Updated · 9 min read
Preparing for the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine (Texas Tech El Paso) interview
Key facts (2026-27)
Foster's 2027 MSAR entry lists a virtual MMI on Zoom, while the school's own pages describe a typical cycle and say formats may vary.
- Format
- Virtual MMI on Zoom
- Where
- Virtual (Zoom)
- Platform
- Zoom
- Length
- Day runs 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. MST, with interviews in the afternoon
- Also required
- CASPer (scores needed before interview review), Secondary application (closes December 1)
Dates for 2026-27
From early July (MSAR 2027), interview period starts July 1
Interview invitations
Pre-match offers from October 15. TMDSAS Match results February 12, 2027, then rolling
Offers and decisions
Checked October 2026 against Foster SOM: Dates and events, Foster SOM: Requirements, TMDSAS: Deadlines (Entry Year 2027) and AAMC MSAR 2027 interview report. Confirm details in your invitation.
The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine (PLFSOM) in El Paso lists Multiple Mini Interviews, held virtually over Zoom, in its MSAR 2027 entry. The day starts at 8:30 a.m. MST with an orientation and video tours, interviews run in the afternoon after lunch, and the day ends at 3:00 p.m. MST.
You apply through TMDSAS, and CASPer scores must arrive before you can be considered for an interview. To rehearse an afternoon of virtual stations, Confetto, an AI mock interviewer for medical school and other healthcare program interviews (MMI, traditional, panel), runs timed MMI practice stations with follow-up questions and feedback on each one.
In the school's typical cycle, interviews can start July 1, and MSAR says invitations go out from early July. Pre-match offers start October 15, and TMDSAS Match results for Entry Year 2027 come out February 12.
The mission and the curriculum, including required medical Spanish, are covered below.
What the PLFSOM interview looks like, according to the school
The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine (PLFSOM, now usually shortened to "Foster School of Medicine" or FSOM on the school's site) doesn't describe its interview format on its admissions pages (checked October 2026). Its admissions process page says interview "dates, formats, and requirements may vary by application cycle" and that invited applicants get instructions from the Office of Admissions.
For this cycle, though, the school's entry in the AAMC's MSAR interview report for 2027 matriculation lists Multiple Mini Interviews, held virtually over Zoom, with interviews in the afternoon after a morning orientation. Neither source gives a station count or station length (checked October 2026).
If you read SDN threads about PLFSOM, check their station details against your invitation, because that's where the real format will be.
The school sits within Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, which now brands itself as Texas Tech Health El Paso. We aren't affiliated with the school or with TMDSAS.
Everything below comes from their public pages, checked in October 2026.
What the school confirms
Here's what the school does confirm about getting to and through the interview:
- Application and secondary. You apply through TMDSAS, the Texas application service, then complete the school's own secondary. The secondary costs $100 and closes at 5 p.m. MST on December 1 (How to Apply). The invitation comes by email after you submit TMDSAS, and the TMDSAS deadline for Entry Year 2027 is October 1.
- CASPer. CASPer is required, and your score has to arrive before you can be considered for an interview. Results only count for one cycle (Admission Requirements).
- Interview start. The school's typical cycle has interviews starting July 1 (Dates and Events).
- Committee review. After interviews, the Admissions Committee reviews your complete file along with the interview information.
- Eligibility. Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be considered, and the entering class has to be about 90% Texas residents (FAQ).
Casper test dates and requirements vary by school. For the full 2026-27 list of MD and DO schools that use it, with last test dates and deadlines, see which medical schools require Casper.
For the format, scoring and practice scenarios, see our Casper test guide.
Applicant numbers
For scale, the admissions home page says the 2026 entering class was selected from 5,213 applicants, with 695 interviewed for 138 spots, and 20% of interviewees enrolled. The class profile for Entry Year 2025 shows interviewees averaged a 3.94 GPA and a 513 MCAT.
If you have an invitation, your numbers already got you in the room. The interview is where the rest of the file gets tested.
