The stupid things you said at the interview

[flaming0duckie]

Okay, so this was the very first question of one of my interviews...

Interviewer: *in a total monotone, very little eye contact* "So... would you say you're good at everything you do?"
Me: 0_0
Me: "Uh, certainly not, although I can honestly say I try my hardest at everything I do yadayadayada..."

That's not a bad answer though! Better than sounding super conceited.

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[Ferneezy]

These stories are hilarious! I didn't have any stupid answers (just a bad interview), but at the end of one of my interviews, someone else asked the admissions officer, "I see that there is a required and recommended list of classes before entering dental school. Are the recommended classes required?"... Uhhh... Really??

did this happen recently...like last friday?

 

[jdye]

did this happen recently...like last friday?

It was a Thursday interview two weeks ago

 

[Ferneezy]

It was a Thursday interview two weeks ago

ah. someone piped up with the same question at my friday last week.

 

[SEA203]

Interviewer: I see you paint, what do you like to paint?
Me: Canvases *facepalm*

 

[omgroll]

interviewer: So.. tell me something that's not in your application.
Me: Well.. I immigrated to north america when I was in elementary school.... wait that's actually in my PS... (wtf Brain?)

interviewer: What do you do in your free time?
Me: Uhh.. I watch movies? I read. Actually I go out with my friends and try different ethnic food like Indian and Japanese and Malaysian and... probably listed like every country I know.

 

[averagejoe805]

Interviewer: "Name someone living or dead you would like to have dinner with and why?"

Me: "Batman..."

True story & I got in

 

[Mediumrare]

Interviewer: What are your three worst qualities?

Me:
1) yadda yadda yadda
2) yadda yadda yadda
3) I'm a terrible speller

Interviewer: Yes, you are a terrible speller


Damn you autocorrect and limit of 5000 characters for cutting off a word!

 

[Troyvdg]

Interviewer: "So you're from San Francisco...you must be green"

*gave her a confused look*

Me: "greeenn...??...party?....like politics?!"

*thinking, oh God, please don't have us talk about politics, #1 way to cause an argument*

*Interviewer laughs*

Interviewer:"No....like composting"

*huge sigh of relieve*

Me: "ohhh you mean eco-friendly"

Dodged that bullet. As a side note, all my OOS interviews asked me about composting...is this really a San Francisco stereotype? I thought we were known for cable cars and gay pride

 

[ModifiedBass]

Got to have a unique experience at UPenn. Interviewed with one of the clinic professors, so I had my interview in their main clinic. After about half an hour of interviewing, he asked me if I wanted to stick around, so obviously I say yes. He presents me with scrubs, but since I just took my suit off, I go to put it on as if it were a suit (backwards) and he just laughs. Caught myself quickly, and got to shadow around with the dental students for about an hour, so it turned into an amazing experience, and I got the acceptance, so it all worked out in the end.

 

[Troyvdg]

Got to have a unique experience at UPenn. Interviewed with one of the clinic professors, so I had my interview in their main clinic. After about half an hour of interviewing, he asked me if I wanted to stick around, so obviously I say yes. He presents me with scrubs, but since I just took my suit off, I go to put it on as if it were a suit (backwards) and he just laughs. Caught myself quickly, and got to shadow around with the dental students for about an hour, so it turned into an amazing experience, and I got the acceptance, so it all worked out in the end.

Dr. Goldstein??

 

[aqz]

Interviewer: "So you're from San Francisco...you must be green"

*gave her a confused look*

Me: "greeenn...??...party?....like politics?!"

*thinking, oh God, please don't have us talk about politics, #1 way to cause an argument*

*Interviewer laughs*

Interviewer:"No....like composting"

*huge sigh of relieve*

Me: "ohhh you mean eco-friendly"

Dodged that bullet. As a side note, all my OOS interviews asked me about composting...is this really a San Francisco stereotype? I thought we were known for cable cars and gay pride

As I was heading to Stacks for breakfast before leaving UCSF, I was actually stopped by a pre-med student asking me if I wanted to donate to some kind of environmental cause.

 

[ModifiedBass]

Dr. Goldstein??

Yessir. You have him as well?

 

[Troyvdg]

Yessir. You have him as well?

Haha sure did, that guy is so cool!

 

[Troyvdg]

As I was heading to Stacks for breakfast before leaving UCSF, I was actually stopped by a pre-med student asking me if I wanted to donate to some kind of environmental cause.

...well...that explains my interview convos then haha

 

[asne0407]

Oh my gosh! These just made my day...I bet the interviewers do the same thing and instead title it "the stupid things interviewees say during an interview" and laugh about it as they meet to talk about our applications! LOL

 

[UCSFx2017]

bump

 

[Daneosaurus]

I have long awaited to be able to contribute to this thread.

