Applicants generally found the interview experience at the school to be very positive, with a laid-back and friendly atmosphere. They appreciated the conversational nature of the interviews, the welcoming environment, and the emphasis on primary care and serving underserved areas. Some applicants highlighted their interest in the school, while others mentioned concerns about the location or lack of communication post-interview.
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Very close knit student body, VERY laid back interview
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Overall, I had a very positive experience and have no negative feedback.
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Only 3 other people were interviewing, and everyone was so friendly and welcoming. The school seems like a close-knit community, and I loved the smaller town feel of Greenville.
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Loved the school. Wished I had more of a tour. Smaller town, very safe.
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I was very impressed with the school. the location less so. But still very pleased!
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Relax! The interviewers are not trying to make your interview difficult. Don't let your lack of enthusiasm for Greenville discourage you, as Brody is an excellent school, as evidenced with Step 1 scores that are just as good as UNC's or Wake Forest's and match lists that illustrates Brody will give you any tools you need to do walk whatever medical career path you choose.
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A good school for some, but not for everyone.
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Awesome school! The interview day was fun and entirely stress free!
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I'd love to go to this school.
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ECU is a good choice for medical school, low student to cadaver ratio.
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Even if I don't get in, the school impressed me positively. I am very supportive of their mission.
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Be yourself. You will know if the school is a match for you as well as they will know if you are a match for the school pretty quickly :-)
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Make sure to stress how much you want to stay in NC to practice medicine!!!
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When they say arrive at XX:XX they mean ARRIVE AT XX:XX. do not be early and do not be late.
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Brody makes the experience very laid back and not intimidating. Just chill out and be yourself.
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I had a good expereince during the interviews and tour, I would love to go to Brody if they make the offer.
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Would be honored to go to ECU and hope I get the opportunity to attend
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Great school. Loved it. The tour guides insisted that there is a lot more to do in Greenville than you might think. And great beaches are only two hours away.
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I really enjoyed my day at ECU. This was my first interview so I was extremely nervous when I arrived but the friendliness of the admissions staff and my fellow interviewees helped me to relax a little. The interviews were great...far less scary than I imagined. The atmosphere is really laid back and low stress. It seemed more like having a conversation with two cool strangers instead of having someone drill me with random questions. As long as you know what’s in your app and why you want to be a doc & why ECU, you'll be fine. This was a great first interview experience!
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The interviews were super laid back and conversational--a lot less stressful than I imagined. Overall, I was far more impressed by Brody than I thought I would be. Because I am interested in primary care and working with the underserved, it is an excellent match for me. It jumped from the middle of my list to right at the top.
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Great school, ranked (I think 5) in primary care. Nice enviornment
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This was my second time at ECU. Last year, I didn't accept me because they didn't feel that I'd stay in North Carolina just because I went to undergraduate somewhere else. So this time, I was hoping that they wouldn't pick on me abt where I spent my undergraduate years that much. I hope that they realize how much I am dedicated to stay in the state of NC.
My interviewers were a professor and a 3rd year medical student. I wish that I had gotten a chance to meet Dr. James Peden at the end of my visit but he was busy.
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Had I known that the interviewer would have treated me like that, I probably would have saved my time and money( as well as theirs) and not gone.
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I liked my interview day and feel like I would love to go to Brody if they extend an invitation.
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Students and staff were very friendly. They also provided us with six dollar vouchers for the cafeteria in the hospital. Overall, I really liked this school.
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ECU was great. The environment was very friendly, and the interviews were extremely laid back. The interviews are blind, so nobody has seen your application. The entire thing is them trying to get to know you as a person, so it's an opportunity to make an impression. I really enjoyed it all around.
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I hope I get in, because its definetly better than I expected and moved up my list.
