talked down on all physicians that weren't in her field and how they were incompetent and she didn't respect them. She spoke about her accomplishments and how well she'd done in life etc., and I barely got to talk

 

[char8wl]

Harvard interviewer, white older man, spent the whole time explaining that HMS is essentially a white boys club, and questioned whether or not I could handle it as a queer, POC woman. Not surprised when I was rejected because I wasn’t a white male, so literally did not have the chance to say anything substantive about myself.

Vanderbilt, blind, interviewer asked me two oddly phrased “resilience” questions. When I couldn’t quite figure out how to respond, she replied “it’s ok, not all of us have had adversity in our lives” (Again, unbeknownst to a queer, POC woman, who also has a disability, surely I’ve never faced adversity of any sort since I couldn’t come up with a response to an odd question)

 

[and 99 others]

One of my interviewers asked me which residency program I was interviewing for.

 

[PreMedStudent55555]

I was trapped in an elevator at Tulane for about an hour or two during interview day and proceeded to be WAITLISTED. Regardless, I got in somewhere I’m happy with but damn at least hit me with the acceptance. I was all sweaty and everything cuz I was trapped in there with like 20 other interviewees.

Also my interviewers at Tulane literally wouldn’t believe I would go to Tulane. They were like “Why Tulane?” And I list things like their curriculum and mentoring program and they're like yeah our curriculum is pretty bad right now and our mentoring program is also not so good right now but we're working on it. And I'm like uh....

This was the only school that gave me this much trouble about “Why this school”.

I had an interviewer at Tufts who started the interview by telling me how much he hated the city from where I was from because of his horrible experience with it... Needless to say, things didn't go so well after that.

Vermont has 90 people on my interview day.

 

[PreMedStudent55555]

Also what’s up with all these cold cuts omg?? Like I’ve had so many cold cuts this season that I’m done with chicken and ham cold cuts forever. Y’all can’t get some Chinese food or pizza. Like damn.

Ay yo while I’m here shout out to Upstate for the Italian and Wake Forest for the Chick Fil A. Y’all were dope

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Harvard interviewer, white older man, spent the whole time explaining that HMS is essentially a white boys club, and questioned whether or not I could handle it as a queer, POC woman. Not surprised when I was rejected because I wasn’t a white male, so literally did not have the chance to say anything substantive about myself.

Funnily enough, my HMS interviewer spent my entire interview talking about how HMS was 50 percent PoC and the importance of diversity. Really shows how who you get for an interviewer can matter.

 

[deleted927529]

At a T20 school, an interviewer called my family uneducated and questioned whether I could relate to my family on account of how "uneducated" they are--
At the same school, another interviewer told me the school had no responsibility to the community and city around it because it's a private school...I stayed in a black neighborhood just south of campus that had several signs criticizing the school system. Not a great look!

 

[chaim123]

Funnily enough, my HMS interviewer spent my entire interview talking about how HMS was 50 percent PoC and the importance of diversity. Really shows how who you get for an interviewer can matter.

@rowls212 if you feel comfortable that is something you could report to the DoA who will investigate and determine if that person should sit on the committee any longer. HMS has been very proactive about reports like this in the past, and you could really make a difference for those coming through in the future.

 

[char8wl]

@rowls212 if you feel comfortable that is something you could report to the DoA who will investigate and determine if that person should sit on the committee any longer. HMS has been very proactive about reports like this in the past, and you could really make a difference for those coming through in the future.

I’ll certainly think about it. I’m kinda over it. But I know it’s important to think about others going through the process.... which reminds me:

Miami only had 6 discrete racial categories, of which you could only pick one, on their secondary application. I’m biracial so I emailed them asking if this could be fixed (another section of the secondary did allow you to pick multiple options). They emailed back saying their secondary was not fixable and to “choose which racial category I most identified with”. I emailed back essentially saying that was unacceptable. They eventually fixed it but I withdrew because the correspondence was horrific.

 

[mwsapphire]

My interviewer showed up in shorts and flip flops, coughed the entire duration of the interview and then replied "Thank God" when I said I didnt have any more questions.

This was in the fall so prob not corona.

Idk that sounds like it prob wasn't in his control....the rest is ridiculous tho. Idk about you guys but whenever I come down a with a cold or something the cough is constant and lasts like 6 weeks....

 

[mwsapphire]

For the rest, I think I would rather shame without naming. Overall I am happy with how my cycle went, but I had some interesting experiences along the way.

​

A couple of schools handled a disability quite poorly, despite me notifying them several weeks in advance (other schools handled it quite well).​

​

An interviewer interrupted me several times to say I was stupid and that I didn't know what I was talking about.​

​

One evaluator was on the phone during an entire MMI station.​

​

An admissions person tried to tell me that I don't have a degree which I, in fact, do have.​

​

An "open file" interviewer asked me if I had ever done research before.​

​

An interviewer told me I was wasting their time and mine by being there because I would end up going somewhere else.​

​

An interviewer asked me to "explain" being LGBT.​

That warrants a formal complaint, IMHO. Classic microaggression.

