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Rush University Rush Medical College

Chicago, IL

Allopathic Medical Schools | Private Non-Profit

⭐ Overall Impressions

How did the interview impress you?

No responses

What was the stress level of the interview?

4 out of 10

How you think you did?

9 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

7 out of 10

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

6 out of 10
💬 Interview Questions

What is one of the specific questions they asked you?

What are two weaknesses that your close friends would tell me you need to address?
What specialty are you considering today? What makes you interested in that?
Why medicine?

What was the most interesting question?

You get one open-file and one closed-file interview. The open-file interviewer, however, didn't seem to have read my materials very closely as I was asked questions that I had directly answered in my AMCAS application. The best question solicited my thoughts about pharmaceutical companies marketing strategies (my uncle was a pharm rep when he was younger so this was interesting to consider).

What was the most difficult question?

Medicine can be extremely stressful as a career. How do you anticipate managing that stress as it has an impact on your personal life?
🤝 Interview Format and Logistics

How long was the interview?

45 minutes

How many people interviewed you?

2

What was the style of the interview?

One-on-one

What type of interview was it?

Open 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?

4 out of 10

What is your in-state status?

In state

What were your total hours spent traveling?

2-3 hours

What was your primary mode of travel?

Automobile

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

< $100

What airport did you fly into?

No responses

Where did you stay?

Friends or family

What is the name of the hotel you stayed in?

No responses

How would you rate the hotel?

No responses

Would you recommend the hotel?

No responses

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?

1 out of 10

How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?

1 out of 10

How did you prepare for the interview?

Reread my application, looked at reviews of Rush here, read about Chicago on the web, and read about some specialties I am thinking about in case they asked me why I am interested in cardiovascular surgery or neurosurgery.

What impressed you positively?

The students were very enthusiastic and the faculty seemed very nice and interested in the students. I was surprised that the admissions staff were also nice. Rush admissions staff won't take phone calls, did not respond to several emails that I sent (well, a secretary indicated she had forwarded my message and that someone would get back to me but that didn't happen), and seemed generally uninterested in me until I got an interview invitation. I tried calling and was directed to email (again). They wouldn't even take a message and call me back. Turns out the staff are nice after all (they escort you to the interview offices which was very nice as Rush is mazelike) but my earlier impression of their inaccessibility still makes me nervous about how they might treat me if I have any problems as a student.

What impressed you negatively?

The facilities. There is no gym -- you have to go to UIC or find your own gym. The lecture hall where you apparently live 9-5 every weekday for the first two years has no windows and is awful! Research is difficult to do at Rush. Opportunities seem limited and you have to take a lot of initiative to make ti happen or plan to give up the entire summer after M1 year. The MD-PhD program is almost dead in the water and students discouraged me from considering it. The website makes the preceptor program sound very cool but the students I talked to about it were not happy with their preceptor. One of their classmates got assigned to a doc in a Mexican neighborhood -- the patients all spoke Spanish. The doc was bilingual but didn't translate for the student. She asked to get reassigned but wasn't and felt that her time there was just a total waste.

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

Even though my parents live in the suburbs and I stayed with them, I wish I would have stayed instead with a student in one of the Rush apartments. I think I would have learned more about the school on a less formal basis. They are building a new hospital but it won't be open until I am done with medical school.

What are your general comments?

Rush supposedly has a second look day. I am reserving my final judgment until I can have another look around. It is a REALLY expensive school, mostly because the amount of financial aid you get is crap -- its almost all loans. Congenial students and nice faculty teaching in crappy lecture halls don't necessarily make the $200K you will accumulate in debt worth it when you leave for residency.

What are your suggestions for the admissions office?

allow applicants to call with questions. Or, actually respond to emails in a timely manner. The curr