Milwaukee, WI
Allopathic Medical Schools | Private Non-Profit
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Overall, applicants ranked the school in the top 27% of interviews, indicating it is moderately regarded. They found the interview very impressive with a low stress level and felt they did well.
⭐ Overall Impressions ▼
SDN Interview Experience Score
8.3
Above Average
Higher scores indicate a smoother, more positive interview experience with professional staff, organized logistics, and a supportive environment.
Based on 954 responses
Score Reference:
9–10 Exceptional
8–8.9 Very Good
7–7.9 Good
6–6.9 Mixed
< 6 Needs Improvement
The SDN Interview Experience Score (SIES) is a composite metric that represents applicants overall impressions of their interview experience, based on multiple factors such as professionalism, facilities, responsiveness, and stress levels.
What was the stress level of the interview?
How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?
Most respondents rank this school above all other schools.
How did the interview impress you?
Most respondents felt positively about their interview.
Positively (86%)
Negatively (5%)
No change (10%)
How you think you did?
Most respondents thought they performed well at the interview.
Great (43%)
Good (40%)
Average (14%)
Poor (2%)
Bad (1%)
What are your general comments?
Applicants generally found the interview experience at the school to be relaxed and low-stress, with friendly interviewers who were genuinely interested in getting to know them. Students appreciated the organized interview day, the welcoming environment, and the opportunity to interact with current students. Some applicants mentioned specific interviewers who were more intense or challenging, but overall the impression of the school was positive, with many considering it a top choice.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
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It was an interrogation so prepare yourself accordingly.
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I think the school is great. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming. Even though it is not a top tier medical school- I still think its upper mid level medical school. Classes are P/F for the first two years and they start students with clinical exposure the first year.
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Great school, great people, great interview.
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Low stress, relax, and do your best.
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The staff seems really approachable and the students are extremely nice and helpful. It seems like a great schol!
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This interview definitely moved them way up on my list. I applied to quite a few T-20s and assuming I don't get in to any of those, this might be my top choice if I get in even if it was a "safety" school
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Overall the education is awesome and the interviewers were kind
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Seems like a school that really is a tight-knit community.
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Overall I was impressed with the school.
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Awesome. Really high on this school. Think they offer a great study/life balance.
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This school is awesome.
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Great school and people. Just relax and try to enjoy the interview. I really liked meeting my interviewers.
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They are just trying to make sure that you're the same on paper and in person.
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Very relaxed interview, friendly interviewers - but still be on point. You can steer interview wherever you'd like.
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Great school and program. Definitely try to attend the social and get a host, you will learn a lot and have a much better time!
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Would love to attend here. A lot of the applicants and students seemed really great. Liked the facilities as well. Seems like they really try to make the process fair and make sure that potential students are informed of everything they might need to know.
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Hearing 7 days after the interview is a great. Being my first interview it was hard to compare and contrast the things I was seeing and hearing, but overall would be very happy at MCW.
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Great education, great people, great facilities!
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I was expecting a laid-back interview based on past reports. However, both of my interviewers were quite confrontational and grilled me for the entire duration of the interview. I was continually defending my decision to pursue medicine as a non-trad. My experience seemed to be unique on this day (based on others that I spoke with) so I just wanted to let others know that it is possible to have a tough interview here. (FWIW - I was directly accepted and will be attending here, so there are absolutely no sour grapes with this feedback.)
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Loved this interview day...out of the 3 I have been on thus far, MCW ranks as the best in my opinion
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I felt the interview day went very well. I really love this school!
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Very organized interview day
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I think MCW has a good balance of clinical and research opportunities, backed by solid teaching hospitals and faculty. It is located in a region that should afford a variety of experiences to suit whatever one may seek.
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Wish I could have learned a little more detail about what each of the pathways entailed. The info given was helpful but very broad and generalized. It sounded very itneresting and something I would welcome having a chance to take part in, but nobody really seemed to have all the details figured out yet which was frustrating.
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Do your best!
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I think I gained a false sense of security from my faculty interview (she looked like a young, sweet physician); but she was SUPER difficult to crack a smile or laugh. She gave me that question about the daughter and every answer that I had, she responded with a quick rebuttal, almost cutting me off. All in all, the interview must have gone well (because I just got my acceptance!!!), but she was a bit tough. The student interviewer was way laid back and supportive.
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This school became one of my top choices after my interview. I'll be so happy to start school at MCW.
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I was accepted off the alternate list. I had an advantage being that this was a late interview and I had the previous experience of 3 other interviews plus additional volunteer experience since the other interviews that turned out to be extremely rewarding. My advice is to keep trying and to show that you are motivated to be superior physician and to be able to discuss the experiences that have shaped your career outlook. It also helps to chill out...you've got nothing to lose.
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I am picking it over my state school. Yup, its that amazing.
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Great experience.
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This was a late interview, waitlist only. Despite this, however, I was treated as a serious applicant. Everyone was very friendly and optimistic. I enjoyed my visit.
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Attend the social and host program, they are very helpful in getting to hear from the students and getting your questions about the school answered. Everyone very friendly and helpful--the students, interviewers, admissions, and my fellow interviewees. The interviews are short (30 minutes) so some felt their interviewers were only there to ask specific questions and they were to give direct answers and not a flowing conversation, but mine were nice and cared more about the conversation than specific questions.
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I underestimated how much I would like the school and the area. Milwaukee was a fun place to explore and the people both at MCW and around the city were all friendly and welcoming. Students seem really happy at MCW. The fact that it is a stand-alone med school is appealing as well - you get the academic environment without the nuisance and distraction of an undergraduate population competing for the same resources.
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It is a really good school. An hour from chicago ;)
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School is nice, and the city is great. Student life may fit perfectly for some-expecialy those with spouses and families-since Milwaukee has jobs and schools for kids.
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The facilities are so new and nice. Milwaukee is actually a really nice, upscale-ish city to live in. Not what I expected at all. I like the huge barnes and noble nearby campus.
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There were 2 interview sessions, 1 with a M4 student and one with a practicing physician from MCW. Although I was never asked a ethical question, several of the people I met over at the interview were asked some ethical questions.
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All and all, it went pretty well. Very long day though. Student host was very cool and helpful.
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It was very pleasant. I stayed with a host, which was great because it was free, and plus she was very nice. The interview day doesn't start until noon which was good because there were no nightmares of oversleeping. Everything was very well prepared and organized. I was surprised that the interview group was so large, however - 60 people!
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I stayed with a student host and learned a great deal of inside info on MCW. Needless to say, most of it was less than impressive. I wouldn't be thrilled if this school were my only option.
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I had a monotone physician, who ended up being really awesome, and an awful student. There was no connection between us and he totally didn't like me. I was called for a third interview due to difference of opinions between the two interviewers, and my third guy was great! But, honestly, this is the first school (even with a bad interview) that I have walked out of feeling completely inadequate! Not cool.... thank you for pointing out everything I had done wrong and not thinking my explanations were sufficient enough.
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The interview day was nice. Didn't start until lunchtime so it was easy to get there on time and well rested. I don't think I'll come here though, seems like it was everybody's safety school.
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Interviewees met for briefing, then separated to go on tours and lunch. interviews occurred at the end of the day, followed by a debriefing. this is one of the least & best interviews i've been on--interviewers are there only to find more info on you and to get to know you
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Overall good experience, informative staff and nice, relaxed interviewers
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Pretty good day, milwaukee was nice, school was impressive
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It was very relaxed and my interviewers were very encouraging. it was a structured day with not a lot of sitting around. overall i was really impressed!
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The school and the students treat the interviewees great! Your own hotel room, fantastic food, and relaxed interviews made the whole visit seem like a vacation. The research opportunities were far more than I expected and the people were awesome but the school isn't for everyone. If you like warm weather or major cities it might not top your list. So I recommend visiting the school before you make any judgments.
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Just like what other people have posted. Informational session followed by financial aid presentation. Then interviews/tour and a quick wrap up.
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Felt a little bit like I was going through an assembly line for the interviewers... had student interviewer then stepped outside to go to my next interview next door, and there were like 10 of us in this one hallway doing the same thing... But interviews were fine, even if my faculty interviewer was kind of strange. the student was super nice.
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It was very relaxed. They were supposed to 30 min each (per interviewer) but each went nearly 45. It was real casual and chit chatting about your experiences. They just want to get to know you and see if you're a good fit for their school.
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You get there and they talk about how great the school is. Mike Itswan is a super guy. You divide into two groups, one interviews first the other listens to the dreadful financial aid speech and gets a tour. Interview with a student and a member of faculty. They straight up tell you that one of your interviewers is on the Adcom, which is nice. I thought I interviewed the best of all the schools I have interviewed at, but was asked for a 3 interview. Where I was asked for the 12th time if my dad (a local orthopod) pushed me into medicine... ahh, these people must not realize having a physician as a parent isn't exactly the best advertisement for the field. Oh well, winged that, listened to them try to sell the school again, Left. 1230-430. The group was 60 people and we were there for 4 hours, also we get our decision response fast. Why are other schools, who interview less, sooo much slower.
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Stay with a host, they were SUPER nice and it saves you a bundle.
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2 interviews, one student (M-3), one faculty. The faculty member that I met with didn't show much emotion, it was hard to get a good read. Overall, both people were nice.
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I liked my interviewers. I'm glad I was asked some more in depth questions than in one of my previous interviews - they allowed me to show what I knew. I had one student, one faculty interviewer (I think this might be true of everyone) which is nice because you can ask different questions of the student interviewer than you could of the faculty member.
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I was a little uneasy because the interview isn't as laid back as some of the others I've had. The school did a great job of showcasing itself.
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It was incredibly laidback. They made it clear what would happen next and when and what was expected as far as financial aid concerns (you must get a copy of your credit report after you interview and fill out the FAFSA, etc.).
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Overall positive Student interview simple and uncomfortably short Faculty interview pleasant and long
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It was a very structured and organized day. You should definitely attend the social the night before and stay with a current medical school student. It was a good experience. The interview day was laid back. There were about 60 students interviewing, but it wasn't hectic. I did not feel stressed out at all.
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I had a WONDERFUL time and felt that the school really catered to the needs of the students. everyone seemed really happy to be there.
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Got there at noon, ate with some students, got the speach from the admissions director, interviewed right within a half-hour, toured, listened to the financial aid talk, said good-byes.
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When Mike Istwan (admissions director, very cool guy) emphasized how important the interviews are 10 minutes before I went to mine, I kind of freaked out. I was nervous, and don't think I interviewed as well as I could have. Still holding on to hope that I get in, though, it seems like a great school. The current students were really friendly and welcoming. The day was very well organized.
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It was a very organized experience. I came in the night before and the shuttle to the school, the ''social'' and staying with a current med student was great. It was very good to talk with him and get my questions answered...they also did a good job of pairing me up (he went to my university, and recently got married as I had done). The day of interviews was great-very organized and informative. I only wish that it could have started earlier in the morning. The interviewers were both great...they wanted to get to know me without intimidating me and answered any questions I had (actually, the toughest question I might have had was the 7th time they asked me if I had any more questions). I really enjoyed it. I also appreciated how honest they were with us (our group was only interviewing for the alternate list). They were honest with us and I appreciated that.
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It was the best interview! Both of my interviewers were extremely nice and asked interesting questions. They showed interest in me as a person and not just what they saw in my file. There is quite a large group of applicants each day they do interviews so that was a little intimidating. Overall it was really great.
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The organization of the session was very impressive. Everything started on time and we were kept well informed during the day. My two interviews were very laid back and were both faculty members. I fell in love with the school the night before when i saw the way the students interacted with each other during the social. Plus they will tell you when the admission committe is meeting and when to expect your decision letter. I got mine exactly eight days later.I got in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The interview day was quite nice, comparable to other schools that have done a good job. The interviews are incredibly low stress - I think my interviewers were even lower stress than most.
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Nice place, nice students, great facilities, but seriously the interview left a lot to be desired. If you're going to invite someone for an interview, actually interview them, don't just antagonize them for 30 minutes and send them about their day. It was not worth the money.
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Overall, I had a great experience interviewing at MCW. The interviewers were knowledgable about my file and seemed truly interested in finding out who I was and if I would fit into the school instead of just drilling me with bioethics and misc. questions.
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Overall a great experience. This was my first interview and I was initially pretty nervous but the interviewers were friendly and they really just want to get to know you. definitely go to the thursday night social to relax and meet some people.
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I had a very positive day. I enjoyed both the faculty and student interviewer.
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Very comfortable experience.
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Interviews are very laid back and don't start until 12:30, which is nice if you are traveling the day before. The interview with the student is a good opportunity to ask questions of them and much much more relaxed. The day is very well organized and the anticipated turn around time is greatly appreciated.
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Fly a day before the interview, attend the info session at night, stayed with host. The interview n info session starts around 12:30, so u have plenty of time to dress up and do yadi yada. My interview is in late session. One with MD/PhD and the other is PhD. The PhD guy keeps pounding back to my verbal score, but he doesn't ask me anything specific about medical field. The other guy asks a lot and he seems pretty contended with my answer. Finish around 4:15. Change clothes and shuttle picks up to airport. Very organized day!!
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Overall, my experience went pretty well. The social is nice and calmed my nerves the night before. I stayed with a med student and we went out to a local bar after the social. The facilities are nice and the students are all very friendly. I just can't decide if I really like the fact that the school is only for med students or if I like other schools I have been to that have other allied health professions.
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I loved this school! I had my best interviewing experience yet and I felt more comfortable here than any other place that i have been. I went the night before to stay with a host student. We had dinner and got a chance to ask a studnet panel questions and then we were matched with our hosts. Mine was really nice and helpful. We went out to a local bar and hung out with some other hosts and applicants. The next day my host drove me the college for my interview. We had orientation, then half the group went a tour and the rest of us went and had our two interviews. Then we had a tour and we left. My interviews were very laid back, but complete. I really enjoyed the whole experience.
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Neutral.
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If you can, make it out to the social the night before. It's a laid-back Q&A atmosphere with other interviewees and the med students and was actually fun. The faculty I interviewed with and the students I talked to were great. The people and interview day really impressed me.
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I had a great experience. I enjoyed having a student interviewer because I felt at ease and could really be myself.
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Overall, an excellent school with a dedicated faculty and diverse patient population for years 3 and 4.
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I had one doctor and one student. The doctor was nice but very early in the interview she asked tough questions that were meant to test my self-confidence and basically make me sweat (''why did you fail to get in last year?'' ''what if you don't get in again?'' and so on). It was tough but I was also glad that they'd ask things like that to their interviewees. The student was very laid back and gave me ample time to ask him questions about the school and why he chose MCW. The student who gave the tour was very nice. She was pregnant and so she was feeling kind of tired and asked if we could skip one or two places, which was fine by me because I was sort of exhausted myself because I was sick. Still I could feel that she loved the school and its faculty very much. There's also a real nice financial aid presentation given by the school's financial office guy (?), and this guy use to work for a bank so I guess he knows his stuff.
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Overall it was very positive. The faculty interviewer was the nicest I've had so far. I would love to go this school if I am accepted!
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The day went well, it is really organized. Normally everyone has 2 interviews, but I was asked to do a third at the end of the day. First interviewer was a PHD in anethesiology with a thick german accent and seemed to not really care about what I had to say. Last two interviews (M3 and Internist) were better as they at least gave some feedback. I was dissapointed that we didnt get to see the hospitals at all.
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Really great experience overall. Had one admission committee member as an interviewer and a 4th year student. The student was tougher than the committee member, which turned out to be the norm for many of my fellow applicants. Not too bad though...I got my admission letter a week later! :)
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I had one interview with a professor who was nice but unclear when asking questions. I had to ask him to repeat what he had asked me a few times. The student had not looked over my file at all before I got there so she was flipping through it and asking me about random things in it. Overall, the interviews were not very stressful.
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The school was pretty great, fairly new. Both interviews were very relaxed, they were conversations, not grillings. I flew into MKE the night before and took the shuttle to campus. I also participated in the host program - lots of fun becasue you get to ask questions you wouldn't dare ask someone affiliated with the adcom all night long!
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I think it went okay, I felt nervous about some of my answers. Im not sure whether or not i got in yet, i will know soon
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They tell you to show up at 11AM, but nothing happens till 12:30. The first part of the day is spent listening to the director of admissions give his schpeele. He seems like he'd make a good car salesman, and is kind of aggressive in the way he talks about admissions. Don't worry though, because the 2 interviews are the MOST laid back I've ever seen, even more than UVM. Make sure you have plenty of questions, becuase after about 10-12 minutes of asking you questions, the interviewers spend the rest of the time answering YOUR questions. So prepare accordingly.
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Overall good - the interview itself is mroe difficult than most schools though.
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There were many other people interviewing the same day. we had a financial aid talk, a tour of the building and two interviews.
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The interviews were pretty relaxed. The faculty interview was brief, and the student interview was very friendly. I stayed with a student host and found that the students were warm and friendly. The lunch is not as organized though because it is before the interview day begins.
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All applicants invited to MCW are qualified for MCW so whether you get accepted or rejected is completely dependent on your interview. Overall, the school is really dedicated to their students. They even had shuttles from and to the airport. I wish other schools would follow suit. The students did not compete with each other for ranking and weren't so focused on their studies that they couldn't pursue outside interests. Overall, it seemed like a really great school.
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Don't go here! That is what I heard from all of the interviews, orientations, and other experiences.
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One of the interviews was 15 minutes, and the last 15 min of the interview was spent talking about questions I had for the interviewer. Be prepared!
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I would recommend that everyone apply to this school and apply early because they seem better organized and more timely in response than any other school at which I interviewed. Knowing that I was accepted to at least one school by mid-October made the whole rest of the year much less stressful.
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It was low stress, the admissions staff was very friendly (orientation was given by the dean, who talked with students one-on-one) and the students held an informal meet and greet the night before the interview for us to ask questions and get pre-interview jitters out of our system. this was great.
