Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

🙂

How did the interview impress you?

Positively 🙂

What was the stress level of the interview?

5 / 10

0 = Low Stress, 10 = High Stress

How you think you did?

8 / 10

0 = Bad, 10 = Great

What are your general comments?

Ehh--I'd go here if I didn't get accepted anywhere else. It's just not very diverse (I waited in the main lobby of the medical center and didn't see many non-Caucasian faces), and they're so gung-ho on getting folks from central and southern IL that it's sort of a turn-off (I live in Chicago--but I'm from a rural area in another state). I just think it's rather misguided to assume that rural folk are automatically going to return to their rural communities to practice.

Interview questions they asked

How would you approach and treat a homosexual male patient who presented with and STD?

I was asked this too

What was the most interesting question?

How would you approach and treat a homosexual male patient who presented with and STD?

I was asked this too

What was the most difficult question?

How would you approach and treat a long-time heart patient who you knew had recently been convicted of child molestation?

I was asked this too

How did you prepare for the interview?

Reviewed my AMCAS, SIU secondary and SDN.

What impressed you positively?

One of my interviewers showed me SIU's latest Step 2 results, which were well above the national average. I really liked the situational-type questions that one of my interviewers asked. They were thought-provoking and, I think, really helped him better understand my problem solving process and skills--and helped him gauge my ethical/moral compass. Both of my interviewers (one was on the admissions committee) made comments along the lines of "I've been in your chair, so I'm here to make it easy for you and try to help you get into medical school". So even though some of the questions were tough, there wasn't an adversarial feeling to them.

What impressed you negatively?

I just can't shake the feeling that SIU is a wee bit "po-dunky"--and Springfield is certainly nothing to write home about. Also, the student who gave the tour kept making disparaging remarks about other schools and how "they just throw you into the deep end--while at SIU, the faculty really cares". Of course, on further questioning, it turned out that her opinion was formed by talking with ONE college classmate who was having a bad experience at ONE other med school. Not exactly a broad platform on which to form her opinion. It almost felt like she had been indoctrinated into the whole "PBL" thing--and was trying to convert us too.

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

A previous reviewer commented on SIU's goofy "Accept when place available" (AWPA) system. If you're on this list, you get a letter stating just that. The only trouble is that last year, I found out that SIU had such a strong applicant pool that they didn't even get to the lower-ranked applicants on the AWPA list. As a result, what should have been a straightforward "accept" turned into a "reject". Not cool. So if you get the "AWPA" letter, you're encouraged to write back immediately expressing your unbridled joy at getting a tentative "maybe" and how SIU is your ultimate dream school--and this is somehow supposed to get you on SIU's "nice list". Can you sense the sarcasm? Good. How this ultimately helps your chances--and how it's in ANY way fair--is truly beyond me. Why would anyone want to jump at the first school if they are still interviewing and weighing their potential options? Unclear!!