How many people interviewed you?
| Response Average | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 2.94 | 50 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Positively | 47 |
| Negatively | 1 |
| No change | 2 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 2.78 | 50 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 8.13 | 39 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 7.42 | 36 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| In Person | 0 |
| Virtual | 1 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 0 |
| 10 minutes | 0 |
| 15 minutes | 0 |
| 20 minutes | 1 |
| 25 minutes | 2 |
| 30 minutes | 17 |
| 35 minutes | 5 |
| 40 minutes | 5 |
| 45 minutes | 9 |
| 50 minutes | 6 |
| 55 minutes | 0 |
| 60+ minutes | 5 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| At the school | 37 |
| At a regional location | 5 |
| At another location | 8 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| One-on-one | 50 |
| In a group | 0 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Open file | 50 |
| Closed file | 0 |
| Response Average | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 2.94 | 50 |
"Tell me about the PRE-Path program you are in."
"Why do you want to be a physician?"
"What do you want to know about South?"
"Why would you like to attend South Alabama?"
"What specialties are you considering going into?"
"Why South?"
"What classes did you like/dislike?"
"Why med school and not public health?"
"Do you believe that macroevolution continues to occur?"
"If you could change one thing about healthcare what would it be?"
"Why do you want to go to medical school?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor (how standard could that be)?"
"If you were accepted into USA but you could not start for 5 years, what would you do?"
"Tell me about yourself."
"What do you think the biggest problem in healthcare is and how would you fix it? "
"What was your favorite class as an undergrad?"
"What do you think are some problems in healthcare?"
"What would you do if you were accepted into medical school, but could not begin for five years?"
"Based on your experience, what is the greatest problem facing healthcare today?"
"Why South? (especially since I was out of state)"
"Are you sure you want to be a doctor?"
"Abortion"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"Why medicine? Are any of your family members doctors?"
"why do you want to become a doctor?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor? What is your medical experience? "
"Why medicine?"
"Tell me about yourself? What do you like to do in your spare time?"
"What's your best quality/worst quality?"
"What books have you read?"
"What would you do if your 34 year old patient was pregnant with a child with life threatening birth defects?"
"What motivates me?"
"What do you do in your free time?"
"What are your study habits?"
"What should I tell the admissions committee about you tonight?"
"Why medicine? What do you think will be the most difficult part of medical school?"
"What book have you read recently?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor?"
"How did you prepare for the MCAT?"
"Tell me about your research"
"Why do you want to go here?"
"What books are you reading currently?"
"Where did you apply?"
"What strengths do you feel USA has over other med schools you've applied to?"
"What would you do if you don't get into medical school?"
"What are some of the problems facing health care?"
"Tell me a bout yourself"
"If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?"
"Do you think healthcare is a right or privilege?"
"How do you like to study?"
"What would you do if you did not get into medical school?"
"What field of medicine have you thought about entering?"
"Tell me about your educational background"
"What is your greatest accomplishment?"
"What are some problems that are facing health care and how would you address them?"
"What do you want me to tell the admissions committee tonight?"
"What was your least favorite class? What was your favorite class?"
"What do you do for fun?"
"What do you do in your spare time?"
"What is your greatest strength/weakness?"
"What do you want me to emphasize to the commitee tonight?"
"Are you leaning toward any particular specialty?"
"Physician assisted suicide"
"Why South?"
"Tell me about your research?"
"What was your favorite shadowing experience?"
"what can you tell me about your mcat score?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years? "
"see the two questions i listed above."
"Why medicine?"
"Who's your role model?"
"Why is your GPA so low? "
"Is there anything in your academic record I should know about?"
"What are the reasons I want to become a physician?"
"Tell me about your research."
"Why not an MD/PhD instead of MD? (I had a lot of research experience)"
"What are your study habits?"
"Some questions about my research."
"Why did you chose your major?"
"What other schools did you apply to and why?"
"What qualities are you looking for in a medical school?"
"What would you do if a 16y.o. came to you pregnant as result of rape? What if she wanted an abortion?"
"How will you manage with a family?"
"Elaborate on your interest in health policy."
"Why have you chosen a career in medicine?"
"If you practice in Alabama, what do you think is one prevalent health problem you will face in the patient population?"
"How did you prepare for the MCAT?"
"Tell me about.... research, shadowing, volunteer work and how it affected me."
"What do youlike to do for fun?"