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It was pretty low stress, the school is really nice, and I got to stay with some students who were all very friendly. I got called back for a third interview (I think I might have been the only one out of 60 or so people), this seemed like a bad thing at the time but I got in a week later.
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Everyone was very nice. The number of applicants at the interview was much larger than any other interview I've had. Approximately 60 people were there interviewing with me. It is a good idea to get to know people around you becuase there is some down time before and after the interviews, and it gets a bit boring/stressful if you just sit there.
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It ws a vrey well organized interview day, I appreciated it being in the afternoon for those of us who were traveling late the night before.
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The day was very cool and super organized. The student social night the day before the interview was very cool with free food and a student panel. My interviewers (one MD and one student) were good but the MD was a little bit scary. She kinda questioned my grades and abilities and kept asking me if I came to realize that I wasn't cut out for med school what would I do....kinda sucky to answer but oh well. Overall, I was impressed with the school and I am glad I applied.
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Overall very positive
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Very pleasant interview experience. I was shocked at how relaxed the med student was- and felt that we really connected.
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Overall my interviews went well. My impression of the school was improved and I was pleasantly suprised at how good the school really is.
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The day ran very smoothly, everyone was very nice and supportive, and the interviewers put me at ease. My second interview, although friendly, was not quite conversational because she asked SO many questions. Overall, it was a great experience, and I got to chat with many other applicants becaue there were 58 of us interviewing.
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Just be prepared for lots of ethical questions. And if you get a certain doc interviewing you be prepared for some crazy personal ones.
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Wonderful. I wasn't seriously considering MCW until I interviewed there. The building is beautiful, the students love it there, and everyone I met was incredibly friendly. Plus, I got my acceptance letter in the mail 10 days later!!
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It was stress free and wonderful. Don't stress about this one. So very organized. The interview started at 12:30. That was nice. Do the host program. It was wonderful!!! I met a lot of great people.
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My overall experience was great. It was my first interview so I was a little nervous, but both interviews were so laid back. They were more like conversation. I wasn't nervous during them at all. I stayed with a host after the applicant host program which was great, b/c she took me out and showed me the town a little bit and then I was able to ask her and all her other friends what they think about the medical school.
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I arrived on Thursday night and met with about 11 other applicants at the airport. It was great to talk to so many other students about the process. Everyone was so friendly (most were from the west coast). We took the shuttle to the campus and went to the social. It's much more casual than I expected. They had some food, showed us a video about the school (which was a great way to learn more about it) and then had about 8 students sit on a panel and answer any questions we had. At the end of the evening, we were assigened to our student hosts and left home. My student host was SO WONDERFUL. She was the greatest and we stayed up talking about the school and the experience, it was so much fun!! The next day, I went to school with my host and attended lecture with her (got a feel for the school and the students), then went to the library and checked my email (and SDN lol). Met some other applicants and chatted with them. Had lunch at the cafeteria and went to start the interview day at 12:30. There was about 60 interviewees. We were given folders with our interviewers names. We were split into 2 groups. The group I was in had a financial aid talk, then we were split into groups of 4 students and we had our own tour guide. The small group was wonderful cuz you could really ask questions! Then I had my 2 interviews. You check out, get a free MCW T-shirt :) They called for a shuttle for all us flying that same night, so took the shuttle to the airport and I Was on the same flight with about 8 other applicants so I had a blast at the airport. I met sooooooo many people. Best interview I've been to and definitely the most fun!
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I found that the Applicant-Host dinner the night before was very informative, a relaxing environment to ask questions before the interview. The entire process was pleasant and not at all stressful and the interviews were more conversational.
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Both the 4th year and the MD PHD wanted to keep things very laid back and relaxed, so they were both very conversational and relaxed.
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The interview at MCW was one of my best experiences yet. It is a bit wierd because there are 60 other applicants interviewing with you but the whole day is really organized. The interviews were not stressful but the student interview is much more question answer than conversational. Some people will get a 3rd interview, which I hear can be a good thing. The school provides student host and shuttle buses so you don't have to plan to much. Great school and great overall experience.
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The host program was very nice and useful, the people were great, and the director of admissions was really funny/friendly.
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Overall positive.
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Good overall, the staff were really friendly, and everyone took it v. seriously, even though we were interviewing for the alternate list.
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It was a good day, but not a great day. I had a faculty interview with whom I felt reasonably comfortable, but I felt like she was just moving down a list of things that she needed to cover and she didn't really allow a good conversation to develop. My second interview was with a student and she was much more difficult to connect with especially when her first question was, "So, tell me about your life." It just never flowed easily and was filled with semi-awkward pauses. However, I don't think she was bothered at all by this. Overall, I felt like my interviews went as well as possible.
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I took the shuttle on Thursday night, which was fun because I met about 20 other applicants at the airport. The social that night was great too, since it was totally student run, and we got to meet and talk with students of all years fairly candidly. The next day, I ate lunch with students and interviewees at about 11:30, and met in the conference room at 12:30. The admissions director gave a quick presentation. Then half the group went for their interviews while the other half had a financial aid presentation. Then we had a 30 min tour of the school. After that we had our interviews, which went pretty well. With a such a large interview group, I expected it to be a little chaotic, but it was actually the most organized interview day that I've been to yet. I was very impressed with the school and moreso with the students.
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I arrived a little later than I should have, so I missed eating lunch. (I wouldn't reccommend that.) The first thing is a small prestation about the school and the curriculum. Then there is a small financial aid presentation. After that you go on a tour of the complex. (Excellent facilities by the way, everything seems pretty new.) After that you have two interviews. I interviewed with an MD from the hospital nearby, and a 4th year. The MD was very laid back and I think we connected well. The interview was very conversational, and we talked a lot about our common interests. (hockey and music)Talking with the 4th year was a little weird, because it seemed like he was more nervous than I was to be there. Nothing to surprising came out during the interviews though. After the interviews the day is done. (about 4:30)
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Pretty positive. I wasn't sure I connected well with my first interviewer on my motivation to enter medicine, but I clearly did connect with the second. I applied Early Decision, and MCW does not really have HIGHER standards for ED than for regular admission. When you show up for ED interview day, they thank you warmly for making this choice.
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Arrive before noon. You check-in and they give you a voucher to get lunch on them. You have a welcome and short info presentation by the director of admissions. Then you are off to your 2 30min. interviews. Come back and get a 30min. financial aid presentation. Then take a tour of school with current student. Head home. You also get a free T-SHIRT!
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I arrived the night before and went to the social. I stayed with some guys from the school that night. They were very friendly and helpful. The interview was a couple hours of listening to boring presentations on financial aid etc., followed by a tour of the school and then two interviews.
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Both interviews were extremely relaxing and friendly. The student was indredibly laid-back, encouraging, and someone I would like to have as a classmate. The faculty interviewer was kind and supportive of the entire application process. The admissions director was so helpful and informative. I felt that the school was incredibly honest and straight forward about the admissions process. I had such a great experience at the school -enough to make it one of my top choices! It was definitely a low stress day.
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My first interview was with a student who only asked me 3 questions and then there was an awkward pause when I was waiting for her to ask me another question. When none came and I realized only 5 minutes of the 30 minute interview had passed, I started asking her questions about the school and continued like this for the next 25 minutes. The interview with the member of the admissions committee was more typical. He asked me about certain grades on my transcript, asked me about research, and then we just talked for the whole time and even went over 15 minutes.
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Overall a pretty good school. Good residency matching.
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The interview experience is very relaxed, even if you are given challenging questions, they always respect your answers and your opinion.
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Good- it's just too close to home. It's a nice facility with friendly people. They were excited to be independent of other institutions such that they don't have to share facilities but i missed the undergraduate campus nearby. Also- don't have to travel for rotations!
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The student interviewer was great...laid back conversation type with a few interview questions, Overall I left with a better impression I went with.
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My first interview with the doctor was very relaxed. I didn't even feel like I was having an interview. It was only about 20 minutes and more of a conversation; he asked me very general questions. On the other hand, the student was a lot more intense with a lot more harder questions, such as the social security one. He also grilled me about my mcat score and lack of research experience and then after I answered told me that at this point they didn't really matter anyway. After awhile though it got more relaxed and we started talking about the Milwaukee bars and snowboarding.
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It was very nice. It was so chill and relaxed. I definitely thought that everything was planned out really well. My interview with the student was GREAT. I don't think he asked me one single medical related question. He was more interested in my interests outside of medicine. We just sat around and talked like good buddies. My faculty interviewer was much more serious, as expected. He asked general questions, but kept looking at the time every 5 minutes so that was discouraging. However, overall the interview experience is very relaxed and dare I say it, kinda fun.
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Pretty low-key, just a bit stressful being with so many other interviewees.
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Overall a nice experience, but there were a LOT of people there...56 students total, I believe. Still well organized, and I felt like I got enough personal attention in my interviews, so the size wasn't a detriment. It's a quiet area just outside of Milwaukee, so I think I'd be happy there. Overall I like it!
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The interview is very low stress. There is a high chance of getting into the school once an interview is offered. The student interviewer was great to talk to and was very informative.
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I had a great time!! make sure you go to the social. it was fun, and my student host took me to the bar that night, which was also fun. everyone is very accommodating, and the interview is very organized and well-run. my favorite interview so far...
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Glowing review. Great place, really seem to take care of the student body. One of the cheaper private schools. Fast feedback + a huge percentage of interviews are accepted.
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The inteview itself was pretty stressful, but the students were great. I participated in the applicant host program and would recommend it to any interviewing here.
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This was my first interview experience. I felt pretty comfortable but I was worried when they asked me for a third interview. Overall it was a good experience and I left with a positive impression of the school and its students.
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My interviewer was the one who likes to ask about foreign policy - if you get him, don't stress out, just talk about the issues and how you feel about them! I don't think we are being judged on our standpoints. The student interview was basically a conversation, really chill. I really enjoyed the whole MCW experience - including the Thursday night social, applicant host program, etc. A couple of us even went out to some pubs the night before, which made the whole experience more relaxed, not stressful. The interview day was good too (although the faculty interview was a bit difficult). Overall a really great experience at MCW!
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The interview day starts with a free lunch in the cafeteria. It's a good opportunity to relax before the interview and get to know the other interviewees. Then there is a de-briefing at 12:30, at which point interviewees are divided into two groups. Group one has interviews (2, half hour each) first, then a presentation on financial aid and a tour. Group two has the presentation/tour first. I was in group one, so my interviews were first. My first one was with a fourth year medical student, and it was awesome! We really just had a nice conversation during which he asked me some questions about my experiences and my opinions on medicine, doctors, healthcare, etc. Nothing intense, and he really helped put me at ease. For my second interview, I met with a PhD. That was interesting, to say the least. He greeted me nicely and asked how I liked MCW so far, then he leapt into the TOUGH questions: he gave me an ethical dilemma, asked why healthcare costs are so high, asked my opinion on affirmative action, wanted to know my view on American foreign policy, and even asked who I was going to vote for!! Some of those questions made me a little uncomfortable, to say the least, and every time he asked me a question he stared behind me, or held his head, or looked at his hand! It was very distracting, but I know he did that to another interviewee, so maybe that's just how he does things. From what I heard from other interviewees, however, this second interview was not a standard MCW interview experience. So if you get that guy, just try to stay calm and don't panic!
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A very chill interview, although they will ask "interesting" questions but nothing stressful. Relax and enjoy yourself.
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This school easily has the best facilities of anywhere that I have ever visited. My interview definitely moved it closer to the top of my list.
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The day starts at 11 am. We had lunch and student-guided campus tour. The interview process started with the financial aid session for half of the students and two 30-min interviews for the other half. We all left the campus at 4 pm.
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One Interview went well. The student interviewer did not read my file. MCW seems like a backup school to most Chicago medical schools. The incoming class size is too big and although I've been accepted already, I declined and will attend NY Med Col, which is a much better location. I just won't be happy here in MCW's environment and to be honest, I hated the location and the "town" feel.
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I felt like I was treated like a number. The questions weren't difficult to answer, yet they were so generic it seemed they hadn't taken the time to review my application.
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Overall, the whole interview process was very structured and laid back. They did not ask anything that I did not anticipate. They were very interested in you and seemed to have read everything there was about you. They did not ask me any ethical questions. It was a wonderful experience.
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Overall, its a nice school, but i just don't think it's for me.
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The interviews were very low key and relaxing. They really just wanted to find out what type of person you are. Both the faculty memeber and student were very nice.
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I was surprised at how little the school tried to sell itself or point out its unique aspects. The assumption was almost like "you'll come here if you don't have other options." The Director of Admissions talked about how they're med-student focused, since there's no ugrad student body and they don't have to worry about fielding a football team. I'd rather have heard about their values, goals, initiatives. My interviewer asked what I'll do if I don't get any acceptances, when it's late Feb. and I have two acceptances. Very much got the feeling that it's a safety-school. They're working on bringing in more research money to up their prestige, but what would I get at MCW that would be different from New York Med, Drexel, Loyola, etc.
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Everything about MCW impressed me, from the interviewers to the facilities to the students. I attended lecture, went on the tour and participated in the student host program and the Thursday night social. Overall I felt welcomed, and had all of my questions answered. People were very honest and open with their opinions, and it shows they take a lot of pride in their school.
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Great experience overall. The people are friendly. The foods & house rent are cheap
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Interview day was very organized, and gave me a positive impression of the school. The social the night before was informative.
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Very laid back. One was with a dean of admissions that could hardly speak english, so it was challenging to interact when i had to make him repeat the questions. Other dean of admissions was a nice old man, and we just chatted it was great
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Overall, I was VERY impressed with everything. I had an interview with a faculty member first where he asked all the standard questions. My second interview was with a student and he repeated some questions from the first one. That interview didn't even last fifteen minutes. The whole experience was very stress-free and laidback. I had a very specific problem which required special accomodation and everyone there was more than willing to assist me in that regard. Overall, it was great.
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The student host program was excellent and I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, you may have to go to the school early with the host since they have class and interviews don't begin until 12:30. It was nice to use the library facilities and sit in on some classes though. The actual interview day is split into two groups, with one interviewing first and then getting a tour of the facilities. The interview was very informative, well organized and highly professional.
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The whole experience was great. Everyone was very nice, the day was well organized so that there was very little waiting around. The interviews are very low key. Don't expect any difficult questions about the healthcare system or ethics. They just want to get to know you. My interviewer had thoroughly reviewed my file before I came in, and asked pertinent questions that he had found in my application.
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Interviews were with a faculty member and a third year student respectively. They were both very nice and very conversational. It was fun, and you get a MCW T-shirt for interviewing:-). It looks like a really good school that cares about the students, but all-in-all not really for me.
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Interview with the med student was a bit formal and serious, but wasn't stressful. My faculty interview was interesting: He appeared to have a long list of questions in front of him, and he asked me all the possible questions you could think to ask. He seemed more concerned with finishing his list of questions than actually listening to my answers. He even recycled questions. It was quite tiring. He wasn't too fond of my enthusiasm either or my curiosity about him and the school in general. Not at all conversational.
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This is a great school to interview at. First of all, MCW has the best student-hosting program that I've encountered. The Thursday night before your interview, you attend a social where they feed you (yes!)and you have the opportunity to talk to students. They also show you an informational video and have a q&a session. You get matched up with your host in the end and off you go to get some rest. Interview day is so organized here. Lunch, info session, financial aid, interviews, tour. My interviewers were great! There were no ethical questions and the interview was like a conversation that flowed well. They had obviously done their research and seemed to really want to get to know me as a person.
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Very impressed with the school, seemed like a friendly environment, trauma 1 center is right next to the school, people were alot more laid back than other places I've interviewed
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The day was good. The orientation the night before is a good idea. I stayed with a student host which was nice not only to save money, but to reduce stress and learn more about the school. The interviews were good. The school is quite new and nice. The location is good. Milwaukee isn't the best, but not bad either. Overall it was good and I have been accepted-by the way, they let you know about their decission within about 10 days which is great.
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The students were great, the facilities are new. My first interview (3rd year) went great, while my second grilled me on my decision to pursue medicine after graduating medical school. No answer seemed to satisfy him, but perhaps he just wanted to see me defend my decision repeatedly.
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Very positive experience overall. Interviewers weren't completely conversational, but the questions they asked were relevant and low-pressure. Relax if you are interviewing here!
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I met with a student and a faculty member. Both were very respectful and were interested in getting to know me better. They had thoroughly reviewed my application information and asked specific questions without referring to notes. There were no ethical "who would you give the kidney to?" type questions. I really ejoyed both interviews. I was very impressed overall.
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The interview experience was incredibly relaxed...no incredibly tough questions and very conversational. The people, fellow interviewees and interviewers, were wonderful. The interview does not start until noon, so bring something to keep you occupied in the morning, if you are staying with a student host!
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If you are going to interview relax. It was so chill. I highly recommend staying with a student. My host and a couple others all went out to a local pub and had a couple brews and watched the baseball game.
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The day was very enjoyable and well run. I really enjoyed the two interviews, one with an ENT doc and one with a fourth year med student. They were very conversational and laid back.
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It was a pleasant experience. I wasn't sure how I would like the school, but I was impressed by most things there.
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The interview definitely improved my opinion of Wisconsin. The facilities are really nice, they have a workout facility in the basement. The students were really enthusiastic about their learning and they really enjoy the school. The interview is very relaxed and you interview with a student and a faculty member. They give you lots of opportunities to ask students questions.
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It was a very well-organized, laid back day. The interviews are pretty easy, and everyone is very welcoming there. Definitely a fun day!
