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Individual Response

  • A.T. Still University Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
  • Osteopathic Medical School
  • Kirksville, MO
Overall Experience

How did the interview impress you?

Negatively

What was the stress level of the interview?

5 out of 10

How you think you did?

8 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

6 out of 10

Questions

How long was the interview?

40 minutes

Where did the interview take place?

At the school

How many people interviewed you?

2

What was the style of the interview?

One-on-one

What type of interview was it?

Open file

What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 1)?

"Why us? How did you hear about KCOM? Are you going to retake the MCAT? What do your parents do? Do you have any leadership qualifications? Specifically, leadership positions that have included the delegation of responsibilities to others? How do you spend your leisure time? What was the last book you read? " Report Response | I was asked this question too

What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 2)?

"Why did you transfer from a 2 to 4 year university? Why are you interested in medicine? Do you have any shadowing experience? What did you do or see? Did you observe any conflict between medical professionals, including other doctors and between doctors and nurses? What did you learn from it, and how would it make you a better physician? Do you know what an ethics committee is? How would you respond to a patient that refused treatment? How would you respond to an illiterate patient that did not understand you? Would you be able to recognize special cases in which the doctor is required to talk to the patients family first rather than the patient? (These cases don't exist unless the patient cannot make decisions for him or herself) Do you have any leadership positions? What did you do in them? Do you think you would be able to actively lead at KCOM? How would you do this, or what would you do? How did you learn about KCOM? " Report Response | I was asked this question too

What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 3)?

"Do you have any additional information that was not in your file at the time of your application? Why osteopathy? How did you learn about KCOM? What is the lasting impression you would like to leave with the admissions committee? (This is for the 15-minute admissions officer interview)." Report Response | I was asked this question too

What was the most interesting question?

"See Questions Below" Report Response | I was asked this question too

What was the most difficult question?

"See Questions Below" Report Response | I was asked this question too

How did you prepare for the interview?

"Read my file and reviewed SDN Interview Feedback" Report Response

What impressed you positively?

"The campus is up-to-date in terms of technology; there are ethernet/LAN plugins in every seat of the lecture halls for laptop use, SmartBoards in the "Breakout" rooms (for study group sessions), and wireless internet access. The facilities were not the most glamorous, though they weren't half-bad either. The cafeteria is also fairly large, and there is an extensive collection of osteopathic artifacts as well. Many of the students seemed very cheerful, at least from what was gathered in the anatomy laboratory. The school also makes an effort to keep its students happy by accomodating their needs or requests, and takes an active role in the wellness program to balance the students' academic and social lives. Many of the graduates are also matched into top residency programs across the country as well." Report Response

What impressed you negatively?

"A number of things negatively impressed me. The curriculum is traditionally divided into the basic sciences and clinical sciences (2+2), with little emphasis on the use of case-based or PBL learning. There is no systems-based integration, and the academic year is based on a quarter system with a minimal amount of vacation time. There is also a fairly limited amount of early clinical experience, besides the Complete DOctor course. The simulated patient assessment laboratories do not use professionally trained actors, but rather drama students from the local university. Patient simulators (robotic machines) have recently been purchased, but are not yet integrated into the curriculum to the effect that they have any significant impact. The second year students seemed to be disconnected from the first year students and unhappy, or at least this was the impression I received from the tour guides; the student ambassadors at the lunch were extremely kind and friendly, however. The anatomy and OMM laboratories are not well-equipped with viewing screens, but do meet basic needs. There is an extreme emphasis on laboratory skills for microbiology, immunology, histology, etc; very reminiscent of tedious undergraduate work. Some professors choose to incorporate pop quizzes into their courses as well. The school continues to assess students throughout a number of course examinations and end of year examinations; it seems very strict in that sense. The administrative representates were extremely nice, but the interviewers (faculty) were not this way at all. The school provides a transcript that is sent out to residency directors along with something called a LeaderScript, another type of transcript documenting the leadership activities you have completed at the school. Generally, this would probably tend not to work in your favor because you cannot remove the LeaderScript from the transcript - it is not an optional type of documentation. This is not the end of the list, but as far as I can remember, these were some of the main points." Report Response

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

"Kirksville is located in the middle of nowhere, has nothing to offer, no cultural diversity, isolated from the world, and looks more representative of a giant field - with unoccupied land, dead trees, etc. It's also unsafe to take an airplane into Kirksville, and the drive from KCI is 3 hours approximately. There are no restaurants either; only fast-food joints. As far as shopping, the only two places include Walmart and JC Penny. Everything else is probably mail-order catalog. Surprisingly, the radio stations are still OK. Even the newspaper is depressing; seeing the names and the references to the obituaries on the first page, each and every day. Kirksville is not the place to be, to visit, to live. " Report Response

What are your general comments?

"Upon being handed a packet of information about the school, all of the information of which was exactly the same on the website, none of the applicants talked to each other, and everyone pretty much stared at the wall for an entire hour. After this, an overview of the curriculum was given, and it was off to the actual interviews. The interviewers did not seem happy to be there. One of my interviewers had a pen and a paper out, writing down all of my responses, in front of me. It was not conversational so much as it was probing me for details. The interviewer(s) had a strong emphasis on leadership; it was beyond me as to why they had to question my own leadership qualifications, since practically my entire application has been covered with leadership activites for the past four years. It seems the school wants students that will go on to become president of the AOA or some other powerful organization; the school wants to be represented by its students very much so - to the point where they force their students to perform these activites in school as well (see LeaderScript). The other interviewer did not seem prepared at all, did not say "Hi," did not shake my hand, just told me to sit down and begin. For about 20-30 minutes or so, the interviewer kept saying "um" as if he had no clue what was going on, and I basically directed whatever topic of interest (most of it was random). Finally, the interviewer proceeded to ask me questions about my background, volunteering, shadowing experience, etc. This all seems normal for an interview, but the interview itself turned from being a random conversation to another series of strange questions that concerned ethics, doctor-nurse relationship, direct contact as a volunteer, extensive observations about the proceedings in the hospital, etc. Following the end of my conversation, I said something to the effect of that I'd hopefully see the interviewer in fall, to which the interviewer responded "We'll see" with a very blank expression. None of the other candidates I talked to had this experience. I was not impressed by the school or faculty at all. " Report Response

Tour and Travel

Who was the tour given by?

Student

How did the tourguide seem?

Neutral

How do you rank the facilities?

7 out of 10

What was your total time spent traveling?

4-6 hours

What was your primary mode of travel?

Airplane

About how much did you spend on room, food, and travel?

$501+

What airport did you use?

MCI

Where did you stay?

Hotel

How would you rate the hotel?

1 out of 10

What is the name of the hotel you stayed in?

Comfort Inn

Would you recommend the hotel?

no

General Info

On what date did the interview take place?

01/24/2005

How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?

6 out of 10

What is your ranking of this school's location?

2 out of 10

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?

1 out of 10

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