anyone can go to the open house. some things from last year:
0)coffee, muffins, pens, course catalog, bandaids (came in handy this summer), fridge magnet, etc
1)saw many parents present. maybe some children. - appeared to be 200-250 people present
2)by show of hands a handful of people were at the previous years Open House. by show of hands - some of the premeds were only in their sophomore year.
3)demonstration of OMM
4)small groups where you talk with 2 students
5)small groups with OMM fellows - very nice
6)tour of school
7)talk on financial aid
8)meet some of the administration
9)after all of this they had lunch served and then you can talk with the admin available and admissions.
read the FAQ for a list of criteria. If anything is very important to you and it is not covered sufficiently when lunch starts then talk to the admissions director. Obviously talking to them is not mandatory. You don't even have to ask a question. Just say hi!! Ms Zaika is very nice and others say that Ms Croot is as well.
Lines to talk to the 2 deans of admissions was never longer than about 5-8 people with a 10-15 minute wait to talk. It did not seem like that many people took the opportunity to talk to the directors of admissions in the first 30 minutes.
The directors of admissions were able to discuss the school and other topics. If you want to discuss your grades, interviews or any personal topics along that manner please tread lightly. I doubt they want to stand there all day and hear "What are my chances?". Asking about averages from last year's interview group is one thing but starting off with " i have an XX MCAT and X.X GPA" is probably not the best use of your time.
Put a face on your application
If you have no how idea to approach this then just tell them:
your name
what you are currently doing now
what you have done to improve your chances at NYCOM
etc.
This is not an interview so the above should only take a minute! after that:
ask your question/share your concerns
some of you will be faced with multiple acceptances so try to take away something from the Open House that will help you accept/decline your acceptance to NYCOM.
things change every year so don't get mad at me if they don't have muffins this year. 😀