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The intervews here are very laid back. I was the only one responsible for any anxiety I had. Both of my interviewers were very friendly, and the interviews seemed more like a discussion or chat than other interviews I've had (for jobs, not schools). The day consisted of two 30 minute interviews, a tour, and some financial aid discussions. I went for the early decision intervew, so I did not have the option to stay with a student host. I don't know if it is possible for me to like the school more. I was very impressed, and came away with a great experience. All I can think now is "Big Letter, Big Letter, Big Letter"
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Though I was kinda shocked by the first question by my student interviewer, he turned out to be really cool and leaving that interview I felt I had made a friend. Very impressive interview experience and the I liked the school more than I thought I would.
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I was really grateful that I had a pleasant faculty interview after the student one and that I had made an effort to talk with other students while there. I think if I had only talked with my student interviewer, I would have just left MCW with a distorted view of the school.
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The staff really knows how to treat applicants. They are pretty close to schedule and they have sodas ready for you and you get a free shirt. The get together the night before is fun too. Overall, I was surprised about how much I liked MCW.
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Everyone there was incredibly nice. The interviews were very laid-back, and everyone was genuinely interested in you as a person. There was ample time to discuss your experiences, and meeting with a student helped to take some of the stress off. I really enjoyed my time there.
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I was a little nervous, but I thought that the people who were interviewing with me were absolutely wonderful! It's a very humanity-orented med school.
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I went to the pre-interview social. It was OK, but very rushed and late. Interview was pretty low stress. The interviewed after lunch and it took from 12 - 4:30 or so.
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Overall students seemed very happy and this was the biggest plus about the interview.
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MCW really goes out of their way to make the interview day an enjoyable experience. Mr. Istwan is great, my student interviewer never really asked me a question. We just talked. I was really nervous going in, but after 5 minutes of the 1st interview, I began to feel a lot more comfortable, and thats a credit to the friendly attitude of the student interviewing me. Its a fun day, just relax.
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I stayed with a good friend of mine that goes to school there. I went to the school, ate lunch there, talked with a lot of the others that were interviewing that day. There was almost 50 people interviewing that day. The day was pretty short. The student that gave the tour really seemed to like the school. Also, don't worry, if you get the third interview...they stress this point that day. I was interviewed first by a faculty member. It went awful. Absolutely awful. My second interviewer was third year student, and that one went great! I assumed I was doomed because my first interview did not go well, but yesterday I recieved an acceptance letter in the mail. Basically, just be yourself. Once you get an interview, you have a good chance of getting accepted. I think they really do look at everything in your application. Good luck. And, be sure to go out in Milwaukee that night after your interview!!
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The interview experience at MCW was a postive one. The interviewers are just trying to get to know you, and the students are helpful and friendly.
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I dont know what was up with my first interviewer. He had at least 6 ethical scenarios that he brought up, which at first seemed like he was just chatting, but then he would turn the tables and ask what i thought, or how i would solve the problem. one or 2 are ok, but not when most of the interview was about that, i definately do not feel like i was able to express enough about me...i dont think my experience was a typical one. I was having a good time until then!
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On the whole, a very positive and encouraging visit - I was very impressed with MCW!
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The school is wonderful. Don't worry if you get a third interview. It usually means that there was something left out during the first two interviews. I met several people who were attending the school, who had three interviews. Mr. Istwan is really nice, but he is still getting use to his position, so he was a little nervous.
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The interviewers were alot more relaxed than i thought, the whole experience went well and was not very stressful
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They had a welcome/social hour thing on Thursday night for the students staying with a host. We had lunch in the cafeteria before the formal day started. The whole group was split into two, I had my interviews first, followed by a tour of the school. Once everyone was done, we had a brief financial aid presentation. The formal part lasted from 12:30 until about 4:30.
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The first interview I had with a student was more intense. She had the normal list of questions which might give the impression that she's trying to stump the interviewee, but they were not very difficult. It seemed that she was trying to get to know me as a person. The second interview was with a doctor who was very friendly and reminded me of my Chemistry professor. She brought up the importance of being ethical as a doctor, and at one point said that I would be a great doctor because of my warm smile. That was very nice, but later when I was filling out an evaluation for my interviewers, there was a specific question of whether my interviewer made me feel confident in pursuing a career in medicine. I wondered if she really meant what she had said after reading that, but I still enjoyed the experience and talking with the two interviewers. Overall, the visit was very pleasant and the students were extremely nice.
💬 Interview Process ▼
Length, number, and type of interviews
🕐
Length:
34 Minutes Average
🔄
Number:
2.1 Interviews Average
👥
Interview Type (Interaction):
100% One-on-One
0% Group Interview
📁
File Type:
99% Open-File
1% Closed-File
💻
Interview Modality:
100% Virtual
0% In-Person
MCW-COMP interviews are an average of 34 minutes, with an average of 2.1 interviews. 100% of interviews are one-on-one, 0% are in-person, and 1% are closed-file.
What is one of the specific questions they asked you?
The most commonly asked interview questions at medical schools include inquiries about ethical dilemmas faced, reasons for choosing medicine and the specific school, handling challenges in patient care, exhibiting professionalism, and discussing personal strengths and weaknesses. Many respondents noted being asked typical questions like "Why medicine?" and "Why this school?" alongside scenarios to assess problem-solving skills, ethical decision-making, and motivations for pursuing a medical career. Some responses indicated interviews in an MMI format with nondisclosure requirements, where questions varied widely to evaluate applicants comprehensively.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
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What are the top 3 issues in US Healthcare?
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Not supposed to divulge questions so just saying that it was basically an interrogation of my application
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Do you have any questions for me?
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Why MCW?
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One word to describe yourself.
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Have you looked at the pathways the school offers?
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What would you do if you could not practice medicine/ it was wiped out as a career choice?
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Why MCW - Central Campus?
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What's an ethical dilemma you have faced when clinical volunteering
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Tell me about yourself?
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Explain an ethical dilemma you have been in, how you handled it, and how you imagine that will shape how you will handle future such dilemmas.
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Go ahead and recap your file, what parts of it do you want to highlight and talk about?
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I noticed [this] in your application, can you tell me more about that?
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Why would you prefer service that has more long-term results (such as medicine) as compared to short term results.
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Given 8 competencies of a successful physician and then asked to respond why each is important and a time where you displayed these competencies?
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What challenges do you foresee yourself facing as a physician?
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Tell me about yourself.
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Why medicine?
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Tell me about your research projects. What conclusions were you able to make?
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Why do you want to be a doctor?
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What kind of traits should a doctor have? How would you break bad news to a patient?
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What does it mean to be mature?
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What qualities make a good physician?
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What would you do if a group member wasn't participating in your group project (not doing their fair share)?
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Tell me about a time you helped someone.
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Give me an example of when you have exhibited professionalism and how would you define it?
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What is an ethical dilemma do you expect to face?
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When did you decide to pursue medicine?
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Discuss an ethical quandary you have experienced in your life.
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Common questions like: Why medicine? Why MCW? What volunteer activities medicine and non-medicine have you done? Tell me about your research. What would you do if you didn't get into medical school this application cycle? Tell me about yourself.
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Do you have any family near WI?
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Why do you think you should practice medicine
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Let's say you are a 3rd year medical student and your attending/resident wants you to pick up there laundry because they are really busy... what do you do?
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What do you think about financing a medical school application? It's a lot of debt, yeah?
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What are three strengths? What are three weaknesses?
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Why Milwaukee?
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Who is someone you admire?
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The pre-health advisory committee did not feel that you had enough patient contact. Talk about your patient contact experience.
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Why MCW? Why do you want to be a doctor?
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Why do you want to become a doctor?
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Tell me about your research.
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Tell me about yourself. How's your hometown like?
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Tell me why you want to change careers.
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What is your hometown like?
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The usuals: Why medicine? Why MCW? What do you know about Milwaukee?
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Why low GPA (or MCAT)
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Why medicine? WHy this school?
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I see you got a ___ in organic chemistry. Why do you think you got that grade and do you think this will affect your performance in medical school?
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Who are you?
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Tell me about yourself and why you are here.
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What kind of doctor do you want to be?
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Tell me about your research.
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Why my MCAT score was so much better the second time I had taken it
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Gitmo question.
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Why mcw
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Tell me about yourself. (The interviewers only receive a brief paragraph about you so you'll do a bit of repeating yourself.)
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Do you have any questions for me? (both interviews started this way so be prepared with 2 or 3 questions that demonstrate interest and understanding of MCW)
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If you caught someone cheating on a test, what would you do? You shadowed a physician in ____, tell me about your experience. You taught children at ____ tell me about your experience. (It was open file and a lot of q's were from AMACAS)
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Why do you feel you, as an engineer, would make a good physician
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Tell me about your interests?
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Why medicine? Why MCW?
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Why medicine
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What are your strengths/weaknesses?
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What do you like most about volunteering?
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Define sensitivity...
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Why not be a nurse?
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Why the medical college of Wisconsin
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Tell me about yourself. My interviewer at least provided some guidelines, start with where I was from, family, then on to school and such.
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All were related to my application.
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Do you have any questions for me? (Be prepared for this one! Both of my interviewers asked this right off the bat. You will have both student and faculty interviewers.)
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Tell me about... (an experience on my application)? What was your favorite part about it? Most challenging part?
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You have a patient who you can't ween off of a ventilator (fully conscious and aware), he wants you to turn off the ventilator and let him die, his daughter has made it clear that if you do this she will sue you...what do you do?
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Why MCW?, How would you like living in Wisconsin?, What is the best thing about being a physician, what is the worst?
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What does professionalism mean to you?
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What are your hobbies? Do you think you can handle the balance btwn coursework and outside activities during medical school?
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Why do you want to be a physician? Why MCW?
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Why MCW? When medicine? Why did you wait a year?
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Y doctor
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Tell me about this honors paper you wrote (I was impressed/surprised that he noticed this detail in my AMCAS).
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Why MCW? Why do you want to be a doctor?
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Why do you want to be a physician?
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Why did you fail to get into medical school?
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Of what are you most proud?
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What is one important human rights issue that comes to mind, just off the top of your head?
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When did you decide to become a physician?
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Why Wisconsin/MCW?
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What else do you do besides study?
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What was your favorite class in college? Why?
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Explain why you don't have many non-scienc e courses.
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What would you do with a patient that continuted habits like smoking and not excercising against your advice?
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Why MCW/medicine?
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Explain grades/year of lower grades?
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Medical school is many years and long hours without significant pay. How are you prepared for that?
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What were your favorite and least favorite college classes?
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Tell me about yourself
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How did you become interested in medicine?
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How do you deal with stress and do you believe that will work in medical school
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What is your weakness?
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What do you do for fun, to relax?
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See interesting question.
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A young girl comes to see you and wants an abortion – you are against abortion – what do you do? (the interviewer told me that I was against abortion)
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Tell me about your experiences when you went to this country?
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Tell me about your life (vague as hell)
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Is there anything you want to tell me?
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What do your parents think about your decision to go to medical school?
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Tell me about your research
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Have you ever been discriminated against? (I'm a minority applicant)
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What qualities do you think a doctor should have? (both interviewers asked me that).
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If your friends could say three things about you, what would they say?
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What qualities are important for a physician to possess?
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If you could bring 3 people to dinner dead or alive who would it be? (so obscure)
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One of the interviewers asked me to tell him something interesting about myself.
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What three qualities do you think a good physician should have?
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What field of medicine are you interested in?
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Tell me about an experience where you feel that you impacted someone and that they in turn impacted your life.
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Why medicine? (which is common, but they still ask it.)
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Talk about your research.
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What if you were in the hospital and saw a colleague stealing drugs? Would you report it? (Heck, yeah!)
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Why MCW being from out-of-state.
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Name three characteristics a physician should have. (You better prepare ahead for this one, cause they are expecting a well thought answer.)
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AMCAS stuff.
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Why MCW? Why Wisconsin? How do you think you will like living in Wisconsin?
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Why a doctor? Why MCW?
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What 3 traits do you think a doctor needs?
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What do you see yourself doing in ten years. (got that one twice)
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How would you describe yourself to someone that didn't know you?
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Why do you want to be a doctor over say a RN or Physician's assistant?
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If you didn't get in this year, what would you do? Kept asking well what if not next year either? FInally what if not medicine?
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What types of cases have you seen working as an EMT?
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Tell me about your experience with physicians (clinical experience?)
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Mostly about my amcas
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What is your position on abortion? Why?
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What makes you happy? When is a time you have been misjudged in your life? What is an obstacle you have had to overcome in your life? What are your strengths and weaknesses when you are the leader in a small group?
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How would you fix American healthcare? (I said I didn't have a good answer, and he said "That's as good an answer as anything else you could have said, because no one else has come up with anything." WHEW!)
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Are you flexible?
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Why Doc?
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Why medicine? What do you see yourself in 10 years?
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Why medicine? What have you done to prepare yourself to be a physician.
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Why did you choose a Seven Sisters School? (I went to Smith as an undergrad)
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Why here?
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Why medicine?
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What are you doing now since you took a year off?
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What three attributes are most important for doctors to possess?
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Describe your research, what are your other interests?
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Tell me about your research experiences
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Who do you look up to?
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What do you think is the biggest problem facing the healthcare system today?
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Where do you see yourself in 10 yrs?
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Who is the most influential person in your life?
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Why here?
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Why do you want to go into medicine? (I got asked this twice)
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What do you do when you are getting overloaded with classwork?
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You had a grade in a course that wasn't up to par with the rest of your record, but you did very well on the mcat in that section, why the disparity?
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Why do you want to enter that area of medicine?
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What do you do for fun?
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Tell me about your family.
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Why doc? Why here? Where else apply?
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Tell about research.
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What problems do you anticipate facing in medical school?
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Looking at trends in your academic record, you have a lot more B+ in your last year of school, why is that?
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How did you improve on your MCAT? (I took it three times, and did the best the third.)
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What are your strengths/weaknesses
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How are you going to handle the sad parts of medicine, i.e. - a patient's death?
What was the most interesting question?
Students said most interesting question asked at Medical College of Wisconsin discussed a wide range of topics including ethical dilemmas, personal motivations for entering medicine, future healthcare challenges, and hypothetical scenarios like allocating resources in emergencies. The interviews seemed to cover a mix of standard questions along with some thought-provoking inquiries, potentially indicating an MMI format with a nondisclosure agreement in place for respondents.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
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Tell us about a difficult call you had as an EMT?
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If you can only provide care to one patient and two patients need care, how do you decide?
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Interviewer asked me what super power I would want!
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What do you believe is the biggest challenge for American/Western medicine moving forward?
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How does money influenced medicine? It was a follow up to discussion, not asked outright.
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What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome up to this point?
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Have you ever observed a physician do something that made you get a negative impression of the field.
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What is something that is not on your application that you would want people to know about you?
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What change would you like to see in medicine and how are you going to contribute to that change?
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What would your family think if you didn't enter medicine?
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Tell me about an experience during your shadowing that made you uncomfortable?
-
Nothing really, it was just them asking about my experiences and I spoke freely without feeling pressured to come up with a right answer.
-
Describe what qualities a physician needs to be successful
-
Where do you see yourself in 5-10 yrs
-
If you were the dean of the medical school would you rather have you applicants only have shadowing experiences or only have volunteering experiences? And why?
-
What is a healthcare issue that you think physicians will have to face in the coming years?
-
What's the most fun thing you've ever done?
-
What is an ethical situation you encountered while shadowing?
-
What career would you pursue if not medicine?
-
What is your favorite book?
-
Name two things that you like about the research you are doing (meaning something about the job in general) and two things that you don't like.
-
Why did you apply to mcw
-
Who is your hero?
-
How do you feel about the public option?
-
A 34 year old man with a congenital disease has an extremely low quality of life. However, the surgical team believes they can help him by performing an extremely expensive operation that would use up resources. What would Obama say about this? What would you do?
-
Why would you want to get involved with medicine right now considering all of the political problems?
-
If you had a 13 month of the year and money was not an option, what would you do?
-
What type of physician do you want to be? (not asking about speciality)
-
Whats your favorite course as an undergrad and why?
-
What do you do for fun?
-
How would you deal with frustrating, non-compliant patients that you really would rather just pass off to another doctor?
-
How do you show empathy to a patient you are doing art projects with?
-
Are you ready for med school
-
What characteristics would you consider essential to the ideal physician?
-
What do you want to do after med school?
-
What do you like to do for fun?
-
Do you want to practice in a private clinic or in an academic setting when you become a doctor?
-
What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? (Nothing too interesting was asked, pretty standard questions within the realm of preparation)
-
How do you deal with emotional problems? who would you turn to?
-
Nothing
-
Something about a Gitmo prisoner and whether or not you'd allow him to starve to death on a hunger strike.
-
How would my knowledge and experience of foreign healthcare will affect me as a future US physician
-
Where do u see yourself in 10 yrs?
-
Why I wanted to leave CA to go to WI
-
''If you came up to an accident with two people, equally hurt, and one was a dad with kids and another an elder lady, who would you treat?''
-
You're an officer at Guantanamo Bay. Your cheif medical officer comes to you and reports that a prisoner is refusing to eat and will die in a few days. What do you do?
-
We just discussed a lot of research from different perspectives. It was really interesting just to have conversations about various projects without being interrogated.
-
Tel me, how did you get that scar on your chin?
-
Questions about whether to give a terminally ill patient enough pain meds to kill him, what I would do if a cancer patient in remission asked for more information on physician-assisted suicide, etc
-
If you caught someone cheating on a test, what would you do?
-
Nothing that interesting...
-
Describe a time when you taught someone and were successful/unsuccessful
-
Tell Me a Joke
-
How will not having family members and friends living in Wisconsin affect your ability to succeed at our school?
-
Pretty standard questions... nothing too interesting.
-
What do you think is going to be the easiest part of medical school?
-
What makes you think you will fit in at MCW?
-
What field would you go into if the medical profession did not exist?
-
How does your father being a doctor affect your decision to enter medical school?
-
If medical school doesn't work out for you, what do you plan to do as a career?
-
So you said that your mom is a quilter...tell me about that...
