Dallas, TX
Allopathic Medical Schools | Public Non-Profit
Overall, applicants ranked the school in the top 19% of interviews, indicating it is highly regarded. They found the interview mixed with a low stress level, and felt they did okay.
⭐ Overall Impressions ▼
How did the interview impress you?
Most respondents felt positively about their interview.
What was the stress level of the interview?
Most respondents rated their interview as average stress.
How you think you did?
Most respondents thought they performed well at the interview.
How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?
Most respondents rank this school above all other schools.
How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?
Most respondents rank this school above other schools they applied to.
0 = Below, 10 = Above
💬 Interview Questions ▼
What is one of the specific questions they asked you?
The most commonly asked interview questions at medical schools include inquiries about the applicant's motivations for pursuing medicine, future career goals, challenges faced, strengths and weaknesses, views on healthcare issues, and ethical dilemmas. Some respondents mentioned specific questions related to personal background, research experiences, interest in specific specialties, and scenarios involving ethical decision-making. The diversity of questions indicates a comprehensive evaluation process, with some respondents referencing an MMI format and the possibility of being subject to a nondisclosure agreement during interviews.
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How do you prioritize your well-being?
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Tell me about (activity in application).
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Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
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How will you handle the stress of medical school?
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Interviewer 1: How did COVID affect your education? 2: Tell me about yourself.
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Tell me about your research.
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Asked about my optional essay.
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Why medicine?
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what do you think the biggest issue in us healthcare is
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what is the future of the US healthcare system
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when did you grow up?
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Are you a risk taker
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What is a mistake you have made and what did you do
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Why do you want to go to UTSW
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What do you think is wrong with healthcare today?
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Biggest challenge/strengths/weaknesses?
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why do you want to be a doctor?
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What makes you think medicine is right for you? What are some attributes you think doctors should have? Tell me about an experience during college that changed your perspective. Tell me about an experience you had while volunteering that changed your perspective. What specialties do you think you may be interested in?
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Why [my undergrad]? Tell me about [my clinical volunteer experience]. Tell me about [an experience I wrote about on my optional essay].
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Do you see yourself staying in Texas? (I am originally form the north)
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Talk to me more about your research (they were VERY interested in my research, I have been working full time in a stem cell lab for the past two years)
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What do you like to do for fun?
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Open file interviewer (clinical faculty) seemed to have been impressed with my application even before (s)he met me. (S)he asked me about each of my main research projects, my plans in medicine and what I would do if I didn't get into med school (but then (s)he assured me I would get in :)). (S)he was extremely nice and tried to assure me I was doing well.
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PS only interviewer (research faculty) was also very nice but a little socially awkward, asked me about my personal background (based on my PS), what was the last book I read (followed by a somewhat awkward discussion, because (s)he hadn't heard of any of the books or authors I talked about) and what were my interests/hobbies. (S)he also seemed to follow some list of questions: What I would do if I saw a classmate cheat on a test? Which 3 people would I take to talk to the President about stem cell research? What is a main ethical issue in medicine now? Overall, (s)he focused mainly on my background/interests and personality/ethics.
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Tell me about your research experience.
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Tell me about yourself.
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What are you going to do this summer.
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What are my thoughts on obesity?
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What are my thoughts on supplements?
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What kind of medical problems will we face on Mars?
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What kind of difficulties did you face in [my volunteer experience]?
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What kinds of materials do you read?
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Why UT Southwestern?
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How do you see research as part of your future as a physician?
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What is the last book you've read?
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Do you want to do more research?
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Tell me about your upbringing (yes, I know that's more of a command than a question).
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What do you do besides school?
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Do you have any questions for me?
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How would your best friend describe you?
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Why Southwestern?
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What are three strengths and three weaknesses of yours?
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What do your parents do?
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What would your roommate tell us about you?
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Do you see yourself involved with research as a doctor?
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What is a book you've read recently (outside of school)?
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What two deceased people would you invite to dinner?
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Name two people you would want to invite for dinner?
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What do you do in your free time?
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What was most challenging in your life?
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Do you have any questions? One interviewer asked me this question three times, and I had only prepared two questions to ask.
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What made you interested in medicine?
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Two dead people to eat dinner with
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What do you like to do in free time
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What would you do if you didn't go into medicine?
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My PhD asked me to describe all of my research activities in detail. The MD also asked me to describe my current research.
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Politics aside, what do you think about our current healthcare situation/reform?
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Where do you see yourself when you are 40?
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Why medicine? What about activity X and Y? Anything you regret?
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name three weaknesses
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would you clone humans? how 'bout organs?
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Refresh me on your reasons for becoming a doctor and what you expect out of medical school. / (In response to my having taken the MCAT twice) Why do you think you did so much better the second time around? What was the difference? / Do you have any questions for me?
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What setting do you see yourself practicing in, as a doctor? Why? / What is a strength of yours? / What would your friends say is a strength of yours? (yes, asked again) / What would your friends say is a weakness of yours? / If you had anything you could do over, what would it be? / Who is an inspiration to you? / If you could choose any one person, living or dead, to have dinner with, who would it be? / What would you do if you saw a classmate cheat? / What would you do if, as a practicing physician, you saw a colleague abusing drugs? / What would you do if that colleague were siphoning drugs off -- not for personal abuse but for the benefit of a clinic's patients (i.e., a community clinic)? / Do you have any questions for me?
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What are your thoughts regarding the size of the uninsured population in this country, and specifically in Texas?
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What do your parents think about you going into medicine?
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What kind of work situation would you ideally be in several years from now?
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What would you do if a peer cheats?
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Would you permit a patient to take a holistic medication/supplement?
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how has the day gone so far? (followed by tell me about your clinical experience)
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what was the last book you read?
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what would you do if you saw a student cheating?
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Basic stuff - Tell me about your research. What's a challenge you've faced in your life and how did you deal with it? What do you do for fun?.
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Pick a current ethical dilemma in healthcare/research and tell me your thoughts on it (I chose stem cell research). Somehow this led into a discussion on gene therapy.
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What do you think about physician assisted suicide? What will you do if you don't get into medical school?
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Any research? (ONe interview was closed-file)
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How's undergrad?
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Describe your research.
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How have the doctors you shadowed helped you pursue a medical career?
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What are your hobbies?
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What would you do if you couldn't be a doctor?
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What would your friends say your greatest weakness is?
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Have you thought about what specialty you'd like to go into?
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When did you know you wanted to be a physician?
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Why do you want to be a physician?
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Tell me about your family
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what do you do for fun?
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If you couldn't go into medicine, what would you do?
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Tell me about (activity from application).
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greatest strengths
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if i couldn't go to medical school, what would i do?
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why medicine
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If the healthcare field didn't exist, what profession would you choose?
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If you had to choose 3 different types of people to advise George Bush on Stem Cell Research, who would you choose?
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What is the most controversial issue in medicine today, and explain how you would solve it.
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what do you envision medical school being like
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what have you done as an undergrad to be better prepared to work internationally?
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what on application that don't want me/committee to see
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What is it about medicine that you like so much? Why be a doctor?
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What kind of thought have you put into a medical career that may take many years as opposed to friends or siblingss that are able to start making big money straight out of college (i.e. deferred gratification)?
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What words describe you?
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what do you think physicians will face as a problem 10 years from now?
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In what setting do you think you will practice medicine in 10 years?
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Do you find yourself getting more pleasure when receiving than when giving?
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So tell me at what age did you become aware you wanted to be a doctor?
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What is your passion in life?
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How was your volunteering experience?
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If you can bring two people back to life to have dinner with, who would they be?
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What are you hobbies?
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how will you handle the stress of med school?
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what kind of research did you do?
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What specialty are you interested in?
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tell me about football...
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where will you be in ten years?
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Discuss the pros and cons of the proposed motorcyle helmet law.
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What are you going to do if you don't get into medical school?
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Ethics in medicine
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Problems in healthcare
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What do you like to do in your spare time?
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Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
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Why medical school?
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Talk about an ethical issue in medicine and how you'd handle it.
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What are 3 things you're proud of and 3 things you'd change about yourself?
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What specialty do you want to go into?
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Do you think music can heal? Do you expect to be able to incorporate music in your practice of medicine?
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What is your BIGGEST failure (the thing you are most ashamed of)??
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Why did you decide to apply to medical school?
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3 ppl you would like to eat dinner with.
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how wouuld youo describe yourself..(one word)
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If you were to bring a case to the president for funding stem cell research who would you bring.
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An ethical question involving physician assisted suicide.
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What do you see yourself doing in medicine in 10 years?
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What kind of doctor do you want to be
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Why do you want to be a doctor
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Will your wife move with you
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What are you doing this next year?
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Do you think after volunteering in primary care that would be something you would want to do, such as having a patient doctor relationship?
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Have you ever done any research or bench lab work.
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What do you want out of a medical school?
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What strength would you bring to our medical school class?
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What strength would you bring to patients?
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Where do you see yourself in 10-15 years?
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How did you become interested in medicine?
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How exactly do you see yourself practicing medicine when you're done with your education?
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Tell me about the life-saving rescue you performed.
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Choose an issue in healthcare today and address it with your opinion about possible solutions. (4/4 interviewers this year have asked me to do this).
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If you had two hours to spend doing something unrelated to medicine, what would you do? If you had two weeks to do something . . . ?
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Why did you choose medicine?
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Do you have any siblings? (Both asked this.)
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What do you think your first year will be like?
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What is your greatest strength?
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(The dreadedly annoying) Tell me about yourself.
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What do you like to to to unwind?
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Where do you see yourself in ten years?
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What are your strengths and weaknesses?
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Why Southwestern/TX?
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(The first interviewer said this is a random question for thought) I'm going to say a word, and you tell me what comes up to mind: 1) Democrat 2) Saddam Hussein 3) West Virginia 4) Australia
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Do you think your [one of weakness/disabilities] will affect your future career in medicine?
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What kind of movies do you like to watch?
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What is your motivation? (Asked by 2nd interviewer)
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What was your experience working with children with [disease I studied] like? (Asked by 1st interviewer)
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What would your friends say are your good qualities? (Asked by 2nd interviewer)
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Do you think it will be easy for you to transition back to school from a research setting?
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Tell me about (my school) Ducks Unlimited.
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What made you want to become a doctor?
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Provide me with a medical ethical dilemma, give me the pros and cons, where you sit on the issue and why?
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What do you bring to Southwestern?
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Why [enter undergraduate college]?
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Since I have a daughter, how would I manage school. Why UT Southwestern? Biggest obstacle when entering school (financial, etc.)
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Strengths/Weaknesses, Leader or Follower or both. Why become a doctor. What do I do in my spare time. Role models. What do I do to stay healthy.
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Volunteer activities. My current health, and chronic conditions. If I didn't get in what would I do. Why should I be chosen to attend their school.
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Do you fish?
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What are your strengths/weaknesses?
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Why do you want to go to Ut-sw?
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Discuss a current medical issue facing America today.
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What do you like to do in your free time?
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What two individuals would you invite to dinner?
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How do you see yourself in medicine?
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lots of individualized questions like: what is Cairo's society like?
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If you could resurrect 2 people to have dinner with who would it be?
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Tell me about yourself
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What would your friend criticize about you?
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Basically the rest was pretty chit-chat, felt like a real conversation, not an interview.
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Describe any medical experience you have had so far.
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Pick any current ethical problem and discuss it, or what you would do to change it.
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How does architecture relate to medicine?
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What do you do with the YMCA (my job)?
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What do you like about medicine?
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Do you plan on staying in Texas?
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What are 3 things you are proud of? My interviewer challenged my answers but I defended them and she seemed impressed. Turns out we had a lot in common - we started talking about cultures, the fact that we're both catholic, families, pressures, expectations, etc...
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Why did you choose your major? What did you mean by ____ on your secondary?
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Briefly elaborate on why you feel your extracurricular activities exemplify the mission statement at Southwestern.
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How did you choose your undergraduate school and major?
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How do you feel your volunteer experience has helped you gain insight into becoming a physician?
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Eh, that's about it. They talked most the time.
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How do you see yourself in 10 years?
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Do you have any questions?
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Do you see how your research might be applied to medicine? #4: Tell me about the research that someone else does in your lab.
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Do you know what specialty you're interested in?
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What do you think medical school will be like?
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Have you traveled internationally? I'm way too poor for that so I had to answer no so I was asked where would I go if I have the opportunity.
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Tell me about your research. Where else have you interviewed? Why UTSW?
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The usual stuff. Why medicine? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
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Int#1:Greatest strength/weakness - with examples for each Int#2:So you've had biochemistry, whats the last reaction of the krebs cycle? Also, from glucose, how many net ATP do you get? Why isn't it 38?
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Int#1:Relate a specific incident from volunteering that stands out. Int#2:Biggest problem in medicine? How to solve?
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Int#2:If you could cure one disease, which? Whats the most significant vaccine thusfar?
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Strengths and weaknesses
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What motivates you/How do you know that you won't change your mind during/after medical school?
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What area of medicine?
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What about your college experience influenced where you want to go to med school?
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What are your interests? X 2 or 3
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Why do you want to come here?
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I thought that it was interesting that you called medicine counterintuitive in your personal statement. Explain what you mean by that.
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Would you ever consider a career in research or teaching? (I had indicated that I was interested primarily in primary care)
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If not medicine, then what?
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How do you study?
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What made your worst teachers bad?
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Why go into medicine?
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Considering how bright you are, why would you want to go into this field, when you could achieve more trophies more quickly in another field.
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What is something not in your application that you want the admissions committtee to know about?
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Tell me about your eagle scout project
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What do you do on your spare time?
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What three traits are important for a doctor?
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Tell me about your summer research experience.
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Why do you want to go into medicine?
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Do you have any questions? Be prepared!
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What made you choose your undergraduate university?
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What makes UT-SW appeal to you?
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How will both the MD and PhD degrees be used in your career?
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Tell me about someone else's research in your lab. Tell me about your research. How would you explain your research to a non-scientist?
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The other interviewer basically let me talk.
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Tell me about your volunteer experiences.
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What is it like in Wyoming? (Where I used to live)
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Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
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How does your research experience fit into your medical career?
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What exactly did you have to do to become an EMT?
