How many people interviewed you?
| Response Average | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 2.92 | 338 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Positively | 235 |
| Negatively | 44 |
| No change | 5 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 6.03 | 333 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 7.03 | 214 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 9.04 | 190 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 0 |
| 10 minutes | 0 |
| 15 minutes | 1 |
| 20 minutes | 2 |
| 25 minutes | 3 |
| 30 minutes | 50 |
| 35 minutes | 64 |
| 40 minutes | 81 |
| 45 minutes | 76 |
| 50 minutes | 44 |
| 55 minutes | 1 |
| 60+ minutes | 23 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| At the school | 323 |
| At a regional location | 15 |
| At another location | 1 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| One-on-one | 56 |
| In a group | 277 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Open file | 275 |
| Closed file | 52 |
| Response Average | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 2.92 | 338 |
"What causes burnout, and how will you avoid it in your career?"
"Tell me about a bias you observed while shadowing a physician?"
"Tell us about why you want to be a doctor."
"What got you interested in the field of medicine and why are you pursuing it?"
"Where do you see yourself in 12 years? (follow-up) What challenges do you foresee in your plan?"
"Who is someone that embodies professionalism in your eyes, and why?"
"Tell me about yourself - why medicine?"
"If a friend was sitting in the room what would be 2 positives and 2 negatives"
"What makes you unique?"
"What makes are the qualities of a good physician?"
"How should we modify the SGR going forward?"
"What is your motivation to pursue medicine?"
"Why did you choose to be a doctor?"
"Tell me why you're interested in a career in medicine."
"What brought you to this table today? (I was tempted to say "A car", but refrained. I suggest answering this as a combined "Why medicine and why this school"?)"
"Give me your analysis and opinion on the democratic and republican viewpoints on healthcare reform."
"Ethical Scenario"
"How would you spend $1 million to improve healthcare in the US"
"Tell us about a patient you remember from _______ experience? - What was her name? - How old was she? - What was her diagnosis? - Did you follow up on her after she left your care? - What did you learn from her?"
"What is wrong with the health care industry today and what would you do to fix it?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor and why this state? Follow up questions. Have you had rural medical experience in this state (I said I was interested in rural health care because of time I spent in Argentina). What specialty are you interested in?"
"Why do you want to change from your current career field into medicine?"
"What are the biggest problems facing health care"
"what brings you here today? (I answered as if I was answering "why medicine")"
"What is not working with the health care system of the United States? (then follow up question) What do you think is not working with Canada's (or other countries') Single Payer system, or what negatives have you heard?"
"tell me what you think is one of the problems in health care?"
"What brings you here today?"
"Why is health care so expensive in the United States and how would you fix it?"
"You recommend chemo for your teenage cancer patient, but his mother refuses treatment because she's afraid chemo will make him sick. What do you do?"
"Do you see a universal, single-payer healthcare system working in the US? Many questions about healthcare reform..."
"What would you do if a woman with two children came to you and asked for a tubal ligation?"
"Tell us about a patient you remember from one of your shadowing experiences."
"Is there any physician you admire?"
"Questions about my medical mission trips and shadowing experiences. Ex: What are the three most important things you observed at the rural family practice clinic?"
"Why are you applying to medical school?"
"Why Medicine"
"What is the healthcare system like in your hometown?"
"What have you done to improve your application since the last time we met with you? (I interviewed last year)"
"What did you learn/what most impacted you about your experience volunteering at the women's homeless shelter?"
"1. You are on president Obama's health advisory team. What two things would you urge him to do/consider"
"1. Tell us about your reasons for wanting to become a doctor. 2. What are your thoughts on the current healthcare system? 3. You said that as a former attorney, one of the drawbacks was the paperwork, yet physicians must deal with enormous paperwork. What makes you think medicine would be different?"
" 1. What motivates you to pursue a career in medicine? 2. What physician do you admire and what qualities does he/she embody that you would like to emulate? 3. What do you see as the major problems with the US health care system and what should be included in the health care plan to address them?"
"What led you here? Why did you choose to go to Arkansas for undergrad? Did you apply to many schools? "
"What have you been doing since you applied?"
"How do you know you want to be a doctor?"
"Why an M.D. and not a PhD?"
"How would your friends describe you? 2 positives and 2 negatives"
"What have you done to improve your application since you last applied?"
"How have your experiences prepared you for medicine? Tell us about a specific patient you have encountered, what did you learn from that experience?"
"Tell us your story of deciding on medicine."
"What are you doing right now (in life)?"
"What is your opinion of the recent octuplet birth in California? How would you have approached the situation if you were the doctor? Do you think the doctor should be reprimanded in a non-litigating manner? <br><br> (unethical, would have suggested more focused/quality care of the 6 children she had already, reprimand...he implanted 8, protocol is 3 for her age group)"
"What frustrations have you experienced with healthcare restrictions when providing patient care? Do you anticipate having the same frustrations as a physician?"
"Why medicine? Explain your grades in organic chemistry (I didn't do very well). How did you prepare for the MCAT?"
"1. Did the doctors you shadowed think you were crazy for wanting to go into primary care? Why do you think I am asking you this?....... 2.What are your weaknesses? ..... 3. When might a physician refuse to care for a patient? What if they are the only doctor for miles and miles in rural Alaska?"
"Role play: An obese man, chronic respiratory condition and smoker requests for oxygen, but you as the physician refuse. What are the options? Why? What else? What if X occurs... Y occurs..."
"Do you want to specialize?"
"What would you do to solve the current healthcare crisis?"
"Tell me why you want to be a physician."
"Ethics: Suppose you have two teenage daughters and one of their 15-year-old friends comes to you as a physician asking for birth control without parental consent. What would you do? What would you do if her mom finds the pill pack with your name on it and angrily confronts you about it in the supermarket? (I said I'd prescribe birth control)"
"Why do I want to become a physician?"
"Is it ever okay to lie to a patient?"
"all relating to my Peace Corps experience "
"In a role play: get a person to stop smoking."
"How would you grade US healthcare policy?"
"What medical experience have you had?"
"Describe one failure in your life so far."
"What are some of the difficulties facing pediatricians today? (related to my experiences)"
"what are some of the challenges in primary care medicine that you've seen/experienced?"
"why does the US spend so much money and get such poor results compared to other countries?"
"You have an interest in ''X'', as evidenced by your experiences earlier this year and last year. Have you done anything since involving those interests?"
"Who would negatively benefit from socialized medicine?"
"Say you're a practicing pediatrician and a mom brings in her little boy who's about six and is very sick. Just after you get them situated in an exam room, an administrator comes to you and says that they are illegal immigrants, have no insurance, your clinic has met its quota of medicaid and medicare patients for the month and you can't afford to treat the boy. What do you do?"
"Specific patient experience"
"if a mother brings in her 12 year old son and says he is very ill and needs a note to excuse him from school for the next few days, but when you examine him there is nothing wrong, what would you do? "
"Why Medicine? (duh)"
"How did you end up where you are?"
"What's the last book you read?"
"Describe your research experience."
"Tell me the problems with health care, both nationally and locally?"
"Question about volunteering."
"what would you do if you don't get into medical school no matter how hard you tried?"
"A patient with a common serious but relatively time-tested successful treatment plan wants to be disconnected from her ventilator before treatment is initiated. She is a nurse, and thus understands the implications of her request. Do you grant her wish or refuse, knowing that she will probably be fine with treatment but die without it?"
"ethics of treatment resources used on patients not following doctors orders/making lifestyle changes"
"Why do you think HIV/AIDS is so prevalent in Africa?"
"Will you be going into primary care?"
"National Health Care"
"What is the biggest problem in health care delivery in the US? "
"Why did you take so long to come to medicine?"
"You're clearly interested in working with kids, do you see yourself as a practicing pediatrician in 10 years?"
"What are the major problems in healthcare today? "
"What have you done differently since applying last year? Outside of your music and volunteering, what do you like to do for fun? Say today was a sunny May 15th, how would you spend your day?"
"Okay, your in charge of the country. How would you fix health care? (I floated the idea of national health insurance) Wait, some people are worried that National Health Insurance will result in rationing of care. What about specialist fees? I'm an oncologist and new cancer treatments are extremely beneficial but expensive, what about them? Did you know that over half of healthcare spending occurs in the last 2 months of peoples' lives? What do we do about that? Should we ration their care? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"What volunteering experience has stood out in your mind?"
"Tell us about your research."
"Tell us about what has led you to want to become a physician. "
"A series of questions about health coverage for the elderly, especially when resources are limited. "
"why do you want to be a doctor and why UWSOM?"
"What have you done since graduating?"
"What would you do if a patient didn't want to modify his diet from one of high fat to one more nutritious? (Paraphrased: the question was actually stated with cultural overtones)"
"Why not research?"
"Why are you pursuing a **** minor? (It's not a typical minor)"
"What kind of relationship should exist between pharmaceutical companies and physicians?"
"why are you switching from (previous background) to medicine"
"In what setting do I envision myself practicing medicine?"
"What is medicare?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"What is the problem with healthcare in the country and what would you do to fix it."
"Why do you want to be a Doctor (first question)"
"Why do you want to be a doctor? Why UW?"
"Ethics: a woman has expressed the past that she never wants to be on a breathing machine. Three monthes later, she must go on a breathing machine or die. You get her to try it for a week. After six days on the machine, she is progressing positively and she wants the breathing machine removed. You are not certain that she is ready, but she wants it done now. What do you do?"
"Why Medicine? Why UW?"
"Ethics question about PAS with several follow-ups."
"What are you doing currently?"
"During your experience as a volunteer, what was something that impacted you in a negative aspect? How would you remedy that??"
"What are you doing right now?"
"What do you think about I-330 and 336?"
"What do you think are the challenges to healthcare and what do you think we can do to fix them?"
"Motivations for medicine"
"Why do you want to pursue a career in medicine?"
"Stem cell research has generated heated debate. What are the pros and cons of this issue?"
"Question about the headlines of that day’s paper. Ethics question. Question about my research. Question about the state of healthcare today."
"If you were the president's health czar, what recommendations would you make to fix health care in America?"
"What are you currently doing? ( I applied after I recieved my undergrad degree)"
"Would you like a cookie?"
"Say you had a patient who was a chronic alcoholic and wanted a liver transplant...would you add that person to the national list for liver rationing?"
"You've traveled a lot, what do you think about the US's health care system vs. some of the countries you have visited?"
"how do you feel about stem cell research?"
"Where do you see yourself in 15 years? What was the most important event of 2004? "
"What would you say to someone who wanted ab for a viral illness?"
"How would I fix the US healthcare system if I was given the opportunity?"
"What's the biggest healthcare problem facing AK? F/u questions about how to solve this problem."
"What was your favorite class in college? What was your least favorite class in college?"
"So you're from out of the region. Why UW?"
"How would you fix the health care problems in the US?"
"What are your impressions of the US Health Care system?"
"pretend you did not believe in abortion (which I do). a 14 year old girl comes to you requesting the procedure. what do you do?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor. "
"Tell us about your decision to become a doctor."
"What do you do in your spare time?"
"How did you pick all the schools you applied to?"
"ethical (see above)"
"What have you done to improve your application?"
"heatlh care issues"
"name 3 significant problems with healthcare in developing countries. "
"What made you think medicne?"
"What challenges will you face working in a rural area?"
"ethical question involving medical malpractice: a patient is suing another doctor and comes to see you, would you treat that patient and how would you deal... etc."
"Why do you want to study medicine, and why at the UW? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? The typical questions."
"What is the most significant experience you have had that made you want to become a physician?"
"You have a patient that is a severe alcoholic and wants a new liver; do you give it to them?"
"Many questions related to my research."
"What is your stance on stem cell research?"
"Discuss the current state of medicine in this country and how you would fix the problems."
"With all your interest in international health, why not pursue a career in public health?"
"What do you know about the presedential candidates' health plans?"
"Where do you see yourself in 15 years?"
"State of healthcare in US"
"Problems facing physicians"
"What are the problems with our health care system? How do we fix them?"
"What challenges did you observe working in a (somewhat) rural clinic? "
"How has my major prepared me for a career in medicine? "
"why UW"
"assisted suicide (with lots of follow-up)"
"Why did you move to South Africa for a year? What was it like to work in an AIDS orphanage?"
"describe yourself, your hubby, your academic record."
"Assisted suicide...what would I do?"
"Which of the candidate's health policy do you support? "
"Why did you pick Spanish as a major?"
"Describe each of your clinical experiences and tell us what you learned about medicine from them."
"I see that you graduated a year ago, what have you been doing with yourself?"
"What is the main problem with healthcare today?"
"Why do you want to work in rural community if you have no experience in any rural area?"
"ethical question- end of life issues/ drug overdose"
"favorite movie"
"Tell me about yourself."
"Where do you see yourself in 20 years? Where will your ambition have taken you?"
"What do you do for fun?"
"how is the canadian system different from the US? what are the main problems of the US system? what would you do to change it? why is that a solution? is cost the only factor? (as you can see, we went on this topic for a good amount of time)"
"Dissected my essays and asked about my experiences."
"What are three major healthcare problems a physician has to deal with?"
"“Tell us why you want to get into this.â€Â"
"role play"
"Basically what everyone already said. I might as well just tell you all of them. Why med? Where do you see yourself years from now? What are some current problems in med in US? What is the deal with the aging population? What should we do about it? Is the Canadian system a possible solution? Why do HMOs cut off services? Why do people specialize when there is primary care shortage? What books do I read? Tell us about a personal failure. Tell us about a person in your volunteer program. If patient wants prescription to buy drugs in Canada, do you do it? "
"Already covered in previous posts"
"Why did I choose my major?"
"Tell us about your experiences and how you got here."
"Tell us about your graduate school experince in Boston? What did you learn from it?"
"How have experiences with patients shaped your desire to practice medicine? "
"What do you do for fun? Do you read?"
"With your background, why medicine?"
"Time's Person of the Year"
"Let's say the US is switched to a Universal Health Care system like Oregon state, where everyone got basi health care, but certain procedures were not covered. For example, a 40 year old man, regardless of situation/health, will be refused a kidney transplant. Is this fair?"
"How does the Japanese healthcare system differ from the US healthcare system?"
"What do you think about premium medicical services available to those who can pay for the added service?"
"questions about current problems with our health care system. "
"Would you like a cookie, or something to drink?"
"what sets you apart from other candidates"
"Asked me stuff about my volunteer experiences, shadowing doctors."
"What have you done with yourself in the last year?"
"What did you learn from your past traveling experiences?"
"Bioethics"
"Would you prescribe a lethal dose of morphine to a patient who was terminal if requested?"
"What are the top 3 health care problems in the U.S.?"
"Tell us about the healthcare system in Japan"
"Why should we choose you out of all these applicant?"
"Views on state of health care in US."
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
"Why UW? (that's a good question- why in the hell did I apply here?)"
"Who would you choose at Time's Man of the Year? (got a negative response to my choice)"
"What do you see as the three most important issues in medicine today?"
"Tell us what you learned from your clinical experiences."
"Who would you pick as Time's Person of the Year?"
"Why medicine? Where do you see yourself in 15 yrs?"
"So...tell us a bit about yourself."
"What have you been doing lately?"
"How do we fix the problem of 43 million people being uninsured?"
"Man on ventillator wants to have ventillator out even though he won't live without it. What do you do?"
"Views of physician assited suicide"
"the pill question"
"Ethics on Jahovah wittness refuses blood transplant, old patient/young, concious/unconcious, "
"What would you tell a patient who calls you up to say goodbye because he's been storing up pills and is going to take them as soon as he gets off the phone with you?"
"What has been your favorite research project ? (if you are asked this, I would definitely talk about the project you know best whether it is your favorite project or not)."
"Where do you see yourself in 10-15 years."
"So you spoke to Dr. Samson..what did he tell you and what did you do to improve your application?"
"What are problems with health care today and what would you do to fix them?"
"How did you hear about UVM and why did you apply here?"
"Read above."
"Why should we choose you?"
"Why medicine?"
"See above."
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?"
"You give a medicare patient a much-needed Rx, she immediately tosses it in the trash saying she can't afford it...What do you do?"
"Describe 2 or 3 of the most pressing healthcare issues."
"Why do you want to be a doctor? Why UWSOM?"
"You have a patient who just lost his wife and found that he has prostate cancer but refuse treatment. His family are begging you to force him to have treatment done. What do you do?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor?"
"How have you improved your application since you were here last year?"
"what do you feel is the biggest problem in today's healthcare system?"
"Time Person of the Year"
"What are your views on cloning humans?"
"What have you been doing for the last two years?"
"What's the biggest problem facing health care today?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor, and why should we support you in that?"
"What clinical experience makes you want to be a doctor. What kind of doctor."
"Do you know how many Americans are have no health care coverage?"
"Is this the only school you applied to?"
"What did you learn from traveling?"
"What area of medicine are you interested in?"
"What was your biggest failure?"
"Your patient wants a total body scan, but you know it doesn't do much good and could be potentially harmful because of irradiation. Do you let the patient do the procedure?"
"What would you do to improve the health care system?"
"Why do you want to be a doc? What specialty and why?"
"What do you think are the biggest challenges you will face as a practicing doctor in ten years?"
"tell us about yourself."
"Why do you want to become a doctor?"
"What do you do in your free time?"
"What do your previous career position and the role of physician have in common?"
"If I deemed you the healthcare "czar" of the country and asked you to come up with a way to evaluate Americans' opinion on the quality of healthcare in this country, how would you go about it?"
"If you hadn’t to explain to a five year old what a doctor does, what would you say?"
"What is one obstacle you overcame and how did you overcome it?"
"Asked about time abroad in South Africa"
"What made you decide to pursue medicine?"
"Tell us about a time that you failed and how you handled that."
"Why rural medicine? (TRUST applicant)"
"Name one good thing your friends would say about you and one bad"
"Tell us about yourself, and say one thing to help us remember you."
"Tell me about a patient that was specially remarkable during your experience X."
"What is one of your biggest failures in life"
"What are 2 positives and 2 negatives about the Affordable Care Act?"
"Why not NP or PA?"
"What did you learn from your shadowing experiences?"
"Why University of Washington?"
"What has been your experience with family medicine?"
"How do you plan to manage the stress and pressure of medicine?"
"What do you see are the positive and negative aspects of the coming changes to our healthcare system?"
"So you work at the hospital I see. How does the current budget cuts of Washington state affect your ability to provide care at the hospital?"
"What are your views on the current healthcare policy?"
"Why did you take ____________ (optional, difficult class, honors o chem in my case) and what was that like?"
"What would you do if you could not pursue a career in medicine?"
"You had some trouble with the law I see. In your AMCAS you mention losing peoples respect because of that. Tell me more about that."
"What are your hobbies? What books have you read recently that you would recommend? What was a challenge (not personal) that faced one of the doctors you shadowed? Why do you think some patients do not follow through with their prognosis? (I talked about desire and follow-up). What do you like and do not like about the health care reform."
"What were the last two books that you read?"
"A new patient of yours who has lung cancer walks into your office and tells you he wants to end his life..."
"what are some of the problems with our health care system today?"
"What do you not like in terms of what you have seen in medicine?"
"tell me about a challenging patient you've worked with at X clinic?"
"What are some of the limitations of being a doctor?"
"In Vancouver BC, there are now clinics where IV drug users can go not only to get clean needles, but also to shoot up. Why? What purpose does this serve? What ethical questions are raised?"
"How would you change the current health insurance system in the US?"
"Did you apply to other schools?"
"Tell me about your family."
"If you got to determine the way the American healthcare system was to make your job easier as an underserved doctor for the benefit of your patients, how would you change it and why? What are the barriers to achieving such a system?"
"What do you see yourself doing on a day to day basis as a physician?"
"Given your experiences on humanitarian trips, what do you think of medical tourism? Of providing health care to illegal immigrants? "
"Why should we pick you"
"Two roleplays regarding very difficult patient scenarios."
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What kind of medicine do you see yourself practicing? (I could see my self working in the ER based on current experience, so...) Presuming health care reform goes through and everyone begins seeing primary care docs, they stop showing up at the ER and you're out of a job, now what?"
"role play scenario (you will get one, so be ready to act like a doctor!)"
"You mentioned in rationing in your personal statement. What place do you think rationing has in the US health care system?"
"Have you interviewed anywhere else yet?"
"what do you do in your spare time?"
"What are the three biggest problems in medicine? What can be done at the national level to improve these issue?"
"4. You said that returning to school to biology courses was "fascinating." Can you remember a time when you just thought to yourself, "wow?" 5. Let's do some roleplaying. You're a 3rd year medical student, and your resident shows you how to do a spinal tap, then tells you to do one on me, a patient. I am apprehensive about your experience level and ask you how many of these have you done? 6. Can you imagine a situation in which you would handle yourself differently (referring to role playing scenario)?"
"4. Do illegal immigrants deserve to get free health care? 5. I'm a taxpayer who is upset about illegal immigrants getting free health care, convince me? 6. You did your senior thesis on state health care reform plans, what can you tell us about your conclusions? 7. What did you like about the medical system in Uganda? 8. Is there a patient you particularly remember?"
"What do you do for fun? Tell us about your shadowing experience-what moment had the biggest impact on you?"
"What are three ways you would improve our health care system? Why arent primary care physicians happy?"
"Keeping in mind the current economic situation, how would you go about expanding medical coverage while cutting costs?"
"You went to a Junior College. Do you think that will help or hurt your chances of getting into medical school?"
"Why medicine? How have your experiences influenced you towards medicine? How does having a family member as a physician effect your decision?"
"Of all your activities since re-applying, which would you consider most significant and why?"
"Advise obama on 2 specific ways to improve the healthcare system"
"asked me something related to my "story""
"Why did your trip to China set you on coming to medical school?"
"Why do you think you would be a good addition to the class of 2009? What will you contribute? <br><br> (i've been a long-term oncology patient, i have a valuable perspective)"
"You have three patients who need a heart transplant. The first is a 10-year-old girl. The second is a convicted criminal who used to live an abusive, dangerous lifestyle but who has now reformed and is a respected member of society. The third is a middle-aged man who had a heart-attack. He is married and has three young children. All have an equal chance of success. Tell me who you would give the heart to, and explain your logic and thought process as you come to your decision."
"Where will you be in 15 years? What are some of the challenges of rural medicine? What do you do for fun? "
"What I learned from children that I worked with in a volunteer experience 6 years ago (when I was 17). [very few questions about recent activities]. Is there a particular health care policy plan that you like?"
"Tell me what you've read about, in regards to the amount of paperwork that physicians have to go through in the literature. (I said I didn't know but suggested that it was immense)."
"Where do you see yourself several years after finishing your medical training?"
"What type of community do you want to work with? "
"Do you think healthcare improvements will be able to be made considering the financial limitations on the next president? (after the recent bailout plan)."
"See difficult/interesting questions"
"Explain your motivation to become a doctor."
"Do you have anything you'd like to say about your grades before we take your application to the admissions committee? (I have a few C's)"
"If I could meet with Governer Gregoire what would I say to her?"
"What was your major clinical experience and what did you learn from it?"
"Tell us about what works in the Japanese health-care system? (I spent time living in Japan)"
"I was asked to clarify an accomplishment I'd mentioned in my file - it made me very glad that I don't engage in resume padding!"
"If you had a patient that didn't was life support and was DNR, but while you were away on vacation another doctor made a mistake and put him/her on support. The patient's son want the patient to stay on life support, against what they requested. What do you do?"
"What did you learn from experience (from my application)?"
"Out of all your patients, which one touched you the most and why?"
"What book are you reading?"
"What are 2 problems with the US Healthcare system and how would you fix it?"
"tell us about what you've read in the news recently that you think is a significant advancement in science."
"Why do rural areas have a hard time attracting doctors--why would doctors not want to practice in a rural area."
"Do you have a favorite health care reform plan right now?"
"Ethics question regarding selecting someone for a liver transplant"
"Explain poor grades in a couple of classes."
"What are the two biggest challenges facing doctors in the next 10 years?"
"As Hillary Clinton or the health czar, three things I would change about the US healthcare system"
"medicine isn't always about positive success stories--it is often very difficult emotionally, how will you deal with that? "
"Tell us about 3 science/technology headlines."
"What is wrong with the health care system in your opinion? How would you fix it? How is that feasible?"
"Tell me about ... with one of your patients. (see previous rant)"
"What did you learn about the challenges of primary care from your shadowing experience?"
"Would you prescribe the pill to a 14 yr old girl? "
"Ethics question about non-compliant TB patient."
"how can you improve access to all patients? "
"Describe your volunteer work at XXX and/or YYY. How have these prepared you for a future in medicine?"
"health policy...what is wrong and how to fix the system?"
"What do you think you will do for your residency? "
"Ethics about religion and medical decisions."
"Liver Question."
"What would you do if you could not get into med school no matter how many times you tried?"
"Your dad was a doctor - what did you learn from growing up in a household with a doctor? What are the challenges you saw in medicine?"