-
I was asked my thoughts on a current news story about a girl with severe developmental retardation whose parents and doctors wanted to stunt her growth and remove tissues which would cause her to mature.
-
Caring is a very important trait please list a situation where someone told you that you were very caring?
-
None
-
What do you feel is one of the toughest challenges you will face as a medical student?
-
What does professionalism mean to you?
-
What three people (from any point in history) would you want to sit down and have dinner with?
-
What is the most difficult thing you have done?
-
Define professionalism.
-
Do you feel like you have the obligation to help the medical situation of your country? (I came from a third world country)
-
My second interviewer asked some interesting ethics questions.
-
Imagine you are a physician and you came upon an accident. There were two cars, each with a person in critical condition. Whatever person you help will live, the other will die. It is clear that one person was intoxicated. Which person do you help and what are some of your thoughts about the situation? Then repeated the questions involving one 30 year old father and one 90 year old.
-
I'm in the admissions committe. If I were to push your file, but someone else opposes me, what do you want me to tell them?
-
So...a black belt, huh? Outline the process to becoming a doctor for me.
-
What are your thoughts on affirmative action?
-
None really. The interviews were very laid back.
-
What would you do if a 16 year old girl approaches you to write her a prescription for birth control, and given her cultural background you know that her parents would be against it? .... (you should know that for a girl at this age she actually has the right to privacy on this)
-
What do you think being professional means?
-
We internists usually get the sickest of the sick and we often have to make life or death dicisions...what would you do if you made the wrong decision and your patient died?
-
If you had a pregnant patient, would you recommend that she have a test done to determine whether or not her baby would have Down's Syndrome? Would your decision change if you belonged to a group of physicians that strongly recommended that you perform this test on every one of your patients?
-
Nothing too interesting...I was asked how I would had an emergency situation at a hospital.
-
What would it say in your obituary?
-
What does sensitivity mean to you? Is this a good quality for a doctor to have? How so?
-
If you suspected your brother of stealing your ipod, how would you resolve the issue?
-
Your courses are eclectic....
-
What's your view of U.S. foreign policy? (What?!)
-
If you were a cybernetic doctor, what traits would you have?
-
Tell me a story about when you had to exercise compassion, or when the limits of your compassion were stretched.
-
How are you prepared to relate to patients who are ethnic minorities?
-
A series of "what would you do" in mock situtuations involving medical ethical delimmas
-
What qualities should an ideal doctor possess? followed by, How have you shown those qualities?
-
Where else have you applied and where have you been accepted?
-
You're an ER physician and you are treating a 16 year old sitting with her mother. Her pregnancy test comes back positive. What do you say/do?
-
How does the preperation for medical school compare to that of running a 5K?
-
Do you participate in any rituals or cultural celebrations even though you have always lived in the US? (I am a Hispanic applicant)
-
- It is the night before your tests in December, so you are going home tomorrow after your tests. Your dad calls you that evening and tells you that your mother is in ICU – and you can’t retake or reschedule the tests. Do you go home that night & re-do the entire year or do you stay take the tests and fly home the next day?
-
If a patient came to you wanting a procedure that you did want not do, would you still do it?
-
The three qualities that your friends would describe you as.
-
Which of the 4 words do u feel is worst and why? selfish, arogant, insensitive, (i dun remember the last one)
-
What would you do if you caught someone cheating? What if it was your best friend or boyfriend?
-
Why is it that you aren't married yet? Most students here are married or at least engaged. How many patients have you treated? (he forgot I was interviewing to get into med school and not for a residency!!)
-
WHAT were you doing in this picture? (My application picture looked like I put my face through a card board cut-out picture...it was BAD!)
-
Have you ever experienced a patient dieing? I said no, but I have experienced family members dieing. She asked how I would handle a patient dieing.
-
If you had an 18 yr old female patient that came in with her parents and you discovered she had an STD, would you tell her parents? why or why not? (forget the legal issue)
-
Some ethical questions.
-
I was not really asked anything out of the ordinary
-
If you saw someone cheating, what would you do?
-
Tell me about yourself
-
Well I had some ethical questions that were sort of interesting.
-
One of them asked me if a family came to the ER with an injured person would you let the family come with the patient.
-
What three qualities do you think a physician should have?
-
What in your life are you most proud of?
-
Coming from the south, how do you think you will be able to cope with Wisconsin winters?
-
Tell me about a time when you failed at something and how you dealt with the situation.
-
Tell me about the social problems in Africa.
-
What if you were taking an exam and saw a colleague cheating?
-
What person quality makes a physician great in his position?
-
Why wouldn't you rather be a P.A. than a doctor
-
Nothing really. Just standard questions.
-
What are your weaknesses?
-
Why MCW?
-
What is your opinion on the deciphering of the human genome and how will this impact our future?
-
Do people come to you for help/mentoring?
-
One negative aspect about becoming a doctor.
-
Nothing that interesting by either the doctor or the student.......although the student did ask me my favorite bars in Milwaukee so that was a fun/relaxed conversation
-
If you had a magic transporter that could take you anywhere in the world for one day, where would you go? Also, tell me what you would see and eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and why?
-
Have you done any travel? That question sorta came out of nowhere, but it was fun to talk about.
-
Most joyous moment of your life
-
Nothing too interesting
-
If you caught another medical student cheating on the anatomy exam, what would you do?
-
What did you like about the different specialties that you shadowed.
-
What is the biggest problem facing health care in this country?
-
What are traits that a good physician should have?
-
When makes you happy?
-
Who are you voting for in November?
-
What is your least favorite subject in school?
-
If you could have dinner with any 3 people, who would it be?
-
What are your personal feelings on the topic of death?
-
What are the three advantages and two disadvantages of medicine?
-
Who do you like in politics?
-
I wasn't asked anything particulaly striking. Writing this two months later, nothing but the typical "Why do you want to be a doctor?" and "What is the biggest challenge facing the health care system?" has stuck in my mind.
-
Since you are from California, what do you think of its current political situation?
-
What are your strengths and weaknesses
-
Why do you want to move to Wisconsin?
-
What's your favorite class?
-
What are your feelings on/how do you deal with death?
-
No interesting questions whatsoever
-
What are my most and least favorite classes?
-
What type of patient do you most fear treating?
-
How do you deal with people who are close-minded?
-
What is the biggest problem with Health Care Delivery?
-
What was the last book you read for fun?
-
Tell me about healthcare issues facing us in the present and in the future.
-
What do you think about a socialist healthcare policy....ie. compare US, Canada, UK.
-
What would you do if your best friend became an alcoholic?
-
How did your parents react to your decision to pursue medicine?
-
Challenges facing health care and physicians in near and distant future
-
What was your most significant undergraduate experience?
-
What do you think your biggest fear will be as a physician?
-
What are you the most proud of in your life?
-
Who was the most interesting patient you've ever seen in the emergency department?
-
Have you thought about taking a year off before medical school?
-
What is one thing you are improving in yourself
-
Have you ever been faced with a situation where you have had to make an ethical decision?
-
Nothing terribly interesting--a couple of "Greatest problem facing health care questions" though.
-
If you were stranded in the most isolated part of Mexico (where I studied abroad the summer before), what three things would you bring with you?
-
How would you handle a situation that you were a leader at but people were arguing?
-
The questions were typical.
-
What negative things about the medical profession would most impact you against entering the field?
-
Why didn't you apply to MCW last year? How did you pick the schools you applied to?
-
The faculty interviewer asked me 3x if i REALLY wanted to be a doctor??? so that was kind of annoying...he kept asking over and over again.
-
None. They were all basic questions like where do you see yourself in 10 yrs or what will you do if you dont get in?
-
None really. My student interviewer asked if I'd ever had any fun jobs (not research/medical related).
-
There were really no interesting questions. The questions asked were the general tell me about yourself, what are your hobbies..etc.
-
What are your feelings on euthanasia/ physician assisted suicide?
-
Nothing too interesting.
-
Why didnt you go to medical school right out of college?
-
Some situational questions - not ethics per se, more "How would you react to..." (Sorry, I was specifically asked not to repeat the question.)
-
If you could make the perfect doctor, what qualities would you include in the person?
How did you prepare for the interview?
Most applicants prepared for the interview by reviewing their application materials, practicing with mock interviews, researching the school's website, and reading feedback on Student Doctor Network (SDN). Suggestions included practicing common interview questions, researching current events, and ensuring familiarity with the school's curriculum and strengths.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
-
SDN
-
SDN, practice
-
Reviewed FAQs
-
Reviewed app file and my secondary i sent, visited school's website, reached out to current students.
-
Reviewing application, practice sessions with professional advising at alumni uni, reviewing pre-med prep books, and writing out answers to common questions.
-
Reviewed my app, reviewed the website.
-
Mock interviews
-
Practice questions, online interview videos, this.
-
Reviewed primary, secondaries, and looked at their curriculum
-
Sdn questions
-
Reviewed my AMCAS, personal statement, SDN forum, and talked with current students.
-
Reading example questions.
-
SDN, reviewed my application, practiced answers
-
Reviewed my application and conducted research on the school
-
Reviewed interview feedback and reviewed my app. Just be yourself and you'll be fine.
-
SDN, looked up and practiced common interview questions, reviewed my secondary and AMCAS
-
Looked over the interview feedback here and made sure I knew the highlights and strong points of MCW (like the Discovery Curriculum)
-
SDN Interview Feedback, my application, forums
-
Read SDN Feedback; Read over amcas app; Read Men's Interview Clothing Thread #3
-
Primary, SDN feedback, school website
-
Research, research, research. Look through common interview questions and question on SDN. Mock Interviews (live and on phone)
-
SDN, website, MCW students
-
SDN, interview prep books, youtube
-
Review my application, read SDN, browsed their website, brainstormed questions
-
Briefly looked over my AMCAS application
-
SDN, current events, reviewed AMCAS
-
Did several mock interviews (with advisor and med students). Prepared for those mock interviews like they were the real thing, and I made sure to get feedback and make improvements after each one. Studied the school website and made a list of things that I felt made MCW really great. I made sure to prepare a positive, honest response for any weaknesses in my application. Also prepared a few good questions to ask about MCW. The preperation made a huge difference and made the interview much less stressful.
-
SDN, review AMCAS
-
Review AMCAS, read through SDN, research school website
-
Reviewing AMCAS, school website, SDN feedback
-
I just made sure to get enough rest and spent some time relaxing before the interview session. Since this was a local interview for me, I spent the morning with friends at the office to loosen up.
-
Talked with some friends who attend here about their interview experience and what their classmates have told them. Talked with current students doing the Thurs informal meeting. Looked at SDN and researched the school thoroughly. Had experience from previous interviews and mock interviews. Also, I had attended one of MCW's mock interview days for pre-meds a few months ago.
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Interview feedback, previous interviews
-
Sdn interview feedback, talking to friends.
-
SDN, AMCAS, personal statement, transcripts, UWash bioethics site, interviewing book, scientific paper I was an author for, printed out old schoolwork that was relevant, practice interview questions in the car all the time
-
I looked at their website, consulted the MSAR, and read posts on SDN.
-
Sdn, read school's website, read AMCAS activity descriptions
-
SDN, MCW website, friends from MCW
-
SDN, read primary, participated in host stay program.
-
Re-read AMCAS, researched school, SDN
-
SDN interview feedback, school's website, primary app.
-
SDN/ school website/ Thusday night social
-
I had three previous interviews.
-
I read my past research experience and personal statement. Nothing too serious.
-
SDN, MCW website
-
Reviewed my AMCAS application, checked this site and browsed the medical school's website.
-
SDN. MCW website. Talked to students at the Thursday night social and my host.
-
Reviewed my application, ethical questions, info about the school
-
Mock interview, SDN
-
SDN, mock interviews
-
Reading this site and theirs, finding things I liked about the school and questions that I could ask. I read over Amcas and my personal statement.
-
SDN, googled ethical opinion questions, MCW website
-
Sdn and mcw website
-
SDN, AAMCAS, research about medical innovations
-
Sdn, msar, website
-
SDN, website, previous research papers, AMCAS
-
SDN, AMCAS app, practice interview questions
-
AMCAS, school website
-
Mcw publications, studentdoctor.net site, students of the school
-
Read sdn, mcw website, looked over amcas
-
Research online, mock interview
-
Made sure I was up on the current literature related to my research.
-
SDN, reviewed primary, Wash U ethics site
-
Read interviewing tips by Jeremiah Flenor, looked at SDN questions, went over amcas app and googled some stuff about the school/curriculum/research opportunities etc.
-
SDN, Reviewed my research, talked to myself in the car...
-
Read up on the school
-
SDN, keeping up with events, read over primary, secondary, research paper, etc...
-
Mock interview, read over this site and MCW's site
-
Mock interview, read some articles on healthcare issues, went over my own applications, studentdoctor.net
-
Read about school, mock interview, etc.
-
Reading interview feedback
-
Review AMCAS
-
School's website, SDN, staying with a student host, and attending the info session the night before the interview
-
SDN, reread AMCAS, looked over website
-
SDN, reviewed AMCAS
-
Review AMCAS, review studentdoctor, relax
-
AMCAS, SDN
-
Read online about different interviewing tips and looked on the school's website (trust me just be yourself you do not need all this they will tell you about the school's strengths)
-
SDN, basically winged it from there
-
Mock interviews, read up on the latest news (both US & international), reviewed my AMCAS application, read up on bioethics (University of Washington bioethics website), read ''Understanding Health Policy''
-
SDN, mental preparation, researched current events, reviewed application, researched info. about the school
-
Sdn, amcas, other interviews
-
Read feedback on this site, researched common topics.
-
Reviewed AMCAS, current events, SDN
-
SDN, research about healthcare system, (honestly, forgot to read AMCAS), but one interviewer commented that I've lots of ECs.
-
SDN, read over AMCAS again, mock interviews, read up on current events, and UWash ethics website.
-
Previous interviews, read info about the school
-
Didnt much. got into another school already.
-
Read SDN, primary, and about MCW. Also went over some stuff that had come up in other interviews.
-
Lots of mock interviews, researched the U.S. and Canadian health care systems online, researched biomedical ethics (University of Washington website), SDN
-
Read SDN feedback, reviewed MCW website info, talked with past students.
-
I don't like to prepare for interviews... this is not smart but I like to play things by ear.
-
Read MCW interview feedback, reviewed MCW's website, read a little about healthcare reform but it didn't come up
-
SDN, MCW.edu.
-
Studentdoctor.net, AMCAS application, MCW website
-
Read over AMCAS, school website, SDN
-
Read amcas
-
SDN, the school's website, past interviews, prayer.
-
Read SDN, AMCAS, and www.mcw.edu
-
I was WIPED OUT by the ball-busting interview at Univ. of Washington two days prior. I just showed up with a smile on my face.
-
Other interviews, sdn, looked over school's website
-
Current events, SDN
-
SDN, application, health care policy
-
Read StudentDoctor.Net Reviewed AMCAS app. Reviewed standard questions.
-
Reread AMCAS, went on lots of mock interviews (highly recommended), carefully scrutinized my motivations.
-
I read this Web site, the Wall Street Journal, NIH MedLine Plus news briefs, and much, much more.
-
Read about school, re-read application, did a mock interview with a local physician
-
Read up on issues, knew my application well
-
Read over my application, SDN website, MCW website, prepared answers to practice questions provided by my school
-
SDN, read AMCAS application, researched the school/location
-
Read Studentdoctor.net, practiced answers to some interview questions
-
Re-read AMCAS, website, SDN feedback
-
Reviewed this website and the schools web site
-
SDN, MCW Website, AMCAS
-
Winged it
-
Previous interviews/talk to host student
-
SDN, read viewbook, other interviews
-
Read AMCAS, interview feedback, sample questions
-
Read over my application, practiced interview questions posted on SDN, looked at their website.
-
Other interviews. Asking students what they like and did't like about the school. looked at web-site.
-
This website, read MSAR book, got interviewing book, practiced with parents, mental rehearsal
-
SDN, read the brochure, website
-
SDN, AMCAS, school website
-
Looked over the school's website and read SDN feedback
-
Sdn, reviewd amcas, previous interviews
-
Just general preparation (newspapers, sdn, health care books)
-
Read MCW website, app. materials, SDN
-
Read school website, read SDN feedback, took deep breaths!
-
I had an information booklet from the school and reviewed it. Reviewed my AMCAS and secondary applications. Talked to a doctor at my work who went there.
-
Read SDN, talked with a former student from the school, read over my AMCAS application.
-
Talked with my student host the night before, reread AMCAS essay and experiences, mock interviews, NEJM articles.
-
Read AMSA daily policy updates, reviewed personal statement and AMCAS app, made a smashing suit to wear.
-
Read MCW website and SDN
-
I read SDN, looked over questions asked previously
-
Read SDN feedback, other interview experience! Read a book.
-
Read sample questions
-
SDN, MSAR, school viewbook
-
SDN, reviewed my application
-
Didn't really, i used to work there, looked at this site
-
Not well enough, this website...should have gone over amcas
-
SDN and the school's website
-
SDN, viewbook, website
-
I had perused SDN in the past, so I knew some of the types of questions to be ready for...other than that I just thought about how I'd want to present myself.
-
SDN, practicing by myself
-
Standard
-
Read SDN, website, brochures
-
Too many interviews already, no additional prep.
-
A good night's sleep
-
I had a mock interview at my school with three faculty members.
-
SDN, MCW website, talked to my host, read up on healthcare issues, watched news for current events.
-
Read MCW website several times, read up on healthcare issues in Princeton Review's Med School book, mock interview
-
Reviewed 1st and 2nd applications, researched the school, practiced possible interview questions
-
Read up on the school's website.
-
Read the school website, SDN, brochure, and looked at current medical issues.
-
Go over the primary and secondary applications, do on-line research about the campus, do mock interview with a career counselor and read SDN
-
Standard.
