Tips for answering “why this school?” secondary

[subdermallight]

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[Docstar01]

Apart from gleaning info from the website and school specific forum on here, any tips on how to answer that?

Contact current Med students at that school from linkden, instagram, Facebook, etc. and ask their opinions.

 

[GoCubsGo20]

Don't contact current medical students. If you can't figure out why you'd want to attend said school, students likely don't want you there.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Don't contact current medical students. If you can't figure out why you'd want to attend said school, students likely don't want you there.

Who pissed in your cereal this morning

 

[Catalystik]

Apart from gleaning info from the website and school specific forum on here, any tips on how to answer that?

Besides making positive comments on curriculum components, grading system, & early patient contact, university resources (strength in a given research area), and the like, that appeal to you, you can mention community elements you find desirable (eg, free clinic that med students staff), local support persons (if any), and last, recreational interests (even though you'll have little time for them).

 

[Wahkoon]

Staying with student hosts, when possible, is a good way to get information and prep the day before. I would try to stay with an MS2+, since the first-years have been in school ~1 month at this point.

 

[GoCubsGo20]

Who pissed in your cereal this morning

My dog. My dog pissed in my cereal.

 

[Catalystik]

TOS #7

Stay on topic. Our membership encourages open discussion and debate as long as it relates to the topic of the thread at hand.

 

[ClimbsRox]

Look what teaching hospitals they are affiliated with where you will be doing your clinical training. Are they urban? Rural? Predominantly Spanish-speaking? Serve local Native American populations? Do they have an NCI-designated cancer center or another disease-specific institution you are interested in working with? etc. Do any of these traits line up with your goals in medicine? Write/talk about it.

 

[Esotsm7]

Okay here's what I did when I interviewed a few years ago in addition to some of the stuff that's already mentioned above -

If you already have a career or research interest demonstrated in the rest of your application, search for an active researcher/professor at that school who's in that field and read up on their general areas of research. They don't have to be the big wig in their field or famous at all, chances are your interviewer may not even know who that is. You don't have to know every small detail about their work either, just get the gist of what kind of research they are into. If you do this right it will show that A) you did your homework, B) you know what you want from their program, C) it also gives you a chance to talk about your past experiences.

If you do this right it can help your application/interview look more cohesive and this way you can also avoid generic answers.

Good luck everyone!

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Apart from gleaning info from the website and school specific forum on here, any tips on how to answer that?

I kinda found similar student organizations, free clinics, research opportunities, and volunteering opportunities that matched what I did in undergrad--so I showed them that I had experience in the stuff that I liked about the school. All of these should be specific, not vague. For example, don't be like "the research opportunities here look cool." More like "the research in the ___ department about ____ intrigues me due to my undergrad research." Preferably find something more unique about the school and focus on those aspects rather than, say, their free clinics (as this is common). But you can for sure mention the clinics! Good luck ~