University of Washington School of Medicine Individual responses

⭐ Overall Impressions ▼

How did the interview impress you?

Positively

What was the stress level of the interview?

10 out of 10

How you think you did?

10 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

10 out of 10

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

10 out of 10

💬 Interview Questions ▼

What is one of the specific questions they asked you?

1. Tell us about your reasons for wanting to become a doctor. 2. What are your thoughts on the current healthcare system? 3. You said that as a former attorney, one of the drawbacks was the paperwork, yet physicians must deal with enormous paperwork. What makes you think medicine would be different?

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4. You said that returning to school to biology courses was "fascinating." Can you remember a time when you just thought to yourself, "wow?" 5. Let's do some roleplaying. You're a 3rd year medical student, and your resident shows you how to do a spinal tap, then tells you to do one on me, a patient. I am apprehensive about your experience level and ask you how many of these have you done? 6. Can you imagine a situation in which you would handle yourself differently (referring to role playing scenario)?

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7. Can you tell us about a meaningful volunteer experience? And another one? 8. Do you have any questions for us?

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What was the most interesting question?

Are there any questions that we haven't asked you that you thought we should have?

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What was the most difficult question?

How many schools did you apply to, and have you interviewed at any others?

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🤝 Interview Format and Logistics ▼

How long was the interview?

40 minutes

How many people interviewed you?

3

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?

7 out of 10

What is your in-state status?

In state

What were your total hours spent traveling?

0-1 hour

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?

7 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?

10 out of 10

How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?

10 out of 10

How did you prepare for the interview?

1. Read "Understanding Health Policy" by Bodenheimer, and outlined the most important parts of it (which I kept in an "interview study binder"). 2. Researched healthcare system in Washington state, the governor's proposed plan, and some of its criticisms. 3. Researched status of tort reform in my current and former states of residence, along with new approaches. (As a former lawyer, I thought I might get some questions on this.) 4. Outlined Obama's and Clinton's healthplans, and some of their criticisms and proposed solutions (into the binder again). 5. Researched the decline, impact and ways to revitalize primary care specialties in America. 6. Read all interview questions for UW on SDN for the past two years, organized them by topic, and prepared to answer each of them (I think this is a great place to start to organize your interview prep). 7. Read USMLE Ethics Study Guide (cheap from Amazon), then all of the UW Bioethics Website scenarios. The Bioethics website is enough, though. 8. Reviewed my AMCAS application, especially volunteer experiences and research, and practiced describing these topics out loud. 9. Practiced my answers to "doctor motivation" and other definite interview questions out loud. 10. Studied my "interview study binder" over and over. And over.

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What impressed you positively?

Everyone was very friendly. The interviewers were not as hard on me as I'd feared. The medical students were also helpful and candid.

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What impressed you negatively?

The tour could have been better. I would like to have seen the anatomy lab, a lecture hall (it was closed on our interview day because it was Sunday), the library, and a few other areas. And the lunch break/information session was a little long, at 2+ hours.

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What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

That the admissions office might schedule your interview only three days away! I was expecting to get a couple weeks notice, so I didn't have as much time as I wanted to prepare. My fault for not starting earlier. Anyway, stress level through the roof. Also, I didn't realize that some previous interviewees had been asked such tough questions about policy and ethics. Good thing I reviewed the SDN website.

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What are your general comments?

My impression was that the three person panel had a "good cop, bad cop, neutral cop" setup, as some others have noted. But I think you can set the tone if you prepare. I got the healthcare policy question early and was able to talk in some detail about it, which seemed to start things off on a positive note.

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What are your suggestions for the admissions office?

No responses

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