Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

🙂

How did the interview impress you?

Positively 🙂

What was the stress level of the interview?

4 / 10

0 = Low Stress, 10 = High Stress

How you think you did?

7 / 10

0 = Bad, 10 = Great

What are your general comments?

My first interviewer was a character; the first thing he said was, "Now, please don't be stressed out during this interview. I just want to see that you are passionate!!" The second interviewer, as mentioned above, seemed a bit stressed out herself and ended up talking most of the time about how I should weasel myself out of the research requirement and how I should really think about how much debt I will be in when I'm done. By the end of the interview, though, she was more upbeat and more interactive. Neither of them asked about my grades or MCAT score (although the latter could have been much improved upon). Overall, pretty nice facilities, engaged students...chocolate...I could see myself going here.

Interview questions they asked

"What are you most passionate about?"

I was asked this too

What was the most interesting question?

"Teach me about something, anything, as if I have a sixth grade education."

I was asked this too

What was the most difficult question?

Nothing was particularly difficult, although the aforementioned question was cause for a bit of fumbling.

I was asked this too

How did you prepare for the interview?

SDN, website, printed interview materials from my undergrad university.

What impressed you positively?

Discussion of the importance of humanities in medicine; the cheery pediatrics unit; simulation lab. The students seem to be trained to be great clinicians.

What impressed you negatively?

On-campus housing looked miserable; second interviewer talked quite a bit about how much debt primary care docs find themselves in (at least she knows I'm not in it for the money).

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

Very weird campus parking situation...I got a little lost. If you're staying in a hotel, just take the shuttle if they have one, so you don't have to walk all over campus to find the admissions office (and wear comfortable shoes if you can!).