"What systems are in place to help kids in underserved communities get access to adequate healthcare?"
"How would you deal with a difficult patient who became violent during your exam."
"What other schools did you apply to? What books do you read? Why do you choose a mathematics major? How will you use mathematics in medicine? Do you feel the same passion for science that you do for math? "
"You're the attending. You have a patient who has always said that she would never want to be intubated (put on a respirator). You go home for the weekend, and on monday she is in the ICU on a ventillator. DO you take her off? Her daughter who knows her well says yes. Her son who she hasn't seen in 10 years says no, and he will sue if you take her off."
"How many other schools did you apply to?"
"Why UW? Followed by, if you are not accepted here, but accepted to another school, would you defer the acceptance to reapply here?"
"Personal Q's: Tell us about your research. What do you do for fun? How do you relieve stress? What book that you have recently read would you recommend to us? "
"Questions about my thoughts on addressing the problems of access and coverage in America, and whether my notion of a single-payer system basically entailed an expansion of Medicare to cover all citizens. "
"what makes you stand out from the other applicants?"
"What activities did you participate in at college?"
"What do you think is the main cause of obesity in America?"
"Tell me about the Terry Shiavo case."
"What did you think of the recent malpractice insurance reform bills in Washington?"
"Comparison one stated above and then Would I practice in Canada? (I'm Canadian also)"
"Tell me about your research."
"How has your research prepared you for medicine?"
"2 weaknesses/2 strengths that your friends would say about you (with respect to your ability to practice medicine)"
"Above-mentioned mother doesn't want child on life-saving medications."
"Where do you see healthcare in 20 years?"
"in your volunteering expereience, can you remember a patient or case the made you want to go into medicine (i couldn't so i talked about an interesting case having to do with ethics - which led into some ethics discussion)"
"Biggest issue faced by non-Native patients. Emphasis here due to part of eplanation for Q1."
"Ethics question about end of life decisions"
"What kind of doctors did you shadow in high school?"
"What would you do if you couldn't do anything medically related (i.e. can't be a nurse, pa, doctor, emt, etc)"
"What would you change about health care?"
"What is the largest problem facing healthcare today? How would you solve it?"
"How would you deal with a diagnosis that had no treatment?"
"Do you think that medical students should be required to participate in rural medicine for a period of time, to experience practicing medicine where they are not interested? "
"Explain your research in more detail"
"Terminal cancer patient euthanasia request ethical situation."
"What were your experiences with healtcare abroad? (because i had lived abroad)"
"How do you intend to make a practice work in an underserved community where patients are generally poor and to a degree uninsured?"
"What is a book that you've read recently?"
"Question about a patient I interacted with and what I knew about the disease he had."
"Tell us about the best books you've read in the past year."
"Tell me about your research and what you learned?"
"What are some problems in healh care today?"
"Let's say that you're the secretary of Helath and Human Services...what changes would you make to the health care system?"
"Why should we accept you to med school over the other students here for interviews today?"
"tell us about *****? (experiences from my AMCAS)"
"As a doctor, what are some of your limitations? What's wrong with healthcare? How do you propose fixing it? (Why isnt it fixed yet then?)"
"Why should we pick you and not another person?"
"What was my opinion on genetic engineering?"
"Why should we pick you over the other applicants?"
"What made you decide you wanted to go into medicine?"
"Medical school is expensive. Underserved medicine doesn't compensate well. What is it about underserved medicine that interests you to the extent that you would take on financial hardship? "
"Describe your journey in deciding to become a doctor. "
"What do you think of the health care systems in Canada and England?"
"with the flu vaccine shortage, the fda made the decision to only distribute the vaccine the elderly, young, and immune-supressed. do you agree with their decision?"
"What would you do to fix the healthcare system?"
"Have you shadowed other doctors and what have they told you/advised you."
"What would you do if you were treating a seriously injured child who need a life-saving procedure, but the child's parents, who are Jehova's wittnesses, won't allow it?"
"Describe ... ( from my own application so I suggest you know your experiences really well)"
"why medicine and then various questions along the same line intended to challenge me. "
"Has your direction you wish you pursue in medicine changed from last year?"
"recent books read"
"How would you solve healthcare problem in US?"
"'Do not give care' orders."
"How would you be able to fund or create an incentive for pharmaceutical companies to continually produce drugs if you cut down on their profit margins?"
"what's your news source and what do you think are the biggest problems with medicine today?"
"Ethical question about end of life care and living wills."
"Describe a specific patient you have interacted with in the rural setting and how you would have done things if you had been the lead physician?"
"How did you feel about working in an environment that had smokers and drinkers (I worked in a bar during college)?"
"Many questions on health care in America."
"If an 85 year old man was diagnosed with a failing kidney, and he needed dialysis to keep him alive until a transplant could be found, and his family asked you (a doctor) if he should be kept alive like this and if there was any hope for him, what would you tell them? (medical futility question)"
"Discuss morals issues in medicine. (i.e. abortion, physician assisted suicide, pharmicists refusal to fill abortion pill prescriptions)"
"Do you and your physician father discuss medical issues?"
"What are some of the ways to control healthcare costs?"
"Multiple questions about the current state of healthcare and problems associated with it."
"Ethics question"
"Some questions regarding research I had done"
"Is President Bush or Senator Kerry right about the impact of medical malpractice cases on the cost of medicine?"
"How would you personally address some of the major healthcare issues as a practicing physician (eg healthcare disparities)?"
"What is the last non-medical book I read? "
"favorite book"
"jehova's witness parents don't want child to receive surgery. what do you do. and more follow-up."
"What is the US doing wrong with respect to health care? (They should have asked 'what is the US doing RIGHT?'"
"current health care crisis...insurance, diabetes, etc."
"About myself?"
"What's a recent book you've read that you would recommend?"
"Tell me about your research (in 4-5 sentences)."
"Is health care a right or a priviledge?"
"How did you choose your undergraduate school?"
"So, on your trip to europe did you interact with the healthcare system? Do you know much about the canadian system."
"Why did you apply to MD and DO programs? If you get in both, which will you choose to attend?"
"Ethics: I had prescribed birth control to a 14 year old daughter of a friend of mine, he found out and came to my house very upset, causing a scene in front of my three children, what would I say to him?"
"Have you done any volunteer work outside of escorting patients at (XXXX) Hospital? (Okay, for one, I've volunteered more hours than probably 99.9% of applicants, but they act like that's nothing. They don't care about devotion. They want jerks who volunteer here for a month, there for a month, etc, etc, etc)"
"Where do you want to be in 10 years? (EVERYONE says working in a rural area, but I actually do)"
"What is the most important lesson you have learned from someone?"
"Why both MD/PhD?"
"A woman with 7 kids has just delivered her 8th by C-section. Her husband won't let her use birth control for religious reasons, but natural family planning hasn't worked and she is depressed and they can't afford more kids as they are already very poor. She asks you to please put a quick stitch into her tubes to stop her from having more kids. It is a Catholic Hospital that forbids doing this. What do you do?"
"Where do you see yourself in 15 years?"
"time magazine usually has a person of the year. who do you think it should be and why? what about a person of jan-feb? (that was an odd follow-up question, but i think they knew it. :P)"
"Why is universal healthcare so difficult to attain in the US."
"Why do you want to be a doctor? How did you come to the dicission to study medicine?"
"What type of medicine do you see yourself going into? "
"recommend a non-fiction book. (I said "Blowback")..how about another...(okay that stumped me)"
"What are the three most important qualities I think a physician should have?"
"Ethics questions: (1) What to do when parents cannot decide on care for children; (2) Jehovah’s Witness scenario."
"Several questions regarding my hospital experiences and involvement in sports."
"How would you get patients to consent to a research study you are conducting without pressuring them to participate? "
"Several ethics questions (consent, physician assisted suicide, etc)."
"Phys-assisted suicide scenario... then followed up by a question which addressed euthanasia as well."
"thoughts on Assisted Suicide"
"Have you been misjudged before in the past, and how did you deal with it?"
"Do you have any suggestions for solving the problem of 43 million uninsured people in the US?"
"What do you think about the pharmacuetical industry?"
"What do you think an underserved community needs? How would you contribute?"
"question on stem cell research. "
"Ethics-type questions"
"What do you do for fun?"
"talked about clinical experience specifics i have experienced"
"What's the biggest problem in health care today? (I got more health care questions than ethics)"
"What are the major problems in the health care system today?"
"If you were the attending physician of a child who was about to die if he didn't get a certain treatment and the parents opposed the treatment on religious grounds...what would you do?"
"Why UW?"
"How do you integrate your personal set of morals into our practice?"
"If you were appointed the "czar" of health care, how would you fix it?"
"what other schools did you apply to?"
"What are some of the problems with the healthcare system today?"
"How are other countries handling this."
"Went over my application activities, etc...asked questions about that..."
"Why medicine, why not something else to serve humanity?"
"Here's a senario- what would you do?"
"How do you take care of the uninsured?"
"Which states have socialized medicine? (by the way the answer is Hawaii)"
"Aside from being a doctor, what do you see yourself doing in 10 years?"
"How would you tell a woman with young kids that her husband just died of a heartattack?"
"Flesh out your activities and research experiences."
"Why medicine?"
"What are the two most poweful lobbies in Washington?"
"An ethics question regarding parents refusing potentially beneficial treatment for their child...the child later experiences complications...just stick with a point of view."
"42 million people are uninsured in america today, what would you do to revise the healthcare system to rectify this situation?"
"Views of stem cell research"
"the health care fix question"
"Ethics: old man has statement refusing treatment at a certain stage, the twist, he only has pneumonia, its not life threatening, be able to recognize the catch to certain questions, in this question the treatment did not violate his directive. "
"Why do you want to go into medicine?"
"Where do you think the field of cancer research is heading ?"
"What would you do if I a terminally ill patient called you from their home and told you that they had been saving their pain meds for the last several weeks and wanted to say goodbye and thank you.?"
"Why medicine? Why not nursing, social work, or P.A.?"
"Why do you want to be a physician?"
"What's your strengths and weaknesses?"
"More about my research and personal aspects of it. How did working with patients impact me? What was your favorite/worst experience? "
"They wanted to know a lot about my clinical experiences. They wanted to know about my most memorable patients etc..."
"Do you believe health care is a right or a privilege in this country?"
"You are an Oregon physician and a patient with terminal illness asks for a month's supply of barbituates. What do you do?"
"What problems do you think you'll encounter as a physician? "
"Parents of a child in need of a blood transfusion refuse the treatment for religious reasons despite the fact the child will certainly die. What do you do? "The law says that..." What if you can make the law? What if instead of a child it is an adult?"
"Where else have you applied and why?"
"Ethical scenario/question?"
"We were talking about having a limit on malpractice award payment. A situation: your wife's both breasts were removed mistakenly. How would you feel and what is your position on malpractice lawsuit."
"What are some other countries' health care policies and how could we use them to better our system?"
"What was the last book you read?"
"what solutions would you suggest to fix the healthcare system?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"How many medical schools did you apply to?"
"What are some challenges you foresee if you pursue rural medicine?"
"Several follow-up questions to #1."
"If we had to narrow it down to one quality, what one thing qualifies you to entrance to UW?"
"What kind of current clinical experiences are you doing."
"You have a cancer patient with chronic pain to the point where he can't sleep. He asks you to prescribe him 60 sleeping pills? What do you do? (extensive follow-up questioning)"
"What will you do if you don't get in this year?"
"Tell me a little about your research."
"How did you come to decide on becoming a physician?"
"Name three characteristics about yourself"
"Follow-up to first question: You prescribe the procedure but the radiologist refuses to do it because the patient doesn't have enough money and also because he says the procedure is unnecessary. What do you do?"
"If a patient with a very low quality of life called you to tell you they were going to end their life with pain killers you had prescribed, what would you do?"
"Why do you want to go to UW Medical school?"
"What experiences have you had in clinical medicine?"
"why do you want to be a doctor?"
"Generic questions... although familiar with your AMCAS application."
"I'm an alcoholic and have a bad liver. I stop drinking for one year. Do you put me on the list for a new liver? I get a new liver and start drinking again and need another liver. Do you put me on the list for a new liver? (This went on and on until the other interviewers stopped the guy)"
"How would you reform the healthcare system with infinite resources?"
"A white man gets a higher dose of a pain medication than an African-American woman with the same condition. Why could this be?"
"Fast-forward ten to fifteen years. What are you doing, and where do you live?"
"How would you improve rural medicine?"
"Do you have a role model in the field of medicine?"
"Systemic inequalities in medicine and how you would fix one"
"How do you envision your career as a physician scientist? What breakdown between lab and clinical work?"
"Acting scenario."
"Besides money, what is one thing the community you work in lacks? (I work on an impoverished native american reservation)"
"What is one good thing you saw while shadowing and one bad?"
"Why medicine and not another helping profession?"
"What I thought would be the hardest part of being a doctor."
"What should I tell the admissions committee that makes you stand out?"
"What will you contribute to the class?"
"How is military medicine different from private medicine? ( I have military medical background)"
"Tell me about a specific patient from X?"
"What would you like for us to know about you that we haven't asked you about yet?"
"Where do you see yourself living/practicing in 10 years?"
"If the governor had a million dollars to spend on a healthcare campaign and wanted your opinion, how would you spend that money?"
"Tell me about the club you made/Tell me about research."
"Can you describe such and such activity?"
"How specifically would you increase the role of prevention in health care?"
"Is there anything else you would like to talk about?"
"If you received money for a clinic, how would you decide where the money would go? (I said I would take a Utilitarian approach) Role Play: Interviewer: I am a 14 year-old obese girl with no other health issues and want a note to get our of PE. Me: Why not PE? Have you talked to your PE teacher and your parents? Asked to bring in parents (played by other 2 interviewers). Finally, said that I would not write a note because she doesn't have a condition impeding her ability to participate in PE. But, I asked for a compromise: Exercise plan including her dancing (she said she liked dancing) that I will sign, and they can take to the school, and it would be up to the school if they would excuse her from PE, as long as she is staying up with the plan I made for her."
"What are your plans for the rest of the day?"
"Imagine you are on trial and we are the jury. Try to convince us that you are compassionate and empathetic."
"tell us about __ experience (a health care volunteering program) and a patient you remember from that experience"
"If you were in charge of a hospital, how would you decide how to distribute the resources/money? [After I said my answer, 2 of the doctors started with their role play to convince me to expand their departments, while the third doctor asked me this question:] Ok, so if the ER doctor wants to expand the ER, and the Gastroenterologist wants to expand the department to do more colonoscopies. They both do their sales pitch to you. What would you do?"
"if you had a limited amount of money to spend on health care services across the state, how would you go about deciding how to spend it?"
"Judging from what I've read on your application, it seems like you're better suited for a career in public health. Why MD and not an MPH?"
"A patient comes to you asking for morphine. They have end stage pancreatic cancer and assure you they don't want it to kill themselves, just to help with the pain. What do you do?"
"Why didn't you apply directly from undergraduate?"
"Tell me about a patient that you remember from your observation."
"Is there anything else you'd like us to know that we haven't asked already?"
"In the U.S. medical practice is often not as exciting as it is in developing areas, often the patients here have chronic conditions as a result of poor lifestyle choices. Do you think you will effective as a doctor even despite forces like the media (he referred to the barrage of McDonald’s commercials)?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor as opposed to a researcher (or nurse)?"
"We've noticed you have a lot of leadership experience. What do you think it means to be a good leader? Do you see yourself leading your future classmates?"
"Where do you see yourself in 15 years"
"How would you improve healthcare?"
"Please tell us about an experience that touched you emotionally (clinical experience)."
"Is there anything you'd like to tell us that we don't already know or haven't discussed? (say something!!! its your time to shine!)"
"Was X experience your longest shadowing experience? Is there a patient that still stands out to you?"
"You are a Nbio major and shadowed in a neurology clinic but said it did not excite you as much as you hoped, what let you down about the experience?"
"if you could change the health care system, what would you do?"
"What negative things have you seen while shadowing?"
"7. Can you tell us about a meaningful volunteer experience? And another one? 8. Do you have any questions for us?"
"9. You are a doctor with one liver to give three patients: a woman with an auto-immune disease who has a small child, a young man who is a reformed drug addict, and an older man who is a reformed alcoholic. Who do you give the liver to, and how do you break the news to the people you decided not to give the liver? 10. What do you like to do for fun?"
"What have you learned since starting college? Where do you see yourself in 15 years? What do you do with a patient who disagrees with you?"
"During your shadowing/volunteer experiences have you ever come across disgruntled patients and if so how did you handle the situation? "
"If you were "Medical Czar" what three things would you change to help the patients that you currently serve?"
"Three patients are brought into your hospital, a drunk driver and two people he hit. You only have enough blood to save one of them because the roads are closed. Who do you save?"
"What do you do to relax? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"Ethics question: You are a transplant director and have to decide in 2 hours who to give a heart to: 18 yo, 25 yo, and a 45 yo. Who gets the heart and why? Take us through your reasoning."
"Role playing question about Death with Dignity act"
"How do I deal with difficult people at my job"
"What would you do to improve our health care system?"
"Why didn't you do more volunteering? (I was really sick through college)"
"What do you like to do for fun?"
"They presented a medical ethics case about a mom who didn't recover well from a stroke and the daughters disagreed on how to proceed. How do you deal with the situation?"
"Interviewer: What do you think is the greatest problem facing patients today? Me: lack of access. Interviewer: But the patients you worked with (in sliding-scale charity clinics) had access."
"So how are you going to go about opening your clinic? Who will fund it? What happens if X occurs... or Y..."
"Ethics: A southeast Asian man and his son visit your clinic. The patient (adult) does not speak English and the son was brought along as a translator. After careful examination, you diagnose acute lymphoma. Though the disease is easily treatable with has a high success rate, the patient's son insists that his father not be told of his diagnosis because "he would consider it a death sentence." What do you do?"
"What do you think about the recent articles in the local paper on MRSA control in the hospital (this was 2 days after the articles appeared). "
"Do you have any questions for us?"
"AMCAS essay related questions (I've had experience working in hospital settings and abroad, many questions focused on them)"
"A 14 year old girl comes to your office and tells you she had unprotected sex. She wants you to give her a prescription for plan B. How do you handle the situation?"
"Tell us why you think you'd like to be a family practice physician when your shadowing experiences are not in that field."
"How will I deal with the stress of medical school?"
"How would your friends describe you?"
"Tell us about someone in the medical profession, working in international health, that you admire?"
"Which health policy do you like the best?"
"Why Seattle if you're from the east coast?"
"What made you want to go into medicine?"
"What do you think is responsible for the U.S. healthcare dilemma?"
"Explain a time in your life where you were completely overwhelmed, but overcame such difficulties. Also what strategies did you employ?"
"Where do you go to get your medical news? (They didn't even ask me to tell them any recent medical news)"
"is there anything else on your application that you'd like to tell us about? (surprisingly, i didn't get any ethics questions)"
"ethics question around handling an older patient who wants to kill themselves."
"What are you going to go do after this interview is over? (What do you do to relax...)"
"How could a physician in a rural area make the transition/experience more positive?"
"What do you think are the drawbacks to being a doctor?"
"Ethics question about cultural competency and truth telling"
"you will have a lot of debt when you get out of med school...if you had the option between underserved and ritzy neighborhoods, what would you pick? "
"talk about one patient you encountered."
"Who gets a heart transplant of a group of equally deserving people? How do you arrive at this decision?"
"Where do you see yourself in fifteen years?"
"What type of volunteer work have you done?"
"How many family doctor's are in your home town? What kind of challenges do they face in such a small community? Would you be worried about gossip in such a rural setting?"
"Question about medicare."
"ethical questions"
"A lot of ethics questions, and a lot of questions in general about me."
"When you visited (small African country), did anything about their health system or situation suprise you?"
"what do you see yourself doing in 10 years?"
"Do you have anything you would like to add? Do you think that your application, letters of recommendation, and our discussion here represent you well? "
"Do you plan on practicing in the WWAMI region?"
"What do you want to ask us?"
"At what point should doctors stop prolonging the length of somoene's life. "
"What do you do for fun? Last book you read?"
"Tell me a little more about what you've been doing since graduation (I'm 1.5 yrs out of college), and how it has shaped your interest in medicine?"
"Who is better, Batman or Spiderman? "
"Ethics question: say it's the summer after your first year of med school, you've been shadowing a physician in rural Alaska, and a patient comes in needing a wound cleaned and bandaged. He has been in twice before for a clean dressing and you have performed the work under the supervision of the doctor. This time the doctor tells you to start and he'll be in in 5 minutes. After you start you realize the doctor hasn't shown up - the nurses tell you he is busy with another patient and to go ahead. What do you do?"
"Bunch of Cliche questions at the beginning: why medicine? why not nursing (mom is a nurse practitioner)? what do you do for fun? what did you like/dislike about shadowing so many docs?"
"What do you think about our current health care system?"
"Can you tell us about a time where you either really liked or disliked the way a physician treated a patient. "
"Policy/Ethics Q's: Drawn out Bird Flu ethical dilemma (see above). What are 2 problems with US Health Care and how would you solve these problems? (surprisingly, they didn't push me on this one). Where do you get your information about Health Care Policy(internet, etc)?"
"The other questions were biographical, and sadly where I dropped the ball most egregiously. Why do you want to be a doctor? When the committee asks me why we should accept you instead of the other candidates vying for the same spot, what should I tell them? Why exactly did you wait so very long to come to medicine? What's the story with these withdrawals and with this incomplete? How will you maintain your proficiency in foreign languages while studying medicine? What have been your duties at Bailey-Boushay House (where I volunteer)? "
"ethics questions above."
"Why do you want to do this particular specialty?"
"What is the last book you read?"
"What would you do if a terminally ill patient came to you expressing a desire to die and wanted a prescription for painkillers."
"If you were health Czar, what 3 things would you do to fix health care in the US? If your dreams come true, where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"How did your parents influence your decision to pursue medicine?"
"Name two problems facing health care."
"how many schools did you apply to? (asked as i was leaving the room...)"
""What do you do for fun?" right after I finished up the difficult right-to-die question."
"Explain your research."
"Two physician-assisted suicide questions"
"if you were the doctor (in the above case) what would you do. also some questions about my other experiences, where i see myself in 10 or 15 years, what kind of medicine i'm interested in, and what underserved means. this last one i kinda stumbled around my words. i knew the concept but it would have helped to practice delivering an answer to this beforehand. anyway, i made my general point eventually if not gracefully."
"Health care issues faced by Alaska Native people."
"Describe your research"
"What are your hobbies?"
"Why don't you want to do research for the rest of your life?"
""We're running out of time...what is the last non-medically related book you read? What do you do for fun?""
"Why medicine."
"What is wrong w/ our health system, and how would you fix it?"
"Who is your role model? What do you do for fun? What is the difference between euthanasia and PAS? (ethical question followed about PAS)"
"Why UW? Health policy Issues? How to solve them? Ethics question about taking someone of the ventilator? Just know the basics and be yourself and you will be OK! good LUCK!"
"Standard ones like "what are you doing right now? do for fun? what if you don't get in to med school this year? discuss your clinical experience, etc""
"Ethics dilemmas."
"How would you change change out current health care?"
"Where do you see yourself in the future?"
"Other questions that are already posted on other interviewees’ feedbacks."
"A long involved ethical question about a terminally ill patient who requests a lethal dose of a prescription drug. "
"Any questions for us?"
"Tell us about your research."
"What was it like to see health care in another country? (I did an international internship)"
"How many uninsured people are there in America? (be sure you are familiar with up-to-date statistics)"
"Specific follow up questions from my application"
"Where will you be in 20 years?"
"Where did I see myself in 10 years?"
"What is your greatest achievment and your greatest struggle/challenge?"
"Where do you see yourself practicing?"
"If I were dying of cancer and was in pain and I contact you by phone to ask how many pills I should take to take my life, would you provide me with the information? Follow-up: How would you list the death upon signing the death certificate? Suicide or Disease X?"
"What do you think are the issues of people living to 150?"
"Do you think Canadian doctors care less about their patients than American doctors?"
"detailed questions related to my application and future goals. "
"PAS scenario, with follow up questions that were hard! "
"If you were, say, the doctor of a 2-year-old girl and she needed a life-saving blood transfusion, but her parents, who are Jehovan's Witnesses, refuse the treatment. What do you do?"
"What is the leading cause of death in the world."
"A question about physician-assisted suicide"
"why do you want to work with the underserved?"
"What else would you like to share about yourself that we have not touched on?"
"What would you do if you could not become a doctor."
"questions about my personal statement"
"DNR ethical dilemma."
"free time?"
"How do you see yourself disadvantaged?"
"what have you been doing in your time off since graduation?"
"Why do you think it is that the U.S. is the only industrialized country to not have universal health care coverage? With that, who do you think has a longer life expectancy, Canadians or Americans?"
"What schools have you applied to, any interviews, and how did you pick these schools?"
"What do I do to relax?"
"Have you shadowed any doctors? What are their lives like? What hours do they work?"
