Summary of Experience:
10/1/2015: II! USF is awesome, so excited to interview here! and I'm really feeling the Florida love! 10/30/2015: Withdrew after UCF acceptance.
Summary of Experience:
II via portal on 8/24/2015. I'm so excited to see Philly for the first time and experience all the great things I've heard about Jefferson/SKMC!
10/14/2015: Interview attended 10/21/2015: High priority waitlist
Interview Day:
Jeff was such an awesome school! Every single person I met was extremely friendly and happy, I have nothing bad to say about this place! The entire interview day is student-run, which I think makes for a great experience. There are numerous opportunities to ask questions and all the students are more than happy to share their experiences.
It was a surprisingly large interview group (~30 people?), although with 800 interviews per cycle that's to be expected. We all got our name tag from one building and then met in the library cafe where we had a chance to meet the other interviewees as well as a couple current Jeff students.
We then moved to a conference room where we met the main group of students who run the interviews for this cycle. We heard from the Admissions Director, Dr. Brooks, as well as the Admissions Dean, Dr. Callahan, both of whom are extremely friendly and approachable. The environment and atmosphere of the school is just happiness and excitement, which is really nice to be around.
After about two hours of presentations and discussions, our student interviewers came to the conference room to pick us up. We were then each separately taken by our respective student interviewer to a random location where we could sit and chat. The interview was certainly very low stress and very conversational, they just want to answer your questions while also getting to know who you are. After that, the student interviewers dropped us off for a delicious, but short, lunch with other medical students.
Lunch ended with M1s coming around to pick us up for a campus tour. The tour was great since the Jefferson campus is beautiful. It lasted roughly an hour, and our student tour guide dropped us off right at our faculty interview locations. The faculty interview is scheduled for about 30 minutes, but mine went over, probably more like 40-45 minutes.
The faculty interview was conversational and very low stress, not unlike the student interview. My faculty interviewer was a "lifer" who had completed all her medical training, undergraduate as well as postgraduate at Jefferson. She had nothing but great things to say about the school and Philadelphia, of course, but it was nice to hear from someone who really knew the school and its transformation over the years.
The day ended with Cookie Hour which was a nice time to meet with medical students ranging from year one to year four. We also had a chance to schmooze with Dr. Brooks as well as Dr. Callahan, who were both so approachable and fun to speak with.
Jefferson is a great school and I look forward to hearing back from them!
Summary of Experience:
II! So very exciting, this is a wonderful school with a great location.
10/9/2015: Interview attended 10/29/2015: Alternate list - I would not attend after UCF acceptance anyways so I will be withdrawing!
Interview Day:
FAU's interview day was pretty straightforward, and very relaxed. The school has a lot of great qualities, but the one thing I wasn't a fan of was the actual College of Medicine building. However, they did say that they are expanding with a brand new COM building, they just didn't say when that would be open.
The day began at 9:30 AM, where we all met in a conference room. Unfortunately, I thought there would be breakfast provided as was in another interview I had but that was not the case...I should have eaten something beforehand. They did provided water and coffee to start with though. We had a couple hours of some faculty come in and speak with us. We had a nice presentation by Dr. Servoss (Dean of Diversity I think?) regarding the curriculum and what makes FAU's program unique. I really enjoyed learning about how they set up their third-year clinical experience. Hearing Dr. Servoss speak was the first taste I got of the infectious enthusiasm that all the students and faculty share regarding FAU. Monica and Agnes, the admissions director and coordinator, were both very helpful and great to hear from as well.
After a couple hours of hearing about the school, we were taken to the simulation center where we had a chance to see one of the simulation manikins in action. Their simulation center is definitely pretty cool, and a great way to practice before being exposed to real patients. FAU strongly supports early clinical exposure, but they train you thoroughly with simulations prior to the real deal. After the simulation center, we were taken briefly to the recreation center which was interesting to see.
We were brought back to the conference room where the day began, and we had lunch with a handful of M2 students. The food was okay, but it was nice to talk to the medical students. Lunch lasted an hour, and the interviews were immediately after, which I was not a huge fan of considering by that time it was already 1 PM. But it was not a big deal, both of my interviewers were extremely friendly and actually quite fun to talk to. Again, the enthusiasm was prominent, as both interviewers sang the praises of FAU. The first interview was traditional, just a "get-to-know-you" sort of interview, while the second interview was behavioral where I was asked questions regarding my past experiences and how I conducted myself during those experiences. Overall, very low-stress interviews!