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Tell me about your background (I have an interesting one.)
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What setting (socioeconomic) setting do you see yourself practicing in?
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Your grades were a little lower your second year. What happened?
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nothing noteworthy
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Same old stuff.
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application details
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personal statement questions
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Typical questions
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What should be done to fix the public education system in the US? (I'm a teacher)
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Do you want to work in a medically underserved area?
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Tell me about growing up in a small town.
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open-ended: tell me about yourself.
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What is the biggest difficulty that the physician faces? (referring to the doc I shadowed)
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Why medicine and why now? (nontrad!)
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Besides the question mentioned above, they were really straight forward.
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Both asked about my parents backgrounds.
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Both interviewers asked me to list three strengths and weaknesses.
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Tell me about yourself?
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What is the last book you read?
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Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
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if i were to talk to your friends, what are three complaints they'd have about you
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what would you be doing on a typical tuesday night at 9:30
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what's the latest non-science book you read
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What type of setting do you see yourself practice in?
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Why didn't you have any research experience? (then he added, it's not required for admission into med school)
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How did you decide to become a doctor?
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Most questions were based on my application.
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Tell me about your volunteer stuff.
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what can i tell you about our school that would make you choose us over the others?
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what do you think of dallas?
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why don't you have any reseach experience???
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Do you have any other questions about Southwestern?
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Do you regret your fruitless service experiences?
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Do you think this interview has a measureable effect on your chances of getting in? (No--but of course you can't tell them that. I got the impression that these were some serious "what did you get on your MCAT" people when determining admissions) (I should be honest--no one really asked me this question.)
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How would you handle a patient that presents with issues that you personally don't condone?
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Tell me how you feel about Roe v. Wade.
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Do you speak any other languages?
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Have you ever traveled internationally?
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What are you going to do over the summer?
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See above
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know why you'd want to come to TX and Dallas esp. if you are out of stater like me
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My low BS score on MCAT
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What I do in my free time
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What kind of medical school I am looking for
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Do you speak Spanish?
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What area of medicine are you interested in? Why?
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How have you handled working with overbearing physicians in the past?
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What will you do if you don't get in this year?
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Why did you take so many hours?
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do you have any questions about the school
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do you think you will have trouble coming back to school after being out for a couple of years
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tell me about your work experience
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In my post-interview write-up, what would you like me to tell the admissions committee about you as an applicant?
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Tell me how you prepared for the MCAT.
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What musical instruments do you play?
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Why did you decide to go to school out of state?
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Why do you want to pursue medicine? What areas are you interested in?
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Tell me about your community service experience.
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Why do you want to go to Southwestern
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How do you plan to teach and to work in underserved areas?
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Why did you apply to X school?
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Current status of Health care system (both specifically and during conversation).
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Do you have any questions for me.
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Very basic, general questions about my application
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Why do you want to come to Texas?
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How do you handle stress?
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What's your favorite movie?
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Why engineering?
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where did you grow up?
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where do you want to be in 10 years?
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why don't you have more experience? I see, why don't you have more experience? Well, I have applicants with way busier schedules and more experience . . .
What was the most interesting question?
Students said most interesting question asked at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Medical School discussed a wide range of topics, including self-description, ethical dilemmas, personal motivations for medicine, and hypothetical scenarios involving influential figures. While some responses varied, there were no clear trends towards a specific type of question, suggesting a diverse range of topics covered in interviews at this institution.
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Describe yourself in one word.
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What is one thing happening in the medical field today that you want to discuss about?
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What do you think are some of the difficulties associated with using iPS cells?
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I was asked about my work experience in this company I interned for.
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The Mars medical problems.
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If you had to bring two people back to life to eat with, who would you choose?
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Why do people like you?
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If you couldn't be any kind of health professional, what would you be?
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Why did you pick your undergrad institution?
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So you're going to talk to someone in Washington about funding stem cell research. What three people would you bring with you, and why?
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What are you most proud of that you want me to know & least proud of that you don't want me to know?
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The closed-file interviewer asked me what I was glad she hadn't seen in my file.
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How do you react to cheating?
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What would you do if you had a terminal 90y/o patient on a respirator who you believed should be taken off the respirator and allowed to die, but the family was very resistant? How hard would you push?
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How do you balance quality of care with access to care?
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all of them
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None were particularly interesting... I'm still waiting for that g-damn "what flavor of ice cream would you be and why?" question.
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what is your definition/view of holistic medicine?
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If you had to create a panel of three different types of people to advise President Bush on stem cell research who would you choose?
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What do I think about the TX immigration laws?
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How have the doctors you shadowed helped you pursue a medical career?
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Have you seen Sicko?
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How does one clone a gene? (as part of a conversation, don't go look it up unless it's relevent to you)
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Why not pursue an MD/PhD?
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If you could invite three people to dinner who would they be?
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greatest problem in healthcare
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None, really. All were very typical questions.
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If you had to choose three DIFFERENT TYPES of people to advise George Bush on Stem Cell Research, who would you choose?
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if you had to put together a panel to advise president bush on stem cell research, who would you put on it
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Should all smart people be doctors?
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how would you fix the healthcare system? Not interesting, but none were really...
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What would you do if all the medical and health related options you have didn't exist?
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Do you ever get more pleasure out of receiving than giving?
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If you can bring two people back to life to have dinner with, who would it be?
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Do you think cultural differences play a significant role in creating barriers to the health care system?
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If you could pick 3 people to advise president Bush on the issue of stem cell research, who would it be and why?
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Ethical issues in medicine (open ended, it wasn't situation based)
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What do I like to do in my spare time?
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Have you ever been misjudged?
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What three single words describe you the best?
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What about you did you leave out on your application because you did not want us to know about it...I was laughing in my head when i heard that question.
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If you were to present a case for stem cell research to the president, what three groups of people would you take with you?
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When I present your case to the committee what would you like them to know about you?
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How does your knowledge of the Hispanic population prepare you to better treat them?
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Nothing really just more of a converstaion , with questions about my personal statement and where i was applying to.
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None Really
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What do you see as your future medical career when you're done with your education (job environment, etc.)?
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I'm not convinced you know what you are getting yourself into, convince me why you want to go to medical school? (As if all the work and money invested over the past 3 years was just for fun!?!?!)
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They were all pretty typical.
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What would you do as a family member in a situation like the Schiavo case? And as a provider to the patient?
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What one thing in your life thus far has led you toward medicine and helped you to become who you are today?
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What kind of movies do you like to watch?
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Will it be a hard transition having been out of college for so long before entering medical school?
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You are storlling on the beach and you find a lamp...a genie pops out and grants you 2 wishes...what are they?? What 3 people would you like to have dinner with??
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Would I be able to complete medical school after graduating from college five years ago.
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Same generic medical school questions.
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Tell me how to maintain a 4.0
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What are the highlights of your university career?
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what would you do if not medicine?
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Nothing comes to mind.
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What are your feelings on yoga?
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Why aren't you working in architecture right now, it's lucrative (that was my major and I took a year off to work prior to med school).
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I have no idea why but we started talking about bicycling and urban revolution. ??
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Pretty standard questions...nothing too unique or interesting.
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I guess the standard "So why an MD and a PhD?" question. Nothing else that was crazy though.
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Not much
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none.
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why southwestern? why an md?
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What made you decide to open up and share about your experience with an eating disorder in your essay?
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What made you decide to open up so much in your essay?
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Questions about my research and how it could possibly be applied to medicine.
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If you could eat dinner with three people, living or dead, who would they be and why?
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If you could invite two dead people to dinner, who would they be? I answered Mark Twain as one of them but this lady was from England and acted like she didn't know who Mark Twain is.
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If you could cure one disease, what would it be? (he then didn't count heart disease or cancer heh)
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What did you think of growing up in Alaska?
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very standard
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When did you decide on medicine?
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Let me see the size of your hands (we were talking about surgery). But the conversation itself was pretty interesting as a whole.
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What do you think you will find with a career in medicine that you didn't expect?
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What myths have you heard about us that I can debunk for you?
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What three traits are important for a doctor?
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What was it like working for your congressman, and how do you relate discussing issues with constituents to dealing with patients as a physician?
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Did I like the ski class that I had taken? This was really positive, because it meant the interviewer looked over everything before interviewing me.
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Why are manhole covers round?
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How would you describe your research to a non-scientist?
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Standard
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None were out of the ordinary--all the questions were very basic ones about my background.
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What are the ethical implications of your research?
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None really, it was all very typical
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Nothing very interesting.
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tell me about your interview experiences at _____ school and at _____ school and at ____ school - the whole interview was about other interviews
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When do you feel the most alive?
-
Do you like to cook?
-
How is being a nontraditional student an asset in medical school?
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If you had to assemble a four-member committee to advise the president on abortion legislation, who would you appoint and why?
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Teach me something.
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If there was one concept from India you would bring here to the US, what would it be? And what would you give them from the US?
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if medicine was out of the question, what career would you go into
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If you could invite anyone, living or once lived, to a dinner party, who would you invite?
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Questions about my research experience
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What do you want to be doing in 20 years?
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How are your children's personalities different?
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What is your favorite movie? ( No wrong answer) Not a hard question of course, but then asked... Why? So if you blurt out "Tommy Boy" or something like that and then you are asked why...Thankfully I had a decent response.
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Nothing leaps out as interesting... One interviewer asked me about an essay for which I had won an award.
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Tie... 1. What are the characteristics of an effective leader? 2. If I was in Huntsville, TX (my hometown) on a Sunday, what would you suggest I do? 3. Why aren't you as introverted as other chemists?
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nothing really - all standard based on your app; like having conversations
-
mostly standard questions
-
An ethical question about whether I would give a cancer patient marijuana as an anti-emetic if he/she requested it.
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nothing out of the ordinary or particularly interesting
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What would you like me to tell the admissions committee in regards to your lower-than-average grades and MCAT scores?
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The interviews were very conversational. I can't think of any specific questions that didn't relate to my application.
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What would you say to people who wanted to follow in your footsteps?
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What are the challenges your generation of physicians will face? Interviewer made me propose a number of broad categories of future challenges, and then asked me to list and analyze several specific challenges within those categories.
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What do you think about Roe v. Wade?
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pretty standard stuff, one question about having a family while in med school (I'm single so I told him it wouldn't be a problem)
What was the most difficult question?
Students said most difficult question asked at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Medical School discussed various topics such as cultural competency, healthcare challenges, ethical dilemmas, and personal reflections. Several respondents mentioned MMI format, with questions on controversial medical topics, ethical dilemmas, and hypothetical scenarios possibly subject to nondisclosure agreements.
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How can we produce more cultural competency in physicians?
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When did you grow up?
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What do you think is the biggest challenge for healthcare in the US?
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If Obama called you and asked for three representatives to serve on a stem cell council, who would you suggest?
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No true difficult questions. All questions were mainly conversational and about myself, why medicine, etc.
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The Mars medical problems.
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Do you hold any views on any controversial topics surrounding medicine (euthanasia, abortion, etc.)?
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What is the worse grade you've ever received?
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What do you think is the most pressing ethical question in medicine today?
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What do you regret?
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What are three of your weaknesses?
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Med school requires a lot of studying, and represents a huge time commitment. Have you ever had to work that hard at anything before?
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What are you most proud of that you want me to know & least proud of that you don't want me to know?
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Do you have any questions?
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What is the difference between a psychiatrist and trauma surgeon?
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name three weaknesses
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None were particularly difficult, it was more a conversation than anything.
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None were particularly difficult.
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what would you do if you saw a student cheating?
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Discussion on physician assisted suicide - asked for my thoughts and then gave me a hypothetical scenario.
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nothing
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How have the doctors you shadowed helped you pursue a medical career?
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Name an ethical dilemma in medicine and how you would deal with it.
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What was the greatest challenge you faced in college?
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none - I was prepared for all of them through SDN :)
-
Why didn't you invite any women to your dinner?
-
same
-
None. Pretty typical questions.
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<<See above>>
-
if you had to put together a panel to advise president bush on stem cell research, who would you put on it
-
What are the different presidential candidates positions on healthcare?
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none were difficult
-
What is the current state of the engineering field, where is it headed, and can you cite some examples of technological breakthroughs?
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What attributes would you expect of your patients?
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If you can bring two people back to life to have dinner with, who would it be?
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I don't like asking questions, so I'll just let you tell me about yourself. So open-ended!
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above
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See above.
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See above
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Where I see myself in 10 years?
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Have you been misjudged--just b/c i wasn't prepared for it and couldn't think of something right away
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What is your biggest failure?
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3 things i would change about myself that would help me do better in medical school..ok i can thing of 2 tops..he kept pushing for 3...
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Same as above.
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What will you do if you don't get in med-school
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What do you want out of a medical school?
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Paint a picture of yourself for me using words.
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None of the questions were difficult. One of the interviewers seemed to have strong opinions that were quite different from mine (seemed to think that everyone in the U.S. had access to appropriate care, etc.) so I had to tread diplomatically around certain points of the discussion. On the one hand, I wanted to tell this interviewer about myself and my ideas ... on the other hand I didn't want to start an argument. This was unusual for me (I've had 8 medical school interviewers and this person really stood out in a negative way in this respect.) However, this interviewer wasn't difficult the entire time and the other interviewer was awesome.
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Questions related to the research I had participated in.
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What happened in your first semester?
-
Tell me about a controversial issue in medicine today that you are interested in.
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Explain to me in your own words the Roe vs. Wade decision (This is not a history class! but he seemed to be ok with not knowing it)
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How much of your career will be based in academics?
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Do you see yourself serving an underserved population (from a public health guy)?
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Provide me with a medical ethical dilemma, give me the pros and cons, where you sit on the issue and why?
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Why medicine?
-
Tell me exactly what you would do if you were to make an error in surgery that harmed the patient.
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Do you think [my chronic illness] will hinder your career as a doctor?
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tell me about yourself
-
What should be done about the obesity epidemic.
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How would you fix the national obesity problem? (I have a second major in the movement science field)
-
Why you chose to major in architecture?
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Nothing was difficult. No ethical questions. No nothing.
-
What do you think will be the most challenging thing for you once you enter medical school?
-
"If you had to choose between an MD and a PhD, which one would you choose?"
