How many people interviewed you?
Response Average | # Responders |
---|---|
1.03 | 311 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
Positively | 211 |
Negatively | 61 |
No change | 40 |
Response Avg | # Responders |
---|---|
3.38 | 311 |
Response Avg | # Responders |
---|---|
7.16 | 218 |
Response Avg | # Responders |
---|---|
6.17 | 173 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
In Person | 1 |
Virtual | 3 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
5 minutes | 0 |
10 minutes | 0 |
15 minutes | 2 |
20 minutes | 6 |
25 minutes | 7 |
30 minutes | 25 |
35 minutes | 20 |
40 minutes | 24 |
45 minutes | 63 |
50 minutes | 46 |
55 minutes | 7 |
60+ minutes | 117 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
At the school | 300 |
At a regional location | 8 |
At another location | 5 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
One-on-one | 310 |
In a group | 1 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
Open file | 299 |
Closed file | 11 |
Response Average | # Responders |
---|---|
1.03 | 311 |
"Describe a situation where you took on a leadership role."
"How and how many hours I studied for school, the MCAT, and before an exam"
"How many hours per week did I study in college"
"How I studied for the MCAT"
"Asked about my low GPA freshman year?"
"Reasons why I got 2 B minuses"
"Grades, grades, grades"
"Conversational style. Asked me about my interests, activities from undergrad, job, etc."
"What social support do you have for during medical school?"
"Why did you struggle in organic chemistry?"
"How do you approach academic challenges"
"Describe a stressful situation and what was the outcome and what did you learn from it."
"How will you handle living in NYC/Brooklyn? What is your support system/how will you deal with stress?"
"Specific questions about some of my activities"
"how did you study for mcat"
"Specific questions about red flags in my application."
"Do you see yourself as a leader?"
"How do you manage stress?"
"How do you study in college? How did you study for the MCAT?"
"What else do you want us to know?"
"What do you think medical school is like?"
"Specific questions about my AMCAS"
"Do you have a support system in New York City?"
"What do you know about Brooklyn and do you think you will fit in this environment?"
"Downstate has a book of questions that everyone gets asked. Among them are some very generic questions like: How do you study now? How did you study in college? How did you Study for the MCAT?"
"Why didn't you submit your secondary to Downstate last cycle?"
"Some specific questions regarding my career motivations that referenced my personal statement."
"Why do you want to come to New York? (I am from California)"
"Tell me about your research as if I know nothing about science."
"Why were your grades lower in second year?"
"Explain the withdrawals on your transcript."
"How did you study for your MCAT?"
"How did you raise MCAT score/Why Medicine"
"Give an example of a stressful situation and how you handled it"
"Why do want an MD/MPH?"
"Tell me about your volunteer experience."
"What would you want me to say to the admissions board on your behalf?"
"Why medicine? Why Downstate?"
"What do you do for fun?"
"How do you handle stress? Have you ever lost control and what were the consequences if you did?"
"did your parents want you to be a doctor?"
"You got great grades-- how did you study? How did you study for the MCAT?"
"Why downstate."
"Tell me why you got so so and so grade? (to be expected since my gpa was atrocious.)"
"tell me about a stressful situation"
"Why do you have 2 W's (my first and only interview where any specific grades were asked about, kind of caught me off-guard)."
"What are you extra curriculars? "
"What's an ethical dilemma you've faced? Did you do the right thing?"
"How do you study? How did you study for the MCAT?"
"When did you decided to do medicine?"
"What is your greatest weakness?"
"How did you choose medicine?"
"What was the most stressful experience you've had?"
"dont remember the first question... your grades are excellent, as if your MCAT score, how did you study?"
"Can you clarify the sequence of some of these classes on the AMCAS application?"
"None"
"how did you study for the mcats? did you think the test was fair? "
"What do you consider as an academic strength/weakness?"
"How do you study? In a group or by yourself?"
"What are your red flags?"
"Interview was very conversational. I don't remember any specific questions because it just sort of flowed."
"Describe a stressful situation and how you handled it? "
"What do you think of Brooklyn?"
"Tell me about yourself."
"How do you study/did you for the MCAT?"
"Tell me about your clinical exprience"
"what do you think you will do as a doctor"
"Any leadership experiences?"
"What are your non-academic interests/hobbies?"
"Tell me about one of your research experiences in detail."
"What does ___ mean on your transcript?"
"Why did you choose medicine?"
"Tell me about a time when you looked up something scientific for your own knowledge. Don't just tell me ''I looked this up one time.'' Tell me what happened that made you look it up, and tell me what you learned, using scientific terms. It does not have to be health- or biology- related. "
"What did you do in high school besides study?"
"tell me a little about yoursel that isn't on the application."
"Why do you want to be a physician?"
"The second I sat down, my interviewer asked: So, what do you want to know?"
"Tell me about your sexual assault counseling experiences."
"How did you prepare for mcat? "
"Explain this aspect of your MCAT. How did you study for the MCAT? Explain this grade on your transcript."
"What was your inspiration to study medicine?"
"What do you do to relax/out of class?"
"where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"How do you handle stress"
"Why the big MCAT score jump?"
"Where are you from?"
"What was the most difficult thing you have gone through?"
"What do you do in your free time?"
"how did u prep for mcat?"
"Tell me about any medical related work you have done?(basically explain the AMCAS application)"
"why med"
"why do you want to go to medical school?"
"Tell me about yourself?"
"Is religion important in medicine?"
"Describe a stressful situation and how you handled it."
"Why I want to be a doctor?"
"Y did u get a C?"
"Why med school? Why downstate? Describe yourself. How did you prepare for MCAT? "
"Tell me about the birth of your child and your difficulties with health insurance."
"What do you like to do?"
"Explain your low grade?"
"Clarify what you did between certain dates on your AMCAS."
"Do you know what section of the MCAT med schools consider the most important? (He said Verbal Reasoning) "
"How did you arrive at medicine?"
"Tell me about your international medical experience."
"He had a very very long and thorough list of questions that he had to ask. He recorded my answers very thoroughly... Describe your research in as much/little detail as you like. Don't go for a lot of minute details since that's boring, but DO talk a lot about your research and show enthusiasm. "
"What makes you want to become a doctor?"
"What was your favorite part of Peru"
"What do you want to know about the school?....x4"
"What do u do in ur free time?"
"How did you study for MCATs."
"My interviewer asked what school's I applied to and where I'd interviewed, I answered honestly and he told me he knew I'd get in to them and asked me why I would want to go to SUNY-Downstate instead."
"How do you know what you want to do with your life at the age of 21?"
"how many hours do you study each night?"
"How did you decide that you wanted to go into medicine?"
"Tell me about your lower grades in ___ semester."
"You've applied to a lot of schools in the New York area. Why downstate?"
"Explain all of your C grades and why you withdrew from your philosophy class. Got me nervous cuz it was at the beginning of interview."
"How did you study for the MCAT? "
"How do you study?"
"why this grade? why the mcat twice?"
"How do you study? How did you study for the MCATs? ***Apparently this question is asked in nearly every interview (this is what two Downstate first years told me)."
"What clinical experiences have you had?"
"Your MCAT score, explain"
"Why do you want to be a dr?"
"It seems like you had a lot on your plate, how did you handle it? "
"How will you study in medical school."
"why didn't you become a classics professor?"
"Why medicine? Why not piano? Why don’t you teach physics since you’re so good at it?"
"I see you were involved in many things during college (work, volunteering specifics, lived at home (distractions)etc..) when did you have leisure time? What did you do?"
"Why are your grades low? Because I work two jobs and help pay my moms rent while living on my own and going to school full time. "
"basic. Why being a doctor and not research? I see you are very passionate about what you do"
"all questions were speicific to my personal file"
"Describe your path to medicine."
"What do your parents do?"
"how are your study skills?"
"How did you study for the MCAT? (the interviewer said it was from a list of questions she had to ask)"
"Didn't really have specific questions, mostly just chatted about things that were in my file. Talked about books to read etc. "
"Why do you want to do medicine?"
"questions specific to my amcas application."
"What is my support system?"
"Tell me about your research. "
"How are you prepared to live in this part of Brooklyn?"
"What's the difference between education and literacy? Are you literate?...proceeds to prove me wrong with trivia!"
"What do you expect to be doing 10-15 years from now?"
"How did you study for the MCATs"
"Tell me about your interest in Downstate? In medicine?"
