How is the friendliness of the admissions office?
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How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?
No responses
How did you prepare for the interview?
Read this website, read the school's website, and spoke with a retired prof from the school. Plus I have had a few other interviews, which really helps- the first one was the toughest!
What impressed you positively?
The location. The campus is beautiful and very nice. The twon is also. It's a perfect size college town, with many different things to do to help take away the stress of school, such as athletics, concerts, theater, stores, etc. A student that I spoke with was also impressive. He had only good things to say about the school and the education he was getting, though he said some students tend to goof off sometimes, but I am sure that is true anywhere.
What impressed you negatively?
The admissions staff, in part. One of the woman working there was absolutely the nicest and most helpful of any admissions member I have met. The other person I spoke with, however, was extremely negative.
I was also not impressed with the facilities. Fee Hall, where the school is at, is falling apart. The basement was leaking when I was there, and it smelled like sewage. The paint is peeling off the walls. The leture room was nice, with a nice mural outside, but other parts of the building were not in great shape.
Finally, the retired prof I spoke with did not have flattering things to say about the school. The things this professor told me which really stuck was "if you are looking for a school which is moving forward and advancing with medical education, look at places other than MSU."
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
That DO and MD students share in some lectures. (I brought this up to somebody at the school and asked where all the money goes- TWO medical students paying tuition for one lecture hall, one professor, so on, and yet Fee Hall was still in bad shpae. She had no answer.) I am not sure if shared lectures is a very good thing or a bad thing. As future medical professionals, all physicians should have experience learning together. On the other hand, there is a difference between DOs and MDs, and that difference is the reason I applied to DO schools exclusively. Should that difference be celebrated or blurred? It gave me something to think about.
What are your general comments?
I think I got off on the wrong foot during my day at MSUCOM. I met one of the staff members of the admissions office, and the first thing she said to me was "Just to let you know, we don't regard your undergraduate school with as much prestige as other people around the country might." Wow- not sure what I did to deserve that. She went on to comment on my research experience and how animal surgery is "too academic" as an approach to medicine and that volunteer experience in a hospital setting is more important. I went on to learn that, in the past, almost everybody interviewed is accepted. I don't care for that system. I think the interview experience is an important part of selecting your student base, regardless of the length of the secondary application and how much information they think they can get from that. In the end, I did not come away with a good feeling from the interview. It was basically from my one encounter in the admissions office, but sometimes that is all it takes. This is not to say MSUCOM is not a good school, because I am sure that it is. It is just not a place for me. This is my fourth interview, and one thing I am learning is that the fit between your personality and the school is a key factor in the decision of where to attend. If accepted, I would not attend this school.
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
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