What a rollercoaster ride it has been so far. I'll continue updating here as the cycle drags on. Interview summaries below:
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BAYLOR
This was my first interview. I have always kind of dreamed of this day, so I thought I’d be feeling allllll of the emotions. And I think I was nervous and excited and all of that jazz. Unfortunately though, I had just worked a 40 hour week and taken a 5 hour midterm the previous day. With an early flight, too, I was EXHAUSTED and fairly sick throughout the interview. Sigh. I felt like it really messed with my experience and my interviewing, and I'm still upset about it. But I had an absolutely incredible time in Houston and it was an honor to visit.
The interviews took place on a Friday, so we all arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed through Saturday afternoon. I was very impressed with how coordinated the whole trip was. A student picked me (and 2 other students) up from the airport and we headed to the medical school. There, we met with the director, Dr. Plon, and she went through a PowerPoint to tell us more about the BCM MSTP. We then had students drive us to the house of two of the co-directors, Dr. Aagard and Dr. Versalovic (they’re married lol – this was confusing to me until we arrived!). It was a LOVELY dinner. They made sure that at each little table we had, there were current MSTP students and directors spaced out in between us so that we were forced to talk. ;)
The directors also showed us a video of the kids at Texas Children’s Hospital lip-singing to “Fight Song.†If you haven’t seen this video, look it up on YouTube! It is the best. And the fact that they showed us this video really showed me what they stand for – the directors were all so proud when they saw their own patients on the video. I was so impressed and in love.
The current students also went around and told us all about their experiences, answered our questions, etc. One of my favorite stories was when a current student talked about cat-sitting for his professor over break (something I have also often done, as a student at a small liberal arts school!). He mentioned that his prof knew he was really bummed about not being able to return home for the holidays, so the prof actually arranged for the student to meet up with some folks still in town and stay over there for Thanksgiving dinner. That story struck a chord with me because I’ve also been stranded at my school over the holidays and been very, very fortunate to be taken in by faculty members. I loved that I could still find that same kind of community at Baylor! I could really tell the community was tight-knit.
The next day was jam-packed. We began in the morning with the MD/PhD portion of the interviews. At BCM, there are 4 MD/PhD interviews: one with a director, 2 with possible research mentors / other faculty, and 1 with a current student. Each interviewer writes a report up for the director, and each counts equally. The director then presents you and advocates for you at their admissions committee meetings. With that being said, I was again extremely impressed by Baylor’s attention to detail in matching me with faculty in my field of interest. I specifically met one researcher who does exactly the kind of work that I want to do in the future, and I felt like we really clicked well. That was really exciting because it gave me kind of a glimpse as to exactly where I could see myself working if I had the opportunity to matriculate at BCM. My MCAT score came up in almost every interview, but I was glad because that gave me a chance to quickly and maturely respond to it and spin it into something positive.
These were my first interviews, so looking back at them now, I wish I had been more experienced! I felt like most of them went really well so I think I’m just having doubts later on, which is usual :) But I did immediately feel like I wish I had done better in my interview with one of the co-directors. I was so, so nervous!! He is so smart and awesome and I felt like a dummy LOL. I think I answered a few things really well, but I stumbled a bit and just wasn’t as polished. They say that all interviews count for the same though, so hopefully the others compensated for this. But it gets more and more painful as I look back... yikes.
We then quickly did the medical school interview portion, which was a breeze compared to the craziness of the morning. We had a quick orientation and lunch, and then things were pretty much just free/do-whatever-you-want. We had 2 interviews to complete in like a 3 hour span, so I had a 30 minute break, then an interview, then a 1 hour break, then my last interview. I went on a few tours of the anatomy labs and the building in general as well. We finished around 5pm. They were offering more tours then of Texas Children’s Hospital, St. Luke’s, etc, but the MSTP folks asked us to instead come gather for the dinner they had planned. They told us we would get to see the facilities later, but unfortunately that didn’t happen – this, plus the fact that we only got to interview with 1 director (just like Indy, but my other 2 interviews had us meet with each director, which was nice) were my only possible complaints.
