How did the interview impress you?

Positively

What was the stress level of the interview?

1 out of 10

How you think you did?

10 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

10 out of 10

How long was the interview?

25 minutes

Where did the interview take place?

At the school

How many people interviewed you?

2

What was the style of the interview?

One-on-one

What type of interview was it?

Open file

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

"Pick a current ethical dilemma in healthcare/research and tell me your thoughts on it (I chose stem cell research). Somehow this led into a discussion on gene therapy." Report Response | I was asked this question too

What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 2)?

"What do you think about physician assisted suicide? What will you do if you don't get into medical school?" Report Response | I was asked this question too

What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 3)?

"Basic stuff - Tell me about your research. What's a challenge you've faced in your life and how did you deal with it? What do you do for fun?." Report Response | I was asked this question too

What was the most interesting question?

"If you had to create a panel of three different types of people to advise President Bush on stem cell research who would you choose?" Report Response | I was asked this question too

What was the most difficult question?

"Discussion on physician assisted suicide - asked for my thoughts and then gave me a hypothetical scenario." Report Response | I was asked this question too

How did you prepare for the interview?

"Re-read through my application and reviewed my research. Tried not to get to wound up. Went out to dinner with friends." Report Response

What impressed you positively?

"Everything - this place is absolutely awesome! Parkland and Children's alone make it an excellent place to get your medical education. Parkland is a huge county hospital and you get an amazing amount of experience working there during your third and fourth years. I was also impressed with how they ran the interview day. Even though we were the last interview group they made a point to tell us frankly everything they could about where they were in the admissions process and that we still had an excellent chance for admission (aka, we weren't 'interviewing for the waitlist'). Also, two of the current students who gave presentations/were on the panel said they were in the last interview date. ^.^ On a whole everyone was really nice and they gave a good impression of the school and the students there. They also did an excellent job of dispelling some of the rumors surrounding how 'cutthroat' the school is suppose to be and explain their grading system. They set a cutoff for an A and from there they only curve up - not down. Also, there is a new college system they've initiated that just started with last year's first years. It seems to be a really nice system. The first year class is broken up into these different 'colleges' and then further divided into groups of 4-6 people and are assigned a clinician as a mentor. They meet every week and the system also serves to give first and second years a little more clinical exposure. All the current third and fourth years said they wished they had the college system. Even though they've only just started the program the responses from the first years that I talked to were very positive." Report Response

What impressed you negatively?

"Not a thing - this is my top choice! Dallas is hot, but then if you're looking at a school in Texas it's going to be hot anywhere you go!" Report Response

What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

"Nothing, I was pretty well informed since grew up in the area and have been hearing about UTSW since high school. They have an optional friday program that I would recommend going to though. Even though most of the material is repeated the next day it's a good opportunity to release some tension (just being in the school without the stress of knowing you have to interview that day is nice) and meet some of the other applicants. Only about half of our group went and I was really glad I did." Report Response

What are your general comments?

"UTSW has a two day set up. Friday is an option program from 2-5PM where you essentially get to watch powerpoints on various things about the school. Afterwards they serve dinner with a whole bunch of the current med students. The info is mostly repeated the next day but it is more detailed on friday. It's also nice to be at the school knowing you don't have to interview that day. For me it was a great de-stressor. The next day starts with an optional 8-9AM panel for women applicants with students that are part of the American Medical Women's Association. They have a continental style breakfast. The panel was good, it gave people an opportunity to ask more personal type questions that may be harder to ask in a larger group. Also- it was pretty funny that two guys felt the need to come in. And they came in late too! From 9-10AM you get another introduction/welcome and an overview of the day. They split the group in half then; one set went to their two 25-min interviews and the others went on a tour of the med school, Parkland and Children's. Then they switched the groups. I went on the tour first and then had my interviews. The tour guide was a 4th year student who gave us some pretty good insight on why the clinical facilities available are a really important factor that should go into choosing a medical school. The interviews after the tour went really well for me. One interviewer has complete access to your file and the other only has your personal statement – I think it’s a good system since you get different types of questions from each because of this. For me, one was a PhD and one was an MD. Both were very nice and I felt that they got to know me as well as you can in 25 min. The interviews were extremely low stress. Afterwards there was lunch with current students. The (in)famous barbeque sandwiches were actually very tasty. It could have just been that I was starving though, there is quite a bit of walking during the tours (UTSW, Parkland and Children's are all connected so you walk a lot!). I cannot stress this enough - wear comfortable shoes! One person in my group actually tennis shoes with him and changed for the tour – kudos! After lunch we had a student panel that was pretty informative. They had two people from each year so we would get a balanced perspective on our questions. They concluded the day with a tour of their student center (which was very new looking) and popcorn. Overall, a great day. It’s my hope that they felt as good about me as I did about them! :p" Report Response

Who was the tour given by?

Student

How did the tourguide seem?

Enthusiastic

How do you rank the facilities?

10 out of 10

What is your in-state status?

In state

What was your total time spent traveling?

0-1 hour

What was your primary mode of travel?

Automobile

On what date did the interview take place?

01/12/2008

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

10 out of 10

What is your ranking of this school's location?

9 out of 10

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

9 out of 10

How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?

10 out of 10

How is the friendliness of the admissions office?

10 out of 10

How eco-friendly are the school's application materials and interview process?

6 out of 10