"How would you tell an elderly person with pancreatic cancer they would not be receiving life extending treatments because their insurance (private or medicare) only covers pain management for those with a terminal illness?"
"How many schools did you apply to? What qualities were you looking for in the schools you applied to?"
"How will you balance things in your personal life when you are going to be putting this much time and effort into medicine?"
"Medical errors question"
"End of life questions"
"What was the last novel you read?"
"Ethics question relating to elderly patient wanting to end life. "
"Which presidential candidates plan for health care do you agree with more and why?"
"did you take an MCAT prep course & when"
"what was the last book you read. tell us about it. why did you like it. do you see a trend in the follow-ups?"
"Is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself? (How nice of them to ask!)"
"ethics, ethics, ethics."
"Good books?"
"Do you have any questions?"
"What do you think will be the most important ethical dilemna you will face as a physician?"
"How have your experiences on the crew team prepared you for medical school/a career in medicine?"
"How should I sell you to the executive committee?"
"What is the biggest problem in Healthcare today."
"Explain why your MCAT scores were so low the first time you took it, and so very high when you retook it in August. Thats a very big difference in scores (16-L to 37-O)!"
"What area of medicine do I want to practice?"
"Have you shadowed a doctor? (They don't let us, but the interviewers acted like this was not a good enough answer.)"
"What do you do for fun?"
"Is there anything else important we should know about you?"
"Tell me about your research."
"What are the three most important qualities a physician should have?"
"There were many questions about why I want to be a doctor."
"what is medicare? what is medicaid? Bush recently proposed changes to the medicare system-what do you think? just be honest if you don't everything about it. they seemed to understand."
"Why I wanted to be a physician."
"If the government can not adjust their budget to try to insure the 43 million uninsured Americans today, what other solutions do you suggest for this problem?"
"Why not a PA or nursing program? "
"why med? will you work in rural areas? and questions right off your application."
"What type of books do I like to read?"
"Why do you think that there is a problem with access to health care in this country?"
"Where I see myself in 15 years. What my plans/goals were as a physician. How I plan on achieving those goals. (Hardest topic)"
"Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses. "
"How do we deal with the uninsured and practicing in a place where patients can't afford to pay for their services?"
"If you had the magic wand, how would you change health care in this country?"
"Political questions surrounding the new Medicare Bill"
"How can you establish good physician-patient dynamics when you work in free clinic settings where you may only get to see the patient once in their lifetime? What do you do to encourage sucessful dialouge in order to treat the patient? "
"Are you really a resident of Washington state?"
"What is the most difficult experience you have ever had?"
"When a patient with a terminal illess (could die in 2 weeks) and who is in incredible pain, asked you how many pills it takes to kill her, what do you do? What if her daughter came back a week later and asked you what you had told her mother, would you give her the infomation? If she died that following week, and you have to put down the cause of death on her death certificate, would you write down anything (assuming that you told her the information in the first place)?"
"where do you see yourself in 10-15-20 years?"
"What is the problem with (ANY TOPIC IN HEALTH CARE/PUBLIC HEALTH) today?"
"If you were the surgeon general of the United States, what problems would you address, and how would you try to fix them?"
"where do you see yourself in 10 yrs. "
"What are some of the hardships doctors face today?"
"Why did you decide to (pick an activity off of your AMCAS application)?"
"If you were admitted, what strengths would you bring to next years incoming class."
"Why medicine?"
"What changing medical concerns do we face and how do we deal with them; specific to aging populations."
"Where do you see yourself in 15 years?"
"why do you think so many americans are opposed to a national health insurance?"
"Ethical questions about termination of life."
"Are they providing better health care for their patients."
"How 'bout those Cubs..."
"Who has guided you in this process?"
"How do you deal with stress?"
"How and when did you decide to become a doctor?"
"Your terminal cancer patient wants 60 sleeping pills do you prescribe them?"
"What is the last novel you read?"
"Where do you see yourself in 20 years?"
"Ethics scenario and healthcare questions, but all were fair, relatively general questions."
"How do you anticipate handling the stress of the physician lifestyle?"
"Why should we choose you from this group of talented applicants?"
"What are the biggest challenges of working in rural areas? Why would you want to practice in a rural area?"
"(My first question) What have you been doing lately?"
"Opinion about affirmitive action"
"why do you want to be a doctor"
"What was the last book you read?"
"If you couldn't become a doctor, what career would you go into?"
"Have you had any clinical experience ? (there is one MD on the panel, and I got the impression that he is very big on applicants having shadowed doctors; he didn't seem at all impressed with volunteer work I had done in a hospital)"
"Tell us something, anything about yourself."
"Several ethical scenarios and lastly "What do you do for fun""
"Being married with a child, do you see your profession interferring in your family life?"
"Has anyone ever dissuaded/prevented you from pursuing medical school? Is your mom proud of you?"
"At the end they asked, "Is there anything that we haven't touched on that you wanted to make sure we knew about you?""
"How do you think you will be remembered in medicine?"
"Tell us about some of your clinical experiences."
"What do you do in your free time? "
"Very sick terminally ill patient requests you to end his life... "I wouldn't do it." Very sick terminally ill patient requests Rx to end his own life... "It's a crime in WA, I wouldn't do it." Very sick terminally ill Oregon patient requests Rx to end his life... BASICALLY take a moral stance and stick with it. (That's my opinion anyway)"
"Anything else you would like to tell us that wasn't covered during the first part of this interview?"
"What are you doing now?"
"What is the problem that you see in health care today, and how would you fix it. Tell about your research in layman term. "
"What is your stand on stem cell research?"
"What do you do in your spare time and what are your hobbies?"
"where do you see yourself in 10 years (as a doctor)? the follow-up question was why do you want to be a rural doctor."
"What would you do if you didn't get into UW?"
"Why UW?"
"Who should be Time Magazine's Person of the Year?"
"90-year-old man with late-stage Alzheimer's Disease now needs dialysis or he will die. His wife wants to know what she should do. What do you tell her?"
"What is the problem with medicine in America, and what would you do to fix it?"
"do you know what percentage of the gross domestic product is spent on medicine???? huh no. "
"You go to Hopkins...you must want to go into research, right?"
"Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?"
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
"If you patient is having a baby, would you advise her to have the baby tested for diseases such as Huntington's?"
"Do you think health care policy should be decided by the people, the government, by doctors, etc."
"What is wrong with the US health care system?"
"What are the biggest problems in health care today and in ten years... what are some possible solutions to these problems."
"what books have you read lately?"
"Why should we accept you as a 31-year old instead of some students that are younger?"
"Describe a time you had an interpersonal conflict with a friend, coworker, colleague, etc. What did you do?"
"Imagine I am about to commission the creation of a small, nineteen bed hospital. Explain what the hospital mission should be and how you will ensure it is followed. (As a follow-up) Choose a board of directors."
"Do you see medical scribes continuing to have a role in the industry in the future?"
"Is there anything you wished the committee would have asked you but didn't?"
"If you had $100 million, what healthcare problem in Washington state would you fix"
"How would you spend $5 million dollars on a rural clinic?"
"What are some of the things that you would expect to hear a physician say they enjoy about their job and that they don't enjoy about their job?"
"If given $15 million dollars to promote healthcare in your community, how would you go about constructing a plan to use that money, and what would you do?"
"Patient role play scenario"
"A role playing scenario."
"If I won the powerball what would I use the money for?"
"In response to one answer, one of the interviewers politely disagreed with me and challenged me answer with a follow up. It was related to communication as a physician and how to integrate all perspectives. It caught me off guard but we had a good academic discussion."
"If i was editor of Time Magazine and i told you that i will put any organization you wish on the cover and write a story about them, which organization would you choose?"
"What do you do in you free time?"
"What is the state of healthcare right now?"
"If President Obama approached you to help solve a local obesity problem, how would you go about making a difference in the community?"
"If Governor Inslee had extra money to spend in his budget for your use and asked you to report to him the health needs of a county in NE Washington State, how would you go about finding this information out?"
"Tell me about a patient that left an impression on you. (Not really an interesting question but really one of the only ones where I felt I could really shine and they finally wanted to know about ME, not just standard boring healthcare questions or "If you had a million dollars for healthcare...""
"How do you like Bill Greer as a Basketball coach?"
"What do you do to relax?"
"Ethical role-play. You are in a private practice with several other doctors, including me (your best friend). When you come into work one morning, your nurse tells you she smells alcohol on my breath."
"They asked a lot of interesting ethical questions. Most were straight off of the bioethics website."
"Role play: 14 year old obese girl with no other health issues wants a note to get out of PE. (It wasn't a "what would you do", rather a "let's act this out, right now.")"
"I did a role play scenario and had to convince one of the interviewers to take a treatment that they were hesitant to do."
"A new patient of yours who has lung cancer walks into your office and tells you he wants to end his life..."
"if you were tasked to find out why there were high levels of alcoholism in a rural town, how would you go about doing so?"
"Why not social work? It is said that with medicine you help individuals, but with social work, you help populations, so why not social work?"
"A role play question with the excom: One of your terminally ill cancer patients asks for prescription pain killers. What do you do? ... Patient calls you on a busy afternoon and says that instead of taking the medications as prescribed, he is planning to take them all at once to end his life. He has discussed his decision with family and friends and says you cannot change his mind; he is simply calling to say goodbye and to thank you for your help. What do you do?"
"Because you are a theology major, how does that influence your opinions about Washington's death with dignity act?"
"Say you are an internal medicine doc in small town, Montana. You have a patient that comes to you asking you to help take care of a problem that he has. You also see and know well his wife and family. This man is a salesman and is on the road quite a bit. He tells you that a few weeks ago, he was lonely. He went to the bar, had a few drinks, met a woman, and now thinks he has contracted some sort of STD. You check him out and diagnose and treat him for syphilis. You then tell him that it is a communicable disease and must be reported, as well as his contacts. He tells you, "No. There is no way my wife can know." What do you do? ........ Then, what if he says, "I know she has an appointment for a check-up next week. Can't you just tell her that she's due for an immunization and give her a shot of penicillin?" ...... I said absolutely not... What would you then say to him if he said, "I came to you, in trust, that you would help me take care of this and not say a word.""
"What are the top three most pressing healthcare issues in this state?"
"Role play: One of your long time patients with terminal cancer calls you at a busy Friday afternoon. He (in a nutshell):"The pain is getting too much, no chance of cure, talked it through with my family and gonna take a bunch of sleeping pills tonight. Just wanted to say goodbye and thanks for everything." Me:"ehmmm...""
"This is more like the question I didn't expect (but in a good way): You are a physician on call, and it it’s your anniversary. Your spouse has cooked dinner and there are roses on the table. As you enter the door, your pager goes off with an emergency. You have to go back to the hospital to see a patient. You come home 2 hours later and the roses are in the garbage can, and your spouse is upset. Why?"
"Out of a 9 year old girl with down syndrome, a 31 year old single man with a former drug addiction, and a 54 year old man with a wife and 2 children, who would you give a heart to if you only had one?"
"What is the most important feedback you've ever received, and what did you do with it?"
"What do you think about the recent guidelines for mammograms?"
"How can we recruit medical students interested in primary care?"
"We set up lots of theoretical constraints regarding health care reform that were not hard, but sort of tricky to keep track of. As advised on the UWSOM website, think out loud."
"Compare and contrast your experience working with the patients in the geriatric exercise clinic versus the varsity athletes in the training room. (both volunteer experiences in my file)"
"#2"
"You mention 'lack of self-awareness was an issue that caused my parents divorce.' What do you mean by lack of self awareness?"
"a role-play. it was kind of weird but fun."
"You are seeing a pt with kidney failure who refuses dialysis. He later loses consciousness, and his family requests that you dialyze immediately. What do you say? Later he regains consciousness and wishes to start dialysis, how do you think the family will feel towards you?"
"Are there any questions that we haven't asked you that you thought we should have?"
"Tell us what major health care issues you see in America today and what you'd do about it?"
"All modesty aside, why should we pick you?"
"Have you had any other interviews this year? (Just thought this was an odd question to ask at the end of my interview)"
"Before Tom Daschle stepped down from office, what was his plan for health care reform and do you think it would have worked? (I went to school in South Dakota where he is from.)"
"You have treated a man with every possible known treatment for cancer. He will die unless you can halt/remove the cancer and he has just recently slipped into a coma. His wife found a drug online that is not FDA approved but is advertised as possibly having life saving effects. She wants to use it on her patient. What do you do? Pretend I am the wife and role play with me."
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"Details about my specific experiences and how they relate to my current interests in medicine"
"role play scenario about ethics"
"What's so interesting about radiology?!? (The interviewer was trying to ask me why I was interested in radiology, but then became embarrassed when he realized his tone was downplaying radiology.)"
"What do you like to do? <br><br> (compose music, write)"
"A new drug has clinically been proven to extend the life expectancy of a terminally ill patient with lung cancer from 9 months to 10.5 months. The drug costs $80,000 per patient. The Canadian healthcare system has decided they will not cover the cost of this drug for patients, but Medicare here in the US does. Would you use this treatment, knowing it costs as much as it does?"
"(I worked with diabetes patients) Discuss keeping track of numbers with regard to physician performance in controlling diabetes in their patients. What do you do with "non-compliant" patients?"
"(While suggesting options about a case study) That's not going to work. What else?"
"Small role-playing scenario: I was the physician, on of the interviewers was a 55 year old obese diabetic woman living in poverty. She comes to you looking for a way to afford her medication. Where do you send her/what do you tell her?"
"If you had to choose, would you choose a lifesaving treatment for someone or prevention for many?"
"How did X experience make you think differently?"
"Describe a medical error that you've observed during your work, what was done about it?"
"A 14 year old girl comes to your office and tells you she had unprotected sex. She wants you to give her a prescription for plan B. How do you handle the situation?"
"Tell us about some of the experiences you've had that made you want to go in to medicine; give specific examples of how people inspired you to want to become a doctor."
"If I were to consult on a case of acute appendicitis on a child, but the parents did not want an operation (they wanted to use prayer instead) what would I do?"
"If your friends could describe you, what one adjective would they use?"
"How do you feel about Dr. Paul Farmer's personal life?"
"What would I tell a pregnant patient that knew in advance their child would be disabled (I work with autism) and they were seeking advice on whether or not to abort."
"What are some of the challenges facing rural doctors?"
"Compare US health system to Mexican health system"
"How do you decide who gets a liver among three equally ill patients: one child with Down's syndrom, one man in prison and one man with three children?"
"Role playing for ethical question"
"Bioethical question about drugs, can't remember the exact wording."
"How would you reduce health care costs or increase access?"
"Is there anything we didn't ask that you really wanted us to ask you?"
"reapplicant question: aside from your grades/activities, how do you think you've changed as a person?"
"See below"
"''Are there any questions we didn't ask you that you wished we had?''"
"If mental health care was suddenly cut from health care insurance (if medicine was socialized), what would happen? What would you suggest patients experiencing mental health crises do?"
"If you were the Editor of Time magazine, who would you name as Person of the Year?"
"Tell me about an encouter with a patient that really touched you."
"Question about herbal medicine use to treat a lymphoma"
"What is the hardest thing you've ever done?"
"All ethics questions. You really need to be up on your game with current medical policy, ethical issues, and health related news."
"A lot of role playing. My entire interview group was given role playing. there is only ethics questions. my entire interview group was only asked ethics questions. read an ethics book. recommended. look online for some ethics book. dont waste time, just do ethics"
"Comparing a volunteer experience I had here in the US with one in India."
"A Bioethics question"
"Usual question about what type of medicine I want to practice."
"What are your thought on genetic engineering?"
"none"
"I hear there is a brothel in your home town, or at least there used to be. Would you have a problem treating the women there?"
"Ethics question about non-compliant TB patient. "
"What would I do if a mom refused to give her 11 year old daughter HPV vaccines because she didn't want to encourage sexual promiscuity"
"Why medicine"
"About medical error, if I had ever seen one in my volunteer experience and how did I handle it."
"The biggest benefits for impoverished people living in 3rd World squalor are clean water and solid infrastructure; so why do you feel so strongly about volunteering as a physician for a relief organization?"
"How do we make health care more affordable and available in this country?"
"How will you apply your public health degree to your practice of medicine?"
"Ethics"
"Who would I give a liver to, the alcoholic on welfare with 2 young kids or the successful businessman who is active and involved in improving social concerns of the community? Why?"
"Why do you think the US has such a high infant mortality rate?"
"Why do you think doctors are not satisfied with their work these days?"
"Why don't people in underserved communities have equal access to healthcare?"
"What is the most challenging aspect of providing health care in the US?"
"Do you think family practice is dying away in America?"
"If a mistakes occurs in the operating room, who should be liable, the doctor, the nurses, ect. and why"
"Although the ethical questions I was given were incredibly difficult, they were nonetheless ''interesting''. By interesting I mean it must've taken my interviewer quite a while to come up with such a moral enigma..."
"Vast array of ethical questions."
"The ethics question: A 60 year old man who you have been treating for a while calls you in the middle of the night and thanks you for treating him but now he is ready to die. What do you say to him?"
"Who is your favorite artist? "
"Ethics scenario. When I said I wouldn't consent to PAS by giving my 65 y/o patient with end-stage cancer sleeping pills, the lead interviewer followed it up with "
"Define underserved."
"Patient comes in and wants antiviral drugs for their family to protect them from the Avian Flu although they have little to no risk of getting the disease... then, buisnessman who travels to areas of high risk wants the drug... etc, etc. Do you give them the drug? Then, when they begin threatening you, etc. what do you do?"
"A series of questions involving the Mitchell Rupe case. If you're not familiar with this man, he was on death row, ballooned up to 400 pounds, went to court saying that he could not be hung because the likely decapitation of so heavy a man would be cruel and unusual punishment. He later developed severe liver problems and needed a transplant. The case goes on, but you can imagine the sorts of questions meant to tease out my process of reasoning in ethically thorny situations."
"what i would do if a patient of mine needed an immediate surgery which only i could give him and which he couldn't afford until his insurance kicked in in 72 hours, would i write a false date on the insurance claim?"
"1. What types of activities did you do in high school? 2. How would you fix the health care system? 3. What are the disadvantages in the Canadian and UK systems? 4. What did you learn about medicine from your experiences?"
"What do you think about using a junk-food tax to help out with the obesity problem in America?"
"I was asked about 2 ethical scenarios that were both interesting. The scenarios kept evolving based on my answers, which made the discussion even more interesting."
"Do you think it would have made a difference (in the Terry Shiavo case) if they had been trying to take her off the ventilator rather than a feeding tube?"
"What seperates you from your other pre-med friends?"
"What is an example of an ethical dilemma that you have faced as a student, and how did you overcome it?"
"Would you vote for a right to die initiative in Washington"
"If you had a patient with a tumor who didnt want to recieve treatment because she believed in eastern medicine, what would you do? And what would you do if she tried eastern medicine, it didn't work, and the tumor grew?"
"What is the President going to say about Health Care in the State of the Union address, and what do you think about what he might say?"
"ethics question on genome sequencing"
"A Cambodian woman with HIV and an HIV + child doesn't want her kid to take ARVs-- what would I do as her doc?"
"Given your public health experience, why have you chosen to pursue medicine?"
"What would you do if you had a patient who had severe COPD and the only medication that made him comfortable also had the side effect of killing him. Would you give him the med?"
"What is the problem with healthcare in the country and what would you do to fix it."
"Your long term patient of 85yo has breast cancer and is at the end stage of life. She calls you and requests sleeping pills in a quantity that could end her life. How do you handle this?"
"Is Medicine a service profession?"
"I was given a question where I was asked to role play being a doctor to a family that came in. Basically, the wife (who was not present) was pregnant and wanted and abortion. The rest of the family (the grandparents and the husband, who were present) didn't want and abortion. They came to me to ask what I could do. What was tough is that I actually had to play a doctor instead of just answering a question."
"In all of your clinical experience, what made the biggest impression on you?"
"If a collegue gave a patient the wrong medication, and the patient came back in because the medication didn't work, how would you approach your collegue and what would you do?"
"I wasn't asked anything that I hadn't expected, the only "unknown" was the lone ethical question (see most difficult question.)"
"Most important lesson I can teach a patient."
"What was the most important event of 2005?"
"The question that surprised and allowed me to express my personality was , "What is the one movie you would suggest that all of us see?" This was a follow up question to what I did for fun, in which I said I watched a lot of movies. "
"Who or what would you put in the cover of Time's Magazine?"
"Do you think the Oregon euthanasia law is a country-wide precendent or a fluke? Is it a slippery slope? Discuss."
"ethics question: say 20 years down the line one of your patients wishes to select positive traits and remove negative traits in their next child. would you do it or what would you advise them?"
"What's your favorite book?"
"Who would you put on the Times magazine cover."
"Who would you put on the cover of Time magazine as the person of the year?"
"Have you had any tragedy in your life, and if so, how have you learned from it?"
"Name five essential qualities of a physician, (then, after I had already listed the first), in order of importance. "
"Do you feel that cosmetic surgery should have a tax to benefit community clinics?"
"The famouse, "would you like a cookie?" question. I knew it was coming, but still intrigue."
"So you're interested in public health and you worked in restaurants for years...didn't all the drinking and smoking offend you?"
"What book are you currently reading?"
"If someone came to you and said that they were from some religious sect where they have to get a lot of piercings and asked you if you could do the piercings for them because they trust you more than the person who normally does the piercings, what would you do? (What the heck?!!??)"
"Ethical question about pain medication and an elderly patient"
"A rambling question about named reporting of people who test + for HIV."
"They asked me what I would do in the situation involving Terri Schiavo (the women in FL who is the subject of all the lawsuits about removing her feeding tube)?"
"If you were appointed by the president to lead the US health care system, what would you change?"
"What was the biggest disappointment you've faced in your life thus far?"
"what do you think of the CDC limiting flu vaccines to at risk populations and then ending up with thousands of unused vaccines?"
"A question about my unique route to medine"
"A 15 year old girl comes into your office who is having sex with her boyfriend. Her mother has arranged for you to give her a depo shot, but when she shows up she tells you she doesn't want to have the shot, she wants to get pregnant and have a baby so the government will give her money! What do you do? "
"one of your terminally ill cancer patients calls to let you know he has made the decision to take his life. what do you do?"
"Why not psychology? "
"What would you do if you had a 2-year-old patient who needed a life-saving blood transfusion but her parents, Jehovah's Witnesses, refused the treatment?"
"Costa Rica has elected to spend the majority of their health care dollars on the young vs. elderly--what do you think of this policy."
"What one proposal would you suggest to fix healthcare in this country?"
"Ethical situation: How do I react to a patient who wants me to help kill him. "
"how will you handle the suffering taht you will encounter in medicine."
"Do you feel that your favorite author is a tolerant person?"
"Since I like analytucal, methodical processes, how will I deal with patients who rarely fit into that category."
"What are the ethical implications involved in the distribution of antiretrovirals to foreign countries at western prices?"
"Why on earth did you start another fraternity?"
"If the U.S. were to switch to a socialized healthcare system, who would be against the idea? (the answer is insurance companies :) )"
"where do you see yourself in the future?"
"Since you read Newsweek, and since 2005 is about to begin, if you were editor in chief of Time magazine, who or what do you think would be on the cover for Person/Event of the year for 2004?"
"Why the University of Washington?"
"What two issues are the most important facing health care today, and how would you address them?"
"Position on stem cell research"
"How do you explain the reelection of a president that is responsible for so many deaths in the Iraq operation?"
"Should a physician take part in carrying out a death penalty sentence?"
"Question about being a physician and treating two very different forms of illness, chronic disease versus treatable infectious disease, and how a physician must adjust and adapt (mentally, etc.) to the different situations."
"A patient of yours with a very painful terminal cancer calls and tells you that he has 54 sleeping pills and plans to take them. What do you do?"
"If you were working for a U.S. senator, how could you work to alleviate the problem of uninsured people in the United States?"
"End of life issues"
"Is President Bush or Senator Kerry right about the impact of medical malpractice cases on the cost of medicine?"
"Question 3--see below. "
"Why did you take five years to graduate?"
"[Note: I prefer not to answer the "which questions were you asked" questions to safeguard my privacy.]"
"what was your SAT score? (less interesting than just surprising)"
"How would you fix the US health care system?"
"please tell us about your experience with tango"
"What was the last novel you read?"
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
"All the questions I was asked were the same as some that have been posted previously and some stuff right off my application."
"What challanges do rural communities face regarding both primary and psyciatric care? I thought it was interesting to address the psychiatric componant."
"scenerio questions aimed at investigating my thoughts on larger issues: quality of life, hot health topics, balance."
"Bioethics situation in which I had to choose which patient I would treat.. and why."
"Pretty crazy weather back there, huh?"
"My greatest weakness?"
"What would I say if a patient of mine, who had an arm injury at work covered by worker's comp, asked me to write his boss a note for his work since next week was fishing season? Just seemed way too obvious to be an ethics question."
"Who would you put on the cover of Time?"