1. When explaining why I thought I'd be a good dentist...
Me: I have the skills and attributes necessary. I think one of the most important, if not THE most important, quality for a dentist to possess is effective communication. For instance, I.... (Blank)...um...(oh, no! I can't remember my story that goes here, better make something up)...
Interviewers and group: (stares, patiently waiting for me to pull something out of my ass)
Me: ...um...manual dexterity is one of the most important attributes a dentist can possess....

2. Not a stupid thing I said, funny story, nonetheless:
Interview day: Hotel alarm clock wakes me up 1.5 hours earlier than I wanted to get up. Since there was no way I was going to be able to fall back asleep, I thought I'd give my suit a once over with the iron. Ironed my suit jacket, good. Ironed my shirt good. Going to grab my pants...oh s***! I couldn't find them. Nowhere. They were not on the floor, fallen off the hanger, not in the car - nowhere. The only other pants I brought were jeans and chinos...not gonna work at all! So, I wake my wife up and tell her we have to go to buy some new slacks - right the eff now! So we drove a half hour to Walmart (Pittsburgh has very few Walmarts = big plus, in my book) which opened at 7:00 am. I went and found the blackest slacks I could find (remember that pinstripe suit I posted...it had to come close to matching that). Bought three pairs of black slacks because I didn't bring the jacket with to compare to. Fought Monday morning rush hour traffic to get back to hotel in time to shave and brush my teeth. During this time my wife did my hair, matched the best of the three pairs of pants to my jacket, and applied deodorant for me. I had no time for a shower, no time to eat. I had to be downstairs in 15 minutes from the time I got back to hotel, or I would miss the shuttle. My planned relaxed morning to my first interview turned into a nightmare of anxiety. Result of anxious interview day? I'm attending this school

 

[Dental2000]

This is the best interview story i have ever heard!! One of my favorite SDN posts!!

I remeber reading this a while back. Pretty hilarious

 

[arkenstone]

bump

Thanks for bumping. Great read.

Having been part of groups that interview people for some reason or another----interviewers love helping you feel awkward. Rarely it's a power trip.....mostly it's just fun. They want to see how you handle it, and they secretly want to make their colleagues die of laughter on the inside.

So I guess don't feel like you necessarily f****ed up. A little awkwardness, silence, and moving on is par for the course. Better than getting caught in a blackhole of fixing the last bad note with another one.

But dang...the blackholes make for some funny stories.

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[Dental2000]

Here's one of mine.

Interviewer: Why chose Dentistry ?

Me: Dentistry will allow me to pursue my passion for science, enhance my manual dexterity skills--

Interviewer: MD's do the same thing?

Me: *Oh crap..this is bad* Right...Well in dentistry I have the ability to have my own clinic, be my own boss and have a financially secure career and a stable career as well---

Interviewer: Still things an MD can do. Give me something different

Me: *Well this is a great start to an interview dental2000*....uhhhh....( I then gave an explanation as how when MD's prescribe medications it takes a while for the results to show up in the patient as comapred to a dentist where he/she can do a crown right then and there and the provide the patient with what they need immediately)

 

[wildzodiac]

I was hoping there was a thread like this somewhere in the forums. Thanks for ressurecting it!

Interview at Buffalo:

Interviewer: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Me: trying not to give a cliche answer... "I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know yet if I want to specialize. I don't know yet if I would like to own a private practice. I don't know yet if I would like to serve a rural area or a city. Or maybe I will go into just education. Regardless, I try to keep all options open and if I find something appealing after being exposed to it, I would consider persuing that endevor. The only thing which is for certain is that I will be involved in this field and am undoubtedly willing to dedicate my life for the advancement of this field."

Saying "just education" may have been interpreted in the wrong way, as it may have sounded like I was lowering the importance of the very field of work that my interviewer is involved with which I had no intention of doing. Towards the end of the interview, I asked my interviewer how to peruse the educatonal field because it is something I would totally consider in hopes of redeeming myself.

Result: Accepted.

 

[LabCoatAndPearls]

At a very intense interview where they asked 13 questions in 10 minutes:

Interviewer: "If you couldn't be a dentist, what would you be?"
Me: *Jokingly* "An orthodontist, I guess!"
Interviewers: *Crickets*
Me: "Allllllright, moving on..."

Got accepted- will decline because they didn't laugh at my joke.
(PS: that's a joke too, although I will not be attending for other reasons.)

