Univ. Washington interview

Congrats dirtybob!

I'm hoping to get an interview invite too!
When was your application complete? Are you applying MD/PhD?

 

You guys should wait for SMW to come back . She's out of town right now. She knows a bit about the school because she interviewed there and may have some insights to offer us.

 

congrats dirtybob! i know you'll do great at the interview. i hope you don't mind me asking, but what are your stats?

 

dirtybob, when did they send you the secondary? can you post your app dates (rec'd, completed, etc) thanks!

 

Like SMW, I interviewed as an Alaska WWAMI applicant last year so I'll tell you about that experience (although I don't know if the other out-of-state interviews are the same). (By the way, I interviewed the same day as SMW). The following is my opinon of the interview day which may, or may not, differ from SMW's opinion...although she is one righteous Alaskan gal.

The interview day was short. I think I arrived around 11:00 or so. They fed us a crappy lunch. Then there was a crappy tour. There were helpful students at the lunch to discuss the program which was cool. The facilities are great and all but our tour guide was a schmuck. During the tour we heard a brief talk by the financial aid director. For some reason I am still on her e-mail list and even though I don't attend UW and I have sent her several e-mails asking her to remove me from her distribution list, I still find out all the latest on UW financial aid...some lady just left that office the other day and there was food and stuff at the financial aid office in case anyone is interested...I'm not, but they still seem to want to tell me these things).

The interview lasted about 30 minutes. It was a panel interview with three interviewers (two open file and one closed file). Unfortunately for me, they seemed terribly bored during my interview (one of them kept on yawning). It wasn't particularly stressful although they did have some "ethical dilemmas" presented. I also met with the Office of Multicultural Affairs (I have no idea why as I'm not a minority but somehow I was sent up there with other minorities interviewing that day...the rest of the white folks seems to get left behind). This was pretty cool and was definitely the highlight of my day at UW School of Medicine. The women that met with me was great and we talked at length about all sorts of things (although we never talked about why some white guy from Alaska was invited to talk about multicultural affairs).

It was a nice day there overall and I definitely liked the school and was particularly impressed by the opportunities they offer in rural medicine. I was only waitlisted and never got in, however.

 

Dirtybob: May I do the "I told ya so" thing and point out to you that one short month ago you were not even gonna fill out the seconday!!!

Congratulations on the interview-you never know where it might take you-they want you , man!

 

We are WA state residents, and so we are fairly familiar with UW, but moreso my husband because he's the one actually applying to med schools this year, I just "lurk" as they say. Anyway, he's gone over to UW lots of times b/c he's a URM and they have all sorts of programs for those guys. The Office of Multicultural Affairs people are really great, and they are trying to change the way interviews are conducted at the school. In the past, they use the stress method of interviewing, where they will ask lots of ethical questions and try to push you to your breaking point. Maybe the bad lunch and all that play into the stress interview method? Anyway, most people on interviewfeedback.com (in the good old days) rated UW interviews in the 8-9-10 range on the stress scale. Also, another thing about UW, they are totally unpredictable as to who gets in. I know a guy with almost perfect MCAT, good ECs, etc. and he was rejected. So, if anyone ends up rejected from UW, don't be offended. I have no idea how they make their decisions, but they are seemingly random! Also, nobody feels like they did well on the interview there. In short, have fun at your interview!

 

I had an interview on the first day of the interviews this year. They don't really try to break you but they are pretty dry and not particularly friendly. I think I was a little nervous even though I had had two interviews at other schools before UW and had done pretty well. Just try not to be intimidated.
As for me, it's been 20 days and no words. I have my fingers crossed.
Good luck on your interview.

 

I'm a Cali resident and interviewed/accepted last year. Hopefully this will be of some help to those interviewing. As far as the interview with Multicultural Affairs, it's given to all out-of-staters. For the panel interview, it's just like any other interview where they want to get to know you. However, they do ask a mandatory ethical question. Do check the UW bioethics website before your interview...it's very thorough. It's okay to take your time answering. They just wanted to hear you think out your answer. Remember to give the pros and cons. This was definitely my most challenging interview, but also the most rewarding. If you get thtough this one the others will be cake.
Good Luck!