"What are some of the frustrations/complaints you have heard from physicians?"
"How has the view of death in Latin American countries changed the way you view the practice of medicine?"
"A lot of emergency rooms are being forced to shut down, why do you feel that is the case?"
"An ethical scenario in which family members disagreed about end-of-life care for an elderly relative"
"Do you think that the current trend in healthcare where physicians are given less autonomy and more paperwork will continue?"
"Ethics question"
"Ethics: See below."
"Why do you say want to do primary care in a rural community if you have no experience in any rural area? (they acted like I was lying!)"
"nothing very interesting... pretty standard stuff- ethical question + discussion of my activities"
"ethical question about lethal dosages of pain medication"
"You're the only doctor in a small town and a close family friend comes to your house furious because you prescribed birth control for her 14 year-old daughter. How do you handle the situation?"
"If you design a new chemotherapeutic drug for children, would you test it on children?"
"kid needs a blood transfusion but his parents are jehovah's witnesses-what do you do? what if they still refuse?"
"If healthcare was universalized, what would physicians lose and what would patients lose."
"What is your opinion on programs where American physicians work overseas for a certain period of time? Some say these programs do not account for what happens after the physicians leave the area and there is no longer the expertise/technology/service for the community to continue after the physician is gone. What do you think about that?"
"If a pt requested that you write a prescription to be filled in Canada (where it is presumably cheaper) would you agree to do so?"
"An ethical role play where I was the physician/counselor to a family who could not come to a consensus on their mothers end of life care."
"None. They were all pretty mainstream."
"why consider rural medicine "
""If someone you respect, say your high school principal, was slightly ill and had swollen glands, etc. for a few weeks and you ran a test for HIV, just in case, and the test came back positive, how would you negotiate the situation?""
"Since more western physicians and medical staff are going to developing countries to learn about other cultures and provide treatment some indigenous peoples are becoming skeptical of their own doctors. Is it a good idea for western physicians to continue to visit developing countries if barriers and such skepticism are being created? "
"Why do you think that there is a problem with access to health care in this country?"
"Tell me about one of your patients you have met during your volunteer time."
"How realistic is it to combine research with the practice of medicine and do well at both?"
"If my husband were there during the interview, what would he want them to know about me?"
"How do you address the problem of healthcare in a region that is extremely poor? (in the context of talking about one of my life experiences)"
"Where do you draw the line in obtaining human embryonic stem cells for research?"
"What is the last book that you have read that you felt had significant meaning in your life? "
"How could you possibly mess up the Turkey for your Thanksgiving day dinner?"
"If you were practicing medicine in another country and diagnosed a patient with tuberculosis and that patient refused to take antibiotics and instead wanted to take herbal medicine, what would you do? What if there were children around that were at risk of contracting tuberculosis and they attended school? How would you address the risk to the children and the community? Would you try to force them to accept treatment using the community or by passing a law mandating treatment?"
"What do you think about the new Medicare bill?"
"Do you believe that someone with affirmitive action status, i.e. any minority, should have first grabs at admission?"
"What would you do if a quadraplegic asked you to remove his pacemaker so that he could die?"
"compare and contrast the health care situation in my home land and the US. "
"What motivates you to be a physician?"
"Who inspires me?"
"illegal immigrant needs expensive meds...what do you do as their physician?"
"What was your biggest disappointment in life?"
"What are your strengths/weaknesses?"
"Why I felt the scandals in the service academies were such an issue as compared to other schools"
"The bioethics question"
"How do we face the challenge of an aging population?"
"The ethics question: An older patient comes to see you, is saving pills, and wants to know how many it would take for her to kill herself. Her daughter is with her, supports her choice. Would you tell her?"
"why did you decide to take a couple years off after college?"
"How has growing up in a rural area affected your descision to study medicine?"
"Lots of great ethical questions"
"Baseball fan?"
"What would you do if you were a physician and..............? (basically asking you to take a stand on some very tough issues)."
"Who has influenced your decision to study medicine and how?"
"How would you help the uninsured obtain health care?"
"Tell us about a patient you worked with. Me: Any specific type of patient, or incident? Them: Just tell us about one."
"What's the difference between a rural practice and an urban practice?"
"What's your take on the British Healthcare System?"
"Why medicine?"
"How would you address the problem of the uninsured?"
"If I had to chose Time's "person of the year" who would it be?"
"Of all the countries you've been to, which had the best/most interesting health care system?"
"How was your flight?"
"whats changed since last year"
"The ethical questions were interesting, but I was ready for them. They asked me about malpractice insurance and how we could fix the current problems."
"If you were czar of the world, how would you fix health care?"
"If you had unlimited research funds, what experiment would you conduct ?"
"If you went to a bank for a loan to pay your malpractice insurance and the bank owner came to you and basically said it would be no problem to give you the loan if you would test his son for drugs without him knowing. What would you say?"
"Tell us about yourself"
"A couple came to my office and requested an abortion because they do not want another girl. What should I do?"
"Cancer patient of yours comes into your office stressed out and is at the end of her rope. She asks you to prescribe her a months worth of pain pills and sleeping pills. You suspect that she wants to committ suicide. What do you do?"
"Where do I get my "spunk" from?"
"Nothing out of the blue....I felt prepared for most of the questions they would ask me because I had done a lot of reading. I suppose the one thing that threw me off was, "where do uninsured people go to receive medical care?" It felt almost like a trick question but the answer was pretty obvious, so I blurted out a few alternatives they would have. That question just felt a bit odd for some reason, mostly because it felt too simple to ask....I thought I was missing something."
"A patient is brought to the ER and has had a massive MI. He dies before anyone has a chance to do anything to him. The attending physician approaches you and asks if you would like to practice your intubation skills on him. What do you do? How about a put in a sub-clavian? What if the family is right outside waiting to view him? Do you ask them if they mind?"
"Do you have any clinical, one on one medical experience? If so do you remember any patients in particular, and what stands out from the others?"
"Do you think it is ethically reasonable for the surgeons in West Virginia to go on strike?"
"To prioritize the medical procedures on which we should spend our health care money. "
"What is the biochemical function of the gene you are studying?"
"How would you feel if the federal govt decided to stop paying for dialysis for patients over the age of 75 and use that money instead to provide medical insurance for all children in the United States?"
"Ethical questions, i suppose. Ethical questions tailored to what kind of doctor you want to be. "
"Mostly about my personal experiences. Read your AMCAS and personal essay. "
"How have sports helped prepare you to be a doctor?"
"Were you ever hospitalized for your asthma? I'm still not sure of the purpose of this question..."
"How will you respond to people who say you don't have enough life experience to be a doctor?"
"How would I feel about my life looking back on it 20 years from now."
"What would you do if a Chinese woman approached you with the desire to abort her female baby because she wanted a male one?"
"What is wrong with a specific federal grant program that serves rural hospitals? "
"Who should be Time's Person of the Year this year?"
"Do you know how doctors function in developing countries?"
"How I would treat a terminally ill patient and their family."
"So you have a patient who...(insert 5 minutes of setting up a complicated ethical scenario)...what do you do?"
"Were the people in Ireland happy with their healthcare system? (I had studied there)"
"The ethical question,which was expected, became very interesting at the end when the issue of death certificates arose. Question was what would I, the doctor, write on the death certificate as the reason for death when I might have good reason to believe my patient had downed a bottle of painkillers. "
"All questions were based on my application and so, they were fairly standard. Surprisingly, I was not asked any ethical dilemma questions."
"Describe a problem that you see in healthcare"
"The most interesting questions were specific to my file"
"We talked alot about my current work."
"Specific ethical questions related to my interests."
"Hard to say... Many were very specific to my interest in a particular field of medicine."
"You are a family practice physician and your long-time patient tests positive for HIV. He asks you not to tell his wife, who is also your long-time patient. What would you do?"
"Situation: A longtime patient of yours has terminal cancer and is in a lot of pain. He asks you for a months worth pain medication with the intent of killing himself. Do you give him the perscription?"
"How has your [subject] research background impacted your desire to become a doctor? (I spent last 2 years doing [subject] research)"
"Is knitting a thing Carribean people do as a cultural thing?"
"Tell me 3 positive aspects of the ACA, and 3 things you would change."
"You attended an international health service trip during the summer. If you met any of the local health providers, please explain the role of these providers in contrast to your own role as a traveling volunteer."
"How would you improve patient turn out in rural areas?"
"Describe a good physician-patient interaction that you witnessed and one that could have been better."
"Time you had a difficult conversation with someone"
"What did and did not go well in your patient role play?"
"Tell us about a time that you had a difficult conversation with someone, including how you handled it and how they handled it."
"In the clinic you work in, how do the doctors maintain their work-life balance? Have you spoken to them about it? (this was a follow up to a question i was asked about future challenges, and I said work-life balance. It was difficult because the docs I work with don't struggle so much with work-life balance, they seem to know their boundaries. Just caught me off guard a little)."
"Describe a time when you did something to help someone else or another group while having no large benefit to you."
"Tell me about your grades (have low GPA). All questions came right out of my app."
"They asked me to explain the ACA and how it affected my home state"
"The role play scenario- patient's wife is asking for a new narcotic scricpt."
"How would you improve on breaking bad news to patients? (After I stated it was difficult to see providers do)"
"What are the major obstacles patients will face when seeking care in the future."
"Role play. Unbelievably contrived and phony."
"Tell us about a patient who reinforced your choice to pursue medicine and one who made you question your choice."
"Role play involving parents insulting their child in front of you, the physician."
"What do you see as your life's greatest failure?"
"A small town has a sudden surge in DUI and alcohol-related arrests. How would you go about researching the root of the problem (What?? Where did this come from? Very random)"
"Having to choose the specific field of medicine I want to be in 10 years from now."
"Role Play: I work for TIME magazine and am in charge of selecting the person of the year. Who would you nominate and why?"
"Role-play. I am the governor, and my wife wants to spend millions on an anti-meth campaign. What do you think about that? I encouraged him to spend it on alcohol programs instead, because it effects more people, and got several follow-up questions on what I would do specifically."
"What would you personally do to increase the number of primary care physicians in the United States?"
"I said that a single-payer health care system would save lives and would be less expensive. The interviewer than asked me to explain how it would save money, and if I really believed that? (I think he was testing if I could keep my stance)"
"What do you think are the most challenging aspects of healthcare in our state and what do you think of the current 'health care reform environment'? (It wasn't a hard question really but it was hard bridging from one concept to the other.)"
"Imagine you are on trial and we are the jury. Try to convince us that you are compassionate and empathetic."
"are primary care and preventative care the same thing? (I think I brought this on myself, though, because I said that one of the problems with health care is that there isn't enough focus on preventative care)"
"After talking about a single payer system and saying what I like and don't like about health care, one of the interviewers turns to me and says "kind of like what Massachusetts is doing?".....ummm, i'm from California...i have no idea what Massachusetts is up to."
"Follow up to question 3. Let's assume you gave the patient morphine. They call you 3 days later and inform you that they are in fact going to swallow all of the pills you provided them with and end their life. The patient lives in rural Wyoming, 1.5 hours away from any medical care."
"What have you done differently since the last time you applied. (They asked me this question twice, once in the beginning and then again at the end. I was like, eh?)"
"Role play follow up: The patient ends up taking the sleeping pills and dies. The next morning you are called to sign the death certificate. What do you put as the cause of death? (If this is supposed to present an ethical dilemma of some sort I don't get it. Seems too simple)"
"Are there any questions you feel we did not ask that you would like us to know?"
"With unlimited resources, how would you reform Seattle's public drug rehab programs?"
"The above, and, describe a conflict you were involved in and how you lead it to resolution. "
"What are 3 things you would change about health care?"
"Role playing with an ethical dilemma."
"Why are primary care physicians dissatisfied with their jobs?"
"Nothing was difficult, I was really surprised."
"Imagine you are the Czar of Medicine, what three things would you change about our health care system & why?"
"My excom member asked me to give two selling points for him to use during his presentation of my app. during the excom meeting"
"The interview was nicer than as projected by the SDN forums and my friends I've talked to. I mostly heard from others that it was going to be very stressful, but I didnt get a sense of that. They are well-aware of the impression people post about on SDN and are trying to come off less stressful now. I was in a room with 2 doctors (a retired GI doctor and family medicine doc --> Xcom) and a 2nd year medical student. They were comforting at the start and continued to stress the point that there is no good cop/bad cop game going on. They had me did a role play exercise with the med student, where we were classmates studying together, and I had to confront him about his drinking problem."
"when you think about being a doctor, what scares you most?"
"Probably listing "3" specific problems."
"How many schools did you apply to, and have you interviewed at any others?"
"What do you do with a non-compliant family of a 10 year old with Diabetes Type I?"
"an ethics question about how to allocate scarce resources"
"Is there a point at which a TB patient's autonomy/individual rights are outweighed by the safety/health of society? If so, what would you do when that point is reached?"
"Tell us what you know about Tort Reform in Wyoming."
"You have treated a man with every possible known treatment for cancer. He will die unless you can halt/remove the cancer and he has just recently slipped into a coma. His wife found a drug online that is not FDA approved but is advertised as possibly having life saving effects. She wants to use it on her patient. What do you do? Pretend I am the wife and role play with me."
"Why should we pick you over other equally qualified candidates? "
"None really...I guess I was least eloquent about answering the health care policy question, but not necessarily a "hard question""
"Talking about primary care physicians and why they are not happy in their profession. "
"If you were Christine Gregoire, what would you do to remedy Washington state's current health care issues?"
"I went to New Zealand for a study abroad. I did some volunteering there that we were referred to. (Soup kitchen and ecological restoration project). This trip was not oriented towards health care, it was a study of epistemology and the philosophy of cultural identity... <br><br> What is the health care system in New Zealand like, and what was your opinion of it? <br><br> (uhhhhhh.....)"
"You have been appointed as one of Barak Obama's advisers. With economic conditions as they are, how would you improve the healthcare system while cutting costs?"
"Talk about insurance and why the health care system isn't changing. How would you improve the health care system? Do you have any questions for us?"
"For the final question, is there anything you would like to tell us, or would you like to tell us why we should accept you? "
"From your aspirations, it sounds like you should be a social worker or politician instead. Why bother becoming a doctor then?"
"Ethics question."
"What do you see as the biggest problem with our health care system? and how would you change it? If you were an advisor to a politician, how would you advise them on health care reform?"
"None of the questions were difficult per say, just hard to think quickly and speak thoughtfully with 3 different individuals being able to ask you questions back to back."
"Describe 3 health care issues that face your home town (I'm from a underserved area of the state) and what you would do to solve them."
"A 14 year old girl comes to your office and tells you she had unprotected sex. She wants you to give her a prescription for plan B. How do you handle the situation?"
"As a role play question, each interviewer represented a different presidential candidate (Obama, Clinton, McCain). The task was to let each candidate know three ways I wanted health care improved from a physician's standpoint and three improvements I wanted from a patient's view, then to defend my choices."
"Most were pretty easy, but I was too nervous to think straight."
"Tell me about a major failure in your life and how you got over it."
"You don't have much experience working with generalists, so how can you tell us that you are interested in being a primary care physician?"
"NONE! I think the best advice I can give is just to reiterate, as much as you can to the point where you're feeling like you might be annoying, that UW IS THE SCHOOL FOR YOU. I did so, incoporating it into my answers every chance I got.. even at one point, I said, ''I'm not even sure if its appropriate to say this stuff'' because I thought I was beating it dead with a stick. Second: I got really lucky... the guy leading the interview looked around at the other two people and was like 'well, I don't know much about your area (working with autism) ..so can you guys think of any ethical question?' and ended up asking me something about a patient knowing ahead of time that their child would be autistic, what advice I would give as far as abortion. PATIENT ADVOCATE. Those are the winning two words when it comes to ethics, and sticking to your guns. Other interviewees had a lot more ethics questions... its luck of the draw I guess. I feel like I definitely OVERprepared, but it helped with my confidence... making the whole interview process at UW waaaaaaaaay easier than I had expected. Like, aside from the 'panel' and talking to three people at once, it was one of the easier interviews out of the five I've had. Definitely know your current events in health, health policy.. and local stuff if you can fit it in. I studied way too hard. I prepped way too hard. But, in the end, I think it just helped me feel really ready for it and made the whole thing ''easier''. Hope it helps. Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck!"
"How do the cost and lack of accessability to health insurance affect our health care system?"
"Compare US health system to Mexican health system"
"Who won the Nobel Prize in medicine this year and what did they win for?"
"Role playing for ethical question"
"Explain a time in your life where you were completely overwhelmed, but overcame such difficulties. Also what strategies did you employ."
"Do you think family practice will be challenging enough?"
"Ethics question about old terminally-ill patient wanting to end his own life"
"follow-up to fixing problems in health care: How do you propose we recruit and retain more physicians in underserved areas? "
"the questions were predictable--healthcare policy and ethics."
"A question concerning a role-playing scenario with family members of a terminal patient."
"Ethical question about acknowledging a tx mistake or mistake made by a colleague. "
"Explain your felony (1 time 10 yrs ago)."
"As health czar, how would I control healthcare costs in the last 6 months of life?"
"What was the program expansion that President Bush just vetoed? "
"All equally difficult, very hard interview. not brutal, just a lot harder than my other interviews."
"Ethics Question--regarding organ donation"
"A health care systems question"
"Was asked about a past experience with a patient of mine. Thing is, I've never had patients of my own, just minimal interactions in clinics and lots of customer service. I explained this and offered ideas based upon the experience I did have, but the interviewer kept pressing on about my patients and wouldn't accept my answer."
"If we had the ability to let people know in advance that they had a disposition to Alzheimer's, would that be beneficial? Would you promote it?"
"What three things would you change about the U.S. healthcare system."
"Would you prescribe the birth control pill to a 14 yr old who asked for it? Why?"
"Same as above"
"why are physicians in the us increasingly dissatisfied?"
"Ethics galore"
"Two people come in to the ED, same exact conditions and both are in a state of emergency. One is a banker and has insurance, one is a homeless man. The hospital administrator calls you and says they need to start thinking about finances, and tells you, since you only have one cath lab to deal with these heart attack patients, to admit the banker and send the homeless man elsewhere. Who do you admit?"
"Your undergraduate curriculum and volunteer work indicates you are very interested and focused on public health issues; why not go for an MPH rather than an MD?"
"An ethical question about continuing to use scarce resources on a patient who was a chronic alcoholic."
"A primary goal of the UW medical school is to produce physicians for the under-served areas of Washington State. Since you want to take our education and work in Africa, what should I tell the admissions committee when they ask me why we should accept you over the thousands of students who want to come here and practice in Washington State? "
"Will you be going into primary care?"
"Issues regarding national health care. Careful with this question. Base on your response they will press with harder and harder topics."
"Every single ethical question that I was asked because they constantly prodded at you and tried to make you squirm."
"Ethics questions - You are running a rural clinic with a partner and they mistakenly prescrib the wrong medication for a patient (which did the patient no harm). You discover and correct this mistake when seeing the patient. Would you tell the patient about the mistake?"
"Where does the funding come from for health clinics in underserved areas?"
"Same "
"What is the most important feedback you have received (in any context)? "
"Okay, you're a transplant doc. You have three patient: a three year old child with down syndrome, a 42 year old male alcoholic in prison, and a 75 year old professor of biology. All three patients need a liver transplant or they will die. They all have equal medical necessity for the liver. The 3 year old's down syndrome will not medically alter their chance for survival-besides the liver transplant of course. The 42 year old alcoholic, although in prison and the cause of his own liver failure, has two children and promises to undergo treatment and take good care of his children. The 75 year old man is a profressor of yours that has recently published a book, and is a highly regarded researcher and teacher. Who gets the liver? If I were someone about to interview at UW, I would DEFINATELY look over some ethical principles of resource allocation. Try the UW bioethics site. Try praying for an easier question ;)"
"What percentage of family doctors have their own practice (make a guess)? Do you think that number will go up or down?"
"You wrote in your essay that you are interested in Emergency Medicine. How do you plan on mixing your background and a PhD in Chemistry with Emergency Medicine? "
"No difficult questions. Very low stress interview (despite what others have said about being grilled)."
"You said in your application that you expected med school to teach you to think objectively and dispassionately. We are actually trying to get our students to think more subjectively. How would you change the current med school curriculum to teach students more empathy and subjectivity."
"What would I do if a terminally ill patient called to say goodbye, and that he was about to take a lethal dose of sleeping pills. "
"Have you ever followed up in later weeks with any of the patients you've helped while volunteering? (obviously this Q wasn't hard to interpret, but I had to honestly answer "no")."
"There were none that ought to have been difficult, but I botched the questions that should have been easiest: questions about a couple of pecadillos on my transcript, about my unusually lengthy path to med school, and the inevitable why-a-doctor question and why-you-instead-of-all-these-other-candidates question."
"about the US and Canadian health systems, whether its preferable to weed people out at the entry level of healthcare (not being able to see a doctor at all) as in US or at the exit level (having to wait to get operations and procedures (as in canadian system)"
"I was asked multiple health care questions... what I think the major problems are... how I would fix them, if I think we need to pour more money into health care, etc."
"Follow up to previous question (paraphrased): Don't you think that taxing junk food would end up taxing those who can least afford the taxes on junk food?"
"How would you fix the US healthcare system?"
"What seperates you from your other pre-med friends?"
"Why do you want to become a physician? I had rehearsed answering this question, but choked in the interview as it was the first question they asked me. However, I was able to recover by continuing to address the question throughout the rest of the interview."
"Essentially, they asked me to compare and contrast the Canadian and American healthcare systems and how I would fix them both."
"What would you do if you could only give ten tests every month to your patients, and you were out of tests for the month and a patient came in that needed a test?"
"What will you do if medicine is not an option?"
"explain to us a project that you are working on, knowing that we don't have any background in your academic studies"
"How would I fix the problem of lack of access to care in our health care system? "
"One of the interviewers asked me a question that was not on my application, but was in one of the letters of recommendation (of course I had not seen the letters) so that caught me off guard. "
"give your sales pitch"
"Nothing sticks out."
"A question about rural health and what to do if someone comes into your office w/o health insurance"
"Same as the most interesting question."
"Be prepared to debate your position on health insurance. That took up the most of my interview."
"To was asked to compare and contrast my idea for universal health care with Medicare and Medicaid."
"You have a patient you've built a relationship with over some time, who is now on a ventilator which is sustaining his life. The family wishes to speak with you. What would you do? (Difficult because there are so many unknowns...a very open ended question.)"
"Probably same one."
"Ethics question on PAS."
"This question was difficult because it was not phrased as a question. "Discuss the impact of pharmaceutical companies upon the medical field, the medical field upon the government and the population, as well as the relationship between the government, pharmaceutical companies and medical field." Another particularly difficult question was "What would you say to pharmaceutical companies weighing the options of developing new drugs versus new vaccinations, when they are also taking into consideration profit?""
"Ethical Question about Stem Cell Research... Know your ethics!"
"What do you think we can learn from other countries' health care systems to improve our own?"
"why do you think that the elderly are confused about the new medicare drug program and what would you do to relieve this confusion?"
"Ethics scenario question."
"What do you think about I-330?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor? (because I wanted to be honest but original)"
"Besides the uninsured, what is one other thing that is wrong with healthcare in this country?"
"none too out of the ordinary"
"Why you over other applicants?"
"Make make you think you are ready to be a doctor?"
"First question out of the block..."It took you a while to apply to medical school...why?""
"Our government is not making changes to our health care system, so who do we turn to in order to improve health care? "
"Most of the questions were very specific to my the various essays I had written on my application. My interviwers definitely tried to sniff out any BS."
"How do you see medicine as an art in the Labor/Delivery department (I worked in LDRP)?"
"What my position on tort reform was."
"How would I solve the problem of healthcare in rural AK?"
"What would you do if you did not get into medical school?"
"What was the biggest disappointment you've faced in your life thus far?"
"What are some of the issues facing medicine today? (too broad)"
"What about rural medicine will present the greatest challenges?"
"How would you fix the US health care system? (I think they just want to see how you think on this one. If there were really a "right" answer I would hope we would be doing it!)"
"(follow-up question) the medical examiner calls you to let you know the patient has passed. what would you mark as cause of death?"
"PAS scenario with follow up questions. "
"What are your impressions of the U.S. health care system? [This topic is so broad in scope, it was hard to know where to begin.]"
"Ethics question about advanced directives--you have a patient who's stated he wants no heroic measures but develops pneumonia and can be treated if intubated."
"What one proposal would you suggest to fix healthcare in this country?"
"Ethical situation: So many I can't keep track"
"ethical question about cancer pt who wants you to help them end thier life. that part wasnt so hard, the hard part was that he kept changing the situation and probing me. "ok now the pt is asking .... now what would you do?""
"How would you solve the uninsured problem in the United States? and How would you provide treatment for a patient with a cultural/language barrier to make them feel more comfortable?"
"Standard ethics question: You patient with terminal illnes calls and tells you he is going to off himself with pills and wants to say thanks for all the care ovre the last 10 years. What do you do?"