But honestly, everything else about this trip was pretty much perfect. The people were insanely kind. Like honestly. I was overwhelmed with kindness by the BCM faculty, the administrators, the MSTP office, and the current students. And it felt very genuine. I loved hearing the students’ stories about the community and how the MSTP has supported them throughout their journeys. We had dinner the night after the interviews with current students (no faculty so we could talk freely lol) and then some students went out to a nice bar or something (I was too exhausted for this!). Then we had breakfast the next morning again alone with students before we took a shuttle back to the airport. I felt like there was more than enough time to have every single possible question answered… I actually felt bad because people kept asking me if I had questions and I just couldn’t possibly think of any more.
Again, I really can’t say how impressed I was with Baylor. The facilities (even though we didn’t have the chance to see them) are top-notch. Texas Children’s Hospital and MD Anderson are both at the very, very top of their fields. They’re situated in the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical complex. Some of the most difficult cases from around the world come into Houston, allowing for students to see incredibly diverse cases and also receive top-notch training. The MSTP is very well-structured at Baylor. There’s no required first summer rotation (a plus in my book), a perfect 1.5 year pass/fail pre-clinical (some schools are just now attempting to start this but end up just cramming more stuff into shorter time, whereas Baylor has been doing this for over 30 years and the M1s seemed almost stress-free!), and all of the MSTP directors are themselves MD/PhDs (so the program is well supported and also would be able to continue on if there was a sudden change in leadership). The students were wonderful. The faculty and administrators already took us in like family. There was major flooding forecast for the evening we were leaving; many applicants had to rearrange flights to leave earlier before the storms hit, but Dr. Plon had also already offered up her house to us in case any of us were stranded in Houston. The Step 1 scores at Baylor are currently at the very top of the nation – they are clearly able to train students very well.
My only worry about Baylor for myself personally is that I’m not sure about the quality of life in Houston. For many, it is ideal. Houston is a big, major city, but an extremely affordable one. Many students live in “Condo Land,†a bunch of condos and apartments that are right in the medical complex. However, I really envisioned my lifestyle to be one that is a bit more toward the suburbs/rural areas even. I am hoping to rent a house since I’ll be there for 8 years – I want to get a little house, and I want the chance to start a family in a comfortable lifestyle. This is possible at the other institutions where I interviewed (and why I picked those programs!), but I might have to drive about 15-20 minutes for this to be possible at Baylor, which could double or more with the horrible Houston traffic. Parking at the medical complex is $140 per month at the moment, which is insane! But look into sharing a parking pass / carpooling. I’ve heard the public transport is pretty solid as well. But I really, really have to think about this in terms of lifestyle. The MSTP at Baylor is honestly, literally EXACTLY what I’m looking for and perfect in pretty much every way. For what I want to do, there is truly no better place to be. So I'll definitely have to keep everything in mind and just think things through!
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INDIANA
Although IU was my first interview invitation (late August… next one did not come for about a month!), it was actually my second interview. Their process is very strange. If you’re invited to interview, you’ll receive a VERY nonchalant and confusing email from the program. Essentially, if you hear from them after you submit your AMCAS and it’s not clearly a rejection, it’s an interview invitation! They call it an “informational email†that just tells you how interviews work and says that they’re looking forward to your visit. It seems generic and it’s not the actual invitation itself – they tell you that the invite is coming later. A few weeks later, you’ll get information on how to complete both the MD and the PhD secondaries. These just require a few forms – no essays – and you only receive them if you get an interview. THEN you’ll get an email with the typical “Congratulations!†LOL.
The interview itself was also a bit strange. All of the other MSTP interviews I attended were 2-3 day affairs, filled with dinners and events with faculty and students, tours, etc. I arrived at the school just before 8am for my IU interview, and I left by 2pm. The directors quickly came in the morning and told us a little bit more about the program (this part was very nice/helpful), and then we had our interviews. There were a total of 4: two with research faculty, 1 MD interview (which was a 2-on-1, with 1 MD-side person and then 1 MSTP co-director who just sat there and didn’t do much!), and then 1 interview with an MD/PhD co-director. The faculty interviews did not stand out for me. One faculty member was very kind, but the interview just didn’t feel special. The other faculty member was a little more distant and didn’t seem very interested in the interview. But neither really did anything wrong! I was just so used to the overwhelming kindness of the folks at Baylor that I didn’t feel any special connections here.