"Why on earth did you drop Pilates your freshman year?"
"What do you want me to tell the admissions committee tonight?"
"What would you do if you didn't get accepted?"
"What is something that would really throw you off in medical school?"
"I was asked to talk about my family."
"What CD would I find in your car if I looked right now? (Definately makes you pause for a moment if have stopped listening to CDs like I have and switched to an MP3 player)"
"So, where else are you interviewing? (UNC was one of my choices and I said I thought it was probably a reach school and he replied, ''I'll be honest, you won't get into UNC.'') "
"How did you decide you wanted to be a doctor?"
"Tell me about some of your medical experience."
"What are your strengths and weaknesses?"
"When I meet with the admissions committee this evening, what do you want me to tell them about you?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"Do you have any questions? (Not particularly abnormal except that I got this question about two minutes into each interview)"
"Healthcare system"
"What would you do if a teenage girl came in to your office seeking an abortion?"
"What do you do in your free time? "
"What type of biology classes have you taken in Bioengineering?"
"What are you currently doing since you graduated from college?"
"what class was the hardest for you?"
"Tell me about your post-college experiences."
"Favorite and least favorite classes? "
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
"Why medicine? "
"What have you read lately?"
"What is your weakest trait?"
"If there was one thing you want me to tell the admissions committee when we meet tonight to discuss you, what would it be?"
"Do you like to read? What kind of books have you read recently?"
"Tell me about your research."
"What do you want me to tell the admissions committee?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor?"
"Why did you take football physics? (non-cal based as opposed to calculus based)"
"Why do you want to be a physician?"
"How do you feel about the events of 9-11-01?"
"What are you interested in for specialties?"
"What do you do for fun outside of school?"
"What have you been reading lately?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"What is one of the challenges in healthcare today?"
"Roleplaying exercise: I am a busy single mother bringing her obese teenaged daughter in for a checkup. You are the doctor. Show me how you would inform us of our health issues."
"What are your hobbies?"
"If you couldn't go to medical school, what would you do?"
"how would you attack the epidemic of childhood obesity?"
"Questions about my family and their influence on me..."
"If a woman brought her extremely overweight son to you and you could tell he was very unhealthy and at risk for diabetes, as well as other diseases, what would you do to help?"
"What is my favorite book?"
"Would you rather be the President or Vice-President of a country?"
"Nothing too interesting. The usual, why do you want to come to med school, etc."
"You found out a pregnant woman has ovarian cancer. If you start treatment now, the baby will die, if you don't treat, the mother will die. What do you do?"
"What would be something that could make you lose your cool in medical school?"
"If I could keep you out f medical school for the rest of your life, what would you do?"
"Where exactly in the Constitution does it guarantee a basic right to healthcare?(this was prefaced by me saying that I thought the biggest problem in healthcare was a lack of universal coverage)"
"Who would you eat dinner with and why?"
"Asked sort of obliquely about my views on abortion. I indicated that I'm interested in women's health so the interviewer wanted to make sure I'd thought about reproductive rights issues that may come up in practice. "
"Name this structure (the interviewer drew an organic chemistry structure); if you were the attorney general what would you do."
"Is there anything that could make you fail in medical school? AND If I had the power to keep you out of all the medical schools in the world for the rest of your life, what would you do?"
"What is the last book that you've read and why did you pick to read it?"
"Tell me about your research. (nothing really too interesting)"
"Do you want to see a tumor? (I was interviewed by a pathologist.)"
"I was asked about the Dignity with Death act."
"What do you feel about abortion and cloning?"
"What do you think is the biggest problem facing healthcare today?"
"What were the similarities between the cultures of Kenya and Mexico that I noticed during my medical outreach trips?"
"What is your opinion of assisted early death?"
"To talk about my hobbies."
"How would you fix the situation at USA Medical Center in that it is running a large deficit by seeing indigent patients without health insurance, and is in jeopardy of closing?"
"My role model? My accoplishment I am most proud of? "
"What type of music are you listening to? What's in your CD player right now? ( happened to talk about musical interests during the conversation)"
"What do you think about marriage in medicine?"
"Do I speak Japanese? "
"Why did you choose your undergraduate school?"
"What brought your family to Alabama from California?"
"What has been my greatest disappointment in life?"
"Since HIV/AIDS is a preventable disease in most cases, how do you feel about public money going towards HIV/AIDS patients?"
