Menu Icon Search
Close Search

Interview Feedback

Individual Response

  • Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
  • Allopathic Medical School
  • Rochester, MN
General Info

What graduating class are you in?

2017

Are you pursuing any joint degrees (MD/PhD, MD/MPH, etc.)?

No

Are you considered in-state or out-of-state for tuition purposes?

Not applicable

What was your biology MCAT score?

14

What was your MCAT score?

518

What was your physics MCAT score?

12

What was your verbal MCAT score?

10

What was your undergrad GPA?

3.5

What was your undergrad science GPA?

3.5

What was the zip code of your residence in high school?

92841

What is your race/ethnic background?

Asian or Pacific Islander

Overall, how would you rate this medical program?

10 out of 10

What do you like most about this school?

"The clinical training is SUPERB. This is a world-class hospital and clinic with renowned faculty who outnumber the medical students 13 to 1. These physicians love to teach and there is a competitive process to teach medical students. Since the physicians are salaried, they get paid equally if they teach or if they do clinical care, so there is no pressure to churn out patients to ensure a paycheck - therefore they would gladly teach eager young medical students. We are taught mainly by MDs >95% of the time for both our lectures (mornings) and our small groups (afternoons). Anatomy is 7 straight weeks and we never have to go into the cadaver lab again if you don't want to, and we get taught by world famous surgeons during anatomy where they come up to our cadaver and teach us all the relevant structures for that day. We also get strong patient care from year 1. We have a basic doctoring course year one where we learn how to take a history and do a physical on simulated patients, and then we go around the hospital our second year to visit patients and practice our physical exam skills on interesting findings on those patients. We are expected to interview, work up, and present 10 patients to physicians in our second year in our Advanced Doctoring course to learn how to interview and diagnose patients. In terms of research, many of my classmates have published multiple times - we have a classmate who published 21 mostly first-author papers by the time he graduated but it's not uncommon to see medical students graduating with 5-10 publications. I myself will have 6 when I graduate. This is only hitting the tip of the iceberg at how amazing this medical school is and now that I am on the interview trail talking to other medical students at other top institutions, I truly believe Mayo provides the best medical education for those who want to be strong clinicians." Report Response

What do you like least about this school?

"The location in Rochester is not for everyone." Report Response

What is the reputation of the school in the medical community?

8 out of 10

What is the reputation of the research that goes on at this school?

7 out of 10

Please provide any other general comments on your school

No Response

Cost/Financial Aid

Are fees/tuition expensive?

10 out of 10

How is the cost of living (rent, food, bills, etc.)?

10 out of 10

Are many institutional scholarships/grants available?

10 out of 10

Is institutional aid need-based or merit-based?

Need-based

Curriculum

How is the curriculum structured?

Systems-based

How many courses are taken at a given time?

1

How long are you typically in class per day?

3-4 hours

How frequently do pre-clinical medical school activities have mandatory attendance?

"Always" Report Response

Are courses recorded for medical students?

Video recording

How many days per week is anatomy lab?

5

How many students per cadaver?

3-4

How long (in months) do you have anatomy?

3 months

Is the curriculum lecture-centric or small-group centric?

5 out of 10

Are standardized patients used?

yes

How much patient interaction is there in the pre-clinical years?

10 out of 10

Are syllabi provided for the student?

yes

What books are necessary?

"It depends on the block, but all books are provided by our library to check out." Report Response

What books are unnecessary?

No Response

Is the curriculum designed to promote a specialty? If so, which specialty?

No Response

Faculty/Grades

Are faculty members very open to students during office hours?

10 out of 10

Are faculty members very available to students via email/message board?

10 out of 10

How is the instructional faculty during pre-clinical years?

"AMAZING!! We have >95% of our courses taught by world-class MDs who are experts in their fields (read: they write the main textbooks, UpToDate, or other clinical resources that most physicians use) so the material we learn is extremely relevant to clinical care. Teaching the medical school is extremely sought after by physicians since we have 13 physicians for every 1 medical student. There is a competitive application process to teach our medical school classes, which means we get the best teachers. We have small groups in the afternoon for case discussions which are usually about 5-7 students per 1 physician." Report Response

How is the instructional faculty during clinical years?

"Even more amazing than the pre-clinical years! They are extremely accessible, value teaching medical students, and many times we report to them directly and they teach us diagnostic formulation and how to make a plan as medical students. Almost all the faculty I've encountered have been super friendly and love to teach." Report Response

Are there many opportunities to shadow/work with clinical faculty?

10 out of 10

Are the faculty willing to mentor students in regards to career guidance?

10 out of 10

What is the grading scale used during pre-clinical years?

"P/F" Report Response

What is the grading scale used during clinical years?

"Honors, High Pass, Pass, Pass with Remediation, Fail" Report Response

Is the class ranked?

yes

Clinical Rotations

How are clinical rotations scheduled? What are the required rotations?