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I started off the day at 10:00 am in the admissions office. It was me and 2 other people. We started out by filling out a questionaire about what specialty we were interested in, and of course, unless you're stupid, you're going to put some kind of primary care/rural medicine as one of your top choices. Then I had two interviews, one-on-one, with faculty members. They are closed file, but both interviewers kept slipping in questions that would've been answered if they'd just looked at my file. "What's your GPA? What's your major? What was your MCAT score?" I didn't really understand that, unless they're trying to double check or something. Both of them also asked me what other schools I was applying to and sending seconardies to. Of course, after we got through all of the questions they had planned to ask me, the tone of the interview became much more conversational and we just talked about whatever. Then after the interviews we had a short tour of the med school and ate lunch in the cafeteria.
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I was very pleased to see the atmosphere of a school like ecu. I had always had a negative idea of ecu as a school, but most of that was from the average undergrad experience and shouldn't be used to describe the type of medical school ECU really is. It really seems to be a positive, non-competitive, enriching place. We started in the office of admissions (there were only two of us that day having interviews) and they gave us envelopes with the interviewer and his office number. Each interview was very relaxed, mostly asking questions of family, background, etc. There were many of the typical questions (strength, weaknesses, etc) but they were asked in a very non-threatening way which alleviated some of the stress of the typical med school interview.
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Overall a good experience. Really liked the school. Seems like it would be a great place to learn medicine. Even though everyone says that they're all about primary care they're also doing robotic heart surgery research (which i thought was really cool)
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Pretty conversational; they were busy trying to put the pieces of our story together since they are given no information going in there
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I think I've said most of it. I like that it isn't a large group to be interviewed, only 2 or 3. Everyone is very warm and friendly. The facilities are better than other SDN reviewers complain, and there is a lot of construction going on. I cannot say enough about the school, and am anxious to start there (hopefully).
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The process began at 10:00. I filled out some paper work and then they gave me two envelopes with the names of my enterviewers. I was interviewed and then students gave the group a tour of the campus. We then ate lunch, spoke with the dean, and went home.
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Great
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My very 1st interview so I had nothing to compare the school to
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I really enjoy myself during the interview. The interviewers were very friendly.
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Report to the office before 9:15 and fill out a survey. I waited 30 minutes-1 hour for my first interview. It lasted 30-45 minutes. No drilling--conversation. Met with staff from the minority office for 15 minutes. My next interviewer picked me up at 11:30; very conversational lasted about an hour. At 12:30, lunch and quick tour. Met with admissions staff (told us about the application procedure). The day was over at 2 pm.
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Wonderful!
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Pretty lackluster in comparison to my other schools.
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A few specific questions. I mainly did all the talking. The two interviews were back-to-back with not restroom break. I might have talked a little too much--my interviews lasted more than 45 min. I arrived there at 9:45 AM, filled out a short survey, got my $6 meal ticket, headed to my first interview at 10:30AM and to the second interview at 11:30 AM, met the M1 tour guides, headed to the cafeteria, ate lunch with them, went back to the adm office around 1:30 PM, set down with Sheila Lee for a brief talk about the adm process, and I was out of there before 2PM.
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Two comfortable interviews that were somewhat repetitive in the questions I was asked. I was completely stress-free.
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Overall welcoming, friendly experience. the school has a specific mission that they want to fill and i appreciate that they do. the day is set up to find applicants drawn to staying in NC to work in those underserved areas that the state is full of. i didn't see myself fitting in with the student body only because of my background-- i was especially impressed with how happy students seemed, how satisfied they were with the education and how much they felt like the administration was doing all that it could to help the students in any way possible-- collegiality is evident here!
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The interview day was fairly short... about 10-1:30 and very laid-back.
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We arrived and filled out a survey, which took all of two minutes. then, we had two 40 minute interviews, going back to the admissions office to wait between them. after the second interview, two first years came to take us on a tour of the med school, which was not very informative. then we ate lunch and headed back to the admissions office to talk with the dean of admissions and after that we were free to go.
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My experience was definitely more relaxed this year than last year. I felt more at ease with the interviews (2 professors) than last year. I really felt that my interview went well even though I have read that most overestimate their interviews. The biggest change from last year is the idea to relax and let the interviewers get an accurate picture of your personality.
