Stritch Interview Prep Guide (2025-2026)

Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine is a mission-driven Jesuit Catholic medical program that places strong emphasis on service, compassion, and holistic education luc.edu blog.accepted.com. Applicants invited to interview at Stritch can expect a traditional format with two one-on-one interviews in a structured, day-long visit blog.accepted.com. This approach reflects the school’s comprehensive, holistic admissions process, which assesses both academic and personal qualities in each candidate luc.edu.

This guide provides a detailed look at Stritch’s interview format and outlines the school’s distinctive mission and values. It highlights key program features – from dual-degree options to special tracks in global health and bioethics – as context for formulating thoughtful questions to ask during the interview. The guide also addresses current policy issues relevant to Stritch’s region and mission, reviews the non-academic qualities and competency frameworks that Loyola prioritizes, examines common themes in past interview questions, and summarizes important timelines for the 2025-2026 admissions cycle.

The Stritch School of Medicine uses a traditional interview format, not an MMI. Each invited candidate undergoes two separate one-on-one interviews, which are described as structured yet conversational blog.accepted.com. Uniquely, one interviewer has access to the applicant’s full file, while the other interviewer reviews only the essays and experiences sections (omitting academic metrics) luc.edu. This combination of open-file and partially closed-file interviews allows the admissions committee to gain a holistic view of the candidate — balancing objective achievements with personal narrative — and reduces bias by having one interview focused solely on the applicant’s story and motivations.

Interviews at Stritch typically take place over a full interview day, reflecting the school’s personalized, conversational style. In past years, on-campus interview days have begun with a morning orientation and included interactive activities alongside the formal interviews blog.accepted.com. The overall atmosphere is often described as friendly and low-stress, with interviewers aiming to get to know the applicant as a person studentdoctor.net. Approximately 700 candidates are invited to interview each cycle blog.accepted.com, competing for around 160–165 seats in the incoming class luc.edu. This translates to roughly a one-in-four chance of acceptance after the interview, underscoring that performance in the interview and mission-fit are critical at this stage.

Stritch’s mission is grounded in Jesuit Catholic values, emphasizing the formation of physicians who will “go beyond facts… and treat the human spirit” in a way that respects human dignity luc.edu luc.edu. As one of only four Jesuit medical schools in the U.S., Stritch infuses its curriculum and community with ideals like service to others, social justice, ethics, and compassion. All students, regardless of faith, are welcomed into this culture, but the educational philosophy is unmistakably shaped by the Jesuit tradition of educating “persons for others” – physicians who are committed to serving those in need blog.accepted.com blog.accepted.com.

Loyola–Stritch explicitly commits to diversity, inclusion, and social justice as core values of its mission luc.edu. This means the school seeks to honor the dignity of every person and encourages its community to stand in solidarity with marginalized populations blog.accepted.com luc.edu. The curriculum interweaves discussions of ethics and social determinants of health, reflecting the belief that excellent medical education must address the whole person and the wider society. Stritch’s advocacy for initiatives like admitting DACA-status students into medicine – being one of the first U.S. medical schools to do so – exemplifies how its mission drives policy and action blog.accepted.com. In essence, compassion, reflection, and a commitment to serving “the greater good” are not just ideals on paper at Stritch; they are lived values that shape student training and the interview experience.

Loyola Stritch offers a four-year MD program on its Health Sciences Campus in Maywood, Illinois (just outside Chicago), with access to a diverse urban patient population. The school is affiliated with Loyola University Medical Center – a major teaching hospital – and nearby Hines VA Hospital, providing students exposure to a broad range of clinical settings from tertiary care to veterans’ health. Stritch typically matriculates around 165 students each year luc.edu, drawing a national pool of applicants. The student body is known for its collaborative and service-oriented culture, which mirrors the school’s mission. Small-group learning, early clinical experiences, and robust support services contribute to a learning environment often described as supportive and family-like.

Students can personalize their education through special tracks and dual-degree programs. Stritch offers elective honors tracks in areas like Global Health and Bioethics, and even a unique Physician’s Vocation Program for those interested in integrating spirituality with medicine blog.accepted.com. In the Global Health Honors Track, for example, students pursue coursework and projects that prepare them for service abroad and become part of a bioethics team working on international health ethics issues blog.accepted.com. The Physician’s Vocation Program is an immersive, four-year elective track that engages students in reflection on Ignatian spirituality and the vocation of medicine blog.accepted.com. Beyond these tracks, Stritch offers several dual-degree options – such as MD/MPH, MD/MBA, MD/MA in Bioethics, and MD/PhD – allowing students to tailor their training to interests in public health, research, management, or ethics luc.edu.

