Interview....

[Guest MDmmmsure]

Well, I had my interview at the UofS today....... the following comments are based on personal opinion only, and is not meant to belittle the school in any way.....

 

I was disapointed with the whole interview process.... the interviewers were frozen....no emotion,no nothing....the medical school student kept giving me this look like "You think your good enough to go here?" For not having any info about me, I was suprised at how many questions were not directed towards me per se but towards what people generally think and feel (ie. how you should act in this situation....not how I would act)...... I got a question like.....UofS is on probation and ranked low in McCleans (definately were not promoting their school in this interview)...... If you got accepted here and UofT, were would you go and why?.....now I know I should justify my reasons for UofS....but come on..... how can you truly say which school you will go to if accepted to many....too many things can change between now and then (for instance, my father is very ill right now....therefore, UofA, close to were I live, is my first choice regardless of whether or not I like other programs)......

 

As an out of province applicant who attends UofA, I was looking for the other schools to give me a reason for choosing their school.....UofC definately did this (great tours, interviews, and really sold their program)....for me, UofS did not.....a medical student took me on a tour (after I insisted three times I be taken on one).....the faculties are relatively decent but not great.......

 

In the end....the program seems good.....really good clinical training....excellent residents produced......I just personally had a bad interview experience (don't think I did bad per se.....but I just thought the interviewers were less then motivated to even give me a shot.....again, its tough, though, considering coming off two good interview experiences at UofC and UofA....maybe it was just my time to get a tough crowd....

 

Good luck

 

Joe

[Guest kosmo14]

I am sorry that you had a bad interview experience. I have said in the past that our college doesn't go all out like other schools. I am not too sure why. I talked to the admin a couple of years ago about it and even offered to organize a pre interview evening and a full fledge tour of the college, university, and hospitals but was shut down as I was told that our college's priority is not "out of province students". Really short sighted in my opinion, but it appears as though that is the way things are done here in Sask. live for today not for tomorrow.

 

Just let me assure you that once you are in it is much better as they for the most part take good care of thier students.

[Guest everyoneloveschem]

UofS should be proud of showing off, even to Saskatchewan residents. Just because you are from the province and may even have attended UofS does not mean you are familiar with the facilities and the benefits of UofS's med school program. Its kind of hypocritical to expect all these people to be proud of themselves (both current and future med students) and show off their skills when the program can't even do it!

[Guest ilikeblue]

ya maybe we had the same interview panel. 2 of them were cold as ice....kinda threw me off....i think my interview was a writeoff

ahhhhhhhhhh:(

[Guest MDmmmsure]

%%WORD0%...... if there was anything that really impressed me about the school....it was the students.....again, genuinely happy, and very team/friendship oriented.....something I am definitely looking for in a school (saw the same thing in Calgary). In fact, that question I alluded to about choosing between UofT and UofS was answered based on this.....I am the type of person who works well in team oriented settings, learning more efficiently when I am working with someone and not against them......therefore, as I have heard that the UofT is a very competitive school (within the class itself), and UofS, at least from my interactions with the students, seems very close and team oriented, I would chose UofS over UofT because I believe I would better learn medicine in a more comfortable environment (for me!). The statistics don't really mean anything to me (a side note....my hockey team went to the provincials ranked 9 out of 10 teams.....and we won, losing only one game to the team we eventually beat in the finals....don't talk to me about statistics and rankings!). This is in fact a true statement...........there's enough competition in undergrad....

[Guest kosmo14]

I agree with the statistics garbage. I don't care what people say whether it be a U of T student (not picking on U of T it is just the one that seems to be considered #1 in Canada), a practicing physician, or any pre med who says U of S is not as good as the rest. The truth is, a plastic surgery resident is a plastic surgery resident (same for any other specialty) whether you go to U of T or U of S.

 

We had many competitive matches this year and every year (rads, rad onc, plastics, ent, cv surg, ...)

[Guest Rome1]

I had my interview this weekend, I was somewhat surpised by how laid back the interview was. The interviewers were friendly and were intent on getting to know me as a person. The med students there were awesome in giving me a tour of the campus! Overall, I really glad that I treked out to Saskatoon to check out the med school there!

[Guest MDmmmsure]

Rome1.....I'm glad you had a good interview experience....I know the feeling (Calgary and UofA)......hopefully it pans out for you......I think, though, like ilikeblue, that my interview/UofS application is a write-off!!!!

 

Yet, you just never know, do you!!!

 

Good luck everyone......

 

Joe

[Guest saskmedman]

MDmmmsure,

 

Sorry to hear your interview wasn't enjoyable for you. I was actually one of the senior medical students interviewing this weekend, but it doesn't sound like I was on your panel. Some of those questions you quoted are very fair and standard type questions. The fact that you felt they didn't reveal enough about you is irrelevant. The purpose of the interview is to assess your personality and your motivation for entering into medical school. We want to see that you are a well rounded person, have taken steps to find out about what medicine is like, and are generally aware of the issues in health care. Maybe the exact wording of some of the questions asked you might have been off, but I think they were fair.

 

Anyway, sorry it didn't go as you would have liked here. Good luck next year.

[Guest MedAnxiety]

Hi Saskmedman, I was talking to some of the first years, and they said that the interviewers have certain criteria that they mark out of 6. But I also heard that each interviewer gets to mark the interviewee out of 6. If it is the former case, what are the criteria? Thanks!

[Guest sasky]

Do you think the chances are good that you can tell when you failed your interview - or can it seem that it went well and then you find out you scored below 16...

Sasky

[Guest b3ta bl0cker]

personally, I believe it could go either way. I've heard of people thinking they did well and ended up failing and conversely, there are some who think they did horrible, and yet came out with an excellent mark. Mind you, very few people fail the interview each year.

 

If I recall correctly, you're marked on personality, communication, breadth of knowledge, motivation, and a couple other categories I can't recall at the moment. Each panel member grades you from 1-6 in those categories.

[Guest trev06]

I thought i did fairly well on the interview, but got a 17, one point above the cutoff i believe. But i still got in.

Trev

[Guest kosmo14]

I was the opposite, I could have sworn I failed it, but I ended getting 23 so I wouldn't try to analize it. I am sure you did fine as the majority pass the interview. Good luck.

[Guest ctscan]

you must've had a pretty awesome 2-year avg then trev06. May I ask what it was?

[Guest ilikeblue]

Got my letter today....As I mentioned before I thought my interview was a complete writeoff...and I thought about opening up my letter after final exams because I didn't want to traumatize myself beforehand and mess up my upcoming finals...but...I just had to know :\ (patience is not one of my virtues) Anyhoo

....miracles of all miracles I actually got a great score:rollin

 

My marks are not stellar by any means....so I had a lot riding on this interview. Long story short...don't give up hope...I almost did...things can still go your way:)

[Guest ilikeblue]

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