-
Nothing difficult, just a lot of standard, "why do you want to be a doctor" questions that get old after a while.
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What do you want me to tell the admissions committee about you that isn't in your application already? (asked about 3 times)
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what types of challenges do you anticipate as a physician?
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What kind of research are you interested in? (I'm not interested in research).
-
The most difficult question I was asked was if I had any questions. One of my inerviews was strictly based on my questions, and it was hard to come up with quality questions after the first three or so. Everyone at Southwestern was very receptive of questions, so in reality, I had no questions.
-
same as above
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This lady asked me "What else should I tell the adcom about you?" five times. This isn't a hard question to answer once, twice, or even three times but after that along with the other questions I answered I felt like I already recited everything on my resume.
-
What is the last reaction of the Krebs cycle? (not kidding, who knew this sort of thing actually showed up)
-
So why do you want to come to UT Southwestern?
-
none
-
None. They were both conversational interviews.
-
What would your roommate say were 3 of your strengths? (Difficult b/c I kind of blanked on the 3rd).
-
Nothing too difficult. One asked me what I had learned shadowing in an inner-city clinic about problems with Medicaid coverage.
-
Describe ways to correct current healthcare problems
-
Considering the enormous deficit we have right now, what is the future of healthcare?
-
How do you think Southwestern will fit you?
-
How do you interrelate the aspects of primary care, working in underserved areas, and academic medicine?
-
What is the weakest part of your application?
-
What two people would you choose to resurrect and why?
-
Describe the research of someone else in your lab.
-
What other schools have you applied to/interviewed at, and what did you think of them?
-
Anything you want me to pass along to the admissions committee?
-
I didn't find any of the questions to be difficult.
-
None were difficult at all.
-
Again, same old stuff. Why do you want to be a doctor, etc.
-
Interviewer probed my knowledge of my research. Know yours and you'll do fine.
-
weaknesses
-
What kinds of problem are facing medicine today? How do you solve it?
-
Nothing...
-
Why are you only applying to two schools?
-
Tell me more about yourself. (I was running out of things to say!)
-
Why did you get B's in such and such classes
-
what makes a good leader and do you think you'll be a leader when you get to med school
-
What is one thing that will be difficult for you in medical school?
-
How did you decide you want to become a doctor?
-
So, your credentials are impressive, but everyone who interviews here has amazing qualifications. Why should I recommend you to the admissions committee?
-
How many stem cell lines are available for research in the US?
-
If I was in Huntsville, TX (my hometown) on a Sunday, what would you suggest I do? NOT A DAMN THING! There is nothing to do except maybe attend an execution. :)
-
none, both interviews were laid back and conversational
-
How do you plan to use your position as a physician to ensure children in underserved areas receive adequate healthcare?
-
What are your weaknesses?
-
What factors would make you choose our school?
-
Who's your best friend; what do you NOT like about them?
-
one interviewer really laid into me about my limited clinical experience, after I explained my schedule (lots of work) we didn't let off and talked about busier applicants
🤝 Interview Format and Logistics ▼
How long was the interview?
Most respondents had an interview of 20 - 30 minutes.
How many people interviewed you?
Most respondents were interviewed by 2 people.
What was the style of the interview?
Most respondents had a one-on-one interview.
What type of interview was it?
Most respondents had an open file interview.
Was this interview in-person or virtual?
Most respondents had a virtual interview.
Data includes both pre- and post-COVID interviews.
Where did the interview take place?
Most respondents were interviewed at the school.
📍 On-Site Experience ▼
Who was the tour given by?
Tours were most commonly given by a Student
How did the tour guide seem?
Most tour guides were enthusiastic about the school.
How do you rank the facilities?
Most respondents rank the facilities as above average.
What is your in-state status?
Most respondents rank the facilities as below average.
What were your total hours spent traveling?
Most respondents spent 4-6 hours traveling to the interview.
What was your primary mode of travel?
Most respondents traveled by automobile to the interview.
About how much did you spend on room, food, and travel?
Most respondents spent less than $100.
What airport did you fly into?
Respondents who flew to the interview generally used Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
-
Dallas Love field
-
DFW
-
DAL
Where did you stay?
Most respondents stayed either Hotel or at a hotel.
What is the name of the hotel you stayed in?
-
Ramada
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Radisson-love field
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Quality Inn
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MCM Elegante
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La Quinta
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Hyatt Summerfield Suites
-
Holiday Inn Market Center
-
Hilton Garden Market Center
-
Hilton Garden
-
Hilton
-
Hawthorne Suites
-
Hampton Inn
-
Fairfield Inn
-
Dallas Plaza Hotel
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Crowne Plaza
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Courtyard Marriott at the Medical Center
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Candlewood Suites
-
Candlewood
How would you rate the hotel?
Most respondents rated their hotel as good.
0 = Bad, 10 = Great
Would you recommend the hotel?
Most respondents would recommend their hotel.
What is your ranking of this school's location?
Most respondents rate the school location as good.
0 = Bad, 10 = Great
What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?
Most respondents rate the area’s cultural life as good.
0 = Bad, 10 = Great
What are your comments on where you stayed?
No responses
✅ Interview Preparation and Impressions ▼
How is the friendliness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was friendly.
How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was responsive.
How did you prepare for the interview?
Most applicants prepared for the interview by reviewing their applications, researching the school and common interview questions, practicing responses, and seeking feedback from current students or online resources like Student Doctor Network. Some also engaged in mock interviews, reviewed healthcare topics, and stayed updated on current events in medicine to be well-prepared.
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Studied the school and my application, practiced some ethical scenarios (was not asked about these), and made sure I had a solid answer to “tell me about yourself” and “why medicine.”
-
Studied my application. Read MSAR page. Read UTSW's school page. Reviewed prior SDN threads.
-
I studied the school's mission, went through my application, and wrote down questions from SDN and prepped them.
-
I reviewed current events, re-read through my application and essays, and gathered feedback from students who had interviewed at UTSW previously.
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Read this website, read brochures, etc.
-
Attending other interviews, and using interview feedback.
-
Read about the school on the school's web site and SDN, read SDN feedback (very helpful!), read some med school interview books, had 2 mock interviews, have been following on current events in medicine
-
Research school background, UTSW motto, UTSW vision and goals, talk to older UTSW students
-
Practice. Practice. And more practice.
-
Go over my app, read questions on this website
-
Relaxed
-
Looked over the stuff from the research I did this summer; asked people who had interviewed here.
-
Did two mock interviews with teachers
-
Pre-med interviews at my university, Career Center at my school, studentdoctor.net
-
SDN. Interview presentations.
-
Looking up past questions on SDN & other sites and practicing answers
-
Being cool
-
Read NEJM to stay up to date with healthcare reform. Reviewed my application and common interview questions. Reviewed interview feedback.
-
Nothing really.
-
talked with host, sdn
-
SDN, reviewed TMDSAS application, practiced responses to "standard" questions (e.g., why do you want to become a doc?)
-
I didn't.
-
SDN; reviewed my essays and research; had fun the night before
-
read SDN, looked over TMDSAS app, read book on health policy
-
Re-read through my application and reviewed my research. Tried not to get to wound up. Went out to dinner with friends.
-
Think about my answers a bit.
-
Read TMDSAS, Secondary, Interview Feedback
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StudentDoc, Mock Interviews and MSAR
-
Read SDN interview feedback, think of answers, mock interview
-
read SDN feedback, read online articles on healthcare, mock interviews
-
Read health policy lectures, SDN, mock interview, reviewed application
-
read app, sdn, talk to medical students
-
Read this page, reviewed my research.
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SDN, Previouse interview questions, ''relaxed'', spoke to my sister who is a first year there.
-
sdn, online research on medical ethics: stem cell research, abortion, physician assisted suicide
-
SDN, other interviews, practice questions
-
SDN, website, interview feedback
-
SDN feedback, mock interview, read healthcare text, UWash Bioethics module, read papers under review, PS, secondary essays, etc.
-
SDN, reread applications.
-
SDN, personal statement
-
reviewed app, SDN, not as much as I ought to have
-
read sdn, school website, reviewed my app, but none of it really mattered
-
Personal statement, and sdn
-
SDN, TMDSAS, website
-
sdn, review personal statement, relax
-
SDN, AMA ethics website, Southwestern website, talked to a neurologist at Southwestern
-
SDN, school website, previous interviews
-
sdn, read a book on ethics..basically one guy asked all the stuff i had printed from sdn word for word..
-
Reviewed current ethics topics and health care issues. Read my personal statements.
-
I have great charisma, it's not something that can be learned it's a gift from God.
-
SDN, mock interview, read the school's website
-
Re read my application and the secondary for UTSW and practiced answering interview questions.
-
SDN, website
-
Student doctor feedback. Kaplan interview question guide.
-
SDN, reviewed secondary, talked with friend who is a MSII.
-
SDN, school website, margarita
-
SDN feedback, researched school's website, reviewed application, reviewed interview questions from HPO, talked with friend who is a current MS1.
-
SDN feedback, went over secondary, looked at the school's website
-
SDN, looking over TMDSAS and personal statement and a few interview questions
-
Read through application to foresee what questions I might be asked. Read SDN, and brushed up on healthcare issues though I was asked nothing about them.
-
SDN, read over my personal statement
-
reread primary and secondary, SDN
-
SDN, school catalogue, various websites, books.
-
sdn
-
read over my app., remembered what I did/said at all the other interviews
-
Read studentdoctor.net and SW student manual; talked some to other students.
-
read sdn (very helpful!)
-
Read books on medical school interviewing.
-
Mock interviews, looking at their website, looking over application
-
Medical school catalogue and my university's feedback notebook.
-
Had an answer (not memorized) ready for any possible question or situation by compiling huge list of questions ever asked. WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OVERPREPARED. You really need not do this, though there are just some you should expect. Know why you chose your major if it isn't the typical science. =)
-
Read the website; margarita the night before.
-
Slept, woke up early, ran
-
Read the website and my app
-
Read SDN, newspapers, and essays.
-
read website, apps, kept up on current events
-
Looked at this site, read my application
-
Reviewed my research and future research interests. UT Southwestern has a great website that you can use to look up faculty research interests. It is a good idea to know what some of the faculty are working on that you might be interested in.
-
Went to bed early, SDN
-
Read Interview Feedback, read SDN, etc
-
Read school's website
-
mock interview, read this website and my application
-
SDN, School website, application, talking to others
-
Read SDN, read site, prepared for questions.
-
Mock interview, went through a list of possible interview questions, slept, and read some stuff on SDN. My first interviewer was very open and that helped me relax for both of the interviews.
-
read application, this website
-
Read up on the school, this website.
-
This site, reviewed application
-
Talked to friends who go there.
-
interview feedback, read over TMDSAS and secondary applications
-
Went over application; look at interview feedback
-
Studied questions on this site, researched the school, typed out answers to possible questions
-
Re-read my application, read interviews on this site, read about the school.
-
Mock interview, read school website and this website
-
Sleep, SDN, school website, friends currently at Southwestern
-
Read the school website, SDN interview feedback.
-
Went to bed early.
-
Reviewed my application.
-
Read my application, interviewer's publications.
-
Talked to students, Looked on SDN, Went over my application specifically my secondary I sent to this school
-
read my application, MSAR, UTSW's website...the standard stuff.
-
This website and handouts from pre-med office
-
interview feedback, read school website
-
The usual
-
Didn't really.
-
re-read personal statement
-
read studentdoctor.net
-
read my application, read SDN interview feedback
-
read SDN, secondary, personal statement
-
Read website, Interview Feedback
-
went out the night before with friends
-
relax tell an interviewer that you know that the IM chair is on President Bush's Bioethics Council. Of course, at this point it would help if you knew something about bioethics (which I don't).
-
Reviewed applications and internet feedback.
-
Checked out the school's website.
-
Nothing really. I specifically tried not to prepare for my interviews. I figured I would just go in and be myself instead of just regurgitating some predetermined response.
-
sdn, website, read over my app
-
looked over this site
-
Checked out the school's website, this site, and read over my personal statement.
-
I read over the website.
-
thought of questions to ask interviewer
-
Read over interview feedback and MSAR data for school
-
I reviewed my application and prayed that i get easy interviews.
-
read the interview feedbacks on this website, read over the school website, read healthcare articles, go over research experience
-
read over my application
-
Read TMDSAS and secondary, looked at website.
-
Web-site, reviewed my application
-
school's website, pre-med office's interview feedback forms
-
looked over the school website
What impressed you positively?
Applicants were overwhelmingly impressed by the friendliness and enthusiasm of the students and faculty, as well as the outstanding facilities and clinical opportunities offered at the school, particularly at Parkland and Children's hospitals. Many highlighted the organized interview process, the engaging student panels, and the emphasis on work-life balance, dispelling rumors of cutthroat competition and portraying a supportive learning environment with ample research opportunities. Suggestions included further improving the integration of the curriculum and providing more preparation for the clinical experiences at Parkland Hospital.
-
Student panels were helpful and honest, interviewers has read through my application and asked thought-provoking questions
-
Attitudes of students and campus.
-
nice campus
-
It was a 2-day interview process, the first day being a day where interviewees were able to shadow in the clinic and have a full tour of the medical school and its hospital and the second being the actual day of interviews + tour of the apartments in the area. On the first day, there was also a cultural show.
-
How much the students loved the school
-
Everything - the school, the facilities (and they are building two new hospitals), the students and faculty.
-
There were plenty of opportunities to talk to current students. Everybody was very friendly and helpful, students were by no means as weird or socially awkward as one could think after reading this site. The new Parkland and University Hospital scheduled to open in 2014 and 2015, correspondingly, right in time for the class of 2018 clinical training, are pretty exciting. The Colleges system seems to be a hit with students. MS3 and MS4 students get a lot of hands on experience and have calls like grown ups :) It was great to tag along with a team on hospital rounds. 2nd year systems-based block schedule with non-cumulative exams every 3 weeks. Opportunities for clinical electives and away rotations in MS4. A 4 year MD/MPH. Burgeoning global health opportunities (UTSW wasnot really big on global health opportunities, but it seems to be improving). Financial information talk.
