I have heard from one of my friends that the FAU interviews are done this year. I think it’s a nice program and I really hope to apply next year, but I’m scared about interviews in general and should start the prep sooner than later.
Does anyone who did the FAU interview last week mind sharing how it was like and how you would recommend preparing? I’m particularly interested in what it means to be a “group interview”. Thanks
I’m out of state (I go to a magnet school, clark high school, nevada) and both my parents are doctors, obgyn and neurologist, I’ve heard these factors can alter bsmd interviews.
I interviewed for the FAU MedDirect and I got in! So first and foremost, it is not a group interview. Each person is separately interviewed that day. You are just with a group for doing a tour of campus, a tour of the med school, lunch with some current med students, and a q and a session with some of the doctors in charge of the program. There were 8 people there some in state, some out of state and we had our interviews in 2 cycles. Four people would go interview with a different board member at a time.
The biggest factor to get into the FAU MedDirect is if you are a National Merit Semifinalist. It says on their website that they get first priority which is totally true. Everyone in the program who will be freshmen next year that I’ve met so far is a National Merit Finalist including myself. I have not met anyone who is not one yet. I was in their first group of interviewers and they basically told us at the end that they hope to see all of us at the school next year so they definitely offer the interviews to the their top candidates first so if you have the first date you’re in good shape. However, people not at that interview day were accepted as well. I don’t think it matters if your parents are a doctors or not (mine aren’t).
Really the best thing you can do is get National Merit to apply to FAU. As a university, they really want to improve their standing and are heavily after National Merit Students. But other than that, make sure you have a 1490 super scored on the SAT or a 33 on the ACT(I think) and that you have taken a good bit of AP courses or IB as well. They also want you to have some exposure to the medical field to show you are indeed interested in this career path, specifically something with patient interaction like volunteering at the hospital or something. They even asked me about it in my interview if I had any specific memories or experiences working with patients (I did). Other than that, follow what you are passionate about and write about that in your essay. Be true to yourself and to your passions. Don’t be afraid to be different in some of your pursuits, not all of them have to medically related. I played basketball super competitively and almost committed to play in college for almost all of my life and I was on the varsity team for 4 years. All in all, they want someone who is genuinely passionate about what they do.