"What are you feelings on euthanasia?"
"Do you feel abortion should always be available as an option, in limited circumstances, or never at all?"
"Tell me about your family. "
"questions about 9-11-01"
"Most were very conversational."
"Mostly about my military background and how that related to 9-1-1."
"How would you handle a situation where you disagreed with work leadership?"
"Why do you think you would fit in at South Alabama"
"Why did you retake the MCAT twice?"
"Why were you rejected from medical school X?"
"If I made you Surgeon General of the US what would be one thing about medicine that you would change? Yea, I know..."
"How did meeting patients make you feel about the duties of a Dr.?"
"Do you think healthcare is a right or privilege?"
"How do you think life began on Earth?"
"Same"
"Why USA and not UAB?"
"One interviewer made me identify the chemical strucutre of TNT, but don't worry about studying organic, it was just a fun side question to test my knowlege. No problems."
"nothing too difficult, general interview questions"
"Nothing"
"If I could keep you out f medical school for the rest of your life, what would you do?"
"See above."
"Do you think physics and organic are important for medicine? (only because I said I didn't think it would be and she told me I was wrong about physics)"
"What do you see yourself doing in 5 years? (I always hate that one.)"
"See most interesting question"
"What do you want me to tell the other admissions committee members about you tonight?"
"If you were to diagnose a seriously ill child incorrectly, how would you tell the parents?"
"Medical school is pretty hard, give one example from your experiences as an undergraduate that will help demonstrate you can handle the heavy load."
"Tell me about yourself."
"See above"
"Same."
"What one thing do you want me to tell the admissions committee about you tonight? (all three interviewers asked me this)"
"None. All the questions were centered around my personal statement, activities, and majors"
"What class do you think will be the hardest for you in medical school?"
"Name a problem with healthcare today and what you would do to solve it."
""What are your strengths and weaknesses?" "Do you have children? Are you planning to have children?""
"How would you tell a family that their family member just died?"
"What do you think you would change in healthcare today if you could do anything?"
"What is your greatest achievement in life?"
"What qualities will I bring to the school that no one else would?"
"To explain a discrepancy between my MCAT score (high) and my GPA (acceptable, but nothing special). This was the first person to ask me that out of three different schools and 8 interviewers, and somewhat hard because I do not personally see a discrepancy in my stats!"
"There are obviously many problems in health care today, mainly that so many people don't have it. How do you think we can fix that problem? (they can't figure it out in Capitol Hill, so I don't think he expected me to come up with the definitive solution)"
"How are doctors restricted by HMOs in their treatment of patients?"
"Same as most interesting"
"How would you deal with a teenaged girl who came to you and demanded an abortion?"
"Do you feel women or men make better surgeons? or In life or death circumstances, do think women or men are more capable?"
"What is it about you that should make me choose you over other equally qualified applicants?"
"ethical questions (i.e. abortion)"
"None - I did hear several people got some hard ethical questions though."
"A teenager finds herself pregnant and the fetus is badly handicapped, what do you counsel her to do?"
"Mock interviews, reviewed AMCAS and secondary applications, researched school's mission and values on website"
"Asked past interviewees. Reviewed file."
"I read up on USA using their website and talked with a few current students."
"I read through previous interview questions."
"Re-read primary / secondary applications and practiced possible questions."
"Used SDN, researched the health-care changes, and practiced some mock interviews."
"read SDN interview feedback, reviewed AMCAS application, etc."
"Looked on SDN and thought about what i would say to some the questions posted. Read some stuff about healthcare and just kept current on healthcare issues."
"Read over amcas material, my research, SDN and healthcare reform podcasts"
"SDN, Interview feedback, list of possible interview questions, practicing in front of the mirror and shower"
"Read up on the state's health care situation; bought a magazine about the national health care situation to read on the plane; reminded myself to relax."
"Read over my application, read some current health articles."
"I reviewed my AMCAS application and my undergraduate research notes."
"SDN, re-read my AMCAS, read some Journal of American Medical Association"
"SDN, medpage.com, cnn.com"
"SDN interview feedback common questions school website"
"Re-read AMCAS, look at interview feedback."
"Nothing"
"SDN"
"reread application, mock interview, google searches, made a list of possible questions and answers"
"SDN, science articles, my AMCAS app."
"I read over the posts on this website and talked with friends that are already at the school."