"How did you decide to pursue medicine as a career? What do you see yourself doing in the future?"
"Tell me about yourself"
"How did you prepare for the MCATs?"
"How did you study for the Mcat?"
"Why medicine?"
"Since it was pretty much a conversation, I can't really remember specific questions!"
"How did you arrive at the decision to pursue medicine?"
"Why did you chose to go to MIT? Did you consider Harvard at all? or Princeton?"
"What stresses you out/how do you deal with stress"
"Have you ever lived in an urban environment? (What prepares you to live in this neighborhood)"
"why downstate "
"Where have you traveled? (one of my ECs in AMCAS was about my love for traveling)"
"What does your mother do?"
"Just get to know you questions like how do you study, how did you prepare for your mcats, some application questions about my grades, community work, volunteer work, etc."
"Do you have any family members who are physicians? Friends of the family?"
"How did you deal with a stressful situation"
"Why did you get a B in this class, were you too busy doing wasting time doing other things? What? is this 2nd grade"
"Compare your grad and undergrad ;How many hours a week do/did you devote to studying? "
"Why medicine? When and how did you know you wanted to go into medicine? Why Downstate? "
"what other schools are you applying to?"
"Why did you teach following undergrad?"
"Why Downstate?"
"Name a stressful situation and how handled it "
"why did you choose your undergrad school"
"Why Downstate, Why do you want to be a doctor, grades, MCAT"
"Why did your grades drop during your sophmore year?"
"What was your most memorable/significant clinical experience?"
"All related to clarfying things on my AMCAS app. "
"all of the ones previously mentioned on this site"
"Why Downstate? What do you know about Downstate?"
"When did you know that you wanted to be a doctor?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor?"
"10 standard interview questions: Research experience? MCAT preparation? Studying habits? Hobbies? Why Medicine? When did you decide Medicine? Why Downstate? What are you doing now? Where do you see yourself in 10-15 years? How did you like [undergraduate institution]?"
"Why did you take time off? Describe your research?"
"many questions that clearly violate the civil rights act of 1964"
"Why do you want to go into medicine?"
"Why are your graduate school grades so much higher than your undergraduate grades?"
"Why did you want to become a doctor"
"How do you deal with stress, tell me about a stressful experience."
"I think the first thing on the form is they ask you to explain any poor grades - so don't be shocked if they ask you about your one C+ - it seems like just an opportunity to give an explanation if you have one."
"All of the questions my interviewer asked of me were either said in a very angry tone or were very crazy. I know that sounds hard to believe but read the other horror stories about this school above and you will see what I mean."
"Why bother going into medicine?"
"How did you prepare for your MCATs? Why do you want to go Downstate? What type of medicine interests you? Are you really sure that you want to go into medicine? Tell me about a difficult situation and how you handled it? What do you get stressed out by? How do you relieve stress? Where have you volunteered? Why? What did you get out of it? Why did you choose to go to the undergrad you went to? How do you study (where, how much, when)? What do you do for fun? What do you like to do in your spare time? What are your hobbies?"
"How do you deal with stress?"
"What is your opinion of drug companies in medicine?"
"How did you prepare for the MCAT? (Apparently, this is a standard question that Downstate requires all interviewers to ask.)"
"why did you choose your high school"
"Describe a difficult situation (very common question for most Downstate interviewees, apparently)"
"How did you prepare for the MCAT?"
"What was a difficult situation you were in and how did you handle it?"
"What do you do in your freetime?"
"You must be a very lonely person? I would swear on a bible that this came out of nowhere. Im not sure if this was a stress interview ?"
"What do you do in your spare time?"
"What do you like to do in your spare time?"
"Why did you take time off after college?"
"What clinical experience do you have?"
"did you work while attending school?"
"Why do I want to become a doctor?"
"What type of books do you read?"
"Why this school?"
"Why did you take time off?"
"Tell me more about (insert experience)?"
"when did you decide to be pre-med?"
"WHy did u chose to go to the undergrad you went to"
"Please explain a low course grade."
"what was a difficult situation you encountered and how did you handle it?"
"How did you prepare for your MCATs?"
"What made you decide you want to pursue medicine?"
"How did you study during undergrad? Did you prefer to study alone or in groups?"
"Talk about a challenge/struggle"
"Tell me about your clinical experience(s)."
"How did I know I wanted to become a doctor"
"Asked about a course I didn't do well in."
"Asked about how I improved my GPA through college"
"Asked me about my job."
"Tell me about a challenge you had to overcome?"
"How long I studied for the MCAT"
"How did you study for MCAT"
"Lets say you're in a high stress situation, with tons of exams in one week, how do you deal with the stress?"
"Specific questions about weak points in your application"
"explain a low grade in a particular class"
"what did you change to prepare for your second mcat?"
"Describe a stressful stituation and how did you deal with it"
"Tell me about connections you have to NYC."
"How did you study in school?"
"What do you do outside of school?"
"How do you think you are prepared to live in Brooklyn?"
"Would you live on campus or at home? (I'm a close-ish NY resident)"
"How you handle stress"
"What do you do when you are under stress?"
"Tell me about a stressful situation in your life and how you dealt with it."
"What is a challenge in your life, and how did you overcome it?"
"Tell me about a difficult or stressful situation and how you handled it."
"Explain your academic record (took a confusing sequence of courses)"
"Asked for a detailed summary of the clinical research I am involved in."
"How do you study? How did you prepare for the MCAT? How do you handle stress?"
"Why did you list these fields of medicine as your interests?"
"How did you improve from applying last year?"
"How did you prepare for the MCAT?"
"Why do you want to come to NYC (OOS)?"
"How do you handle stress/What stresses you out"
"What clinical experience do you have?"
"How do you study for exams?"
"Describe a time in which you were stressed?"
"What other NYC schools have you applied to?"
"How do you study? How did you study for the MCAT?"
"What are your strengths and weaknesses?"
"Tell me about your research/job?"
"Beside from your academic acheivements what are you most proud of?"
"Describe your research, leadership experience, and community service."
"tell me about your research? and follow up ?'s on it"
"What are you most proud of?"
"Where do you see yourself in ten years."
"Why medicine, Why Downstate"
"Clinical experience"
"How do you handle stress"
"Describe you research?"
"Have you worked in basic science research? Tell me about what you do."
"What's the last book you read?"
"When did you know you wanted to become a doctor?"
"Are you sure you want to become a doctor? If so, what experiences have reinforced your decision to pursue a career in medicine?"
"Are you a good test taker?"
"What is your greatest strength?"
"Tell me about ______ (lots of questions about my ECs)"
"Some trick question about being a doctor and being told by a nurse to not go through with a life-saving procedure. The answer was that the nurse wouldn't have said it in the first place."
"Describe a situation where you demonstrated leadership."
"Why do you want to be a physician?"
"None"
"has anyone tried to dissuade you from going into medicine? "
"Do you have an hesitations in going into medical school?"
"What do you know about Brooklyn?"
"How has your MPH enhanced your competitiveness?"
"Why SUNY-Downstate?"
"Why medicine and why Downstate?"
"You were a bio major. Why is your bio MCAT your lowest (not that low, just PS and V were better)."
"What fields of medicine interest you?"
"How did you study for the MCAT? Why didn't you apply straight out of undergrad? (I am taking a year off)"
"How did you study for the MCAT? (in group, individually)"
"What EC activities did you participate in during college?"
"What made you decide you wanted to be a doctor?"
"what types of community service activities have you done"
"How will your job/ activities/ past expereinces translate to your medical school expereince?"
"Tell me about your extracurricular activities."
"What extracurricular and community service activities have you participated in?"
"What do you think of your MCATs?"
"What happened with phsyics/ochem?"
"Tell me a time in your life when you experienced a lot of stress. "
"How did you prepare for the MCATs? How you study usually?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor? What specialty are you interested in?"
"I was asked specifically how I became involved in the things I did. As in how did you find out about this or what did you do to get this."
"do you feel high school properly prepared you for downstate in regard to study prep skills."
"What field of medicine do you want to go into?"
"How do you study? Did you take a prep course for the MCAT?"
"You seem like a soft spoke person, how have you handled all of the leadership positions you've worked in the past?"
"How did you study for the MCAT? How do you study in general?"
"Describe a stressful situation; how did you cope?"
"Describe your clinical experiences. What motivated you to become a doctor?"
