Updated · 7 min read
Loyola Stritch Interview: Two One-on-One Interviews
Key facts (2026-27)
Everyone does two one-on-one interviews of up to 45 minutes. One interviewer has read your whole file, the other has not seen your grades, MCAT or letters.
- Format
- Two one-on-one interviews (full-file and partial-file)
- Where
- Virtual or in person (your choice)
- Stations
- 2 interviews: one full-file, one partial-file
- Length
- Up to 45 min each
Dates for 2026-27
Rolling, from July 28, 2026
Interview invitations
August 2026 to February 25, 2027
Interviews
Status update about 4 to 6 weeks after your interview
Offers and decisions
Checked October 2026 against Stritch: Interview Process (Cycle 2027) and AAMC MSAR 2027 interview report. Confirm details in your invitation.
To prepare for your Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine interview, start with the format: two traditional one-on-one interviews, not an MMI, each lasting up to 45 minutes. One interviewer reads your whole file and the other does not see your grades, MCAT or letters.
You can choose to interview in person at Stritch's Health Sciences Campus in Maywood, Illinois, or virtually. This guide covers what Stritch publishes about the day, its Jesuit mission, and how to prepare for each of the two interviews.
For both the open-file and the closed-file conversation, Confetto, an AI mock interviewer for medical school and other healthcare program interviews (MMI, traditional, panel), lets you practice a one-on-one interview out loud with follow-up questions on your own experiences.
Confetto is not affiliated with Loyola University Chicago or the Stritch School of Medicine. Details here come from Stritch's public pages for the 2027 cycle and the AAMC MSAR report, as checked in October 2026.
Stritch does not publish its interview questions, so the practice questions in this guide are written by us, not by the school. Your invitation email is the final word on your own interview day.
The Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University of Chicago Interview: Format and Experience
Stritch's Interview Process page says every candidate completes the same structure, whether in person or virtual: two interviews total, each up to 45 minutes. They are different kinds of conversation:
| Full-file interview | Partial-file interview | |
|---|---|---|
| Who interviews you | A faculty or admissions committee member | A faculty member, admissions staff member or current medical student |
| What they have read | Your entire application | Not your academic metrics: MCAT, GPA, transcripts and letters are not reviewed |
| Length | Up to 45 minutes | Up to 45 minutes |
Stritch's MD FAQs say "There is no advantage or special consideration given to either format," in person or virtual.
Interviewers are assigned in advance and you do not choose them. Regional candidates are encouraged, not required, to come in person.
Invitations and scheduling
For the 2027 cycle, invitations go out on a rolling basis starting July 28, 2026, after your file completes committee review. You pick a date and format in your applicant portal, and dates close when seats fill.
What the day looks like
Stritch's MSAR entry describes the day: a 45-minute orientation, your two interviews, and a 30-minute wrap-up and Q&A.
- In person. In-person days run from 9:00 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. and include lunch, student and staff panels, and campus and hospital tours.
- Virtual. Virtual days run from 11:00 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. and include a virtual chat with current students.
- After the interview. After your interview, Stritch asks you to allow about four to six weeks for a status update.
No Casper or PREview
Stritch's application guide does not list Casper, PREview or any other situational judgment test among its requirements. It does require a secondary application.
Insider Tip: Your two interviewers start from different places. One set of rehearsed stories used twice will not serve you well.
Mission & Culture Fit
Stritch's Mission page calls it "Chicago's Jesuit Catholic medical school" and "a compassionate community advancing medicine through exceptional clinical training, scientific inquiry, rigorous research, personal and professional formation, and an unwavering commitment to those we serve." Stritch's interview page tells you to reflect before the day on your motivation for medicine, your readiness for medical training, and your alignment with Stritch's Jesuit mission, service and social justice values.
Stritch's diversity and inclusion mission page describes cura personalis as "care for the whole person," and Loyola's Division of Student Development describes it as caring for every aspect of a person, mind, body and spirit. Stritch's Why Choose Loyola page says the curriculum develops physicians as "persons for others," with ethics, reflection and care for the whole person embedded throughout all four years.
Showing the values, not claiming them
You do not need to be Catholic, and you should not pretend a Jesuit connection you do not have. What interviewers can hear is whether you have actually practiced the idea.
A useful test: can you point to a moment when you noticed something about a person that was not the presenting problem, and then did something about it? Defining the term through something you did beats defining it in the abstract.
School-specific reasons
Save school-specific reasons for "Why Stritch?", where you can cite things Stritch publishes: patient interviewing and communication skills from the start of the program, Medical Spanish and Medical Polish programs, the funded summer research program STAR (Student Training in Approaches to Research), and dual-degree options such as MD/MPH, MD/MA in Bioethics and MD/PhD.
