Preparing for the University of Louisville School of Medicine interview

To ace your University of Louisville School of Medicine (UofL SOM) interview, you’ll need more than polished answers—you’ll need a nuanced grasp of Kentucky’s healthcare battlegrounds, its pioneering policies, and the social currents shaping Louisville’s communities. 

This guide delivers hyper-local insights to prove you’re ready to advance UofL’s mission of “transforming the health of our communities.”

1. The UofL SOM Interview: Structure, Themes, and Hidden Agendas

UofL uses a blended format: one 30-minute traditional interview (faculty or physician) and one 30-minute situational interview assessing ethics and cultural competency. Interviewers review your entire file, so expect deep dives into your clinical experiences, personal challenges, and knowledge of Kentucky’s health landscape.

Key Themes

1. Urban-Rural Health Equity: UofL’s dual focus on Louisville’s underserved West End and Appalachia’s “hospital deserts.”

2. Public Health Innovation: Reflected in programs like the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky (CIK), which tackles opioid harm reduction and diabetes prevention.

3. Resilience in Resource-Limited Settings: 64% of Kentucky’s counties are rural, and 37 lack OB-GYN services.

Insider Tip: UofL’s situational interview often includes prompts like, “How would you triage care during a hepatitis A outbreak in a homeless shelter?” Practice balancing empathy with logistical pragmatism.

2. Kentucky’s Healthcare Policy: Medicaid Expansion Meets Mountain Barriers

1. Medicaid Expansion & the Kentucky HEALTH Experiment

Kentucky expanded Medicaid in 2014, covering 1.5 million residents (27% of the state). However, Governor Beshear recently reversed work requirements from the controversial Kentucky HEALTH program, which had disenrolled 18,000 people. UofL’s Family Health Centers now lead outreach in ZIP codes like 40215 (West Louisville), where 41% regained coverage.

2. Opioid Settlement Reinvestment

Kentucky is allocating $842 million from opioid lawsuits to build recovery ecosystems. UofL’s HEALing Communities Study reduced overdoses by 15% in Bullitt County using naloxone vending machines and peer support—a model now expanding to Floyd County.

3. Rural Hospital “Life Support”

11 critical access hospitals remain in Kentucky, but 16 have closed since 2005. UofL’s Rural Medical Education (RME) Program trains students in Clinton County (pop. 9,217), where the nearest trauma center is 90 minutes away.

Tip: Cite UofL’s CIK Health Policy Division when discussing systemic fixes. Example: “I’d collaborate with Dr. Julia Costich’s team mapping ER avoidance patterns in Martin County.”

3. Current Events & Social Issues: The Kentucky Lens

Local Flashpoints

• Maternal Mortality: Black women in Kentucky die at 2.3x the rate of white women. UofL’s Nurses for Newborns program deploys nurse-home visitors to Smoketown (Louisville), cutting preterm births by 22%.

• Environmental Health: Eastern Kentucky’s coal counties face silicosis spikes from “rock dust” in mining. UofL’s Appalachian Health Initiative partners with Pikeville Medical Center on early screening.

• Vaccine Hesitancy: Only 49% of Kentuckians are COVID-boosted. UofL’s CARE Corps trains medical students to counter misinformation in Meade County’s Amish communities.

National Issues with Kentucky Stakes

• Abortion Access: Kentucky’s near-total ban (triggered post-Dobbs) increased OB-GYN attrition by 17%. UofL’s Women’s Health Research Unit now studies delayed prenatal care in border counties like Fulton, where patients travel to Illinois.

• Immigrant Health: Louisville’s refugee population grew 31% since 2021. UofL’s Global Health Center runs a Somali-led diabetes clinic in Iroquois Homes—a housing project where 68% have limited English proficiency.

Tip: Reference UofL’s Signature Partnership Initiative with Jefferson County Public Schools to show localized awareness.

4. The 5 Questions University of Louisville School of Medicine is most likely to ask during your medical school interview

1. “Why Louisville? How does our RME Program align with your vision for rural care?”

2. “Kentucky ranks 45th in mental health providers. Design an intervention for Owsley County.”

3. “A patient refuses a COVID vaccine due to ‘Bill Gates microchip’ fears. How do you respond?”

4. “Describe a time you adapted to a resource-limited environment. What did you learn?”

5. “How should UofL address racial bias in maternal mortality rates?”