 

[Blake1e]

The school aims for providing more dentists to the under-served namely, rural communities. And our definitions of whats rural differed, I thought less than 10k people and they were talking just a few hundred. The only reason, I believe, they invited me was b/c I said I wanted to be a rural dentist and thats true, but right before the interview I had to listen to another applicant complain for an hour (had to wait my turn for interview) on how much he hated living in a town of 200 where his closest neighbor was a 20 min walk away. Then during the interview the interviewers asked how Id feel living in a town of a few hundred and I unthinkingly said the opposite of what they were looking for and their micro-reaction confirmed that my chances were down to zero.

I really liked the school, but as of now my app is up in the air with them b/c they did not send word of anything on Dec 1.

 

[DentalFox]

I had my interview at Temple. I gave my speech, did the manual dexterity all within 4 minutes. However, because I finished faster than anticipated I didn't know what to do. So I just smiled at the camera for like a solid 10 seconds until the person recording noticed that it had been silent for a while and asked me if I was done! It was such an awkward way to end the video.

 

[detroittigersfan]

When asked how my friends would describe me, I said "Short and fun." And that was it.

Still got accepted though.

 

[Faux]

I had my interview at Temple. I gave my speech, did the manual dexterity all within 4 minutes. However, because I finished faster than anticipated I didn't know what to do. So I just smiled at the camera for like a solid 10 seconds until the person recording noticed that it had been silent for a while and asked me if I was done! It was such an awkward way to end the video.

show off.


How about odd things an interviewer asked?

Him: "How are the teeth of the people you help out with at the homeless shelter?"

Me: O_O..... ... .... "excuse me?"

Him: "Are they healthy? Do they have dentures? Things of that nature"

Me inside my head: ._.

 

[LaurHei]

After preparing to answer my most dreaded question "tell me about yourself" for my first interview, I had my response down pat. Then my interviewer lead off with "tell me why you're here" and I flustered for about a minute. Needless to say he most definitely thinks I'm an idiot.

 

[FOX_ONE]

Columbia Interview:

"I see that both your parents and your sister are physicians, why didn't you choose Medicine?"
Me: It never really occurred to me.

-literally shut down a decently important question in six words

"Do you have any questions for me before we conclude?"
Me: Why should I go to Columbia
Him: "uhhh okay, well we do have ..etc. etc. etc.."

 

[Daneosaurus]

After preparing to answer my most dreaded question "tell me about yourself" for my first interview, I had my response down pat. Then my interviewer lead off with "tell me why you're here" and I flustered for about a minute. Needless to say he most definitely thinks I'm an idiot.

You do realize that this is another way of asking the same question, right?

 

[adalkia]

I had my interview at Temple. I gave my speech, did the manual dexterity all within 4 minutes. However, because I finished faster than anticipated I didn't know what to do. So I just smiled at the camera for like a solid 10 seconds until the person recording noticed that it had been silent for a while and asked me if I was done! It was such an awkward way to end the video.

I babbled at the camera (don't even remember what I said), answered my silly question in less than 10 seconds, raced through the manual dexterity (cracked like 2 jokes about it under my breath while I did it to break the silence), then looked up at Brian and was like "uh, yup, I'm done!" He told me 3 mins, 15 seconds. (now that's way under)

After he shut off the camera he told me it was one of the best interviews he'd seen all week. ...what?

I guess my personality came through! Was accepted on Dec. 1.

 

[This_Guy2]

Interviewer: "what words would your friends use to describe you?"
Me: "exciting, adventurous, a little weird......."

Brain just shut off.

I got accepted on Dec 1 lol

 

[Dentalogist]

Interviewer: so tell me what iis your type of music?
Me: eminem
Interviewer:.....(for about 10 seconds) ok then....(bla bla bla)

 

[IM240]

I knew I was going into a conversational, 'are you a real person?' sort of interview, so I prepped questions like 'where is good hiking in this city/area?' and I mentioned that I love rock climbing and museums. Interviewer looks at me and says 'Well, I'm not into those things' and shuts down the conversation. D=

 

[BPT4713]

"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"

(so I went on to say having a family, being a successful dentist, etc.) then I said I wanted a Yorkie puppy. I told her I wanted one now but they require a lot of attention. Then she preceded to say, "you might have to get a cat for now. They don't need a lot of attention." I said, "that's very true, but I don't really like cats. Maybe I should change that." She laughed and then I looked up on her shelf and she had a picture of her cat I felt completely stupid hahah! oops. I was soon after accepted, so I guess she thought it was funny.

 

[BrazilianRider]

Oh God, I tried to block this moment out of my life but I guess I'll share.