"Have you ever seen expert testimony from a physician in a courtroom?"
"Tell me about the classes you're taking."
"what is your research about?"
"How do you study"
"Why medicine after social services?"
"What do you do to relax?"
"Do you have any specific memory from your summer shadowing job?"
"Describe an ethical dilemma you faced?"
"what specifically about downstate do you like?"
"Explain your research ."
"a few required questions from a sheet with a contemptuous tone aimed at the admissions committee for making him ask them"
"Have you been to Brooklyn?"
"what do you do to releave stress?"
"Why did you apply to SUNY Downstate?"
"What sparked your interest in medicine? Please describe the defining moment. "
"How do you study in general?"
"Describe clinical experiences?"
"What do you do outside of work?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 yrs? What happens if you theoretically don't become a physician?"
"Why do you think you were not accepted at X university?"
"What lead you to want to pursue medicine?"
"Why do you want to become a doctor?"
"What kind of research are you doing? Explain. "
"Are you working now? Why medicine?"
"What is the best way to learn? (He told me it was by teaching) "
"The researtch question I already mentioned?"
"Tell me about your community service"
"How do you study for exams? In groups or by yourself?"
"What was the most difficult experience that I've dealt with?"
"Did you notice any personality differences between the neurologists and the urologists you worked for"
"Why do you want to be a doctor, not a nurse, etc.?....this was not an offensive question at all, but actually part of the conversation"
"What part of medicine do u want to go into?"
"Tell me about your clinical experience."
"Explain why you did not do too well on the verbal section of the MCAT."
"What makes you think that you survive the rigorous medical curriculum?"
"Describe a standard day at your college. When do you study?"
"What do you do that's not related to medicine (as in, what do you do for yourself)?"
"What is the normal temperature reading if it's measuring the ears? I didn't know so he had to tell me."
"What do you do in your free time?"
"Explain your research."
"What do you like to do in your spare time?"
"how did you study in undergrad? how do you study now? "
"How did you like your undergraduate institution?"
"Why did you choose your undergraduate school?"
"Why was your verbal section so much lower than the other sections on your MCAT?"
"I talked of community outreach he said give me example of doing it, I was lucky in that I just started a new project"
"How do you relax? "
"Do you have any questions for me?"
"What will you do if you are having diffiuculty with class work or pressures in life."
"how did you prepare for the mcat"
"Have you been to Brooklyn before? How did you get here?"
"How do you study?"
"What community service have you done?"
"What are your plans for medical school, live on/off campus or at home?"
"how will you pay for school? I paid fully for my undergraduate educatioin"
"what brings you to medicine and to downstate?"
"If something happened in your family during medical school, what would you do?"
"Tell me about your volunteer activities and your research?"
"Why the big change? (I was an engineering major in college)"
"What was a difficult time and how did you deal with it? "
"What do you think about the increasing expenses of medical care?"
"Name 2 global public health issues. Influenza and tobacco-use are WRONG?!"
"How did you study for the MCAT?"
"How do you handle stress?"
"How did you prepare for the MCAT? What are your study habits?"
"Why do you want to become a physician"
"Why SUNY downstate?"
"What do you like to do?"
"Specific questions about resume"
"Describe a stressful situation and how you responded."
"I love this one... Interviewer: I noticed you got a lot of B's sophomore year, I assume the engineering courses you took are rigorous? Me: Yes, but in all honesty I should have worked harder. Interviewer: Well I'd imagine that your course load was very difficult at the time."
"tell me about yourself"
"How do you study for exams? (How did you study for the MCAT)"
"how did you study for the mcat"
"Tell me about your teaching for PRILA coming up this winter. (I am going to Fuyang city in Hangzhou province of China from December to April to teach English to kindergarteners)."
"What have you been doing since graduating in June?"
"Trends in healthcare?"
"Why did you apply so late? What will you do if not accepted?"
"What are your hobbies? "
"When did you first decide that you wanted to go into medicine? "
"What are your hobbies? How do you study? How many hours a week do you study? Tell me about your family. What do your siblings do for a living? "
"tell me about your undergraduate experience was it stressfull?"
"Why did you return to study medicine?"
"What do I do for fun?"
"There are a few non-science majors here who are having a difficult time...do you think that's going to be a problem for you? "
"where else have you interviewed (i dont really mind, of course)"
"Activities in undergrad, leadership qualities"
"Why medicine?"
"What do you think about your MCAT score?"
"Did you take a prep course for the MCAT? What was the topic of the essay on your writing section?"
"Why did you double major?"
"How do you study/How did you prepare for the MCATS?"
"Why do you want to go to school in NY?"
"Rest of the questions were asked by me."
"How did you prepare for your MCATS?"
"Tell me about your research."
"Tell me about yourself."
"What stressful situation"
"Why do you want to be a doctor, why Brooklyn?"
"How did you prepare for MCATs?"
"MY strong advice--dont go to this college"
"The information that you've given to me is inadequate (this was completely out of the blue and not in response to a specific question)"
"Did you work while attending school? Tell me about your research experience. What happened in that class? (I got one C+ and all A's... and he asked me about the C+!) "
"What do you do in your leisure time?"
"What do you do in your spare time?"
"What were your contributions to the medical team during rotations in grad school?"
"Why Downstate?"
"explain your weak bio science mcat score (i had an 11!)"
"Tell me about your interest in medicine?"
"Tell me about your volunteer and research experience."
"How do you study (where, how much, when)? "
"What types of community service & volunteer experiences have you been involved with?"
"How do you feel about the surrounding neighborhood? (not in those exact words)"
"What type of medicine interests you?"
"How did you handle the stress at your undergrad schooL? How did you like your undergrad school?"
"your grades were not stellar, what happened in semester of ....?"
"What are some of my hobbies?"
"What do you do for fun?"
"Explain activities..."
"Tell me about your community service experiences."
"Why this school?"
"tell me about your clinical experiences"
"Where have u volunteered.. why .. what did u get out of it"
"What do you get stressed out by?"
"Tell us a little bit about your research and your role in it."
"What was your favorite/least favorite course during undergrad?"
"Talk about your role on a team/leadership"
"Tell me about your parents."
"How do I deal with stress"
"How I studied for the MCAT"
"Asked me about my research."
"If I had any additional clinical experience not mentioned in the application"
"Talk about a non-medical volunteer experience that you had."
"What was one challenging course you had and how did you deal with it, if there are any?"
"Specific questions about some of my activities"
"tell me how you work in a group"
"What clubs and organizations were you a part of?"
"Describe a situation that was challenging and say how you dealt with it"
"Questions about my application..."
"Why did you choose to go to your undergraduate college?"
"How did you study in HS/how did you study for MCAT"
"When did you realize you wanted to become a doctor?"
"Are you ready for NYC? What made you apply here?"
"Tell me about your most significant volunteer experience and what it meant to you."
"What do you do in your free time (if you have any)"
"What are your hobbies and outside interests?"
"How do you study? How did you study for the MCAT?"
"How did you study for the MCAT?"
"What type of doctor might you want to become?"
"Any specific reasons why you want to be in Brooklyn?"
"How did you study for the MCAT? How did you choose your undergrad institution?"
"How do you like the neighborhood?"
"What are you most proud of/What do you like to do for fun"
"Where does Downstate Rank for you?"
"One good thing about you? Explain a stressful situation. What do you do for fun? Asked stuff about extracurricular activities. Asked about what I thought about healthcare reform. The rest was just conversational."
"Do you study before exams only or as you go?"
"What have you improved since last application(I'm a reapplicant)?"
"what specialty"
"Which of your ECs was most meaningful?"
"How did you come to decide a career in medicine. "
"Weak MCAT - So was asked about that"
"Do you need a licencse to be an MA?"
"what do you do for fun"
"Describe your upward trend from beginning of undergrad through grad school?"
"What other professions have you considered? What would you do if not medicine?"
"What do you like to do in your spare time?"
"How did you get here? What do you think of New York City?"
"What do you do for fun? What type of books do you enjoy reading?"
"Why Downstate? Why medicine?"
"Tell me about the......[chooses an EC from file]"
"Tell me about your drop in grades freshman year and how did you pick yourself back up?"
"How did you study for the MCAT? What is your learning style in general?"
"What do you do in your spare time?"
"Have you done any community service that is not clinical?"
"Tell me about your clinical experiences."
"None"
"why do you think a background in public health is important in a medical career?"
