doc w/ Pen

Since early October of 2013, I have had six medical school interviews. I will write a post about each one. Note: a version of this content was originally posted on OldPreMeds.org.

Interview #2: University of Illinois – Chicago (10/16/2013)
Status: Accepted

Having worked at University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC) off and on for three years as a research assistant, I’m quite familiar with the campus, the medical school admission offices, where to park, etc. So that definitely took a lot of the uncertainty out of the day.

Another funny experience – I ran into an applicant who was at my IUSM interview. Which might have not been so strange except that he is not from the Midwest – he’s from Connecticut. Strange coincidence. It was nice, though, to see a familiar face.

The UIC interview day lasted from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and included three, half-hour, one-on-one interview sessions (with an MD, a PhD, and an MS4). There was also a tour, an admissions office presentation, and lunch (Chicago-style deep dish pizza, of course). This was a (mostly) “blind” interview, meaning that the interviewers had read only our personal statements, but had not seen grades, extracurricular activities, and so on. I asked the rationale for this, and was told that the idea is to give them the opportunity to make their decision solely based on your interview, rather than have a pre-determined idea about what kind of candidate you are prior to the interview. I can see pros and cons for both types of interviews, and now have had both. At UIC, I was a practically blank slate to these people. That made for some interesting conversations, but also put pressure on me to make sure I brought up some of the highlights of what I have done.

The interviewers’ styles were extremely different. The first (with the MD) was both off the cuff and spontaneous, while at the same time extremely professional. The MS4 created a more relaxed and casual atmosphere. While we talked about serious medicine/medical school topics, he also wanted to know my hobbies, music tastes, etc. The PhD asked more traditional questions, which was fine and I was (mostly) prepared for.

The campus tour was mostly old hat to me, although we got to see the cadaver lab, which was new to me – very cool. I had never seen a cadaver before, and wasn’t sure what to expect. It was fascinating, and got me excited to dig into Gross Anatomy this coming fall.

After the interview was over, I felt that it had gone well. And about two weeks later, I had proof of that in my hands – in the form of a letter stating that I had been accepted to the UIC class of 2018! No matter what happens the rest of the application season, I’m going to be a doctor. Holy shit.