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The interview and tour were both positive experiences, overall. however, i was very disappointed by the fact that i did not receive a single communcation from them (that i did not initiate) in the three months between my interview and my acceptance. for a school that prides itself on personal attention, i found communication skills to be lacking. note: keep calling, or you will have no clue what is going on.
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It was wonderful, relaxing- just be yourself- the faculty are very nice.
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The interview process was relatively painless. I think I was more nervous than those around me since this was my first time applying to Brody and my first interview anywhere. My first interview was truly closed-file. He started off by asking me where I went to school, my grades, my hometown, where my family lived, what I did for fun, etc. My second interview was definitely more positive (a 4th year) since we shared similar interests and similar backgrounds. This made the time fly by. I have seen other's imput on the school making it seem like a ghetto and not that much to do around here. But if you are in med school, wouldn't you rather not have constant distracting activities so you can focus on school? Greenville is not that far from just about anything you would want to do (Raleigh two hours away, beach two hours away, mountains 5 hours away and DC about 4 hours away). In my opinion, this is as good a location as any for med school. The hospital is nice and it is growing at the moment. I like the fact that they are building a new heart center to serve as a research and clinical facility. From talking with the tour guides, the faculty are eager to help and want to see you succeed. The hospital cafeteria is terrific (you can eat for almost nothing there and open 24 hrs.). My second interviewer had mentioned that even up to the 4th year, many students still remain close friends and plan to stay in contact even after school. The one thing that you need to keep in mind is that Brody is focused on doctors who want to practice in underserved areas. This is not a secret from anybody that has read the mission of Brody. Just something to keep in mind when applying and interviewing.
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My experience was very positive and I feel that I have a good chance but I also saw that about 50% of the students that got into the program last year were reapplicants and that is disscouraging for first time applicants. I guess they want you to apply many times and give them more money.
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Overall pretty laid back experience, no trick questions. Cafeteria food was pretty good.
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When I left for my ECU interview, I had only been admitted to Tulane (obviously a sketchy choice at this point in time). I wanted to do well at ECU to at least have a school on the plate that wasn't destroyed by a hurricane in the last year.
I got the phone call from UNC while I was at the hotel preparing for my ECU interview the next day. UNC was my 1st choice, so I felt I could relax on the interview prep. I still wanted to do well, though, because it's always nice to have choices in the end.
I have one friend who attended ECU as an undergrad. He hated it so much he transferred out, and when I told him I was going there for my interview, he offered one piece of advice: "Make sure you lock your hotel door." That didn't bode well. He was right - I took a mini-tour of Greenville by car the night before, and the city is not friendly. It's mostly rural, and the population is seemingly composed entirely of poor minorities. I don't mean to sound elitist, but I felt like I had been dropped in the middle of Harlem, only without the benefits of a large city like NYC.
The hospital is similarly disappointing. While the hospital itself is relatively modern, it is surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. It's like the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz... a big shiny new thing emerging from a rural countryside, and looking totally out of place. From there it got worse...
My first interviewer was lovely, I really liked her. She was a young psychology PhD, and made me feel very comfortable. My second interviewer was AWFUL. He was the stereotypical old man concerned primarily with my summary numbers (MCAT, GPA, SAT, etc.) than with my personality. He spent most of my hour with him trying to convince me that ECU was probably the wrong place to be if I wanted to specialize, completely ignoring the other evidence that ECU might be right for me. He sat far away from me, making the situation even more uncomfortable. Each interviewer receives an envelope with your basic biographical info; he didn't even bother opening it when I handed it to him, and therefore most of the questions he asked me were those he could have answered by spending 30 seconds reading the summary sheet.
The facilities, while fairly modern, would be hellish to endure. EVERY SINGLE FIRST-YEAR CLASS IS HELD IN THE SAME SMALL ROOM. That means, for an entire year, you'll be spending about 8 hours a day in the same room. Talk about Cabin Fever! The same is true for 2nd-year students. They have a different room, but all their classes are still held in a single room. The school feels like an afterthought to the hospital - it's a big hospital building, and the med school is simply dispersed throughout a number of rooms in the hospital. There's no dedicated med school building, no "college campus" atmosphere around the hospital, or anything else you see at most other med schools.