"What is something you are super proud of/ biggest accomplishment?"
"What was the last book you read? (I don't read books, just newspapers, periodicals, textbooks for class, etc)."
"Who should be TIME's Person of the year"
"Well... during the interview I spent 25 minutes on health care policy, so if you don't know how our healthcare system works and/or other countries, your in for a world of hurt. (I'm sore but not broken)"
"what are the major problems with healthcare today?"
"Probably the same question because it came so far out of left field."
"Questions regarding view points on healthcare delivery..quantity vs quality ethnical issues."
"It took you a long time to make it to medical school; why?"
"Position on stem cell research"
"Can you tell us about a specific patient in your clinical experience who made you want to become a doctor more?"
"How would you tell an elderly person with pancreatic cancer they would not be receiving life extending treatments because their insurance (private or medicare) only covers pain management for those with a terminal illness?"
"What is health? "
"Would you like a cookie? Or maybe it was: What are the problems with healthcare in your home-town?"
"Question about medical errors"
"End of life issues"
"What are the problems with our health care system? How do we fix them?"
"Question 2--see below. "
"How do we solve the health care crisis and which presidential candidates health care proposals to you agree with more."
"what would you say to a man who's wife is in a coma and unlikely to ever regain consciousness. one son believes you should pull the plug, the other believes you should wait?...but what if...?"
"How can health care within the United States be changed?"
"Ethical: patient confidentiality."
"what was the last conflict you were involved in and how did you resolve it"
"Who do you think is right in the Nancy Shaivo 'right-to-die case? What would you do if you were her doctor?"
"Questions regarding my desire to specialize...it was hard to talk about this at a school that emphasizes primary care."
"I wasn't asked any difficult questions. I gave dumb answers on everything, but they really weren't difficult questions."
"Probably the same."
"your family life Vs. Patient care (balance)"
"Prescription drug OD scenario and how I would face the situation."
"Why UW?"
"Nothing was too challenging :)"
"A tie. 1) Why do you only have 1 EC listed? 2) Why, after all the problems in Canadian healthcare you've listed, is Canada rated (insert some high number. 4?) while the US is rated (insert lower number. 25?) in the world in terms of cost effectiveness, or patient benefit?"
"Why should we let you in?"
"If you were the czar of stem cell research, what kind of restrictions would you implement? "
"An ethical scenario with an illegal immigrant who is unable to pay for necessary medications"
"What is your greatest weakness?"
"A follow-up to the questions of what's wrong with healthcare in this country and what would I do to fix those problems: how would I pay for these solutions?"
"You have a premature baby who is really sick with various complications and needs a small blood transfusion to have any chance of survial, the parents refuse on religious grounds. Should you challenge the parent's wishes?"
"Ethics question"
"All were very straight forward and not too difficult."
"Why are your grades so low? (This was an unfair question! The files are supposed to be closed to the other people in the room. They also asked why I think I should get in with my MCAT scores and grades!!!!) If I don't get in, I might file a lawsuit for violation of the agreement of the interview conditions."
"no specifically difficult question, just the fact that you get no feedback (facial expressions/discussions) from the interviewers."
"You said 'be the best physician you can be.' What does that mean? Everyone says that, but what does it actually mean?"
"All of the questions were fairly basic."
"so is there anything else you'd like to say about yourself? it caught me off guard because it was one of the few personal question they asked about me. i didn't have any personal questions for the majority of the interview."
"Same as above."
"Ethical question: An elderly Asian women came to the hospital and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She refuses to take the medication required and wants to take herbal medication instead. What would you do? If you need to convince her to take the medication, what resources would you use? "
"None"
"above"
"Tell us about one of your failures. I made it harder because I went into how it ended up with some positive results in the long run and so she asked, "then why was it a failure?""
"standard ethical, health care, and end of life questions. study these a bit."
"What experience touched you and why? What did you do, specifically, for that person?"
"Where do you see yourself in 15 years? Followed by: How do you intend to achieve those goals?"
"Lots of good, thoughtful questions - none were easy! "
"What do you have to contribute to this year's medical class ? "
"What was the most difficult experience in your life that did not take place in the context of your profession?"
"What is unique about the US society that would make Universal Healthcare difficult?"
"You are the director of a hospital, and the ER doctor comes in presenting a drug addict who's been in previously 5 times beore for detox/treatment etc. At the same time, a group from the local urban community comes to you asking for your hospital to sponsor a healthy babies program that will serve over 200 infants in the community. You have limited funds and can only help one of the two, who do you help? "
"How do you know you want to be a family practitioner if you've only shadowed specialists?"
"Whare are 3 current problems in our health care? How would you solve it? "
"How do you eliminate the need for affirmitive action?"
"If you were on the administrative board of a hospital and were asked to cut certain procedures because of their high cost per patient, what would you do?"
"nothing too difficult. but they did want me to predict the outcome of the iraq war, which was challenging but doable. "
"How do you feel about the Medicare prescription drug plan that Congress is proposing? "
"Why was managed care formed? Did it succeed? ALong with questions about Medicaid drug funding for AIDS drugs and a few ethics questions."
"If an illegal alien needed an expensive prescription he couldn't pay for, what would you do?"
"probably the same question. There are some pretty tough ethical scenarios though."
"Why do you think URM physicians are UR?"
"The question centered on an older patient who had saved 13 sleeping pills and wanted to know, as her physician, how many it would take to end her life. "
"About a nurse overriding an order for a set amount of morphine, leading to the patient's death from respiratory failure"
"Same"
"See above, I guess. It was definitely the most involved."
"the governor hands you $100 million and tells you to fix the state's health care...what do you do?"
"Beliefs on affirmitive action in medical school?"
"What would you do to fix the healthcare system?"
"How did you come to the descision to study medicine (or try to at least)?"
"Why medicine?"
"Here's a senario you are faced as a doctor- what would you do?"
"Why medicine."
"How are you going to fix the health care crisis in America?"
"If you were in charge of the medical program of the US, what would you do to change it for the better?"
"Do you have anything else that you want to tell us about yourself?"
"What do you think of the Canadian and British healthcare systems?"
"None were too difficult."
"Tell me about yourself"
"What percentage of healthcare costs can be attributed to overhead? What about in Canada?"
"see above...yikes, for some reason this one was difficult. "
"If one of your friends was to describe you, what would they say positively AND negatively about you?"
"Everything else"
"the patient pill question that they asked all the others and the "how would you fix American health care" one"
"Why should doctors be paid such high salaries?"
"What would you tell a patient who calls you up to say goodbye because he's been storing up pills and is going to take them as soon as he gets off the phone with you?"
"Name some cancer drugs and their targets. (Perhaps I should have known the answer to this question, but I had been expecting questions that directly pertained to my research, so it tripped me up)"
"What about your application has changed since last year?"
"How would you react to an elderly patient that calls on the phone to tell you they are about to take an overdose of pills after they hang up the phone to you, but they are calling you to say thank you for all your past service?"
"None in particular"
"None--really. I was expecting many difficult questions, but was surprised that all of them were relatively "easy." They asked a lot about health care problems and reform."
"Strengths/weaknesses...."
"What kinds of alternatives would you propose to improve healthcare in the US?"
"Lots and lots of detailed healthcare policy -- especially financial issues. How would you fund this? How are you going to pay for that? How do you fix the system right now?"
"The new pediatric gene therapy trials with 80% efficacy. Do you as a physician use the gene therapy for a possible higher quality of patient life or not use them because of a 20% chance of negative effects?"
"How has the economic downfall in Washington state affected the healthcare community? "
"Asked me a lot of questions about my research to see if I knew what I was talking about. "
"What are the differing positions between Dems and Repubs in regards to medicare prescription drug benefits?"
"See above question."
"Ethical questions and health care solutions (?)."
"How has your experience after school made you a better candidate?"
"The ethical questions, just like everyone else."
"What is the biggest problem in health care today and how would you fix it?"
"Ethical question--what would you do if your 14 y/o female patient requested birth control but asked that you don't tell her mother who is waiting in the next room?"
"see above"
"Health care policy stuff....lots of it."
"What do you think of the vaccinating the entire US population against smallpox? Does it seem like a waste of resources?"
"How should we balance the desire to have health care for all people with the financial realities of providing such care?"
"Defend my undergraduate record from 15 years ago & grades in various classes. Fair question, but not what I was expecting."
"There were several ethical questions, dealing with Jehovah Witnesses and blood transfusions, and a suicidal geriatric patient, and others."
"How would I fix the problems of rural medicine's lack of technology."
"see above."
"Why do you think so many doctors don't take Medicaid patients? Are they just in it for the money?"
"What should be done to solve some of the healthcare problems today?"
"Continued questions on answers given regarding an ethics question "
"Where is all the money being spent in US healthcare going toward? (This was a follow-up to my statement that the high costs were one of the biggest problems in healthcare.)"
"What was the most difficult situation that you've faced, and how did you deal with it?"
"What are the ethical implications of the Oregon Medicare system where they rank procedures to determine what is covered or not. "
"What is your biggest failure?"
"How would you break the news of a child's fatal illness to the child and their family?"
"Describe your greatest failure"
"How does the your country of origin's healthcare system compare to ours?"
"Solve some of the healthcare problems today."
"Practiced at home w/ S.O., read through the UWSOM question list online, and wrote down notes for each answer."
"Read the book "The Premed Playbook Guide to the Medical School Interview: Be Prepared, Perform Well, Get Accepted" by Ryan Gray, studied UW Medicine Bioethics Webpage, had several people ask me interview questions every day."
"Three mock interviews, some one-on-one practice questions with spouse, reading on UW Ethics page."
"Studying UW website, curriculum and practice questions"
"UW website, mock interview, SDN"
"Mock interview"
"Re-reading my primary and secondary applications, looking over sample questions on the UW website, writing out sample answers."
"Reviewed app, read up on the school, practiced some acting scenarios"
"SDN, the Healthcare Handbook by Askin & Moore, youtube videos, reading current news"
"Read up on current healthcare topics"
"SDN, read my application, think of answers for common questions and ethical scenarios (but they didn't ask me any)."
"Studied my personal statement, primary, and secondary. I read the healthcare handbook by Askin and Moore and can say that it helped so so much with my understanding of healthcare and with my ACA question which they told me I blew them away with my knowledge."
"Mock interview with pre-med advisors trained by UW admissions office."
"Plan out my responses to common questions."
"SDN, mock interview, re-read my essays, thought about common questions"
"SDN board research, SDN interview feedback, UW website"
"Watched feedback videos. Reviewed application."
"Study UW Interview website: http://www.uwmedicine.org/education/md-program/admissions/applicants/interview#interview"
"School is very upfront about what they want to see/hear during the interview - all on their website here http://www.uwmedicine.org/Education/MD-Program/Admissions/Applicants/Pages/Interview.aspx AFERM offers mock interviews that are very helpful."
"Made sure I understood my application and my motivations for medicine."
"Looked over the ethics website, a ton of mock interviews and practice questions"
"Mock interview and questions from their website."
"SDN and UW Bioethics website"
"SDN, learned about health care policy and current health care issues"
"Did a mock interview with a panel of doctors from my school. Read every word on their ethics website. Familiarized myself with current issues facing doctors."
"I read the New York Times health section, did a lot of interview prep type questions, and read all of the bioethics website. This can be accessed through the University of Washington School of Medicine page, under the interview information section."
"Read this. Watched the UW interview podcast and read on the UW bioethics website. Read "The Healing of America". Read about health care in my state. Practiced (this was my 6th interview). PRAYED LIKE CRAZY!!!!"
"SDN! I listened to NPR, read articles, and practiced interviewing."
"Read books about the health care system. Read many articles related to the health field."
"UW bioethics website, read the newspaper daily, read king5.com for info on health care specific to the seattle area (where I'm from), read "The Healing of America" by T.R. Reid (great for current health policy overview), reflected on my activities and why they were important to me, SDN forums and interview feedback, discussed questions with friends and family"
"http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/index.html as well as SDN questions, and reviewing materials."
"read health care books, made discussion points for a variety of questions that i pulled off the web, thought over my personal reasons for pursuing medicine"
"Reading the interview feedback section of SDN, reading Bodenheimer, keeping up with NY Times and other health news."
"SDN review, UW bioethics website, read a few books, NY times articles"
"Should have read up on current US health care, but didn't."
"I read through the University of Washington's bioethics page. This page is very helpful and highly recommended."
"CNN. UW Bioethics website."
"The usual, read up on health reform, specifics about UW's program, reflected on my application/past experiences etc"
"Read Understanding Health Policy, all of Atul Gawande's books, Groopman's book, New York Times and NEJM for the last few months. Mock interviews (mean ones, the meaner the better) with 1 physician, 1 med student, recorded it, reflected on it."
"Mock interview, read a book, planned answers to common questions."
"Continually practiced and reflected on my past experiences, Mock interview with pre-med advisors, SDN Interview Feedback (advice to applicants: avoid the pre-med general discussion forum), studied: New England Journal of Medicine Health Care Reform articles, UW Bioethics website, and the UW SOM website to be very familiar with the intricacies of the program. "
"mock interviews, talked to friends who had already interviewed"
"Read about healthcare policy, kept up with recent changes in healthcare in the news (mammogram screening guideline changes etc.), Went over my activities section of the AAMCAS and made sure I hashed out any ambiguous comments that I previously made. "
"UW bioethics site, practice interviews, keeping up on healthcare reform progress, etc"
"Know yourself! Know what you want inside and outside of medicine and know why you want to be a physician... then back it up with experience. I read a health policy book, stayed up to date with current events and health policy (although no current event Q's were asked), and interviewed with friends to get used to hearing myself think out loud (as odd as that sounds)."
"SDN interview feedback, current events/wall street journal health section/ Seattle Times, UW program website & Bioethics website, carefully review my research and activities from AMCAS app.."
"SDN, mock interviews, interviews at other schools, NYT.com, read a policy book"
"SDN interview feedback, school website, read and understood the mission statement. Lots of mock interviews with friends. Bodenheimer's "understanding health policy" A seminar course on presenting myself authentically to an audience. Reflective journaling, specifically about 'how my qualities match the needs of the school.' Asking all of my friends to give me 3 adjectives to describe who I am, then compiling them all into a list to find out what qualities of myself I present to others effectively."
"UW bioethics website. kept up with current events, esp. health care, generally"
"Lots of practice interviews. This was a Wyoming WWAMI so it occured late in the season, and I had been at two other schools already. Job shadowing had given me a lot to talk about concerning Wyoming medicine, and they seemed most impressed with this. Read a few novels concerning medical issues, luckily one was called "My Sister's Keeper" concerning medical decisions that helped a lot with the ethical question. "
"1. Read "Understanding Health Policy" by Bodenheimer, and outlined the most important parts of it (which I kept in an "interview study binder"). 2. Researched healthcare system in Washington state, the governor's proposed plan, and some of its criticisms. 3. Researched status of tort reform in my current and former states of residence, along with new approaches. (As a former lawyer, I thought I might get some questions on this.) 4. Outlined Obama's and Clinton's healthplans, and some of their criticisms and proposed solutions (into the binder again). 5. Researched the decline, impact and ways to revitalize primary care specialties in America. 6. Read all interview questions for UW on SDN for the past two years, organized them by topic, and prepared to answer each of them (I think this is a great place to start to organize your interview prep). 7. Read USMLE Ethics Study Guide (cheap from Amazon), then all of the UW Bioethics Website scenarios. The Bioethics website is enough, though. 8. Reviewed my AMCAS application, especially volunteer experiences and research, and practiced describing these topics out loud. 9. Practiced my answers to "doctor motivation" and other definite interview questions out loud. 10. Studied my "interview study binder" over and over. And over."
"Read SDN and wrote up answers, discussed the interview with a first-year student, read UW bioethics site, read Bodenhiemer's policy book."
"Read up on health policy, Obama's plans, re-read application, read UW's bioethics webpage."
"SDN, practiced interview questions with friends, researched about problems within our health care system"
"Read "The Medical School Interview," by Fleenor. Went over my AMCAS application and all my secondary application responses. Practiced answering questions from friends."
"SDN, Bodenheimer's book, kept up on current events, talked with current students."
"Hard work. SDN, ethics book and UW bioethics website, practiced questions in writing and out loud, talked with friends who'd interviewed before"
"Read "Understanding Health Care Policy," weekly reading of NEJM/JAMA, co-workers quizzed me daily with potential interview questions, read interview feedback on SDN, pay attention to current news regarding SCHIP and other health headlines on nytimes/cnn online, review AMCAS application and school specific essays."
"SDN, UW bioethics site, read "understanding health policy" by bodenheimer, reflected on things in my application, read NY times, read seattle times, watched more news than usual, mock interview w/ doctor"
"Read healthcare policy books, read UW ethics website, re-read application, read SDN interview feedback"
"SDN interview feedback, discussion with friends who interviewed at UW, the UW bioethics website, recent health care events listed in the NY Times and Time magazine, watched Sicko for fun, mock interview with undergrad professors, practiced interview questions with my wife."
"Read "Better" by Atul Gawande. Read "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman. Downloaded iHealthBeat app on my iPhone and read everything I could find for a week. Watched CNN...excellent piece on the uber-preggo woman Cali. Talked with a few doctors I know, and my friend that was accept in '08. Read up a bit on AMCAS, but I probably should have reviewed some of things I submitted in more detail."
"SDN, mock interview, reviewed AMCAS and secondary, stayed current on healthcare issues"
"Studied cases from UW bioethics website, studentdoctor.net interview feedback, printed out lists of previous interview questions at a wide variety of schools and brainstormed responses, familiarized myself with 2008 presidential candidate platforms on health care (health08.org), read Healthcare Meltdown by Dr. Robert Lebow, Better by Atul Gawande, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, wrote out why I want to be a doctor and learned it well, spent time reflecting on how the activities I participated in during undergrad made me the person I am today and convinced me I wanted to go into medicine"
"I reread my amcas, read the UW bioethics site, read some health policy and ethics books, and answered the possible interview questions listed in the book "Essays that will get you into Medical School.""
"Read Bodenheimer, reviewed UW Bioethics, read bioethics books, reviewed current health care system."
"SDN, UW Bioethics, read over AMCAS, the usual."
"reviewed application, UW ethics site and school website, read Bodenheimer book, talked to current students. "
"Read ''Understanding Health Care Policy'', mock interview, reviewed UW ethics website, practiced outload in the shower."
"Know why I want to be a doctor."
"I went through sample interview questions, read up on current events (particularly medical and political news), and took a biomedical ethics class."
"Pre-med committee mock interview, practicing in front of friend, reading the news, UW website"
"SDN, AMCAS, NYT, UW Bioethics webpage"
"SND, mock interview, UW bioethics, Jan. edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine"
"Prepared 3-5 afternoons a week for like a month reading SDN, California Healthline, NYtimes both science and health, reading up on politics, reading UW website and their programs"
"Read up on ethics and about all of the school's programs."
"Read up on policy, ethics, and my essays"
"SDN, UW bioethics site and talking to PI and friends who interviewed there before."
"UW Bioethics, read a lot of papers on health care policy, read an ethics book, read over my file, SDN interview questions"
"uw bioethics and some SDN"
"UW Bioethics, current events, SDN"
"Understanding Health Policy book, UW Bioethics website, studentdoctor.net, AMCAS application"
"reviewed amcas and secondary, UW bioethics website, health08.org, practiced answers to common interview questions. "
"The Bodenheimer Health Policy book--a really interesting read! NY Times, FIDLI report (drug research news) and PI. Reviewed their website and my app."
"''Understanding Health Policy'', ''A Second Opinion'', www.health08.org, reviewed AMCAS, UW bioethics website, discussed health care issues/policy with physicians, practiced speech patterns in my car prior to interview, took a beta-blocker."
"UW Bioethics Website, Commonwealth Fund website, http://www.health08.org/, NYTimes, write out answers to commonly answered questions beforehand "
"Read ''Understanding Health Policy'' by Bodenheimer and Grumbach; Read UW Bioethics website; several mock interviews; outlined answers to most commonly asked questions; "
"SDN, interview feedback, bioethics book, health policy book, mock interviews, practice with friends & family."
"SDN, mock interview, health policy book, uw bioethics website, ny times"
"SDN, UW bioethics website, wikipedia, news, interview workshop, career center tips on interviewing"
"read a lot."
"mock interviews, researched on web, SDN, read the news"
"I read the UW bioethics page the night before. Be up to date on current events. Know your opinions on current trends in health care."
"SDN, UW Bioethics website, went through applications again, formulated & wrote out answers to common interview questions."
"read some web sites. kaiser, UW bioethics. took an ethics class"
"Studied school website. Feedback from previous interviewees."
"Read a couple books on health care, medical ethics course, read the local newspaper of my state for health issues (very happy I did this and I think this is what most impresed them,) podcasts"
"SDN, interview feedback, UW bioethics site, AMSA Health care made ridiculously simple, read over application."
"this site, the UW ethics page, read articles on health care policy"
"SDN"
"UW bioethics site definately. It is about 125 pages worth of information, but it has a ton of cases and questions that tell you everything you ever need to know about medical ethics for this interview."
"Mock interview, reviewed AMCAS and secondary app, concurrent coursework in health policy."
"read a health care policy book (Do this or be prepared to be stumped on a lot of questions!) kept up on the news."
"Read an Ethics book, read the UW bioethics webpage. Talked with health professionals about the US health care system and they problems they see. Had family members ask me questions. Read over my AMCAS application and my UW application. Read SDN interview feedback. Kept up on current events. "
"I did not."
"This sites, read a few books on HMO, AIDS and other health related issues. Kaiser Foundation site. Mock interviews. Thinking about issues honestly and critically."
"I read the interview feedback on this website."
"SDN, UW bioethics website, health care policy books"
"UW bioethics website, read over my AMCAS and my UW application"
"Honestly, I took 1mg of Ativan and help onto my noits. "
"SDN, NEJM, looked over my application, stretched"
"bio-ethics web site, mock interviews"
"Took an ethics class. Read up on ethical principles and methods for sorting out any type of ethics case-->go to the UW bioethics site. Read up on policy, namely a National Health Insurance Program. Read up on current events."
"This was my sixth interview."
"SDN interview feedback, mock interviews, new york times research, wikipedia research ;)"
"SDN, UW's Bioethics site, reading up on healthcare policy and medical ethics, mock interview"
"Mock interviews, "
"Bioethics website, SDN, NEJM articles re: ethics and health care issues, talked with colleague who was just offered an acceptance to UW. "
"UW bioethics site, SDN, made sure I could remember details about the experiences I listed on AMCAS, had 1 mock interview"
"The single best book you could read is Bodenheimer's Understanding Health Policy. Even if you've already been accepted to med school but haven't yet read this book, it is a wonderful, evenhanded, neutral-position overview of the system that we have and some of the problems that we are facing. The UWSOM bioethics and Kaiser-Permanente sites were also very helpful. If you have plenty of time to prepare, three good books by the Institute of Medicine are Crossing the Quality Chasm, Unequal Treatment--Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health, and To Err is Humand--Building a Safer Health System. Two other good books are a collection of scholarly articles entitled Policy Challenges in Modern Health Care (Mechanic, Rogut and Colby editors) and Governing Health: The Politics of Health Policy by Carol Weissert. "
"UW bioethics site, MSAR, SDN, UWSOM website"
"Reading "Understanding Health Policy"-- even though it usually put me to sleep. That book is not written to be very entertaining, obviously! Rehearsed answers with family/friends, in my head... Kept up with the news. Read over my application."
"UW Bioethics website, Health care policy book, bioethics book, Mountains beyond Mountains, Interview workshop, practicing answers to questions on SDN out loud"
"Mock interview, read over interveiw feedback on SDN."
"This was my 9th interview so I felt comfortable. I did review my application, the UW website, my "Health Care Meltdown" book, and info about the health care system."
"Mock interviews"
"NYTimes Health section, NPR health and science podcasts, KCRW's A Second Opinion podcasts, reading the UW's entire bioethics page, talking with friends and family about difficult questions posted on SDN"
"Read UW bioethics site, Understanding Healthcare Policy, mock interview (videotaped), SDN, followed local news stories, kff.com, talked to med students, reviewed my application"
"SDN, UW bioethics website, Understanding Healthcare Policy book, discussed health care/ethics with other med applicants"
"SDN, read my application, UW bioethics site."
"SDN, bioethics, health care books"
"Bioethics site, this site, practiced in front of a mirror."
"SDN, school website, talked to current students, reviewed UW bioethics website, read up on health policy and current events."
"Read up in healthcare in the US, mock interview, talked with physicians about interviewing"
"i read a lot about the school and about healthcare, the other feedback on this website made me very nervous so i stressed a little too much and tried to figure out how to solve all the healthcare problems in the nation, which was useful and enlightening, but they didn't grill me on all the issues, they just wanted to see that i was thinking about how things are and how to make them better, i think. i got the impression that they didn't care which problem i picked, just that i had a good thought process and workable ideas, so my advice is play to your strengths. if you know about surgical errors then think about how to reduce them and if you know about infectious disease then know how to prepare the country for the avian flu pandemic. be creative, be yourself."