-
The facilities, the new Parkland, the student families
-
The faculty, the students, the facility.
-
Two interviewers - one open file, the other only had personal statement, both very relaxed
-
facilities, staff, location, um...EVERYTHING
-
Very relaxed
-
facilities, such a good school
-
The interviewer who was a psychiatrist listened to all I had to say and was very friendly.
-
The faculty is soooo in it for the students. The clinical yrs. Research encouraged. The Colleges. Low tuition. Curriculum. Syllabus, no need for textbooks. Dallas lifestyle. Student Center.
-
Everyone at Southwestern is extremely proud of Parkland and the students seem happy to be here.
-
The organization and the students
-
The students seemed incredibly happy. Both Parkland and Childrens Hospitals seem unbelievable. All students receive a carrel for their first two years. New grading system is very appealing. Experts teach each lecture.
-
The school is wayyyy friendlier than I had anticipated. The students were great and sociable, the faculty were great. Parkland was amazing.
-
The adminstrators, the students, the ranking from residency directors, facilities
-
(1) It's been said before a million times but for a good reason -- Parkland! The community spirit here, as well as the impressive number of beds and scope of clinical training opps available, are unparalleled; (2) The "College" system (100% positive feedback from all students currently involved); (3) Each student gets a study desk in first and second year; (4) The supportive and very personable faculty members, who obviously value their students; (5) The new-ish student center with gym, complete with a track, new workout equipment, "free" courses like yoga (included in med student tuition) - also has a grand piano available for play in the lounge; (6) The research tower - beautiful art and city-wide view on top floor. Don't know how much time students can actually spend here, though.
-
The cost, the amazing amount of preparation that the students get for the actual practice of medicine, the hands-on experience, the personal involvement in the patients' care, the fact that the 3rd years go on call.
-
Endless research and great curriculum
-
great facilities
-
Everything - this place is absolutely awesome! Parkland and Children's alone make it an excellent place to get your medical education. Parkland is a huge county hospital and you get an amazing amount of experience working there during your third and fourth years. I was also impressed with how they ran the interview day. Even though we were the last interview group they made a point to tell us frankly everything they could about where they were in the admissions process and that we still had an excellent chance for admission (aka, we weren't 'interviewing for the waitlist'). Also, two of the current students who gave presentations/were on the panel said they were in the last interview date. ^.^ On a whole everyone was really nice and they gave a good impression of the school and the students there. They also did an excellent job of dispelling some of the rumors surrounding how 'cutthroat' the school is suppose to be and explain their grading system. They set a cutoff for an A and from there they only curve up - not down. Also, there is a new college system they've initiated that just started with last year's first years. It seems to be a really nice system. The first year class is broken up into these different 'colleges' and then further divided into groups of 4-6 people and are assigned a clinician as a mentor. They meet every week and the system also serves to give first and second years a little more clinical exposure. All the current third and fourth years said they wished they had the college system. Even though they've only just started the program the responses from the first years that I talked to were very positive.
-
The people and the school was sooo amazing! Everyone was super friendly. Parkland is the place to be for medical students.
-
Great school with cool students and nice facilities. New student center is very nice, and the students rave about the hospital.
-
Student enthusiasm and quality of education/faculty.
-
Everything. Incredibly organized interview. They have Saturday interviews so the interviewers aren't distracted by their normal job. One interviewer is ''blind'' because he or she does not have anything but your personal statement. Also Southwestern is very humble about their high US News ranking. They say it ''only reflects our pursuit of exellence.'' Lastly, the grading curve that has everyone so scared is NOT BAD! Only certain classes are curved -- they are never curved down. The grading system puts one in quartiles WHICH EVERY SCHOOL DOES EVEN IF THEY USE ''HIGH PASS'' AS OPPOSED TO ''A.''
-
the quality of clinical training, hard-working students who are laid back and friendly
-
Facilities were stellar, research is very impressive, quality rotations
-
facilities, board scores, dallas
-
The medical center was very modern, facilities are great!
-
Parkland is a great place to learn and the Children's facility is impressive.
-
parkland and children's hospital are both top 20 hospitals nationally
-
friendly atmosphere. They were really trying to give you as much info as possible about Southwestern and Dallas life.
-
They give out of state students in state rates through scholarship.
-
The facilities were nicer than I expected given the surroundings. People were nicer too, interesting explanations of supposed competition/cutthroatedness.
-
Students are not as ''cuthroat'' as the rumor mill says, the student center was nice, the hospitals available for clinical years have quite a diverse patient population
-
The medical center was amazing, the students were very friendly and helpful, the school facilities were great
-
the tour was probably the best one so far. proabably becuase the school and all the hospitals are connected so the transitions were smooth.
-
Parkland, admin cares about students
-
the facilities, the students-yes it is a competitive school but for the most part the ppl seemed chill.
-
The parkland hospital, and the children's hospital.
-
Parkland is an amazing teaching hospital. It delivers the 2nd most # of babies in the world, behind some hospital in India. Great curriculum obviously. Motivated student body. Great opportunities for clinical/bench research.
-
the tour guides were friendly and the interviewers were very nice, there was a very comfortable and relaxed environment and my interview was more conversational than an interview
-
Parkland is amazing. Would be a great clinical experience.
-
Parkland is amazing!
-
parkland, the student center, our tour guide....also the guide told us she worked up to 120 hours one week as a 4th year..bit excessive..but you get excellent training.. long white coats.
-
Every student I talked to was friendly and honest about the atmoshpere, which wasn't near as bad as I'd heard. The Student Center looks great.
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The presentation was very entertaining. Parking was easy. Your surrouunded by smart motivated students and faculty.
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The students who I stayed with and went to dinner with were great.
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Parkland is a very big county hospital and the students said they got to see alot of stuff because of it. They have group study areas or lockers called carrols and you get to know your locker mates well. The campus seems nice and big.
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The students were really nice and down to earth. I did not sense any of the competitiveness normally associated with the school.
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I'm research-oriented, so I was very impressed by the research opportunities. I was also impressed by several of the faculty. The faculty were easy to talk to, interested in teaching, and good at what they do. I was able to get answers to my questions and get plenty of advice. There were numerous medical students to talk to. I spoke to maybe 10 students at different stages (2nd year, 3rd year, 4th year, and even interns), and I was able to get a great perspective of the medical student experience there. All the students seemed to like the school and seemed rather open about numerous details and plusses and minuses. The school has a new rec center for the students. There are plenty of places to hang out and the school gives you your own desk / work area (carrel) at the school that is accessible at all hours.
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Carrels. Each student is assigned a desk on campus in an area where students can store their books and study whenever they want. Parkland Hospital is huge and between it and the other hospitals students get plenty of exposure and experience.
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I love Dallas! The facilities are neat, and they give in-state tuition for non-Texans.
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Facilities: Parkland, the mod-ish school facilities, and the amazing student center. Dr. Wright was very scintillating and charming.
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Diverse patient population, good Children's Hospital, new student center, student's feel well-prepared for residency and don't seem to have any problems getting what they want; nice student housing apt. complex
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The students and the general environment didn't seem that "competitive and cutthroat" as other students from other med schools portray. There was also a great amount of intramural sports and other kinds of student life offered. Finally, the medical students' video presentation is a very creative idea!!
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The school tries hard to make student life as balanced as possible. The gym is awesome. 4th year film was a plus. Awesome faculty!
-
The hospital facilities. Unbelievably nice interviewers, especially one who was in a very high adminstrative position whom I thought would be intimidating to face. Was also very impressed by the students and by a graduate I met who spoke very highly of the school.
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Some stereotypes don't seem to be true, lots of patients, traditional curriculum seems good; Interviewers were way more laid back than I thought they might be
-
I didn't see any of the stereotypes that are commonly spoken about this school. the students seemed happy and enjoyed the company of their classmates.
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Facilities, research being done, and how nice everyone was. Activities and facilities for med students are family oriented.
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The student affairs guy's jokes was the highlight of the day.
-
the facilities are impressive.
-
Only negative point students thought was that the class size was too big (235). And that about 50% were married. So overall, all students I talked to were fully satisfied with their basic and clinical education.
-
nice facilities parkland hospital serves ALOT of patients esp. low income
-
Seemed very organized; got a good feel from the students I met.
-
The facilities are amazing, especially Children's Medical Center. Everyone involved with the interview day seemed very enthusiastic and warm. Overall, it had a very laid back feel.
-
Facilities, Dallas, and the school is know to be top notch.
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Parkland, Children's Medical Center. I was often sick as a young child so spent many nights at Children's. Naturally I have a fondness for the place, so it was nice revisiting.
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The facilities are amazing! I am very interested in emergency medicine, and I was very impressed with Parkland's adult ER. The student center is amazing, and the carrell system is pretty spiffy! Ran into a student on the way to my interview...he wished me the best of luck, and I wished him the same with his cardiology exam. Very friendly students!
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Dallas is not the backwater Texan city I thought it to be. However, it is STILL Texas (I'm an uber liberal West-Coaster). The MSTP at UTSW is one of the BEST organized in the nation. Everyone there is nice and the research facilities are amazing. Your colleagues will be so nice to you and your stipend goes far in Dallas. The MSTP is headed by a nobel prize winner...THIS IS HUGE.
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VERY VERY Organized
-
The day was organized and the people were very welcoming.
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Nothing
-
students and faculty were exceptionally nice; tour was great; in a large metropolitan area with potential for lots of clinical exposure
-
The student center and the calm of the campus. It seemed safer than the other places I had been. There seemed to be a welcoming administration, and the senior videos were a neat tradition.
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Everyone involved with the MST Program is so nice and will go out of their way to help you. The students were really great too. They took us to dinner (and paid for it) and then a bar afterward. The MD portion of the program (the next day) was great also. The senior videos were really funny and it was really relaxed since we did not have any more interviews.
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facilities are amazing, parkland is a good place to train, student center is fabulous, everyone i met was really nice
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The clinical experiences at Parkland seem great. It sounds like they throw you to the wolves there during your third year without much preparation which seems a little intimidating. The senior video clips are hilarious.
-
The facilities are great. New student center area w/ weight room. The students there also seemed nice, and dispersed any concerns about overcompetition at UTSW.
-
The facilities are incredible. The faculty seemed to really be supportive of their students.
-
great carrell system, good education, in-state tuition for out-of-state students a huge plus! high pass rate on USMLE
-
The school, the student center
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Facilities, people generally nice and enthusiastic, very in-depth info sessions. Their student center is nicer than most private gym chains. Carrels.
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I went in with the preconception that the students would be really stressed out and unfriendly, but in fact, I got a chance to talk to at LEAST one student from every year except for the third-years. They were all really honest and helpful, and I felt that we could ask them anything. By the end of the day, people were still asking us if we had questions and we were all shaking our heads no. The buildings are really nice, the carrels seemed like a great bonus, and the city has lots of fine arts venues (which I happen to be into). I like that they spread out the tests throughout the semester instead of having them weeks at a time. Although the class size seemed big, everyone assured me that there were lots of small-group opportunities to get to know our classmates. I was also impressed with the amount of extracurricular activities and community outreach initiatives they had.
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The students and faculty. Everyone was very friendly and open. People weren't bothered with all of your questions. The facilities were nice.
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It was great! The students are very competent, the interviews are professional, everything is very well put together.
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The architecture! The buildings are v. nice and the library has cute little displays about some of the history behind medicine. Also, Parkland is enormous and you can get all kinds of clinical experience there.
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The student body
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Brand spanking new student recreation center, which was very nice. Friendly students, great clinical/research opportunities. Systems based curriculum in second year
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I was impressed that the interview was on a Saturday. It really helped because the rest of my Texas interviews had put me behind on school work. After I got accepted after the match, one of my interviewers wrote a note of congrats! That really impressed me.
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The students were nice, out-of-staters automatically get in-state tuition, everyone I talked to loves Dallas, excellent board-pass rates, people didn't seem stressed-out
-
This school has lots of money and they want you to know it. The new facilities are beautiful and everyone is very nice and happy.
-
One of my interviewers seemed very excited about the school and spent a large part of the interview talking about the rotations she supervised. The curriculum seems to prepare students well, and the newer parts of the hospital are impressive.
-
Parkland Hospital. Given the variety and volumn of patients, it's easier to understand why they make good Internists.
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The clinical experience at Parkland hospital seems great, the students were friendly (the whole gunners at SW is a myth), faculty seemed to care about the students, the new student center is great, the campus was nice. Pretty much everything about the school was impressive.
-
The new student center is nice.
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Extremely friendly and flexible administration, large student body focused on medicine and research. Funding from Ross Perot and other local philanthropists allow Southwestern to seek 15 to 20 matriculants this cycle! Southwestern built new apartments for students that appear fairly impressive, and they are building another set for 2004. The cost of living is such that students may be able to afford purchasing a home for the duration of their MD/PhD.
-
the admissions staff had a great, funny presentation and the rec center was fabulous. also the student carrels looked like a nice bonus
-
The recreation building with the raquetball courts and gym
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Everything!! The students, Parkland Hospital, the faculty... The student body seemed more diverse than other Texas med schools. A Nobel Prize winner will be your professor your first-year. The students were also really honest about the strengths and weaknesses of UTSW. And the gym is really nice!!
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Very organized and informative. The faculty and students were also very welcoming.
-
The level of energy the staff and students have. The research "big guns." The facilities are very nice. The county hosp is huge and the med students are involved in patient care. (not just observing)
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Clearly this school has a lot of money. They exude a certain confidence, not to say pretentiousness, that made me feel excited to be there. They had humor in their presentations and kept the interview day relatively short - both good things.
-
Everything! The day was really well put together, the interviewers were great, and I really loved Southwestern.
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Parkland was great; the interview date was really organized and they did a good job on selling the school
-
parkland hospital and the amount of hands-on experience med students get
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Wonderful learning environment, no cut-throat competition among students, friendly and approachable faculty.
-
How nice the students and faculty were. The student center and student housing were very nice. The school has deep pockets. They have changed their second year curriculum to a systems based method as opposed to traditional. They are working to make the overall curriculum more integrated. Each student has their own study booth for next four years.
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Great school. Parkland hospital seems like it would provide great experience, but a lot of work. Friendly Deans and students. Very cheap, even for out of staters. Great research opportunities. Parking is great.