"Going over application, SDN, reading about current events, reviewing ethical questions, reading Understanding Health Policy by T. Bodenheimer"
"Reviewed AMCAS, read interview feedback"
"SDN feedback, research on the school"
"Didn't really prepare all that much due to a prior interview a week earlier to UAB."
"I read all of the reviews by other students on this website (many questions other students listed showed up in my interviews, reviewed current healthcare issues "
"Other feedback on the forum, review AMCAS, made outline of possible responses on note cards to get my thoughts in order "
"I read the USA website, interview feedback, and thought about answers for different questions."
"SDN, mock interviews, read over school information"
"Checked out this website, reviewed the USA website"
"I read SDN, and expected a lot of ethical/moral questions because it is a conservative school."
"SDN, current healt issues - what I thought about them and how I would fix them"
"read this website and read USA's website. Read up on current healthcare issues"
"Read over my application. Read up about USA. "
"Read SDN, reviewed my application, read current news (election issuses - although I was ask no questions about this)."
"Read SDN, personal statement."
"Looked at this website, skimmed cnn.com/health..."
"interview feedback"
"Reviewed my file, this website, talked to friends who interviewed there before"
"Asked a friend who's a first year about the school and about her interviews"
"I read this site and reviewed current issues in medicine"
"Read the feedback on this site and thought about answers to the "usual" questions"
"Had interview the day before, so I had practice."
"read over application and interview feedback"
"Interview feedback, asked friends."
"Interviewfeedback.com. Talking to the previous year's students."
"Friendliness of interviewers, informality and conversational style of interview"
"The intentional niceness of faculty/students and conversational interview format."
"How relaxed and friendly everyone was. They really wanted to get to know you and let you get to know them. The director of admissions knew everyone's name and face when they walked in the room."
"I liked the small class size and personal nature of the medical school."
"Tour of Mitchell Cancer Institute, the friendliness of the med students, especially my 4th year interviewer."
"The Dean of Admissions lead the hospital tour and was involved throughout the whole day."
"The students, faculty,and staff were all friendly, happy, and seemed really interested in showing off their school"
"The attentiveness of the staff and the close-knit feel"
"The interviewers were extremely nice and it felt like they wanted me to go there"
"Welcome speech from Mark Scott, new women's and children's center was beautiful, the weather, class size is small and they're going to keep it that way"
"Everything! The hospitals seemed to run smoothly; the staff at the university and at the hospital was just wonderful; the students who we met seemed to really like it."
"The laid back environment of the school, the new cancer center they are building"
"The interviews were very comfortable and friendly. They care about your interview and presenting you in a positive manner to the admissions board.The tour was great. "
"The enthusiasm of the professors and staff"
"All the facilities that are avail. to the students, and the small class size."
"the happiness of the students in the program and their love for the program"
"The students were mostly happy being there and thought well of the school, the clinical facilities are great, Mr. Scott has a great sales pitch in general."
"The food was good and the med students seemed friendly. The school is going toward a more technology based curriculum (sp?). Pretty good Women/Children's facility and they say everyone gets a lot of clinical experience."
"Everything was very personalized. The staff and students are incredibly friendly and helpful. The small class size is a real asset in obtaining lots of hands-on clinical experience 3rd and 4th years. Children's and Women's Hospital is amazing. They have recently started a lot more cooperation with the Mobile Infirmary healthcare system so I think the school is on the verge of some really great growth and changes."
"The program for the third and fourth years sounds amazing; lots of hands on clinical experience"
"friendly people, close-knit group of happy students"
"Mark Scott's enthusiasm, everyone's (students' and interviewer's) love for the school, the Children's and Women's Hospital"
"The fact that their curriculum is board focused so most of their students score very well on the USMLE 1. The facilities are also being reconstructed this summer. The three major hospitals are also a big plus."
"USACOM's focus on teaching; the campus and facilities were nice too; the admissions guy was entertaining which helped us be pretty calm; small class size is a plus"
"small class size facilitates good group learning."
"The laid back feel of the campus and people. The one on one attention you seem to get."
"Everyone in the city is very friendly, students at this school get more hands-on experience during 3rd and 4th year clinicals than most other schools offer, small class size allows for individual attention, students and professors all know each other, students actually go to class (even though there is a note-taking service) "
"Students are really enthusiastic about the school. Board scores were pretty high this past year. Small class size (70). Good amount of clinical exposure in 3rd/4th years to prepare you for residency. "
"Of course, the Women's and Children's Hospital is very impressive. I was also impresed by how excited the students were by their choice in school and the amount of hands-on clinical experience you get in third and fourth years."