The curriculum integrates traditional basic science and clinical science education with interdisciplinary emphases on communication, ethics, and social justice in healthcare. Bioethics and service learning are woven into the coursework from early on blog.accepted.com, and students have opportunities to work in free clinics and community outreach programs in the Chicago area. These program features not only broaden students’ training but also provide excellent talking points during interviews – they showcase what makes Stritch unique. Interviewers often appreciate when candidates demonstrate knowledge of the program and a genuine interest in its offerings.

Given these rich program features, candidates should consider asking insightful questions on interview day to learn more and show engagement. For example, you might ask about specific opportunities or resources related to Stritch’s mission and curriculum. Here are a few potential questions an applicant could pose to their interviewers:

• “What opportunities do Stritch students have to get involved in community service or care for underserved populations during medical school?”
• “Can you tell me more about the Global Health Honors Track and how students participate in international or underserved community work?”
• “How are Jesuit values like service and reflection incorporated into the day-to-day curriculum or student life here?”
• “What kind of support or resources does Stritch offer for students interested in research or pursuing one of the dual-degree programs (like the MD/MPH)?”
• “In what ways do students collaborate with Loyola’s faculty or the hospital teams, and how does the school foster that supportive community environment?”

Interviewees should be prepared to discuss healthcare issues and policies that are relevant to Stritch’s mission, its regional context, and national debates. Given Loyola’s focus on social justice and service, awareness of health disparities in the Chicago area and efforts to address them can be important. For example, Chicago has well-documented disparities in health outcomes across different neighborhoods, and an applicant might be expected to understand how factors like poverty or violence affect community health. Stritch’s own commitment to inclusion (e.g. its early acceptance of DACA students into medicine) suggests that topics like immigration policy and healthcare access could come up blog.accepted.com. Similarly, as a Catholic-affiliated institution, there may be discussion of healthcare ethics and policy issues – for instance, questions about how personal or institutional values intersect with topics like end-of-life care or reproductive health. National healthcare policy debates are fair game too; candidates might be asked their thoughts on the future of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare-for-All proposals, or other reforms in the news. Essentially, Loyola wants future physicians who are not only compassionate but also informed about the policy environment and social issues impacting patients locally and nationally.

Candidates can connect these discussions back to Stritch’s context. For example, Illinois’ public health landscape (such as the state’s Medicaid expansion and its implications for low-income patients) or pressing public health problems in the Midwest (like the opioid epidemic or gun violence in Chicago) are relevant areas of knowledge. When ethical or policy questions arise, the key is to demonstrate a balanced, thoughtful perspective – in line with Stritch’s emphasis on compassion and respect for all persons luc.edu. By staying informed on current healthcare issues and reflecting on how they relate to patient care, applicants show that they are proactive and aligned with Stritch’s values as socially conscious physicians-in-training.

Loyola Stritch evaluates applicants holistically, meaning that beyond strong academics, the admissions committee heavily weighs personal qualities, experiences, and mission fit. In fact, Stritch clearly outlines that it looks for evidence of integrity, compassion, empathy, service orientation, and responsibility in its applicants ssom.luc.edu. A demonstrated interest in learning and an intrinsic motivation for medicine are also important ssom.luc.edu. In practice, this means that sustained community service, leadership roles, research or clinical exposure, and overcoming life challenges can all bolster an application. The committee is essentially asking: does this candidate embody the values that align with our Jesuit tradition and will they contribute positively to our community?

Stritch’s admissions process is explicitly mission-based, using a rubric to screen for “mission components” in each application luc.edu. For example, an applicant’s record of serving marginalized groups or their reflections on ethical dilemmas can signal a strong mission fit. The school’s focus on selecting for these attributes has tangible effects: by choosing applicants who truly resonate with Stritch’s ethos, the program sees fewer accepted students withdrawing in favor of other schools luc.edu. Interviewers often probe these non-academic qualities directly. It’s common to be asked about service experiences or times you demonstrated empathy and resilience (for instance, “Give an example of being a person for others” studentdoctor.net). Applicants should be ready to discuss how their life experiences have shaped their desire to help others, work in teams, and grow as a compassionate leader – traits Stritch views as just as essential as academic ability.

The qualities Stritch seeks align closely with national competency frameworks for medical school applicants. The AAMC’s pre-medical core competencies (updated in 2023) serve as a guideline for what attributes and skills entering students should possess students-residents.aamc.org. These competencies include Service Orientation, Ethical Responsibility, Cultural Competence, Teamwork, Resilience/Adaptability, and others that map well to Stritch’s mission and selection criteria ssom.luc.edu. In fact, starting with the 2024-2025 cycle, medical schools have been formally integrating these competencies into their evaluations students-residents.aamc.org. For an applicant, this means that demonstrating the AAMC competencies – for example, showing you can work well with diverse groups, think critically, communicate effectively, and uphold integrity – will also directly strengthen your Loyola Stritch application.

