Does anyone have an idea of how the admissions process works at SGU ( pre and post interview). Do they look at your grades before granting the interview? If so then what is the reason for the committee meeting AFTER interview to decide whether you are accepted or not.
Current SGU student here. The committee does pre-screen you for an interview. Therefore, your GPA, MCAT, etc is ok. However, you need to rock the interview to get a spot in the MD class. This can either be one of two types of acceptances, based on different factors:
1. You rock the interview, your grades are awesome, MCAT is high. Accepted
2. You rock the interview, but your grades/MCAT have some questions (grades not consistent, or lower MCAT).. So, they will put you into A or B...
A: MSAP (This is what I was put in). MSAP is a free 4 week summer online course with SGU starting about 7 weeks before the semester begins. You pass MSAP, you are accepted into that semesters MD class. It's a tough course, but it will prepare you. If you fail MSAP, you have the option to do the Charter program (CFP), see B, below.
B: Charter Foundation Program. I'm not too knowledgable with this program, but it's basically a semester review course to prepare you for the MD program. From what I hear, it's a great program and prepares you well for med school. However, no federal loans... so look into it.
When I interviewed, my interviewer did not have my gpa or mcat. It is a blind interview. Therefore, she expected my gpa and mcat to be what the admissions committee is looking for, in either the regular acceptance, MSAP, or CFP... otherwise, there would be no interview. Professionalism is really big at SGU, so be very professional in your interview and prepare well. They ask the standard questions, and some odd-balls, I'm sure there's a list of those on here somewhere.
Of course the admissions committee meets post-interview. The reason is to look over the notes that your interviewer took and then they will decide. An interview is an important part of medical school admissions. There are people that just cannot interview, not professional, cannot communicate, or have red flags when they are interviewing.... so they will probably not be accepted. My decision came about 3 weeks after my interview, although it depends on the time of year you apply and how swamped they are.
I feel like my acceptance was on the fence, but I felt insanely good after my interview. We clicked, I was very very professional, mature, and I was extremely prepared for any question at all. They also want to make sure you are human and have a personal life, sense of humor, adaptable and they also want to make sure you realize what the island life is like. It's awesome here, I love it, but it's not for everyone. Many of my peers are homesick, often complain about the food, water/wifi going out random times, bus problems, etc... Living in Grenada has it's pro's and con's... I'm very easy going and adaptable, so I'm ok, but others aren't, so just be prepared. They will ask you if you ever traveled, how do you deal with difficult circumstances, people, home sickness, personal de-stressing, etc... be ready to answer that and most importantly, be ready and educated about living here for 2 years.
Basically, if you have an interview, and rock it, I mean really impress them, you have a very very good chance in either option 1, 2A, or 2B as listed above. Good luck!