"how important the medical school is to the hospital system in mobile "
"The students we met were SO enthusiastic about the school, and the faculty are really into teaching. The school also works really hard to make sure the students have the resources they need. "
"The small class size (64) and the awesome city of Mobile. Also, the brand new library that the school has built, not the biomedical library, but the big university library."
"Everyone was so friendly. Students seemed like they enjoyed their life and learning experience at USA. Mark Scott, Vanessa and other stuff were really trying to make everyone feel as relaxed and comfortable as possible. The small class size definitely allows for excelent learning environment."
"Friendliness of the interviewers and the children's and women's hospital. "
"The admissions director Mr. Scott was really nice. Two of my interviewers were clinicians and the third was a faculty member. All of them seemed involved with the student body and really liked what they are doing. The chocolate cake for lunch was definitely a plus. "
"Women's and Children's hospital. Seems like student are really happy and help each other out."
"The Children's Hospital and the fact that there is a smaller than average class size."
"The Women's and Children's Hospital makes South seem like the place you want to be if you are interested in pursuing a career in a related field."
"everyone who visited raved about the women's and children's hospital - and it was worth raving about. It was really nice, but was the only focus of the campus tour."
"The women's and children's hospital is amazing, small class size, students seem very happy"
"The Children's and Women's Hospital, the amount of hand-on experience you get during rotations, the interviewers, the director of admissions"
"The immense amount of hands on experience the students get."
"The friendliness of the staff and students and women's and children's hospital"
"The Womens and Childrens Hospital."
"small class size, children's & women's hospital, student interviewers, personable admissions director"
"Friendliness of faculty, womens and childrens hospital."
"Individual attention and small class size."
"Some of the interviewers were late to the Zoom call"
"Informality of the interviews caused high variation between each other (one interviewer had clearly read my file, another seemed to know nothing about it)."
"Some students had to travel off-campus for their interview, and the bus tour was a little long."
"The library and medical school building seem a bit dated."
"The faculty interviewers did not ask about extracurricular activities - shadowing, volunteering / service, research."
"The library was a little underwhelming."
"The medical sciences building is a little old but all in all it wasn't that big of a deal"
"The tour was long and the biomedical library wasn't very nice."
"Not tons of diversity in the student body or faculty"
"The buildings seem to be aging a little bit."
"My first interviewer was not very personable"
"Having to interview off campus."
"n/a"
"Nothing---close to the water..."
"nothing"
"The interviews for some people are spread out among the school and the various hospitals (although if you don't have a car that day they will be nice and provide transportation or arrange all of your interviews on campus), some of the lecture halls are old, the torrential downpour, some (but not all) of the students seem to resent UAB and its med students."
"Interviews were scattered around and they didn't have typed out directions for all of them. Interview locations were scattered around which made it very stressful because you were sort of on your own. Also, no directions to the school and it was difficult to find. The tour of the Women/Children's facility seemed to take forever."
"There really is almost no clinical research, although they are building a very impressive and promising new cancer institute. The campus was eerily quiet, though I guess the 1st and 2nd years were in a test block so they were busy studying. The curriculum is letter grades rather than pass/fail in the first two years."
"the first year lecture hall needs renovation (which should happen this summer); the students weren't as enthusiastic as I expected"
"The poorly designed way in which they arrange the interviews. You have to travel several miles on your own to get to each interview (total of three). The directions they give you are weak, and you will probably be late to at least one of them."
"some of the buildings are a little old, it takes a while to drive to the hospitals"
"Lack of exposure to medical students/facilities, lack of information provided about curriculum (not on webpage either). Lack of organization by USA administration also detracted from my impression of the school."
"The interviewers didn't really ask me alot of questions, so I am not sure how well I did."
"lack of zeal for research"
"The fact you had to drive to off campus interviews"
"It was a little stressful driving across town to get to interviews, but even though I ran late to my second and third interviews, it was no big deal. "
"There's a slight 'inferiority' complex among some people there and they feel they have to prove why they are a good med school. "
"The facilities at the university need some updating. Not much else was very negative."
