So today was probably the most important day of my life – my Baylor College of Medicine interview. After being awe struck by the faculty, facilities, and students, I was even more convinced that having BCM as my “dream school” was indeed a wise choice.
There were about ten interviewees socializing in the sitting area when I first arrived at the DeBakey building at BCM. After being informed that the room we were supposed to be in was hosting a test, we were relocated temporarily to a student lounge. Seeing some familiar faces made me begin to ease into the interview day with some comfort (or maybe the fact that the student lounge had both a foosball table and pool table). 🙂 However, we ultimately reached our final destination and began to eat lunch while being welcomed by some faculty and students. This lunch/welcoming/registration lasted from 12:00 to 12:50 PM. Interviews and tours were held between 1:00 and 4:00 PM, and since that’s what most of you are concerned about, let me get right to my experience:
My first interviewer was an internist who worked at the VA. Let me just start off by saying that up to this point, I had six interviewers (2 interviews x 3 schools), none of which made me even slightly doubt my performance; however, this individual was rather different. The way I am used to speaking involves interpreting facial expressions and body language from my interviewer to help me gauge and tailor my upcoming statements. This interviewer provided none of that. He had the ideal “poker face” which made me very uncomfortable in reassuring myself that I did a good job. Regardless, I pulled through and managed to answer all his questions with what I felt were genuine and satisfactory responses. Here are some questions he asked:
- So what have you done today at BCM?
- Where do you see yourself ten years after medical school?
- What have your friends told you about BCM?
- What three traits would your friends say you possess?
- What was the most difficult thing about your undergraduate career?
- What do you think will be the most difficult thing about medical school?
- When did you know that you wanted to be a doctor?
- What are you going to do in your year off?
- If you had to speak to the admissions committee through me, what would you say about yourself?
My second interviewer was a neurologist who went to BCM for medical school, residency, and was now a faculty member there. Naturally, due to his background in neurology and my interest in neurosurgery, we had a lot to talk about regarding BCM’s neurological sciences department and research opportunities. The funny thing is that before he went to medical school, he was actually a full-fledged lawyer. Talk about shifting career goals – from law to medicine. That in itself spoke volumes about his dedication towards pursuing what he felt was his calling. This interview was far more of a conversation as we bounced ideas and concerns off of each other. Unfortunately for you guys, the only specific question I remember him asking was as follows:
- With all the negative things about medicine (Medicare/Medicaid issues, increasing costs, delayed gratification, financial burden, stress, etc.), why do you still want to pursue it?
Throughout the day, I was pleased to run into HBU alumni. Will gave my group a tour of the BCM facilities. Gary gave a tour of the clinical facilities BCM is affiliated with. I ran into David and Humair in the lobby and briefly had a chance to catch up. It’s just great seeing familiar faces. Makes me believe that I too can one day be in their shoes as a BCM student.
Anyways, this concludes my application year. I have completed all my interviews, and if you see another blog post concerning medical applications, it will deal with acceptance letters. 🙂
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