"We send in our exact preferences in where we'd like our locations placed in the year. Most of the time, we get exactly that. Required rotations include: Internal Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Ob/Gyn, Family Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry and in our 4th year: Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine Sub-I." Report Response

Are the desired rotation sites easy to obtain?

9 out of 10

Is desired rotation order easy to obtain?

9 out of 10

Are the elective rotations easy to obtain?

10 out of 10

Is there substantial hands-on experience for medical students?

10 out of 10

Are the rotation sites conveniently accessible for medical students?

10 out of 10

What responsibility do med students have on the wards?

"Medical students carry 2-4 patients at a time on the wards, present them to the attending, and participate in all aspects of clinical care related to that patient. We are protected from scut work because the hospital system is very efficient in reducing non-value added work. The most scut work I had to do was to call a patient's outside provider or family member a few times. Otherwise, medical student education is of the highest priority for that student and if any activity doesn't align with that, then the medical student is protected from it by the residents and faculty." Report Response

What is the status/condition of the affiliated hospital(s)?

"Mayo Clinic has been the #1 hospital or near that for more than 25 years for good reason. You do all your rotations at Mayo Clinic. There are two main hospitals less than a mile apart connected by a shuttle system. The outpatient clinics are right between those two hospitals. The medical school campus is immediately across the street in the middle of the clinics, research buildings, and simulation lab." Report Response

How far are the clinical sites from the main campus?

10 out of 10

What is the typical patient population medical students work with?

"There are two patient populations: tertiary care (50% from the midwest, 30% from elsewhere in the US, and 20% internationally), and local care (Olmsted County)." Report Response

Location & Housing

How do you feel about the location of the school?

1 out of 10

Do you feel safe on campus?

10 out of 10

How available and convenient is public transportation?

3 out of 10

Is a car necessary at any point during your education here?

No

If a car is required for education, how available and convenient is the parking provided to students?

10 out of 10

Is on-campus housing available?

no

What is the quality of available on-campus housing?

5 out of 10

Please describe the on-campus housing if available (i.e., cost, type - studios, 1-br, 2-br, etc.)?

"There are no on-campus housing. However, many students do live within a 10-15 minute walk from the school and some can stay indoors through the tunnels underground (walking subway system) all winter long. The cost of housing is extremely cheap. It will not be more than $1000 for a place all to your own. I pay $400 to live with two other roommates in a 3-bed, 3-bath luxury apartment. My other classmate lives in a 4-bedroom, 2-bath house for $1400." Report Response

What percentage of your medical school classmates would you estimate live on campus, if on-campus housing is available?

9 out of 10

Is couples housing available?

yes

Is nearby off-campus housing available?

yes

How expensive is nearby off-campus housing?

10 out of 10

Social Environment

Do students do a lot of activities outside of school together?

9 out of 10

What do the students typically like to do in the area?

"Drink at the local bars, go dancing at the two clubs, go wine tasting at the local wineries, outdoor activities including hiking and biking, there are farmer's markets and downtown markets, multiple potlucks, movie nights, and go up to Minneapolis-St. Paul for more fun." Report Response

How would you rank student involvement in extracurricular clubs?

10 out of 10

What is the range of extracurricular clubs available?

3 out of 10

Is the student body cooperative or competitive?

10 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for underrepresented minorities?

3 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual students?

3 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for students with disabilities?

3 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for married students?

10 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for older/non-traditional students?

7 out of 10

Post Graduation

How do graduates from this school fare in residency and clinical practice?

"Medical students get interviews and matched at top residency programs, including Mayo, MGH, B&W, Hopkins, Yale, Columbia, UCSF, UCLA, Stanford, University of Washington, and many more. Applicants applying to competitive specialties match at top places because the research here is so accessible, mentorship is so available, and it is easy to get strong letters of recommendations from world-class renowned faculty since there's only a few students going into that competitive specialty in each class (vs if you come from a bigger school where >20 want to go into let's say dermatology)" Report Response

Is this school known for producing physicians strong in a certain area? If so, which area?

"Our medical training and surgical training is superb. We see a ton of zebras and know how to think critically about the assessment, especially given our early clinical exposure to patient care (from 1st year) and being directly taught by multiple clinicians from day 1 every day until we graduate. We are very strong at producing anesthesiologists for some reason. Our procedural training is excellent - we get tons of hands on experience with ultrasound, suturing, doing IVs and central lines, reading radiographic imaging, laparoscopic procedures, and even doing radiofrequency ablations. One of my classmates did a basic surgical operation while the attending first-assisted." Report Response

What do you believe residency directors think about graduates from this program?

"Residency directors think highly of Mayo graduates." Report Response

// All Questions & Responses //

See what the community had to say about this medical school.

Browse all Questions & Responses

// Share //