"What will you do if you don't get into any medical schools this year?"
"Why medicine? Why SUNY Downstate?"
"What do you do for fun?"
"General questions/''stress interview'' questions"
"What is your biggest concern/question about Downstate? "
"Describe one of your experiments at work; your hypothesis and how you tested it."
"Do you see education as being part of your future career?"
"Tell me about ______ course. (asked about many of the non-science courses on my transript)"
"Why did you choose to study _? (I'm a Chemical Engineering major, so that might be why)"
"How do you relax?"
"What kinds of things did you do during your summer internship?"
"(see the difficult/interesting question session)"
"how did I end up doing specific activities listed in my record"
"What gets you going?"
"What specialty are you considering?"
"With such a good GPA why such a low MCAT score?"
"Questions that every interviewer at Downstate has to ask: How do you study? How do you handle stress? What do you do in your free time? "
"Why do you want to go to school here?"
"Why do you want to come to Downstate?"
"She spent a great deal of time clarifying my timeline of education, activites, work experience, etc...all of which can be seen on my AMCAS...rather than asking questions of substance. Enjoyed the tour and student input, but the interview was the strangest I've ever had. "
"What would you say are your academic strengths and weaknesses? "
"What do your siblings do? "
"My interviewer asked specific questions about anything he found interesting. From a random class I took in college that I practically forgot about to specific questions about my research."
"Why did you get this grade during X semester?"
"Why Downstate over ____?"
"Tell me how you study, how did you study for the MCAT?"
"Please expound on one of your extracuriculars describing your level of involvent, leadership etc. Others I remember: Why downstate? How do you study (big chunks or spread out)? Do you know what specialty you are interested in? Nothing regarding ethics or anything out of left field."
"How did you get involved in this extracurricular activity?"
"What do you do to relax?"
"So, if you came to downstate, where would you live?"
"what's up with this bad grade?"
"Why do you want to become a doctor"
"Have you had interviews before?"
"How do you go about studying?"
"Do you have an iPod?"
"Why downstate?"
"thinking about a specialty yet?"
"Why do you want to become a doctor ?"
"who do you rely on for support?"
"What happened in Calculus? What about MCAT score?"
"What is the one industry that strictly uses English in their day-to-day operations? (I think this was just a fact that he wanted to see if I knew)"
"Are you leader? "
"Do you have any questions for me?"
"What do I like to do besides studying?"
"Why did you choose to work at ____?"
"Made me talk extensively about my research. "
"Why did you form a corporation if you were already working at another company?"
"What specialty are you interested in?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years -more specifically what aspect of medicine are you interested in (e.g. research, clinical, policy)?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"What volunteer activities have you participated in? How did you prepare for the MCAT?"
"What does xxxx in your personal statement mean? "
"If you had a patient who was reluctant to speak, how would you get them to open up to you? This is after he complained that I wasn't talkative."
"Tell me about a stressful time in your life and how you dealt with it."
"Why pediatrics?"
"Why are you choosing to become a doctor rather than a scientist"
"What will you have to sacrifice to be a doctor"
"When did you decide that you wanted to become a doctor?"
"Various questions about my application"
"Do you know what field of medicine you want to go into? (She understood when I said that I was undecided)"
"What do you think of the future of medicine? What direction is it headed?"
"What sports do you play?"
"Do you go to a musuem? Do you play musical instruemnts? Tell me about your research and community service. What do your friends do? (not at once, but there was a lot of questions for a 35 min interview, and only a handful of them were answered well by me.) "
"What field do you want to enter? "
"Why do you want to become a doctor? "
"What do you want the committee to know about you?"
"what are your clinical experiences? don't you think you should have had more clinical experience?"
"Asked me how particular courses were in my transcript."
"What type of physician do you see yourself as in the future? What patient population do you see yourself working with?"
"know your application!, look for weaknesses they will ask specifics on grades"
"How did u prepare for the MCATS?, Why downstate?"
"how did you decide to become a doctor?"
"you realize that orthopedic surgery will require high grades and high board scores (said with a condescending tone as if he thought i wouldnt be able to)"
"How did you prepare for MCAT? Kaplan, etc?"
"Describe some of your leisure activities."
"Why did you take the MCAT twice? "
"Other questions were specific to my AMCAS file, including volunteer experiences and issues discussed in my personal statement (why medicine, who I am as a person and what my goals/life has been like)."
"What do you see yourself doing in the future"
"Really detailed facts about school, like what was invented in the school, any specific doctors, and other trivial questions that most people don't give a damn about."
"What led you to become a teacher?"
"How do you handle stress?"
"What kind of research did you do?"
"Since you graduated in May from college, what have you been doing since then?"
"what else would you like the admissions committee to know?"
"Tell me about a patient that stuck out in your mind (I do clinical research). "
"How did you prepare for the MCATs?"
"What was your path to med school?"
"Stuff about myself. How much do you study? Why these majors? What specialty? etc."
"What sort of experience did you have volunteering?"
"How do you study?"
"What would be your second choice for a career?"
"What was one difficult situation in your life and how did you deal with it?"
"Talk about your research experience?"
"How many hours do I spend per week studying?"
"What book and movie has impressed you most and why?"
"Where on Long Island do you live?"
"Do you think that there will be a crisis in the future (grandparents dying, etc) that might affect your performance in med school? "
"Tell me more about your research."
"Tell me about your exposure to medicine."
"Are you more interested in medicine or surgery? Clinical or research? Why not MD/PhD? How can your learning/memory research be applied to clinical medicine? Do you think the gap in our understanding of L/M is narrowing? What about stem cell research?"
"How did you study for the MCat? My interviewer liked the fact that i did it on my own and didn't become a Kaplan head. "
"Other questions pertaining specifically to my application. "
"Tell me about your different activities. Clarify what you did during each summer. "
"tell me more about "specific experience on your resume" ?"
"What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?"
"Explain first MCAT score?"
"what questions do you have for me"
"Overall the general line of questions"
"How do you envision yourself practicing medicine?"
"What have you been doing since graduating from undergrad? Exactly how many hours per day (They wanted to know everything)"
"What does your father do for a living? "
"Why aren't you going for a PhD?"
"Tell me about all of the activities that you did in high school and undergraduate and how they relate to the medical profession. Be able to answer about your transition to college and working experience besides medically related. "
"What have you learned about Downstate?"
"What volunteer work "
"Tell me about your research/employment/volunteer work/etc. What was your goal in these?"
"Why Downstate? What do you know about Downstate? - they really seem to like that they had a nobel prize winner in '98, so read about it on their site and tell them that it impressed you and talk about it."
"Tell me about your low MCAT scores (I had a 31: 10, 10, 11)!!"
"What questions do you have about Downstate? What else would you like me to convey to the admissions committee?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor?"
"Describe your research."
"How have you exhibited leadership qualities in your extracurriculars?"
"tell me the names of the 10 democratic presidential candidates and the 6 main california governor candidates."
"How was growing up in Milwaukee?"
"What else would you like me to convey to the admissions committee?"
"What questions do you have about Downstate?"
"When did you realize that you wanted to be a doctor?"
"Why would you want to go to Downstate?"
"What would you do if you didn't gain acceptance to medical school?"
"What was your reason for some questionable grades in college?"
"Why medicine?"
"do you shampoo or use conditioner? (joke) have you done any research? Alex F."
"Tell about a stressful experience and how I handled it."
"Tell me about your research experience."
"What are your hobbies?"
"Why are you interested in our school?"
"how serious are you about going here"
"Why do you want to go Downstate?"
"Describe a time when you experienced a lot of stress; how did you deal with it, and did anyone/anything help?"
"Do you think you'd fit in at Downstate and its Brooklyn location?"
"What do you do to relieve stress"
"Asked about my research, why medicine"
"None really, just focused on grades, study habits, why medicine, talk about a struggle stuff like that."
"What do you do for fun?"
"How will my research be used by doctors to help people, and how many people can it help?"
"What do you do for fun"
"What physician has influenced your decision to go medical school?"
"What personal accomplishment is memorable/valuable? The writing about a picture was also interesting (doesn't affect admissions though)."
"If you had a lot of money, how would you spend it?"
"writing a short paragraph about a picture presented on interview day (not during actual interview)"
"Describe a non academic setting in which you took a leadership role"
"You are treating a patient as a successful and competent doctor and a nurse on your team says that they disagree with your treatment plan , what would you do?"
