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?
Had multiple previous interviews at other schools, so I just reviewed their website and brochures.
What impressed you positively?
I wasn't too excited about the school prior to my interview. I had never been there and hadn't heard too much about the program. After visiting though, I am completely sold on it. Excellent facilities for the students in the health sciences building (1st and 2nd year classes are taught there). World class genetics program (professor there won this years Nobel prize in the field), Huntsman Cancer Institute is amazing, along with many of the other centers. Large teaching hospitals all around SLC, to include the Inter-Mountain Health Center which opened the first week of November in the valley. Seems to be lots of money for scholarships, loans, etc at the school. Plenty of research going on there. As I mentioned, I wasn't expecting much, but was pleased to find the program and facilities better than any that I had visited to date. They say there is a lack of diversity at the school, but I think it actually does a pretty good job of representing the cultural make up of the community that it serves. I met with a gay student, several students from non-Caucasian backgrounds, was interviewed by a women. And I asked them specifically about the diversity aspect as it is a concern of mine. They said that SLC has diversity, you just have to look for it and that they got along great with all of their classmates despite what many perceive as a rather homogeneous mix.
What impressed you negatively?
While there are opportunities for volunteering to gain clinical exposure, it didn't seem like it was too integrated into the curriculum, rather they use standardized patients to prepare for the new part on the USMLE. Wasn't able to get a really good feel for the curriculum, it seemed to be a mix between a traditional curriculm and system/regional based. Board scores are a little below national average ''they teach students to be doctors, rather than focus soley on the boards.'' That said, it seemed like the students were competitive on the match. Housing prices are higher than many other areas I have looked at.
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
I was told that OOS students gain in-state status after thier first year and therefor pay less for school starting the MS2 year.
What are your general comments?
Showed up around 7, I anticipated a lot of traffic in SLC, but was wrong and ended up getting there super early. Sat around waiting for the activities to begin. Chatted with some of the admissions folks and other interviewees. Everyone was very nice and had interesting backgrounds. At 8 the admissions director spoke with us for half an hour about the interviews and the admissions process. He was a little ''over-bearing'' in regards to us switching classes that we said we were going to take. They frown upon people saying one thing and doing another once they get accepted, for good reason I suppose. We then had two-45 minute interviews. That left an extra hour before the actual health sciences tour that we could use to check out the campus on our own. Got the 30 minute tour of the facilities with a admissions staff member and a second year student. Then had lunch with a bunch of other students. They had a great cafeteria on the undergrad campus that we ate at. I ate pretty much garbage at my school as an undergrad, but here it is real nice. Everything was finished by 1pm. No more than 10 interviewees are scheduled on that same day.
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
No responses
