Guest Chieka Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Hi! Just wanted to see what people thought about their interview experiences. I interviewed this weekend and was glad to see that my three interviewers were friendly and conversational. I'm still not sure what to expect, though. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Like Chieka (who interviewed at the same time as me in the room next to me, oddly enough! ) I thought my interviewers were very friendly. They were on par with my Queen's interviewers in friendliness, I think. One difference between Queen's and Western, though, was that in my Queen's interview they really pushed me - if I said something about a topic, they would zero in on some point, and ask me more about it. At Western, they'd be more like "Comment on the high tuition in Ontario medical schools". Then I'd comment, and they'd move on to the next topic. It was a little weird. The video was very funny, although I thought it odd that they chose to create a video about the admissions process rather than about the school itself. Although it was very entertaining, I would have preferred a "day in the life of a med student" more than an "interview day" video, since I already know what it's like bein' an applicant.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lcloh Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Just as an addendum to that - we *did* have a portion of our presentation dedicated to life as a med student during Christine's talk on curriculum issues... the point of the video, on our side, was to loosen you guys up before the interview with outlandish situations that would likely never happen. There were better "Meet the students" clips in the outtakes, that's for sure! Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Lol. Fair enough, and it did indeed loosen me up. I didn't get a chance to see the outtakes, unfortunately... Loved the Seuss poem, though. I still felt that the presentation in general was a bit thin on talking about the curriculum, but that could definitely be just cause I was spaced out with my interview being right afterwards. It would be cool if you could post the outtakes on the web, but I bet that you don't want to... Edited to add: Hey, I definitely didn't mean to insult your interview weekend!! I thought it was generally excellent. Lots of friendly students, an entertaining presentation, and a comfortable interview. The content of the video just struck me as weird at the time, which is why I commented about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lcloh Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Hey, no insult taken We appreciate the comments! For me personally I think it would have been really boring to do a "Day in the Life" of a Western student, because in first year during the days we do spend about 7 hours of our day in class... and lunch of course... and at night we are free to do what we want, which our social/athletic/myself etc. reps brought up (and also other things that would likely not have been fit for parental consumption ) As for curriculum.. I felt Christine's 10 minute talk was actually almost too much - but maybe that's what happens when I heard it for the fourth time in 24 hours and also I may be forgetting that you guys aren't exactly here just yet and might need a little more elaboration than what we provided. (we have a tendency to assume everyone already knows what we're talking about ) Lawrence P.S.: Also, as a whole, I was personally impressed by all the interviewees I spoke to this weekend - you guys rock! I hope you all end up at Western next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GordUW Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Hi everyone I expected a friendly interview at western and it was not bad but I have to say that i was cut off a couple of times at the beginning of the interview and that kinda shook me off balance a bit, i was going about why physician question for barely over a minute and one of the interviewers cut me off and went on about something else. I dont know if they did that on pupose or they had too many questions to ask. like one of the post mentioned, it felt a little weird cuz they rarely followed up on any of my answers, instead they just threw a bunch of questions at me. I thought I did better in the second half of the interview after they started not to cut me off. besides that it was ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JSS02 Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 I hope you guys had a good time this weekend. Andrea and Tim did an amazing job organizing it (and put in a hell of a lot of time into this, too), and I think it turned out great. Anyways I also enjoyed meeting you all and hope to see you here in the fall. If you have any questions in the meantime, go ahead and post it here or on the UWOmeds.com forums, and someone will address it promptly... also, feel free to send me a PM. -Jeff (aka "the sleeper") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chieka Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Wow peachy and GordW, I got the same sort of response from the interviewers. I'd answer a question, expecting them to ask me to elaborate, but they'd move on to a totally different topic. At one point, I was worried and I asked, "Do you want me to elaborate?" (the question was on private vs. public health care, and I talked only about MRIs, so I felt I should talk some more). My faculty interviewer said, "No, that's excellent." I'm relieved though, because their responses are indicative of not caring so much about specific knowledge and rather being interested in personality. So maybe there's hope after all. Hee hee. As to the info session, I have to give some mad props to Andrew Suess. He delivered his poem with poise and wit. It was hilarious. I also liked the cocky applicant in the interview video. It's evident that a lot of planning went into the weekend! C. Edit for GordUW: At the beginning of the interview, the med student told me that they might cut me off if they felt that I had spent enough time on a subject or that it was time to move on. Did they tell you this too? Maybe that would explain why they cut you off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 I got the identical question on private vs public healthcare. I wonder if they were working off of a standardized list of questions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lisa88 Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 I actually found that my interviewers were very good at following up on my answers with other questions...the whole thing just seemed to flow really smoothely (almost like a real life conversation...imagine that). I even had the chance to crack a joke at the end and add little incidental tidbits about myself that applied to the questions they asked...I think that's the key Had a great time...I billetted with a student, which was really great. The Meds 2006 class was very friendly and helpful. And, I found their advice at the social event, and before my interview, extremely helpful. I think got a really positive impression from Western, and am definitely hoping to get in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Hey, I am glad that you all had a good time this weekend...Tim and I put a lot of effort into organising it and almost all of our class showed up to help at some point during the weekend. To address some of the concerns: 1. We tried to keep the information session to an adequate but not excessive level of detail...we thought that 10 minutes on curriculum was probably the extent of what you could stand to sit through - especially right before your interview....Everything that is of any significance was touched on....believe me, I can't think of any curriculum issue that wasn't mentioned in Christine's presentation....but if you have specific curriculum questions, feel free to check out the undergrad med education section of the uwo faculty of med website or ask away and we will do our best.... 2. We attempted to show 'a day in the life of' in the curriculum