-
I read over sample questions and thought about how I would answer them.
-
Read school brochure, SDN, mock interviews
-
Website, sdn
-
Caught up on the news. Asked self questions.
-
SDN, website, viewbook
-
Website & amcas application
-
Read this site, school's webpage + brochure.
-
Read SDN, my AMCAS app, online viewbook
-
Read the information sent by the school, looked at the website, read up on current healthcare issues
-
I read my AMCAS, their brochure and this website.
-
SDN, Viewbooks, Kept up on current events.
-
Visualization and read through the MCW website.
-
SDN, keeping up with current events
-
Mock interviews, sdn, MCW brochure, read over AMCAS, keep up with current events
-
Read website, application
-
SDN, mock-interviews
-
SDN; website
-
Talked with current students, sdn
-
Read website, read up on healthcare issues
-
This website, MCW viewbook and website
-
SDN, MCW website, reading news headlines to make sure I was up to speed on world events.
-
Read websites, relaxed
-
Sdn, catalogue
-
Read viewbook they sent, this site
-
Read viewbook, SDN, previous interviews.
-
Read their brochure, reviewed my application, this website
-
Read the MCW website, SDN, the handbook, my AMCAS app.
-
Studied website, School Viewbook, Mock Interview, went over the Interview chapter in a Medical school prep book.
-
Looked over the website, talked with a friend that was going there, and looked over their materials they sent me.
-
Same thing I did for other schools. I looked over the school catalogs, reread my AMCAS application (MCW doesn't really have a secondary), and added questions specfic to MCW to my list of questiosn that I ask interviewers at every school.
-
This site, www.mcw.edu.
-
I read their brochures, my AMCAS application, this website and talked to people who have connections to the school, one way or another.
-
This site, which was accurate btw, their site and published info, and by looking over my application.
-
Read SDN, school website, prepare answers for "usual" questions
-
Nothing...the sdn website was down...i just looked up a couple of things on the website.
-
Talked to students at MCW, mock interview, MCW viewbook.
-
Looked over MCW info, talked to current students, read this site, and looked over my AMCAS.
-
I reviewed my application, looked over the website, and read the materials sent to me by the school.
-
Read this website and their website, read over my amcas app
-
I looked at the website, read the viewbook
-
Read the student catalog. I also took part in the host program. It was a great way to get to know the school.
-
Read my essays and application, and their booklet
-
Reviewed their application materials, stayed w/ a student host who answered alot of my questions and talked about the school
-
Read the materials they sent me and the web site.
What was the most difficult question?
Students said most difficult question asked at Medical College of Wisconsin discussed various topics such as ethical dilemmas, challenges in healthcare, personal motivations for pursuing medicine, and hypothetical scenarios involving patient care decisions. Some respondents mentioned encountering Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format questions, potentially subject to nondisclosure agreements, while others faced standard interview questions focusing on weaknesses, ethical situations, and future goals in medicine.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
-
What are the top 3 issues in US Healthcare?
-
If you can only provide care to one patient and two patients need care, how do you decide?
-
Why I would be a good fit at their school.
-
What do you believe is the biggest challenge for American/Western medicine moving forward?
-
What would you say to someone who doubted you?
-
What trends in medicine are you most excited about? Which are you least excited about? What would you do to change the trends that you are least excited about?
-
Tell me about yourself
-
Describe a time when you were faced with an ethical dilemma and what did you do?
-
What would you want the committee to know about you?
-
What will you bring to this school if you are accepted?
-
What is one of the biggest struggles of medicine today and how would you fix it.
-
Given 8 competencies of a successful physician and then asked to respond why each is important and a time where you displayed these competencies? (Took some long pauses, but overall once I thought about each one I was able to provide a pretty decent answer)
-
Nothing really, they were standard interview questions.
-
Not difficult, but I had to think for a few minutes--Have you ever been in a situation that seemed unethical?
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None, very conversational.
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Explain low MCAT and/or gpa
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What was your most down in the dumps moment in undergrad?
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What would you do if you had to treat a "morally reprehensible" person?
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What will be one of the biggest hardships for you or physicians in general over the coming years?
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It was something like this: Your experiences are sort of all over the place. That makes us wonder if your desire to study medicine is on-again, off-again. How do we know that you're really committed to becoming a great physician? (The actual question was worded in a much a nicer way, though).
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I didn't receive a difficult question. Most of the questions were based from my AMCAS.
-
I don't recall any questions being overly difficult.
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What clinical activities are you currently involved in? This wasn't difficult to answer per se as I completed my most recent one and so I wasn't currently doing any. I just felt like I had done plenty of clinical activities by volunteering and shadowing throughout and after college but had finished my most recent shadowing experience (so wasn't shadowing at the moment). This was in my file already, but it was still brought up which made me feel self-conscious that it was being perceived negatively and all my previous activities didn't matter. All I could do was answer honestly and hope I was wrong about it being a negative.
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Why MCW?
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I'm going to meet with the admissions committee a week from today, what would you want them to know about you?
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Why MCW? (only hard because the interviewer seemed put off by my answer, I think I smoothed it over, but can't be sure)
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What are the three biggest issues with h ealthcare, and how would you solve them?
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Weakness
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20 years in the future...your 9 year old daughter calls you from her soccer practice and is wondering why you can't show up. You missed last weeks practice and promised you would be there, but you can't b/c of work. What do you tell her?
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What is your greatest weakness?
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N/A - really laid back
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They did not ask any strange questions. They were more concerned with my experiences and motivations.
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None
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None of the questions were particularily difficult. I didn't get any ethical questions, but I did talk to some applicants who did.
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Teach me something (doesn't have to be academic) right now.
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What would you do if you saw a student cheating?
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How can we fix the disparities in healthcare
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N/a
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Are you sure you want me to tell the committee that?
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Why arent you taking a year off?
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What can be done to raise basal levels of HDL? (My research was on heart disease)
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Who are you? It was the first question and so open ended it kind of stumped me for a second. I started by saying my name is .... and I want to go to MCW b/c blah blah blah
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Describe an experience in which you displayed compassion.
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What do you think are some barriers to physicians?
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All about my application
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None really
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Specific questions about weaknesses in my application
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Why my mcat was low.
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Two things about you that you want me to take back to the committee
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(see above)
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Some of the researchers from different backgrounds than my own asked me questions about my research more related to their work than mine. But if I said I didn't know they were understanding of this.
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Tell me about an ethical situation you have been involved with and how you handled it.
-
See above
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If you caught someone cheating on a test, what would you do?
-
You are a student doing a surgical rotation and the surgeon is removing the appendix. Accidently he cuts part of the spleen. Surgery takes two hours longer. The surgeon tells you to go talk to the family and to not tell them of the error. What do you do?
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What do you consider to be your biggest failure
-
Nothing was overwhelmingly difficult.
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Is there anything else you think I should know?
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What are you working on to improve in your life?
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What do you feel are the problems in Healthcare?
-
What is the difference between a trade and profession? It really wansn't that hard but caught me off guard.
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Tell me about your weaknesses.
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Nothing to difficult, everything was pretty standard.
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Describe a time when you failed and how you dealt with it.
-
Ugh....I had 3 hypothetical situations...can't stand these type of questions.
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Define sensitivity (and describe a situation when you were sensitive)
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None really.
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What was your favorite subject
-
Nothing
-
Not much, the first interviewer just kinda picked everything bad about my application out and barated me for it over and over, giving me little chance to explain myself. All in all it was a waste of my time. He was on the other hand very interested in talking about his own good qualities.
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Please describe a situation where you faced an ethical dilema and how you dealt with it.
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Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Why took crimonology class?
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What three people (from any point in history) would you want to sit down and have dinner with?
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What is the most difficult thing you have done?
-
You are the general at a military base. One of your military prisoners, a suspected terrorist, has gone on a hunger strike and hasn't had anything to eat or drink in 6 days. The prisoner has been examined and declared psychologically sound. The medical officer comes to you and asks what action should be taken, as the situation will become critical in the next few days. (an ethical question, but posed in the military context, my interviewer seemed more concerned with the political aspects.)
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What is the problem of the US healthcare system and how do u wanna fix it?
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If we were on a parallel universe and there was not a need for any more doctors (there is absolutely no way that you can be a physician), what else would you do? It just seems unfair to make me say another career in an interview.
-
Nothing I deemed difficult. I recommend practicing thinking on the spot and being verstitle towards your interviewer's style. For example, the student interviewer liked to have conversations while the faculty interviewer wanted me to answer shorts answers without the fluffy stuff.
-
So tell me, why medicine? (The question itself wasn't difficult, the fact that I had just gotten acquainted with my seat and was immediately asked this was unexpected.)
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Biomedical ethics: You are treating a preteen girl whose STD test comes back positive. She begs you not to tell her parents about the results. What should you do?
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None. Straight forward questions, why doctor, why MCW, any questions for me...
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Why do you think you failed to get into med school last year? And why didn't you apply here last year?
-
What do you think being professional means? I was caught a little off guard when the student interviewer asked me this.
-
If a girl (he didnt specify age, which made answering it complicated) came in with her parent complaining of pelvic pain, and you discovered she had contracted an STD and the girl begs you to not tell her mother, would you tell inform the parent? (after I answered yes) Wouldnt you be worried about breaking the trust you have with your patient?
-
What would your enemies say about you?
-
Why do I want to be a doctor instead of a nurse?
-
Nothing too difficult, thankfully.
-
Why not be a teacher?
-
Know any good jokes? (I only know dirty jokes, so I opted for an anecdote about old people)
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Above.
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My first interviewer was a professor and it felt like he was grilling me the whole interview long...here's a difficult one: what challenge do you think you'll have during your medical eduation (after giving him a challenge that he didn't feel applied specifically to medical education)
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I see that your scores on the MCAT were such and such... why not explain why you received a lower essay score?
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You already have significant health care experience. How do you think you can still be teachable when you might already know some of the content?
-
What lessons should doctors learn from the Katrina hurricane disaster?
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What is the most difficult/challenging situtation you've ever faced
-
Above, second part
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Prove to me that you want to be a doctor and that will be able to succeed
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Your grades are really high but your MCAT score does not reflect this. Why?
-
If all number twos are threes, what is two square? (The answer is 37)!
-
Your MCAT is good but your grades are very average. Do you think you have what it takes to be in med school?
-
Same as above
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If you saw a friend cheating, what would you do?
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If you had a patient that wanted a surgery you disapproved of, what would you do? refer her to someone else or let her find another willing doctor?
-
Same
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Who is the most important person in a clinic or hospital setting?
-
How are you not going to become pregnant while in medical school?
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At the age of 19, how did you have the maturity to know this? (In response to my self-designed major)
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What is your weakness?
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If you had a terminally ill patient, how would you make them comfortable?
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What other schools i interviewed at (i didn't really want to answer but i did anyway).
-
I am a good family friend of a 14 year old girl who has come to see me as a physician and she is pregnant? What do I do? Inform the family...etc?
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What one event motivated you to pursue a career in medicine?
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What achievement are you most proud of?
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What are three weaknesses your friends would tell me if they were here now?
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How do you feel about our armed forces abroad? (interviewer was a veteran)
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So, tell me about your life.
-
Nothing was difficult. My questions were all very easy to answer in a conversational manner.
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Tell about a weakness that you have and how you are working to overcome it.
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Explain your bad grade in a science course.
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What took you so long to decide to become a physician? (I'm 41 years old, so I expected this, but it's still a toughie).
-
I didn't feel that any of the questions were difficult. Most questions were opinion-directed, and I felt strongly about my answers
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Nothing I couldn't answer..nothing hard. They are so nice about that...it wasn't a stress interview at all.
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Why MCW? Why Wisconsin?
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What if you don't get into medical school?
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With the increasing influence of managed care, what do you think the impact of HMOs will be on private practices in the future?
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What will you do if you don't get in anywhere this year? the year after that? and after that? EVER? I told them it was impossible and they accepted me :)
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What do you think about the privatization of social security? (this was by the student)
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Nothing really that difficult
-
You seem to have been very successful throughout your life in your endeavours...what was a time in which you were not successful, and how did you deal with it?
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What do you feel about medicine? (i thought it was very vague)
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What will you bring to health care? (This was after I already answered the question like three different ways, and I didn't know what else to say).
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Ethical, political, situational, self evals, you name it, it was asked.
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Nothing really
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Who are you going to vote for on Tuesday? Why?
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How would I respond if a 13 year old who wanted an abortion came into my office.
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What makes you happy?
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How do you feel about American foreign policy?
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If you had a terminally ill patient and he didn't want his family to know about his condition, what would you do?
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What are your experiences with death?
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What are the three advantages and two disadvantages of medicine?
-
One above.
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The interview with the MD was great. Very conversational and informative. The interview with the student was much more contrived: (what are your strengths and weaknesses; biggest accomplishment; why medicine; what would you do if you didn't get in)
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Do you really think overweight patients are willing to make the necessary lifestyle changes to improve their health (I work in research studying weight loss in type 2 diabetics)
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Why do you study this major?
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Describe a time you failed at something.
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What qualities to doctors need? (Only hard because I would give a quality, and he'd ask me for more, so i ended up listing 7 qualities off the top of my head which sucked)
-
Nothing, really. Everything was pretty standard.
-
How can I explain your GPA to my colleagues on the admissions committee?
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What is the reason for this bad grade?
-
1. What is the biggest problem with Health Care Delivery. 2. Well, now that you've answered what the problems are how will you solve it?
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Why do you want to become a doctor opposed to some other health profession or some other profession that allows you to help people?
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How have your volunteer and clinical experiences changed you as a person?
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Has there been a time in your life when you felt you've been misjudged?
-
What are the major problems you see in health care delivery and how would you address them?
-
Why didn't i have clinical experience?
-
What have experiences abroad taught you
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How would you reform health care in the United States?
-
How do you tell a terminally ill patient he is going to die?
-
The weather here sucks. Why do you want to spend 4 years here?
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What are your weaknesses?
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What do you think is the biggest challenge facing health care
-
What do you think are the positives and negatives in working in private versus group practices, and what would you do to fix those problems?
-
Have you ever been faced with a situation where you have had to make an ethical decision?
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This one was great: first question by my student interviewer after telling me it was going to be a relaxing interview, "If you could invite 3 people, dead or living, to dinner, who would you invite, what would you serve, and why?" That question sucked.
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"What do you think about P/NP medical programs? I think they make medical students lazy. I know I worked over 80 hours per week outside of class during my first year." (I like them, but my interview was obviously heavily anti-P/NP)
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What are you worst qualities?
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Nothing.
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Why would you rather do this than other service oriented careers?
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Why didn't you apply to MCW last year? How did you pick the schools you applied to? Everything was about my history / application.
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None...just asked re: research.
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Very easy interview
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My faculty interviewer asked about my views of being a woman and going into medicine.
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None of the questions were difficult.
-
About 6 different ethical questions...not what i expected.
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Who are your heroes? What are you proud of?
-
Nothing out of the ordinary.
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How do you prioritize?
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Other than knowledge, what do you think are some of the most important skills/qualities for a doctor to have?
What impressed you positively?
Applicants were overwhelmingly impressed by the friendliness and positivity of the staff, faculty, and students at the school. They also highlighted the top-notch facilities, new buildings, sense of community, and quick turnaround time for decisions as key positive aspects of their experience. Many appreciated the collaborative and low-stress atmosphere during the interview day.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
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I liked having members of the community there, they seemed nice.
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Very conversational and low-stress
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Everyone seems very positive
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The facilities are top notch, the admissions staff is very professional, and students who were there seemed genuinely happy to be there.
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The genuine kindness of all the staff and faculty. Everyone cared about me as an applicant and would do little things to make me feel welcome/ included.
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Friendly staff
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New facilities, Tunnels between buildings, Nearby hospital, Pathways program, Quirky professors, Cheap rent, Close to the city
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The staff and the students
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I was actually incredibly impressed by this school, seeing as it was relatively low on my list. The facilities are SUPER nice and everyone at the campus (students, admins, and physicians) seemed really, truly, genuinely invested in the school. There was a great sense of community.
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The facilities were absolutely gorgeous! Lots of space in the anatomy labs and lots of study spaces, including 24/7 spaces to study.
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The interviewers were extremely nice and were interested in having a conversation, rather than just grilling me with questions. Everyone on campus was friendly.
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Very collaborative student body.
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Facilities are modern, student body is very vibrant and social. Catered lunch was surprisingly really good!
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Students, research opportunities, facilities
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Everyone was extremely friendly, humble and personable. I loved this school! The interview day was also well organized and allowed us plenty of time to ask questions to faculty and students.
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Student and faculty were really nice and positive!
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The whole interview process was so relaxed! They really were there to see if you fit the school and did not try to stress you out about anything.
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Gorgeous facilities, lots of hospitals in the area, students seemed happy
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Laid back day. Great lunch. Fellow interviewees, for the most part, seemed like people I could easily get along with.
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The atmosphere was great. People are friendly. Big hospital system. Receptive staff. All around great school.
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Ms. Jennifer and all of the staff were so sweet. The lunch was great too. Was glad that I got to interview earlier in the day. Students seemed really happy and chill. Everybody in Milwaukee was really nice too. Could def see myself living there.
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The facilities, students and faculty. A lot of really interesting and cool applicants in my interview group.
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Facilities, friendliness of faculty, students and staff, organization of the interview day, cohesion among such a large class, turnaround time for decision,
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Everyone was so incredibly friendly. The students seemed so happy too.
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The friendliness of everyone! I wasn't expecting the big focus on community service and primary care, so that was nice.
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Even though I had very difficult interviews, the interviewers really listened to my responses. It felt as though there were a few points regarding me as an applicant that they wanted to probe and I feel that the did an extremely good job at being forceful but respectful. In addition, the faculty interviewer was clearly familiar with my AMCAS application as they asked some very insightful followup questions regarding my PS.