 

[Agentcross]

I was trapped in an elevator at Tulane for about an hour or two during interview day and proceeded to be WAITLISTED. Regardless, I got in somewhere I’m happy with but damn at least hit me with the acceptance. I was all sweaty and everything cuz I was trapped in there with like 20 other interviewees.

Also my interviewers at Tulane literally wouldn’t believe I would go to Tulane. They were like “Why Tulane?” And I list things like their curriculum and mentoring program and they're like yeah our curriculum is pretty bad right now and our mentoring program is also not so good right now but we're working on it. And I'm like uh....

This was the only school that gave me this much trouble about “Why this school”.

I had an interviewer at Tufts who started the interview by telling me how much he hated the city from where I was from because of his horrible experience with it... Needless to say, things didn't go so well after that.

Vermont has 90 people on my interview day.

You must have interviewed the session before me. We heard all about the elevator incident on my day. How awful

 

[Pstar9]

Idk that sounds like it prob wasn't in his control....the rest is ridiculous tho. Idk about you guys but whenever I come down a with a cold or something the cough is constant and lasts like 6 weeks....

She was also blowing her nose constantly and holding the tissue in her hand the whole time. She was obviously sick. Not her fault but should have stayed home. The lack of common sense is what warrants the sdn shaming.

 

[mwsapphire]

She was also blowing her nose constantly and holding the tissue in her hand the whole time. She was obviously sick. Not her fault but should have stayed home. The lack of common sense is what warrants the sdn shaming.

Meh. I see what you mean, but its possible she was no lonnger sick but still full of mucous- I would have opened with " Ive been sick for a while and am no longer contagious." If that WERE the case.
But ya it seems like she shoulda stayed home.

 

[medschoolhopeful3]

My interviewer at Downstate was sick and obviously didn't want to be there. He literally told me he was sick and I was his only interview for the day. He had a list of questions to ask and kept saying "we can skip this one" then when I was actually allowed to answer a question, he would cut me off about 30 seconds after I started talking. He then proceeded to roast me for getting a B in a physics class. At the end of the interview, he told me I could ask him 1 question. The interview took a total of 25-30 minutes, whereas everyone else's that day took closer to an hour. Needless to say, I wasn't too surprised when I got the R.

 

[mwsapphire]

My interviewer at Downstate was sick and obviously didn't want to be there. He literally told me he was sick and I was his only interview for the day. He had a list of questions to ask and kept saying "we can skip this one" then when I was actually allowed to answer a question, he would cut me off about 30 seconds after I started talking. He then proceeded to roast me for getting a B in a physics class. At the end of the interview, he told me I could ask him 1 question. The interview took a total of 25-30 minutes, whereas everyone else's that day took closer to an hour. Needless to say, I wasn't too surprised when I got the R.

I would report that.
What is it with these interviewers coming in sick? Maybe it's something like where they can't call in sick....

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Funnily enough, my HMS interviewer spent my entire interview talking about how HMS was 50 percent PoC and the importance of diversity. Really shows how who you get for an interviewer can matter.

Yeah I don’t think many people are getting rejected from HMS for not being white. They love diversity there to the point where a friend of mine said at second look they talked about a version of the trolley problem where the 5 people were white and the 1 person was black and clearly you murder the 5 white people because their lives are worth less than the black person’s. I am not exaggerating or being snarky. And neither were they. These were current students and faculty.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Yeah I don’t think many people are getting rejected from HMS for not being white. They love diversity there to the point where a friend of mine said at second look they talked about a version of the trolley problem where the 5 people were white and the 1 person was black and clearly you murder the 5 white people because their lives are worth less than the black person’s. I am not exaggerating or being snarky. And neither were they. These were current students and faculty.

Geez that's a turnoff lmao

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Geez that's a turnoff lmao

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's an amazing school. I think they just suffer from the Ivory Tower-itis a little.

 

[FutureSurgical]

I only had 1 interview this season. And I loved the school. But I was asked about my family and where a certain parent was in my life. I don't have any negative feelings about it because it happened when I was 6. Divorce isn't that rare I believe for my generation. But I had to spend 5 minutes explaining how uninvolved that parent was. And tell her repeatedly the parent did not care for me or my family.

No qualms about it and I still love the school. Just kinda thrown back by how much I had to explain that whole situation

 

[Sosaveli]

I was trapped in an elevator at Tulane for about an hour or two during interview day and proceeded to be WAITLISTED. Regardless, I got in somewhere I’m happy with but damn at least hit me with the acceptance. I was all sweaty and everything cuz I was trapped in there with like 20 other interviewees.

Also my interviewers at Tulane literally wouldn’t believe I would go to Tulane. They were like “Why Tulane?” And I list things like their curriculum and mentoring program and they're like yeah our curriculum is pretty bad right now and our mentoring program is also not so good right now but we're working on it. And I'm like uh....

This was the only school that gave me this much trouble about “Why this school”.

I had an interviewer at Tufts who started the interview by telling me how much he hated the city from where I was from because of his horrible experience with it... Needless to say, things didn't go so well after that.

Vermont has 90 people on my interview day.

90 people interviewing??? Don’t they realize how poor it makes them look?