How did the interview impress you?

Negatively

What was the stress level of the interview?

6 out of 10

How you think you did?

5 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

1 out of 10

How long was the interview?

60+ minutes

Where did the interview take place?

At the school

How many people interviewed you?

1

What was the style of the interview?

In a group

What type of interview was it?

Open file

What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 1)?

"All of the questions came straight out of my application. Be ready for questions that deal with the minutia of the application." Report Response | I was asked this question too

What was the most difficult question?

"Specific questions about activities that I was involved in a long time ago and largely irrelevant to my motivation for becoming a doctor." Report Response | I was asked this question too

How did you prepare for the interview?

"I looked over the questions on SDN to see if there were any interesting questions I should be ready for. This was my 10th interview." Report Response

What impressed you positively?

"1) It's near SF. 2) The anatomy lab is really nice." Report Response

What impressed you negatively?

"1) The judgemental director of admissions. 2) The interview itself was weird. 3) The school is a dump." Report Response

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

"That the director of admissions is narrow-minded and highly judgemental." Report Response

What are your general comments?

"There are so many things wrong with this school. Before detailing them, I want it to be known that this is not sour grapes. I withdrew my application before it went to the committee. 1) The school itself stinks. It is located on an industrial island near Vallejo, CA, which is itself the armpit of the Napa Valley. First and second year classes are held in a run down building with poor lighting and a lack of locker space for students. The students did not seem to very enthusiastic about the school. When I asked the tour guide for his top three reasons why he went to Touro, he couldn’t even come up with one. I also got the impression that the tour guide was trying to hide various parts of the building from our view as if there were skeletons in them. Speaking of dead bodies, although the anatomy lab looks really great, students will have to spend two years dissecting cadavers starting with the entering class of 2006. Very little information was provided about the pre-clinical curriculum, and the clinical sites seem to be spread out over hill and dale. I never thought a school could be worse than Western University, but Touro Vallejo is. 2) Dr. Haight, the director of admissions, is rude, judgmental, and not particularly helpful. Most of the information that he provided during the early morning session dealt with the admissions process itself instead of discussing the school’s strong and weak points, the curriculum, or why students elect to attend the school. I must admit that I did tire of this exercise rather quickly, as it was my 10th interview. Dr. Haight jumped upon the boredom he inflicted upon me to conclude that I wasn’t interested in the school, quickly shared that conclusion with the other interviewees, and then hinted that he would be sharing that conclusion with the admissions committee. Although I don’t think much of the school now, my mind was still open to considering the school at the time because he made those comments only one hour after my arrival. More revolting were the rude comments and gestures that he made as the various applicants introduced themselves. All and all, I believe that Dr. Haight’s behavior was extremely unprofessional and worthy of sharp rebuke by schools and students alike. 3) The interview itself was very weird. There were four interviewers, six interviewees, and 60 minutes of time allotted. Dr. Haight justified this unusual arrangement on the grounds that it would let the interviews see how we might interact with fellow students while on clinical rotations. Of course, he failed to omit that doctors spend more time talking to patients one-on-one, and that it might be better to study how students interact in that type of environment. Anyway, since there were only 10 minutes per interviewee, I assumed that they would focus on the most pressing and important questions on my application: unique experiences that lead me to choose medicine, my illness in college, my research last summer, etc. However, they wanted to focus on the most irrelevant parts of my application like extra-curricular activities where I only put in 2 hours per week and stopped doing three years ago. It really seemed like the committee was missing the forest for the trees. All and all it was a very disappointing interview day. I really wanted to go to school in the bay area, but it’s just not worth going to this terrible school to live near SF." Report Response

Who was the tour given by?

Student

How did the tourguide seem?

Neutral

How do you rank the facilities?

1 out of 10

What is your in-state status?

Out of state

What was your total time spent traveling?

7+ hours

What was your primary mode of travel?

Airplane

About how much did you spend on room, food, and travel?

$401-$500

What airport did you use?

SFO

Where did you stay?

Hotel

How would you rate the hotel?

4 out of 10

What is the name of the hotel you stayed in?

Quality Inn, Vallejo

Would you recommend the hotel?

yes

On what date did the interview take place?

02/07/2006

How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?

1 out of 10

What is your ranking of this school's location?

3 out of 10

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?

6 out of 10