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Great Questions to ask Adcoms during Open House


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Doing something to impress somebody ALWAYS looks like you are doing something to impress somebody. They can sniff that out a mile away. The truth is, if you HAVE sincere and great interest in a program than you will have done enough research to answer many of the question you might have, and then the questions you are left with will be genuine questions and not a gimmick to make yourself look good. That's not to say that you can't ask questions on a forum about certain things, but you can't ask somebody else to create an aura of great and sincere interest for you. It sounds like you need to stop trying to LOOK like a good applicant and start trying to BE a good applicant.

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Have you ever noted the difference between somebody that asks you how you day is going because they want to sell you something, and those that ask how you day is because they actually care how your day is? If you can tell that difference than the Adcoms can tell the difference between self interested questions and genuine interest questions. My point is, nobody else can come up with questions for you that communicate genuine interest because genuine interest will create questions of its own; and they will always sound more genuine than the sales guy asking how your day is.

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Have you ever noted the difference between somebody that asks you how you day is going because they want to sell you something, and those that ask how you day is because they actually care how your day is? If you can tell that difference than the Adcoms can tell the difference between self interested questions and genuine interest questions. My point is, nobody else can come up with questions for you that communicate genuine interest because genuine interest will create questions of its own; and they will always sound more genuine than the sales guy asking how your day is.

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Well you can ask about where students live, rotation sites, if they have tutoring, computer labs, gym... I think the best stuff is practical stuff. During my interviews I asked just practical questions and also "what is your favorite thing about this program". Anyways I never attended an open house. I don't think making a good impression at an open house is going to help you get a seat at the program. You gotta get an interview first :P.

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Well you can ask about where students live, rotation sites, if they have tutoring, computer labs, gym... I think the best stuff is practical stuff. During my interviews I asked just practical questions and also "what is your favorite thing about this program". Anyways I never attended an open house. I don't think making a good impression at an open house is going to help you get a seat at the program. You gotta get an interview first :P.

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Ok...

 

Ask them... "Since the program admits 50-100 students per year, and each student pays ~ $80k in tuition, and each student is basically expected to teach themselves medicine the didactic year after listening to volunteer, un-paid guest lecturers, and then do their clinical rotations at sites with un-paid, volunteer preceptors... where does the money go"...???????????

 

This would be a GREAT question to ask Adcoms during a open house.

I can assure you that you WILL stand out and be remembered come application time...

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Ok...

 

Ask them... "Since the program admits 50-100 students per year, and each student pays ~ $80k in tuition, and each student is basically expected to teach themselves medicine the didactic year after listening to volunteer, un-paid guest lecturers, and then do their clinical rotations at sites with un-paid, volunteer preceptors... where does the money go"...???????????

 

This would be a GREAT question to ask Adcoms during a open house.

I can assure you that you WILL stand out and be remembered come application time...

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The OP said nothing about an open house and I specifically said in the interview. Asking smart questions in an interview will help over applicants who ask no questions and seemed disinterested/content to be ignorant and those who ask questions that can easily be found in research.

 

The title of the thread is " Great questions to ask Adcoms during Open House". I am assuming the OP wrote that title hence the basis of my reply referring to open houses.

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The OP said nothing about an open house and I specifically said in the interview. Asking smart questions in an interview will help over applicants who ask no questions and seemed disinterested/content to be ignorant and those who ask questions that can easily be found in research.

 

The title of the thread is " Great questions to ask Adcoms during Open House". I am assuming the OP wrote that title hence the basis of my reply referring to open houses.

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I went to the open houses at my top 2 schools, and I like to think it helped me. When it was winding down, they said people can stick around to ask them individual questions if they have them- so a line formed to meet them. If you are seriously interested in a school, questions should come up from their presentation. Ask for more details in points they brought up. I introduced myself, told them I had already applied and chatted for a while. I had a few questions ready to ask them (real questions I wanted to know- about clinicals, abroad opportunities, interaction with patients the first year, and about the curriculum), but it ended up being a conversation more than anything. Although I had already thoroughly researched the programs, this helped me get a better feel for them; some people wait until the interview for this.

 

Anyways, I received an interview at both programs shortly after. Coincidence, maybe. But I like to think putting a face to a name helps a little. When looking at 2 applications, otherwise equal, I would choose the one I had a positive interaction with a few weeks before. After introducing myself to one program director, he said "that name sounds familiar.." I had e-mailed him previously asking questions about prereq's, and he remember. At another program, the director picked me out and had remembered me from the open house. These people are usually pretty good at remembering faces/names.

 

Open houses are your chance to interview them! Take advantage of this!

