9/20/2005 - Got rejected UCSF pre secondary. THAT HURTS. They didn't even want my money. I have really good recommendations. Damn that sucks.
10/10/2005 - **University of Michigan Interview** I felt it went really well! It's an amazing feeling when one feels in command of the interview. I was relaxed and just had conversations with the interviewers. There were one or two questions I wish I had answered better, but that is not an indication that I was nervous. Simply, there are some questions that are more difficult to answer than others. I should hear their decision by Oct 17th, either rejected, accepted, wait list, or deferred decision.
10/17/2005 - Designated as deferred decision from Univ. of Michigan. That is upsetting, but not all hope has been lost. Actually, I figured I had a 50/50 chance at acceptance/deferred decision, and I believe I'm competitive there. They just want to see some other applicants to see how I stack up.
11/2005 - ** Temple University SOM Interview ** Again, a great interview. My interviewer was incredibly nice and just wanted to chat and wonder why I was interested in TUSM. We spoke well after the 30 minute limit (about 1 hour) and we talked about several things not necessarily related to medicine. He also mentioned that he was confident I'll get in somewhere and I'll have choices - he hopes I attend Temple. I was impressed with some of Temple's offerings but the location is left to be desired. But they really do turn out good clinical physicians and have a great reputation for that. Temple is also extremely expensive and that might play a role in my decision if I'm fortunate to have more than one option.
11/2005 - ** Albany Medical College Interview ** One of my best, and I was really impressed with the entire campus. It's not the higest ranked school in the nation, but I can totally see myself going there. The reasons why I liked Albany are 1) I loved the student tour guides. In many ways they represent what I want out of my classmates. Affable, friendly, and smart. They are not necessarily overachievers, but they do take students from excellent colleges (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Michigan, Stanford) but they are not the top candidates from those schools. 2) all enclosed campus, everything is right there. Not spread out. 3) I liked Albany as a city. There isn't much to do there but I felt safe. It's a small town atmosphere, but good for a kid. Negatives...1) cost (it's super expensive) and 2) kind of in the middle of nowhere. But I would be happy there and had a wonderful interview.
11/2005 - ** Cornell WMC Interview ** Didn't go so well, although I enjoyed my time there. I was peppered with questions on why I want to become a doctor and just didn't feel I gave my best performance. Other than that, Cornell is impressive...1) In Manhattan, a cool place to live, 2) program is PBL and I find that really attractive. They don't spoon feed you medical school material, you need to do some work yourself, 3) they have older students, 20% are non-traditional and average age is around 26. I think that's great. 4) tuition is cheap, NYC is expensive. Some of the negatives...1) Manhattan is expensive, 2) NY people can be jerks. Overall would love to go there.
11/2005 - ** USC Interview ** Went really well! That is, my faculty interview was awesome. Just fantastic. My student interview didn't go well though. For some reason I think she didn't like me. Overall USC is good because 1) excellent clinical exposure to a diverse patient population (best in the nation) 2) nice non-traditional class. Some negatives... 1) cost, it is the most expensive medical school in the nation (ad hoc), 2) not a great area, 3) have to commute. But I think I would be happy there. Looking forward to an acceptance there.
11/2005 - ** Wayne State Interview ** Was fine, I've interviewed there in the past. Great clinical experience, bad location. What else is there to say. An enormous class too (300 people for 2006)
11/2005 - ** UC Irvine Interview ** This also went really well, as good or better than the USC interview. The school is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, but within 15 minutes is the beach (yea!). In state tuition helps too. I would be totally happy going to UC Irvine.
12/2005 - ** Northwestern Feinberg SOM Interview ** It was a great, long day at Northwestern. I went in the middle of December and it was really cold. My panel interview was first and it was as everybody described it. Two faculty/one M4 and three candidates, including myself. Many of the questions Northwestern asks appear to be unilluminating and in fact I think some are. The purpose of the interview is to get to know you better via non-medical related questions (even though there are some medical questions), and to see how you think about certain issues that you 1) don't necessarily know a lot about and 2) have no right or wrong answer. My one criticism of the panel interview is that it is a static process. There was never any followup (or very little) to any of the answers given. For instance, if someone asked me 'what kind of music do you listen to' and I respond by saying 'heavy metal, satanic worshipping bands' I would think that response would command a followup question. Anyway I suggest reading over the last two years of NU interview feedback questions. I prepared by reading and answering about 100 questions and I definitely think it helped. There were about 30 questions asked (in total) of all three candidates.
Northwestern has awesome facilities, in a great part of Chicago, is a top 20 school, has gobs of money, and really looks like a great place to learn medicine. I hope I get in there!