How many people interviewed you?
| Response Average | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 2.08 | 26 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Positively | 26 |
| Negatively | 0 |
| No change | 0 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 3.36 | 25 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 8.35 | 20 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 6.50 | 18 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| In Person | 0 |
| Virtual | 1 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 0 |
| 10 minutes | 0 |
| 15 minutes | 1 |
| 20 minutes | 1 |
| 25 minutes | 1 |
| 30 minutes | 11 |
| 35 minutes | 2 |
| 40 minutes | 1 |
| 45 minutes | 4 |
| 50 minutes | 0 |
| 55 minutes | 1 |
| 60+ minutes | 4 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| At the school | 0 |
| At a regional location | 5 |
| At another location | 19 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| One-on-one | 14 |
| In a group | 12 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Open file | 24 |
| Closed file | 2 |
| Response Average | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 2.08 | 26 |
"Tell me about your self and why you want to study medicine"
"How did you discover, and why do you want to attend, Saba?"
"What would you do if you don't become a Physician?"
"What do you know about our school"
"Do You know about the USMLE"
"What do you know about SABA island?"
"what do you know about SABA and the island. "
"Which Caribbean schools did you apply?"
"Tell us what you know about Saba."
"What do you know about the USMLE?"
"Why should we accept you? Is there any reason we should not admit you into Saba?"
"At such a young age, you have truly accomplished a lot, and have devoted your life to becomming a physician. Why do you want to become a doctor so passionately?"
"If your graduate program wanted you to consider pursuing a PhD after your Masters, what would compel you to still pursue medicine instead of research?"
"Why chose SABA"
"Why Saba?"
"You are obviously very young. Why do you so passionately want to go to medical school. Follow-up: Have you ever considered an MD/PhD program?"
"If you get accepted into St. Matthew's and SABA what factors will you consider before making your decision on what medical school you want to go to."
"Tell us about Saba? "
"When did you realize about your career choice and how does Saba school of medicine(SSOM)fit into that?"
"Please see the previous posts posted by other people. i had the same questions as those guys."
"why do you want to be a doctor?"
"What does your family think about you moving away that far?"
"What is one of your academic strengths?"
"Why do you want to be a Physician?"
"Why do you want to become a doctor"
"How will you adjust to living in SABA"
"What do you know about USMLE?"
"tell me about your volunteer experience. "
"How did you know about the schools? What made you choose them?"
"Tell us about yourself. Have you applied to US schools?"
"What do you know about SABA?"
"What made you as a Humanities major want to become a physician? "
"How is your family dealing with moving away/your medical education at a Caribbean Island?"
"Tell me a little about your experince in _____ Country, your research experince in lab and your EMT. "
"What was the most interesting thing you learned in one of your shadowing experiences?"
"How well do you think you would adjust the life on saba"
"How does your family feel that you have to live so far away for 20 months?"
"Name four characteristics of being a doctor that really compell you to pursue being a doctor."
"Emphasize on your personal statement."
"What do you know about the USMLE's?"
"Favorite place to travel? why(most memorable moment)?"
"Tell me 3 good things about yourself"
"Explain what you know about SABA/SSOM?"
"how much do you know about SABA? "
"Have you had any clinical experience?"
"tell me about your clinical experience"
"Do you believe your MCAT score is a good indicator of your overall academic performance?"
"Have you applied to other schools or programs?"
"Explain your unusual academic background"
"What clinical experiences do you have"
"What volunteer experience do you have?"
"how's your family feel about you going away to an island. "
"Would you want to learn how to surf?"
"How is your family dealing with moving away/your medical education at a Caribbean Island?"
"The deductive reasoning question listed above."
"What semester would you prefer to start?"
"How will you decide which school to attend/What criteria would you use?"
"For someone who has done a lot, you seem very humble. We like that in our students. Followed by would you practice medicine in your native country?"
"If accepted to another Caribbean school and SABA, how would you make the decision as to which school you will attend?"
"would you recommend taking a kick boxing class to someone else"
"If you get accepted to other schools, what are the criteria will you look at before matriculating?"
"Tell us everything you know about Saba. Follow-up: You've applied to a lot of other (U.S.) schools. Why would you consider going to Saba?"
