Philadelphia, PA
Allopathic Medical Schools | Private Non-Profit
Application Cycle: 2009-10
💬 Interview Questions
What is one of the specific questions they asked you?
What do you think of Philadelphia?
What was the most interesting question?
What was it like being actively involved in a sociocultural student group in college?
What was the most difficult question?
None of the questions were diffcult, my interviewers were very personable and easy to chat with.
✅ Interview Preparation and Impressions
How long was the interview?
35 minutes
How did the interview impress you?
Positively 🙂
How many people interviewed you?
2
What was the stress level of the interview?
2 out of 10
0 = Low Stress, 10 = High Stress
What was the style of the interview?
One-on-one
What type of interview was it?
Open file
Where did the interview take place?
At the school
How did you prepare for the interview?
I read the SDN website, read about their unique curriculum, and talked to my student host.
What impressed you positively?
The faculty and staff were very personable. They made us feel so welcome and kept asking how we were doing during the many presentations that marked the day.
What impressed you negatively?
I had read from other students' interview experiences that the day would be very long, so I tried to prepare myself ahead of time. I was still exhausted by the end of the day though, so be forwarned (ladies, no high heel shoes if you can help it!)
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
The actual interviews are very short (compared to the rest of the day) and laid back, so don't stress out too much about it.
What are your general comments?
UPenn is a really good school and Philadelphia is a bustling city. Tons of people live here, so parking is very difficult (parking permits are ridiculously expensive!). Rent is not cheap, so it may be cheaper to live a bit far from school (many students said they lived in Center City, not West Philly). I didn't really get to see much of the campus, but the medical school is integrated with the undergraduate campus. Try to talk to as many current students as you can (student hosts, tour guides, even those who drop by for lunch). They are an excellent source of information and will tell you what they like and don't like about UPenn.
The faculty and staff are very friendly and warm. My faculty interviewer was such a nice guy! I asked him a question about clerkships, and he escorted me to the admissions office to get a definite answer. He even came to meet me after my interview was over and gave me his card to contact him if I had any other questions. My student interviewer was actually very sick, but he still tried to answer my questions as best as he could. The tours were given by a group of 4th year students, and they were quite informative as well. Apparently, starting your clinical rotations in the second semester of your second year will free up more time for applying and interviewing for residency program. But, I also heard that the curriculum is quite hard in the beginning as many of the traditional courses are taught in shorter periods of time. We got to sit in one of the second year discussion classes and walked through the anatomy lab. All in all, I would say it was a very good (albeit rather long) day.
📍 On-Site Experience
Who was the tour given by?
Student
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