Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Tell us how you first became interested in medicine.

What is your impression of the first year of medical school?

Would you prefer a school that has only lecture based teaching or problem based learning? Why?

If you were passing by a car-wreck in the middle of the night and no one else was around, what would you do?

What is your impression of the first year of medical school?

Other medical school interviews.

The building was nice and people were friendly.

There was no tour. We saw none of the school's facilities. But we were constantly told how awesome everything was. Well, if everything is so good then why wasn't it shown to us?

I would not have bother to come if I knew there would be no tour ahead of time. What is the point of going to a medical school interview if you don't even get to see the labs or classrooms?

Of my three interviews this was by far the worst. DMU is indeed a very strange school. All day long we were bombarded with propaganda pertaining to why this place was God's gift to medical schools. However, we were never given any data to back up DMU's supposed excellent grades/board scores, while other schools I went to did give out facts. Most schools tend to tell you that they only want you there as long as you feel comfortable, if the school is a good fit for you and not the other way around. At DMU it is not like this. They think you would be incredibly priviledged to be offered an acceptance. The whole time I was given the impression that DMU was saying, "We are the best and you'd better be really grateful if we accept you." But that's not all. All of the students there were very friendly and open, but the faculty and admissions officers were not. They exuded a real arrogance. Constantly they said things such as, "We don't like to to name names, but our program in OMM (or anything else) is better than this other school." Seriously guys, all the medical schools are good and have something to offer. If I wasn't interested I wouldn't have shown up. You don't have to act like a pushy salesperson. Finally, we weren't even given a tour. All day long we saw 1.) a boardroom, 2.) a second boardroom, 3.) a third boardroom, 4.) a fourth and final boardroom. We never saw the gross anatomy lab (which I saw at my other interviews), the classrooms, this "Harvey" thing that is supposedly so great, or the OMM lab which is supposedly the best ever, anywhere, for all time. We never even got an explanation as to why there wasn't a tour. Lastly, the interview itself. It was with four people, two Ph.D.'s and two first year students. No actual doctors. Hey here's a great idea. Why don't you have people who have no idea what its like to be a doctor decide whether or not you get admitted to medical school! The two first years had one question each and looked very disinterested. I would too, actually. If I was in their position I would rather be studying for my classes than interviewing potential students. The two Ph.D.'s were very nice but I feel ripped off. The other two schools I interviewed at had at least one actual physician interview me. Maybe at DMU they can't get any real doctors to interview, I can't even begin to think of a reason why. Lastly, at the end of the 25 minutes I was cut off, mid-sentence, and told, "The interview was now over." They didn't even let me finish my last sentence! Talk about unprofessional. Well, overall, it was a very disappointing experience. Thankfully I had already been accepted to my other two schools or I would have been very upset about the whole day. Here's my advice: if you have already been accepted somewhere and are unsure about attending DMU, don't bother. They don't really want you, they just want your money. They don't earnestly care about producing good doctors who will go forth to serve communities, they just want people with good grades who can boost their stats.