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Even though there were approximately 40 people being interviewed, the day ran SO smoothly and was very well organized. Friendliness of EVERYONE. Facilities were great: library, student lounge, M2 lecture hall (was so nice), and STAR center
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SDN interview feedback, did a mock interview
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Pretty much everything. Location, people, quality of education, and opportunities after graduating are all excellent IMO.
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Quick turnaround from interview to decision (one week exactly)
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The new facilities
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The facilities are awesome and I like the new curriculum that is being put in place
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All of the faculty, staff, and students I interacted with were very friendly and candid.
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The students were really the best thing about MCW. They all seemed happy to be there, and the class as a whole seems very collaborative and not at all competitive. The class size is large so even if there's someone you just don't mesh with, you can just never speak to them which is awesome since I think all medical schools get a few of "those people" in every class. And there's always enough people to find a good group of friends to hang and study with. Most of the facilities are very nice and new. They have a lot of resources for advising and counseling whether it be for classes/boards/mental health/residency matching. From large and small group tutoring, career advising, board study groups, everything was available should it be needed. The curriculum is being over-hauled over the next couple years (started about 2 years ago), which is very needed and will definitely prepare students to succeed in today's field of medicine. It's also really nice to know that the faculty have recognized how much medicine has changed and that medical education needs to change to keep up unlike some other schools that prefer to deny that a century-old curriculum is out-of-date. It's very affordable to live very close to the school and in a nice and safe place. The faculty are very available to the students. The pathways seem very interesting especially the clinician educator pathway as I'm interested in medical education and haven't been able to find a lot of medical schools that specifically have ways to teach students to become teachers. Great research programs, whether you pick a summer research program a research honors distinction or the physician/scientist pathway (not the joint degree). Great ways to help out in communties around Milwaukee, I especially am excited about the Saturday Free Clinic. It has a free gym and lounge area with tv, pool tables, and ping pong tables.
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Quality of MCW's education, Pathways
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New facilities, accommodations made by the school for the applicants (shuttle, host system, thurs night social, etc)
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Friendly people at this school. Milwaukee is an awesome city, just severely overshadowed by its huge neighbor to the south.
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The school seems to really care about its students, the way they take care of and respect the applicants, the facilities, the neighborhood. Lots of student groups, events, and early clinical experiences.
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Everything was state of the art. The building was brand new, and the library, lecture halls, labs and practice clinic were all gorgeous.
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The new facilities, STAR center, friendliness of staff and students
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The friendliness of students and the incredible access to doctors.
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Nice facilities, medical center is huge; the people in WI are incredibly nice (coming from CA, it's going to be an interesting adjustment, but my wife and I loved the environment/people); also, the school is in Wauwatosa, not Milwaukee (it's a nicer suburban area)
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The facilities at MCW are amazing. The admissions staff is on top of everything, and everyone is super nice. The whole interview day was very well-run.
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All buildings and surround hospitals - they are all new. The fact that students are participating a lot in changing curriculum. Pathways program. Very large research institute.
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1) Free MCW sticky note pad 2) Free MCW pen 3) FREE MCW 1GB THUMB DRIVE!!! SQUEEE!!!
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The friendliness of the people! The school! Michael Istwan! I loved it all!
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Very friendly people
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The staff and students were extremely friendly and treated us well during the interview day.
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The TREMENDOUS community and public health outreach opportunities--this is a school that fosters students who care and start making a difference early on. The student-run Saturday clinic is a prime example. The interconnected buildings keep you out of the cold. The STAR center. Top-ranked hospital and children's hospital. **We find out 10 days after the interview.**
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Pretty much everything - the students, the facilities, the organization of the whole interview day. There was a collaborative vibe throughout the entire place.
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The quick turn around time
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The location, really nice large library, how tech-savvy the campus is, early clinical exposure, the students genuinely seem to want to help each other
-
Promptness of people in admissions office
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I liked the students, seemed professional. The facilities were ok and there were cool clubs that you could join. I love the city-but its my hometown.
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Friendly, laid-back students AND interviewees. Possibly the friendliest out of the schools I've visited.
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Facility, location, super friendly faculty
-
Nice facilities, they seemed fairly new
-
Friendliness of interviewers Rapid response (1 wk) following interview
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Everybody's friendliness - from the admissions staff to the students to the interviewers. Also, the facilities were very nice.
-
STAR lab
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The school's facilities, reputation, and money
-
Facilities were newer and nicer than I had previously expected. Location was good with plenty of medical facilities in the area.
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Facilities, organization, positive attitude
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Facilities, regional reputation of the school, classrooms, efficiency of interview day. Not very much waiting time
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Students, campus, environment, research opportunities, faculty
-
Facilities, friendly students, interviewers
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The facilities, the general attitude of the students and staff, the disposition of the admissions director
-
Everything! The interview made a big difference in my impression of the school. The PIs were all from big name places (Hopkins, WashU, Harvard) but moved to MCW for it's collaborative environment and seem genuinely happy. The students were really friendly, love their school, and have super cool research.
-
The facilities and unity of the student body.
-
Facilities, students and other people were very nice, students seem legitimately happy
-
The buildings were new and nice. Frodhert Hospital is right next door. Every building on campus is connected so you don't have to worry about the cold Milwaukee weather too much. The students were extremely nice. The grading isn't bell curve based so people try to help each other (not that cut-throat). They always seem to find funding if you want to do research (which I do). The cafeteria is nice and reasonably priced. So is the housing; apparently a good apartment with 1 roommate runs about $500. They have tons of teachers and faculty full time; professors are extremely accessible via e-mail and HOME phone #. They will get their decision back to you in 1 week! (For us it is two since thanksgiving is next week.)
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Pretty much everything. The school is real nice and new.
-
Everyone was SO friendly. No one was pretentious and it seemed like the fact that they are solely a medical school meant no one had that arrogant med student attitude.
-
Awesome facilities, how nice the people were.
-
Friendly, updated nice facilities, did I already say friendly?, acted like they were trying to sell their school to us/wanted us to be there, trying hard to recruit diversity
-
How nice the school was going to be.
-
The campus is amazing and the people are really friendly. They worked hard to put me at ease while I was there.
-
The new building, the hospitals on campus, clinical experiences
-
Facilities are nice
-
The facilities seemed really new (the lecture halls were pretty nice in comparison to the other ones i've seen), the students were SO friendly and seem really tight-knit, there are a lot of medical facilities nearby, no other health professions or undergrad population to share the facilities with. in general, everyone at the school was SUPER nice and the interview day was EXTREMELY organized and went very smoothly.
-
The building is very nice and new, and the student body was mature and professional, but at the same time very friendly and eager to talk with interviewees. The interview day is nice because it doesn't start until noon, so there isn't that frantic rush in the morning. It is SO nice that they tell you within 10 days if you've been accepted, waitlisted, or rejected.
-
The facilities and the current students.
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Facilities, student population, close proximity of the hospitals, neighborhood around school, organization
-
My interviewers were really nice and genuine. They made me feel comfortable and confident.
-
The social put together by current students the night before The office of student affairs/diversity put together a round table / Q&A/lunch with current students
-
The people are great, the facilities are very, very nice. The day is structured nicely.
-
The students, my fellow interviewees, the facilities
-
All of the students I met were very welcoming and seemed genuinely happy to be at the school. There was a great sense of community amongst the faculty, staff, and students. The admissions staff is also extremely organized and the entire experience was well-planned and laid back.
-
Enthusiasm that students had, not a competitive atmosphere, such a friendly interviewer, low stress day, nice facilities and can complete rotations at the hospital on campus
-
Campus/buildings are new. Interview day was run very efficiently even though it was a large group. facilities are really amazing
-
Amazing school - everything brand new and self-contained, very nice faculty and students.
-
Everyone I have interacted with at MCW is just so nice! Mike Istwan is a great guy. The facilities are ''top-notch.'' Even though it was the week before exams, students were still very friendly. The campus is attached to hospital complex, which is nice.
-
Host program, my host is so nice and I feel like my home. The students are also very helpful...
-
The students all seem to really get along. I also like how you can do all of your rotations right there.
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A lot of things! The relationships that the students have with each other and their faculty. The fact that the children's hospital is so close with so many opportunities to shadow and everything was a huge plus for me because i might be interested in pediatrics of some kind. Milwaukee is also a very cool city with a lot going on.
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Milwaukee (spelling correct?) is an awesome city. Its not ghetto and it is actualy very diverse and culture-able also, this school by far has the most attractive women applying. My interviewee peers were really hot. however, I dont know if this this higher percentage of hotness becomes matriculated.
-
The facilities and enthusiasm and how laid-back the students seemed.
-
The students were all very warm and friendly and the facilities seemed brand new. I enjoyed the Thursday night Q and A session and hung out with a bunch of 1st and 2nd year students at a local bar afterward, which was fun.
-
Very well organized. Quick outcome, < 2 weeks after interview I was accepted. The school is in a safe neighborhood and near downtown Milwaukee, a hidden gem in the Midwest.
-
The facilities, building and the enthusiasm of the students and faculty.
-
How student-focused the school is. Since MCW doesn't have an undergrad, the med school students are the number 1 priority. They've also got nice new buildings and really nice people there.
-
Huge complex, (kind of)new building. Organized interview day. Mike Istwan is a good guy...
-
Facilities, Student host program, people
-
Very organized day! Everything was planned out very efficiently and the school facilities, students, and faculty were great!! They tell you the admission committee's decision in about a week and a half.
-
I was somewhat impressed by the facilities since they seemed to be very new and nice.
-
MCW has the #3 Children's Hospital in the Nation. They have a shuttle that takes you from MKE to campus, and they can get you a shuttle back to MKE.
-
The Director of Admissions
-
Nice facilities, nicely located just outside of a decent city, all of schools' resources devoted to medical students, 3rd best children's hospital in nation
-
Great facilities, friendly & organized environment
-
The students couldn't say anything bad about the school. it is in milwaukee :) :) :) it really seemed like a nice place, though i wish we would have seen the labs...i know that they're excellent from other experiences i've had at mcw
-
The facilities are pretty new, and the students and staff are very enthusiastic.
-
Genuinely kind faculty, staff, and students
-
Really not much. I don't see why people recommend this school to other people. Yes, some...repeat... some... of the facilities are new.
-
The research opportunities seem impressive. The facilities are beautiful. The students/profs/committee members are all very friendly. There is a note-taking service and mp3s of each lecture, wireless internet, and awesome simulation labs. The neighborhood is safe and friendly.
-
The cultural environment and the students make MCW very safe and family-friendly. The students seemed very grounded and caring.
-
The campus is very new, the facilities are very nice and all of the hospitals are within the campus. also, the interviews are with both a professor/md and a student and so it provides different perspectives on the school
-
Facilities are really nice, they give you lots of free stuff, nice reception, setting you up with a student host
-
Reputation of the school. Organization of the interview day. Simulation labs (for cardiology, anesthesiology, obstectrics) that are amazing and brand new.
-
Friendliness of students and faculty, the interviews were very laid back
-
The facilities were great and the program seeemd really technologically oriented and modern. Also, the administration was really honest abotu how many spots were left in their class and when they would notify us of their decisions.
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The students are very happy to be there and seem really into the school. The hospitals associated with the program are very very good.
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The people were very laid back and friendly, the facilities were nice
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Students are quite friendly and really love the school. They tell you two weeks after whether you're accepted or not.
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Access to physicians and faculty, childrens hospital is 3rd in the country.
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The students were just about the most friendly people i have ever met. My host student in particular!
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The facilities were gorgeous and the students there are BEYOND friendly- they were so nice!! Also, the interview day was very organized.
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The facilities are new and nice.
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Everyone is so friendly. The students seem to really LOVE their school, and there are so many opportunities to speak candidly to students.
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The process was very organized
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The facilities are beautiful, the applicant host program was a great way to become comfortable and loosen up before the interview, and the students are so down to earth! Everyone was so sincere and friendly. Nobody could say anything bad about the school.
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Friendly atmosphere, everyone is SO nice. the interview day was VERY organized and the office is so helpful. (the weather was actually nice too!)
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I was impressed by the warmth on the campus, everyone is helpful and informative and really want you to come to their school.
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They have an impressive passing rate for the boards; I like that 50% of the students are from out of state (not what I expected); the facilities for practicing clinical care are impressive; the Children's Hospital is 3rd in the country; strong faculty/peer advising program...
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The facilities and location are amazing. All the buildings are new and the students and faculty are very nice. The school went up on my list after the visit.
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The people were really friendly, the host program was very nice, the building was pretty, and the hospitals were very nice.
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There are alot of out of staters at this school. A plus for me, being from CA.
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The main building is beautifully renovated, and the adjoining hospitals are some of the best in the nation...the director of admissions is fantastic! if he were going to be one of my professors i would sell my legs to go to that school.
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How new the facilities are, that all the clinical rotations can be done in Milwaukee, the friendliness of the students.
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The students, and how happy they were, facilities are pretty new, and the hospitals are all within the same campus as the school
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The facilities are great, and they have 100% devotion towards their students at the school. The area around the school is nice. (its in a suburb) The faculty that I had contact with were all very nice and glad that we were there.
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Facilities are awesome and the students are the happiest and nicest I have met. The campus is self-contained and there are abundant opportunities to experience everything you could want.
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Nobody, but nobody, had anything bad to say about the school, not the interviewers, not the students in the cafeteria, not the security guard in the parking lot as far as I could tell.
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The student body is soooo happy to be there. Two students pulled up seats by us at lunch and just hung out. The staff is so supportive and the school is in a dynamo location with all of the hospitals on the same campus!
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The school is almost new. All the facilities and equipment are new. The interviewers were casual but asked questions that allowed me to present myself in the best light.
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The admissions committee was so nice! Everyone there knows you as an applicant, not just a number and treat you so well. The facilities were incredibly nice/new and the area seems really safe. The students were absolutely wonderful and very very nice. I felt that the atmosphere was one of the most positive environments out of all the medical schools I visited.
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Facilities, friendliness of students, everyone seemed happyand school seemed to work hard to make students experience positive
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Facilities were top notch (2-3 years old). Students seemed happy to be there and the school is located in a nice safe neighborhood.
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The relaxed overall atmosphere of the school and the sense of cooperation among the students.
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Very dedicated to students, student body very friendly
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The school, students, faculty all very friendly. I enjoyed the Host program actually stayed with some M2's.
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The school in general, great facilities, connected to three nationally known hospitals with a number of other medical facilities located w/in walking distance. Also, if you are interviewed you have an extremely high chance of getting accepted. At this point they don't look at the numbers anymore, it's just based on your interview.
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It was very well organized and the interview atmosphere actually WAS very conversational and relaxed! : )
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Nice and happy students, friendly faculty interviewer, good info sessions, got a host.
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Friendly faculty and admissions staff.
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Everything...the interviewers were great and they let you know in a week!
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The people i met were more down-to-earth and normal than at any other interview i've been on so far, great facilities
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The school's in a nice neighborhood. The facilities are nice, and the administration pays a lot of attention to the medical students. Students were happy and laid back. They notify you in one week about your acceptance/rejection!
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The comfort level the students/faculty provided. I left knowing I would be happy here. Love the Wauwatosa town feel.
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Facilities are really nice. A lot of emphasis is placed on the students
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The facility is amazing and the hospitals and research insitutions attached to the school are nationally recognized. Great children's hospital (planning on going into pediatrics) and great inner city involvement.
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Great attitude amongst the students, everyone seems to like being there.
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The applicant host program! Everyone should do it. My host was great and she made the whole experience very low-stress and comfortable. Students seem really nice and NORMAL. The medical school building is very nice, and the library is nice. Admissions staff and director Michael Istwan are very nice, friendly, and approachable. They tell you whether you get in within two weeks or so.
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The students were great! Everyone I talked to was very nice and supportive - they kept wishing us "Good luck" and telling us to relax, and didn't mind hanging out and talking to us. They were also very informative about the pros and cons of the school. I also really liked the facilities - everything is practically brand new! Finally, I will find out soon if I'm accepted or not (in about a week).
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Interviewers were fairly laid back
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Great facility, happy students, caring faculty.
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The facilities are REALLY nice and so are the people.
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Great learning environment, and quick and timely response
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Nothing much really.
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The school is very NEW and people there are very friendly. It is in a very quiet and SAFE neighborhood. The housing so only about 1/2 of what I am paying for me right now. Overall, it is a very good environment to study but not a good environment for anything other than that.
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The facilities at this school are top notch. the people are friendly.
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The facilities are amazeing. The whole interview process was very structured and they really tried to make a good impression regardless of who you were.
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Milwaukee has a surprising amount to offer, and only 90 miles to Chicago. MCW is in a nice, safe suburb of Milwaukee. Cheap and convenient place to live. Facilities are awesome. Reportedly the teaching is good. May be up-and-coming.
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The facilities were very impressive, and they have an excellent student host program. I felt very welcome. Also the location is great.
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The weather
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Beautiful facilities; friendly, laidback students and faculty; and nice area (and cheap, nearby apartments).
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Nice facilities, friendly people
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Practically everything. everyone was so friendly and welcoming (even the students interviewing with me). the school is beautiful and new. my student host was great. They let you know very fast (I got in!)their student host program is a lot of fun.
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How nice the facilities and how everything is located in close proximity to one another. Also, the friendliness of the admissions staff and students is unparalleled.
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MCW has an awesome campus and is surrounded by several great teaching hospitals. It is located in a "suburb" of Milwaukee called Wawutosa.
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The school was very nice, all wood paneling, very new, etc. Great library, facilities are nice.