The MD interview was very interesting. It was a 45 minute interview that asked extremely abstract questions. It was a bit of what I’d call a “stress interview,†as the questions were designed to just see how you think and then also to see how you respond to a little bit of pressure. The interviewer would disagree with me a lot or ask me follow-up questions that would wonder what I’d do if things went wrong, etc. It was a lot of hypotheticals! But nothing I needed to study in advance for, really. Practice interviews were great preparation for this, as they helped me stay calm, collected, and be sure to evaluate all sides of an issue as I responded. I felt that I was received fairly well, as the MD/PhD director was often nodding in agreement in all of the critical places lol. During this interview and my interview with the co-director though, my interviewers actually both answered the phone or the door while I was talking to them! That was very surprising to me and was the opposite of the family-type vibe I had received from Baylor.
I was really glad, however, that we ended the day with current students. We finally met just 2 current students in the MSTP in a common meeting room for lunch. It was a quick lunch and I still don’t feel like I got to know anyone, but I was glad to at least see students for a little. They seemed cool and happy with where they were. They were very nice and receptive to questions, although most applicants weren’t asking much and just one guy was dominating the conversation, lol. I didn’t feel the sense of the connection in the program overall like I did at my other schools; the program also just didn’t seem quite as well structured. But again, I saw so little of it that I’m just not sure.
I also had problems with this interview because I kept comparing it (this could have been a major source of my feeling of “not fitting,†and I was trying to avoid it!). I had just interviewed at Baylor about a week earlier and was star-struck. I tried to evaluate IU separately since I knew it was very unlikely that I would receive an acceptance from both IU and Baylor, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of how things had been at Baylor. I kept thinking back, and IU just kept falling short. I felt like their interview day was just very underwhelming. Perhaps I would be able to fall in love with the school at a second-look, but I didn’t feel like I knew the program or shared any connection with it after I left.
I will add, however, that Indianapolis is a great city. There are lots of very livable places (affordable, nice houses to rent without any major traffic or parking issues) that would be interesting to me, and I’m sure many others who apply! (I did a bit of just random driving around the city because I had spent much more time traveling to this interview than actually interviewing, and I wanted to make my travels count! :))
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UAB
Another absolutely phenomenal visit. When we arrived, students took us back to the medical school. We were all greeted there by the director, Dr. Lorenz, with a hug or a handshake. So sweet! I loved the set-up of this one. We were all sitting around one big table in a conference room. The directors started by introducing themselves and giving us an introduction (via PPT) to their program, then they promptly made sure they left us alone with students so we could have more “open conversations.†Lol.
One of the things that impressed me most about UAB is that they had chaperones specifically assigned to all of us. Before we arrived, UAB sent our headshots and a brief “summary†of a little bit about us (mainly hobbies, super distinguished awards, etc) to all of their current MSTP students. Then they actually had a student whose hobbies overlapped heavily with mine act as my chaperone. We stayed in a hotel (travel, lodging, and food all paid for by UAB!), but the chaperone was at all of the social events and would check in on us specifically to make sure we were OK, drive us back to the hotel, etc. I thought it was INCREDIBLE that they took the time to match me up with someone who I could really talk to about my interests. And my chaperone was SO nice!
There were two interview days, and 12 interviewees total. My schedule had things so that I would meet with research faculty on the first morning (Thursday). The medical school interviews always take place on Thursday evening, so that was next. Before we did any of the interviews, the MSTP directors let us know that the meetings with the faculty were not actually interviews – they were more like informal meetings. We were NOT being evaluated by the research faculty, unlike my previous interviews (well, maybe Indiana was this way, too – they did not specify – but Baylor made it clear that each person we spoke with generated an equally weighted report). So this day was pretty low pressure. I met with three faculty members, and all were very kind.
