How did the interview impress you?

Positively

What was the stress level of the interview?

2 out of 10

How you think you did?

10 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

8 out of 10

How long was the interview?

60+ 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)?

"Tell me about your family." Report Response | I was asked this question too

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

"Tell me about your extracurricular activities—starting in freshmen year." Report Response | I was asked this question too

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

"Why do you want to study medicine?" Report Response | I was asked this question too

What was the most interesting question?

"So are you going to employ your language and literature background in your medical studies?" Report Response | I was asked this question too

What was the most difficult question?

"What personal factors do you think might cause you problems in medical school?" Report Response | I was asked this question too

How did you prepare for the interview?

"Reviewed application, read up on school's website, attended local interview workshop." Report Response

What impressed you positively?

"The breadth of facilities in the Texas Medical Center. The pleasantness of the students at the luncheon, during tours, and at a mixer the night before." Report Response

What impressed you negatively?

"I'm kind of an architecture snob, so the layout and appearance of some floors on the school bothered me. Some older, unrenovated floors seemed dark, secluded, and slightly depressing. The ones renovated after Allison, however, looked great!" Report Response

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

"It was my first interview, so I wish I'd brushed up on my ENTIRE application ahead of time—not just the narrative sections." Report Response

What are your general comments?

"My interviews were back-to-back, and since they were my first ones, I was more nervous than I should have been. The first was with a pediatric emergency medicine doctor. She had a moderate accent which I had to parse at first; this also increased my nervousness. But she was very calm and sweet. She was mainly interested in my motivation to study medicine and how my extracurricular interests complemented my studies. By the end it was very much a conversation: we talked about the need for empathy but not sympathy for a patient, how to deal with terminal patients, and cultural factors of healthcare. She ignored her secretaries knocking for five minutes in order to finish up the conversation. The second interviewer was a Ph.D. specializing in elctron microscopy. I went arrived early, he invited me in, then took a few minutes to type a brief email—fingertapping with only his index digit! Combined with his age (early 70's, I'd guess) and his crusty surroundings, I began to get some neagtive vibes. These were only increased when he finally turned around, picked up my app (obviously for the first time ever), scribbled some notes, and then asked, "So tell me about your extracurriculars—starting in freshmen year." He aura seemed displeased that I hadn't done any research. However, I took it upon myself to improve the situation and win him over. After a few minutes of me fumbling to remember the exact chronology of some of my extracurriculars and explaining some light periods in them due to very busy courseloads, things got rolling. He was very surprised and interested in my language background and my readings in Russian literature (which also form the basis of my undergraduate thesis). I think he was very impressed that I was a humanist who still had a very strong love of science beyond the core requirements. Things went really well from this point on. I had a great conversation with him for 90 minutes, by the end of which he was having me read some research grants and was showing me Powerpoints of his work (including some really awesome images of the PDC that were in my biochemistry text!). I was really flattered when he told me that he'd never had an interviewee like me in fourteen years and gave me advice about picking between schools!" Report Response

Who was the tour given by?

Student

How did the tourguide seem?

Enthusiastic

How do you rank the facilities?

9 out of 10

What is your in-state status?

In state

What was your total time spent traveling?

2-3 hours

What was your primary mode of travel?

Automobile

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

< $100

Where did you stay?

Friends or family

How would you rate the hotel?

9 out of 10

Would you recommend the hotel?

yes

On what date did the interview take place?

11/18/2005

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

7 out of 10

What is your ranking of this school's location?

9 out of 10

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

10 out of 10