Mayo Clinic Alix 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?

7 / 10

0 = Bad, 10 = Great

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

10 / 10

0 = Below, 10 = Above

How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?

10 / 10

0 = Below, 10 = Above

What are your general comments?

My interviewers were polar opposites. The first one seemed to have an agenda for grilling me, while the second one was extremely friendly and funny. In retrospect, it was almost as though they had planned in advance to be "Good Cop / Bad Cop" with me.

Interview questions they asked

What was the focus of your Master's thesis?

I was asked this too

What was the most interesting question?

Was your father wrong or right in his decision not to teach his children to speak Spanish?

I was asked this too

What was the most difficult question?

What should be done in the educational system to motivate and retain underachieving students? (I was expecting a question about medical system reform... so the educational system reform issue was a bit of a curve ball.)

I was asked this too

How did you prepare for the interview?

Sheesh! I wish I had known about SDN before I went for this interview! I prepped by reading the Mayo website, the Rochester website, and emailing back and forth with a 4th year Mayo student.

What impressed you positively?

The people are so nice, and the facilities are great! Most notably, the new patient simulation labs are incredible. Overall, it's hard to accurately describe the classiness of the place! Everywhere I looked there was fine art and well-dressed people. They even have a grand piano in the main lobby of the hospital that anyone is allowed to play. Mindblowing.

What impressed you negatively?

Nothing. It was all awesome. (Even the freakishly cold weather wasn't as bad as I expected!)

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

The phone interview was done to test how compatible a candidate's behavioral pattern is with the behaviors of Mayo's most successful physicians. Unlike the last person who posted about their Mayo interview, I was not told that people interviewing toward the end of February were only interviewing for a spot on the waiting list rather than outright admission. That's rather disappointing, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

What is your ranking of this school's location?

7 / 10

0 = Bad, 10 = Great

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?

8 / 10

0 = Bad, 10 = Great