University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine Individual responses

⭐ Overall Impressions ▼

How did the interview impress you?

Positively

What was the stress level of the interview?

5 out of 10

How you think you did?

8 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

9 out of 10

How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?

9 out of 10

💬 Interview Questions ▼

What is one of the specific questions they asked you?

Tell me about yourself.

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What do you do for fun? DO you have questions for me?

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Why medicine? What type of medicine are you interested in?

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What was the most interesting question?

Since the interview was closed file, both interviews went more like conversations than anything else. There were the usual questions, like "why are you interested in medicine?" and "what experiences do you have that have reinforced your interest in medicine?" etc.

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What was the most difficult question?

How will it feel to you to be older than your peers (I am a nontraditional applicant)? Do you think you will be frustrated that you have so much more real-world experience than them?

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🤝 Interview Format and Logistics ▼

How long was the interview?

60+ minutes

How many people interviewed you?

2

What was the style of the interview?

One-on-one

What type of interview was it?

Closed file

Was this interview in-person or virtual?

No responses

Where did the interview take place?

At the school

📍 On-Site Experience ▼

Who was the tour given by?

Student

How did the tour guide seem?

Enthusiastic

How do you rank the facilities?

9 out of 10

What is your in-state status?

Out of state

What were your total hours spent traveling?

7+ hours

What was your primary mode of travel?

Airplane

About how much did you spend on room, food, and travel?

$501+

What airport did you fly into?

lax

Where did you stay?

With students at the school

What is the name of the hotel you stayed in?

No responses

How would you rate the hotel?

10 out of 10

Would you recommend the hotel?

yes

What is your ranking of this school's location?

10 out of 10

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?

10 out of 10

What are your comments on where you stayed?

No responses

✅ Interview Preparation and Impressions ▼

How is the friendliness of the admissions office?

No responses

How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?

No responses

How did you prepare for the interview?

Read SDN....this was my 5th interview so I felt pretty ready.

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What impressed you positively?

The students were universally enthusiastic about the program. I also found that compared to other schools I had been to, the students seemed to have a really vibrant and balanced social life. Overall, the stress level seemed low. LA certainly has a lot to offer culturally and in terms of a really interesting patient population. I am very interested in urban medicine, and it seems that there is no better place to study this.

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What impressed you negatively?

There was no presentation by financial aid or an admissions staff person, so the school didn't really give interviewees any idea of how their files would be reviewed or how long it might take to get an answer.

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What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

You pretty much have to have a car at USC, and debt load after graduation is higher than at many other schools. The interviewers are not members of the admissions committee and after they trun in their evaluation of you (which is a single piece of paper with several categories where they rank you from 1-5 and then an area for comments on the bottom), they have nothing to do with your application. I would assume, although this is just a guess, that interviews at USC are not as heavily weighted as at other schools.

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What are your general comments?

I went into this interview thinking that I would like USC ok, but came out of it feeling that USC is now my top choice for medical school. From my extremely friendly and helpful student hosts the night before to some random studnets I stopped for directions, all of the students seemed genuinely enthusiastic about their school and happy to be there. My student interview lasted an entire hour and was one of the most pleasant interview experiences I have had. It was a friendly conversation. My faculty interview was with a pathologist, and although it was only about 25 minutes long, I felt that the questions were fair and she was quite pleasant, even though it was very clear that her motivation for pursuing medicine and mine were vastly different. LA County hospital was amazing on so many levels--just thinking about the diversity and complexity of the patient population is exciting.

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What are your suggestions for the admissions office?

No responses

University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

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