JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

DON PETERSEN Special to The Roanoke Times

Jesi Lemons, (right) an admissions representative for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, takes prospective students on a tour.

DON PETERSEN Special to The Roanoke Times

Medical school applicants Amanda Dudak (from left), Sarah Young and Emily Glass take a trolley ride through downtown Roanoke.

Retired physicians, CEOs, ministers and other Roanoke community leaders all have a role in selecting students who will be part of the first class at the new Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.

The school invited about 300 members of the Roanoke Valley community to come and interview applicants interested in securing one of the 42 spots available for the inaugural class.

Of those invited, about 80 people have been trained in how to interview the potential students. Although the majority of the interviewers are affiliated with Carilion Clinic or the school, about one-quarter are not.

"We were looking for people who have a sense of what Roanoke is as a community and can bring that flavor to the admissions process," said Steve Workman, the school's director of admissions. "So they help select people who they think will be happy here in Roanoke."

For those involved it was a chance to show the potential students how the community is supporting the new school.

"I think first and foremost it sends the right message to our prospective students that this is Roanoke's medical school," said Bill Flattery, who is president of Carilion's Bedford Memorial Hospital and one of the interviewers. "And it tells the community how important this medical school endeavor is to Roanoke, Virginia."

Candidates had until Dec. 1 to apply to the school. In the end, about 1,650 applications were received. Of those, the school asked about two-thirds to fill out a secondary application consisting of essays and recommendation letters.

The school's dean, Cynda Johnson, said that's close to the number of applicants they anticipated. But the number falls short of what new medical schools averaged last year. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, new schools received an average of 2,800 requests for admission.

The pile of applicants was whittled down to about 250 people, who were asked to come to Roanoke for a day of interviews. Interviews were held in October, November, December and January. Two more interview days are set for February and March.

Workman said the interview day isn't just about selecting the right students, but also about introducing the applicants to Roanoke.

"For people who aren't from Roanoke, it's kind of a surprise that we are as cosmopolitan as we are," Workman said. "The interview day adds to the homey atmosphere that we are trying to develop here rather than an impersonal institution. So it's a two-way process. We're trying to evaluate them to see whether they are a good fit for us and they're seeing if we're a good fit for them."

To expose the applicants to Roanoke, part of the interview day includes a trolley ride around downtown.

"We want to answer their questions, too," Johnson said.

The actual interview day is set up much like speed dating, where students spend eight minutes at 10 stations responding to a scenario or question. The interviewers are trained to keep the conversation going and are then asked to rate the student on a scale of one to 10.

It's a process that was first developed at a medical school in Canada, and one that Johnson said really helps to evaluate how an applicant thinks.

"It allows us to test their communication skills and see how good a student is at thinking on their feet," Johnson said. "It's the less quantifiable skills and more qualitative."

The interviewers spend about two hours being trained on how to appropriately question and rate the students.

"You can prod, but you can't give any affirmative feedback," said Joyce Waugh, president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and one of the interviewers. "It's really quite interesting."

Waugh said she has enjoyed participating in the interview process. But more so, she said, she is eager to see the continued relationship between the medical school and the business community.

"It speaks to sort of the energy that they bring," she said. "We are a very stable, traditional kind of community, and this is energizing and new and exciting. In one sense, it is like a new business coming to town. But different in that it is a school."

The school has already sent acceptance letters to some students as part of its rolling admissions process. Johnson declined to say how many because she didn't want other students to count how many spots were still available.

By May 15, the school will know how many students with acceptance letters have decided to come to Roanoke. Classes start Aug. 2.

Already Waugh said that local business owners have put signs in their windows welcoming the students as they come to town for the interview day.