The tour guide seemed neutral, and was evasive when I asked if there was anything she disliked about Brody. The "tour" was pretty much useless; since all classes are held in the same room, she simply showed us that room for a few minutes. Then we went to lunch, which required walking through the hospital to the cafeteria, but she never gave any info about the hospital at ALL. Everything I know about Pitt County Memorial Hospital I learned while trying to find its address on Google. The cafeteria food was OK, but the Admissions Office only gives you a $5 waiver, so be prepared to spend some of your own cash if you want a drink, yogurt, whatever. It's the only lunch facility in the building, and our tour guide said it gets old after a semester. There are no other restaurants within walking distance of the hospital.
Overall I was wholly unimpressed with Brody. The interviews were bland due to their closed-file nature, the facilities are not good, and the students are unenthusiastic. ECU would be a last-resort option for me, and given that over 50% of their students are re-applicants, it would seem that most of the students are people who couldn't manage to get in anywhere the first time around. Not the place for me.
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Informative, friendly, informal/lower-stress interviews.
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I was interviewed by two people (one on committee and other not) for 1 hr each. Don't stress! Very laid back and just get to know you type of questions that you should really know about yourself.
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My first interviewer made me work a little harder than my second. she wanted me to be more specific with my answer and that kind of caughtme off-guard. she took a lot of notes too. boy! that didn't feel good.
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I thought it was a nice, easy going experience. I was interviewed by a faculty member and a fourth year student. Both were very laid back, but especially the one with the student, it was almost like talking to a friend.
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It was great. My second interview went very well and I really hope to be offered an acceptance. It will be hard to turn down ECU.
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This was my first interview, so my jitters were higher than they should have been. Overall it was a very relaxed interview and I loved the school and learning atmosphere. The one-on-one time seemed like a waste.
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A great school, at a great price. During the tour we actually had three tour guides when our tour guides invited a friend to lunch. We spent the meal discussing how their first year had gone and what types of things they did to imporve their application and be accepted at Brody. They were highly encouraging and seemed to feel great about their decision to come to ECU. If you want to do family practice, this is the school for you- it scored quite highly in the most recent US News and World Report rankings.
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This is the second time I interviewed at this school. I found myself more relaxed and confident this time (better qualifications and more experience helped). The more time I spend at ECU the more it grows on you. Last year my tour guides were not friendly and left us in the cafeteria, making us find our way back to the admissions office. This year the interview group clicked with them and it was very relaxed and fun. Dr. Peden has to be one of the best Dean of Admissions I have met so far. He is honest but with a touch of compassion so as to let you know where you stand and how things are. Also, although their reputation for primary care is their bread and butter, ECU has emerged as a great med school for placement of physicians in EM and regular family practice, and it shows by the compassion of the students and faculty.
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Great interview time with my second interview. I had a good experience last year, but this year was much better. I had a more relaxed and confident attitude, and I hope it showed. I practice as a PA in burlington, so I realize it may take me a while to gain admission. Everyone was very nice, and BJ was very helpful. The students had great things to talk about as well.
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I really enjoyed the interview, and I sincerely hope I am accepted. If I am, I would need a very compelling reason (full scholarship) to go to school elsewhere.
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ECU is a good school - especially if you want to go into primary care. If you don't I'd suggest trying elsewhere.
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This interview was really laidback and relaxing. It was my first interview and so I was very nervous but I was put at ease immediately.
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Great interviews and students, facilities were somewhat old though
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I am a reapplicant and normally people who are rejected are able to get a rejection interview with Dr. Peden, I was not able to, because he was having surgery. Although that was a little discouraging, out of all of the medical schools that I interviewed at last year, I liked the Brody School of Medicine the best and I knew I didn't want to waste my time applying to a bunch of schools that I don't want to go to, so I applied early decision and I found out that I got accepted a month later! I never did find out why they didn't accept me last year, my application did not change that much, except I had graduated and was working and continued my volunteer experiences.