Then the MD portion of the interviews involved an MMI, which was slightly terrifying!! But I felt like things went well and actually kind of loved it. I did some pre-reading to understand the general gist of the MMI and some ideas of MMI questions (simple Google search) but otherwise, no real preparation for these is needed! So when we went to the med school part, we were again assigned to one of two groups: one group does the MMI first and then the personal interview, and one group does the personal interview first. I was hoping to be in the latter so that I could get comfortable before doing the MMI, but I was in the former group (and maybe that was a good thing so I was less tired and more alert for the MMI!). MMIs are pretty weird, but fun. And UAB really does walk you through it. They have lots of people calm you down before it and explain exactly how it works, plus you cannot possibly get lost or anything doing it because the whole thing is guided by an overhead PA system!
I also had 1 standard, 30 minute traditional one-on-one interview. My interviewer was also very kind, and she had a full page of note written down about me before I arrived. She asked me about parts of my application that she found interesting, and we had a pleasant conversation. After this interview day, we went to a lovely dinner at the director’s house, just like at Baylor. It was such a fun outing! I was much less exhausted this time, so I loved getting to talk with current students as well as the applicants. Everyone was so friendly, and I felt like I fit in.
The next day was the “big day†– the chalk talk and the interviews with the directors (so all of the important MSTP stuff for me). The morning began with our chalk talks. We were given 8 minutes to present our research using just a whiteboard and marker. Fortunately, I did the absolute best run-through of my presentation that I’ve ever given, and the committee was very supportive. I did not feel like this was meant in any way to pressure or trick us. The committee was genuinely interested in our work and seemed to love having us there. They were engaged in my talk and excited when I announced good results, which only pumped me up further and made the whole thing so fun.
Afterward, we met individually with each of the MSTP folks to whom we gave our chalk talks. I loved all of those meetings. This was another big plus of the UAB interview experience – getting to sit down with each leader is a huge plus. Not all of the people involved in the MSTP are MD/PhDs like at Baylor, and Dr. Lorenz really seems to run the show most of the time (she is absolutely incredible), but Dr. Yang’s work was ridiculously impressive, and the other two MSTP-related folks I spoke with were incredibly kind people. I’m pretty sure Dr. Fanucchi and I just laughed through most of my interview (and not at me… or so I think!) and had a fun conversation. I felt very supported, and each director pointed out things they liked about me!
After all of this, we had a very brief last lunch with Dr. Lorenz, the program manager, and current students. It was pretty quick but still very nice. Probably my favorite image from this lunch was actually watching the program director mingle with all of us, as she did so with one of the MSTP student's children in her arms the entire time! The baby was precious and I absolutely loved that Dr. Lorenz was carrying her around everywhere. It showed me just how supportive the program was of families and of their students. Afterwards, we all headed back to the hotel (which was a super close walk away from the medical building) to grab our stuff and head back to the airport.
Overall, it was an incredible visit. The only thing I’d say that caused even the slightest inconvenience was that the transportation was not always as flawlessly coordinated as it was at Baylor – I almost ended up without a ride back to the airport, but I hopped in a car at the last second! I think there was a shuttle coming by later anyway and I am sure I would have been completely fine, but I was a little confused.
Otherwise, I quite honestly can’t think of anything that UAB could have done better for interview day. They did the best job of all of the schools in really showing off their school for the interview experience. By far, I had the most fun during this interview; while this was likely partially due to the fact that I was finally done with classes and exams, I also think it was because I felt a genuine sense of community and felt very valued here. I think this speaks volumes about their program. It was clear that they care deeply about their students and about student life – many students have families (which is very welcomed by the program), and the stipend is so livable for the cost of Birmingham that many students actually buy houses. It’s definitely EXACTLY the kind of lifestyle I would want, and with how sick I have been over the past few years, I know I have to consider this heavily. Location/lifestyle were my number one factors in making my school list and while I'm tempted by some other programs, I think I need to keep them as a priority. UAB does seem to do its best work in the fields that I’m interested in, which is a huge plus!. The director is phenomenal and the students are wonderful. Definitely an excellent program and a top choice for me.