"some of the facilities are old"
"The school and hospital facilities seemed to be in poor shape. The school is too small, so the hallways are packed with file cabinets. The hospitals are also old and poorly maintained. "
"The tour did not show us anything about the school. All we saw was the lobby of the biomedical library, and the 2nd year classroom..not even the first year classroom! Plus, the tour was given by 2nd year medical students and so was the informal discussion at lunch; essentially, these guides provided no useful information for incoming students. Also, none of the guides were from America; they were all Canadian, and could not relate to the native Alabamian in terms of the criteria that a local resident would make in choosing USA. Finally, a big negative was that the school did not describe the curriculum or rotation schedule in any detail. Also, the interviews were NOT on campus, and most of us had to drive far away to get to remote places!!! You will find out where to go once you arrive at the interview orientation, but not earlier! Also, most of the class in married and white; so don't go there thinking you will hook up, unless it's with your existing husband/wife! "
"My hot hotel room.."
"Nothing really, except having to drive from the hospital back to campus which meant speeding a little. "
"Buildings are not very fancy. Having to drive all over to interviews."
"The recent drop in board pass rate. The first year lecture hall was old with those plastic seat that I hate."
"We were only shown the Women's and Children's Hospital... probably because it is South's biggest bragging right, but it kind of made me wonder about all the other hospitals... are they that bad? In addition, the biomedical sciences building on campus- where your spend your life for first and second year- is old, outdated, and a horrible place to spend two years of your life. The library isn't anything to write home about either."
"I didn't like that I didn't get to meet too many students, and that they didn't give the campus tour. Of course, the tour to the W&C's hospital was much more informative coming from the director of admissions, but no one asked any questions... possibly b/c it wasn't another student."
"One interviewer told me USA is have accreditation issues. Another interviewer didn't seem to want to be involved with admissions. You have to drive to interviews (sometimes very far away). The hospital is far from the campus."
"The small size of the class"
"The hospital is not very close to the school."
"Off campus interviews"
"The hospitals are located some distance from the campus. The library."
"having to travel between interviews (but they were very understanding about tardiness if you let admissions office know you're running behind)"
"Having to travel for interviews."
"Having to travel in a limited time to different hospitals for the next interview!"
"How relaxed the interviewers were"
"The informality of the interview."
"I wish I knew they would expect me to know about how South prides themselves on the friendliness of their staff and students. They expect you to know they do things differently there and if you think you fit in with them."
"That the interviews were lower pressure than I was expecting."
"Make sure you have transportation because several interviewers are off campus."
"They don't have your whole file. Basically it is just your primary AMCAS"
"To go to the bathroom before the tour starts bc it is 2.5 hrs long"
"That I didn't need to spend a whole hour in the interview because I had to travel 20 min to get to an interview off campus. I was having such a pleasant conversation with my first interviewer!"
"How nice everyone was--- it would have helped me relax."
"I wish I knew what hotels were good in the area and that I would have to drive to my interviews myself."
"Nothing."
"Mobile has little to very little drainage. Water tends to accumulate everywhere quickly."
"I would have worn different shoes because of the tour and the amount of running around to get to each interview."
"The board pass rates are pretty great, and the residency match list pretty good too. There's a lot to learn about this school because they don't put much info out into the public sphere. Also, you'll be done by about 2:30 so you can get a 4:00 p.m. flight out the same day."
"the interview process is really laid back; there really is very little reason to stress "
"The poorly designed way in which they arrange the interviews. You have to travel several miles on your own to get to each interview (total of three). The directions they give you are weak, and you will probably be late to at least one of them."
"Traffic on University in the morning can be really bad, so leave earlier than I did."
"The application stage is 30% GPA, 30% MCAT, and 40% interview. The admissions commitee makes their decision the night of the interview. "
"I knew about the off campus interviews ahead of time from reading SDN; what I didn't know was that the map they provide you with is pretty much useless."
"nothing"
"You might have to drive to off campus interviews."
"If you tell them that you will have a car, then you will have interviews at the hospital. This will cause you to have to cut short interviews which could have been longer if you didn't need the driving time."
"the campus is VERY spread out"
"That USA Medical Center is on the verge of shutting down!!! "
"The traffic in Mobile is heavier than I had thought. Narrow roads too. "
"There is so much driving! As a result, I was practically late to almost all my interviews because one was held at the Women's and Children's hospital and another in the medical school buildings. The directions to buildings are confused, so if you can, orient yourself prior to interviewing on general directions from the school to hospitals. "
"I would really like to go to this school."