"UW bioethics website, book: Understanding Health Policy, mock interviews, spoke with past med students, contact with physicians in home hospital (current issues, funding, etc), looked up stats for Alaska."
"SDN (most questions asked were ones posted by other students!!!), UW ethics site, NY Times, talking with other students ect."
"SDN, read the UW bioethics site, stayed up to date on research/health topics, mock interview."
"newpapers, magazines, my application, UW bioethics, "
"Read: Understanding Health Care Policy, Student Doctor. net, read the whole UW ethics website, Read two novels on becoming a physician, read the NY times daily."
"Meditation, wrote small essays on my own, read the news, had a coffee."
"Read:large book on healthcare in US, bioethics books, my application, and interview questions posted on SDN"
"This site, UW bioethics website, mock interview."
"I read a lot before the interview. Sadly I only had a week to prepare for it, as I did not expect to be asked to interview so soon. I read a book on health policy, Critical Condition, (really good) which was interesting and not dry at all. It gives a liberal perspective about medicine and raises issues we should all think about. I also read the UW bioethics site, all of it, as an ethical question always comes up. I wrote down all the questions brought to this website and prepared my own answers, discussed them with a medical school student at UW, and got aquainted with talking about myself and my pursuit in becoming a doctor. "
"Student Doctor, UW Ethics, Other interviews"
"Read "Understanding Health Policy" by Bodenheimer and Grumbach (HIGHLY recommend), Studentdoctor.net, la/ny times.com, practice interview, UW bioethics site"
"SDN, UW bioethics website, kept up on current events, npr, mock interviews"
"this website, UW Med website"
"studentdoctor.net, mock interview, UW ethics site"
"This website, online information, and campus pre-med question bank."
"Studentdoctor.net and Understanding Healthcare Policy: A Clinical Approach by Thomas Bodenheimer. This is a great book for an overview of healthcare in the US."
"UW bioethics site, kff.org, nytimes.com"
"Read articles about health care delivery, listened to NPR alot, consulted a Princeton review book. Most importantly, extensively reviewd my application. "
"MOCK INTERVIEWS! reading the current events, SDN....and books on the US healthcare system."
"UW Bioethics, health policy books, TRIED to keep up with interviews, recorded mock interview."
"Read bioethics site, this site, Kidder's "mountains beyond mountains", talked to people who go to school here, started running daily..."
"2 mock interviews; also a VERY helpful book on health policy is "Delivering Health Care in America: A Systems Approach" by Shi and Singh"
"Read over my AMCAS, looked over the UW bioethics webpage, was up-to-date on current events"
"SDN, UW bioethics site, bbc.co.uk, MSNBC, Time, bioethics.net, la times, etc."
"SDN, ethics web-site, practice questions, read a few books on healthcare in US & Canada, got a nice suit, hair cut...."
"SDN, other web sites with sample questions, UW bioethics site, practiced answering questions on my own"
"NY times, wide variety of other newspapers, UW ethics site, SDN, Read several books involving ethics"
"Mock interviews, reading msnbc.com, cnn.com, UW bioethics website, the newspaper"
"This website, the UW ethics website"
"talked with Drs, former student, SDN site, UW bioethics site, NYtimes"
"SDN, Ethics site, secondary, practice"
"Read "Essentials of the US Healtcare System," Interview Feedback, UW Bioethics site, SDN, MSNBC.COM, talked to past interviewees and physicians"
"www.kff.org, http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/index.html (very helpful!), sdn"
"SDN, healthcare books, ethics reading, practice interviews"
"SDN feedback, website, personal experience, ethics books."
"Read interview feedback, UW ethics site"
"Well I only found out about the interview three days in advance so I read as much about healthcare and did as many practice questions as I could in that time frame"
"Application, SDN, website, bioethics page"
"uw bioethics, a book "health care meltdown," tried to relax."
"Read "Understanding Health Policy", the New York Times everyday, research"
"Created a focused list of my strong points to convey. Bought a very nice suit!"
"read about health care/ethical issues..."
"Lots of health policy books, news, NYTimes online, talked to doctors, reflected on myself, etc."
"SDN mock interview"
"Read read read (nytimes, bbc, cnn, ethics websites) and practice practice practice (doctors, med students, family). Get all different perspectives"
"lots of reading about current problems and controversies in medicine, SDN"
"Newsweek, msnbc.com, SDN, UW Bioethics website, Indian Health Services information, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation website, mock interview, deep breaths..."
"read economist, time, new york times, websites, multiple books, practiced with family, friends, faculty"
"Bioethics website, reread favorite texts, new york times, this site"
"sdn, US News & World Report weekly, review my AMCAS application and research publications, CNN online daily, Evening News daily, Articles on Medline relating to health care issues and my area of research, relaxed the night before"
"Read nytimes, sdn website ?'s, UW bioethics page"
"read medical journals/articles, Wall Street Journal, practiced with family and advisors, and took time to reflect on my decision to complete a medical degree and what I wanted from a medical school."
"read UW bioethics page, reviewed Bush and Kerry healthcare plans, kept up on medically-related issues in news."
"Read UW Bioethics site, Bush and Kerry's health plans"
"Read the New York Times, UW bioethics websites, read as much as I could about healthcare problems, Mock interview, and generally tried to stay up to date on current events."
"Read newspapers, looked over AMCAS and secondary"
"Mock interview, Read up on current issues"
"Kept current on current events (but I always do), read my file, scanned the ethics website, and forced myself to RELAX."
"Read interview feedback, UW ethics site, health policy books, Kaiser family foundation daily health updates, new york times, etc. "
"The UW bioethics website, watched the presidential debates, looked at presidential websites, talked to med student friends, studentdoctor.net"
"I lived a decent life where I tried each and every day to do what is right. I challenged myself to do things that would make me a better person, not things that I thought would get me in."
"sdn interview feedback & UW ethics website. "
"Checked out the website, re-read my application"
"Bioethics web site."
"read websites, such as this one; stayed on top of current events; mock interviewd; discussed issues with just about anyone i know"
"I should have prepared much more. I didn't even have a suit."
"Study the UW Medicine ethics website."
"I did not rehearse either. I'm not an actor. I counted on all of my experiences and knowledge up to this point."
"Read and learned a lot about ethics, and medical practices in the U.S. I do not think this contributed to a "false presentation" of myself as it really did help me formulate an opinion on stuff I had never considered before."
"I've been to many interviews throughout the last year. Standard stuff, bioethics, current issues"
"SDN, ethic books, other interviews, students, UWSOM website"
"Ethics page, news, personal background and medical experience."
"I did NOT rehearse, I did NOT want to sound like this was a production or a play. Too insincere."
"Know who you are and what your opinions are. Follow the news."
"Read articles about the US and Candian health care systems, reread my personal statements (they came from the heart, made me start crying before the interview even started, lol), read each topic and case on the UW bioethics and determined my stance as much as possible."
"I read the newspaper and ethics papers. My fiance is a personal injury lawyer, so he helped me with medical ethics questions."
"Mock Interviews, Paying attention to current Events, Bioethics Page & this site"
"This website, UW bioethics, mock interviews, spoke with other students who interviewed"
"Read NY times, book on understanding healthcare policy and reviewed UW bioethics website."
"Read a book about healthcare in the US (definitely reccomended), read my application, this site, UW bioethics site"
"Read this site, obviously, read the UW bioethics webpage, read a book on bioethics and a book on healthcare policy, read relevent newspaper and magazine articles."
"SDN, my apps, internet sites about the school and OM."
"Read books on healthcare policy, SDN, New York times, MSNBC, internet searches on any questions I had lingering (rural healthcare, malpractice, other countries' health systems etc.) Shadowed physicians and talked with them about a lot of the current issues with healthcare."
"I read the newspaper a lot. Especially the health articles and stuff about foreign countries, the problems about the health care system, and poor people (especially poor children)."
"SDN, studied up on ethics and healthcare delivery (wasted time in my opinion- I had really prepared, but was not able to incorporate it into the interview)"
"SDN, mock interview, NY Times, books,reread application"
"Mock interview, this website, UW bioethics website, kept up on current events, talked to other students."
"Spoke to people who had been on admissions committes. Read about ethics (UW bioethics website and books on clinical ethics) and HMOs. Went through a semi-mock interview with a friend."
"2 mock interviews, kept up with the news, SDN, read up on healthcare(thank God!)-the Understanding Health Policy: A clinical Approach is a good book, read over my AMCAS, read the UW bioethics website, relaxed the day before"
"UW bioethics website along with just staying on top of what's happening in the news and world. Listen to NPR/BBC to learn more about international healthcare!"
"I looked at the questions from this website, read health news, researched issues on medicare and healthcare problems in the US, and did a mock interview."
"UW bioethics webpage. Interview feedback. New York Times. Read of few novels. Brushed up on healthcare delivery systems in the US (and compared to other systems such as socialized med). "
"read their very thorough ethics web site, read plenty of Uwe Rheinhert (sp?) he's a health economist."
"Bodenheimer, Understanding Health Policy (thank God for that one), mock interviews, SDN, books with lists of med school interview questions. "
"studied the above a bit, not much."
"I stayed up on current events, read about health care policy, and tried to be a good all-around citizen :)"
"I went over all the possible questions that I felt I could be asked."
"Lots of thought; read the ethics website; read studentdoctor.net; read about health care delivery systems in other countries to gain a broader perspective; reviewed my publication; reviewed cases I have worked on; reviewed diver physiology and decompression sickness. -- Most of what I did was a waste of time. I WOULD keep current on current events, understand the health care system in the US, read postings on studentdoctor.net, and be able to articulate why you wish to go into medicine. Beyond that, engage in some fun, relaxing activites before the interview."
"Did several mock interviews with mentors/bosses here at the school, talked to my UWSOM student friends, read this website, newspapers, etc."
"Agonize. "
"SDN forums and interview feedback, kept current on major health care issues (Medicare, malpractice, etc), UW Bioethics page, read-up on how the US healthcare system works as well as its weaknesses "
"Read: SDN, UW bioethics website, Jonsens' Clinical Ethics Book; Did two mock-interviews; stayed current on healthcare and big news events. "
"A good night's sleep..."
"Current events (Dr Samson REALLY likes the NY Times), Medical Ethics Course, prep q's with friends"
"Read the UW ethics site. I'm positive that any ethics questions they ask you is going to be a spin on one of their example cases. Their site is EXCELLENT it's actually interesting and will help you with your other interviews."
"Read up on current healthcare issues on Google news and thought seriously about my stances, also read the UW bioethics page and some books on managed care, stem cells, and the history of medicine. "
"Read this website, mock interviews, read the NY Times, The Economist; review the bioethic website (on UW webpage)."
"I studied medical sociology which hits all of the high points. I also studied bioethics and fomulated logical arguments for the issues I support."
"SDN (although some of the feedback made me feel more nervous than necessary), my college bioethics classes helped me answer the numerous ethical questions"
"Read a lot. It's true what the other posters have said about being prepared. You don't need to be an expert on health care policy, but you will probably feel awful if you do not go into the situation knowing at least the basics about health care. "
"this site, UW bioethics site, NY times, health care assesment books, med ethics books, and mock interviews. "
"Kept up in current events and healthcare issues, read this site about potential questions and thought about possible answers, ready UW bioethics site."
"Read books -- if hadn't the stress level would have been 10 because I wouldn't have known any of the answers."
"SDN, NY times, bioethics course"
"this website, listened to NPR, read health policy book, talked to students"
"Read this site, mock interviews with co-worker and premed advisor, read everything about health care, read the UW med ethics site"
"I did not specifically "prepare," I've been doing that for quite some time now. I did not want to seem insincere or phony."
"Mock interview with a doc, reading this website, euthanasia.com, other websites/journals, talking to lots of docs."
"Read a book on health policy, reviewed some ethical websites, and rehearsed some questions and my responses "
"Read UW Bioethics website, SDN"
"I reviewed the ethics website. I also had an undergraduate bioethics course that was very helpful. I'd reccomend taking one if you haven't"
"Read the news, the UW bioethics site, this site"
"read NYTimes and a book on health care, talked to former students"
"Reviewed the website. Not much else. I'm up on current medical events and issues."
"Bioethics site, mock interviews, read NYtimes."
"Read the website. Didn't rehearse too much. I know what I believe and I'm not into theatrics. I wanted to sound sincee and unscripted."
"Kept up on current events, read about UW, read SDN interview experiences, etc. "
"Reviewed UW website. Researched contemporary health care esearch issues."
"I read the UW bioethics page and a couple of books"
"Read the website, ethics page and researched contemporary issues in medicine."
"Med Ethics website, review all the stuff they sent me. I really wish I had read a book on health policy. I feel like I got raked over the coals on that one."
"Got to know current issues in medicine as part of an email group"
"UW Bioethics page, talked to about 20 people who'd interviewed there."
"Reviewed medical ethics issues."
"Reviewed UW ethics site, amcas, essays, current events related to medicine/healthcare"
"Reviewed UW website including the ethics page."
"Reviewed material on ethics, read SDN, relaxed the night before."
"SDN, read UW bioethics site, read, read, read! Also, know yourself and what you believe in (and stand by your beliefs during the interview!)."
"Read UW Bioethics site (VERY helpful, PLEASE read it), Read up on healthcare issues, reflected on any possible question and any follow up questions that could be asked, tried to relax and be as natural as possible."
"Reflected on my personal beliefs, sense of principles and morality...reasons for pursuing a career as a physician"
"read SDN, UW website, talked to students"
"Went throught UW's medical ethics site. You Must Do That! The ethics questions are based on that site and it will really help you to think about the big picture. "
"Read UW's Bioethics site, read "Health Care Meltdown" by Robert LeBow, researched my state's health care concerns, kept up on current events (CNN, NY Times, etc.)."
"read interview feedback, knew my own research"
"Read UW bioethics page, mock interviews, stayed up on current events."
"Other interviews at other schools. Reading about the school. Studying a little bioethics and current events."
"Read NY Times; UW bioethics; Mock interview; read over personal statement...and BREATH!!"
"Interview feedback, U of Wash Ethics site, a few journal articles on health care reform."
"Ate some Ben and Jerry's, listened to Phish and read up on fun Vermont and Burlington facts."
"LOTS and LOTS of reading NYT, articles in WSJ; lots of ethics articles from Bioethics journals to learn about different sides to each issue. "
"Read this site, read (thoroughly) the ethics web site, studied up on medicare/medicaid stats, updated myself on current healthcare issues (cloning, medical mistakes etc...)"
"UW bioethics website, talk with others who have interviewed at UW, NY times website"
"Subscribed to AMnews, JAMA, and NEJM. Kept up to date with current events. And, of course, reviewed the interview feedback from this site."
"Read UW bioethics site. Read books about health care. "
"This site, UW's Bioethics site (big help), NPR X 3-4 months, NY Times subscription, refresh myself on my PS/AMCAS"
"Read bioethics/healthcare issue books, reviewed this site, UW bioethics site, self reflection"
"Read, read, read. Read everything- UW bioethics site, newspapers, magazines, and this website."
"UW bioethic web site, news articles on web, SDN feedback, think real hard why medicine."
"Bioethics website, New York Times"
"read over my application, subscribed to NY Times, read UW bioethics page, asked friends to ask me questions"
"Kept my eyes and ears open for health care information on the news. Tried to formulate an answer for every question listed for UW interviews on the interview feedback website. Reviewed UW's bioethics website. Reviewed several articles on CNN's health ethics website."
"read my file, read up on the school (they are big on bioethics), read up on current events, current research and such"
"Read 'Understanding Health Policy,' by Boddenheim, UW Bioethics website, Newsweek and Time, NY Times."
"UW Ethics site, Institute of Medicine site, Reading on Health care"
"Read my application, read through the UW website, talked with students who interviewed there, had friends mock interview me, especially on ethical questions."
"Reviewed my personal statement, etc., read parts of UW's ethics site."
"READ the UW bioethics site! They expect you to have answers to ethical questions"
"Read, talked to students/doctors. UW bioethics website. "
"Not well enough. Should have read more on healthcare policy and medical ethics issues."
"Read over application, UW bioethics site, books on health care."
"I read through the UW Bioethics web site and read about the schools community programs and course requirements. Read through SDN."
"Read the UW bioethics site and read my own application. "
"Bioethics site. Student MD. Lots of thinking"
"read over the stuff on the UW bioethics webpage, read a bioethics book, read about UW's curriculum, and read over my own application."
"looked at the UW bioethics site (one of the ethics questions came directly from it), read SDN, etc"
"Read the UW bioethics website and a book on healthcare in the U.S."
"Read US news, ethics books, and reviewed my application."
"Rereading my application, looking at the website"
"Read everything on the UW's bioethics site (that really helped!), read everything about the school, read over my own application"
"Looked at info online about the school, read through the book: The Birth of Bioethics, by Albert Jonsen"
"mock interviews with friends."
"Read interviewfeedback.com. Read the UW Bioethics website (http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/index.html)"
"The interviewers themselves, as well as other faculty members whom I have worked with previously."
"UW's WWAMI program."
"Small class size, new school building, opportunities for firsthand experience, variety and number of available summer research/other projects, pathways program, general school prestige, good rapport between students and administrators"
"The positive vibes throughout the day created by all UW staff"
"How they had clearly gone through my file and tailored questions accordingly. It was nice not to have to cover my background in depth since they had already read it."
"Campus, vibe of the school, how friendly everyone was"
"The positive attitude current medical students had towards the work-life balance at UWSOM."
"The friendliness and openness of everyone I encountered."
"The interviewers were much friendlier than I anticipated. They showed emotion and laughed and smiled throughout the interview. Was overall pleasant. The current students were very nice."
"Friendly interviewers and staff"
"They knew my application so the answers were tailored to me. This made answering them so EASY!"
"Professionalism of student, staff, and faculty interviewers. Friendliness of admissions staff. Awesome campus."
"Their new curriculum and all the clinical opportunities"
"Rotation sites, curriculum design, research opportunities, student support"
"P/F. Great clinical curriculum. People were nice."
"Friendly, concise."
"School cares about their applicants. Allowed for the most faculty/student interaction through meet and greets on interview day out of all schools I applied to. Finding overnight hosting was easy through their website form. They asked me what I wanted to eat for lunch. Friendliest interviewee group I've met so far."
"Friendliness of students and staff."
"Overall niceness of the people involved in the interview day."
"They really made an effort to put me at ease and make me feel comfortable"
"I interviewed with 3 doctors and I got good vibes from all of them. They were passionate, professional, and intense. Loved it."
"The thoroughness of their review of my application."
"How awesome it was."
"The unique decentralized opportunities at UW."
"About the interview, I was worried the interview panel wouldn't emote, which I had heard, but they were all very warm and appreciative of my answers. I got the acceptance call that week too, which was amazingly quick. As for the school, there was very little that DIDN'T impress me positively. Great school, so many opportunities, so many happy, nice people, and in such a wonderful place. One thing I didn't know going in was that you can do your clerkships during the 3rd and 4th years anywhere in the WWAMI region and the school will pay for everything for you! (apartment, airfare, rental car if needed). So exciting for me, because I'm very interested in rural medicine - Alaska and Montana here I come!"
"Pretty much everything! How beautiful Seattle and the campus was, the flexibility of the curriculum, how nice everyone was. I really didn't think that I would love it and that the interview would be very chill. I had this idea that they would grill me, and from everyone else that interviewed that day, that seemed to be true. But mine was rather relaxed. I also had lots of fun with the other interviewees that day."
"the students, faculty, and interviewers that i met were really down-to-earth, funny, and all around good people."
"UW SOM health center/affiliate hospitals/curriculum"
"The interview was much more relaxed than I was prepared for. I had heard horror stories about UW's interview process, but they did try their best to calm me down and stress that they weren't there to ruin my day. Definitely trying hard to change people's opinions about them."
"student lounge and artwork"
"The atmosphere at the campus is really great. You really feel like you are a part of a medical community."
"AMAZING SCHOOL"
"The interviewers were very warm, and just wanted to get to know me. I had expected more pressure, opportunities to answer more ethical questions or attempt some role playing, but I found that my stress level stayed relatively low."
"The focus on patient care and the underserved."
"The courtesy demonstrated by the admissions staff (very friendly, led me to a pre-interview waiting room with little ammenities, give you a USB drive with UW info, etc...), the personalities of the med students I met, the hospital facilities, the Seattle area, the recreational opportunities available to students, and mostly the incredible program at UW"
"Everyone's really nice, and they try to make it not stressful."
"All of the resources available to students. The fact that you can go on clinical rotations in WWAMI land and go abroad. "
"Commitment to primary care and underserved populations, strong clinical training throughout the WWAMI region."
"Can I say everything? The students were helpful and the staff was really nice and accommodating."
"The committee's knowledge and familiarity with my file, their ability to transition my responses into new questions, the advanced nature of the questions-- eg. not just "what" but "why/how/what learned", etc. Facilities, program, ratio of students to cadavers in anatomy class, location, opportunities to work & gain experience outside Seattle, etc etc etc. LOTS."
"Everything. Good grief. This school is almost too awesome. "
"The interviewers really read into my application, moreso than I was expecting from the UW. In my experience as an undergrad, I usually feel like I am just a bunch of numbers to the average faculty member. That was definitely not the case here."
"two of my interviewers were friendly and encouraging. students are able to get funding for independent research projects and overseas trips."
"The school, town, and atmosphere are incredible. I had such a good time, and wish I spent a few more days in Seattle. The reputation of UW is certainly correct."
"Everyone was very friendly. The interviewers were not as hard on me as I'd feared. The medical students were also helpful and candid."
"The multitude of programs that the school has, the responsiveness and organization of the admissions office, the friendliness of the students, the attention to primary care and practicing in under-served areas. The quality of the school in general. How much UW does for its medical students. I thought the people interviewing with me were really nice and laid back, generally. "
"The interview team was so much more positive than I had imagined. They conveyed positive feedback in their expressions, body language, and questions."
"Interviewers were very nice and definitely not out to get you."
"All the opportunities the school had to offer its students. "
"The endless options the school has to offer."
"Love the school, location, opportunities for practicing medicine elsewhere, the cost, and the people"
"Conversational interview style. I have applied to this school in the past, and the interview was much less stressful this time. It was also great not having to sit at the very end of a long table."
"They were friendly but not easy on me. I felt they were really trying to challenge me, but not intimidate me. I was told specifically that they wanted to see me think under pressure, and see how i communicated"
"All the opportunities for students! I love the ability to travel and do rotations in other places. Some facilities have been remodeled and are really beautiful. Seattle is a great city to live in. "
"Everyone on campus (staff and students) were really positive, friendly, and helpful. If I had any questions they were quick to find answers or direct me to someone who could help me more."
"The student guide was awesome and extremely helpful. The tour and lunch with him and the other students were excellent. Everyone in the admissions office was very helpful and friendly. Love the WWAMI program; no other med school offers what UW does in terms of locations for clinicals. From everyone I talked to and from everything I learned that day, it's obvious that UW goes above and beyond for their students."
"The interviewers knew my file extremely well and tailored at least half of the questions to me and my experiences. "
"I love this school. "
"The myriad of opportunities available to do anything everywhere... seriously."
"The curriculum is truly unique and I think that, upon graduation, you will have accrued a lot of clinical experience in a wide range of settings."
"The friendliness of my fellow interviewees, the kindness of everyone we met, the program itself--such a unique opportunity to do clinical rotations across a 5 state region. Great support for students to achieve their interests."
"UW and Seattle are amazing. The actual lecture halls/areas of learning are mediocre at best, but the hospital, teaching labs, etc are top-notch. Opportunites to learn all over the WWAMI region as well as abroad. "
"I liked being able to talk to the 3/4 year students instead of just 1st or 2nd years. It seemed like they have a lot of funding. They gave me a flash drive."
"All of the students we talked to (between the tour and interviews) were very positive about their med school experiences. The faculty also seemed very responsive to student concerns."
"The interviewers were very patient with me and respectful, even though I was so nervous that I think they were amused by me. The tour guide was really enthusiastic, personable and informative. There were snacks and beverages in the interview waiting area, and a laptop so you can check your email. There was also a bottle of water set out for me in the interview room, which was a nice touch."
"The tour of the facilities, the location, the information presented by the administration"
"The wealth of programs at the school, and the services available to students. Seems like they help students to build a balanced life."
"R-UOP, Global/Int'l Health Pathway, views from some of the buildings.."
"The amazing service and rural medicine programs. The location of the medical school - it's on two lakes and it's beautiful!"
"Almost everything. Loved the school. So many incredible opportunities and the faculty seems to be very much concerned about your wellbeing and education. Students seem friendly. "
"The multitude of options for study. You can study anything, anywhere - from delivering babies in Alaska to practicing family medicine in Kenya."
