Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

How did you end up choosing the interesting array of extracurricular experiences that you did? What have you been doing between graduating two years ago and today? How did you get interested in and decide on medicine?

Name an ethical dilemma in medicine and how you would deal with it? (I mentioned the problem of uninsured in america, which then prompted my 'wonderful' first-year student to ask me a question about how I felt about socialized medicine...)

What are some of the responsibilites of a physician and how do these responsibilities differ from those of other professions?

What was a difficult person/patient for you to deal with and how did/would you handle?

How will MSUCHM help you meet your goals as a physician?

SDN, read my app. THIS WEBSITE-especially check out the Professionalism link and physician-patient relationship-which really helped prepare me and get me thinking about two of the questions MSU will ask you. http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/index.html I hope this helps.

Seems like pretty much everyone gets their first pick for third and fourth year rotations. Student leading the tour was very nice, other interviewees were very nice, which made me feel positive about next year's class.

My interview with an uptight first year student. Also I missed out on the student talk time because my second interview lasted so long, and the interviewer was about 15 minutes late, but I'm not really complaining because she liked me.

Remember the MSUCHM motto when they ask you "what are the responsibilities of a physician-"competence, honesty, compassion, respect for others, professional responsibilty, social responsibility.

First of all I should say that I was called back to do a third interview. They do this when there is a 'discrepancy' between your first two interview scores. So I'm writing this to give reassurance to anyone who might have to go through this, because it causes additional stress. Each interviewer is required to ask you three questions that MSUCHM provides them. My first interview was with an uptight first-year student who kept looking at the clock, and wanted to make sure we didn't run over the 1/2 hour. He would ask me questions about my unusual background, but it was apparent he wasn't really interested. He didn't have a relaxed manner at all. Even so, I just assumed it was his personality and didn't think it went that bad, but he gave me a bad review. In retrospect, he didn't like my answer to one of the questions "what are some of the responsibilites of a physician and how does it differ from other professions?" But my answer was not the typical run-of-the mill answer, and he wanted convention, so stick to the conventional answers (i'm sure I don't have to tell anyone that, anyway). My second interview was completely the opposite, it lasted an hour and a half. She interjected the three required questions and let me know what they were. She actually gave me additional advice and said she hoped I would get accepted, but that she wasn't on the adcom. So, I got the two polar opposite interview experiences-one recognized the fact that I had worked hard to get this point, and wanted me to get accepted, the other didn't recognize anything and expected me to keep jumping through his monkey-hoops and giving him the exact answers he wanted to hear. So the third interview was with a second-year student who was very nice. He said "third times the charm, right?" Then he proceeded to ask me the same 3 questions-this time paying genuine attention to me, and he also seemed honestly impressed with my experiences and extracurricular activities. We talked a good deal about PBL in the second year curriculum, and he made every effort to nod and smile and give me assurance that my answers made sense (I had prepared for them all weekend). In the end, I was accepted about 18 days from my first interview. My feeling is that if the faculty interviewer really likes you, you are in a pretty good position, because I can't see why they would weigh the opinions of a first year student that heavily (I mean, crap, the guy has been in med school a whole 3 months, he doesn't know a much more than I do at this point). It was a pain in the butt, but worth it, because it is a good school, and I'm not letting my experience with the first interview bias me. Check out this website, I think its all you need to know to prepare for any interview. http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/index.html