"the questions were very run-of-the-mill"
"How did you study for the MCAT differently the second time you took it?"
"Hmm..they were all pretty standard."
"What was your most interesting research project?"
"How would you explain your research to somebody who has a limited understanding of science?"
"You said you read a lot of medical non fiction, have you read any medical fiction?"
"How would you define the word 'doctor'"
"None, very typical questions."
"You now have the opportunity to directly address the adcom, what would you like to say to them?"
"What is your typical day?"
"Nothing too interesting, it was very conversational"
"nothing was too surprising...they have a form of questions that they have to ask everyone. My interviewer filled it out while talking to me."
"The most unusual question asked was how I studied for the MCAT. There were no interesting questions though. The interview was easy."
"nothing interesting"
"They were all standard questions."
"What are you most proud of?"
"What defining moment inspired you to pursue medicine."
"What do you look for when choosing medical schools?"
"???"
"How do you feel about the school's neighborhood (Brooklyn)?"
"What role do you think religion plays in medicine?"
"none really, they were standard stuff "
"Question # 3"
"What do you feel has influenced our perspectives on illness and health, from a sociological perspective"
"Nothing. They were straight off of a sheet of paper."
"How do you learn/study?"
"Why was calculus so difficult for you? "
"I thought the questions were fair."
"Are you interested in a particular field of medicine?"
"What do you do to relax?"
"Tell me why Downstate without using info from the website."
"If you were at a party with 30-40 guests and you did not know anyone there, how would you behave?"
"None, my interviewer asked about my research and when I tried to explain it, he snapped and said that he knew that already."
"What do you do on your free time?"
"none"
"Nothing surprising or unexpected. Everything was the usual type of questions."
"There were none."
"How would you like to see healthcare change in the future?"
"Do you think you can call the shots?"
"You're from a small town, how do you prepare to study in NYC?"
"Why were you unable to complete your application in your last application cycle?"
"Have you seen much of Brooklyn?"
"N/A"
"Tell me about a job/activity you enjoy and why you like it"
"What I thought of Bourbon Street in New Orleans."
"The interviewer was interested in knowing more about my hobbies."
"What is the most stressful thing that's ever happened to you?"
"Describe a stressful situation, how you dealt with it , what you learned..."
"Everyone has a defining moment when they realize medicine is for them. What was your defining moment?"
"Tell me about your friends..."
"If you were accepted at all 4 SUNY schools, which one would you choose?"
"If you were in the ER as an attending physician, and a patient came in with a life-or-death situation that you knew exactly how to deal with, but the resident nurse told you that she thought what you were about to do wasn't right, what would you do? "
"interview was very casual and conversationsal"
"Any leadership expereince? Admisions wrote down questions for the interviewer to ask me on my file."
"Why medicine? My interviewer did not believe nor understand my response."
"None Really"
"None."
"Have you ever had second thoughts about going into medicine? Did some other subject ever attract you?"
"I was asked to describe how I spend my free time hour by hour. Not a hard question, but it took me off-guard at first. "
"What do you think is the origin of good and evil? ( I am a philosophy major and had just spoke about my interest in metaethical theory)"
"None. The interview seemed completely uninterested from the moment I walked in. Like it was an annoying interference to have to conduct an interview. She asked simple, textbook questions. No follow-ups. Like she had a list to ask and didn't really seem too interested in my response. We were told the interviews would last 45 minutes to an hour and mine only last 20-25 minutes. And she didn't even give me the opportunity to ask any questions. And she was suppose to show me how to get back to the admissions office, but just gave me so short, not so helpful directions so that I wandered around the hospital for awhile before finding my way back. "
"None too interesting"
"What does __________ mean (in another language...I wrote that I spoke it on my AMCAS)"
"I was interviewed by a neuroscientist and I have done research in neurology so I was asked a lot of specific questions about my research. I think Downstate tries to match people with the interviewer so make sure you are very knowledgeable about everything you claim to be knowledgeable about!"
"how well do you think your high school prepared you for college? *(why were we talking about high school test preparation?!)"
"Do you have any siblings and what do they do?"
"Nothing too interesting."
"Tell me a little about your experience with Myers-Briggs, and how you've used it."
"Why didn't you mention your parents on your application?"
"Your background suggests you should be a lawyer, why do you want to go into medicine?"
"None. Nothing from the ''sheet'' just talked."
"What I like to do outside of work/school"
"Why not social work?"
"What has shaped you recently in being interested in medicine?"
"Most questions were straight off of the infamous ''Question sheet''. We got off topic and spoke about the recent Yankees demise and the overabundance of iPods in America."
"Why not Harvard?"
"Are you good with computers?"
"Recall a stressful situation and how you dealt with it. "
"why medicine with all the problems and annoyances involved"
"What have you learned from living all over the world?"
"what else would you like the committee to know about you"
"Why medicine? (I was a business consultant before)"
"Do you think religion is important in medicine?"
"None. All questions were fairly straight forward"
"She asked me how I studied (I guess she meant what study techniques I use) and how I studied for the MCAT. This wasn't overly interesting, but then again there weren't too many questions and they were all very standard."
"If you are not accepted what will you do?"
"Describe an extremely stressful/painful experience in your life and how you overcame it."
"I guess I can call all of the questions asked "interesting""
"Why do you deserve a spot in the class?"
"None, really. Most questions were about clarifying my application."
"My interviewer didn't hit me with anything out of the ordinary. Where did I see myself in 10 years? What type of medical work did I want to get into . . ."
"What is the one difference btwn. Mexico and India?(according to him Mexico is not a religious country while india has a lot of faith) Name the top 5 religions. "
"Tell me about the research you are involved in. What is the main question? What mechanisim are you using to obtain data? What have you learned and how is it relevant to clinical medicine."
"Tell me about your family situation and family members."
"So...I see that your last name is ____[a name that does not seem to correspond with my ethnicity]. He had my last name circled on my AMCAS!!"
"Would your friends describe you as a nerd or the life of the party? "
"Most difficult experience that I've dealt with"
"I was asked all about my travels to Peru and Brazil"
"Why do you want to be a doctor, not a nurse, etc.?"
""What do you do in your free time?" ?, bec"
"AMCAS questions, nothing out of ordinary."
"No real questions, mainly it was just conversational. My interviewer recited parts of my file from memory. They apparantly hand pick your interviewer based on your application and your interests. So my interviewer and I had TONS to talk about and lots in common. He was soooooo nice and made the whole interview very comfortable. He had gone to undergrad there as well as now being on faculty, so it was nice to hear about the school from here."
"Do you think a class that teaches med students compassionate care is a good idea"
"nothing too interesting. we just talked about my application and he asked me to elaborate on the different things I wrote about"
"I saw in your recommendations that your teachers describe you as a quiet person, but that's not the impression I'm getting here. How can you explain that?"
"Very detailed questions about my application, I was surprised. Not only had my interviewer read my application, but they were able to recite parts from memory."
"What do you want me to tell the admissions committee?"
"What do you plan on doing after medical school?"
"What is the normal body temperature? Yea I messed this one up. I said 97.8 for some reason and had to correct my mistake when the guy gave me a weird look. Blah!"
"Why Downstate?"
"What do you do on weekends? (this question took my by surprise since all the others were standard questions up to this point)."
"when did you decide to become a doctor?"
"absolutely nothing (ugh)"
"Do you know what a duvet is?"
"Nothing in particular. Many standard questions were asked."
"What would you say was a difficult situation in your life and how you handled it"
"How do you relax?"
"Nothing much, My interviewer was extremely nice and laid back. He seemed overall impressed with my listed activities, work experience, and recommendation letters. His questions pertained to the file mostly."
"nothing too interesting -- no ethical questions"
"Nothing! The interviewer assumed I wouldn't be seriously interested in Downstate becasue my gpa and mcat are too HIGH! "
"What was the most interesting case you saw in your internships?"
"pretty standard questions"
"Why did you choose to apply to Downstate?"
"What is your favorite film?"
"On average, about how many hours did you spend studying on any given day? "
"Was there any single life changing experience that made you want to be a physician?"
"Nothing very intresting, they basiclly went through my AMCAS application."
"I see you want to go to a medical school, but you don't really show that you want to be a doctor?"
"nothing stood out. very specific questions"
"in research, how do you come to interpret your results?"