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The students have a lot of pride in their school and seem happy there; they're all very friendly too. Facilities are new
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The friendliness of the students, staff, and my interviewers; the students seem really happy and seem to have time to do other things besides study; the facilities are nice; housing is cheap; and the BIG PLUS - you hear back from them a week and half after your interview so no nail biting for months and months
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Very nice/modern facilities, students seemed to really enjoy the school and were laid back
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Very nice facilities; students seem very happy
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New faciities. Students seemed happy. Student interview was good. They are concerned with the students and the edutation they receive
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The facilities and clinical training offered
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Students were really friendly and seemed to be very happy at MCW
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Milwaukee Regional Medical Center is quite big, great facilities for teaching and research
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Extremely organized interview day. Applicant host program. The campus and the state-of-the-art hospital facilites (2 major hospitals, the cancer research institute, eye institute, and blood institute). Also, the medical school is in a beautiful modern building with an awesome library. Financial Aid is really anxious to help.
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The quality of people and facilities available. So many hospitals in the area!
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Atmosphere was awsome, students were great, facilities were absolutely amazing.
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The facilities are nice and most everyone is friendly. Interview day was run very well and went smoothly. I liked the fact that we would hear back in just over a week about the decision.
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The school itself is very nice, and very new. The faculty seemed devoted to the students. The area the school is in is very nice.
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The students were really enthusiastic about the school and very friendly. They gave a good presentation about the school and Milwaukee
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Every one is EXTREMELY friendly! Mike Istwan is great, and they have no problems accepting everyone in a given group of interviewees, it's truly rolling admissions.
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The school is very new, and the facilities are wekk kept. The students and faculty were very friendly adn excited about what they were doing.
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Everyone, students and faculty, were very nice and they definitely knew how to run an interview day. The social the night before and the host program were great (got to drink some beers the night before the interview). The school has great new facilities and they really seem like they care about the students.
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How new everything was and how friendly most of the students (except for my student interviewer) and faculty were. The low cost of living in Milwaukee.
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Everything. By far one of the most organized interview day. The staff really knows what they're doing. The school has really nice facilities and the students were extremely friendly.
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The interview day was very organized. There were about 50 students interviewing, and everything was set up very well. Interviews were conducted in the same area of the building and everyone was very helpful when you looked lost, as I did.
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They are very focussed on producing good doctors...the students there are extremely friendly.
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Friendly people and very clean facilities & neighborhood
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The facilities were really new and the library was very nice.
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The building, the oppurtunity to work in a huge center like Froedtert Hospital.
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The fact that they make a decision within a week of the interview
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The building is quite new and the hospital is connected to it. Also, the promptness of the admissions committee on reviewing the applications of those interviewed. You hear from them in about a week after you interview as to whether you are accepted, rejected or put on the waiting list.
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Facilities were nice and new, school seemed to have a lot to offer. most students seemed to like it there, everything is really centrally located, all the hospitals and stuff. students can live pretty close to the campus too, even walking distance.
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The school facilities, the friendly students
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The facilities are wonderful. The location is good if you like a more suburb atmosphere. The people are great.
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The school building is in the middle of a medical complex, so rotations are nearby and very conveinent. building is new and very nice also.
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The facilities were new and very nice, the students and staff seemed friendly, and the area of town the school was in is clean and safe
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The building is brand new and the library is very nice.
What impressed you negatively?
Applicants commonly expressed concerns about the lack of diversity, large class sizes, cold weather, outdated facilities, and a perceived lack of enthusiasm among students. Suggestions included improving campus facilities, fostering a more inclusive environment, addressing concerns about class size, and enhancing student engagement and morale.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
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The guy in charge was a bit rude. He said a couple out of pocket things in my opinion.
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N/A
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Nothing really
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Poor cell service.
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Students seemed to just be coasting by and not caring for the school. The students didn't like how the school responded to the recent student suicide. Out of the six students I spoke to, all six said they don't go to lectures and just watch classes at 2x speed at home. Well, then who even goes to class and are the teachers that boring?? They all complained about the cold except a milwaukee local. The tour guide said many students don't go to the gym on campus. Instead, they pay for off campus gym facility. Extreme lack of ethnic diversity compared to the city. Very very expensive and little scholarship.
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The weather
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I knew this pre-interview, but the class size is SO big (205 on main campus)
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Black and Latina students here don't seem to be too fond of the location, that's a little concerning to me.
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I wasn't that impressed with the campus nor the city of Milwaukee.
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Very large class size, and cost.
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Nothing.
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Grading
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Cost :) But the school seems worth the price
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Some of the computer labs seemed dated. The location is less than ideal for me but it could be a great experience for me to go outside of my comfort zone.
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Nothing
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Interviewer really grilled me. Caught me off guard because we were told the interviews would be low stress
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Being in the mid-west was... different. Wish we could have seen the hospitals. Gym on campus
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The night before the interview they held a social where applicants could meet with current students over pizza and have an informal conversation. This was a good opportunity, but it ran very late, which was difficult after such a long flight.
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The location could be better, but we're they're to study anyway.
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The facilities aren't as nice as UW-Madison, but still not bad
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The M4 student that interviewed me was openly condescending. Since this attitude did not mesh with my previous experiences with people associated with MCW, during the interview I forced myself to believe it was an affected persona they assumed.
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Got a little lost on the way to my interview because the sign wasn't very clear, however- a nice professor escorted me to the right room and my student interviewer was very nice and accommodating about the situation
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My 2nd interviewer wasn't friendly at all. I felt "grilled." He seemed bored out of his mind.
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I had some general lingering concerns over how successful the new curriculum is going to be.
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A few of the facilities such as a computer lab we passed by on the tour seem a little out-dated (although most things are very nice and new). The gym is in the basement which seems kind of like a dungeon and has some REALLY old machines alongside the newer ones. The new curriculum is much needed but means that the current classes are being phased from the old one and into the new one. They are doing this with volunteer pilot programs for certain courses that then become the regular course for next year's class. This caused some bumps (as any new curriculum will) with scaling the pilot programs (mostly small groups) up to the whole class of ~200 students. Overall I got the sense that the faculty are really dedicated to helping the students as much as possible and making the switch as seamless as possible while remaining very open to student feedback, however there are still going to be some problems and the classes during the switch are still going to be guinea pigs for testing everything out on. Overall it's working out well, but not everything is working perfectly. The new pathways seem very interesting but so far not well clarified. Even the students currently doing them are not sure what they are expected to accomplish with them before their graduation.
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Students didn't seem that excited to be there, cold weather, new pilot curriculum for small part of incoming class
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Some things seemed very different from other schools...not necessarily negative but something i noticed
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Cold, coming from CA.
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Some students hate the block curriculum, sounds like there is only one weekend the first year that is free.
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Seems like they had some roadblocks in delivering what the students really needed (straightforward study materials, etc.)
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The rain, it's in a suburb.
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Not too diverse, but there are opportunities to find diverse/underserved areas
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Nothing, this school is great :)
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It will be cold in winter obviously. Strict grading system (that is virtually like A/B/C/D/F)
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Nothing. Everyone at MCW and in Milwaukee in general was very friendly.
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The stupid snow that almost tripped me on my way in.
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The cold, cold weather
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I do not like the way so much depends on your completion date.
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The curriculum that has 3-4 classes per block (instead of focusing on one thing at a time), and lots of class time per day (8am to potentially mid/late afternoon). Little clinical experience for 1st and 2nd years. The dinky basement gym.
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The weather!
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The student parking lot from the school
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The weather...the snow isnt so bad, but they don't clean the roads! Even some parts of the interstate were unsalted and uncleaned!
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Students bragging about not going to class
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I didnt like the student life a whole lot-a lot of the students live scattered around, a lot are married or with families. It seems like they go to school and dont hang out outside of school. I also felt babyed by the dean of admissions- he talked to us like we were 5.
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The fact that it snows from early November until late April.
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Admissions office is really hard to find and students seem to be studying all the time. Maybe it's because I interviewed during exam time.
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Lack in diversity in student body and applicant pool
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Not actually in Milwaukee... actually in a suburb about 7 miles away. This has positive and negative sides.
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WEATHER, LOCATION,
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The students, some of the other people I interviewed with, felt like nothing I had done was good enough
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The admissions briefing could have been titled ''why you should pick us over UW''. Tour guide kept getting lost. Little things, like misspellings on signs. I also think it must have been my interviewer's naptime.
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The weather sucked
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Downtown milwaukee... no left hand turns!
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Personally I am from a small town and moving to a big city will take a bit of adjustment.
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My faculty interviewer was strange, kept butting in when i was answering questions, just weird
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They didn't show us the anatomy lab. The specific school isn't that ethnically diverse, but if you want to go to downtown Milwaukee you'll get your diversity (7 miles east of campus, very short driving distance)
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Giant class size. Student tour leaders just came off having a biochem test and were tired. M1 lecture hall looks like it needs some updating.
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New buildings and they put in chalk boards? And I don't think any of the histo slides are digital.
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Nothing, just that driving through Chicago is not fun.
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Some of the students and other students interviewing were a little snooty.
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Student insights: they are glad they do not have to share with other kinds of students, and like to go out when its ''just us medical students'' felt like a ''we like diversity but only within our own lines'' verbal differences, student referred to a particular area as an ''area that had a lot of blacks'' which threw me off
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Wisconsin's cold, the class size is huge, never got to see the anatomy labs though the lecture halls were newer.
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No diversity
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Seems hard to get around without a car
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Nothing, really. Honestly, they do a great job of keeping interviews short and stress-free.
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Nothing, really.
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Not much...maybe the weather
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Our tour wasn't really adequate and the tour guide didn't tell us much or show us much. I left feeling like I really didn't know anything about the actual curriculum.
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Nothing it was just really cold that week
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I spent some time driving around the surrounding area - not much to do very close by.
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My interviewer (the faculty interviewer, not the student one, the student was cool)
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It was a little cold... ok a lot cold, but nothing you couldn't handle if you were prepared.
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The gym. surrounding area doesn't seem to exciting but just 7 miles from the city.
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Research is a big focus, and they seem to push it on all of the students
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Not much.
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A very small school and the cold weather.
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I don't like how 25% of the class is married and 25% are in long-term relationships. I am not sure if those numbers are exact, but it is something like that.
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Nothing really.
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Students i stayed with are pretty lazy. no one liked the research there,even though research was their big thing. nothing really great that stands out about the school itself.
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Quite a few of the students are in committed (marriage, long-term) relationships. As a single guy, not the best thing to hear :P
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Approximately 25% of the student body is married, and another 25% are in long-term serious relationships. As a single person, I viewed this as a negative aspect.
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All interviews are on Friday from 11am-5pm (although they end at around 4:15pm) .. I am a Muslim and Friday prayers are an absolute must for myself. When I asked if I could be accommodated for in some way, either arriving late or leaving for 20-30min during the tour I was not given any help. I decided to come late (and it turns out the interviews and everything don't really begin until 12:30pm) because it was important to me that I not miss prayers. I guess they may not have much experience with these cases but it made me consider what four years at this school might be like given that very few Muslims attend the school (percentage-wise).
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Nothing really...if anything I guess I'd say the student tour leaders spent most of the time talking to each other than trying to give us a good tour, but they were still receptive to any questions people had.
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HUGE interview group (50+). All M-1 classes are in the same lecture hall. Student who interviewed me was like 30 and seemed disconnected from the world.
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Weather
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Downtown Milwaukee is kind of depressing...
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The school was not even located in Milwaukee; it is in a small suburb. The medical students didn't seem very happy about being at this school. Some said that this was the only place that they had been accepted at. It was the first week of November and it was freezing already outside!
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Almost the entire student body was married. Not that I have anything againt marraige, but it must be hard to interact with your classmates when you have a family at home.
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There were 70 people in my interview group! Talk about the Costco-style of interviews. It's a really impersonal feeling when you see 40 other white dudes dressed exactly like you are.
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First interview made me a bit worried...but over all nothing negatively impressed me, i'd be very happy going here.
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The
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Not much was done to sell the school. Maybe they assumed that since we were ED, we already knew the selling points. It would have been nice to hear why the admissions committe thought it was great, too! And how do I put this...sometimes the tone taken with us was reminiscent of high school.
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My impression from the experience and what I have read lead me to believe that the school is not as competitive as most for residency placement. The students will say this is not true, but the facts they cite to support their view are vague.
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This isn't really negative but there isn't a collegiate campus "feel"
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Was not told much about social/extracurricular activities of the students. Did not get a good feel for how students get along at the school. They may get along great, but the social aspect of the school was still very unkown to me when I left. The entire area is very much under construction. I imagine the appearance of the school will be much more attractive when it is finished.
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The students seemed a little snotty, and comepetitive.
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I'm from Cali so it was a tad cold for me, but not that bad :)
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The winter weather
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Nothing although the cultural life in Milwaukee leaves much to be desired. Not an ethnically/racially diverse class, although there are people from a range type of backgrounds (age, location...etc.)
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Poor tour, way too many interviewees (60 at the time), doesn't seem to much of a selective school.
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The school is rather small in comparison to other med schools since its only a medical school with no undergraduate/grad institution affliations
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Having to wait until the end of the day for my interviews (I was in the second group- the first group interviews first and then gets the tour and financial aid session.)
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One of my interviewers was crazy! He totally had no idea what was going on.
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The size. It's a huge class, which I'm not used to being from a small school.
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Student lounge wasn't that great
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Nothing!
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The big class and how the first two years are ONLY lectures.
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There doesn't seem to be tons of clinical experience in the first few years; the class size is 204, which seems quite large.
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The grading system is almost college based and classes curbed. This makes a somewhat competative atmosphere.
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Not too much honestly.
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One of the interviewers got mad when I said I wanted to "help/work with people". He asked me why I didn't get my RN. After explaining myself further he seemed placated.
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Construction everywhere b/c they are renovating, the older buildings are a little claustrophobic.
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I went to lecture in the morning, and it is a very large class-over 200 students-not so sure that it is my cup of tea. Not the most diverse class in the world either-I only counted a handful of minority students in the entire lecture hall.
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Parts of the building where students have labs, classrooms, are surprisingly old looking when compared with the remainder of the building. Class size is large, at 204. Didn't get to see Froedert & Children's Hospitals, even though they like to talk about how wonderful they are.
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The large entering class. Not much clinical exposure in the first couple years.
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Milwaukee is cold, even during the first week of October.
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Too little time on the tour, almost too little interviewing.
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May get a little cold in the winter!
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Man it was COLD!!
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The area was rather isolated, and Wisconsin gets really really cold in the winter.
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VERY COLD AND SNOWY (Since I am from Arizona I am not used to this weather)
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The weather, but that's a given.
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Location, cost- stress on having your credit clear before entering med school
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My faculty Interviewer was cold and uninformed about certain school policies...I had to correct him on the fact that you can go to Medical School without a degree
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Nothing much.....I pretty much knew what to expect so I was not disappointed by anything
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The large classload they have
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Student interviewer said a few negative things about how some students see things, the interviewing group was huge, Thursday night was so-so and the interview day ends late.
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The facilities aren't as new as other schools, but still aren't really anything to complain about. Except maybe the uncomfortable looking seats in the lecture halls/auditoriums.
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I guess nothing
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That it's only a med school and not actually in milwaukee
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It seemed like the school was a back up school for most students who went there. Not as much clinical exposure your first year.
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One interviewer (yes, probably that same one) seemed uninterested in me and my experiences. Just go with it.
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A lot of the other applicants seemed superficial
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It seems they tried to make the interview as stressful as possible and the interviewer didn't seem too interested in what I had to say.
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The weather seems like it gets pretty nasty.
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I'm from a big city so I cannot really imagine myself in Milwaukee. But honestly, this school seems great for anyone from Wisconsin or anyone who doesn't really care for living in a big city.
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One of my interviewers did not seem very interested in me at all.
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Too many people get interviewed here. The school is not in Milwaukee, but away in some isolated area. It is pretty much a dead town.
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While the staff and students who assisted us thoughout the day repeatedly told us that our interview would be "laid back", I actually didn't find them very laid back. It seemed more like the interviewers were asking me formal questions from their bank rather than genuinely gettting to know me.
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The entering class is already full. I was put onto the Priority Waiting List...=( However, the school does have a record of accepting many students from the waiting list in the past. So, I am still keeping hopes up! Not much entertainment around the school.
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Not a lot of emphasis is placed on clinical exposure. not a lot of student diversity either. out of staters that are there mainly seem to be from california, utah, and oregon.
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It's in Wisconsin, and the price.
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Doubtful about the academic strength of the student body (back-up school?), though the students I met were super personable.
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The cold
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It's in WI, residency placement isn't the best if u want to look out east
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Nothing at all. The only thing is the weather there (I'm from Florida) and the cost. Also, if you stay with a student, expect to arrive at 8am and have about 4 hours before you're required to check in with admissions. If I were them, I'd start the whole program earlier.
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The size of the interviewing group was rather large.
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The interview day is very well organized, but felt somewhat impersonal because MCW does group interviews, where about 65 people are all interviewing on the same day.
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The students I interviewed with were a pretty dull group. The classes for the first year are 8-5 (when am I going to study...really), and the HUGE emphasis on credit and having good credit in order to go to school there (I've interviewed at other private school and it wasn't even as close to as anal).
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The small gym...in the basement
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The school seems to lack diversity and the weather is horrible during winter. If you hate cold, this is not the place to go. The interview day starts late - 12:30.
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Student parking is a few blocks away from the school...could get cold in the winter
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Faculty interview seemed unprepared and more concerned with the his next question than my answers.
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Nothing, it was great
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Lack of racial/ethnic diversity in student body
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Downtown Milwaukee is kind of ugly and industrial. Nothing negative about the school itself.
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The inability to take any electives prior to 4th year, the workout facility in the basement,
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Its the midwest
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The weather, the workout room in the basement wasn't much but there is a big private fitness place just next door if that is important, the tour guides weren't very enthusiastic and we could not go in the anatomy labs. Class size is quite large.
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I'm not sure if I like the huge class size. I also didn't like that I was one of 63 people being interviewed that day.
