Successful interviewers, help!

[BecauseTheInternet]

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Yo SDN, I recently got an interview at my first, and possibly only medical school. Naturally, I'm very happy but also very anxious as I want it to go very smooth. My stats are subpar to say the least. 499 MCAT, 3.2 GPA's. My extracurriculars are stellar and I have great letters of recommendation. Obviously with my stats, I need to knock this interview out of the park. I will be interviewing at South Dakota (Sanford) as an OOS, so any information specific to this school is extra-helpful.

I'm quite certain I could find an unlimited amount of "preparing for interview questions" all over, but I wanted to be more specific. I'd love to hear from former successful applicants, or people who have had very good interviews in the past. I know my application like the back of my hand, so any questions like that I'm confident with. Basically, I'd love to know what type of stuff you guys did to prepare. Like how much did you know about the school in terms of curriculum, grading, rotation sites, match stats, etc. Any general tips/advice on med school interviews is not discouraged!

I realize there are probably many other threads just like this, but with interview season kicking off, another one doesn't hurt. I'm not asking you to spoonfeed me tips to becoming a great interviewer but actually I am. Thanks!

 

[ndafife]

As someone who was a successful oos interviewer at a very similar school to Sanford, be able to sell the connection to South Dakota. Be authentic in how you talk about it (aka don't lie or super over exaggerate), but be ready to talk up SD. Keep in mind, this school is focused on training physicians FOR South Dakota.

That said, study up before hand. Reread your essays. At a few interviews I was asked things like "what is the biggest issue facing medicine today in your opinion?" so make sure to read up on some current events and basic health policy.

Besides that, wear a suit, stay calm, etc... The same basic stuff you hear about every interview

 

[Goro]

Go dig up my "guide to interviews" in this forum.

How did you pull an II from U SD with those stats? Veteran? URM?

Yo SDN, I recently got an interview at my first, and possibly only medical school. Naturally, I'm very happy but also very anxious as I want it to go very smooth. My stats are subpar to say the least. 499 MCAT, 3.2 GPA's. My extracurriculars are stellar and I have great letters of recommendation. Obviously with my stats, I need to knock this interview out of the park. I will be interviewing at South Dakota (Sanford) as an OOS, so any information specific to this school is extra-helpful.

I'm quite certain I could find an unlimited amount of "preparing for interview questions" all over, but I wanted to be more specific. I'd love to hear from former successful applicants, or people who have had very good interviews in the past. I know my application like the back of my hand, so any questions like that I'm confident with. Basically, I'd love to know what type of stuff you guys did to prepare. Like how much did you know about the school in terms of curriculum, grading, rotation sites, match stats, etc. Any general tips/advice on med school interviews is not discouraged!

I realize there are probably many other threads just like this, but with interview season kicking off, another one doesn't hurt. I'm not asking you to spoonfeed me tips to becoming a great interviewer but actually I am. Thanks!

 

[BecauseTheInternet]

As someone who was a successful oos interviewer at a very similar school to Sanford, be able to sell the connection to South Dakota. Be authentic in how you talk about it (aka don't lie or super over exaggerate), but be ready to talk up SD. Keep in mind, this school is focused on training physicians FOR South Dakota.

That said, study up before hand. Reread your essays. At a few interviews I was asked things like "what is the biggest issue facing medicine today in your opinion?" so make sure to read up on some current events and basic health policy.

Besides that, wear a suit, stay calm, etc... The same basic stuff you hear about every interview

Thanks for the advice, also love the Kramer pic!

Go dig up my "guide to interviews" in this forum.

How did you pull an II from U SD with those stats? Veteran? URM?

STRONG connection to South Dakota. Grandfather went to USD for medical school, father works as a hospitalist in multiple hospitals in South Dakota. 2/4 of my LOR are from doctors from SD, and I did a majority of my shadowing there. As for my stats, my MCAT is rather unbalanced as I scored in the 60th - 80th percentile in all the sections but the psych/soc (I bombed it). My GPA has a strong upward trend? Idk, might just be a polite interview because of my connections, but I will take the chance and run with it!

 

[ndafife]

Thanks for the advice, also love the Kramer pic!



STRONG connection to South Dakota. Grandfather went to USD for medical school, father works as a hospitalist in multiple hospitals in South Dakota. As for my stats, my MCAT is rather unbalanced as I scored in the 60th - 80th percentile in all the sections but the psych/soc (I bombed it). My GPA has a strong upward trend? Idk, might just be a polite interview because of my connections, but I will take the chance and run with it!

Another thing, in the interview, remember it is now about you. Bring up the family connections, but remember to do it in the context of why YOU want to be at South Dakota

Good luck