"Everything. "
"The medical students were very down to earth and easy going"
"Lots of options for research, rural medicine, mentoring and support."
"There are so many different opportunities at UW for clerkships."
"how there are so many service/learning opportunities available - alot of travel abroad options too"
"how many options the UW has--it is a school with so many choices for its students. I got excited about all the different locations I could study and topics I could consider."
"How much better organized the tour/lunch/interview process was this year compared to last year."
"The sheer number of opportunities available to students"
"Warmth of the admissions staff and some of the faculty; quality of the other applicants; strength of the WAMMI program; "
"The huge number of programs available to students to work with specific populations (Rural program, underserved program, native american health program, global health program, etc.)"
"Amazing clinical training and mentoring"
"people were really nice and the campus is beautiful as always"
"how acclaimed the school really is."
"the staff and interviewers, very pleasant and understanding"
"Emphasis on clinical training AND research. Cool summer programs."
"Opportunities available for research or clinical work in urban and rural areas. "
"The people rock, wicked nice."
"Nice campus."
"The people there are crazy nice, everyone was very happy, the location rules, the teachers are great, the programs they offer are great, the surrounding hospitals arre top notch, huge region to work with"
"The interviewers were very nice and they even smiled."
"everybody was very nice, and welcoming! they really put me at ease"
"The people were much nicer than expected. The campus is gorgeous."
"There are numerous opportunities to expand your educational experience, such as working in low-income inner city and/or rural areas, as well as travelling to other parts of the country and the world to supplement the 4 years of traditional experience."
"Exciting program with too many unique features to even begin to describe, enthusiastic and happy students, serious but not scary interview, amazing location."
"Everyone was ver nice and it is an great school. The students seemed happy. "
"Currently enrolled med student's impression of the school."
"How nice the admission staff was."
"I live here so I love Seattle"
"Everyone was friendly. The school has great opportunities for community service and involvement."
"RUOP (rural underserved opportunities program), WWAMI program and regional rotation opportunities"
"Seattle"
"The students seemed very excited about the curriculum and about their experiences with the school"
"UW is one of the few medical schools that really sets out to train compassionate clinicians. Other schools may lay claim to this, but which of them allow you SO MANY opportunites to work with the underserved/international/rural populations right from the 1st year?"
"I think the pros of attending UW would be the in-state tuition, location, and wide array of community rotations to choose from. "
"How nice all the interviewers were and how comfortable they made it"
"The comraderie among the students and how positive the students were about the school/curriculum/etc"
"Rapport amongst students"
"You'll meet some students and get a feel for the people; they are NOT stuck-up types or too bookwormy either. They were actually extremely cool"
"The students and curriculum."
"The interview committee tried very hard to make me feel at ease. Of course that makes it very hard to read how you did."
"The interviewers were not intimidating or interrogating. It seemed that they were really interested in getting to know me. "
"Everything! UWSOM is a great place to be!"
"I did my undergraduate work at UW and had thoroughly researched all of the various programs and opportunities to work with the disadvantaged that are available, so rather than being impressed upon arriving, I had my original impressions confirmed. It's a great school if you're interested in primary care, particularly family practice, and all of the students I met indicated that you will be nurtured and encouraged a great deal if this is your eventual path. I was also given every reason to believe that students interested in other facets of medicine are also well cared for."
"the college system, ability to emphasize on international health or rural health if you wish too, how nice everyone I met was"
"The lunch with the 2nd year students was really the highlight of my day. They were so enthusiastic and informative. They sound like they have more free time than I thought... I was also happy how nice the other interviewees were. Some seemed cold and competitive, but most were NOT."
"The med school students we met at lunch were really helpful. All of them seemed to have very active social lives which surprised me."
"The friendliness of the students and their willingness to tell us about their school. How beautiful Seattle is! There is so much to do in the city."
"The number of locations open for clinical rotations, the Indian Health Pathways program, the number of opportunities for working with underserved, the gym, Seattle, the public transportation system, research opportunities."
"It was very relaxed"
"They did try to make the interview relaxed."
"The students seemed very outgoing and positive. "
"The students both at the school and interviewing with me: the school is really open to more alternative students (ie those who for whom med school is a second career, or have spent time doing different things before going to med school) and as a result, each class is very diverse. All the students i met were really interesting people, and all had had such different experiences. Being a state school, I just assumed it wouldnt be very diverse, but I was really positively suprised when I visited."
"Med students were laid back"
"the interviewers were friendly and not intimidating at all"
"Current med students were down to earth and really enjoying their education."
"I love the area (its where I currently live), and the staff in the admissions office was wonderful and engaging. The students were great. The programs and opportunities were all top notch."
"The interview was not confrontational or intimidating. The people were friendly. Overall a good experience."
"i actually enjoyed the interview. this is weird because i expected not to and i wasn't at all looking forward to being grilled on politics, health policy and ethics. okay, the interview was tough, my hardest yet, but i found it challenging in a good way and kinda fun."
"Two interviewers were very involved in conversation-like interview. Felt very natural"
"It seemed like the interviewrs read my app in and out, they asked predicible questions "
"The commitment to community!"
"The enthusiasm of the students"
"The diversity programs, and options for your independent study project."
"The rearrangement of the class into 'colleges,' which apparently is reducing the competetiveness of the class. Also, the lead interviewer made the explicit statement that they are working to foster a more cohesive student culture. This was very good to hear, and increased my desire to join the class of 2006. "
"Pretty much everything. "
"Intervieweres were not intimidating."
"I was impressed by the sincerity and genuineness of the interviewers; they were pleasant and encouraged me through the interview as I gave my responses. The main interviewer was one of my previous professors (who I never met but remembered him lecturing) so that was comforting to know that someone I have seen on campus was interviewing me. "
"The Faculty and Students were very friendly! The school has amazing opportunities for rural, international and Research opportunities... if you are lucky to get in you will not be bored during medical school!"
"The many oppurtunities available to students at UW"
"the students that we got to speak to were all VERY enthusiastic about their program "
"The students, the curriculum"
"Everybody was very nice."
"The first year students enthusiasm at the lunch, the staff, the view of the campus from I-5, and the mulitcultural affairs office."
"The impressive number of programs that allow students to work with the underserved. The number of off-campus sites that allow students to get fantastic hands-on clinical experience. You can basically decide how involved a clinical curriculum you want based on where you choose to do your rotations. All the students I talked to seemed extremely happy to be there. The UW campus is gorgeous. The interviewers were very nice and the students who were interviewing on my day were all friendly, fun, interesting people."
"The medical building is not beautiful or fancy, but the institution is still high class, with amazing research going on, plenty of opportunities in research and community service, and all students agree they are getting a first rate education. I know a lot of UW medical students… and all of them are very happy and none of them regret their decision to attend UW. All of the other applicants on my interview day were great people, interesting, ambitious and intelligent. I would want any of them to be my doctor. The interview coordinator was also very helpful and nice. She tried to make the day as smooth and stress-free as possible. "
"Feedback from students, openness to student interests and opportunities for students to pursue their interests within the rigid medical school curriculum. "
"The campus, the facilities, the students, the strong support system for out-of-state students."
"Extremely nice students.. but during lunch and at the interview. Friendly staff"
"They seemed to be interviewing a lot of people and yet I felt that my interviewers took me seriously and really tried to ask questions that would get at who i was."
"How dedicated UW is to community service and rural health"
"seattle, cheap, students seemed more laid back than other interviews"
"Seattle is beautiful! Also the facilities are great and the student who ate lunch with us seemed to love UW and was just fun to talk to in general. The Office of Multicultural affairs meeting was really informative (as an out-of-stater the main reason I think I got an interview was because the OMC likes recruiting disadvantaged applicants and applicants interested in working with the underserved - in my case, the latter). Also, despite what I heard from the feedback here, Dr. Samson is actually a pretty nice guy!"
"the other students/applicants, how nice the staff and interviewers were"
"Everyone was very friendly."
"The interviewers were friendly and very upfront about what they would be asking, taking notes, etc..."
"The students during lunch were very informative and laid back."
"The hospitals and the enthusiasm of the students, along with opportunities for working with urban and rural underserved populations"
"students seemed really happy and were positive about the program. all the opportunities for community involvement"
"less intimidating than expected"
"The lunch with 2nd year students, the presentations, the programs with the MD curiculum."
"the school's strong committment to the underserved"
"the interviewers and fellow interviewees. opportunities in rural and underserved areas. "
"The interviewers. The presentation of the colleges program. The opportunities to train in rural areas and/or abroad."
"How friendly everyone was, the presentation on the college program, the willingness of students to chat with interviewees."
"The luncheon with the 2nd year medical student was really informative with a lot of information you can find on a website."
"Very organized day and tried to make you feel comfortable. The students were absolutely great. They were really down to earth and truthful about their experiences at UW. They seem to be really supportive of one another and help each other out. The multicultural affairs office is wonderful. They were really helpful and tried to get the interviewees as much time to spend with other students as possible. "
"the students are way chill and seem to really like the school."
"The committee was incredibly nice and friendly trying to help me relax during the interview...they really tried to know how I think, as a person, not just facts about me. So I feel they really took the time to get to know me, plus I got a cookie."
"Cohesivness of the group, unlike last year. This year the group had read my file, sounded prepared and asked reasonable questions."
"super super nice students-especially my student host, good atmosphere, yummy lunch, friendly, nice interviewers and admissions people, good tour."
"I wanna go here cuz it's cheap and has lots of opportunities to work with the underserved."
"interviewers were nice"
"The friendlyness of the staff. (is friendlyness a word?)"
"UW is a great school, it's my top choice still, but the interview day was...kinda lame."
"I don't know why, but I was surprised by how friendly everyone in the Admissions office was, and how conversational my interview felt. It went against all that I was warned about with the UW interview."
"the atmosphere and attitude of the school and its affiliates, I felt they appreciated me as a candidate "
"Very gracious interviewers. They made me feel welcome and at ease (well, as much as they could)."
"The difficulty and variety of interesting questions asked during the interview, the professionalism of the interviewers and admissions staff, the enthusiasm of the 2nd year medical students, the colleges system"
"Dr. Samson was not big mean and scary like everybody told me he would be."
"The interviewers interest in my personal life and who I was. They weren't completely concerned with how well read I was, although current medical issues were discussed at length."
"The students' enthusiasm for the school."
"The first and second year students we met during lunch were great and answered most of the questions I had about the school."
"The interviewers were very friendly and seemed very interested in what I had to say in the interview as well as what I had said in my personal statement. The first years that we ate lunch with were very honest and great to talk to. Lots of good feedback on the positives and negatives of the school."
"Students love it, cheap tuition!"
"The interviewers were friendly for the most part"
"The entire experience was positive. Everyone went out of their way to be friendly and positive. The students, admissions staff, and panel members were all wonderful. Not only is this my state school, but it is also my top choice."
"Everyone was very friendly and worked hard to make all of the applicants feel comfortable. The school is AMAZING and everyone I talked to just confirmed that it is, by far, my first choice. "
"The interviewers were much more pleasant than I was expecting."
"What impressed me most was that my interviewers were impressed with me. They asked personal questions that might be difficult for some people to answer, but in the end they left me feeling good about myself. "
"i didn't realize how well organized & unique their out of state rotation opportunities are. the college mentor program sounds like a great idea."
"The interview itself. There was a lot of laughing and the atmosphere was relatively relaxed. There was a variety of individuals interviewing me including a retired doctor, a fourth year med student and an ER doctor who was relativley young."
"Students were uniformly positive about the UW."
"how comfortable the interviewers made me feel; they really seemed interested in me as a person, not just my numbers. i was worried they would not get a good idea of who i am outside of grades and MCAT scores, but i felt that they really gave me a chance to show my personality."
"I felt that everyone else interviewing that day was very committed, very intelligent, and very deserving of a spot in next years class. The whole day was stressful and drawn out but I was so excited and honored to be there that it was over before I knew it. Seattle is beautiful and the University is in an ideal location. The students seemed much more dynamic and down-to-earth than other first years I have met. People who know it first hand seem to love this school. "
"Washington is a pretty neat place to live. Some of the students were pretty friendly (my hosts). If you want to do research, they have multiply opportunities."
"I liked the student center, and of course I love Seattle. What an awesome place to study, there are more hospitals associated with the school of medicine and population diversity here than anywhere else I interviewed at. Besides that the student population is very involved in the community. "
"I ran across some second year students and chatted with them. They provided a good perspective."
"wonderful interviewers. wonderful. highlight of the whole day. seriously. "
"Honestly, not much. The schools name is really all it seems to have???.... Seattle is a beautiful city!"
"I really enjoyed the end."
"The multicultural affairs office."
"The other applicants interviewing that day we all nice, supportive, helping others relax. The current students at lunch were amazing, and you could tell their answers were totally uncensored. The admissions front desk gals were helpful and tried to help me calm down."
"The staff, the program, and the ranking of the school."
"This was my second time interviewing. Both times the admissions staff and others were very friendly and willing to answer questions. In my last interview the demeanor of the panel was more confrontational (though not bad). This time the panel seemed to be allowing for changes in direction and gave more feedback through facial expressions. They remained on task, however, which meant the questions were generally serious and required a good understanding of position before you walked in. They were ready to laugh/smile on occaision."
"The extent to which the students are prepared for their residencies and the wide range of opportunities available to students during their time at UW"
"The administrative staff is very friendly and helpful"
"I was expecting to be grilled during the interview, but my interviewers tried to make me comfortable and gave me positive feedback on some of my answers; the new small group/ mentoring system "
"Everyone from washington knows that UW is a great school. From the comments on this site and from speaking with friends I expected arrogance, but was pleasantly surprised. They actually have a lot of great programs for experiencing a lot of different settings and, of course, research."
"Everything"
"The attitudes of all the other applicants from Montana. All were polite to each other and eager to share info. The interviewers were very nice and made it easy to relax."
"Not much. They act like this school is so great, but I didn't see it in the professors or the students. The people who greeted me were nice, but everyone else was a sadist. "
"I knew UW has a great reputation and there are wonderful opportunities for rural and international experiences. Plus, who can beat the in-state tuition??"
"staff/faculty were very nice, lunch with second years was very interesting and informative, WWMAI program"
"Seattle is a great city to live in, save for the rainy weather. The research is great and there is a strong partnership with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. All of the MSTP students seemed very happy."
"Apparently UW finally started paying attention to this website. They've done a lot to improve their image and now have a 15 minute presentation on what they can offer the student. It was really impressive (#1 in primary care, #2 in NIH funding, etc.)"
"The interview was a positive experience. I am not sure whether I will get in, but everyone was courteous and had taken the time to read my file. I felt like my interview lasted 15 minutes but in reality it probably took 30."
"UW is a great school-this not my first time interviewing, so i basically knew everything going in. they have a lot of community outreach programs and a new mentorship program that seems really exciting."
"Very friendly staff, students, and city. It was great, I fell in love the moment I left the airport for Seattle, and I've never been there before. The people were so accomodating and the interviewers seemed like they REALLY wanted to get to know ME. The neglected GPA/MCAT at that point, it was all on the essays and interview!!"
"The UW has many programs that allow you to work in underserved communities and even internationally. Also, you can study/work in any of the WWAMI states during the four years you are in school. For example, you can go to Alaska for a clinical rotation or some program. I liked that the interview was semi-blinded."
"The interviewers and students passing by were all down to earth and friendly."
"The situation of the campus and harbor view hosp. How students who were WAMIed seem to really gel. And yes, my student host was great, giving me plenty of insight and introducing me to lots of other students."
"That my panel was actually nice. The other interviewers were cool too, and willing to share how their interview went. Oh, and lunch with First-Years. And ESPECIALLY, the rapid response. We got our results the next morning after the interview."
"the undergraduate campus is nice this time of year. the medical school campus....not as nice."
"My interview mate (at the same time slot, not in the same room) was very friendly and intelligent. Tina, if you don't get in, I don't know who will. They'd certainly be making a mistake."
"Everyone was very nice and accomodating, things were on time, and it was great to talk to present medical students in an open discussion which was not counted as part of the interview."
"The admissions staff does not hide anything about the process and they happily answer any questions about the process. Similarly, the students are very open and helpful."
"It seems as though everyone has a bad impression of the way UWSOM conducts its interviews. I completely disagree. It was a great experience and did not feel intimidated or stressed at all. We just had a detailed talk on what my goals were in medicine and what motivated me to achieve these goals."
"I felt more relaxed during the actual interview than I ever did in the days leading up to it. They really try hard to change their negative interviewing reputation."
"The staff was very helpful and seemed to make every effort to make the experience as comfortable and smooth as possible."
"The admissions staff was all VERY friendly and helpful. I really enjoyed my interview committee; they did a good job of asking questions beyond my application, which I felt gave me a chance to reveal even more about myself. Lunch was OK but the med students who ate with us were fabulous- noting that they had a final the next day, I was amazed at how much energy and excitement they radiated about medicine and UW in general. Pat Ferrell (sp?) did our presentation, and I thought she brought an excellent perspective to the whole process and was able to demystify some of the more nebulous things involved with applying. Finally, I was really impressed by the caliber and diversity of the other applicants- it made for a fun day and I enjoyed getting to know some of the people who I hope will be future colleagues!"
"Dr. Hunt's presentation was informative. The clinical opportunities at UW are unbeatable with plenty of patient interraction within the first two years. The facilities are quite nice away from where the tour went."
"The swift response of the school in granting an interview. From the time they confirmed my secondary application to my invitation to interview was within 24 hours. Side note: If you Do NOT get into the UW, you can set up an appointment with Dr, Samson (dean of admissions) for an exit interview, and ask him EXACTLY why you were not competitive this year."
"I felt like that with 3 people all asking me questions, I was able to say everything that I wanted to. They were not very easy on me but were patient with my answers. I think they are trying to get you to think. Don't be afraid to say "let me think about this for a second" before answering."
"Dr. Hunt's lunchtime talk about the school was inspiring and informative."
"Everyone was very friendly, positive and welcoming. The presentation about the school by Dr. Hunt was very informative and straight forward (no sale pitch here, just a realistic view!)"
"I love Seattle. Not much else, it truly was the worst experience of my life. NOTE- this was LAST JANUARY; not this year!"
"The warmth of the admissions staff and all three of my interviewers. They made me very comfortable."
"Interviewers didn't grill me. Students at lunch were extremely frank and nice. "
"dr hunt's presentation. very straight forward with no bull. really highlighted udub's other strengths, which are masked by its reign as the top primary care school. he actually can't wait until udub drops from number 1 so that it can become more apparent. "
"I unfortunately did not have a chance to attend the med school tour or luncheon, but I was really impressed by how well the committee knew my application and their enthusiasium about the program."
"The interviewers didn't seem to want to humiliate me, as I had been led to beleive! They did seem to listen to my answers and treated me politely. And, I as asked about my own personal reasons for med school and about my file (also wasn't expecting this per se)."
"Organization of the admissions office, etc..., oh and the baked potatoes for lunch were great (nothing to hard to stomach)"
"The interviewers were friendly, they didn't ask really challenging questions that make you defend yourself."
"I really like the Seattle area of Washington. The school itself- not much. Not that great."
"Friendliness of everyone I encountered."
"The rich history of outstanding medical education and professionalism that this school exhibits was clearly evident"
"They responded to past criticism in that they were aware of their image and a small sales pitch was given over lunch (in contrast with previous years where no such hawking of the school was attempted)"
"The students who ate lunch with us were pretty down to earth and friendly. They were honest with us and did not try and sell the school in a phony way."
"I liked everyone I talked to. They were open and friendly. The interviewers were courteous and they tried to make me feel comfortable."
"everything--the staff, students, program. Everyone I met was friendly and made me feel really comfortable."
"The interviewers really did a good job of easing the tension and creating a relaxed easygoing atmosphere. I love this school and hope I get in."
"Seattle. I've lived in Washington nearly my whole life and never spent much time here. It's awesome!"
"The facilities were better than I had expected, and the people were friendlier than I expected (but I was expecting some very cold souls!)"
"the end of the interview"
"Everyone was very friendly. I was impressed by the program and the opportunites availabe during the summer and for rotations. "
"...nothing really. I like Seattle."
"Admissions staff was very helpful, and Dr. Hunt's presentation at lunch was very informative."
"Very personal: There were three of us, and the assistant dean talked to us for a while. It was our own time with him."
"All the things UW is good at. Very impressive research and rural training. Also, Dr. Hunt is a comforting guy to talk to."
"The admissions office staff was wonderful!"
"All three interviewers and the admissions staff were very personable! Lunch with 4th year students was also great!"
"I really enjoy Seattle..."
"Dr. Sampson and Dr. Hunt were very nice. I was surprised to learn they review this website and change their procedures accordingly. "
"The students seemed very happy and satisfied with UW (especially the WWAMI site students from Pullman). The admissions staff was friendly and encouraging, contrary to what many have said. There are a lot of opportunities for research and preceptorships, which is great. Also, the interviewers had obviously taken a careful/in-depth look at my application. "
"The admission staff were incredibly friendly and helped to curb the nervousness, my interviewers were really warm, receptive, and made sure I wasn't nervous. Dr. Samson is the nicest guy."
"NOTHING"
"they were prepared, good facilities although not new"
"The school is awesome, the tour was poor but I did my own tour and love the area. "
"I was impressed with how concerned the interviewers were with getting to know me so that they could present an effective case for me at the next executive committee meeting."
"current MSTP students are very friendly excellent research taking place one on one interviews with P.I.s were low-key and interesting"
"Friendly people and small groups."
"I liked the UW campus and surrounding area. The facilities at the WWAMI site appear to be good. "
"The front desk staff was friendlier than last year's."
"The kindness of the interviewers. I was honestly expecting three cold, stone-faced interviewers. What I found was that they were extremely accomodating and understanding. They made sure not to get too emotional during the interview, but they were not cold or confrontational by any means."
"Everyone was amazingly friendly. There was a very positive and non-competitive vibe. I did not feel an ounce of intimidation being there. Another impressive thing: the Burton Snowboard factory store (for people who ride, this place is a shrine)!"
"The interviewers!! I had never met such a friendly interview. I was told that UW interviews are very hard and filled with ethics questions. I felt very ready to answer the ethics questions, but I wasn't asked a **single** such question."
"The lunch with the students and dean was great. Even though the food is bad, don't skip lunch. Dr. Hunt gave us such great insight on the admissions process and I left feeling really good. The students gave some good information - mostly on the social side of things - but they didn't really have much to say in general."
"lunch with med students"
"The interviewers were cordial and non-confrontational with respect to the feedback I've read regarding the "tortuous UW experience." The lunch with admissions staff and medical students gave me a very positive outlook on their admissions criteria and process. An overall great experience! "
"The interview was not as scarry as I thought it would be. The gals from the admissions office were all very nice. "
"Nothing stood out terribly positive."
"Admissions staff very helpful and friendly!"
"The admissions staff was great. They were really friendly. They had a warm smile and made you feel comfortable. MOST importantly, the interview girl from OHSU (Portland), you know who you are..."
"I got the impression that the interviewer weren't try to be mean. They wanted to know that you are aware of the current health care issues that doctors have to deal with and the ethical issues that will come up at some point in a MD career. They also want to know about you."
"The admissions staff made the impression that they really hoped you would go there, they made the interviewees feel very welcome."
"The lunch was very helpful in answering admissions questions. In addition, the medical student that ate with us was very outgoing and gladly answered questions openly and honestly about student life and studies."
"Two of the interviewers were very pleasant to talk to. I think that it's best for the interviewers to be friendly and polite...it's not like they have to be threatening and rude to evaluate you thoroughly."
"the admissions was really helpful. The students were very nice, and they are willing to answer questions despite the fact that it was really close to finals."
"The interviewees weren't as scary as what I've read and heard, they were very supportive, giving me lots of positive feedback. And they asked a lot of questions about me, which I was surprised by...because of what I've heard about their interviews"
"All of the amazing programs available"
"The students, faculty and school in general are really committed to providing health care in a huge region that is underserved in many locations. There are lots of opportunities for rotating throughout a five-state region."
"Everyone was very nice, and they were very up-front about their process, and what we should expect. I was really impressed that they have programs set up to allow their students to explore a really wide range of practice and research settings, without making a permanent commitment to one type of career or another."
"I heard that interviews were really confrontational: they were really tough, but the interviewers were friendly and conversational."
"They get back to very soon after the interview, within a week or two."
"Not much. It was my #1 choice going in, and not so afterwards."
"The students seemed incredibly happy and were extremely impressed by the quality of instruction. Staff in the admissions office were very friendly."
"The rural opportunities and community service opportunities. Also, the students seemed very happy and excited to be part of UWSOM."
"You can spend part of your 3rd and 4th year at really cool sites (ie. Alaska, Montana, etc...) "
"Students seemed to really enjoy the school"
"The interviewers were very friendly. Based on what my friends told me, I had expected something much worse, but the experience was very pleasant. The time flew by."
"talking with admissions staff and the students, the latter of which really enjoy the UW"
"The lunch with the med students and an assistant dean was very informative."