We then went on a very brief tour of the COM building, again this is where I was a little concerned as the school itself is very small. However, they only have 64 students in each class. We had a chance to see the anatomy lab, which seemed pretty standard. The day ended with a financial aid presentation, which was relatively long and uneventful but they seem to really care about their students' financial situations so they appear to be quite helpful in that department.
Overall, FAU is a great medical school with a lot to offer its students. Once they have the brand new medical school building, I am sure they will grow to be even better.
Summary of Experience:
9/14/2015: II! Ready to see Boston! 10/29/2015: Interview attended 11/24/2015: ACCEPTED! So incredible to know that I will have Tufts as an option for my medical education. Now if I can just figure out a way to pay for it... 12/8/2015: Accepted to the MD/MPH program!
Interview day:
I loved Tufts! The biggest concern I have with this school is cost, but I really enjoyed my day here.
We spent the majority of the time in the conference room, which got a little difficult but then we got up for interviews and the tour so it was okay. We had a bunch of presentations and then we had a pretty good lunch, which we ate with current M1 and M2 students.
After, we went for our interviews. They were two 30-minute interviews, very conversational but open file. The interviewers really knew my app very well, and your interviewers are actually on the admissions committee.
The tour was great, Tufts SOM campus is basically one big building which is connected to Tufts Medical Center. It was a brief tour, but we got to see the Clinical Simulation Center which was pretty cool. I love the location of Tufts, near Chinatown, there are so many different things going on around the area.
Overall Tufts was awesome, and I'd love to be in Boston. We'll have to see how it turns out, and whether or not financial aid will be kind to me :P
7/29/15: AORTA-EFI 9/8/2015: II! I cannot believe it! I could not be happier, I am so excited to be able to interview here!!! 9/25/2015: Interview attended 10/15/2015: "Not-yet-accepted" list :( hopefully I can come off this soon. 10/28/2015: ACCEPTED!!! I'm gonna be a doctor! Spent 2 weeks on the upper third of the "not-yet-accepted list". I'm so proud to say my first acceptance was my top choice!!
Interview Day:
Overall, I absolutely loved the UCF interview day. UCF was already my first choice, and it is even more so after the interview.
The morning began with a nice breakfast in a conference room where I had a little time to meet and greet with the 15 other students that were in my interview cohort. Shortly after, the dean, Dr. German, came to speak with us. She described the past, present, and future of the UCF College of Medicine, as well as her plans for the Lake Nona area and Medical City. She was inspirational, and a lot of fun to interact with.
We then proceeded into the interviews. The interviews are two, 30-minute, one-on-one interviews with either faculty or fourth year students. Interviews consisted of questions that asked for elaboration on activities listed on the primary as well as a few ethical questions. Overall the interviews were quite relaxed and straightforward, definitely very low-stress.
After the interviews, we were brought back down to the conference room for refreshment and a bathroom break before leaving to see a local hospital. We visited Florida Hospital Celebration, roughly a 25-minute bus ride away and were scheduled to see a prostatectomy being done using the Da Vinci surgical suite, however some of our interviews ran later than expected. Although we were unable to observe the surgery, we got a chance to see the Da Vinci system as well as ask the surgical fellow working that day some questions.
We then went back to the College of Medicine campus, and on the bus ride back we were given the breakdown of what happens to our application after the interviews are completed and when we should hear back from admissions. UCF is extremely transparent about the application process, and welcomes questions about UCF-specific questions in addition to questions regarding the AAMC traffic rules. REL and Laurel are awesome!
Once back on the COM campus, we had a delicious lunch with a handful of first-years. They were very open and answered all of our questions. We then went back to the conference room where the curriculum and financial aid were explained in detail. The presentations were informative and relatively quick, so no complaints there. They also provide the financial aid information to you on a UCF College of Medicine thumbdrive so you can review the information later if necessary.
We were then taken on a tour of the entire COM building by current students. We had a chance to see the clinical simulation lab, the anatomy and microscopy labs, the gym and student lounge, as well as the patient skills practice area. Everything from top to bottom was absolutely amazing, no expense had been spared and everything was extremely well-thought-out. The tour was fantastic and all of the students seemed happy and helpful. After the tour we were shown some statistics regarding the most recent entering class, which showed the diversity represented at UCF. I really enjoyed my day at UCF and I can't wait to hear back from the school and hopefully come back for the second look event!
