NYU program: +20 candidate group interview? Guidance wanted.

liliequist said:

Hello everyone, I'm seeing from the Interview Feedback on NYU that they apparently hold group interviews involving over 20 candidates at a time. Does anyone have experience with this and would be willing to break it down for me? I'm a quiet person, an observer and listener who carefully chooses her moments, so if I suddenly need to develop some extroversion, I'd like to know. Thoughts?

Thank you for your responses in advance!

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Man I wouldn't go to a program like that and that's just me. Reason being is that you just feel like a number. Good luck with the interview though.

It's unfortunate, but I think those who are more extroverted tend to interview well. The ones who come across as shy tend to not interview as well. I fall in the latter category. One thing though is to act yourself. Don't try to be someone you're not as you can come across as weird, which happened with one candidate we interviewed. Also, don't come across as desperate either.

It's unfortunate that those who are quiet may not make as strong of an impression as those who are more extroverted. These ppl may still be great to work with if you just got to know him/her.

liliequist said:

Hello everyone, I'm seeing from the Interview Feedback on NYU that they apparently hold group interviews involving over 20 candidates at a time. Does anyone have experience with this and would be willing to break it down for me? I'm a quiet person, an observer and listener who carefully chooses her moments, so if I suddenly need to develop some extroversion, I'd like to know. Thoughts?

Thank you for your responses in advance!

Click to expand...

Unless it has changed drastically from when I interviewed three years ago, you still meet individually with your interviewer. They just switch people up every twenty minutes or so.

Yeah, I interviewed there last year. It actually was a pretty good interview! You do meet with each interviewer individually and without interruptions.

You meet with EVERYONE in the morning for a breakfast and presentation, then split into two groups: one group does interviews 1 on 1 round robin style; the other group goes for a tour and chills with residents. Then join for lunch together, switch, and then wine and cheese party!

The pros to it: you get to meet other people on the interview trail, its on a Sat so no interruptions, and they only hold about 4 days of interviews so no interview fatigue from the school's side.

The cons: they meet 20-25 people in a day so it may be harder to stand out, you don't get to see daily workings by the residents (though last year they did give an open invite to come by and see), and the group with the residents is quite large. Also, hard to reschedule because they hold such few dates.

I really was impressed by the program overall.

IMHO, Yale had the best interview layout though: between interviews you go into a centralized location rather than to the next office so no awkward waiting. Also they had water and snacks available. And gave you a dinner the night before

liliequist said:

Thank god - I was picturing some horrible group activity / free-for-all, or having to field nit-picky questions about research done years ago in front of other candidates. I'm relieved that the actual interviews are individual.
Thank you for your responses - and one other follow-up question regarding Saturday interviews in general: are the program director and chairman involved?

Thanks again!

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To the bold, I only went to 2 Sat interviews, and for both yes. One was NYU. The other Drexel; Both had one on one interviews with the faculty. I thought NYU had the better format (or maybe they just won me over with the wine and cheese social - or that they had more residents show up). At this point, I don't remember. I do remember that NYU was the only one with 25 applicants though. Drexel just added the date to accomodate the applicants so it was only the 3-5 of us that would be on a typical busier interview.

And this is only based on last year's interviews.