Interview dates, offers and the TMDSAS Match
Texas public medical schools run on a shared calendar, and it changes how you should think about timing. From the TMDSAS deadlines page for Entry Year 2027:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| October 1 | TMDSAS application deadline, 11:59 p.m. CST, no extensions |
| October 15 | Medical schools can start extending offers (pre-match offers) |
| January 29 | Deadline to rank schools for the TMDSAS Match, 5 p.m. CST |
| February 12 | Match results announced and rolling admissions begins |
| April 30 | Applicants holding multiple offers must pick one |
How the Match works
The Match is for Texas residents only. According to TMDSAS's after-submitting guide, you rank every school where you interviewed, schools rank the applicants they interviewed, and you're matched to your highest-ranked school where you fell in its match range.
Pre-match offers can go to Texas residents between October 15 and January 29. You can hold more than one pre-match offer without risk of losing it during that window, and you can still rank a school above your pre-match school without losing the offer unless you match higher.
In practice, an early interview gives the school the chance to make you a pre-match offer in the fall. A January interview still counts, because the committee's rank list feeds the Match.
As of October 2026, the admissions pages and MSAR entry don't say how the interview is scored, so prepare for the conversation rather than the calendar.
The mission, word for word
People search "plfsom mission" because they want to reference it in a "why us" answer. Here's the school's own statement from its About page:
"The mission of the Foster School of Medicine is to provide exceptional educational and development opportunities for our diverse learning community, advance knowledge through research and innovation, and serve the needs of our border region and beyond."
The vision on the same page is "to promote wellness and relieve suffering through excellence in clinical service, innovation, and leadership in border healthcare."
The parent institution has a separate mission statement that's more specific about who it serves: "to improve the lives of people in our State and our community by focusing on the unique healthcare needs of socially and culturally diverse border populations through excellence in integrated education, research, and patient care."
Who the school recruits
The same About page says the school emphasizes recruiting students from the U.S.-Mexico border region, students who are economically disadvantaged, and first-generation students. If any of those describe you, the interview is a good place to say so plainly.
If none do, don't pretend. Talk about what actually connects you to border health or to the kind of patients the school trains for.
What's different about the curriculum
This is what "plfsom curriculum" searchers are after, and it's also the material for a specific "why this school" answer. The school's own descriptions:
- Integrated, pass/fail. Integrated and organ-system based, built around clinical presentations, with pass/fail grading. The admissions page says the LCME commended it for its clinical orientation.
- Early clinical science. Basic and clinical sciences start together in year one. The About page describes students learning anatomy, physiology and biochemistry through specific clinical presentations, with standardized patients and simulation in the school's TECHS simulation center.
- Medical Spanish. Required medical Spanish. The school's Spanish Program page says all medical and dental students take medical or dental Spanish throughout their education, with instruction matched to each student's proficiency. One of its stated objectives is knowing when your Spanish isn't enough and you need a skilled interpreter.
- SCI course. A Society, Community and the Individual (SCI) course that, per the About page, combines medicine and public health, builds Spanish skills, and includes community medicine and home visits.
- Third year. A third year built on a blended longitudinal integrated clerkship model: two 23-week blocks, with family medicine and emergency medicine running across the whole year (UME information).
Spanish in the interview
Spanish isn't an admissions requirement. The requirements page says conversational Spanish "may be an advantage" if you plan to stay in the Southwest.
Don't overstate your fluency in the interview. The school's own program is built around being honest about where your language skills end, and if an interviewer does switch to Spanish, overstated fluency shows fast.
A "Why PLFSOM?" outline
Build it from your own experiences, and don't memorize a script.
Show the outline
- Open with the connection (20 seconds). One experience where you saw the border region's needs firsthand, such as scribing at a clinic where many patients preferred Spanish.
- Tie it to one part of the mission (20 seconds). Name the mission's focus on the border region and say why that's the population you want to train with.
- Name one or two curriculum features and why they matter to you (40 seconds). For example: "Required medical Spanish matters to me because my Spanish is conversational, not clinical."
- Close with what you'd add (20 seconds). One concrete thing you'd bring, tied back to your opening experience.
That's about 100 seconds. Every claim about the school should be checkable on the school's site, and every claim about you should be something you did. Cut anything that could be said about any medical school.
Practice prompts (written by us, not the school)
These are our own prompts. They aren't from PLFSOM's interview and don't predict what you'll be asked.
Some fit a one-on-one conversation and some fit an MMI-style station, since the school's MSAR entry lists an MMI but its own pages say formats can vary by cycle.
