I had my MMI with UIWSOM today. I honestly feel very good about it. I don’t want to say it out loud, but I feel like I CRUSHED the interview. Further, after having the opportunity to speak with several OMS-2s and a few 3s, I can see that there are some curricular features of the program that would be a better fit for me than even SOMAs curriculum. Further, UIWSOM has superior student services as compared to SOMAs. I don’t think that students pay enough attention to things like behavioral health services, career services, library and research services, etc. These are all important things that can make what is a hard slog a little more bearable. Finally, as much as I miss Arizona, I have to admit that it will be far and away less costly to move from Austin, TX to San Antonio than it will be to go back to Arizona from here. The cost to purchase a home will be significantly less as well… Eboni and I are going to have a lot to discuss if I am granted a seat at UIWSOM…
So, the interview. For starters, UIWSOM, like SOMA, requires that we sign an NDA. I cannot discuss any of the questions that I was asked. However, none of the questions were one’s that required a great deal of thought or effort to answer. Anyone who is reasonably well-read and keeps up with current events should be able to formulate coherent thoughts on the questions.
There were six virtual MMI stations; five of the stations were face-to-face stations with an interviewer and there was one rest station. Each station lasted for about 10-minutes. I was given two minutes to read the prompt for that station and eight minutes to discuss with the interviewer. There was one 10-minute rest station and one 10-minute writing station. The writing station was set up just like the verbal MMI stations with the difference being that I was asked to write in response to the prompt using Google Write. Finally, there was a 10-minute group activity station where I and the seven other interviewees interacted under the observation of an interviewer, to solve a problem.
Between stations, there was a group gathering room that the director of admissions and an OMS-2 manned. The student was there to answer questions and it was cool to see how open and informative she was. That was an added bonus to the interview. The interviews themselves were all conversational and I thought, played to my strength of having lived experiences. While the interviewers were supposed to keep a poker face, I caught several of them nodding and smiling in response to some of my answers. The interviews are, as far as I know, closed file. The interviewers don’t even get our middle or last names before the interview. Refreshingly, the only comment about age came up when the first MMI station interviewer said, “I am glad that you applied; we need more people your age in the program.”
Overall, the interviews were conversational, and I found the staff to be VERY well-trained in comparison to some of the staff at schools where I have had interviews this cycle. I think that for the non-traditional student, MMIs can be a good way to showcase your lived experience without the judgement that may come from an interview where you have to discuss past grades/academic performance. To prepare for the MMI, I reviewed several websites that had practice MMI questions and even though students were not supposed to discuss the questions given during the MMI, I did find information on UIWSOMs Student Doctor Network Interview Feedback page. I should note that none of the questions that I found there were on my MMI today. We were told that we would get a decision in the next two to three weeks and that seems to track with what I have been seeing on SDN as well. Since I know that one way or another, I will be attending medical school, I don’t feel the nerves that I felt early in the cycle when I didn’t have any acceptances. Still, UIWSOM is an intriguing program and I would have difficulty turning the school down if offered a seat.
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