"Tell me what you know about the USMLE's."
"Clinical work / island of SABA / SABA university questions"
"How do you feel about moving around during your clinical rotations?"
"Tell me 3 bad things about yourself"
"What were my clinical experiences and what do I do in my spare time?"
"more like a conversation after that"
"Would you be willing to move around during your clinical rotations?"
"what will keep you from attending in the applied term?"
"How would you deal with someone who you are working with that doesn't pull their own weight?"
"Have you thought of being a PA?"
"What is one lesson you learned from volunteering/shadowing that you will use as you become a physician"
"What do u know about the SABA island?"
"not really, all were very general"
"What schools did you apply?"
"What do you do for fun."
"A deductive reasoning question in which the interviews wanted both a response to the question as well as your analytical reasoning in support of your answer."
"I see that you play the violin and viola, tell me about that."
"Is there any reason we should not admit you into Saba?"
"Would you practice medicine in your native country after you become a doctor?"
"If your graduate program wanted you to consider pursuing a PhD after your Masters, what would compel you to still pursue medicine instead of research?"
"Would you recommend kick boxing to someone else?"
"Your Proffessor wrote in your recommendation that you are very enthusiatic, can you give us a reason or a situation why she wrote this?"
"Interviewer: Tell us everything you know about Saba. Me: The school or the island. Interviewer: Both. Interviewer (skeptical of whether I wanted to do research more than clinical medicine): Why don't you just pursue an MD/PhD program? (Kind of a trick question, because Saba doesn't offer an MD/PhD program. If that was what you really wanted to do, Saba is definately not the place for you.)"
"Tell us about your culture (because in my personal statement I have talked about my culture a lot) "
"Will your MCAT score be reflective of how you perform on the USMLE'S?"
"Tell us about Saba as if we had never been there."
"Why I decided to go to Saba and how does the school fit into my overall goals?"
"What is one difficulty you will face when you come to Saba/Saba Med. School?"
"Please see the posts posted by the others b4 me. It was about the same for me too."
"nothing really, basic questions: why doctor?, why SABA? but the interview was a phone interview (would be too much trouble for canidates to fly down to Caribbean just for interview- esp. if the canidate doesn't yet have a passport)."
"Tell me about Saba, as if I didn't know anything about the school or the island, and why I should go there."
"what make you different from the other applicants? (I never know how to answer that)"
"What is one of your academic strengths?"
"None"
"Explain your unusual academic background"
"None. Was ready for all their questions."
"None, per se."
"How are you going to pay for the first semester tuition since we don't offer loans at the first semester?"
"What did you get a C in some clss?"
"None."
"A question related to psychoanalytical theory. I had forgotten the theorist's name they were looking for."
"Why did you withdraw from Genetics?"
"Is there any reason we should not admit you into Saba?"
"Nothing really, just very laid back and informal."
"Why would you chose to go to SABA over any other medical school?"
"Why did you take math in a community college and not at your university?"
"Name four characteristics of being a doctor that really compell you to pursue being a doctor. It's so obvious that you can't even respond with "I want to help people, times four." I actually knew what I wanted to say, but didn't have the four ideas separated. So it came out as one big response with like 50 characteristcs all meshed together. I was officially on the second characterisitc after literally a five minute resopnse, and I asked them if I should continue. They said no...recognizing I responded with much more than four characteristics. ^_^"
"Why did you not take the mcat"
"relating passion to the things in my life"
"Pretty Standards Q's nothing to difficult"
"Please see above."
"see above"
"What other schools have you applied to? If you were accepted to both, which would you choose and why?"
"researched the school, looked at possible interview questions"
"Researched Saba (through their website and SDN), wrote out answers to typically asked questions, reviewed application (especially undergraduate research), discussed my application with a physician to see what I should emphasize during interview."
"Read about the school and found out who would be doing the interview"
"Going over my application, reading SDN and ValueMD"
"SDN interview feedback, read personal statement and application"
"SDN, read a couple sites on SABA island, "
"SDN, ValueMD"
"SDN, SABA website"
"Read feedback from this page."
"Mock interview. Researched the island as well as the school. Researched current medical events. Looked over entire application and resume."