-
the stress free envt
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students were very forthright and honest about their experiences I liked the fact that faculty were willing to spend their Saturdays interviewing people. I enjoyed seeing the ER room where JFK died.
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The school and all facilities are top notch. I have lived in Dallas prior, so I was familiar with the school's reputation. The school had recently completed some additional student facilities that were also top notch. The experience/exposure that the higher students spoke of seemed invaluable.
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Really great opportunities for research. The school has good NIH funding. The numbers and rankings they threw at us were pretty impressive, too.
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I thought the facilities were top notch... atleast compared to the other schools I interviewed at. Their deep pockets definately show. My single favorite interviewer was at this school. I really enjoyed the laid back interviews. I also enjoyed the provided information packet on each interviewer which included their hobbies, allowing me to discuss topics with them other than just medicine.
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hospital, solid clinical training, AMAZING research rep which really carries the school's name
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The new rec facility, the program was extremely organized
-
The FACILITIES were great; the two hospitals affiliated with the school; the carrels; friendliness of students; the new rec center
-
The new student center is beautiful. The Senior video, financial aid, and general school presentations were all informative and well thought-through. The student carels (sp?) and extensive internet access were also pluses.
-
friendliness of students and faculty. Felt like a recruiting visit ... and that we were all accepted
-
The facilities and diversity of students
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How nice everybody was....How casual and laid back they were. The senior videos. The school was so awesome, I can't describe it!!!
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students are serious about their work but not too competitive- a good motivating environment for studying. the student film was lots of fun to watch. and the opportunity to follow an internal medicine team ontheir morning rounds was excellent.
-
the brand new student center and new student housing
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Brand new student union, including study area and gym. Nice first year lecture hall. Children's Hospital is very nice. Dallas is a great place to live.
-
Parkland County Hospital
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the friendliness of the faculty
-
the campus is really nice, also the caliber of applicants there (Harvard, Stanford, etc.)
What impressed you negatively?
Applicants commonly expressed negative impressions related to the competitive and cutthroat environment, traditional curriculum with limited clinical exposure in the early years, a sense of arrogance or pretentiousness among some students, and concerns about the grading system fostering undue stress and unhealthy competition. Suggestions included improving the campus facilities, promoting a more inclusive and welcoming atmosphere, and providing more opportunities for early patient interaction and diverse clinical experiences.
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No negative impressions.
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Students were negative towards the curriculum
-
At the MS0 Weekend, the welcome weekend for UTSW that happens in February, I was asked repeatedly if UTSW was my first choice. I was honest and said that I was waiting until I heard back from Baylor (and I eventually did and ended up choosing to go to BCM) but that I was still open-minded and wanted to hear how UTSW might be a better fit for me. Some students seemed to react negatively when I said this, even one telling me that "well, everyone wants Baylor, but I didn't get in so I went to UTSW," and these students weren't eager to talk more with me about the school. Since UTSW is a close second to Baylor but not (yet) a top 20 medical school, I felt that the admin spent a lot of time "selling" themselves as to why the school was better than Baylor, even giving us a three page packet of student testimonials of why they chose UTSW (and most of the responses were "I chose UTSW over Baylor because...").
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Nothing
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Housing options aren't as good as I would like, but doable. It also depends on what you are looking for.
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Nothing really. The preclinical curriculum is not the most exciting, and there are not that many non-clinical electives, but who cares about preclinical stuff when you get an awesome clinical training? Grading during the second semester of MS1 and during MS2 and MS3 (p/f the first semester of MS1 and during MS4) may not be to everyone's liking, but: 1) it's a chance to distinguish oneself for competitive residencies (and quite a few UTSW graduates go to competitive residencies) and 2) grading is not curved. MS3 is quite hard because students are given a lot of responsibilities and are fully involved in patient care - but then again, you get to learn a lot this way. None of these are really negatives for me, but I can see how they may be negatives to other people.
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School looks old
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Not much.
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Not much
-
Honestly? nothing.
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Interviews were too short
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One guy talked too much about himself, his opinions on issues, his time in med school, etc.
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Classes will be in south campus, not north which is more beautiful. They don't have step 1 style exams. Only like 30% are regular class goers since the lectures are streamed online.
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Being asked if I had any questions for the interviewer three times in a 25-min interview, after watching three hours of Powerpoints about the school and talking to students and administrators about the school for about three hours.
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Long weekend.
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The facilities are a little dated, but I do not think they would negatively impact the quality of the education received.
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It could be in a better part of town.
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my interviewers, huge student body may make it easy for you to get 'lost'
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4 out of 5 first and second year students, when asked, "Are you happy here?", made a sour face in response to the question. Personal happiness appears to be a uniquely belated benefit of attending Southwestern; third and fourth years seemed very well-adjusted and said all the "torture" and "hell" of the first two years were immediately put into perspective, and made retrospectively tolerable, when clerkships (particularly at Parkland) began. The grading system also apparently induces copious amounts of stress, although there is mixed emotion about how good/bad this is for students. For now, it appears to be here to stay.
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The conservative culture of the overall student body (but it's Texas, what should I have expected?), but that's not an objective negative.
-
Some of the students were a bit pretentious
-
seems like a very tough curriculum, admin staff wasn't thaaat friendly
-
Not a thing - this is my top choice! Dallas is hot, but then if you're looking at a school in Texas it's going to be hot anywhere you go!
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The grading system/actually giving you a GPA, seems as if it won't foster community and will create undue stress. No undergraduate campus, but UTSW is such a massive complex you won't really notice, and it has a lot of the amenities as well.
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Nothing really - everyone was nice, including interviewers.
-
Dallas traffic.
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the intensity of the curriculum and the rotations
-
Stress level of students, intense education may leave less time for free time
-
length of school days
-
The letter grading system (I'm back in college again?). One student went on a tirade about how much she hated her neuro class, and how badly it was taught. In general the maturity level of the students was extremely low; there were numerous gay jokes. The Dallas area is very much a "strip mall".
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The grading system seems questionable, and they kept talking about how they weren't competitive, which is suspicious to me.
-
bell curve
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nothing really...the tours were okay
-
Wow. where do I begin? They know of the rumors of UTSW that it is competative and cutthroat, and spend alot of time trying to prove them wrong...but all they do is draw more attention to it. HM...maybe its that way because the program is designed that way? they give out grades/GPA and they CURVE the students against each other! Furthermore, the students do nothing to prove it wrong either...they said ''well why do you wanna go to a medical school thats laid back and relaxed? dont you want to learn how to become a doctor?'' wtf? also, they had to pay the students to take us out on tours...major turnoff because it just shows how unenthusiasitc thier students are for the program. finally, their facilities are really old and crappy and so are their affiliated hospitals. Also, the other interviewees were not very friendly, but i blame this on the program...typically you need the dean or the introduction to loosen everyone up, and the intro was really lame. The curriculum sucks also. Its your super-traditional curriculum...never see a patient until your 3rd year. finally, the student panel all said they came to southwestern because of its reputation or because it was thier second choice and they didnt get into their top choice or some lame stuff like that...none of them actually said they had a good feeling about it
-
Nothing much, some of the senior video was... strange.
-
We had too much time in between presentations and interviews; the day could have been shorter without the senior class video;
-
college/hs campus feel of the medical school building. i do NOT want a throwback to the past.
-
Some of the students (ie the ''men'') were really immature. Sat down at a table of MSI students, and they could not shut up about their crazy party the night before. I thought people got over this in college
-
the student that gave us our intro., she was an arrogant snob (most of the students I talked to didn't seem like that)
-
The lack of patient interaction during the first two years. Also the senior videos were a sort of turn off.
-
Didn't really get along with most of the other applicants. They all came off as kinda lame and typical pre-med-y.
-
the presentations about the school curriculum, school life, and senior video, etc... were boring and too long
-
The students were definitely less down to earth than other TX schools. They seemed a lot less concerned about treating patients in need (poor ppl, etc), more concerned with their own interests career-wise, and one talked about making inapropriate jokes with her cadaver--such a turnoff. The overview of school seemed really stilted--stuffy--and almost political trying to make other schools look bad in comparison.
-
Grading system sucks. Of course there's cutthroat competition, the grading system fosters it!!!
-
not to much money dedicated to training facilities..actually they barely have any unlike UT houston. Its obviously b/c ms 3's adn 4's take on huge responsibilities at parkland.
-
Nothing.
-
That the schools USMLE scores are less than Gavelston
-
Students go to class from 9-5 1st and 2nd year. Not a whole lot of free time. 2nd year was described as: when you're not in class or sleeping, you study.
-
The area around the hospital is somewhat rundown and a little dangerous. They don't video tape lectures or offer a scribe service the first year.
-
The grading system sucks...
-
(See the "most difficult question" section above). One thing that struck me was how "quiet" the applicants were (40 or so people). Out of all the medical school applicant groups I have met so far, this group was by far the most reserved (perhaps nervous?). There were a few people who were conversational, but it made me wonder what the personality of the entering class at UTSW was going to be like (quiet? reserved?). Note that the medical students were not quiet and reserved.
-
Student videos. They went out of their way to apologize ahead of time for their potential to offend, but several of them were straight out of stuff you see in high school. For the most part this was something that they should leave out of the interview day, or do a better job at selecting which to screen.
-
Class size is huge. Students get a full-on GPA based on a bell curve, and the curriculum is "traditional," as they like to call it.
-
The school managed to shake a lot of its gunner reputation in my mind, but a few doubts still linger. Also, that one of the admissions officers kept apologising in advance for the "offensiveness" of the fourth-year video compilation. It was actually kind of lame, with only some sexism and a few uses of the s-bombâ€â€nothing that I would even apologize for unless I was really uptight and conservative.
-
The new grading system for this year is based on a bell curve, and seems to make the students slightly more competitive within their class; the facilities looked older to me; traditional curriculum with little clinical exposure; very large class size (250s)
-
First interviewer asked random questions (even though he was nice) and asked me if I was nervous (I had to explain myself that I wasn't)
-
UTSW has a traditional cirriculum.. MS I and II has little or no clinical exposure.
-
Wish it took place on a weekday when I'd get to see the school in action. Touring through the school on a Saturday gave me a bit of an empty feeling.
-
Class size
-
The touting of the 4 nobel laureates, trying to dispel stereotypes, etc.
-
Very shocked by some of the people's behaviors and responses. My tour guide was talking about how LBJ delivers over 16,000 babies and how this is the most in the nation. He then went on to say how its probably due to Dallas having a very high hispanic population....very offensive. A interviewer also added that there is a split class system in dallas with the rich folk living north of downtown and the ghetto south. He also added that " there's alot of crime over there because that's where all the blacks and hispanics live"....very surprising to hear that. Very competitive atmosphere and cocky students pushing that they're Tier 1 and dissing other schools like Baylor. One med student told me the following story: "My doctor told me that if you get into medical school, then you're smarter than 98% of the population. And if you do bad on your USMLE's but go to UT-sw its okay b/c, if you go to UT-sw, then you're already smarter than every other med student. So yeah, I'm smart" I was like wtf, did she just say that.
-
All of the students I spoke to seemed to have a very negative impression of their experience. They were impressed with the reputation and the opportunities made available to them but the stresses of the highly competitive environment seemed to be getting to them.
-
I don't like Dallas.
-
class size, grading system
-
The speed walking during the tour! Other than that, nothing- I loved it.
-
Students and faculty seem slightly full of themselves.
-
During lunch, the med students tended to group together (with exceptions of course) so didn't interact with the interviewees that much and provided little feedback.
-
Parking was difficult to find, although that might just be because I am unfamiliar with the layout of the campus.
-
Bad drivers. Texas drivers are idiots. Lack of city transportation. No ecological consciousness. No winter :(
-
The student tour guides kept trying to debunk Southwestern's reputation of being competitive. Also, as hard as the staff and presenters tried to be warm and funny, they were not. This school definately lacks warmth and friendliness of the other UT Schools.
-
My first interview was with a researcher, and you could tell. His questions were shallow and it was like talking to a brick wall. The other interviewer was okay, but he just sort of talked to himself the whole time. And the people seemed very cocky - I guess they feel they have to sell themselves over the coastal schools.
-
Attitude of interviewers. Students don't seem that happy and cocky.
-
no patient contact first year; kept trying to debunk their reputation for being overly competitive (it didn't seem to be a negative learning environment, but i'm wondering why the rumor started)
-
The students I talked to seemed unhappy and kind of dull. Maybe it was exam time, but they seemed to have this, "school is awful; we're just surviving" attitude. The rigid curriculum and inflexible clinicals are a turn off. Also, one of my interviewers pretty much said, "you must choose Southwestern," and maybe it's immature, but I wanted to say, "play hard to get!"
-
Nothing really. The program is really great and they really take care of you as an MSTP student.
-
i don't like dallas, but that's not southwestern's fault :)
-
They have to pay their students to give tours. They student tour guide was reading off of a script to us. Campus itself is nice but the surrounding neighborhood is a slum. Several of the house have fences with razor blades on top. If I go here, I'm definately commuting in.
-
Since the interview is on a saturday, the school is empty, leaving it hard to tell what it's really like there. But this has its advantages too.
-
The sheer competitiveness and frankly, nerdiness of the students
-
didn't see much of the campus (either that or everything really is in only a handful of buildings), ABCD grading scale so students say they worry about getting elusive A's and compare themselves to the others (makes learn the material better, on the other hand), very large, public hospitals (more experience but less pleasant)
-
My first interviewer was a frank person and she said there's not much in Dallas to attract someone out-of-state. Also that there's not much chance to do research. Everyone else had a common background being from Texas and I was warned that it was very conservative there.
-
Parkland is a huge hospital...and our tour guide took us through the basement of it to get to the Children's Hospital. And the basement felt like...a basement. Students pretty much told me that it wasn't super cut-throat like everyone seemed to think it was but they did mention that sometimes they felt that their success was measured by awards and publications rather than other more intangible factors.
-
The large class size- seems like a lot of students work independently, and "cliques" form early on
-
LOL this may sound dumb, but I hated the nametags!
-
No patient contact during the first two years. Fairly traditional curriculum. Emphasis on research (which I am not interested in). Also, the students seem a little less than friendly. Maybe just compared to the other TX schools.