Stritch’s admissions committee already uses a comprehensive rubric to score interviews and applicant files luc.edu, which likely incorporates these competency domains. By understanding frameworks like the 15 core competencies, candidates can better articulate their strengths in areas that matter. For instance, Stritch’s emphasis on service and compassion mirrors the “Service Orientation” competency, and its focus on reflection and ethics ties into “Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others.” Being conversant with such frameworks isn’t about reciting buzzwords, but about recognizing that Loyola, like other schools, is looking for well-rounded individuals prepared to meet the professional and interpersonal demands of medical training. Awareness of these expectations can help applicants frame their experiences in terms of competencies (e.g. describing a leadership role in terms of teamwork and responsibility) during essays and interviews.

A look at past interview feedback for Stritch reveals recurring themes that reflect the school’s mission and holistic review focus. Questions are designed to understand the applicant’s character, motivation, and awareness of ethical issues, rather than just test scientific knowledge. Many commonly asked questions fall into a few broad categories:

• Service & Mission Alignment: Interviewers often ask about experiences serving others or working with underserved communities. (For example: _“Give an example of being a person for others.”_ studentdoctor.net)
• Ethical & Policy Challenges: It’s common to be prompted with ethical dilemmas or current issues in healthcare to gauge your reasoning. (For example: _“What are the ethical issues the medical field is facing?”_ studentdoctor.net or even policy-related questions like choosing a best healthcare policy in an election studentdoctor.net.)
• Personal Resilience & Self-Reflection: Expect questions about personal challenges, failures, or weaknesses and how you dealt with them. (For example: describing a difficult time academically or personally and how you overcame it studentdoctor.net, or “What is one weakness you’re working to improve?”)
• Motivation & Fit: Nearly every interview will cover “Why medicine?” and “Why Loyola?” to assess your drive and fit with Stritch’s culture studentdoctor.net. Interviewers may delve into your specific experiences that led you toward medicine or Loyola, as well as your long-term goals (e.g. “Where do you see yourself in 20 years?”).
• Cultural Competence & Teamwork: Given Stritch’s diverse environment, you might be asked how you will interact with people from different backgrounds. (For example: _“How will you be able to relate to patients of various cultures and races different from yourself?”_ studentdoctor.net.) Questions about working in teams or handling conflict can also appear, reflecting the collaborative ethos of the school.

Notably, interviewers often reference an applicant’s own application materials during open-file interviews studentdoctor.net. This means you should be prepared to discuss anything you’ve included – whether it’s a research project, volunteer experience, or an unusual hobby – in depth and to draw insights from those experiences. The overall theme across these questions is that Loyola wants to understand who you are as a person and how you align with their values. The interview is conversational and interviewers frequently give you opportunities to ask questions as well studentdoctor.net, so having some thoughtful questions (see the earlier section) shows your engagement. By practicing responses to these types of questions, you can enter the interview confident and ready to share your story.

Staying on top of the application timeline is crucial for a successful application to Stritch. The AMCAS primary application for Stritch typically opens in late May, with submissions beginning in June 2025. Loyola operates on a rolling admissions basis, so it is advantageous to submit your primary and secondary applications as early as possible ssom.luc.edu. The final deadline for the primary AMCAS submission is usually around November 1 of the application year ssom.luc.edu. (For the 2025–2026 cycle, expect the primary deadline to fall in early November 2025.)

After the AMCAS is verified and transmitted, Stritch sends out its secondary application (supplemental) – in recent cycles this secondary has been available by early July ssom.luc.edu. The secondary application deadline is around early to mid-December of the application year ssom.luc.edu (e.g., it was December 9 in one recent cycle). Again, because of rolling admissions, it’s in your best interest to complete the secondary well before the deadline ssom.luc.edu. Once applications are complete, interview invitations are extended typically starting in late August and continue through the winter blog.accepted.com. Stritch began interviewing in late August in past cycles and usually wraps up interviews by around February or March. Admission offers can begin as early as October (per AAMC rules) and are issued on a rolling basis. By March 2026, most final decisions will have been made, and accepted students will then follow the standard protocol for holding acceptances and eventually committing to enroll by the spring/summer of 2026. Keeping track of these dates – and applying early – can significantly improve an applicant’s chances in this rolling process.

Preparing for a Loyola Stritch interview means understanding the school’s format, values, and expectations in depth. By familiarizing yourself with Stritch’s traditional interview structure, reflecting on how your experiences align with its Jesuit mission of service and compassion, and staying informed about relevant healthcare issues, you put yourself in a strong position for interview day. This guide has provided an overview of the key elements – from the nature of the interviews to the core values, program highlights, policy context, and common question themes – that define the Stritch School of Medicine’s admissions process. With this knowledge, applicants can approach their interviews with confidence, ready to engage in a meaningful conversation about their fit for Loyola Stritch and their future in medicine.