George Washington University SOM
My interview at GW was on Thursday and I think it went ok. Here's a bit of a synopsis... to begin, I am not going to include names in here, just because.
So I got to the interview room at around 9:20 -- ten minutes before the day was supposed to start, and I was one of the last people to arrive. I guess I should have figured that seeing as how anal some premeds are. Nonetheless, you make stupid smalltalk with everyone in there; it's a weird dynamic in the room. Let me try to explain. You are one of 1000 people being interviewed for 150 spots in the medical school so there is some stiff competition there. However, you need also to be very friendly towards everyone because schools really like to see that you are personable and get along well with others. So there is a really fine line you need to walk there. Gets a little taxing at times.
9:30 roles around, and the Dean of Admissions (the woman I have been in contact with) comes into the room. She introduces herself and welcomes us to GW. She tells us all that she normally does not come in to say hi, but today she decided to come down. After a very brief introduction, she says "Well I hope you all enjoy the day, and Wait, can I speak to you for a couple minutes?" Reminding yourself of the dynamic in the room, to have an interviewee singled out by the Dean of Admissions is pretty much unheard of. I can only imagine what everyone else in the room was thinking. We walk to another room and she asks me a few questions, making sure that I was comfortable and not nervous (which I most decidely was). We talked for about 5 minutes and by that point I needed to be back in the room as the guy running the day had started his presentation.
After some brief introductions, the Dean of the Medical School came in and gave us a very elaborate review of the medical school, and talked about his vision for the future. I thought this was very cool because he talked about the desire to spread medicine to the wider community of the globe. Mentioning the fact that cancer is primarily a disease of the affluent, he talked much about trying to rid the world of diseases that have been long taken care of in the US. I believe this to be a very noble cause, and something I am feeling more and more convicted to be doing. This is not to say I don't think we should look for cures to cancer, heart disease, etc.; I do believe that we need to spread out our resources. I am not 100% sure where this thought process is going to take me as I hopefully enter the medical profession, but I do know that I want to help change the world for the better and that means I won't be a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, CA.
Following the dean's welcome, we were taken on a tour of the facilities of GW; that is to say we saw 2 classrooms and the 6th floor of the hospital which is 90% devoted to medical students as they undergo clinical training. It is a very cool teaching suite, with rooms mimicking a doctor's office (with the exception of 2 cameras and microphones). The facilities there are amazing and I haven't seen much like it at the other schools I have interviewed at. We arrived back in our room and more information was given to us about the school as well as financial aid information. (I think they said GW is the 4th most expensive school in the country... yikes). Then boxed lunches. Mmmm (right....) We were also able to talk with some first years, who although they have finals next week did not seem incredibly stressed (they did sit there and talk with us for over an hour). They really stressed how non-competitive the school was and this is something that I really really like. Last year gtown was super-competitive (even though the directors denied that fact from day 1). I really don't see myself thriving in such an environment as Gtown, but GW is a place where I would be really happy.
My first actual interview was with a 2nd year student. That went pretty smoothly. I basically talked about myself, my motivations to enter medicine, and what I am doing now that I am no longer in school. I didn't have any ridiculous questions like "If a 14 year old were to walk in to your doctor's office asking for an abortion, what would you do? Would you perform the abortion? Would you tell the parents?" It was a lot less stressful of an interview than that. My second interview was with a pediatric trained MD, but currently is pretty high up in the Microbio/Immuno department at GW. Although he made some comments about how maybe I could pursue a DO degree, at the end he left me feeling pretty good saying he thought my interview helped me, that he would say good things about me, that I was not pretentious like a lot of people that have come through and that he thought I would make a good doctor. So my thoughts are that if he is going to go to bat for me, AND the dean of admissions likes me, there is a pretty good shot. But I don't want to get all excited about it because I really don't want to have a let down. There's that saying don't count your chickens before they hatch or whatever, and I am really afraid that I am doing that.
We were told that we would hear a decision in 8 weeks, so that means around the first week of February I should be hearing one of three possibilities: Denial, Alternate or Acceptance. The denial and acceptance should be pretty obvious, and the alternate is just like a wait-list, but they don't actually call it a waitlist at GW. The alternate list moves some throughout the spring, but during the middle to end of May it really begins to shuffle as after May 15th, you can only hold on to one acceptance. So I could be in it for the long run again.