"all the questions were standard...there were no curve balls"
"standard questions"
"How do you de-stress?"
"What was the most difficult aspect of your experience in West Africa?"
"he followed a standard list of questions, and had me go more in depth. What are your strengths and weaknesses was asked, which can be tricky. Also "what else would you like the admissions staff to know" is how it ended, so be prepared to say something good about yourself :)"
"Why did you choose a Spanish major?"
"Nothing."
"Tell me about a difficult time in your life and how you dealt with it? What was your support system?"
"Do you think research is worthwile if nothing comes out of it?"
"Something to the effect of what my best secret quality was, or what I thought was really important about me that the adcom should know. "
"Why the long, convoluted route to med school?"
"Is it important to know a patient's religion? If a patient doesn't want to do something due to their religion, but its in their best interest (health-wise), what do you do?"
"What sort of patient population do you envision having when you pratice medicine?"
"None really, it was mostly a conversation. My interviewer spent most of the time telling me about her field of work and about the new school curriculum. She was more informative than interrogative."
"Nothing really. "
"Questions were fairly standard."
"Nothing majorly difficult... just your basic "tell me about yourself" and "why do you want to become a doctor?" "
"None really."
"What was one difficult situation in your life and how did you deal with it?"
"None. Standard questions"
"Nothing, I was asked standard questions: How do you study? How did you prepare for the MCAT? Why medicine?"
"About my work"
"Describe a societal problem, it does not have to be healthcare related."
"What differences do you anticipate in switching from a private undergraduate facility to a public graduate facility?"
"So, you live in a fraternity? I didn't think MIT had fraternities, is it weird living with all men?"
"The pressure of keeping up with good grades. How do you handle that? "
"how has your anthropology background helped you in the ER (and give specific examples of how you interact differently with different cultural groups)"
"None, they were all standard"
"tell me about your interest in science"
"What do you in your free time?"
"Pretty basic questions that were asked"
"nothing really caught me as interesting. they were all standard questions."
"Describe a very difficult personal situation and discuss how you handled it and what was learned from it."
"The interviewer pretty much told me I got in. As long as you get at least a "9" on each section (minimal score of 27), you are going to get accepted. However, he told me many students reject their offer because of the location so he bluntly told me if I would be comfortable living in the area and I told him I'm from Queens so it was ok."
"My interview went nearly 2 hours and was very closely focused on my file. So all questions pertained to my past experiences. I guess the most interesting question was how I responded living in NYC on 9/11."
"Grades, Grades, Grades. all they wanted to know about was my grades and MCAT nothing else"
"There were no real interesting questions asked. But just basic get - to - know you questions. It was more of a conversation rather than an interview."
"Being an out-of-state applicant, you know that the odds are against you at Downstate. How do you plan to deal with this?"
"Nothing really. She asked me the list of standard questions but it was very conversational. "
"None just grilling me about unimportant unrelated things"
"Tell me about yourself?"
"Nothing in particular. The session flowed well and the interviewer aimed to get to know me as a person. He asked few structured questions, even remarking that one was "stupid". "
"The questions were quite standard and most of them you can find on this site. "
"it was more of a conversation we both spoke an equal amount of time and it flowed pretty well."
"I liked discussing things outside of the application, such as personal interests (museums, books, movies, etc)"
"All of them. This was the most thorough interview that I have had to date. We spent two hours (!) going through my file. I am a post baccalaureate student and my interviewer had studied my experiences in depth. We had much to chat through."
"None. My interviewer read from a standard list of questions. This would have been fine, but his tone and attitude were unwelcoming and haughty"
"The questions were pretty standard. The interviewer wanted to clarify some discrepancies in my application, so that's what we talked about."
"The questions were pretty standard. "
"My interviewer was very nice. Most of the questions that she asked were about my childhood."
"nothing really"
"There are a few non-science majors here who are having a difficult time...do you think that's going to be a problem for you? "
"nothing terribly interesting, very standard get to know you conversational atmosphere, i was asking for probably half the time"
"The questions all came from a list he had in front of him. They could all have been answered by a quick glance at my application, which the interviewer had not read. More than a few were redundant. Some were really asinine, like 'How did you prepare for the MCAT? Self-study or prep course?' Does that really matter?"
"What do you look for in a medical school"
"Why do you think you will enjoy working in medicine?"
"Why do you consider yourself economically disadvantaged yet went to that undergrad (expensive and very competitive)?"
"No interesting questions were asked."
"Nothing interesting."
"none, the questions were all from a standard list and my interviewer did not even show the coutesy of l;etting me respond before blasting me with the next question in an accusatory tone"
"I was asked a lot about my volunteer and work history."
"What is the MOST stressful experience you have had in the past 5 years? How did you cope with it?"
"What is a typical day like at my undergraduate institution?"
"I was not asked any interesting questions. My interviewer was concerned about going through his list. He was bold enough to tell me just that at the start of our interview He did not wait for me to finish most of my responses. hewas also needlessly provocative, rude, and confrontational without reason."
"Why do you want to be a doctor(I have a non traditional background)?"
"What do you want to know?"
"All the questions were basic and applied to my application."
"why medicine (very original)"
"Why change careers at (blank age), when you have had a reasonable amount of success in your present career"
"None of the questions that were asked were too difficult or out of the ordinary. Just basic questions about my experiences- see below. "
"No interesting questions. Only the standard ones that everyone else got."
"What stressful situation have you encountered"
"How does someone's culture relate to their medical care?"
"Why do you want to move from suburban southern California to Brooklyn? (expected)"
"Why do you want to go to Downstate?"
"How do you deal with stress?"
"Nothing really, my interviewer was very bored as evidenced by his not paying attention to a word I said."
"I have to say nothing. These people are mentally ill and should not be in the business of caring for people"
"Becoming a doctor involves certain lifestyle changes. How do you plan to adapt to these changes?"
"What do I call you... you have a million names? (it was a joke... that I still really don't get because I only have one name)"
"Some questions relating my research with my interviewer's."
"Do you think your PharmD will help you as a physician? How?"
"How I was able to balance having many extracurriculars and still maintain decent grades."
"What school were your relatives educated at?"
"Nothing that interesting. Just the usual. My good academic record was mentioned a few times."
"No particularly interesting questions."
"Did you like The Matrix Reloaded? "
"No intersting questions."
"If you had to refer a family member to a physician, what would you look for in that person?"
"Having come from a relatively sheltered background, why would you like to go to school in Brooklyn?"
"nothing particularly interesting. Almost all questions were specifically about my past experience that I indicated in my application."
"Nothing in particular - the questions were pretty by-the-book. My interviewer was interested in my previous career and how I decided to get into medicine, wanted to hear about why I was making this huge change."
"Most of the questions were typical interview questions, such as why a physician? is your family supportive? waht happened in that class? no question really sticks out right now, they were all common."
"Why I chose to work instead of applying last year?"
"No interesting questions."
"How you relieve stress?"
"None. They had a standard list of questions. The interviewer stuck to those questions."
"I wasn't asked anything interesting or difficult, the entire interview was the interviewer asking me detailed questions about my research and volunteer experiences."
"It was a great conversation as we had some common background history. No realy questions as such."
"The interview was basically a conversation about my ECs and college. Interseting conversation, no spefic questions. we talked for quite a while"
"My interviewer had gone over my application with a fine -toothed comb. She asked me about specific grades, specific words used to describe my activities, dates, etc. Very nit-picky, very annoying. Be careful!"
"none, really, the questions all focused very strongly on my application"
"My interviewer really wanted to know is I felt truly prepared to handle all the challenges and stresses of life in med school. I felt that I answered all of his questions confidently. "
"Why after obtaining a PhD do I want to become a doctor. Fair enough"
"Anything in your application you think would be a concern to us (i.e. grades, extracurriculars, misdemeanors, etc.)? (Didn't have anything major, wasn't sure if an answer was expected or not)"
"How do you feel about your performance on the MCAT? How did you prepare for the exam?"
"Explain your GPA trend."
"Would I be able to adjust to living in Brooklyn (caught me off guard and wasn't able to phrase my response professionally)."
"To discuss my score on the MCAT."
"Most meaningful undergrad activity?"
"Not sure. They really wanted to hear about clinical experience; Downstate is superior in terms of students' clinical exposure in their program."
"Why was yours CARS section lower than your other sections?"