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I went to the open houses at my top 2 schools, and I like to think it helped me. When it was winding down, they said people can stick around to ask them individual questions if they have them- so a line formed to meet them. If you are seriously interested in a school, questions should come up from their presentation. Ask for more details in points they brought up. I introduced myself, told them I had already applied and chatted for a while. I had a few questions ready to ask them (real questions I wanted to know- about clinicals, abroad opportunities, interaction with patients the first year, and about the curriculum), but it ended up being a conversation more than anything. Although I had already thoroughly researched the programs, this helped me get a better feel for them; some people wait until the interview for this.

 

Anyways, I received an interview at both programs shortly after. Coincidence, maybe. But I like to think putting a face to a name helps a little. When looking at 2 applications, otherwise equal, I would choose the one I had a positive interaction with a few weeks before. After introducing myself to one program director, he said "that name sounds familiar.." I had e-mailed him previously asking questions about prereq's, and he remember. At another program, the director picked me out and had remembered me from the open house. These people are usually pretty good at remembering faces/names.

 

Open houses are your chance to interview them! Take advantage of this!

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To the OP - it looks like you already have some good questions there.

-Ask about availability of rotations and if there is ever a need to travel for those rotations. If so, how do the students handle temporary housing? Travel costs?

-With elective rotations, do they have several options already set up, or is it up to the student to find a preceptor and create the rotation.

-How far ahead of time are schedules provided? Do you know your full clinical year immediately, or do rotations tend to change last-minute because of availability issues? (And are you flexibile enough to handle that?)

-Do they offer rotations abroad (if you're interested)?

 

If you get a chance to talk with current students, ask for specifics about their rotations...do they feel that they get a good hands-on experience, or do they tend to get pushed around because they are PA rather than med students?

 

I asked all these at an interview rather than an open house, but I think they can carry-over to your situation. I talked to a few PAs before my interview to find out specific things they liked about their program and then twisted those into questions for the program I was interviewing for. Hope this helps. I was struggling to come up with "intelligent" questions, too. One piece of advice - don't ask a question just to ask. Things that are already listed on their website, minimum GPAs, GRE scores, required classes...do your research on the basics before you go :)

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To the OP - it looks like you already have some good questions there.

-Ask about availability of rotations and if there is ever a need to travel for those rotations. If so, how do the students handle temporary housing? Travel costs?

-With elective rotations, do they have several options already set up, or is it up to the student to find a preceptor and create the rotation.

-How far ahead of time are schedules provided? Do you know your full clinical year immediately, or do rotations tend to change last-minute because of availability issues? (And are you flexibile enough to handle that?)

-Do they offer rotations abroad (if you're interested)?

 

If you get a chance to talk with current students, ask for specifics about their rotations...do they feel that they get a good hands-on experience, or do they tend to get pushed around because they are PA rather than med students?

 

I asked all these at an interview rather than an open house, but I think they can carry-over to your situation. I talked to a few PAs before my interview to find out specific things they liked about their program and then twisted those into questions for the program I was interviewing for. Hope this helps. I was struggling to come up with "intelligent" questions, too. One piece of advice - don't ask a question just to ask. Things that are already listed on their website, minimum GPAs, GRE scores, required classes...do your research on the basics before you go :)

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Things that are already listed on their website, minimum GPAs, GRE scores, required classes...do your research on the basics before you go :)

 

I went to 2 open houses, and would say that 99.8% of the questions asked by prospective applicants were listed on the schools' websites, or were readily available with a little searching. I applaud the faculty for not just openly saying, "have you even looked at our program's website??"

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Things that are already listed on their website, minimum GPAs, GRE scores, required classes...do your research on the basics before you go :)

 

I went to 2 open houses, and would say that 99.8% of the questions asked by prospective applicants were listed on the schools' websites, or were readily available with a little searching. I applaud the faculty for not just openly saying, "have you even looked at our program's website??"

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I went to 2 open houses, and would say that 99.8% of the questions asked by prospective applicants were listed on the schools' websites, or were readily available with a little searching. I applaud the faculty for not just openly saying, "have you even looked at our program's website??"

 

Haha, that is always a danger. One guy I interviewed with came out of his interview saying that the interviewer (who gave much of the "about the program lecture") got kinda pissed when he asked a question she had apparently covered in her lecture. If I am remembering who it was correctly he still got in so it was a tiny foul.... but lol :)

 

Seriously though, don't ask questions unless you have them. Just thank people, and if you have no questions just tell them you feel the presentation/interview/whatever fully answered your questions.

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I went to 2 open houses, and would say that 99.8% of the questions asked by prospective applicants were listed on the schools' websites, or were readily available with a little searching. I applaud the faculty for not just openly saying, "have you even looked at our program's website??"

 

Haha, that is always a danger. One guy I interviewed with came out of his interview saying that the interviewer (who gave much of the "about the program lecture") got kinda pissed when he asked a question she had apparently covered in her lecture. If I am remembering who it was correctly he still got in so it was a tiny foul.... but lol :)

 

Seriously though, don't ask questions unless you have them. Just thank people, and if you have no questions just tell them you feel the presentation/interview/whatever fully answered your questions.

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