"Interviews will be scattered around and you may have to drive. I had to speed a bit so I wasn't late for my third interview."
"That South uses a 1-10 rating system for applicants; I really don't see too much room for anything but applicants' stats to make or break them. Entirely too unfair, in my mind! There's more to people than numbers!"
"If you have a car, they'll give you interviews in completely different buildings so you'll have to drive. Either say that you don't have a car when on campus, or if you do, then be prepared to drive. I personally didn't have a car, so I had all of my interviews in one building."
"Traffic can be bad."
"see above"
"Nothing really."
"I wish I had scoped out the buildings ahead of time and knew where to park. Of course, this isn't really possible!"
"In some ways, an informal interview is harder to prepare for. We spent less time talking about my file than diverging into wormhole conversations."
"This was my first interview, and it felt really relaxed, which I was not expecting. The interviewers put me at ease quickly and I felt like they were really interested in my experiences, rather than my numbers, which were only about average."
"I genuinely enjoyed my experience at South Alabama"
"I definitely came away with a much better impression of the school than before I visited."
"Easy interview, relaxed and informal-it is kind of a pain to drive to off campus interviews though"
"Practice, practice, practice for your interview. You can never be too prepared. And know your AMCAS app!"
"My new top choice. Loved it."
"Only 1 interview was really a question drill. The other two were very laidback and conversational."
"I thought USA was a great school. I had always thought it would not be as impressive as UAB, but I would say it is up to par with UAB for all those that are applying to both schools."
"Great, no stress, interview group was more than 15 people, so it was large. All my interviews were on campus, so I did not have to drive anywhere, even though I had a car. Not much diversity:-( Many clinical opps. for students, and the Women's Children's hospital is great. The school looks clean, and they are redueing the 1st year lecture hall. Faculty is great. I Hope I get in!!!:-)"
"The interview day is very stressfree, the most stressful time is the preinterview portion, once the interviews start the day is relaxing. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes for the tour of the hospital and check the weather the days before you interview."
"The school seemed a little old, but they were doing a lot of remodeling. The school itself seemed decent, with plenty of clinical experience especially if you are interested in pediatrics or ob/gyn. The lady who gave the finance discussion seemed a little intimidating, and the tour of the facilities by the director wasn't incredibly interesting. One of my interviewers was a little rude and very intimidating. "
"A very friendly little school. Great for primary care and hands-on clinical training. The faculty really care about teaching students. Not the place to go if you're really in to clinical research, though there is a fair amount of bench research."
"It was a good experience; no real stress or difficult interviewers. I was really impressed by the things that Mark Scott and my interviewers had to say about the school."
"The whole experience is really laid back, everyone is easy to talk to. The interview isn't hard at all - they mostly asked questions from my application. Not one ethical question!"
"The experience was pretty good. The interviewers told me all about USACOM and answered all of my questions before I even asked them. Everyone did a really good job of explaining what sets this school apart from the others. I left feeling like I would really enjoy going to school here but a little uneasy not really knowing how well the interviews went."
"Overall, it was a great experience. Although I was late for my first interview, because i had to drive to the location, my interviewer was very forgiving and made me feel quite comfortable. I also learned that they are gutting out the first year lecture theater...so that's a plus."
"It went pretty good. I met with 3 different individuals: a physiology teacher, an OB/GYN, and a 4th year med student. All were enjoyable, although the first two didn't go as well as I had hoped. "
"Mark Scott is excellent at using humour to loosen up and relax the students before the interviews- my nervousness was cut in half by the time I arrived at my first interview. All three interviewers were so nice, and it really felt like you were simply having a conversation with an interesting person who is passionate about the school and its important role in the community. They didn't throw anything at me that I wasn't expecting and prepared for. "
"Overall, I think all three interviews went really well. All three asked about the diversity of my majors (bioengineering/religious studies) and about my extracirriculars. "
"It was a very good experience. USA knows exactly how to sell their school to prosepctive students and most of the interviewers are very nice. This interview has definitely made USA one of my top choices. "
"The director of admissions is a great speaker, and explained everything very clearly and with humor. Some of the interviews were off-campus, as much as 20 minutes away by car, so that was a pain. Lunch was excellent. I enjoyed the student tour of the campus and the later tour of Children's & Women's Hospital."