""Tell me about your research experience." The doctor who interviewed me happened to be a specialist in the topic of my research so there were many follow up questions that became challenging for me to answer without fumbling. However, I think she was asking out of curiosity as opposed to testing my knowledge."
"Do you think your verbal section score accurately reflects your critical thinking analysis? More follow up questions about this (I had a low verbal section)."
"Has there ever been a class where you just couldn't understand the material? (Felt like a trap)"
"What stresses you out?"
"Nothing too difficult. All pretty standard questions."
"none were difficult"
"None really..thankfully."
"Tell me something that you are proud of besides academic achievements."
"They were all pretty standard questions."
"Explain your undergraduate grades. In addition to the standard questions that everyone gets asked, each interviewer has a few questions from the committee that are specific to your file."
"Describe the most stressful situation you've ever been in and how you overcame it"
"Why I didn't complete my application to Downstate the previous cycle. Grilled me regarding that."
"Why don't you want to go into research?"
"Why have you chosen medicine?"
"She asked me specific questions about my sexual orientation...I found it really unprofessional and offensive..."
"Give an example of a stressful situation and how you handled it"
"specific question 1"
"Have you encountered any conflicts in a leadership position and how did you handle it?"
"Very specific questions about much of my transcript."
"Beside from your academic acheivements what are you most proud of?"
"Why should we accept you?"
"What are you most proud of?"
"Tell me why you got this grade..."
"Why medicine? Why not pharmacy? Why not research? explain this part of your PS...basically the paragraph detailing why i wanted to enter medicine"
"Question # 1"
"What proteins are involved in pulling cholesterols from the gut? (Supposedly related to my cholesterol study except it was completely unrelated to my research)"
"Ethical dilemma Q"
"What would you like me to convey to the admissions committee? Why not public health?"
"What do you think it's the reason that you didn't get in last time you applied (I'm a re-applicant)?"
"How do we know that you will stay in medicine? (I am a non-trad, formerly in business)"
"You are on-call at 2 AM and walking on a floor you were unfamiliar with when you pass an open room. You see a patient who appears to be unconscious. Upon closer inspection, you determine that the patient is in cardiac arrest. What do you do?"
"None, but my interviewer was unfriendly and impatient."
"none"
"None. Very conversational, non-stress questions. She just wanted to clarify some stuff from AMCAS application and just get to know me."
"There were none."
"no real hard questions"
"If you're accepted to all the SUNY's, where would you go and why? Rank the SUNY's."
"How do you define stress?"
"Why are you interested in coming here?"
"N/A"
"Tell me about what personal traits you have that make medicine a good profession for you?"
"Nothing difficult. very conversation"
"How were you a different student as a post-bacc compared to you as an undergrad?"
"Why not just teach? (in reference to my extensive TAing experience and rec letters highlighting my teaching ability)"
"Same one"
"Why not help people through other means, like counseling, social work or nursing?"
"If you were studying for an exam the next day, and one of your friends had an emotional breakdown, what would you do?"
"I was asked to account for a lack of community service activities"
"What specialty do you want to do, and why ? How do you cut back and de-stress?"
"Why didn't you do well on your MCAT's compared to your grades?"
"I specialize in minimally invasive surgery. I've worked at Downstate for two years and have interviewed students for a year...What's your story? It was the very first question, and it just seemed a bit abrupt. "
"Why didn't you do better on your MCATs?"
"What do you think is the origin of good and evil? (Obviously)"
"None too difficult"
"None, really. It was my fourth interview. "
"What were you like in high school? First question I was asked, wasn't expecting it and totally threw me off. I couldn't even remember what I was like in high school and babbled through the first awkward minutes of the interview."
"What happened to that verbal score?"
"Are you a conceptual learner?"
"Everything youve told me reinforces what Ive read on paper. Tell me something that I wont find in here."
"There were no difficult questions, the interview was more of a conversation than a question and answer event."
"Describe your clinical experience (only because I have very little)"
"There weren't so much hard questions by themselves but given the tone in which they were asked made for a very awkward and uncomfortable interview."
"Tell me about a difficult situation you had to deal with as part of your clinical experience. "
"None. Didn't even ask me why med/why downstate."
"So tell me about this bad grade you got your freshman year"
"Why I choose to a career in medicine as opposed to anything else"
"Why not social work? (my background = social services)"
"What would you do to improve the situation of the uninsured?"
"Referring to my mom's desire to enter nursing... ''Don't you find it unusual that someone jewish would enter the field of nursing?''... What?!"
"Why not Harvard?"
"Do you have any role models or mentors?"
"How do you feel about your MCAT score ?"
"How can you handle brooklyn ny?"
"same"
"How do you deal with stress?"
"recal a stressful situation and how you dealt with it"
""tell me about yourself". I was preparing for this in a strategic way and it was my hardest anticipated question I worked on."
"No really difficult questions."
"No difficult question"
"Describe an extremely stressful/painful experience in your life and how you overcame it."
"I don't remember"
"He wanted to know details about my research, and he went through every single part of my application."
"What thing exactly made you want to change your career to become a physician? (this is not actually a difficult question, but it was the most difficult one asked)"
"Why medicine? But this question is always hard since there is no right or wrong answer."
"What volunteer activities have you participated in? (I hadn't.)"
"What is the country with the largest English speaking population?(according to him India) What industry only uses English?(According to him the airline industry) "
"see above "
"nothing difficult"
"Usually interviews last an hour, but we're 20 minutes short. Do you know why that is? He told me that I didn't seem talkative which made my face fall bc I thought I had been doing pretty well. Whatever, I got in, so don't worry if you get an old senile man who can't hear anything you're saying. "
"Do you have any hobbies except sports? "
"they were all pretty easy"
"Nothing too difficult, the most difficult was the age old "why do you want to become a doctor?""
"Just that he kept saying what else, what else? It was hard having to keep coming up with things I didn't already know about the school, happy I did though because I learned a lot more than I thought I would."
"none really..."
"Nothing really difficult."
"How do you know what you want to do with your life at the age of 21?"
"What should I tell the admissions committee about why you should be accepted and why you are better than all of the other applicants?"
"Nothing too difficult."
"what are 2-3 pressing ethical issues."
"A woman comes to you with a 2 cm breast cancer. What do you do?"
"Do you know anything about the new therapeutic cancer drugs? I had no idea, he asked after i told him I was interested in Oncology, so it looked pretty bad cuz I wasnt caught up with treatments. "
"What do you want me to tell the Admissions Committee?"
"none."
"Do you have any plans if worse comes to worse and you do not get into medical school?"
"Don't you think you could have benefitted from more clinical exposure? "
"The admissions office generates a list of 3-10 questions specific to each interviewee. My interviewer was like "The admissions office wants me to ask about x,y,z." "
"Describe a difficult situation that you've faced. Also, discuss how you overcame it."
"Explain your MCAT score"
"None were difficult. Standard. All the questions everyone else has been asked."
"Nothing, every question was pretty simple and straight forward. "
"very straightforward"
"Nothing... all boring run of the mill questions. "
"Tell me about yourself"
"How have you handled highly stressful situations?"
"Questions about my lower grades (C's alongside A's in advanced science courses) and about my MCAT score - my interviewer simply said "let's talk about your MCAT" and then waited for my response."
"You can better health through law, public service etc. Why be a physician? Explain your MCAT scores."
"What else would you like the admissions committee to know about you"
"so what else did you do? (after going over all of my extracurricular activities)and then came back to that question about 3 more times"
"what downsides do you see about downstate? what negative aspects do you observe?"
"questions about my non-traditional status. he seemed to think that the field i left behind was better than medicine. when i told him that i didn't think so and explained why, he wasn't happy with my explanation and pressed me further. "
"If you got accepted to Downstate and the medical school of your university (I went to an Ivy League school), you would pick the later over the former, right? So it was basically, are you concerned about the name of the school where you go to and convince the interviewer that I truly wanted to attend Downstate, which I did."
"Why medicine?"
"nothing really, all just basic questions"
"Nothing."
"What is the most stressful situation you have encountered and how did you handle it?"
"None really, it was more like a conversation."
"Nothing really... pretty generic questions"
"Why I got a "W" in a class senior year"
"What do you think about medical care expenses in this country now exceeding expenses for education?"
"How does philiospohy relate to medicine? (Just a really broad question to try to answer.) ...and TRIVIA: What is the one industry where only one language is officially spoken and why? Name the world's religions (he's looking for a lot!). Why do we speak english in the US? Again, he's looking for something really specific."