-
Parkland hospital is old and crowded. A lot of construction going around the center.
-
The interview was held on a Saturday, which meant the campus was deserted. It didn't accurately portray a typical day at both the school and Parkland (however, they did invite us back to go on clinical rounds). NO patient contact your first two years.
-
Having it on a Saturday made the campus seem a lot less active than the rest of the schools, and I think this might have a negative impact on interviewers. When I went back for MS0 weekend, the campus does have a lot of energy, so don't let the weekend interview, sway you too much!
-
Well some of the students told me that the reason they studied so hard to get A's was that they wanted to make themselves competetive for the difficult to obtain residencies in the areas with the easiest lifestyle & most money. If they had said something like that during their interview, they wouldn't be there. But then again people like that are everywhere.
-
Most people take 4 years to finish the Ph.D. One person I talked to did not enjoy their pediatrics rotation.
-
The students were more difficult to communicate with than at other schools. The admissions people seemed to try really hard to make the school seem cool and fun. Other interviewers seemed less friendly and more business-like.
-
Seems more like going to a job then going to school.
-
Nothing. Everything was great.
-
UGH... dear god, no more Aggie jokes!
-
The people associated with UTSW seem really pretentious. Dallas seems like a shallow and materialistic place...very impressed with itself, but for no good reason. The students struck me as arrogant and self-centered. There's no way I could attend medical school with people who speak about their patients with hostility and resentment. If I had to guess, I'd say the students are unhappy in their program. Tough to say.
-
Although Southwestern is one rising star of the MST Programs, their student body seemed intelligent but not overwhelmingly so. They also don't seem overly happy to be there and are introverts. Because Southwestern compares itself to the "big names" so often, it comes off as being insecure or having an inferiority complex. Clinical experiences don't really begin until the third year. Dallas is not the big city that I expected it to be.
-
the students - i really felt like they were there for the food and not to socialize with us at all. also, the interviewers really didn't have any answers to my questions - they just referred me to someone else.
-
The attitude of the students
-
Honestly, nothing. I really, really liked Southwestern!!
-
Some of the other applicants were snobby.
-
Dallas is a decent city, but the school is located in a less than stellar neighborhood. Lots of security guards around the hospital.
-
To some extent the idea of living in Dallas is not appealling, and housing is not as cheap or widely available as it is at some of the other (less badass) state schools. The school did seem to have somewhat of a complex about their national ranking - they do not feel that they are ranked high enough. I, on the other hand, think that 17 in the nation is pretty much great.
-
The tours weren't very well thought out, and the food wasn't so great.
-
Second years especially were so burned out - everyone just seems to be weighed down by the work
-
some of the students seemed pretty arrogant, but others were really down-to-earth
-
All the other interviewees kept asking if the students were cutthroat and competitive. There were mixed answers, so I'm still not sure. A-F grade scales.
-
the overzealousness of the admissions committee
-
I don't like a Saturday interview. There's just something creepy about emptying the campus when prospective students show up. Maybe each Texas school only gets certain days of the week for interviews, but still ...
-
Nothing really.
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The lack of diversity in the class, the shallow arts and culture of Dallas, confederate flag decals on cars, and let's not forget the homophobic comments that the med students made. It also depressed me that fellow interviewees were laughing at the homophobic comments. My jaw hit the floor. I'm a democratic pro-choice atheist ethnic minority who went to school up North, and I felt really out of place. I'm sure there are people like me there, but they weren't the students that the school planted to talk to us.
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I didn't feel I had enough exposure to the students. I was really interested in talking with them given the competitive reputation of the student body. Some kind of informal social event the night before with the students would have been welcomed. I must admit that the great senior videos for the most part squashed my worries about competitiveness. Also, I wish the interview day was on a weekday because it was rather dead that saturday.
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the students I met there - some were really cool, one was a biyatch - typical at all med schools though. But overall the students were mainly from TX and so I felt a bit left out since I'm out of state. I'm also traveled, cosmopolitan and I felt the students there weren't. I'm sure they are smart, nice people. But they aren't as suave, polished, well rounded as students from other top schools - they even came off as a but close-minded and ignorant to me. This is b/c they severely limit their applicant pool by not accepting many students nationwide from top undergrad schools.
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The student tour guides are paid to be there, which is good and bad. The interview takes place on Saturday, making it difficult to see the day to day atmosphere.
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Since the interview was on a Saturday, the school was kind of deserted. The interviews were a little short and felt kind of rushed. I was also disappointed in the lack of clinical experience for the first 2 years.
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tour was sort of bland
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The traditional curriculum and lack of patient contact during first and second years
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The interview was on a very chilly day.
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the med students didn't seem that outgoing, the students were paid to give tours
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Southwestern has a letter grading system rather than P/F. No clinical experience till 3rd year. Parkland is a public hospital and could use some color/renovation. No invitation to stay with current students.
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Very traditional curriculum, little flexibilty, no clinical exposure years 1-2
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the fact that they have to pay their students to give tours
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the only jarring interview I've had, but it wasn't too bad
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
Applicants commonly wished they knew ahead of time that the interviews would be more casual and conversational, that the day would be relaxed, and to come prepared with questions for students. Suggestions included wearing comfortable shoes, being ready for unconventional questions, and being aware of the weather in Dallas.
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I wouldn't be talking about my research or grades.
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How casual the interview was going to be. They repeatedly stress that the interviews are supposed to be informal conversations.
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How pleasant the interviews were going to be.
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How exhausting the Friday activities are
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Since I don't live in Dallas, I wish I talked with the students more about the temperature. It was very cold (I'm from California, was going to school in Houston), and I wish I brought warmer clothes.
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My interviews were SUPER casual, but other people had more difficult questions. It depends who you get
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I think I had a pretty good idea about UTSW and about interviewing at UTSW before the interview, but some advice for those who may be not as well prepared: 1) do wear comfortable shoes, 2) do prepare a list of questions/topics that are of most interest/importance to you, so you can ask them when you get a chance, 3) Friday morning clinical rounds is a great opportunity to see (some of the) clinical training in action, 4) the view of Dallas from the 14th floor cafeteria is pretty awesome.
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No matter how well your interview goes, all the behind the scenes decision making occurs by the ADCOM. Interviewers factor in their score and then have no further pull for you into the ADCOM.
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The unconventional questions.
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I wish I had prepared more questions for the students that I had the chance to talk to.
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Bring money because the $7 they give you for lunch may not be enough!
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Dallas can be cold!
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That the interviews were one-on-one, not two-on-one.
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Traffic is not bad. Do not wear a suit if you are going to clinicals on friday. You will look overdressed. Wear a tie, slacks, dress shirt & dress shoes.
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To relax about the interviews
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It rained the WHOLE time--bring an umbrella just in case.
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How relaxed it was.
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If you tend to get lost driving in new areas, DO NOT stay in the area immediately around the American Airlines Center (~2.5 miles southeast of the school), unless you are prepared to deal with annoyingly circular roads, which are also a mishmash of one-way/two-way and one-lane/multi-lane streets, on your way to your interview. Harry Hines Blvd is also a strange hybrid of a highway and "regular" road. If you use google/yahoo/mapquest maps, be sure you realize where you can actually exit/enter Harry Hines. Also, beware of directions suggesting you take some tiny off-shoot road. They are very difficult to get through to.
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That I shouldn't have paid the parking fee.
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This was a very relaxed interview
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afternoon stuff on saturday is totally useless
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Nothing, I was pretty well informed since grew up in the area and have been hearing about UTSW since high school. They have an optional friday program that I would recommend going to though. Even though most of the material is repeated the next day it's a good opportunity to release some tension (just being in the school without the stress of knowing you have to interview that day is nice) and meet some of the other applicants. Only about half of our group went and I was really glad I did.
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do not drink too much soda, makes you want to burp during the interview
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The campus is extremely large, make sure you know where you are going beforehand or you can get lost very easily. Definitely keep a map with ya!
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Actually people told me but I didn't listen - don't worry about the interviews!
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I learned alot. They dispelled many myths about the school. Many people say they ''focus on disproving that they are cutthroat'' which is not true. If they did ''focus'' on the fact, it was simply because the rumor has floated around so much that many students ask about it in the question-answer sessions. Alot of what I discovered is also written in my ''what positively impressed you'' answer.
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None.
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That the information on their webpage regarding programs in neuroscience was outdated/incorrect (I was contradicted often by a director when mentioning some of these programs). That one of their nobel laureate directors (Rodney Ulane) is leaving for NYU.
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The tour spans Parkland, Children's and the medical school, so wear comfortable shoes!
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you can leave early!
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nothing. Everything was very straightforward and they did a great job of telling us in the beginning what all to expect for the rest of the day.
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Nothing.
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that i really needed to pick up more decongestant meds. and that library interviews were conducted in tiny study rooms right next to each other where you could see the interviewer/the interviewer could see you through the window.
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how relaxed the whole day would be.
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Nothing
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None
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How amazing Parkland and the Children's hospital is. They have a huge train playscape through the Children's hospital. Also, Dallas has very little to offer in terms of cool neighborhoods.
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its hard getting around dallas if you are unfamiliear with the roads...soo many @#$@# highways.
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That the school is not just about research, but, cares alot about training clinicians.
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Take a taxi to the school/hotel from the airport. NOT a shuttle bus... $50.
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One interviewer would have my complete file and know all my information, while the other would only have my personal statement. That they would give us barbeque sandwhiches would were hard to eat in a suit.
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How nice everyone was
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Nothing really.
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How friendly and laid-back the students were. Grading is more traditional, which creates some competition, but the students still seem to help one another out. Rather, It was the group of interviewees that I was with that seemed to be more typical of the gunner reputation that this school continues to have.
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That the school does rolling admissions for non-residents. February 1 just got a lot less magical.
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The annual fourth-year video project.
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out-of-state students can get in-state tuition
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Nothing really. I live in Dallas and been on UTSW and its tours before so I knew what I was expecting to see everything they offered (except for the random questions fired by the first interviewer).
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Didn't know the tuition had gone up from the mid 6K's. Still a great deal though.
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Unlike earlier comments, you can have two barbecue sandwiches if you want...
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That the interviews wereheld at the beginning of the day without any opportunity to talk to the other applicants and get relaxed prior to the interviews. I wasnt relaxed enough and it felt that I was stiff for my interviews.
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Stress level very low. Interviews felt more like conversations.
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That there's not much diversity at the school as can be noted in some of their comments.
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You could only get one sandwich for lunch. If you grab a second they will be on you so fast.
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Texas interviews are much more lax. Make sure you take yourself seriously, though, just in case the easy-going nature coaxes you into letting down your professionalism.
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alot of the questions asked were on sdn. interviewers were given a list of suggested questions to ask. 1 interview is blinded (only has personal statement), the other open file. this is where your personal statement comes in handy.
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How relaxed the day would be. I way overprepared.
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The location is a little tricky, especially if you aren't familiar with the area. There are no real signs to indicate where the school is.
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I discovered that Dallas is a mix between Los Angeles and New York City...taking more of the bad than the good. If I had known this, I would have not applied. HOWEVER the education and research opportunities are sooooo amazing that it would have been a DAMN shame had i not applied.
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interview finishes at 245; could have taken an earlier flight
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Come up with way more questions than you think you need, because everyone will ask you what you want to know. You seriously have 50 opportunities to ask questions.
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Their curriculum is pretty traditional which means class all day and heavy on the basic sciences. This will prepare you well for USMLE but leaves little time for research if you're interested in that.
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That my interviewer was going to ask me biochem questions, heh.
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The interviews are very short, so you need to be straight to the point to say everything you would like to get in.
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that the interviews would be so casual. i was only asked questions for the first 15 mins, and the next ten were spent asking the interviewer about the school
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Out of state still get in state tuition
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That we could have called the admissions office or office of student affairs to set up a day during the week to follow a medical student on their rounds for a day. It would've been a great opportunity to explore the school further and I would have gone into town earlier or even stayed later to do it.
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That they are in class 9 to 5!
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That it would be so low-stress and noncompetetive
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How much of a research school SW is. Also, that the rumors about it being really competitive are kinda true.
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How laid back and conversational the interviews would be...even at Southwestern. Parkland serves over 800,000 outpatients and delivers over 16,000 babies each year.
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I wouldn't worry about the stereotype a lot of people place on UT-SW as being really competitive. The majority of the students I met were really down to Earth.
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They provide food but not what you would necessarily call lunch. Eat before or don't forget your wallet.
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I didn't expect the interviewer to directly ask me how I felt about my other interviews.
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A sizable neurology department.
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Law mandates that at least 90% of Southwestern's entering class be Texas residents. With a class of 220, this means that the MSTP students are really the only out-of-staters. Many students have family in the area or are married.
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total traditional experience - not very progressive.
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Being able to visit during the week. I would have come on the Thursday before so that I could shadow a med student on the Friday before my interview. Overall, the interview is really organized. They don't waste your time. You start at 9 and are done by 3. Your two interviews are back to back, so get them done all at once.
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Everyone will wear a black suit.
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That the interviews would be easy going and conversational!
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In Texas, Southwestern seems to have this reputation of being full of a bunch of gunners. While the students there are definitely sharp, they also seemed very accessible and friendly. Also, their recreation center is the best in Texas.
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How great my interviews would be -- I wouldn't have been nervous at all.
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That they may ask you about your specific grades! I didn't know it was open open file - they know everything.
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the cutthroat reputation southwestern has seems to have no basis; this seems like a great school and the gossip is unfair
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that their curriculum is being changed...new student housing...the MD/MPH program
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that the myths about southwestern--phd oriented and too competitive--are wrong.
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Orientation auditorium was underground (I had trouble finding it).
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That I wasn't going to fit into the class. I matched here, and there's a good chance I'm going to attend, but I'm expecting to be the black sheep of the student body.
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The cut-throat reputation is blown way out of proportion.
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How stress-free the day was going to be
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Parking was a little tricky.
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through scholarhips, out-of-state students pay the same as in-state students
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Interviews are all done in the morning after the initial greatings, which makes the afternoon and lunch more relaxing
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How laid back these interviews were going to be.
