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?
Visited this summer (didn't get to do much; just saw a lecture room, the admissions office that gave me some material, and saw the campus). Got here a day before my inteview to tour campus, get familiar with student life and opportunities on campus. Read AMCAS/2ndary, knew their curriculum and website very well, tried to answer questions asked by other interviewers at the same school, tried hard to relax because I get really nervous at interviews--spoke with my best friend, et al, for a confidence boost and reminder of the big picture. It's so hard to lose focus on you who are, so it's good to step back and remember why you're special, and why you deserve to be here more than anyone else.
What impressed you positively?
Students love it here, new curriculum has awesome reviews (I was a bit nervous about it being the first year, as compared to UCSF who revised their curriculum a few years ago), 3rd/4th years use PDA instead of notecards (a big advantage), the beautiful campus and opportunities here (for example, the student bookstore is as big as Borders, and the gym is being totally rennovated and I'm told it "will be awesome" even though it looks fabulous already; it even has a rock climbing wall). The website for students, ANGEL, has some neat features (like shows you your grade compared to the class for every quiz/exam) and students post all kinds of study sheets and interesting websites for each other. All 4 years are pass fail (with letters of distinction for the super super students, but I assume these are pretty rare). I was told that almost every student gets their 1st year pick for match, which is a huge advantage. Most students study outside, because this is as cold as it will be all year (it's about 60 degrees now).
What impressed you negatively?
Old, ugly lecture hall (hey, it does what it needs to, just not as beautiful as UCSF's). A 2nd year said, "If you get into UCSF, drop everything and go there. It's way better than here..."
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
Acceptance rate for out-of-state people is much higher than I thought; 15 of 195 interviewees last year matriculuated, so I was thinking they'd accept about 30 or so, but it turns out they accept b/w 30-50% of the out-of-staters!
What are your general comments?
My interview packet still hadn't come by the Friday before my Tuesday interview (and I was flying out on Sunday), so I had to call and get it faxed to me. It had info about student hosts but since it hadn't come by earlier the week before I sent an e-mail out and one of the students (not on the student host list) e-mailed back saying I could stay with her, which turned out to be the best idea--she was so nice and I loved not having to stay in a hostel. Hung around campus on Monday (while studying for finals, groan), especially the med library. Got to the Admissions office 11:45 am. We went on a tour at 12 which wasn't as bad as people made it sound; my tour guides were really talkative and showed us good parts of the medical campus (I'd seen the rest so didn't care about going again). The only problem was that my interview was at 1:15 so I had to rush through the amazing lunch (got a salad with the $5 lunch voucher) and conversation with the 7 or so other interviewees. All of them were in-state except for one other besides me. My interview was right across the street, really easy to get to. I was upset that all the bathrooms in the building were locked but asked another clinic to let me use theirs. At my interviewer's clinic, I was shown into his office and was told to sit on the couch. Looked at all his impressive awards (was featured as one of US's top physicians). He was a great guy to interview with, I think just because he seemed very relaxed in general despite his impressive breadth of specialties. It was supposed to be open file but he made it seem like he wasn't shown a lot of my application, and he didn't really mention much that told me he'd really read it. But he asked some thoughtful questions, and tried to make standard questions (why want to be a doctor, how fix healthcare) more interesting by asking them in different ways. I was nervous and didn't like how my answers sounded, but think I did a good job in explaining my reasons, my personality, my desire to come to this school, and that I'd be a great addition to the class, so I went away pretty happy and pretty confident that I'll be accepted. :)
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
No responses
