Brooklyn, NY
Allopathic Medical Schools | Public Non-Profit
Application Cycle: 2009-10
⭐ Overall Impressions
How did the interview impress you?
Positively 🙂
What was the stress level of the interview?
1 out of 10
0 = Low Stress, 10 = High Stress
What are your general comments?
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I had read many posts on this site and SDN which slammed downstate and I took that to heart. In the end, they were all wrong predispositions to have. The students were happy, the staff was very helpful (when the admissions director saw me run into the admissions office, he was gracious enough to stop what he was doing to walk me to my interview site across the street at Kings County) and the facilities really weren't as bad as they were made out to be.
I guess the only drawback is the neighborhood, but in all honesty I doubt that that'd be a deciding factor in attending downstate. Heck, columbia med is on 168th street, an area comparable to downstate's location, but you don't see people camplaining about attending columbia because of it.
💬 Interview Process
What is one of the specific questions they asked you?
Where have you traveled? (one of my ECs in AMCAS was about my love for traveling)
How did you prepare for the interview?
SDN, this site, downstate's website, my AMCAS application
What was the most difficult question?
Nothing really.......it was more of a conversation than an interview, very laidback.
What impressed you positively?
Attitude of the students, staff and faculty. Contrary to some of the posts on this site, everyone was amicable and friendly. Really helpful.
What impressed you negatively?
The neighborhood. It's not the safest one in NYC.
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
That its a 2 hour subway ride from my home in queens and I should have allotted more time. The fabulous NYC MTA decided to take a chill pill in the middle of the transit and stayed immboile for an hour. Adding to that, the subway car was boiling! By the time I got to the school (over an hour late) I looked like I got out of the shower.
Luckily I only missed the tour and got there just in time for my interview.
📍 Travel and Logistics
Who was the tour given by?
Student
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