section of the presentation....as Lawrence mentioned, a day in the life of on video is not too terribly exciting....we spend a lot of our time sitting in the seats that you sat in for the info session....and some spend a considerable amount of it sleeping there too....and you got to see that in the video - the sleepers were caught in last Tues afternoon's histology lecture - they were not staged! The problem with the 'day in the life of' is that we are very limited in what we are allowed to film....we are NOT allowed to film/photograph prof's (written right into the faculty of med's rules for our yearbook)...we are NOT allowed to film anywhere close to the anatomy labs (due to rules of the Ontario Coroner's office)...we are NOT allowed to film standardised or real patients or to film in any of the hospitals or clinics....so that pretty much leaves us with people sleeping in class, or goofing off between classes....which you saw on tape....The video is meant to be comic relief at the end of the 'serious' info rather then a 'documentary' of more information....so that is the spirit that it was created and filmed in. We appreciate your comments....but the logistics of doing the day in the life of video make it pretty challenging! 3. As for your interviewers: I don't believe that they have a 'list' but some issues are fairly major, especially this year...and private vs public healthcare is HUGE given the release of various infamous, long awaited and over priced government reports.... I would not be even mildly surprised that many different interviewers asked about this topic and I don't think that you can use that as proof that they are asking questions from a list. And, I wouldn't worry about the responses that you got...they generally are not looking for 'content', they are looking to see that you have a brain and you can use it...so if you came up with something intelligent and they felt that they wanted to cover another area as well, they may have chosen to move on without pushing you to elaborate or clarify....no big worries. I hope that you all had a good weekend...Tim and I did and I think that our classmates did too! If you have any questions or comments about the weekend or UWO, please let us know...we would love to have the feedback! Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lcloh Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Speaking of sleeping... some of the interviewers (4th years) said my legacy will now be that I opened the sleeper parade... kinda ironic since I was taking all the sleeper pictures after OMSW (the Ontario Medical Students' Weekend...).... d0h! Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PARTY cal Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Hi, This past weekend has been amazing. This was my first visit to Western, and I had no idea it would be this great. I have never met a more enthusiastic, outgoing, social, and positive group of individuals. I had the opportunity to attend the party at the Wave, and the Wine & Cheese at Sugi's house. I met some great people there and learned why Western has the best medical school in Canada (at least in my opinion). It’s all about the students, and the vibe that this class puts out is amazing. The next morning I had my interview, and once again I was surrounded by more friendly and outgoing individuals. They always made us [interviewees] feel so comfortable. I can not think of a single complaint. The info session was great; super funny video and really informative. I know a lot of effort went into planning this weekend, and I would like to express my gratitude. Thank you Timmy, aneliz, and the rest of the first year class. I really hope to see you all in September. Cheers Ronen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JC15 Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 This was my first time out to Western and I found the trip to be a great experience. The whole weekend seemed very organized and I think it's awesome that so many med students were there to help out. My only regret is not flying out earlier so that I would have had a chance to see the city. The interview itself was very relaxed and conversational, and I felt pretty good coming out of it. Thanks to everyone who made the weekend so wonderful! Western is definitely a place I'd like to study medicine. Jenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PARTY cal Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Hey peachy, I think my PM box is now enabled...I did not work at York last year. Do I know you? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest multifish Posted April 2, 2003 Report Share Posted April 2, 2003 I was very impressed with the Western weekend, although I didn't attend any activities or billet. I found the information session helped to relax me before my interview...lots of props to the person who chose the music for the video, it fit perfectly...I laughed just because the opening music was the always-cheesy "Theme from a Summer Day". The interviewers were very nice; I found the questions were a little deeper/different than I was expecting, and that the prof tended to dominate the questions. He had a tendency to ask me a long, detailed question, and then cut me off part way through my answer and change direction. Overall, though, I had a very positive feeling about the interview and the experience was..well, if not fun, definitely painless. The students I talked to were all super-friendly and effusive, more so than at any of the other schools where I've interviewed. Thank you to everyone who helped out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Valani9 Posted April 3, 2003 Report Share Posted April 3, 2003 UWO was my third interview, and without question it was the most impressed that I've been with a med school thus far. The school itself is in a nice building with good facilities. The students seem pretty positive and laid back. And the interviewers were both professional and friendly. I've a question about the interview. I also got an opinion question - about an issue in the news. I gave my read on it - pretty moderate, though not quite as 'safe' as I could have been, I guess. One of the interviewers sort of challenged my interpretation a bit, and prompted me to clarify/elaborate on something. Do you think this is a bad sign? It wasn't quite a disagreement, more like "are you sure about that"? I dunno - I guess being challenged on something can be a good thing (?) Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ozymandiasking29 Posted April 3, 2003 Report Share Posted April 3, 2003 Hi Valani, I had an interview at Western last weekend as well. Although I wasn't challenged on any of the questions, I don't think that being challenged is at all a bad sign. It was probably just an attempt to see how you would react - panic, stutter, or worse of all, change your mind simply because they challenged you. I think as long as you stuck to your guts and made your point, you'll be fine. That's my take on it anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted April 3, 2003 Report Share Posted April 3, 2003 Thanks guys for all the positive feedback. Maybe our status on the "Which med school would you choose poll" in the OMSAS will change now that you've seen the place!! I think we're currently ranked #5. . . last year after the interviews we were ranked #1!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jas001 Posted April 3, 2003 Report Share Posted April 3, 2003 I interviewed this weekend. I billeted and went out to the social event, and i was quite impressed. Campus is really beautiful. Too bad I had to go out to Toronto the next day for another interview. As for the interview itself, it went very well. Almost all of the questions that other people had, I had as well. Guess they needed a bigger list. One difference from any other interview i've had this year is that they really know nothing about you. You really have to direct and take control of the interview so you can talk about what you wanna. I liked the video too. Jas jsrai@ualberta.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.