"SDN, ValueMD forums, and I spoke with a current student."
"Saba's website, SDN Interview Feedback, Mock Interview"
"saba.edu, sabatourism.com, google, SDN, valumd.com"
"valuemd.com, saba website"
"this website and looked up the island on google"
"Reviewed my personal statement, browsed thru the Student Doctor forums and interview feedback, saba.edu, valuemd.com"
"Just thought about why I really pursued medical school. Surely there was something. Thought about something unique Saba could offer than other schools couldn't, namely U.S. schools."
"I browsed the school's website. I went over my application and personal statement. I browsed this website."
"valuemd.com , SABA website"
"Internet research (www.saba.edu, www.sabatourism.com, www.studentdoctor.com, www.valuemd.com)"
"valuemd.com, school website and sabatourism.com"
"Using Studentdoctor.net, valuemd."
"School website, school catalog and this site."
"visited SDN, visited www.saba.edu, visited www.valuemd.com"
"Went over standard lists of questions, came up with a list of questions to ask the interviewers (VERY HELPFUL)"
"the interview felt more like a conversation"
"The positive attitude of the interviewer, she was very reassuring and encouraging."
"They knew about me"
"That the interviewer really knew my application inside and out"
"Interviewers tried to let me know about what I was getting into in coming to the carribean."
"The interviewer was considerated for my finance situation and letting me know that I should keep it in mind. "
"It was a phone interview."
"The interviewers were very "light", they cracked jokes and made me feel at ease. They seemed vey "human"."
"Didn't actually visit. It was by phone. However, the interviewers were very friendly and did not seem hostile at all."
"Very nice people, extremely friendly."
"The interviewers were very relaxed and did not seem to pose questions to make you look stupid. They instead seemed to genuinely want to understand my motivations for pursuing medicine."
"the student professor ratio"
"Saba isn't a research powerhouse. Most of the faculty have the sole job of being educators."
"One of the interviewers was interested about my hometown"
"Very relaxed and informative"
"How the school has progressed with the new gym and the new library."
"No visits"
"NY approval. Now we can do clinicals and residency in NY. This is a good thing!"
"no visit, it was a phone interview. but i was impressed at how enthusiatic and positive the interviewers were about the school. they sold the school well."
"Phone interview - did not visit campus. Interviewers were very informative and answered all of my questions."
"n/a"
"Nothing."
"One interviewer didn't not seem to understand me as a non-traditional student"
"I could barely hear the interviewer at times - It was over the phone..."
"The interviewer was aggressive, but he knew what he was talking about. You can't fake or BS him. "
"It was over the phone and it's difficult to hear them. "
"One of interviewers did not ask me many questions but seemed to want to embarrass me in a very mean way."
"The fact that it was often difficult to properly hear b/c their telephone connection was not the greatest. "
"The quality of the phone conversation (their end was a conference call) made it difficult to hear."
"I wanted to learn more about how they compared to other schools, but they wouldn't elaborate too much on it. "
"nothing"
"small 5 mile island"
"The phone quality was poor and I had to ask them to repeat some questions"
"not very organized"
"No visits"
"nothing really."
"Did not seem to have reviewed my application very thoroughly i.e. my essay."
"prepared a better flow for my experiences"
"Nothing."
"Nothing more"
"That it was going to be so stress-free and conversational"
"N/A"
"That most people have to relocate several times during the clinical clerkship years."
"nothing"
"I had a lot of questions. Make sure you make a list of questions to ask them. They were eager to answer them. Everything from student involvement, where you would live, what do students eat, financial aid, etc. Anything you can think of, ask them."
"nothing. i was pretty well prepared. just have some questions to ask them before hand."
"Should have researched more particulars about the school and island to be prepared for interview. (Check out school web site saba.edu and valuemd.com.)"
"Apart from the standard questions, the interview was very laid back and conversational. It was over-the-phone (due to COVID). The interviewer allowed ample time for me to ask questions and gave thorough and thoughtful answers."
"Agreeable and supportive interview"
"Was interviewed by a male and female. Could not hear the female clearly so the male had to repeat to me every questions she asked. Felt weird and funny to me. Still got accepted though."
