How is the friendliness of the admissions office?
8 out of 10
How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?
4 out of 10
How did you prepare for the interview?
I thoroughly prepared for this interview which made the experience that much more painful. I was prepared to discuss medical policy, ethics, current health policy trends or anything intellectually taxing, but alas this was not the case. At the U of A medical school you interview at both the Tucson campus and Phoenix campus in a one-on-one format. They were both closed file and I spent the entire interview dictating my academic and extracurricular background. Approximately forty minutes into the first interview I was thinking that we could have saved a lot of time for the both of us had they sent me a form that I could have put all of my academic history and activities on so that we could discuss motivations or health policy insights or something. And then it hit me, I had filled out such a form, the AMCAS. What a waste of time. I hope that this paragraph does justice to the frustration inherent to answering questions that were already in my file which took a lot of time on my part to fill out. But it was not just the answering of the questions that was the worst part; it was then waiting for my interviewers to write down the answers and the awkward silence in the intervening moments. When trying to fill these silent moments with additional comments or trying to segue to a more interesting topic, I was met with “hold on, I need to write this down.” Wow. Perhaps this had just as much to do with the closed file format, but I have had closed file interviews in the past that did not cover exactly what was in my file. I have a feeling that this was due to the inferior status of this medical school that was manifested through the admissions process.
What impressed you positively?
The meal that was provided at lunch was not bad. That is all.
What impressed you negatively?
Interview. Lack of enthusiasm from medical students that we met. One such medical student spent the entire hour long lunch talking about himself and how he was on some student government board. He turned every question asked into something involving what was going on with his life without any connection to the actual question asked. It was a really surreal experience and uncomfortable for all of us that were interviewing that day.
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
Tucson campus: For such a big school the medical school is fairly small. Relatively new facilities but it still seemed awfully cramped. The budget crisis has hit this school hard.
Phoenix campus: The three buildings that comprise the U of A medical school in Phoenix are embarrassing. The tour guide showed us all the “nooks and crannies” that medical students claim as their own to study in. One was a desk in the corner of a flight of stairs. The facilities are ridiculous. My junior high school had better facilities. They have such a small space for their anatomy labs that it was deemed hazardous and they subsequently had to spend thousands of dollars on gas masks to protect the students while doing their anatomy labs. Can you imagine, a student was bragging about how the school took care of them by buying expensive gas masks so that they could do their anatomy labs. What a joke.
What are your general comments?
I am thankful that I got into another school, just heard today, so that I do not have to attend this school. If you happen to not be so lucky, it is okay as all will be doctors at the other side. You will just have to grin and take it for four years if you go here to the U of A med school.
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
No responses