Policy Context You Can Cite
Stritch does not publish a list of policy topics for its interviews, so treat this as general background. One verifiable Illinois fact: Illinois' Department of Healthcare and Family Services says adults age 19-64 who were not previously eligible for Medicaid can be covered under the Affordable Care Act with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
If you cite a policy fact in an interview, connect it to a patient or an experience of your own rather than reciting a statistic.
Class Profile and Selectivity
- Applications. Stritch says it receives more than 14,000 applications each cycle, with no in-state preference.
- Interviews. In the 2026 interview cycle it interviewed 618 applicants (159 in-state, 455 out-of-state, 4 non-visa international).
- Class of 2030. The Class of 2030 has 171 students with a mean MCAT of 513 and mean GPA of 3.86 overall and 3.82 science, per Stritch's class profile.
Practice Questions for the Stritch Interviews (Written by Us)
Stritch does not publish its interview questions.
We wrote these around the three things the school tells you to reflect on. They are for practice and do not predict what you will be asked.
- What would you do at Stritch that you could not do at another Chicago medical school?Practice this question now
- Walk me through the moment you decided on medicine rather than another way of helping people.Practice this question now
- Your partial-file interviewer has not seen your grades or letters. How would you introduce yourself to them in two minutes?Practice this question now
- Pick one experience from your application and explain it to me as if I had never heard of the organization.
- Tell me about the hardest academic stretch in your record. What did you change afterward?Practice this question now
- Stritch calls itself Chicago's Jesuit Catholic medical school. What does that mean to you if you are not Catholic, or if you are?Practice this question now
- What does cura personalis mean to you? Tell me about a time you saw it in practice.Practice this question now
- Stritch says it forms physicians as "persons for others." When have you put someone else's need ahead of your own plan?Practice this question now
- Tell me about a person you served who did not fit the category you were serving them in.Practice this question now
- Stritch offers Medical Spanish and Medical Polish programs. Which patients in the Chicago area would you want to be able to talk with directly, and why?Practice this question now
- A patient's family asks you not to tell the patient about a serious diagnosis. How do you think about it?Practice this question now
- Describe a time you advocated for someone with different values than yours.Practice this question now
- What do you do when you are running out of energy, and how do you know it is happening?Practice this question now
- Which question would you want to explore in Stritch's STAR summer research program, and what made you curious about it?Practice this question now
Preparation Checklist
Use this brief checklist to translate insight into interview-ready performance, leveraging Confetto's tools to rehearse with purpose.
- Mock interviews. Run AI-powered mock interviews in Confetto in a traditional one-on-one format, then iterate using Confetto's targeted feedback on clarity, structure and empathy.
- Full-file round. Do one full-file round: give a partner your whole AMCAS and secondary and have them ask follow-ups tied to specific lines in your file.
- Partial-file round. Do one partial-file round: a different partner gets only your activity titles, with no scores or letters, so you practice explaining each experience from scratch.
- Scenarios. Drill scenario responses (patient autonomy, family requests, values that differ from yours) with Confetto's scenario modules to practice principled reasoning under time pressure.
- Mission stories. Rehearse mission alignment by crafting concise stories that connect your experiences to cura personalis and "persons for others"; use Confetto's coaching cues to tighten transitions.
FAQ
Is the Stritch School of Medicine interview an MMI?
No. Stritch uses two traditional one-on-one interviews of up to 45 minutes each: one full-file interview and one partial-file interview. Expect conversational depth and follow-ups rather than rapid-fire stations.
Is the Stritch interview virtual or in person?
Your choice. Stritch offers both formats throughout the cycle, with the same structure, and says there is no advantage or special consideration given to either.
What is the difference between the full-file and partial-file interview?
The full-file interviewer, a faculty or admissions committee member, reviews your entire application. The partial-file interviewer, a faculty member, admissions staff member or current medical student, does not review your MCAT, GPA, transcripts or letters.
Does Stritch require Casper or PREview?
Stritch's application guide does not list Casper, PREview or any other situational judgment test among its requirements.
How do Jesuit values show up in preparation?
Stritch tells candidates to reflect on their alignment with its Jesuit mission, service and social justice values. Tie your stories to concrete things you did, not to the phrases.
Key Takeaways
- Format. Stritch interviews are traditional and one-on-one: two interviews of up to 45 minutes each, one full-file and one partial-file. It is not an MMI.
- In person or virtual. You choose in-person (Maywood) or virtual, and Stritch says neither format is favored.
- Partial file. The partial-file interviewer has not seen your scores or letters, so explain every experience from scratch and do not bring up your numbers.
- What to reflect on. Reflect on your motivation for medicine, your readiness for training, and your alignment with Stritch's Jesuit mission, service and social justice values.
- Specifics. Ground your answers in specific experiences, and save school-specific reasons for "Why Stritch?"
Call to Action
Ready to practice with precision? Use Confetto to simulate Stritch's one-on-one interviews, drill ethical and policy scenarios, and refine mission-driven storytelling tied to cura personalis.
Turn this guide's insights into confident, values-forward answers that stand out on interview day.