red flag / warning sign on interview day?

[Captain Sisko]

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Is not having the chance to meet current medical students on an interview day a red flag that I should consider when deciding on a school? To be fair, it was the first interview day of the year and they seemed to not really have their act together, but no medical students showed up to the lunch with interviewees, and very few stopped by the student lounge to talk to us even though that's where we waited for our interviews.

 

[MCSquared16]

I don't think so, it's early in the semester and they're probably getting hammered.

 

[Pacna]

Absolutely yes. Student attitude is the one thing they cannot fake. I suggest messaging current students of that school on SDN. They're usually happy to tell you how they feel about the school. Hold judgement until then, but I'd be wary if I were you. All the interviews I've had try to give you as much exposure to students as possible.

 

[volcomx]

Would you be willing to share what school it was?

Also, student happiness is one of my major criteria that I'm going to use to choose the school to attend, although it really has only ruled out one school (students are quite happy at most schools).

 

[Microglia]

Is not having the chance to meet current medical students on an interview day a red flag that I should consider when deciding on a school? To be fair, it was the first interview day of the year and they seemed to not really have their act together, but no medical students showed up to the lunch with interviewees, and very few stopped by the student lounge to talk to us even though that's where we waited for our interviews.

Could be, it's certainly a little odd.

 

[GoPelicans]

Maybe students were in class during the time of your lunch? Even if they weren't, I don't think you should worry about this kind of thing. I would consider myself a fairly upbeat person and a good team player but I don't imagine myself ever wanting to have lunch with interviewees.

 

[Ismet]

You could have just been unlucky in your interview day. I regularly eat lunch with the applicants at my school, and the med student attendance at that is always fluctuating based on what is going on at times. Sometimes they have required sessions at that time, so maybe that's what happened? A couple weeks ago here, MS1-MS4 had an exam on the same day, and there were only a couple med students at the lunch. I wouldn't necessarily take it as a red flag.

 

[Ismet]

Maybe students were in class during the time of your lunch? Even if they weren't, I don't think you should worry about this kind of thing. I would consider myself a fairly upbeat person and a good team player but I don't imagine myself ever wanting to have lunch with interviewees.

Chatting with applicants while eating free food? Who doesn't want to do that? 😀

 

[mvenus929]

I think every medical school I interviewed at made it a point to get students involved in the process and talk to the applicants. I would be a little wary if I didn't see any students, especially since students are often the ones leading the tours.

Make an effort to get in contact with some students from that school. If you can't find them on SDN, ask the admissions office if they have any students you can contact.

 

[Mr Avante]

There is something wrong when students don't attend sessions offering free lunch

 

[BABSstudent]

Is not having the chance to meet current medical students on an interview day a red flag that I should consider when deciding on a school? To be fair, it was the first interview day of the year and they seemed to not really have their act together, but no medical students showed up to the lunch with interviewees, and very few stopped by the student lounge to talk to us even though that's where we waited for our interviews.

Maybe they had a test coming up or something? I know if I had a test the same or following day I probably wouldn't be as keen to take a free lunch. Or if I had anatomy lab during that time I wouldn't skip. Or if we had a required meeting (because those happen from time to time). Any other time and I would be done to BS and talk to premeds interviewing.

You may have just had some bad luck with the date and time of your interview.

 

[Plecopotamus]

It definitely depends on the date. Recently, my school sent out a frantic email to MS4's to come to meet the interviewees because nobody was signed up. Our school regularly gets rave reviews for student happiness but the MS1s & 2s were having exams later that week & had no reason to be on campus in the days prior to the exam. MS3's were having a week of mandatory sessions (with their own free lunch) to prepare them for the residency application process & get feedback on rotations thus far, so they pretty much couldn't come. A lot of MS4s are on "audition rotations" right now and can't make it to these lunches or interviews.

1) Ask on the school-specific forum here what was going on that day/week & whether other people noticed a similar problem.
2) There used to be a thread of interview impressions/feedback that you could also look at
3) If it happens in the future, ask the students who you do see what the schedule is right now and get a sense as to whether it is exam time etc.

 

[Nymphicus]

Maybe, maybe not.

Scheduling may have just not worked out on that day.

It might be good to see if others on different days had a similar experience or not.

 

[tantacles]

We have a lot of trouble getting students to volunteer during our school vacations and on any day when there's an exam. Don't read into it too much, and be sure to bring it up (nicely) to whoever is showing you around. Chances are that they'll be able to provide you with a couple of names. If you're interested in a particular student organization, any good admissions office will provide you with the names of the leaders of that organization so that you can contact them.

Just ask.