"It was kinda laid back but since I was a transfer student, it was a bit intimidating. "
"it was very laid back, and it's more like a conversation. "
"It was an easy, laid-back interview, and they really wanted to impress me and wanted me to come to this school. They asked me questions, and it was like a conversation that you could do with your professors or friends. They wanted me to know some of the facts about the Caribbean schools and told me that other schools would lie to me or something like that. They were great, but then I think they shouldn't have said that. "
"Pretty much relaxed. They did most of the talking. Interview started off with the weather."
"Overall, good experience. Not stressful. Hung up phone feeling confident I had done well."
"On the whole, I felt very positive about the experience and the quality of education at Saba. They get into some excellent residencies."
"It was a phone interview. There were 2 interviewers. I was only asked about 2-3 questions, and then if I had any questions to ask them. It was very relaxed. The interviewers were friendly and also joked a little. I could not hear them sometimes, that was the only glitch."
"Great experince, they really look at you as a whole applicant. Make sure you really review your application, your statement, resume, anything you have submitted, they will ask questions. Just be honest, look at them stright in the eye. Don't make up anything, they want to know you, so be relaxed, calm and throw in a joke here and there to make them laugh...so them you are more than just numbers...show your humane side as well.."
"This was a phone interview. The interviewers were nice, friendly, and seemed knowledgable about SABA. They were ready to answer my questions, and seemed interested in getting to know me as an applicant and person."
"it was a really laid back interview no real pressure they started talking first so it was easier to break the ice"
"It was over the phone, very freindly and relaxed interview, was more of a conversation really."
"I'm from Wisconsin so Saba did a phone interview. If you are close to their US Office in Massachusetts, I think they do a personal interview. I was 19 when I applied and had heavy research experience. Everything they asked me pretty much revolved around these two thems: you are very young and why I wanted an MD instead of a PhD. I guess I kind of overemphasized my research because I figured it would give me an advantage over other students. I definately knew I wanted to pursue an MD, but they weren't so sure at first and wanted to verify that it was truly what I wanted to do."
"It was very friendly and conversational. It was not difficult at all-there were no tricky questions."
"It was pretty good, made it very comfortable"
"It was really good. It was more like a conversation and they also seemed have read my application and told me things about the school that catered to my interests."
"The questions were 80% similar to what others have experienced. Therefore this website and Valuemd definitely helped me in preparing for the interview. Also be prepared to have a good explaination for any sort of deficiency on your trnascripts or experiences (if any)."
"Very nice and stress free."
"again it was a phone interview and very casual. more like a conversation than an interview- they put a lot of effort in trying to sell the school to me because I'm applying to 12 DO/Osteopathic schools as well. generally speaking, I came away impressed by the positive staff, all my interactions with SABA have been positive. I would have to say SABA would be my 1st choice for overseas schools. And the acceptance/rejection comes back the next week, very quick turnaround. I get word next week so let's hope for the best."
"Overall, low stress. Interviewed with school president, registrar's office rep, and financial aid rep. Most of the interview time was spent with them telling me more about the school and me asking questions. The worst part of the interview was trying to understand what everyone was saying on the conference call."
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Student | 1 |
| Faculty member | 0 |
| Admissions staff | 2 |
| Other | 3 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Enthusiastic | 2 |
| Neutral | 1 |
| Discouraging | 0 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 6.53 | 15 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| In state | 0 |
| Out of state | 15 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 0-1 hour | 1 |
| 2-3 hours | 1 |
| 4-6 hours | 0 |
| 7+ hours | 1 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Airplane | 1 |
| Automobile | 1 |
| Train or subway | 8 |
| Other | 4 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| < $100 | 0 |
| $101-$200 | 0 |
| $201-$300 | 0 |
| $301-$400 | 0 |
| $401-$500 | 0 |
| $501+ | 1 |
ATL, SXM, Juancho Yrausquin
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| At school facility | 0 |
| With students at the school | 0 |
| Friends or family | 0 |
| Hotel | 1 |
| Home | 0 |
| Other | 0 |
Yes
Yes
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 6.72 | 18 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 6.53 | 17 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 6.13 | 15 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 9.67 | 6 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 9.33 | 6 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 7.17 | 6 |
We help students become doctors. TM
What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 1)?