"How did studying vary from the humanities to your pre-med classes?"
"There wasn't one. However, this doesn't mean that things are a breeze. You should really know yourself and be able to explain your committment to medicine/ Downstate."
"What stressful situations have you encountered in your life and how did you deal with them?"
"Strangely, the interviewer started to tell me that if I get accepted to Downstate and a school with a big name such as NYU or Cornell, I'll probably end up there. I guess he was testing me on the dedication to this school but it was strange. "
"What other schools did you apply to? If selected to more than one school which would you pick?"
"So where else are you applying? yea, it was really low-stress"
"Nothing, it was really just a conversation"
"What else would you like me to convey to the comittee? (I felt we had covered everything)."
"none of the questions were especially difficult, the one above just caught me off guard."
"What was the most stressful situation you have experienced?"
"Nothing really.......it was more of a conversation than an interview, very laidback."
"Why did you mess up in the math courses you took"
"What do you know about SUNY Downstate? (I don't know why, but i totally blanked on this one even though i had done my research about the school...go figure.)"
"same as above"
"Why some of my grades dropped during college."
"Nothing difficult. Most questions can be found on this website."
"What do you think about stem cell research and its application to treating Alzheimer's disease?"
"See above. "
"Often times very rude questions about my background. Interviewer seemed removed and disinterested."
"no really hard questions, more focused on getting to know the "non-paper" individual."
"Why didn't you apply as a disadvantaged applicant? "
"None of the questions were very hard. My interviewer just asked questions to clarify what was written in my application and about my reasons for wanting to attend medical school at Downstate. "
"Would you still have written this portion of your AMCAS personal statement the same way."
"None as he did not read my application and expected me to tell him everything on it in its minutia"
"I did not have much shadowing experience, and therefore the interviewer wanted to know why I was so sure that I wouldn't turn away from the first unpleasant sight I see as a medical student or physician."
"Talk about how you coped with a death/loss."
"pretty standard "
"nothing really, it was super low stress, he was just "weeding out the frickin psychos""
"There were no difficult questions, but the interview was still painful because it was so tedious going over the things I'd done item by item as the interviewer wrote them down on his legal pad. What was the point? It was all right there on my application! He also cut me off if I started to explain in detail what I'd done, as he was only interested in dates and general descriptions. All in all a total waste of an hour."
"Questions about low grades on my transcript"
"Tell me about all you unergrad jobs (since freshman year, exactly how many hours per week etc) Didn't really remember everything is so much detail."
"What are you going to do if you don't get into medical school this year? It was difficult to answer because I had already been accepted to another medical school so I wasn't quite sure how to respond."
"Nothing difficult. "
"all of the questions were asked in a manner that made me think the interviewer was annoyed that he had to be there and that he did not think much of the present application pool."
"No difficult questions"
"Same as above."
"None really"
"The most difficult part of this interview was dealing with my interviewer who had a major personality problem. Also he was a coordinator of a major rotation. Two of the other people who interviewed with me said that they were stunned by the rudeness of their interviewers"
"So, do you want to go to Downstate?"
"What else do you want to know?"
"None. Everything was related to my AMCAS application"
"why would we admit a person like you?"
"Why would you want to go into medicine if your parents are ----- . My interviewer was so incredibly offensive. If these are the people getting to do the admission's interviews, I have serious concerns about their other faculty. My interviewer was very abrasive, nasty, and mean spirited"
"(See above)"
"What happened junior year? (I had taken a semester off, and this was meant to be the "difficult situation" question, but because of the way he asked it I started talking about what happened to me personally, and that's not what he wanted.)"
"none...all very typical questions outlining my application"
"What type of patients does their hospital mainly deal with?"
"Tell me about a stressful situation."
"Why do you want to go to Downstate?"
"Nothing so much. They have a form that all interviewers get and my interviewer basically stuck to the form so I had seen most of the questions posted on this site."
"My interviewer fired question after question without waiting for me to give an adequate response."
""Why would you want to be a doctor if your parents are..." My interviewer was nasty and he coordinates one of their main programs."
"If you got in at SUNY Brooklyn, would you go?"
"nothing because I had read them all on this site"
"What other professions have you considered? Why not them over medicine?"
"Give a difficult experience and how you dealt with it (not too tough, most questions were straightforward)."
"Why did you pursue another degree instead of applying to medical school after your bachelor's?"
"Of all the people I know in the medical field, who is my role model?"
"Why did your parents get into the profession they did?"
"Do you really know what it's like to work with patients?"
"How many hours a day do you study? On weekends?"
"What was a difficult situation you were in recently and how did you handle it? (but I knew about that one from this site, so I was prepared!)"
"Why go to medical school, and not continue working as an EMT?"
"This place gives horrible interviews. They have the most emotionally disturbed faculty I met at any of the med school interviews I encountered. Since I work in psychiatry they paired me with a psychiatrist who was openly anti-gay, classist and just a general a.....e. For instance he asked me why since my mother worked ina bank and my father was a teacher would I want to go to medical school? This was not asked in an open honest way; the tone was derisive."
"No difficult questions."
"No difficult questions..."
"In the last few months, what was a difficult situation that you faced and had to overcome?"
"Describe a stressful situation and how you handled it. "
"it was hard to explain the grades, and what experiences perpetuated your desire to become a physician. I was not expecting that; in my opinion, i thought that the question that asked your reason for becoming a doctor was suffice enough."
"none of the questions were really to difficult."
"Are you really sure that you want to go into medicine?"
"Only one real hard interview, with the director he asked me a lot about research and asked me some reasonable questions that i was unfortunatly unprepared to asnwer."
"None. Straightforward questions. No ethics."
"see above"
"You are a certified EMT but have never worked on an ambulence.. why"
"What was a difficult situation I was in and how did I overcome it?"
"Why I want to be a doctor if i am interested in government, how I felt about the menstruation debate in New Yorker Magazine.... "
"Tell me about a difficult situation and how you handled it?"
"why should we give one of the spots to YOU?---my interviewed wanted me to convince him of my worthiness"
"My interviewer first asked me what I would do if I didn't get into medical school this year, and then he asked me why I didn't apply to dental or osteopathic school, because he had applied to osteopathic school. I think he was trying to see if I would break down or get all nervous and what not. "
"None. My interviewer seemed to be a hard ass"
"Copy and pasted SDN questions into a document, answered them on my own and reviewed the general topics I wanted to discuss. Went over the SUNY Downstate curriculum on their website. Also went over both my primary and secondary applications."
"Traditional Interview Prep"
"Reviewed my application, mock interviews, browse website, looked through the informational links provided"
"SDN, reviewed my application"
"SDN (which was very helpful) and prepped from previous interview"
"Reviewed SDN, common interview questions, mock interview with friends"
"Re-read my primary/secondary"
"SDN, Practiced answering common interview questions, went over primary and secondary application"
"Just got a good night's sleep"
"SDN interview feedback, practice questions on 3rd party sites, reviewing my application, and mock interviews."
"SDN, mock interviews"
"Reread my application and my secondary application. Practiced my basic answers: why I want to be a doctor, why medicine, 3 strengths and 3 weakness"
"Prepared to answer the "tell me about yourself", "strengths an weaknesses" question, "why medicine",etc. although these questions were not asked explicitly."
"I looked on the website which was very easy to navigate."
"Read SDN, Read Application"
"spoke with current students"
"I read sdn and had my ex give me a mock interview"
"Reading these."
"Read SDN, practiced normal answers"
"Reread application, primary, secondary; also looked up school information"
"Mock interview at school"
"SDN questions, really researched the school/location."
"Interview prep books, SDN, etc"
"Read through website, primary, secondary, feedback"
"Read my application, my secondary and SDN feedback."
"Studied my amcas application/secondary and learned as much as I could about the school."
"Read SDN interview feedback, plus a book on interviewing. I did a full length mock interview with my adviser before my first interview"
"Mock interviews."
"Used the SDN interview feedback to compile questions, then had a mock interview with a friend. This was after reviewing my application and the Downstate website."
"Sample interview questions."
"SDN, school website, talking with my student host"
"I read SDN forums and info on the school's website"
"Looked over SDN the night before"
"SDN/read about healthcare reform/went over my application"
"Read Fleenor's book, reviewed activities, mock interviews."
What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 1)?