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I started off the day at 10:00 am in the admissions office. It was me and 2 other people. We started out by filling out a questionaire about what specialty we were interested in. Then I had two interviews, one-on-one, with faculty members. They were closed file. I liked the philosophy because that way the interviewer starts off as clean slate without forming any opinions before meeting the candidate. Overall it was a good experience. Tour guides were also trying to give a good feel about the school instead of trying to make a hard sell. I also liked that they provided lunch in the hospital cafeteria, where we would be having lunch as med students rather than providing fancy boxed lunch. Dr Peden made the whole process less stressful by making light of situation about how him and Dr. Hoole (UNC) are at odds because they compete for the same candidates ... and how that was not a problem with him and Dr. Armstrong (Duke) .... ofcourse he was kidding :-)
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Overall very positive. The experience certainly bumped ECU ahead of other schools I am applying to because of the satifaction and attitude of the students and faculty.
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Going into this interview, ECU was my first choice. Turns out I got rejected but that doesn't change my opinion that ECU is a great school. It was my first interview so I was pretty nervous and perhaps that hurt me. The interviews were low stress, and more conversational then anything else.
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Well I came into this interview knowing that I had been accepted at some other medical schools. Basically in both interviews I laid the gauntlet down and said "Hey! Wake up! This 4th time is your final chance, either take me now or lose me forever." I don't recommend this approach in your interview of course but I felt invigorated doing so. I think my interviewers sort of appreciated the fact that I was up front with them and not afraid to speak my mind. After all, your interviews are about getting to know you as a person. Beforehand, I was told in an exit interview by Dr. Peden that my 6 in the bio section of the MCAT wasn't going to cut it ( Hey, it's a valid statement!). I retook the MCAT and got it up 3 points. They seemed to like that and take notice that I was willing to work for it. The only bad part is waiting for them to make up their minds afterwards. The committee meets about 3-4 weeks after your interview. Inevitably you will be waiting till May to receive word from them. Granted I already plunked down 3000 bucks on reserving my spots in the other schools, but since ECU is my first choice, I was hoping I would get some type of confirmation sooner.
Oh yeah, I know for a fact that Dr. Peden also reads this site alot to gain feedback on the interview process. I would just like to say that my lunch was good this time around and that even though I had 7 bucks of food on my plate (the healthy food is expensive hehe), they accepted my 5 dollar interview ticket as a "Paid in Full." So if you are reading, know you get a big Richie thumbs up for that this year. ;) In summary, the odds are heavily stacked against you at ECU due to 68 slots ( 4 of those are already spoken for no matter what) and over 780 applicants. They get alot of applicants, it's a slow process overall from secondary to interview to acknowlegement of the final verdict. However, everyone at ECU is nice, friendly and approachable. The tour is good and the students seem to like it. When I asked a random girl studying in the first year classroom, she replied "Getting in is the worst part, after you get in you'll love it here." Just keep that in mind and never give up.
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They should give you some indication of whether the interview was positive, negative or ? What harm is there in knowing that information?
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The interviews were very laid-back and more like conversations, i even talked about basketball for 20 minutes with the dean of the school; I guess my interview was kind of late in the mix, but i got an acceptance letter exactly 2 weeks after my interview.
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The day I interviewed, I was the only candidate there because a terrible snow storm had hit the day before and the school had actually closed for the day. Those conditions made it pretty stressful as I got a LOT of one-on-one time with both the dean and the interviewers. Then again, I guess that could be considered a mixed blessing...
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Very friendly and low stress. Both of my interviewers would be awesome poker players and rob me of all of my money! By this, I mean I couldn't tell what they thought of me AT ALL. I wish I could tell whether or not I was liked or hated or mocked etc. But I couldn't. Everything was standard, from questions to the tour, I think ECU is an awesome school. The price cannot be beat and the area though boring, has a certain charm for me.
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A great school and there residency placement is excellent.
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It was very low stress and enjoyable. the interviews were back to back so you get to get them over with at the beginning
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My interview experiences was great. This is my second time applying to this school and I felt much better about my interview this time than previously.
