@Watang I only remember seeing two kids with backpacks. A pencil pouch is a great idea. I brought a formal folder with a calculator. However, once they handed me a UMKC folder, I gave my original one to my parent. You don’t even need a pencil to be honest, a pen in your pocket would look nice. They give you pencils in the Toledo room.
Good luck!
@AtticusFinchh Thank you! I’m really hoping I get to take the Toledo first because I feel that I’m gonna be exhausted after the MMI, and I don’t want to take a test after it
Hi all,
I had my interview today too! Overall, I agree with everything @AtticusFinchh said. I believe they said around 1330 students applied this year, so the applicant pool went up compared to last year’s 1200, and yes they offered interviews to 352. But, some of these students are ones who indicated that they would like to be considered for the 7 year guaranteed admissions program too. So, they ALL aren’t for 6-year BA/MD.
In terms of bringing a purse, @yenluu98, I recommend bringing a small one. It is not a hassle at all. The environment is pretty laid-back in that they allow you to bring in personal belongings to the chemistry exam (you just set them on the ground) and into the MMI room as well (set them on the moderator’s table in the center). Bring a calculator and a snack. You honestly don’t even need to bring pencils or anything. It is all provided. Oh, for my break between interviews, I made the mistake of bringing fruit snacks and panicked because they kept getting stuck to my teeth…bring something easy to eat!!
As I talked to the applicants who were done with their interviews, they all said it was “fun” and once I finished my own interview, I also felt the same way. They interviewers appeared to be all different backgrounds and were very nice and welcoming. One thing I will definitely stress is having your schedule handy at all times. The directions are a little confusing after the morning sessions and I ended up going to the wrong room for the chemistry exam and had to run upstairs to the correct one. I wasn’t late and it didn’t count against me, but just be mindful of that. Also, the more friends you make there, the better your day will go. Some people stuck by their parents all day, and while that is understandable due to nerves, I feel as if I had way more fun because I socialized. I met 4 people from the same town as me and we even had mutual friends. Everyone is going through the same experience as you, so it helps to have buddies to talk with after every step. Overall, the process is great. I love the school more every time I see it or talk to current 6 year students. I hope everyone does well in their interviews in the next couple of days. I’ll be happy to answer any generic questions you may have!
@AtticusFinch, I’m guessing on the Toledo they give you enough scratch paper as you need. Not that you’ll need hoards of it anyways.
@Watang I took the Toledo first and really just wanted to get the interview out of the way instead. BUT, I really liked the way my schedule was organized because by the afternoon, I was a lot more confident and felt more comfortable doing the interviews. Either way should be fine, I’m sure you will do great in both situations.
So others who might wonder what the 7 year program that @mscrystal is referring to, I believe it’s referring to the “Guaranteed Admissions BA/MD program”, which is a relatively new offshoot from the 6 year BA/MD program that’s always been there since the school started: http://med.umkc.edu/bamd/opportunities/. On the application, you could select whether you wanted to be considered for this particular new offshoot program, the 6 year program, or considered for both (it doesn’t impact whether you actually get accepted in terms of increasing your chances).
I believe you can only do this option if you are in-state, although I don’t understand the rationale behind not letting regional or out-of-state students participate. You go for the Biology or Chemistry degree, which will likely still be B.A. degrees, and not B.S. degrees.
From @bladerz1’s post:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18737712/#Comment_18737712
@Watang, I think you could look at it in one of two ways, psychologically:
- MMI first, then Toledo:
You get to go fresh into the MMI in the morning (if you’re a chipper morning person) get it out of the way, and then take the Toledo afterwards, where you just sit at a desk and fill in bubbles. Trust me, you’ll laugh at some of the Toledo questions like “I can’t believe that’s all they are asking!”. That’s why it’s just a placement test and it’s looked at after the fact. It’s not even close to being of the rigor that your AP Chemistry exams you take in school are, trust me. Those practice questions that I posted from links is pretty accurate and you just have to pass, it’s not a grade. It’s not even all Chemistry it has like Algebra I think (glad not Geometry with proofs or I would have failed that sucker).
- Toledo first, then MMI
You get to sit at a desk and fill in bubbles to take the relatively easy exam first, get out your morning nerves and jitters, meet and talk with others, which will be good when you get to the MMI stage when you have to talk, get a good lunch maybe with some soda (caffeine), and then be ready to kick butt for the MMI in the afternoon.
I’ll let Peter Griffin from Family Guy say it best, in terms of whether it matters if you do the MMI first or the Toledo first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsuokWmEZI, LOL!
I actually put down both options, but I obviously want the 6 year one 10x more. Is there a chance they might give me the 7 year option instead of the 6 even if Im qualified for both?
@Watang, don’t quote me, but I believe if you said both options, then it’s more a choice on your part if you were to receive an acceptance: “Please note: Selecting consideration for both programs DOES NOT increase your chances of being offered admission to either program. This information is not used in the decision-making process, but is used after admission decisions have been made for the purposes of program placement.” So it’s not like if someone was not accepted for the 6 year program, they would have been accepted if they had chosen the other choices, 7 year or both. That’s not how it works.