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the affiliation with parkland hospital- a county hospital- gives students lots of interaction with patients- you actually get to really work with patients directly as a third year- you can deliver as many babies as you want as a third year student as well. =)don't need umbrella for the tour- everything is connected underground.
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N/A
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Curricular changes are in the works, according to my second interviewer. The changes, which may affect our entering class, will add more problem-based learning. Most students do not live within walking distance to campus, but parking is available and relatively inexpensive.
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Nowhere to store luggage during the day
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how short the day would be, it ended at 2:30
What are your general comments?
Applicants generally found the interview experience at UTSW to be welcoming and conversational, with a focus on personal qualities and fit for the school rather than just academic statistics. Many appreciated the emphasis on clinical training, the friendly atmosphere, the opportunities to interact with current students, and the well-organized interview day. Some noted variations in interview styles and preferences for more engaging activities during the day.
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It was a very comfortable conversation with a PhD and an MD. They didn't ask me anything about my "stats" but focused more on what made me who I was and if I would be a good fit for the school. I was super nervous going into it, but relaxed a lot when my interviewers really just wanted to have a conversation with me.
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I am impressed by the school and felt welcome by the people there.
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Great school
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UTSW is a great school in a beautiful city with faculty who are really passionate about its students.
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Great interview day and great school. They really go out of their way to "sell you the school" which I really appreciate. You also have the opportunity to do rounds (I did not do this), have an extra information session the day before, and the actual interview day. The students made themselves very available to answer questions.
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The interview was very well organized and there were plenty of opportunities to talk to current students, which is how I got the information that is most important to me (details on how clinical training is organized). UTSW may not be the most "hip" school, but it certainly provides a solid clinical training; graduates go to very good residencies in competitive specialties.
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Great school.
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I really liked it here.
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If I get in here, I might just be the happiest person ever.
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Seemed like a great school in a great location.
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The school was overall much better than expected, and it truely does not deserve the bad rep it gets as being cut-throat school.
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Parkland Hospital seems to be Southwestern's greatest asset.
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I came out way more impressed. UTSW's negative reputation was totally dispelled in my mind. I'm very excited about this school.
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I was so impressed by the school, but my interviewers were the worst. The closed file interviewer said "I don't have anything to read about you, so what do you want to tell me?" and then proceeded to ask me my mcat score and gpa. (doesn't that defeat the purpose of a 'closed-file'?). The second interviewer was not a native speaker and just read her questions from a sheet. I would answer and she would look at me for a few seconds silently and then read another question. She totally grilled me on cloning and my weaknesses and a few other things. This was my second interview, so I thought this was normal and now that i'm looking back i know that interviews shouldn't be like that. Overall, this is a very good, inexpensive school that would be a solid med school experience.
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Both days are very well organized, and the information packet is extremely sleek compared to those provided by other schools. The faculty that present information are incredibly down-to-earth and approachable. The Friday program ends early (~7pm), leaving you with a full evening free, prior to your interviews. Interviews are a combo of open and closed (one interviewer has personal statement only, the other has the entire application). Plenty of snacks to keep you energized in down times (cookies/soda on Friday and popcorn/soda on Saturday). Saturday lunch -- the veggie sandwich option is actually delicious: a pleasant surprise at a BBQ-centered event. Every effort is made by students, staff, and faculty to keep the event as stress-free as possible.
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Amazing hospital.
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my 1st interviewer just tried to sell me the school, didnt really ask me any questions. the 2nd one (closed file) had a list of questions that they seemed to pick from. last question was "is there anything else you would like the committee to know?"
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UTSW has a two day set up. Friday is an option program from 2-5PM where you essentially get to watch powerpoints on various things about the school. Afterwards they serve dinner with a whole bunch of the current med students. The info is mostly repeated the next day but it is more detailed on friday. It's also nice to be at the school knowing you don't have to interview that day. For me it was a great de-stressor. The next day starts with an optional 8-9AM panel for women applicants with students that are part of the American Medical Women's Association. They have a continental style breakfast. The panel was good, it gave people an opportunity to ask more personal type questions that may be harder to ask in a larger group. Also- it was pretty funny that two guys felt the need to come in. And they came in late too! From 9-10AM you get another introduction/welcome and an overview of the day. They split the group in half then; one set went to their two 25-min interviews and the others went on a tour of the med school, Parkland and Children's. Then they switched the groups. I went on the tour first and then had my interviews. The tour guide was a 4th year student who gave us some pretty good insight on why the clinical facilities available are a really important factor that should go into choosing a medical school. The interviews after the tour went really well for me. One interviewer has complete access to your file and the other only has your personal statement – I think it’s a good system since you get different types of questions from each because of this. For me, one was a PhD and one was an MD. Both were very nice and I felt that they got to know me as well as you can in 25 min. The interviews were extremely low stress. Afterwards there was lunch with current students. The (in)famous barbeque sandwiches were actually very tasty. It could have just been that I was starving though, there is quite a bit of walking during the tours (UTSW, Parkland and Children's are all connected so you walk a lot!). I cannot stress this enough - wear comfortable shoes! One person in my group actually tennis shoes with him and changed for the tour – kudos! After lunch we had a student panel that was pretty informative. They had two people from each year so we would get a balanced perspective on our questions. They concluded the day with a tour of their student center (which was very new looking) and popcorn. Overall, a great day. It’s my hope that they felt as good about me as I did about them! :p
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Very friendly. First one was with an MD/MPH who was very talkative. Engaging conversation. Second one was good but not as good. Still very fun experience.
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UTSW is definitely going to be my #1 for the match, I really love the school and the research emphasis. I didnt click very well with one of my interviewers (Im sorta quiet, and so was he, not a good mix), but the other one went well. The interviews are pretty lax and are in one place so you wont get lost. Tons of students showed up on Sat. for the free food, so lots of ppl. to talk to.
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Conversational with a few typical questions thrown in.
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Friday night food is great. Financial aid lecture is very helpful -- it's the first time I've heard any of it. The interviews are not stressful at all. Very friendly and down-to-earth students (not study hermits).
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very relaxed. One interview was purely conversational - towards the end he asked me if I was interested in academic medicine, but that was the only question that seem interview-style to me
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Good presentation, sense of excellence in the school, please change the lunch to something not BBQ sandwiches.
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start day off with presentation about southwestern, two interviews at 25 minutes each, take tour of hospitals, lunch, student panel, discussion on dallas life, tour of student center
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All in all the least impressive MSTP with which I interviewed.
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Overall, it was great. The food at the dinner was exceptional, and the students were very friendly. The seminars and presentations were informative, although Southwestern loves their aerial views of Dallas....
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overall okay; one interview was great, very conversational and relaxed. the other interview was intense question-and-answer and wtf the bush question was ridiculous - i actually saw it on sdn and didn't prepare for it because i thought that it was probably an anomoly. so prepare for anything
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My interviewers were wonderful people and both we involved more heavily in the non-clinical aspects of medicine such as business and preventative care. The interviews were very laid back and conversational. It was obvious that they were trying to get a feel for who I am as a person rather than slam me with a bunch of typical questions. I spent a long time talking with one of my interviewers. We got a long really well, and I just remember us both laughing throughout the interview. Very nice experience.
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Gunners and study-hermits welcome here, not for me!
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The interviews went well, although my first interview asked me alot of stuff about my engineering major, which was the last thing I expected to be asked about (simply because no one else had asked about it before, save for why I switched...). Interviewer was nice, sweet, very conversational. My second interview - the interviewer assigned to me did not show, and a substitute was given. She was also very nice and sweet and conversational. Good conversation. The tours were pretty good, organized, and flowed smoothly. Lunch was ok, talking to med students was great. The rest of the afternoon was very informative. The senior video was partly funny, partly weird... and the Britney Spears parody was... well done ;-)
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Arrived at 9am; sat in for school overview presentation that lasted until 9:30am; I had interviews at 10 and 10:30am in the Library which went very well; Our tour was after interviews and then we had lunch; lunch was plain and simple...nothing fancy..but then again I would not let their interview food factor into my ranking of the school; after lunch we had two more presentations about the curriculum and student life; the senior class video followed and the day ended with a tour of the Student Center.
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The whole day was a great experience, basically had a conversation with the interviewers, talked to two med students who were very helpful in answering my questions, the students & faculty were friendly, I could tell my fellow applicants were very bright people.
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i was really turned off by the medical school building for reasons listed above. the sit-in-the-lecture-hall-and-listen sessions were uber boring (i actually nodded off - jet lag??) and, for a school with this kind of reputation, they did not present themselves as such. for example, they spent way too long on the senior video. even though that's something i would enjoy doing, they should have picked only the very best parts. all the other activities (tour, lunch, talking with med students) were great.
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I got REALLY lucky with my two interviewers. One was an older man (OB-GYN) -- very much like a grandfather. I started talking about myself, my motivations for medicine, and this slowly turned into a conversation about my career aspirations, medicine as it fits into the greater context of my life...etc. Other interviewer was UTSW alum -- pediatric anesthesiologist. He asked me about my research (Alzheimer's), qualities of a good physician, my strengths/weaknesses. Again, it turned into a two-way dialogue. Both interviews ran over the 30-minute allotted time-frame -- the time absolutely flew. Overall, I think what made this an amazing interview experience was that I went in feeling REALLY relaxed for some reason. This is what everyone says, but it's true: BE YOURSELF! I felt pretty good leaving this UTSW interview...and even better with the acceptance email.
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I was pleasantly surprised with the school. People are honest when they say the school is competitive but I didn't see the cut throat mentality I had heard about, although, that could be just because I don't really. know.
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Overall it was a good experience.
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Breakfast. Overview of the interview day and of the school. Tour of campus and hospitals (Parkland and Children's Hospital). 2 back to back interviews: 1 is open-file and 1 only has your personal statement. BBQ sandwich for lunch. Presentations on curriculum, financial aid, student activities and senior video. Tour of the Student Center.
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It was really cool that I wasn't asked anything tough. Like I said, the interviews were mostly conversational and if you know how to carry a conversation, you should be fine
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Very well organized day. I learned more about the school than i had at other schools. Intro to school, followed by interviews, tours of parkland and children's, then lunch (bbq), then more info about the school and finances, then tour of student center (which is really impressive).
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Overall the day was avg..not really much to tour but parkland is simply an awsome hospital. Our med student told us she has delivered more babies than a lot of residents. Also in the ER patients have an option of seeing a MS3/4 instead of a real doctor due to the normally extremely long waits. get unbelievable clinical experience and training..get to see a lot of late stage pathology...due to the indigent pop.
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The entire day was definitely a positive experience. I went in skeptical but left feeling really good about the school.
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I went to the interview skeptical and left feeling very positive that I would love attending their medical school.
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One really nice woman with whom I had a lot in common, and one hard ass man.
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I showed up and you have a presentation in the morning and then you interview or take a tour. the student who led us on our interview was really helpful and showed us parkland the library and the carrols. Then we interviewed with two people, i had MD's and one had an open file of me and the other had only my personal statement. We ended with a few more lectures and presentations on financial aide and curriculum and then we watched the student videos and toured the new student center.
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I really enjoyed my time at the interview. The school is awesome and the people are also. The students were very cool and did not seem all that competitive like I expected. Definitly impressed me.
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A well organized and informational day. I particularly liked one of the interviewers. I was left with the impression that UTSW is a large medical school where everyone can learn what they need to know and get an excellent clinical preparation. The research environment is outstanding. The school is well run and everything an applicant needs to know is carefully documented.
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The lecture rooms were run down and in need of renovation compared with another, lower-ranked school I interviewed at the previous day. All in all, it was a very positive experience. Presentations in the morning, tour of Parkland and Children's Hospitals was impressive. I enjoyed getting to interact with several students there. Interviewers and Admissions staff all seemed very friendly and excited to have us there. Interviews were generally more casually friendly and laid-back than Texas Tech, which was hard to believe. The student center is amazing. The location is hard to beat near downtown Dallas, but not in downtown. The student videos were discouraging given my positive experience up to that point. Otherwise, this was a great interview experience.
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The school is great, the numbers are fantastic. It's my number one choice even despite the large classes. Great interview day.
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First interview was nice, but nothing spectacular. My interviewer was a somewhat-mousy alumna who took a while to be drawn into a nice conversation. Her question about the Schiavo case was a little surprising for how unfocused it was, given that she admitted asking it to every interviewee this year. Second interview was fabulously smooth. The academic MD started by asking me about the director of my well-regarded honors program and telling me that his son had attended it fifteen years agoâ€â€BINGO! We talked about my background, interests, hobbies, books, and issues in medicine very easily. Everything was very reassuring in this interview: he was talented at his job and I think just wanted to make sure that I wasn't completely different from on paper.
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I really enjoyed my visit to Southwestern- the students that I met were very warm and enthusiastic about the education they were receiving.
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The overall interview experience was great - the students and faculty seemed welcoming, and the tours of Parkland and Children's Hospitals were interesting. The area seems to be not too messy compared to Houston.
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Very well organized. Interview is on a Saturday.
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Fantastic. Good to get the interviews out of the way at the beginning of the day. Was a surprised that I didn't get actual faculty interviewing me, though I was more than happy with my interviewers. The first interview is open file; the second is closed file with your interrogator only seeing your personal statement. The interview is a mere conversation and no one should be scared going in because frankly, there's nothing to be nervous about.
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They give you an overview of the school, then you have your interviews and a tour. Then, you eat lunch with faculty and current students. After lunch, they go over things like residency, financial aid, etc. Then come the senior videos. Make sure you see the Britney Spears video -- I was embarassed for all involved...
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Overall, a very good experience. The day started with an orientation, then the group was split up...half went on a tour, half interviewed. Very nice facilities and very nice people. Nothing too bad about the entire experience...i wish there was more time to get to know some of the interviewees prior to giong to interview...it would have loosened me up and been a little less tense when interviewing. The interviews were with 2 people...one had an open file, the other was closed.
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Good overall not as nerve racking as I thought it would be.
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see above.
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The first interview with the doctor with the open-file went great. It was very conversational. The second interviewer, who only had my personal statement, asked the typical boring questions that every applicant has the same answer for. The day went pretty smoothly and the senior videos were entertaining.
