Differences in interviews

[badooda]

How different are interviews with a current medical student compared to interviews with a physician/faculty member? Do they generally ask the same type of questions? Are interviews with medical students more casual?


Also, what do you do when the med student and the physician ask the same questions during those individual interviews for the same school? Is it ok to give the same answer to both?

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[QuinnTheEskimo]

How different are interviews with a current medical student compared to interviews with a physician/faculty member? Do they generally ask the same type of questions? Are interviews with medical students more casual?


Also, what do you do when the med student and the physician ask the same questions during those individual interviews for the same school? Is it ok to give the same answer to both?

The interviews with med students tend to be MORE stiff and formal, in my experience. I think they also rate you more harshly. I feel like older interviewers are kinder and more understanding of our nervousness and youthful stupid answers.

I think it's fine to give the same answers for both.

 

[Lavan]

Fine to give the same answers to both (though I think the students are more attuned to BS probably, having done the same themselves more recently).

Experience varies widely. I know the group of students I was a part of who interviewed at my former school were on the whole a pretty chill bunch who wanted to make people comfortable and enjoy their interview day, but that is certainly not always the case.

 

[Ismet]

You can give the same answers for both. It's not like they're recording the interview or anything.

In my experience, student interviews were much more chill and relaxed than faculty interviews. And as a student interviewer, I'd say my school does a pretty good job of maintaining a comfortable interview day. Student interviewers are usually more geared towards assessing your interpersonal skills and if they think you would make a good colleague/if you would fit at the school. Faculty interviewers with access to your application would be geared more towards assessing your level of preparedness and fit for medicine in general, something that medical students can't really judge.

 

[Jennyfishy]

Ive had very positive experiences with my student interviewers and they were all chill/down to earth (also only asked conversational type questions). My faculty interviewers were more structured and formal (although one was more friendly than the other). However, their opinions were said to hold equal weight when it came to final reviews too

 

[TheShaker]

In my experience, student interviewers tend to ask more canned questions and are somewhat awkward at facilitating conversation. Faculty interviewers are more comfortable but they are more willing to play with hardball questions. I feel much more comfortable with faculty interviews.

 

[Microglia]

The interviews with med students tend to be MORE stiff and formal, in my experience. I think they also rate you more harshly. I feel like older interviewers are kinder and more understanding of our nervousness and youthful stupid answers.

I think it's fine to give the same answers for both.

This. Students tend to hug the extremes of very uptight or very informal.

 

[fw5tape6kq]

How different are interviews with a current medical student compared to interviews with a physician/faculty member? Do they generally ask the same type of questions? Are interviews with medical students more casual?


Also, what do you do when the med student and the physician ask the same questions during those individual interviews for the same school? Is it ok to give the same answer to both?

FYI, most of the time when I have visited a med school and had two interviews on the same day, the faculty interview was open file and the student was closed file. As such, the students tend to ask you more general questions. Just my experience.

 

[pyrrion89]

This. Students tend to hug the extremes of very uptight or very informal.

Definitely this.

 

[nemo123]

This. Students tend to hug the extremes of very uptight or very informal.

Yes! Most of my student interviews though have been pretty uptight and asked some of the most difficult questions I've gotten on the interview trail.