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It was really cold for the beginning of October
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My student interviewer. He was pretty flat, and tried to be intimidating at the beginning. He relaxed at the end, though. All the other students I met were really nice.
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Nothing, I loved it.
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It was cold. And it was just April. Brrrr. The library was real warm though.
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My student interviewer--he picked everything--his eyes, his ears, probably his nose--during our interviewer. I wasn't sure if he was going to fall asleep on me.
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Alot of class time and 8am classes, but thats not that unusual.
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Its kinda cold there in the winter....
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The weather!! there isn't much to do in milwaukee.
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Nothing, great school
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One of my interviewers
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A lot of students, this is the only school that accepted them...they seem happy regardless, but its still kinda weird that soooo many fell into this category
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The cold weather
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Nothing much.
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Director of admissions was not all that friendly, and financial aid info given that day was minimally helpful
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When asked about how well students do in their residency placements, my interviewer said, "Well, if you want to stay in the midwest you shouldn't have any problems..." He didn't seem very confident about the school's ability to place students in top/competitive residencies.
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The lack of food near the school, and you definitely need a car.
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
Applicants commonly expressed the desire to have known ahead of time about the laid-back and relaxed nature of the interviews, the emphasis on the interview process itself, the strong reputation and facilities of the school, the cold weather in Milwaukee, and the variety of experiences shared by different applicants. Suggestions included being prepared for the chill, knowing the financial breakdown, understanding the importance of the interview, and researching the school thoroughly.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
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Green Bay Campus: The interviewers are 7ish community members that each take turns asking questions
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How chill the interviews were- I was freaking out before hand.
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How awesome the school is and its reputation in the region
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Finance breakdowns.
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Kern institute at MCW
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Milwaukee is one of the most stratified cities in the US, the black experience here isn't optimal.
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How cold it would be. If you go during the winter time, you absolutely need gloves and a beanie. But the entire interview day was indoors so during the interview you'll be completely fine. They will have a place for you to hang your coat.
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They provide all the info you need throughout the day.
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The cheapest travel options between the airport to the school to the hotel.
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How laid back the interview would be. Seriously, coming from someone who was stressing out even after hearing of how relaxed the interviews were, they really are relaxed.
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Nothing really, it was awesome
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Though you hear a conversational interview, really be prepared for anything.
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That it would be so cold! Also, that the interviews really are as low-stress as SDN makes them out to be.
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That while most people report that they have laid-back interviews, it is possible to have a very hard one. If you are one of these people, don't feel singled out because it does not mean that your application is doomed.
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How nice the facilities were and how awesome downtown Milwaukee and Wauwatosa are...
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How easy it would be
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If you're considering MCW, make sure you know what their cutoffs are for all four sections of the MCAT.
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Nothing really, I think the school was very open and honest about everything. Plus I researched this school well before my interview. And they provide many opportunities to ask the students and faculty questions before and after you interview.
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How cold it gets in the winter
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Nothing. i read everything on the interview feedbacks
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The Pathways Program (concentration) is required, and you have to produce a product/project/thesis.
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MCW gets back to you within a week/week and a half!
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That the social the night before was super casual. Totally ok to where jeans and polo for example.
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That we weren't going to get to tour the hospitals- just the medical education building.
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There are a lot of Californians in MCW.
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That I would have loved the school cos its amazing. I would have prepared more for my interview. But then again, there was no way of knowing this.
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Not to drink so much coffee. It was my first interview so I was really nervous. I was too nervous to eat, so I didn't use their free lunch voucher. I drank coffee instead. It made me really jittery...
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You are totally done by 4:25pm, if you have to make earlier flight plans in order to avoid sleeping in an airport somewhere (as I had to), as early as 6:15 or 6:30 is fine, you'll make it if you take a cab. Admissions just tell you to plan for leaving MCW at 5pm just to give you lots of time.
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Nothing, really - there were no surprises. They gave us an agenda and stuck to it.
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The interview day ends earlier then said so i could have taken an earlier flight back.
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Nothing really...It was all very straightforward and everyone seemed really gracious
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High stress, high reward interviews.
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I wish I would have know how quick they give out decisions.
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That both my interviewers would ask about my grade in one class. Oh! and that their hospitals are somewhat religiously-affiliated. One student there wanted to go into OB-GYN but since she's pro-choice she said she definitely had to do her residency elsewhere.
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MCW is first in the nation in emergency pediatrics
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That it's really really cold in Milwaukee. Although I already knew that - but all the buildings are connected so you don't really have to go outside!
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Nothin
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The emphasis they place on clinical medicine.
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Lots of applicants there, around 60. Kind of crazy, but relaxed. Both interviewers asked why mcw, and why medicine, and asked for questions from me.
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Nothing
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The school was kind of off the radar and I didn't know what to expect in terms of research facilities and funding. But in talking with the PIs and then doing a bit of looking into the funding I was really impressed!
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The mentor program where M1s are matched with a physician to be their mentor
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That there would be 60 people interviewing at once
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Nothing. I came in pretty prepared.
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Nada.
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They are ranked pretty highly in terms of NIH funding. I looked at it later and they have some really cool research going on.
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How comfortable the surrounding area is.
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Stay with a student host. I came up the morning of and I felt a little bit out of the loop. Make the Thursday social if you can.
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There's a lot of waiting around time
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Nothing really
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I lived in the area briefly, so nothing really surprised me. I think people will be suprised by how much Milwaukee has to offer if they give it a chance.
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How great it is not to have to share your facilities and resources with an undergraduate population
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How close all of the hospitals are that are associated with the school
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Nothing.
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Grades and MCAT scores do not matter they would not interview a candidate if they thought he/she was not worth it. Knowing this would have calmed my nerves a little bit
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---
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Apparently its cold in Milwaukee
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The only thing that was slightly surprising was that there were 64 people interviewing on the same day, making it a little intimidating/nerve-wrecking at first. (The school only interviews applicants once every two weeks or so.)
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How relaxed the interviewers would be. most like a discussion.
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Once you get an interview your academic record doesn't matter. How you did on the interview is it
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N/A
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The interviews is a pretty laid back one...
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I knew quite a bit going in so I don't think anything.
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I wish i would have known that Milwaukee was such a cool place...i would have stayed another night to check it out more.
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Its cold and all, but its not that cold. A thick california jacket will do. You won't need to bring extra sweaters and wear a sweatpants under your jeans like i did...
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Once you get to the interview stage, the interview is the determining factor because 'you're all qualified to be here, now we want to see who you are.'
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They provide a lunch voucher, but the options are somewhat limited in the cafeteria.
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Believe it or not, I didn't know this was a private school. I don't like to learn too much about a school going in, I'm more interested in talking to current students. Still the fact that this is a private school is a very basic thing that I should have known. It is an expensive school and they require a credit report for your application (so BRING that with you to the interview day, seriously).
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If you're coming from the airport and going to a hotel (my flight was delayed and I missed the social + student hosting), you can take the Airport Connection shuttle service to your hotel. It's cheaper than a taxi, and you can arrange the ride right in the baggage claim. I stayed at Holiday Inn Express and the fare was $18, verses $30 something for a taxi out there.
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How big the group was going to be...alittle intimidating. Also, its is VERY diverse.
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Once you get called for an interview, everything rests on that. They don't care about the numbers anymore, so your acceptance or rejections rests solely on your interview.
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Nada
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Breakfast is not served, haha.
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That I would have two faculty interviews instead of one faculty and one student
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HUGE interview groups, but REALLY REALLY EASY INTERVIEWS. Best of all, they will give you a decision within 10 days of your interview.
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The interviews were a lot more laid back than I had expected.
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Would be hanging around most the morning
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Children's hospital is ranked third in the nation. They have, I believe, 5 different hospitals attatched to the main medical school. I did not realize that they had such a medical community connected to and affiliated with the medical school.
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I wish I had known that it was going to be so laid-back. It was so nice!
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It was freezing cold (I am a cali resident)
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That we'd have to wait an extra week for our decision letter because of Thanksgiving.
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The people in Wisconsin seem to be narrow minded.
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The interview was the deciding factor in whether or not I got in. The admissions director made it very clear that he was ready to accept every one of us applicants interviewing that day (like 50) based on our applications. The final step was the interview. His intention was to help us relax and enjoy our visit since we weren't in competition with the other students there...
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They send out acceptance/rejection/wait list letters one week after you interview.
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Because I didn't need to stay with a student, I missed out on the student social the evening before the interview, and I would've liked to attend; there aren't a lot of other opportunities to ask students questions.
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Your not required to be at the school until 12:30 on the day of the interview. Most of us however arrived around nine in the morning and had 3 hours to do nothing.
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Nothing I can think of.
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Bring a coat. It will be cold.
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Milwaukee address, wauwatosa(suburb) location. downtown is actually around 20-25 minutes away. also, they take ~40 people from their alternate list, sometimes up to ~90 people, each year!
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That the pediatric hospital on campus is one of the best in the nation and is only a tunnel or two away from the lecture hall. Also, the school is not yet as technically advanced as others--lectures for example are not yet videotaped and made available online. Also, and perhaps most importantly, at this point the interview counts for everything! GPA and MCAT no longer come into the picture. Also, there is a mysterious additional interview for certain applicants after the first two-not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.
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Make sure to get to school no later than 11:30am and get your voucher for lunch, and then eat as soon after that so that you are ready to go at 12:30. Also, meet with other interviewees at Baggage #3 at MKE for the shuttle ride at 8:00pm or earlier. Also, there were 64 interviewees in my group - which was pretty unique in my experience.
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Get there with enough time to eat lunch.
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How great MCW is! I kinda went into the interview weekend with a negative impression but I came out absolutely in love with MCW.
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They hardly ask any questions about what you know about issues facing medicine today, or any other really horribly tough questions. It's a mellow place.
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The interviews are so laid back and it is truly a school that just wants to get to know you. If you interview, they know you can do it academically, but they want to meet you beyond paper...so just relax and be yourself! I interviewed with a student and it was great, because I was able to ask him a bunch of questions about his choice to attend MCW as he also asked me questions (super laid back).
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They give you an answer within 2 weeks after the interview. They said that our interviewing group would be interviewing for the last few spots and then the next group would be interviewing for spots on the alternate list. I got my acceptance letter just over a week after the interview!
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That everyone at the interview is already "acceptable" in regards to their numbers. The interview is really the deciding factor, yet it is still very relaxed, even when given challenging questions.
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Lots of kids at the interview... big group.. but maybe i already knew that
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How nice the facilities and surrounding area. A nice part of milwaukee
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How big the incoming class really is
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They don't take you on a tour of the hospitals (try and get your host to bring you). But you can sit in on class.
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Parking was farther away than I imagined. Not a huge deal though. I'm used to walking. If in winter, wear gloves and heavy coat. They'll let you stash it in a locked room.
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How impressed I would be with MCW. The block schedule for exmas is good, I think.
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They put a lot of emphaisis on having good credit
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The close proximity of such excellent hospitals, you can actually walk to them without going outdoors.
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The interview day is quite long. You get there at 8 AM if you stay with a host and it ends at 4:30 or so. It's a little tiring!
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The school itself is pretty much one building (which is attached to the hospitals via walkways); I was expecting multiple buildings, but I actually kind of like the fact that there's only one. Also, I knew it would be cold, but I didn't think it would be REALLY cold ;)
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Every one had to finish their interviews before anyone could leave
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None.
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Bring along or send in advance good credit report. Most interviewees who were interviewed on March got waitlisted.
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Everyone eats cheese.
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The entering is already FULL! It snows in MILWAUKEE.
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That the college has an impressive track record with board exams and is quickly rising as an excellent school. Also, I didn't realize how close it is to Chicago
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Have a thick jacket with hood.
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How laidback the interviews would be. Once you get an interview, your chances of getting in are pretty high, so the interviews are very conversational.
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The imporatance of the interview since all interviewees are considered to be on a somewhat even playing field.
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If you are a minority applicant, make sure to go to the special lunch, or you will have to explain yourself later.
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The size of the interview group (HUGE). Plus the fact that the student host program is bunk because the first class for the students is at 8AM, and the interview doesn't start until 12:30 so your kinda sitt'in around twiddling your thumbs for quite some time.
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That not all of the interviewers are chill and laid back like what everyone says. It seems I was singled out.
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That the interviewers were going to be such friendly people. I could tell that they were trying their best to make me feel comfortable and the whole interview was really just a conversation.
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They make a decision on your application within a week of your interview
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Location of school is quite nice.
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The interview program ios 12-5, but i stayed with a student host and got to campus at 8am. I was exhausted by the end.
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The interview group was 60+ students. Also, decisions will be mailed out in a week---that is great!
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That there were so many people being interviewed. Also, the admissions office is very hard to find.
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That 65 people would be interviewing in the same day.
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That the intervews were going to be so laid back.
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That you pay out-of-state tuition ALL FOUR YEARS.
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How nice the school is!
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They have voluntary doglabs.
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Nothing. Well, perhaps where it was so that I didn't drive around aimlessly.
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Nothing. Well, perhaps where it was so that I didn't drive around aimlessly. Driving to campus ahead of time is a good idea. Not that it's difficult to find, but it takes some of the stress off when you know where you're going.
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Days Inn is pretty bad.
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Schedule your plane late!!! this is the one interview that you should try to make a flight at 7pm and after. i was pushing it.
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Not many students go to class. if you drive to campus, you have to walk pretty far, not bad if its nice weather outside, but not fun when its like 10 degrees and you are in a skirt and heels!
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If you get a third interview its not as bad as they make it sound, it can be just because one of your interviewers forgot to ask you something they should have
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The school isn't in downtown Milwaukee, but actually in a suburb called Wauwatosa (sp). Peaceful, but still an easy drive to the city. Also, the cost of living is much lower than I had expected, especially compared to some other schools I'd been to.
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It's very cold in Milwaukee, even in April.
🤝 Campus and Facilities ▼
How do you rank the facilities?
Most respondents rank the facilities as above average.
How would you rate the Location and Cultural Life?
0 = Low, 10 = High
How is the friendliness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was friendly.
How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was responsive.
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
Applicants commonly suggested more personalized communication, earlier interview notifications, clearer directions, and a smoother interview scheduling process. They also appreciated the friendly staff and efficient admissions process, with some minor suggestions for improvement in tour duration and building directions.
Top 5 Responses: (Click below to see additional responses)
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Only thing is I would've like a phone call to hear about my acceptance. Everyone at the school is so personable and it would have been nice to hear it from some of the nice people I met during the interview.
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Less videos and more powerpoints please, also directions on parking and where the admissions process will be held could be helpful!
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Keep doing what you are doing, you all are fabulous. More advanced notification of interviews would be appreciated, especially for us OOS students who have to book flights.
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Send out IIs earlier! It'll help make our flights much less expensive!
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The woman who answered the phone when I wanted to schedule my interviewer was not very friendly. Otherwise, everyone else was very friendly.
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None, the day was great.
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N/a
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Keep doing what you're doing!
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The interview day was really great with the exception of one thing: it would be better if all students could interview shortly after arriving so they're not stressing about it during lunch and the tour. Staff was great at answering questions and helping us understand the process. It's great that MCW has a very short secondary applicaton.
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More time for tour/ shorter tour
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For the Thurs informal meetings, post a sign on the main door directing students to the building's "north entrance". The main doors are all locked after 6 pm (the meetings start at 8:30) and say to use the "north entrance", but didn't give any indication of which way around the rather large building would be the closet and easiest way to find the north entrance. Thankfully I guessed and it was correct so I found it pretty easy but other applicants guessed the wrong way and could have been saved the trouble especially since it was pretty cold outside.
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Admissions office is wonderful!
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None.
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Maybe a little more help finding the interview rooms, like a few people to guide applicants if they
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Let people know that in order to do the host program they HAVE to make it to the social the night be
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They forgot to send me the interview confirmation email (with ALL the information).
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None really. Best interview format of any school I have been too. Spending more than 5 hours at a
📍 Travel and Logistics ▼
Airports Used
✈️
MKE
65% interviewees used MKE (MKE), with 9% using Milwaukee (Milwaukee) and 3% using MDW (MDW) and 3% using ORD (ORD) and 3% using mke (mke) and 1% using MRK (MRK) and 1% using MKK (MKK) and 1% using General Mitchell International (General Mitchell International) and 1% using I forgot the name. It's 15 min away from the campu (I forgot the name. It's 15 min away from the campu) and 1% using Frontier (AIR) and 1% using General Mitchell Airport (General Mitchell Airport) and 1% using General Mitchell International Airport (General Mitchell International Airport) and 1% using Milwaukee (I currently go to school out of state) (Milwaukee (I currently go to school out of state)) and 1% using Delta (Delta) and 1% using MILWAUKEE (MILWAUKEE) and 1% using Milwaukee -General Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee -General Mitchell International Airport) and 1% using N/A (N/A).
What was your primary mode of transportation?
Most interviewees traveled by airplane to the interview.
✈️
55% Airplane
🚗
43% Automobile
🚆
1% Train or Subway
🚲
1% Other
Hotels Recommended by Other Interviewees
Most interviewees stayed at the Holiday Inn Express (average ranking 8.6/10), with some staying at Radisson (average rating 9.7/10). (Top 3 displayed)
🏨
Holiday Inn Express
8.6/10
🏨
Radisson
9.7/10
🏨
Radisson Milwaukee West
8/10
What was the cost and time spent traveling?
Cost: Low Cost to High Cost
What is your in-state status?
Most respondents are out of state students.
Where did you stay?
Most respondents stayed either With students at the school or with students at the school.
Who was the tour given by?
Tours were most commonly given by a Student
Admissions staff (1%)
Faculty member (0%)
Other (0%)
Student (98%)
How did the tour guide seem?
Most tour guides were enthusiastic about the school.
Discouraging (1%)
Enthusiastic (80%)
Neutral (19%)
All Responses
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| Application Cycle ▿ | Impression | Performance | Interview Location |
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