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One was conversational, the other a blank wall to which I talked and talked.
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9-10 welcome, 10-11 interviews, 11-12 tour of facilities, 1-2 cirriculum discussion, 2-3 financial aid. at lunch a whole bunch of people came out, nice mix student body and faculty. your chance to ask how the school really is.
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Overall, a very good experience. One interviewer was particulary laid back; the other was more formal.
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Great experience, I was apprehensive, but it's a top notch school!
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I interviewed on the very last possible day at UTSW. I never really thought that I had a chance at this school, so an invite came as a shocker. My stats are not exactly up to UTSW standards. I used to think this school was a number whore school - that it was grossly competitive - and that there was no chance I was going to go here. The interview day completely changed those preconceptions. I had 2 pleasant interviews. At the end of the first interview, my interviewer asked me who was interviewing me next and then he gave me some extra tidbits about her, which I naturally brought up in the consequent interview. She was impressed that I knew ___ about her. =) Nearly 5 months later since my interview (gosh I wish I had rememberd to do this feedback earlier) I can't remember too many exact details about the interview day. I do feel, however, that those interviews are what got me into UTSW. As mentioned, I don't exactly have the numbers...so these interviews DO MATTER. I was also awarded a 4-yr merit scholarship. I guarantee that the interview made all the difference.
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I had a really great time...definitely the best interview (out of 6) that I have had thus far.
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Really cool. My host was awesome. My interviewers let me speak my mind. Very low key. Good experience.
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The day begins with a short presentation of the school, and during this time the staff makes it a point to emphasize that this school does not only focus on research. However, each student is interviewed by a factulty researcher, which made this difficult to understand. My research interviewer stared blankly at me as I talked about my passion for medicine and community service-- he obviously didn't get it. But who could expect him to--he's not a doctor!! Additionally, I was annoyed by the fact that several of the questions I was asked dealt with my ethnicity.
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There's nothing really tangibly wrong with this school, but when I walked away I just had a negative gut feeling.
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Bad.
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good experience overall; great school and excellent facilities; loved the student center; you're fed extremely well; they answer all your questions
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It was a tedious. Southwestern was a little hard to get excited about. I know it's a fantastic school, but it doesn't have the spark that other schools have.
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Awesome. My interviewers were really great people and really sold me on the program.
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most well-organized, low-stress interview day i've experienced
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Overall, this is a very well-organized interview day. Campus itself is quite lovely complete with a bird sanctuary (They don't show this to you on the tour, I just know about it because I did a summer program here). There is some amazing research going on here, great facilities, and wonderful clinical opportunities (although not until your third year).
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Overall a great experience. Int#1 was impossible to read. He sat and stared deadpan at me throughout, as if I were talking to myself.. no nodding or anything. He seemed fairly nice other than that. Int#2 busts out with some biochem questions.. but I'm not convinced he expected me to know it. I bet he just wanted to make sure I remembered SOMETHING from biochem/etc. Surprisingly that interview was lower stress than the first. He was very talkative, just had some hard topics..
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The school has incredible resources. Parkland was really interesting. The students were nice, but I didn't think they were all that social (I only had the chance to speak with a few, mind you). I don't think it is cutthroat as its reputation tends to support, but it is a very challenging curriculum and its students are competitive and among the most intelligent in the nation. Thus, you seem to have to learn to be comfortable being average, or possibly below average.
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orientation, 2 25min interviews, tour, lunch, info session on financial aid, etc, screening of cute 4th year student videos
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It was a concise day, focusing on the strong points of the school. I didn't get a competitive feel between classmates at all.
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Quite easy-going. I didn't like that they both asked about the other schools I was applying to, I guess it helps them size you up and seems to be common practice there.
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The day was very well organized and the interviewers really seemed to come to us rather than have us cross the entire campus to go to them. Interviews are scheduled to be two 25 minute back to back interviews, which is nice because that means that everybody gets to hear all the talks and go on the school tour. The school tour doesn't show you too much though, which is kind of a pity. Breakfast and lunch were provided and students who were on campus studying came out for the free food. However, they were all really nice and sat down with us to talk to us about their experiences at UT Southwestern. My first interview was extremely laid back and we just talked about how idnividual primary care practices "evolve" over time. My second one was more formal, but by the end, we were just trading reading recommendations and talking abotu the theater. Both seemed really nice. I know that some people that went got really hard questions from their interviewer though, so I guess it's just luck of the draw as to which interviewer you get.
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Very nice atmosphere, I would love to go here. The location is good, but you need a car to get around! I like all the little restaurants in Dallas. Overall, this is a really great school with great people, and I enjoyed my time there.
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It was really great, I enjoyed my day a lot. I REALLY hope I get in to Southwestern, it is a great school!
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Pretty good overall. I couldn't hear my first interviewer very well and she kept looking at me like I was an alien. The second one was really nice and laid-back and told me about his college drinking days.
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The interview was very low stress. If you are from the south, this is the school for you. A lot of UT and Rice students.
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It was a very organized day, starting with breakfast and a talk by the dean of admissions. They went over details of the curriculum, and had a fantastic speech by the alumni affairs person regarding life at Southwestern and financial aid. Lunch was decent, and it seemed like all the first year students came to lunch to talk with the interviewers (influenced by the free food no doubt). We had tours of Parkland Hospital and Children's. Both interviews were back to back occuring in the morning. Day lasted from 9AM to around 3PM. Overall a low stress interview day.
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5 Stars (Really enjoyed it)
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UT Southwestern has a great MSTP program. They definitely take care of their students and all of the students seemed happy to be there. Some of the first year students took applicants on a tour, which I don't think they were obligated to do. The administration puts forth an obvious effort to make their program outstanding. The dean and the codirector of the MSTP program actually interviewed some of the applicants which shows interest from the administration. This was my first interview, so I don't have any other programs to compare with, but I was impressed with the program overall and I would be very happy to attend this school.
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Overall, pleasant experience. Lot's of food and drinks. The senior video, though chessy, was unique in showing the kinds of students they have.
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My only complaint was that the interviews seemed really short. My first interviewer took the full 25 minutes (which is still short) while the second one only took up 15 minutes. They were both nice but I got the impression they just wanted to see if I was personable as opposed to learning specifics about my qualifications.
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Southwestern needs to get itself together. On the one hand it's constantly comparing itself to other top-ranked med schools (during the orientation presentation they demonstrate all these random ways that Southwestern is ranked above better schools, like number of Academy of Sciences members). On the other hand, they still align themselves with the other (very unimpressive) TX public schools through the TMDSAS. They should follow Baylor's lead and go AMCAS. Plus the frustrating Aggie/Longhorn jokes are not a good way to attract out-of-staters. The students there were either people who only applied to TX schools and were lucky to get into Southwestern, or hoped to go somewhere else but resigned themselves to Southwestern. The new student center is impressive, but when the school puts more effort into showing you their student center than showing you their academic buildings, something seems wrong.
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I'm glad I have interviews at several other schools.
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The MSTP interviews are on Thursday afternoon and are fairly relaxed. This year, a first-year convinced Rod Ulane to fund an evening dinner for current students and applicants. The MD interviews take place the next morning, and when you're not interviewing you'll be taken on a convoluted tour of the campus. Then you'll have lunch with more current students (who won't really mingle with applicants unless you make the first move). Later you'll watch fairly entertaining and well-made clips from Southwestern's senior class videos. Finally, you'll be taken to the new, aesthetically pleasing student center.
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I went into this interview with Southwestern as my top pick, but I just feel like it's not for me. the hospitals are great, but the total research emphasis is not what i want out of medicine.
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Great school, this is my first chioce on the texas match
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The Saturday interviews are great, you have don't have to take off work...UTSW has now become my number one school. Students seemed like a part of the school...there were a lot of students there on a Saturday...after lunch too.
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Very positive experience. Applicants should take advantage of the option to go a day ahead of time to attend rounds with the students.
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I'm impressed by the breadth of research going on at UTSW and the number of opportunities that med students have to bolster their career potential.
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Yet another great Texas school. This place ranks right up there with Baylor, and it will be difficult to pick between the two should I be lucky enough to be accepted to both. Southwestern is just classy. The interviewee pool was top-notch, and the opportunities during clinical training at Parkland are second to none. The curriculum / grading system lends itself to a moderately high level of competition, but it should not scare anyone off. Their board scores and residency placements are awesome, so if you can do well there, you know you will be set. It would be an honor to attend this school.
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Loved it!
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It was fine - kinda boring, it didn't really click with me the way other, lesser ranked schools in Texas did
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Both my interviewers were extremely nice and casual, even though there were unusual questions both seemed eager to answer any questions I had. I would definitely recommend attending clinical rounds to get a better idea of what sort of training 3rd and 4th years get. Also going to the lunch with the med students was very helpful because they gave honest opinions about their school.
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awsome school, definitely my #1 choice
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overall better than expected... will be my top choice
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I went to the Oktoberfest celebration the night before the interview and got to talk with some 4th years. The morning of the interview, I got there about 30 minutes early (8:30) and had breakfast and talked with people. There was an hour long introduction to the school. We got lots of information packets. The interviews went pretty well. My first interviewer never stopped talking, though. But they were both very friendly. Then we had lunch with tons of med students. Next was an hour long talk on life at the school and in Dallas. We got to watch some clips from past Senior Videos, which were really funny. Then we went on a tour of the brand new Student Center, which they are very proud of. It was pretty cool. That was it.
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the day started off with breakfast and a chat with a med student. then we sat in the freshmen auditorium and listened to three speakers about the benefits of southwestern. the tour through Parkland was amazing. a county hospital is a really good training ground for med students. the two interviews were very laid back and conversational--no tough ethical or what would you do in this situation questions. after the interviews, we had a bbq lunch. then we listened to another speech about financial aid (which made me wonder- could i afford $25000 a year??). the day finished with a tour with their new Student activities building... a lot of showing off on their part, a lot of ooo-ing and aww-ing on ours...
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Intense, driven student body. Not competitive--I think that's a myth re-told by lower ranked schools. If you really enjoy studying and book-learning, this is the school for you. Their clinical experiences do not look as strong as similarly ranked schools. Out-of-state students get a pretty sweet deal. Also, the school projects a very research, academic-oriented image, but not many MD students are involved in research. In a few words, I would describe Southwestern as intense and vividly trying to cultivate a sense of prestige about the school. A very good school for young, smart people who just KNOW they want to be doctors.
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The interviews were not stressful, but as always you tend to over-analyze after the fact. One interviewer did indicate that the interviews are important, but that the school works most off the application data to determine their classes.
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I was really impressed by this school. The interview day was extremely well prepared and executed. I felt that I recieved alot of useful information about the school and about Dallas. I was offered admission to this school and I have accepted their offer. I guess that speaks louder for the school than anything else I can say.
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I had really high hopes of UT SW and Dallas before I came here. I was let down b/c Dallas isn't as big/cosmopolitan city as I had thought. Its a more homogenous, rich , older population with not as many young professionals as I'd like. Also they students there weren't the same caliber as those from other schools. However the med school and hospital lived up to their amazing rep. I was accepted here but don't think I'll be attending
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The interview day was well organized. Both interviews finish before lunch, and the remainder of the day is informative and unique.
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I had a wonderful day at Southwestern. The welcome and financial aid/student life presentations answered almost all of my questions, and the interviews were very comfortable and laid-back. They were both more like conversations rather than question-and-answer sessions.
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I loved the school.
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Both interviews were open-file, so quetions were pretty specific to me and the contents of my application. I think that both my interviewers and I got a lot out of out interacts becuase of this. I was more prepared to discuss aspects of my file than to answer more open-ended questions like, "tell me about yourself." Both interviews were really laid back and everyone at the school was genuinely nice. The school was impressive and the students were awesome - I did not expect to enjoy my experince as much as I did that day.
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Excellent. Best interview ever. I felt completely at ease the entire time!
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short and to the point which i thought was great. it was great to have the interviews at the beginning of the day so that you were stressfree for the remainder of the day. interview was not really stressful at all- standard questions.
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Overall a good experience. Enjoyed the informal conversations with med students during lunch
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My first interview was a pressure interview. The interviewer didn't look at me for more than a few seconds at a time, checked his pager, picked at a pastry and sipped a drink, interrupted me mid-sentence at least 5 times, and upon hearing the name of my second interviewer, said "Really? I thought he died years ago." He intensely challenged each assertion I made by making me justify each point with evidence. He asked what exactly I do in my lab research, pushing me for detail until I laid out the precise protocol of my experiments, and he asked specifically whether my research has been included in publications or grants. This was intimidating at first, but once I realized the interviewer was probably intentionally pressuring me, I relaxed. During the last 5-10 minutes of the first interview my interviewer became friendly and asked if I had questions. The second interviewer was very kind and made me feel at home (the difference reminded me of good cop/bad cop). The second interviewer let me lead the discussion, and asked for my thoughts on some current events related to the health care system and my extracurricular activities, after which he asked if I had questions for him. He answered my questions honestly and in great depth, which I appreciated. The student-led tour of the facilities was helpful. Ask to see the carrels and the trains. Overall I left with a positive impression and would be very happy to attend Southwestern.
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Very well-organized, low-stress, VERY friendly students and staff
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Interviewers are very friendly, really good facilities, however the students did not seem as welcoming as at other schools (could've been 'cause it was a Saturday morning)
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a very impressive school, for the most part a casual day
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
Applicants commonly appreciated the organization and friendliness of the admissions office but suggested reducing repetitive information sessions, limiting the use of PowerPoint presentations, and improving the efficiency of student-run activities during the admissions process.
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No suggestions
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none
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Everything went great - I really liked the multiple opportunities given for learning more about the school and interacting with students.
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No suggestions. Everything was organized very well, thank you!
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Keep up the great work.
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I didn't have enough money on my meal ticket to buy my salad at the Friday lunch. I had to borrow money!
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Three hours of Powerpoint presentations is too much, especially when we all got up early to travel to Southwestern or participate in clinical rounds!
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Between the 2 days, there was a lot of sitting and a lot of repeated information. I would have prefe
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No suggestions - they're all really friendly and open
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some of the student run parts on the 2nd day were totally useless. they could have cut those out eas
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