As for now, I am in Baltimore with Ian helping my aunt and uncle move into a bigger house with my grandmother. I have a week and a couple days before my interview at WVU, so I need to start prepping for that at some point as well (Wed-Sun). I need to figure out why I applied there besides the fact that my connection to the school would get me an interview.
still waiting,
-wait
So I got to the interview room at around 9:20 -- ten minutes before the day was supposed to start, and I was one of the last people to arrive. I guess I should have figured that seeing as how anal some premeds are. Nonetheless, you make stupid smalltalk with everyone in there; it's a weird dynamic in the room. Let me try to explain. You are one of 1000 people being interviewed for 150 spots in the medical school so there is some stiff competition there. However, you need also to be very friendly towards everyone because schools really like to see that you are personable and get along well with others. So there is a really fine line you need to walk there. Gets a little taxing at times.
9:30 roles around, and the Dean of Admissions (the woman I have been in contact with) comes into the room. She introduces herself and welcomes us to GW. She tells us all that she normally does not come in to say hi, but today she decided to come down. After a very brief introduction, she says "Well I hope you all enjoy the day, and Wait, can I speak to you for a couple minutes?" Reminding yourself of the dynamic in the room, to have an interviewee singled out by the Dean of Admissions is pretty much unheard of. I can only imagine what everyone else in the room was thinking. We walk to another room and she asks me a few questions, making sure that I was comfortable and not nervous (which I most decidely was). We talked for about 5 minutes and by that point I needed to be back in the room as the guy running the day had started his presentation.
After some brief introductions, the Dean of the Medical School came in and gave us a very elaborate review of the medical school, and talked about his vision for the future. I thought this was very cool because he talked about the desire to spread medicine to the wider community of the globe. Mentioning the fact that cancer is primarily a disease of the affluent, he talked much about trying to rid the world of diseases that have been long taken care of in the US. I believe this to be a very noble cause, and something I am feeling more and more convicted to be doing. This is not to say I don't think we should look for cures to cancer, heart disease, etc.; I do believe that we need to spread out our resources. I am not 100% sure where this thought process is going to take me as I hopefully enter the medical profession, but I do know that I want to help change the world for the better and that means I won't be a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, CA.
Following the dean's welcome, we were taken on a tour of the facilities of GW; that is to say we saw 2 classrooms and the 6th floor of the hospital which is 90% devoted to medical students as they undergo clinical training. It is a very cool teaching suite, with rooms mimicking a doctor's office (with the exception of 2 cameras and microphones). The facilities there are amazing and I haven't seen much like it at the other schools I have interviewed at. We arrived back in our room and more information was given to us about the school as well as financial aid information. (I think they said GW is the 4th most expensive school in the country... yikes). Then boxed lunches. Mmmm (right....) We were also able to talk with some first years, who although they have finals next week did not seem incredibly stressed (they did sit there and talk with us for over an hour). They really stressed how non-competitive the school was and this is something that I really really like. Last year gtown was super-competitive (even though the directors denied that fact from day 1). I really don't see myself thriving in such an environment as Gtown, but GW is a place where I would be really happy.
My first actual interview was with a 2nd year student. That went pretty smoothly. I basically talked about myself, my motivations to enter medicine, and what I am doing now that I am no longer in school. I didn't have any ridiculous questions like "If a 14 year old were to walk in to your doctor's office asking for an abortion, what would you do? Would you perform the abortion? Would you tell the parents?" It was a lot less stressful of an interview than that. My second interview was with a pediatric trained MD, but currently is pretty high up in the Microbio/Immuno department at GW. Although he made some comments about how maybe I could pursue a DO degree, at the end he left me feeling pretty good saying he thought my interview helped me, that he would say good things about me, that I was not pretentious like a lot of people that have come through and that he thought I would make a good doctor. So my thoughts are that if he is going to go to bat for me, AND the dean of admissions likes me, there is a pretty good shot. But I don't want to get all excited about it because I really don't want to have a let down. There's that saying don't count your chickens before they hatch or whatever, and I am really afraid that I am doing that.
We were told that we would hear a decision in 8 weeks, so that means around the first week of February I should be hearing one of three possibilities: Denial, Alternate or Acceptance. The denial and acceptance should be pretty obvious, and the alternate is just like a wait-list, but they don't actually call it a waitlist at GW. The alternate list moves some throughout the spring, but during the middle to end of May it really begins to shuffle as after May 15th, you can only hold on to one acceptance. So I could be in it for the long run again.
As for now, I am in Baltimore with Ian helping my aunt and uncle move into a bigger house with my grandmother. I have a week and a couple days before my interview at WVU, so I need to start prepping for that at some point as well (Wed-Sun). I need to figure out why I applied there besides the fact that my connection to the school would get me an interview.
still waiting,
-wait
mindless ramblings by wait at
9:31 PM
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