- You're a first-year student at a student-run clinic. A patient's adult son offers to translate so the family can skip the wait for an interpreter. The patient seems uncomfortable. What do you do?Practice this question now
- A patient tells you they've been buying blood pressure medication without a prescription because it's cheaper. They ask you not to put that in the chart. Walk through the conversation.Practice this question now
- A classmate in your small group keeps using clinical jargon with standardized patients, and the patients look lost. Your group gets graded together. How do you raise it?Practice this question now
- Why do you want to train at a medical school on the U.S.-Mexico border, and what do you expect to be hard about it?Practice this question now
- Our curriculum requires medical Spanish. Where is your Spanish today, and how would you handle a patient whose language you can't fully follow?Practice this question now
- Tell us about a time you worked with people whose background was very different from yours, and something you got wrong at first.Practice this question now
More Texas Tech Foster practice questions (6)
- Border care: A patient who lives across the border asks you to switch her to a medicine she can buy cheaply in Mexico. What do you need to know, and what do you say?Practice this question now
- Interpreter limits: Your medical Spanish handles small talk, but a patient starts describing chest pain in fast Spanish and the interpreter is 20 minutes away. What do you do?Practice this question now
- SCI home visit: On a home visit, you notice a patient keeps her insulin in a hot room with no air conditioning. How do you raise it without lecturing her?Practice this question now
- Colonias: A family in a colonia outside El Paso has no reliable ride to the clinic. How would you help them keep their toddler's vaccines on schedule?Practice this question now
- Grading: Foster uses pass/fail grading. Should clerkship grades in medical school be pass/fail too, and what would be lost?Practice this question now
- TECHS simulation: You give the wrong dose to a mannequin during a simulation, and no one notices. Do you bring it up in the debrief?Practice this question now
For ten more questions, see the free Confetto question bank preview.
A timing drill for MMI stations and conversation
The school's 2027 MSAR entry lists an MMI, so the station round matters most, but its own pages say formats can vary by cycle, so practice both kinds of answer. This is our drill, not the school's structure.
It takes about 45 minutes.
Show the drill
| Round | What you do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Why PLFSOM?" out loud, recorded | 90 seconds, then 2 minutes to replay and cut filler |
| 2 | Prompts 1, 2 and 5 as conversational answers | 2 minutes each, 6 minutes total |
| 3 | Prompts 3, 4 and 6 as MMI-style stations: 2 minutes to read and plan, 6 minutes to answer, including 2 minutes of follow-up from a friend | 8 minutes each, 24 minutes total |
| 4 | Replay one recording and write down the first sentence you'd change | About 10 minutes |
Round 1 takes 3.5 minutes, round 2 takes 6, round 3 takes 24 and round 4 about 10, for roughly 44 minutes. The free MMI timer can run the read and answer phases for round 3 so you're not watching a phone clock. If your invitation lists different timings, reset the drill to match them.
If you don't have a friend to push back with follow-ups, Confetto's AI mock interviews cover MMI, traditional and panel formats, ask follow-up questions and give rubric-based feedback. You can start with a free trial.
Other Texas schools on the same timeline
Most Texas applicants interview at several TMDSAS schools in the same season. Our guides to Texas A&M, Dell Medical School, UT Southwestern and Sam Houston State's osteopathic college cover those interviews.
The medical school program page has the rest.
When your PLFSOM invitation arrives, compare what it says about format and timing against this page, and trust the invitation. The admissions office's contact is FosterSOMAdmissions@ttep.edu or 915-215-4410, per the admissions home page.
Looking for the Lubbock school? See our guide to the Texas Tech HSC School of Medicine interview, which is not an MMI.
Applying to other Texas schools too? See our guide to the University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine interview, which combines an MMI with a group exercise.
Paul L. Foster interview FAQ
Does Paul L. Foster use the MMI?
Yes. Its MSAR 2027 entry lists Multiple Mini Interviews held virtually over Zoom.
What does the interview day look like?
It starts at 8:30 a.m. MST with an orientation and video tours, interviews run in the afternoon, and the day ends at 3:00 p.m. MST.
Does Paul L. Foster require Casper?
Yes. Your Casper score must arrive before you can be considered for an interview.
How do I apply?
Through TMDSAS. Pre-match offers start October 15, and TMDSAS Match results for 2027 entry come out February 12.