Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center School of Medicine

Negatively ☹️

4 out of 10

5 out of 10

VCU sends out decisions both in the mail and on the internet. I was accepted to the school on 10/16, the earliest possible date after the interview. This is the perfect example of a situation when the interview day went poorly and the interview itself did not go incredibly well, but resulting in a positive outcome. The interview was conducted by a 4th year medical student on the admissions board. Student interviews are to be taken seriously--her place on the admissions panel is equal to that of experienced professors and physicians. The interview was one-on-one and setup like a conversation. The student was really friendly, but she was prone to long, awkward pauses. For example, she would stare at me for what seemed like long periods of time like she forgot she was supposed to lead the interview. The conversation was not as natural as I had hoped it would be and I did not feel we particularly connected in any stand-out sort of way.

What is the physician's responsibility to indigents or illegal immigrants who do not have access to health care?

What is your favorite foreign film? (part of a larger conversation)

Studied this website, studied their website inside and out, seriously studied my AMCAS and secondary application (very important!), and studied myself (thought about difficult questions and my personal stances on medical issues).

What do you feel is the physician's responsibility to indigents or illegal immigrants who do not have access to health care? (I answered that it the physician had the right to care for all, especially in emergency situations, and that medical care is a fundamental right, not a privilege. For this interviewer, that was the correct answer.)

The tour guides were first-timers and kept talking about all the alcohol and parties that the students have at the school (I am 100% serious). I feel this happened because of the interview setup, which has some interviewing in the morning before the tour and some in the afternoon after the tour. During my interview day, I was the only one interviewing in the afternoon, so everyone had a relaxed, celebratory attitude during the tour. The tour guides set the tone of the tour such that I was uncomfortable to ask serious questions about the school, and when I did I felt that I was looked down upon. This was an unfortunate situation. In addition, I was not positively impressed with the hospital facilities and was surprised by the school's lack of a centralized International Studies office. Also, the admissions officer gave a really long talk in her office and gave statistics (like only 20-25 students are accepted during the first round of acceptances in October) that were intimidating and unsettling rather than encouraging.

That the interview day would be so poorly set up as to have me be the only applicant to interview in the afternoon after the tour. The focus on partying rather than academics was unfortunate, and I feel that I did not learn as much about the school during the interview day as a result.

Student