"Students were very excited about the school and willing to share honest advice and info."
"The students all seemed very happy at UW and all interviewees were dying to attend."
"All of the students and professors I met were extremely enthusiastic about the school, everyone talked about how much support they have there and how it is a community, and the location is amazing"
"The students. We ate lunch with six of them, all first years, all loving it so far."
"School heavily funded by generous grants from local biotech firms. Location on Montlake Cut is beautiful."
"Students were super nice, friendly, and sharing"
"The UWSOM students I met who bragged about how little work they have to do for their classes as well as their lack of community involvement, the poor organization of the interview day, the fact that the content portion of the information session lasted ~15 minutes, the dearth of resources at the regional site where I interviewed, and the regional site's prejudice against students who want to pursue research."
"Interview day for UW was not as well put-together or organized as other interview days I had experienced."
"Not too many specialty interest groups at regional campuses, mandatory lecture attendance (could be positive or negative, depending)"
"Unable to attend a class due to timing of interview schedule"
"The main medical school building is old and not the most aesthetically pleasing. Everything inside of it is up-to-date, however."
"Was disappointed that most everyone I met recommended against pursuing the bench research option in summer after M1."
"Students gave the impression that the school is struggling to update their curriculum, and is slow to respond to concerns voiced by the student body. Below average STEP 1 scores."
"I interviewed at the Spokane campus and overall the interview day was lackluster. The entire day was maybe 2.5-3 hours. All they showed us during the tour was the gym and the medical student building, which was shoved WAY back in the corner of campus."
"Wish there were more presentations about the school, curriculum, etc. Didn't get a complete feel for the school."
"Having three interviewers meant that questions kept coming which was sometimes a little overwhelming."
"Facilities are a bit run down."
"How unhappy one of my interviewers was when I stated I do not read physical newspapers or magazines."
"Older facilities, limited study space, crowded buildings."
"Hypocrisy (interviewed by a surgical subspecialist who was grilling me about my interest in primary care? wtf). Lackluster facilities. Mediocre pre-clinical years. It rains here all the time. Very different admissions requirements for people from different states (much easier to get in if from Alaska vs. WA. It seems odd to have different expectations for different applicants at the same, well-ranked school.)"
"Some facilities a bit old, most students live off campus."
"Facilities are old."
"Washington was initially my number one school, but I'm not so sure after this interview. The 3-on-1 style is unnerving and unnecessarily stressful, the lunch presentation was (I'm sad to say) a little boring, and the lunch wasn't that great. The two admissions ladies who gave the presentation were full of information but they spent the whole hour talking about what medical programs were available. Which is fine for a couple minutes, but it should be assumed that if you are applying here, you are already pretty familiar with UW's way of doing things. I wanted to know about the activities and opportunities at UW, the unique things that made these ladies want to work there. What makes UW tick? Why are they passionate about this school? I don't really know. Afterwards we got to ask a couple 3rd-year med students some questions. They were nice and answered all the questions, but I still got that lack of passion. I got the impression they were bored talking about UW, when they should have been excited and talking about why they loved the program. Apparently, for first year Idaho students, you travel between two different sites using school vans. One of the students said they found a mouse living in one..... mice don't freak me out but I found that disgusting. I appreciated the honesty but really? UW couldn't vacuum out the vans every once in a while?"
"I got a bit flustered during the interview."
"Nothing, they were very nice and reasonable."
"They were very apathetic/straight faced. No feedback in their words, body language, etc. I had no clue how I did when I walked out."
"NONE- I GOT ACCEPTED!!!"
"I guess I would prefer P/F in the second year as opposed to H/P/F. Not a big deal though."
"First year room has no windows. And that's about the only bad thing I can think of."
"It is not as diverse as I would have liked. I get no cell phone reception there. Also, they are going through a process right now of possibly cutting the fee waiver for OOS students during their second year. This wouldn't affect the entering class of 2011, but it would affect all other classes. I'd look into that if I were applying next cycle as an OOS."
"health science building is well...not fancy."
"The old, dingy facilities"
"Facilities are a little run down, no financial aid talk"
"The school seemed much more bland than expected."
"We ate lunch with current medical students. Each of them agreed that the curriculum is too lecture-heavy."
"The good cop, bad cop thing."
"I walked out of the interview feeling like I didn't manage to impress the excom rep at all. We just didn't connect well and I felt as if he was getting a bit annoyed with me towards the end. I could be wrong. Regardless, the school ended up asking me to come in for a second interview with a different panel b/c there was a "divergence of opinions" after my interview. I'm sure glad someone stood up for me! 2nd interview was night and day difference!"
"It might have been nice to do some role playing, answer some more medical ethics questions or be challenged about why I thought the way I did about the healthcare system, but I'm happy about the way interview went."
"They asked if there were any physicians in my family, in a tone that seemed exclusionary."
"The academic facilities at the UW campus (except for a sweet soundproof, glass-walled student lounge) are admittedly 'retro' in their aesthetic, but the clinical facilities are top notch. "
"interview itself was more stressful than anticipated, but from what I've heard it really depends."
"The structure of the interview day. If you have an interview later in the day, there is a lot of waiting around. Bring something to keep yourself occupied!"
"Facilities."
"The other schools I interviewed at held class from 9-12pm. UW goes from 12-5, but I'll get used to it."
"down time between lunch and interview didn't get to tour classrooms or lab facilities "
"Uh...can't use financial aid for car payments? I was hoping to get a Volvo to get me around WWAMI land. Oh well."
"Just about everything that the med students were not a part of. The food was decent for a box lunch. The presentation on the school was a boring slide show. I sat for 1.5 hours after my interview before we began the tour of the school."
"one of my interviewers couldn't have appeared more bored. he kept looking at his watch. facilities are unimpressive, to put it very mildly."
"The tour is boring and you just go around looking at classrooms, etc. Other tours usually include cool things like anatomy labs and hospitals - but this has neither!"
"The tour could have been better. I would like to have seen the anatomy lab, a lecture hall (it was closed on our interview day because it was Sunday), the library, and a few other areas. And the lunch break/information session was a little long, at 2+ hours. "
"Not really anything, honestly. I'm not really picky about things like facilities, though."
"There can be as many as 200 students in second year classes."
"Very long interview day. Bring books with you, an ipod with your favorite music to zone out with or go find a quiet spot to relax while you wait. The other interviewees were very friendly, but the waiting room just made my anxiety 10,000 times worse."
"nothing, so much better than expected"
"Weather is cold!!"
"The facility is a little hodge-podge because they keep adding on to the existing structures, but its really not a big deal to me."
"Facilities are a bit run down, but improvements are being made. Also, one of the interviewers made a point to look distinctly bored."
"The interviewers were emotionless on purpose, and it's disconcerting. The student tour guide walked way too fast and I got deep blisters on my feet, ow. "
"Interrogation! I was very thrown off by the devil's advocate type questions and the unhappy look on one interviewer's face. It also found that I did not have much time to think, as there were 3 interviewers rapidly asking questions. Also, I felt like they asked me very little questions about more recent and relevant experiences."
"The intimidating interview! I let my nerves get to me. "
"The M2-led tour was very poorly planned. My group didn't even get to visit the hospital because "it was too busy at that moment." I would have liked to see more of the places where I would be spending my time if I were accepted."
"Students indicate that classroom hours are long, no recordings of any lectures done by the school, chairs in classroom are uncomfortable. Students also report that 1st year of college system isn't as good as 2nd year--although they are working on making it better."
"With so many opportunites, you do have consider, do I want to be a nomad?"
"Paying for parking."
"The classroom facilities are a little dreary, although they are currently being updated."
"The ''lunch'' with 2nd year medical students. WOW where do I start? They didn't even eat, so it was an awkward lunch to begin with, and they all sat at one end of the table talking and joking with each other. LUCKILY I sat right next to them so I got to talk to them, but came to regret it after I complimented a med student's sweater (the kind that has holes in the sleeves for your thumbs) and she INSULTED me in return! THEN I was asked about what my husband thinks of me getting into medical school. Basically I was forced into explaining I am divorcing and it was just so awkward! Then I got flashed a dirty look by the financial aid person when I got up to use the restroom during her talk. I'm sorry but after an hour tour, an hour lunch, and an hour presentation without an opportunity to pee I couldn't hold it any longer. "
"The interviewers, the outdated buildings, the generally unfriendly staff"
"Facilities. During the lecture I visited the immunology prof. seemed a bit on the rude side. Wouldn't want to approach him."
"buildings are definitely not tip-top shape... but who cares its UW!"
"Facilities were a bit rundown and the Seattle winter could get old. "
"The age of the facilities and the lack of established medical student housing."
"Maybe the facilities could be upgraded. But not that big of a deal to me!"
"Facilities are a little sub-par, but they are being renovated."
"Not much. All the second year students that I met don't attend lecture, they all prefer to study on their own."
"the students didn't seem very enthusiastic about their classes/professors - some choose to skip lecture and learn the material on their own"
"my meeting with the office of multicultural affairs was odd--made me feel uncomfortable--it wasn't clear what their role was in admissions or why the meeting was scheduled one on one. Students complained about being stuck in a windowless building all day."
"Students aren't offered MP3 files of the basic science lectures for later review, and in some cases are not offered the powerpoints either. "
"Pre-clinical curriculum not as exciting as clinical, students who said they skipped class most of the time"
"Not much."
"First two years aren't done as well as other schools, but it's the clinical training that sets schools apart"
"seems like first two years may not be as hands-on as many schools are starting to promote. also heard of frustrations with how well students are prepared for board exams. "
"out dated lecture halls, which really isnt a big deal since you will just be sitting in them any way"
"Tour guide was ambivalent and followed us more than led us around. I couldn't hear him answer people's questions. The people was VERY open about the cons of the school, including the staff giving the presentation on the school. Bleh"
"Not too fond of the U district, seemed impersonal even though they tried to make it seem friendly."
"The interview"
"The facilities aren't that great but they are putting money into them to fix them up, but who really cares if the teachers and programs are top notch, and the hospital is fantastic."
"Nothing really"
"nothing, I was expecting the grey depressing buildings"
"The number of second time applicants, which likely decreases my chances."
"The buildling(s) and facilities aren't fancy; the hospital is modern, of course, but the med school itself is a little outdated."
"Facilities are not as impressive as at other schools, but this is really a positive, because it means the university sees peripheral things like dressing up medical school lecture halls as secondary to more important things like providing excellent patient care opportunities and a great faculty. "
"Although everyone was very nice, I got a little stressed out during the interview."
"Older facilities."
"The stress level during the interview."
"I was shocked at how confrontational the interviewers were."
"The facilities are not the nicest in the world"
"The interviewing school"
"20 poor souls will be selected at random out of the first year class to spend their 1st year in Pullman. By checking that corresponding box on your secondary, you are VOLUNTEERING to do so. Also, the UW doesn't really help students prepare for USMLE, as such their scores are slightly below average. What, are you supposed to take a Kaplan class that costs as much as a car? Hmm.... "
"I don't know if the curriculum the first two years would really suits me. They have tons of class hours, clinical/preceptor experiences are one faculty member to six students rather than one on one like most schools have. Also the college system seems a little like middle school. One day you are supposed to interview someone with a chronic illness and write an essay about the experience.... I don't think that would a significant experience to anyone that has actually worked in a clinical setting. "
"Some facilities were less than impressive"
"The facilities are not as impressive as some schools, but better than I expected. The traffic congestion and lack of parking could be an issue for some. "
"The facilities. Some interviews are scheduled at the same time as the lunch."
"That damn cookie tray"
"The rest of the day seemed a little disorganized. The financial aid person did not show up. "
"My interview was right after the lunch and I started getting really anxious when the presentations went long."
"My distressingly inarticulate performance during the interview, nothing more."
"not much really... maybe that UW gives students less time to study for step 1 than other schools"
"People always complain about the facilities, but I have seen worse!! I just wish I could have "read" my interviewers more... For all I know they were thinking, "wow, she's awesome," or "what is she thinking applying here?" Also the interview felt sort of rushed, but I understand that they've got NUMEROUS people to see."
"Facilities are in need of a renovation."
"The dean was out in the admissions office but did not even peek in to greet the applicants. It was not an overly friendly atmosphere when among the staff and administration."
"The facilities were dreary. However, about 90% of the public schools I've visited have dreary facilities! We didn't get a chance to talk in depthly about curriculum so I left with questions."
"Not a big deal, but they were experimenting with a new computer system and had technical difficulties that caused the interview to start 45min late."
"Another interviewee was really cocky and didn't really have anything positive to say about being there. It kinda brought me down right before my interview, but I assume/hope they won't be at UW next year."
"The facilities aren't the newest, but it doesnt seem to be a hindrence to the student's education at all."
"Interviewers seemed like they were rushing."
"the wrong person was brought in for my interview, so the lead interviewer had to come to the office to swap applicants lead interviewer's pager went off and it was necessary to answer..."
"The building is ugly and gloomy inside, the interviewers were stone-faced and I got really nervous."
"The interview. For some reason the UW seems committed to an old-school type intimidating interview style. All the other schools I've interviewed at (some with reputations just as good asthe UW) were friendly, outgoing, and relaxed and very interested in selling their school as well as learning about me. These guys seemed uninterested and aloof about their institution."
"yeah, like people have said before, the facilities are not knew and they know it, but i'm not big on fancy stuff. i prefer this school over the ones that sell themself on a fancy dummy or some other bit of technology or architechture. i started the day feeling not especially comfortable, but i think it was my expectation about the unfriendliness of the interview process here - which i think is a myth. it may be different and perhaps slightly intimidating with the whole 3 on 1 format, and the interviewers did seem to be trying to keep a stony face, but they were nice people, i could tell they were really friendly and warm but just trying to be less... well, they let me finish my answers. they just listened and kinda waited for me to end, which i could see being very uncomfortable, but it wasn't. because they were listening very closely, remembering details, and preparing the next question as a spoke. that was my impression, anyway, it wasn't negative but just different."
"Disorganization and lack of information regarding interview day."
"The interview started about 30min late."
"The facilities are somewhat old, but the teachiing equipment and other opportunities make up for it."
"The quality of the facilities and the political lean of my interview"
"One of my interviewers seemed distant and unwelcoming."
"Nothing honestly. I already new the facilities leave much to be desired."
"Yeah, the medical building is pretty ghetto on the inside."
"The luncheon and meeting with other medical school students was very informal and not impressive. "
"The Building is not a pretty but the campus is amazing"
"nothing major"
"sterile interview room - small room with one table, very bright lights, white walls, no pictures, no windows."
"The facilities were outdated"
"The buildings were very ugly and depressing"
"The building was in need of renovations and maze like, and parking on campus sounds like a big challenge."
"The whole day felt kind of half-hazardly run. My interview was about 40 minutes late and a number of others had a lot of down time in between the lunch presentation and their interview. The tour was given by two first year students and I didn't think we got to see much."
"I felt I didn’t really get a chance to relax and be myself. In a way, the interviewers are quizzing you on ethics and current events questions… It is not anything close to a casual conversation. Also, there were no medical students at lunch with us, and the presentations were kind of awkward of seemed half-thought out (maybe because this was the first day of interviews). Hardly anything (or nothing at all) was mentioned about some of the UW's greatest programs for students (the colleges, the RUOP program, the triple I project, the homeless clinic, the great children's hospital up the street, clubs/organizations, etc). I could have sold the program better, and i was just interviewing. I guess people who want to go there already know it's great and don't have to be sold anything. (?) I would have liked to hear about specific projects that current medical students are working on."
"The building itself is hideous. "
"The building is a maze... give yourself 30-45 minutes for "getting lost" time."
"STRESS! major stress ball interview! Three on one for only 35 minutes... it is REALLY tough to make sure you said everything you wanted to."
"The interviews went REALLY late and because mine was one of the later ones in the day, one of my interviewers was even yawning during the interview"
"the tour was given by admissions staff, not that she wasn't nice, but it made me think they couldn't find a student willing to do it."
"The interviewers asked weird questions (see above). I don't really see how those questions determine if I will be a good doctor..."
"the tour"
"The interviews were running behind,and the committee cut me off after letting me ask just one question."
"You don't really see much during the tour, lots of long dark hallways"
"The building. (I'm a UW student and have never liked the health sciences building. It's a tomb)"
"The physical plant of the school."
"don't expect much for lunch, not much of a tour either"
"Interview too short...it seemed to fly by. Confusing information about what happens next."
"Like many people have said, the classrooms for the 1st and 2nd years and med student lounge aren't much to look at, but I thought they were good enough. Not a big deal. "
"not very diverse student body"
"the tour, we didn't get to see much of anything except the new library and mt. ranier from a smoggy distance."
"Many of the students I saw in the admissions office did not seem to be very happy campers. Hmm..."
"The food was wierd. I didn't trust the meatballs!"
"I didn't meet too many faculty and my interview wasn't the greatest. I got a lot of stone cold looks when I answered my questions which probably isn't a good thing."
"the interviewers (especially the Executive committee member) were stone-faced and very interogative. i felt like i was on the witness stand. they never acted like they were even mildly interested or impressed about what i was saying (and i consider my experiences not boring). the only reason i think i did ok is because i kept my wits about me and didnt get flustered."
"Nothing significant, very impressed...but the interview was hard! =p"
"I wish it would have been a bit longer."
"the day was a little scattered. You basically have lunch, interview, and tour but it didn't feel super organized and I wish there had been more opportunities to get to know what the school was like"
"The interviewers were an hour late because 2 of them forgot/ didn't know they were interviewing me. Then, I get in there with only 2 because the third didn't show and in the middle of my answer to a very emotional question, one of the receptionists knocks on the door, interrupting the flow of my dialogue, introduces a substitute interviewer (30 mins into the interview) then walks out. Then, I'm expected to regain my momentum and fervor all the while impressing a third guy who has absolutely no idea who i am or what I'm talking about. Very well done, UW! At least i was able to show my ability to perform well under stress/pressure! :)"
"lunch was poor, and I was hungry"
"Come and see the student lounge. It is horrible."
"read previous message"
"My interview started late and went long. The lunch was so-so, and was served in a really cold room."
"I did have to wait as my interview was delayed due to people not arriving on time before me...but I used the time to relax so it worked out well :)"
"There was little to no structure to the interview day other then a "lunch" and interview. Would have appriciated more detailed information on the school and programs."
"The interview was almost fifteen minutes late starting. If I arrive that late to the interview, they would have rejected me for sure. I wish they should have shown me the same courtesy."
"The food at lunch was a bit odd."
"Nothing, it was really presented well and the people were great."
"They sometimes asked two questions at once. Once interviewer would ask a question and then another one would ask a question on the same subject before I answered the other one. "
"My interview was very late in the day, but it allowed me to talk with other applicants, staff, and students. If I had been nervous, however, it wouldn't have been good."
"One of the presentations was scheduled during interview times. It wasn't a big deal, but I would have enjoyed hearing the presentation"
"A few of the the other applicants. To be honest, the current pool of medical school applicants is not all that it really ought to be. People who come to the interview with the attitude that the other applicants are nothing more than competitors who should be psyched-out make me sick. If this is you, grow up. Or, if you take revenge on a school that didn't accept you by posting nasty comments here, you might want to take a good long look in the mirror before you resubmit your application. "
"some of the other interviewing students were a bit rude. "
"The student who gave us the tour as well as the assistant Dean. These two individuals were very negative and did not make any of the students feel welcome. I am glad that neither one of them had a say in the acceptance process!"
"The interview format. See below."
"the tour was not highly informative"
"Not much. Bad lunch, as others have mentioned."
"The interview format of good guy, bad guy. Please..."
"Some of the present students seemed somewhat to a lot immature. When asked if medical students still had free time one girl responded (in valley girl voice) "...oh yeah, we still have time to like party." I am also still wondering what was wrong with one of the medical students that showed up for lunch. It definately was not as nice as the lunch I had with the medical students of other schools. At UW it involved one little guy that came in and just mouthed off for an hour on the school, WWAMI in Wyoming, professors, the system and everything else that popped into his head."
"The interview itself."
"the facilities. a mural or two would do wonders to break up the monotony. The Mormon men voicing their opinions on the "roles of women" in the waiting room (specifically, the numbers of hours it was "ok" for their wives/significant others/girlfriends to work.) It made being the only female extremely awkward. I truly felt discriminated against and was close to disclosing their inappropriate conversation and hostile looks--thankfully the tour started. "
"10 fold= the interview itself; this was most certainly NOT an chance to get to 'know me.' It was a ploy to make you question yourself. Good job guys, bastardizing medicine to its finest degree!"
"Hmmm...everything. "
"The tour did not involve the nicest parts of the campus."
"I would much much much rather have three 1 on 1 interviews. Lunch was just okay. "
"The grilling I received during my interview."
"It would have been nice to have a more inclusive tour, but nothing really negatively impressed me."
"one interviewer was absent"
"I know everyone says this, but the tour. I would have liked to see some of the hospital wards "
"The tour was pretty lame, but I work in the building... I don't like that the med school is barried in the Health Sciences building... but no big deal"
"Make sure you take a shuttle from the airport. The shuttle is about $20 compared to the $35 cab ride."
"The sadistic nature of those interviewers. One of them even laughed at my answer, and I wasn't trying to be funny! The place is a dump, and if I get in somewhere else, I'm going there. They act like this school is so great, but then they send some people out to Pullman for a year!!! That ought to be illegal. There's no way I'd go live in that dump. Maybe if I was an alcoholic or if I liked cow-tipping. It's so gross. There's nothing but dirt, and there's nothing to do. There's no way I'd go. I'll probably sue if they tell me I had to go."
"Seemingly arrogant attititude from some of the people I encountered- I'm not sure if this was part of the admissions process or if it carries over to the education or not. It seems the students are more competitive than collaborative. Lunch was ok."
"facilities"
"The tour. We basically went up a few floors and looked out a window while the guide pointed everything out. It is a huge campus, though."
"it was hard to gauge how you were doing throughout the interview. they were pretty neutral-no matter what you said."
"CAn't say much here, possibly that during one of the questions I was asked to stop and another question was asked. But I guess that wasn't so bad because I found it soon after I got in so I guess the interview went well! :-)"
"The tour was not very good. It only showed where you would attend your classes. I studied in the UW for my undergrad so that was not interesting for me. I suggest that the tour should include a visit to the hospital where students will be working and also a tour of the labs and other facilities. I did not learn anything from the tour. Also, the admissions staff should try to arrange the interviews so we don't have to miss any presentations. I had to leave the presentations given after the lunch early so I can go to my interview. "
"Nothing, I had a great trip to Seattle and UW."
"The curriculum is as traditional as it gets, and I had the feeling students here work harder than at other schools...but that's a good thing right? 28 hours of class time a week is more than other school i interviewed at."
"That I still may have to wait unti April to find out whether I'm in."
"did they think of GIVING DIRECTIONS from the airport. for instance, to help future candidates, there is an express shuttle service that takes you from airport to hotel for like 24 bucks. oh, and the college inn is a dive."
"I've since heard that I was rejected to UW med. However, my decision letter was misplaced somewhere along the line. I went to the admissions office to inquire (I'm a UW undergrad), and they wouldn't tell me there. Instead they said they'd mail a copy. Then I saw Dr. Sampson go by on his way to sign my rejection letter (really, it was signed and dated within an hour of when I went to the office). He interrupted me to grab a chocolate off the front desk, and say something about how much he liked chocolates. I wonder if the medical school promotes telling patients of newfound illnesses by mail rather than in person. That would save a lot of confrontation. A medical school isn't defined by their admissions policies, but one would think they'd try and follow a similar moral code. In the future, I would ask for a little more respect for my time."
"I left the interview feeling as though I wasn't able to accurately portray who I am. Part of it was that I wasn't relaxed enough to go back and clarify answers. Although it would be impossible due to time constraints, I wish that applicants in the "competitive pool" had an opportunity to interview again prior to the final decision."
"Nothing. I have gone to school and worked here for the last 7 years so I think I'm attached to this place."
"Nothing. I don't mind drab concrete buildings as long as the work done in there is good. "
"The tour was a bit lacking, but mostly just because of time and distance restrictions. I would have liked to see more of the facilities, beyond the lecture halls."
"Since I work there, I skipped the tour on the advice of the admissions staff. Perhaps the tour could be improved so that it would offer a view into the med school that even someone familiar with the surroundings would find interesting."
"I only met a couple students. The tour should be given by current students to make it useful. Every interview was way behind schedule."
"3 on 1 interviews at UW are semi-blinded, ie: 1 person has open file, and the other 2 have closed files on you. In etiher case, I did feel slightly bullied at some of the questions, and often you can feel quite outnumbered, which just increases stress. I also did not have a medical student on my panel this time, and the last 2 times I've interviewed with UW, I had them. "
"It seems that admissions is based on your "interview score" MCAT and GPA. I'm not sure if they calibrate for things like undergraduate institution. They claim that they don't discriminate but surely, they must know that the rigor and extent of grade inflation vari
What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 1)?