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I have been a practicing PA (ortho, family practice) for 3 years, and this was my first interview for Med school. The interview was relaxed and encouraging for me. They really wanted it to be a time for us to ask questions and see if this school is a good fit. My questions were a lot more directed towards why I want to be an MD instead of remaining a PA. It was still a good experience for my first time. Dr Levine was the most intense interview of the day.
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A very relaxed day overall.
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Interview day was pretty enjoyable. first, there were two interviews, then a tour given by two students. lunch in the cafeteria, then a wrap up with admissions staff. this is a pretty friendly school.
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One interviewer's opening statement to me was "since you are a Duke student that loves to scuba dive, you have had everythign handed to you all your life and wouldn't understand poverty and wouldn't want to coem to school here". The Dean proceeded to tell us that he didn't expect to see any of us matriculate at his school.
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I arrived at 10. There were 3 of us total. The admissions office gave us our interview appointment times and rooms and then sent us off. First interviewer was a little stoic, but I got him to warm up. The second was really nice and we had more of a conversation. Afterwards, we took a tour of the facilities and then had lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Finally, the assistant dean sat us around a table to discuss the process of admission. Explained that we might not hear from them for awhile and then let us ask questions. Very low key.
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Overall the interview experience at Brody was a positive one. In fact, at first I did not have interest in attending the school in the fall and considered just reapplying next year but I think that would be dumb. ECU has more than enough to offer academically and will be a great place to learn medicine.
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The interview day was overall pleasant...both of my interviews were more like conversations...I was a little bit worried about this at first because some of the things we talked about seemed "taboo" for interview topics (race, politics, religion,etc) but I have since been accepted so I guess the subjects were okay...my advice would be to be yourself, get to know the other interviewees (this can help take the edge off a little) and enjoy the day
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This is my 3rd time applying to Brody so I was pretty familiar with the staff and the facilities. This year they served us lunch too (which is surprisingly good) :) Both interviews are closed file and they are basically looking to get to know you. You will spend the majority of your time discussing your experiences and how they relate to medicine. Normally they ask me what I am going to do if I am not accepted. This year they never asked me that, rather they asked why I was so tenacious in my pursuit of a medical career. The majority of the class are reapplicants so I felt very good about my interviews this time around. Both people I interviewed with were quality individuals and I never once felt uncomfortable. This is a great school. Many people say that there is nothing to do in Greenville but it's really just like Wilmington 5 years ago. In conclusion, compared to other schools you'll interview at, you'll find the most comfortable interview environment here.
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Overall had a great experience. My first interview was with a md and it was great. She got to really know me. Wanted to know about my interest in primary care and about my desire to become a doc. This was my 3rd time applying so she wanted to know why I was so dedicated. My second interview was with a phd and we just talked about my hobbies. Im in grad school now and he wanted to know if I was sure I didnt want to stay in research. Overall a very positive experience. In my previous interviews here, I was asked what I would do if I dont get accepted. This time I was not asked this question!
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Very nice little school. Actually liked it better than UNC. The whole building is wireless, which I didn't know before hand. That's a plus for me. The cafeteria is pretty good, and cheap, too.
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It was a very good experience. just be yourself and everything will be Ok
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An interesting conversation that was brought up was the use of how address the African American/Black. One interviewer hesitated to call me African American so I said, "you can say black". Then we had an entertaining story of how one of his collegues had a problem with being "black".... It was a cool and weird conversation that opened the interveiwee up and we were cool for the rest of the interview.
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Really a good experience, just trying to get know applicant and why they want to pursue medicine to see if you are a good fit for their school
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It was definitely not the nightmare that I had anticipated.
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Awesome.
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They didn't ask me any out-of-the-ordinary questions. It was basically "Tell me about yourself."
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I loved this interview-- I actually really enjoyed myself. It was completely stress-free, and both my interview with the faculty member and my interview with the med student were more like conversations than a question and answer session. I left feeling very positive and excited about the school.