In the past when it first started, based on what I have heard, it was used more for people who maybe didn’t come in with any credit at all, so they’d be taking a RIDICULOUS number of credit hours to make it all fit in and work. Or maybe their high school academics weren’t really up to par and based on certain objective metrics, the school felt they might have a harder time getting thru the fast-paced year round program, and felt a year in which they do take undergrad classes to lay a good science foundation would be good (since you pay in-state undergrad tuition for it, which is pretty cheap). Now, though, I’m sure it’s a choice that anyone can make, and with good benefits, IMHO, especially if you are unsure about whether UMKC is the right med school for you (not talking about you necessarily, but in general).
@yenluu98 Yes you can bring in a purse. You can leave while at Mini interviews at moderator desk. No need to go back to car.
Just wanted to say good luck to all those who are interviewing at UMKC this week !!! Hope to meet some of you 
@AtticusFinchh,
So is it a total of one hour to ask questions - 30 minutes for applicants and 30 minutes for parents?
@Roentgen,
My son interviews on last day. What questions should I be asking about program? Who should I be asking? I don’t know anything about medical school. Please help!
@NervousDad01
Sorry, maybe I didn’t word it correctly.
There is a 1hr+ session in the auditorium for parents to have a Q&A w/o their kids around. That takes place during the morning session when the kids are interviewing/testing.
Later, after lunch:
Then there is a student panel in the auditorium for about 30 minutes with about 7-8 students who are currently at various points in the program that will answer questions. Anyone can ask questions (students & parents).
Also, there will be a room in the Student Union, 4th floor I believe where you may go at anytime and at least one Med School Staff/Administrator will be there at all times during the day to answer any question a student or parent may have.
In the morning orientations, like I said in my post before are presentations with time to ask questions whenever you want.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19344377/#Comment_19344377
Overall, there is more than enough time to ask anything you would like; in fact the Dean of Admissions is very open and walking around the student union the entire time so you may go up to her and ask anything you would like!
Good luck to your son!
Hey guys, just got done with interview day! Overall everything went very well and I was quite impressed with the day’s organization (only a couple of room changes and stuff like that). The staff and current students were extremely nice and went out of their way on certain occasions to discuss the program and wish us luck. I thought the MMI itself was quite fun and without giving anything away, if you prepared at least a bit, you should’ve been fine. Again, it was a fun, informative day.
Other random notes:
-My goodness some people are extremely qualified and have incredible achievements (particularly out of state people).
- The parents are extremely sweet (my mom sure had fun lol).
- Toledo Exam was super easy
- Lunch was great, I thought
- Good questions were asked during the student panel and the morning sessions ( I was quite impressed with how well informed the parents are with the ins and outs of the program).
My advice would be: be open and make some new (temporary) friends for the day. It makes it go much more pleasantly.
Lol I actually thought Toledo was kinda hard, but thats just me
I think my interviews went pretty well though!
@Watang, on the bright side, if you make it into the program, and even if you don’t pass the Toledo, they’ll just tell you to take General Chem I + General Chem I Lab credit over the summer, something a lot of students end up doing anyways, regardless, assuming they don’t already have AP or IB credit. They’ll make you sign something similar to this: http://med.umkc.edu/docs/accepted/forms/2014/Chem211-Enrollment-Agreement-2014.pdf. I don’t know how it would work if you already had credit through the AP Chemistry Exam, but somehow managed to fail the Toledo (would be kind of weird honestly), but I imagine that scenario doesn’t happen too often.
@Roentgen I feel like I still passed its just the last 10 were kinda confusing for me
@farehahasan, I can imagine that it has a lot to do with the fact that parents are responsible for the financing either part or all of their son or daughter’s education in some way, so they want to know what exactly they’re getting lol. Since it’s a combined and a streamlined program (the undergrad and med school designated courses are kind of intertwined), they not only have to ask about the undergrad, but on top of that ask about the connected medical school since you’re committing to both at once. I’m sure they’ve done their research thoroughly with the med school school website, College Confidential (We’re at 922.5 K views, the most of any thread here!), other med school and combined degree websites, etc. I imagine quite a few parents may be physicians themselves so they know the process and what to be looking for.
Based on what @AtticusFinchh said above, I think it’s great that the admissions staff give enough time for parents to ask questions alone as a group, as well as again with the applicants in the room, not to mention an admissions staff person available at any time during the interview day. It seems like they’ve really checked off all the boxes and revamped things so that students and their families have the opportunity to truly make an informed decision, so the UMKC staff really deserve credit for doing that, as it isn’t easy to put together and requires quite a bit of effort, energy, and time on everyone’s part.
@Roentgen Definitely! This is certainly a big decision, especially for people who applied to multiple similar programs. I appreciated the transparency of the faculty/students.
Well, I’m gonna relax for a month and not worry about this admissions stuff until late March. I really appreciated the objective feedback given by you guys, it gave me a better understanding of the program. Good luck to you all, and thanks @Roentgen for guiding us with your wisdom. It’s a kind thing to do considering your other responsibilities.