Western University of Health Sciences

I wish I studied the questions on SDN more because they were a lot like the ones asked.

They all have guideline questions which every interviewer will ask you. These two threw me: Tell me about a time you learned from someone with a different background than yourself. Tell me what empathy means to you and how you demonstrate it.

They kept mentioning how they interview like 800 people but only accept 200 I don’t understand their process w that. Also they have an alternate system for this year’s admissions. Waitlisted students have priority for a seat in the class, alternates only have priority once waitlist is empty

School’s curriculum is structured in a 2 pass system. Healthy systems first year, unhealthy systems 2nd year. It helps their students prepare for boards and their board scores are pretty high.

Mock interviews, SDN, talking out loud

The interviewers

Mock interviews, SDN, speaking to current students

The school struck me as a Last Chance U for CA residents with malicious recruiting tactics. Their mission and values page states they want to increase physician availability in areas that need it the most, make efforts to recruit prospective students from underserved areas that are statistically more likely to go on and serve those medically underdeveloped areas, then turn around and charge some of the highest secondary app fees, upcharge their tuition 25% above the national average, and ask for not one, not two, but THREE days off of work for interviewing. The whole process was tone-deaf and seemed like they use the whole "Why do you want to serve in underserved communities?" schtick to get grants and donations easier. When I pressed about this in the interviews, I got some generic spill about student initiative rather than any concrete answers. They have zero EC programs that are developed/lead by the administration (it's 100% student-run), they don't have any satisfying explanations about their subpar rankings, nobody can explain what the higher-than-average tuitions go to since the school is practically in a slum and lacks necessary amenities for learning effectively, and one of the students during the student-leader sessions flat out admitted they wished they had researched the campus more before accepting their offer. Terrible impression of the school.

It you can get past the bad Inland Empire location, smog and undesirable neighborhood/campus you can likely learn medicine here. Faculty seemed average for a DO program, not the worse I've seen, not the best. Yes you can live in nicer neighborhoods nearby and commute to school (Claremont) but Claremont is basically an island surrounded by undesirable areas.

That there's no breakfast offered, not even a snack.

The interview day starts really early (7:30) . 1:1 interview was rushed and the interviewer was cold. The day was disorganized at times. There was no breakfast for applicants, but there was breakfast for faculty in the same room where the applicants were (strange). Pomona is in the *really* bad part of the LA metro (eastern suburbs/Inland Empire) (about 1 hour from good areas with traffic), known for dangerous levels of smog especially during the summer. While there are beautiful mountains close by they are not visible/barely visible on most days due to the smog. This will also limit enjoyment of the outdoors in most cases , negating the advantages of the socal weather. Temperatures during summer are similar to phoenix (100+). As others have mentioned, the school is built in a cheap looking strip mall area patrolled by aggressive security (meant to keep the homeless element from dt Pomona out). The anatomy lab looked pretty cheap with home depot type buckets next to the bodies.

That they try to ascertain your empathy level during the interview process (not sure how effective it is though). Some of the staff was nice.

It was a very short and easy to manage interview day. The staff and faculty were very welcoming and spent a lot of time talking about the school and their personal experiences. It was nice to be able to watch the admissions presentations ahead of time.

Nothing really.

The interviewers were very friendly and just wanted to get to know me. It was a short interview day.

SDN Interview feedback page, writing out bullets for common questions, practicing with myself in the mirror, and practicing with my family.

It was pretty chill and laid back, there weren't any curveballs or questions that I wouldn't expect.

For the MMI: don't be nervous, say anything unneccessary/babble on to try and fill time

The buildings aren't the nicest, and the surrounding area isn't the best

The staff/faculty I interacted with were nice, and it's in Southern California