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?
Mock interviews, SDN interview feedback, discussed possible interview questions/answers with family
What impressed you positively?
The comeraderie of the students
What impressed you negatively?
How the dean seems more interested in an applicant's numbers and how they can bring prestige to the school rather than showing interest in the applicant as a person. The school's facilities give it a trade school vibe, rather than a real university.
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
That I was going to have a stress interview! My interviewers asked me some weird questions.
What are your general comments?
The students were enthusiastic about their school, they felt they had a real voice on campus. I was surprised by how run-down the surrounding community was. 1/3 of the storefronts from the freeway to the school were out of business. You could tell that there is gentrification in progress, and it's not the worst area I've ever been in by any means but it's not nice either. I got to the school early, and the security guards checked me out to make sure I wasn't a random person on campus. I saw them kick two (homeless?) people off the campus. There's not fence around the school, so people wander in all the time. One of the student guides said that that most people didn't live in Pomona, that they lived in Clairemont and commuted. She also said that she's friendly with the security guards so that they will walk her to her car every day, saying that the area's not that safe. Another guide said that the lived in a regular apartment complex near the school his first year, and he said that it didn't really work out (noise, too many families) but he lives in the helix (which fills up fast) and he liked it. When the Dean spoke he kept stressing that they've accepting a higher caliber student now, and that the school is growing (pharmD, dental school, I think another one). This kind of worried me because that means large tuition increases and less $$/attention for the DO program. Also, I just got the feeling that they were more interested in getting students with impressive stats rather than focusing on the overall strength of the applicant. Major turnoff. Given the feedback from the majority of the interviewers, I was expecting a relatively friendly interview, but I was totally wrong! I was also under the weather, which they knew, so I wasn't at my ''A game'' and sort of rambled a bit. Still, my interview was definitely a stress interview!! One of my interviewers was a new professor (anatomy I think), and I had a lot of trouble understanding his English. I had to have him clarify one question a few times (''What is the one thing that a patient wants to hear''), and when I didn't give him the answer he wanted he asked again 3-4 times. He did the same thing on another question (''What advice have your M.D. parents given you about being a clinician''), and seemed to be looking for a very specific answers to two very broad questions. He made me uncomfortable and jumpy, because I had trouble understanding what he was saying and I couldn't figure out what he wanted to hear. The other interviewer then grilled me about my first semester ochem grade. I was totally surprised, and that really threw me off guard, particularly given my overall good gpa, good second semester ochem grade & MCAT.
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
No responses
