Temple University School of Medicine

All pertained to what I talked about in my personal statement. I asked almost as many questions as he did. It was mostly coversational.

None really. The interview was very conversational and mostly pertaining to things I talked about in my personal statement.

None. I would have put stress level 0, but 1 is the lowest you can go.

Read over a bunch of question on this site, reread essays, and thought of questions to ask. Have questions because it seems that most interviewers won't ask you too many.

First year students can participate in student run clinic. Although the new building wont be finished any time soon, they have made improvements to the old building and it seems that they will continue to do so. They seem to emphasize giving students clinical experience even before third year so you already have experience when doing clerkships. Campus is well lit and patroled by huge police force. Children's Hospital is very, very nice.

Nothing major, although it seems that all of the students have to live off campus, the building classes are in is old, and the gym on campus is very small.

If I would have realized how close a lot of things were to my hotel (e.g. the variuos museums) I would have planned my trip better and gotten to see more stuff. You can walk around to most places (although I am pretty active and consider walking a mile to be no big deal)

Great experience. Interview was very relaxed. The only interviewer who seems to stress anyone out is Stephen Permut, who often asks questions like why do you want to be a doctor when so many people die from physician mistakes each year and you have to worry about being sued and you often can’t do the tests you want to do. They say that he’ll give you a hard time no matter what your answer is but after the interview he might tell you he agrees with you, so keep your composure. He doesn’t interview on Thursdays but apparently does on Wednesday (not sure about other days). In my interview we only talked about things I touched on in my personal statement. A lot of the criticisms of the school are unfair in my opinion. The neighborhood is nowhere close to being as bad as people say it is, and although there is a good bit of crime, Temple has the third largest police force in PA and you are pretty safe as long as you don’t go too far off the main street. The Children’s Hospital is new and is perhaps the nicest hospital I’ve ever seen, so I don’t know what the people who say all of the building are unsightly are talking about. The building the classrooms are in is old, but they have renovated the first year classroom and it is now very nice. They have also improved the library (new computers and they are getting new journals). The gym is small but you can take a shuttle down to the main campus (they run every 10 minutes) to use theirs if you want to. It seems that everyone lives off campus but not very far away and they are building a new parking garage (which you will see if you go there, unlike the new medical building). The students seem to be comfortable with themselves and not uptight at all, although they said second year was a lot tougher than first (one guy said he dicked around for at least 3 hours every day during first year). Even first year students get to participate in the student run clinic. The financial aid session was very good (when we didn’t have questions, the guy asked his own and told us stuff we should know even though we didn’t ask about it) and there are indeed opportunities to go international. I got my cheesesteaks at Jim’s and Cosmi’s Deli, Cosmi’s being the better of the two (is at 1501 S8th street, passed Pennsylvania Hospital on the way there, close to Pat’s and Geno’s, which I’ve heard are overrated). There is a place on S13th street called Capogiros that has incredible gelato (Italian ice cream), and the tour of Independence Hall is free (just go to the visitor center on Market street between fourth and fifth to get a ticket, which closes at 5). You get to see the liberty bell, the room the declaration of independence and constitution were signed in, and the old rooms for the senate and house (you can actually sit in the house chairs). The art museum is not that far away (you can run up the rocky steps, but the statue has been moved to first union spectrum). So yeah, if you’ve actually read all this, you can tell that I had a great time and I think that Temple is a great place to study medicine. As long as you don’t have the MD/JD guy, the interview should be laid back so just relax. If you have him, be prepared for the tough questions you read on this site and keep your cool. There’s a lot to do in Phily and its easy to get around (I walked everywhere other than to and from the med school), so try to enjoy the city if you have time.