"South is a great school and a great medical school... I did not like how they did not provide us with detailed curriculum/rotation outlines like the other med schools do...also, for a small school it is very disorganized, requiring interviewees to drive all over the city of mobile for remote interviews! i've never seen nor heard of any other school that does this; usa should instead have panel interviews which would be more efficient...south's main strength is actually its campus; it has a brand new library and a nice campus where u can also meet undergrads...the city of mobile is also really awesome and way better than the city of birmingham...uab however is much much more organized and professional that south alabama, with detailed curriculum outlines and student tour guides who actually give a tour of the school's facilities! south alabama is a good medical school but i noticed most of the kids there are married, so it may not be a lively place to go to to get an active social life; finally, uab has a lot of hotter chicks...however, all this being said, i would probably go to south alabama over uab because it is in mobile, and the weather is hotter down there and closer to the beach..."
"Overall really great experience. Eveyone was so friendly and nice. It just made me miss the South and the weather (as I live far from there now). "
"The interviewers were extremely friendly and welcoming. They invited a lot of questions and I really got a great feel for the atmosphere of the school. They also really emphasized the warmth and camaraderie of the class. "
"I didn't feel that I had unidirectional interview questions but more of a conversation experience. The clinicians were interested in what types of clinical experience that I'd had and talked a lot about what they did. They asked me about my GPA and academic history - I have a somewhat untraditional academic background. "
"It was a pretty low stress day. All of the interviews were conversational rather than question after question. The tour to the hospital was worth going on. There was really good chocolate cake at lunch! "
"All in all very low stress interviews. They seem to place a lot of merit on their interviews. The first year auditorium is a bit old. The students seem happy to be there and the area around the school is nice. They are very proud of their children's hospital and rightly so. It is a very impressive facility. The interviews were one on one and conversational. If accepted here I would most definitely go."
"All in all... not bad. But not great either. I'll take it if it's the only place I get in though- anywhere is better than nowhere!"
"Overall, my experience exceeded my expectations. Before visiting, I considered USA to be a joke school in a podunk town (harsh, I know), but it actually has crediblity and gives amazing hands-on experience to their med students. Furthermore, they only have about 64 per class (and interview only 180-200), so the amount of individual attention and resources you get are uncomparable. The director of admissions is very personable and will even give rides to and from the airport if needed. Also, they send out their decisions very quickly."
"The interview was very plesent. We got a really good tour of the Women's and Children's Hospital. "
"Overall, it was a pleasant experience. The interviewers were very nice and helpful. If possible, it is advantageous to scope out the campus and affliated hospitals ahead of time so you know where you are going for the interviews."
"I was very impressed with the faculty and students at USA. The admissions director was very friendly and funny. All of my interviewers were nice and very easy to talk to. Everyone at USA seemed as if they really wanted you to attend school there. "
"Very positive, though one interviewer asked all the typical ethical questions. Other 2 interviews were more conversational. 4th yr. student interviewer even started talking about sports."
"I really enjoyed my visit to South. I was impressed by how nice the faculty and administrators were. The students I met were very helpful as well, and one even stayed late to chat with me, as did the admissions director."
"Very laid back and relaxed. Director of Admissions is cool and easy to talk to."
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Student | 21 |
| Faculty member | 1 |
| Admissions staff | 28 |
| Other | 0 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Enthusiastic | 33 |
| Neutral | 3 |
| Discouraging | 0 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 7.11 | 36 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| In state | 32 |
| Out of state | 4 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 0-1 hour | 5 |
| 2-3 hours | 5 |
| 4-6 hours | 19 |
| 7+ hours | 7 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| Airplane | 8 |
| Automobile | 27 |
| Train or subway | 0 |
| Other | 1 |
Mobile airport
MOB
PNS
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| At school facility | 0 |
| With students at the school | 2 |
| Friends or family | 12 |
| Hotel | 16 |
| Home | 1 |
| Other | 0 |
| Response | # Responders |
|---|---|
| < $100 | 15 |
| $101-$200 | 10 |
| $201-$300 | 1 |
| $301-$400 | 2 |
| $401-$500 | 2 |
| $501+ | 1 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 7.81 | 36 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 7.42 | 36 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 6.81 | 36 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 8.36 | 14 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 9.43 | 14 |
| Response Avg | # Responders |
|---|---|
| 4.71 | 14 |
We help students become doctors. TM
What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 1)?