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Tribune News Network
Doha
Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has moved to an online admissions process in order to continue recruiting talented future doctors from across Qatar and all over the world during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.
With applicants to the elite medical college unable to travel to Qatar, the face-to-face on-campus interviews that normally form an integral part of the admissions process could no longer take place. Senior faculty, admissions professionals and ITS specialists at WCM-Q, a Qatar Foundation (QF) partner university, quickly moved to set up a process whereby applicants selected for interview could be interviewed remotely using videoconferencing software.
To comply with public health guidelines, WCM-Q decided that candidates who live in Qatar could take their interviews via videoconference in the same way as candidates who live abroad.
Dr Ravinder Mamtani, WCM-Q professor of healthcare policy and research, professor of medicine and vice dean for student affairs-admissions, population health and lifestyle medicine, oversaw the transition to online interviews.
He said: “Given the current global coronavirus crisis, recruiting medical students has never been so important and we were therefore determined that there must be no disruption whatsoever to our admissions procedure. We also had to ensure that the process remained comparable to the normal one, an important part of which is an interview.”
WCM-Q recruits students from all over Qatar and across the globe to its Six-Year Medical Programme, Four-Year Medical Curriculum and Foundation Programme. To apply, students must submit an online application and required documents by the stipulated deadlines as indicated on WCM-Q’s Admissions website. Competitive applicants are invited for an interview, with the final decision on admission made by a committee of senior WCM-Q faculty, WCM-Q students and a representative of the Ministry of Public Health, who now convene via videoconference.
Farhan Aziz, director of admissions at WCM-Q, said: “We have been pleasantly surprised by how smoothly we were able to make the transition to online interviews. Candidates selected for interviews have welcomed the change to online interviews and some of them have told us that they were relieved not to have the stress of travel during the Covid-19 outbreak.”
Students who complete the WCM-Q Medical Programme receive the same MD degree as their counterparts at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Graduates of WCM-Q go on to secure places in residency training programmes at elite academic health centres in Qatar and the US. Many of them opt to work in Qatar to serve the health needs of the community after they complete their residency programmes.
Dr Marco Ameduri, senior associate dean for premedical education and Education City collaborative curricular affairs, commented: “We are all very appreciative of the enthusiasm with which our applicants have embraced the online interviews. The technology has worked very well, allowing the applicants to present themselves to their best and to have engaging interviews with the members of the Committee on Admissions.”
Doha
Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has moved to an online admissions process in order to continue recruiting talented future doctors from across Qatar and all over the world during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.
With applicants to the elite medical college unable to travel to Qatar, the face-to-face on-campus interviews that normally form an integral part of the admissions process could no longer take place. Senior faculty, admissions professionals and ITS specialists at WCM-Q, a Qatar Foundation (QF) partner university, quickly moved to set up a process whereby applicants selected for interview could be interviewed remotely using videoconferencing software.
To comply with public health guidelines, WCM-Q decided that candidates who live in Qatar could take their interviews via videoconference in the same way as candidates who live abroad.
Dr Ravinder Mamtani, WCM-Q professor of healthcare policy and research, professor of medicine and vice dean for student affairs-admissions, population health and lifestyle medicine, oversaw the transition to online interviews.
He said: “Given the current global coronavirus crisis, recruiting medical students has never been so important and we were therefore determined that there must be no disruption whatsoever to our admissions procedure. We also had to ensure that the process remained comparable to the normal one, an important part of which is an interview.”
WCM-Q recruits students from all over Qatar and across the globe to its Six-Year Medical Programme, Four-Year Medical Curriculum and Foundation Programme. To apply, students must submit an online application and required documents by the stipulated deadlines as indicated on WCM-Q’s Admissions website. Competitive applicants are invited for an interview, with the final decision on admission made by a committee of senior WCM-Q faculty, WCM-Q students and a representative of the Ministry of Public Health, who now convene via videoconference.
Farhan Aziz, director of admissions at WCM-Q, said: “We have been pleasantly surprised by how smoothly we were able to make the transition to online interviews. Candidates selected for interviews have welcomed the change to online interviews and some of them have told us that they were relieved not to have the stress of travel during the Covid-19 outbreak.”
Students who complete the WCM-Q Medical Programme receive the same MD degree as their counterparts at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Graduates of WCM-Q go on to secure places in residency training programmes at elite academic health centres in Qatar and the US. Many of them opt to work in Qatar to serve the health needs of the community after they complete their residency programmes.
Dr Marco Ameduri, senior associate dean for premedical education and Education City collaborative curricular affairs, commented: “We are all very appreciative of the enthusiasm with which our applicants have embraced the online interviews. The technology has worked very well, allowing the applicants to present themselves to their best and to have engaging interviews with the members of the Committee on Admissions.”