I was interviewing at a school and we were all waiting around in a room before the actual interviews began. They had three different interviewers, but they would be coming in one at a time to come get us. When the first interviewer walked in, he announced the order of our interviews... turns out I was going first. No big deal I thought, and got my stuff ready. He then called out the rest of the list, and motioned for me to get up so I started to follow him. We're in front of everybody at this point, and he says "And don't forget, just because you're last doesn't mean you're the worst." My smartass decides to think this is the perfect time to be witty. So I think of something smart sounding to say about how hopefully me being first doesn't mean I'm the worst either. Instead, I blurt out (in front of everybody) "Don't worry, I'm sure the first one will be the best."

Proceeded to get daggers as I walked out of that room. Realized what I had said in the hallway and just thought "I hope he didn't hear that" as I walked into the room. When the interview was over, instead of sitting and chatting like I normally do I just booked it out of there. I got accepted though, so I guess it all worked aiight.

 

[Jitters]

The type of question where they ask why you and not someone else?

This is where you mention all your strengths that correlate with the school, etc etc.. I answered..."Because I'm awesome!" I analyzed their faces and saw nothing for what felt like a whole minute! It was probably only a couple seconds but then a saw a smirk and I explained my awesomeness lol
I think I got lucky, it could have been bad.. Got accepted though so yay haha

 

[2THDDS]

When asked "where do you see yourself in 10 years?"

I said "I will probably be a family man with kids"

facepalm after the interview..

 

[StumpMT]

When asked "where do you see yourself in 10 years?"

I said "I will probably be a family man with kids"

facepalm after the interview..

How is that bad? Seems like a perfectly reasonable answer to me.

 

[wmhockey]

Interviewer: Is it ever okay to lie?
Me: Yeah, to your wife.
Interviewer incredulously laughs as her jaw hits the floor!!
Me: Wait, wait! Let me explain!

I went on to explain that what I meant is if your wife is pregnant and she asks if she looks fat, of course you better say she doesn't...... also, followed up with the example that if a child asked if Santa was real I would lie to him, but in a clinical situation absolutely not.

The interview went fine before and after that, but there was a few seconds there where I thought I was toast! My interviewer had children and I assume was divorced as she was Ms. X....... sooooo yeaaah that added to the anxiety!

 

[Macabalony]

I was at Roseman in South Jordan. They asked about how I was enjoying the stay in South Jordan, Utah. I told them about how my family had previously lived in the area and it was around the time of the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls rivalry. We spent 5 minutes of our 20 minutes together talking about basketball.

 

[Digitalangel]

I was at Roseman in South Jordan. They asked about how I was enjoying the stay in South Jordan, Utah. I told them about how my family had previously lived in the area and it was around the time of the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls rivalry. We spent 5 minutes of our 20 minutes together talking about basketball.

thats GOOD, i think its best if you can relate to your interviewer, thats how they remember you!

 

[2THDDS]

How is that bad? Seems like a perfectly reasonable answer to me.

I feel like i should have said something regarding my professional life instead of being a family man lol

 

[oceanangel4]

At one of my interviews, I was asked "so, what's in Reno?" (I put that as my hometown on my app but I have not really lived there in a long time...long story) and I immediately blurted out "CASINOS" LOL. Both my interviewers laughed and had the "wow" look on their faces. And then I realized they meant "what's in Reno that made you put that as your hometown" haha. I was accepted eventually, but I did feel pretty stupid after blurting that out!

 

[Greyangel6]

Interviewer: "What do you think is one of your weak points?"
Me: "I am not very good at confronting people, I'm not much of a people's person" //// At another interview: " Hot chocolate sundae" =.=

Interviewer: "You got the GPA, but you know that's not enough to get you into our school, your DAT and shadowing hours are not extraordinary, even under average, why don't tell me something that makes you stand out from the rest of the applicants."
Me: "......... (long pause because my mind was stuck at the attack)...... Yes, I felt that.... *sob story*..... XD lol

 

[midazolams]

Interviewier: "What do you think is your weakest attribute?"

Me: "My honesty"

Interviewer: "That's strange, that is often considered a positive attribute."

Me: "I don't give a **** what you think."

 

[midazolams]

On a side note, this is the mexican word of the day: chicken wing
We asked a mexican man how he thought his wife was going to do at the lottery. He said " She can win...."

 

[LifeLineBlue]

Interviewer: "So, any questions for me about X school?"
Me: "Can you tell me more about the different speciality programs the school offers?"
Interviewer: "We have none."
Was waitlisted.

 

[DATtestTho]

Argued with my interviewer about ochem being an important class, went blank at the you have any questions for me bit, and was told I have a type A personality all in one interview. Was waitlisted at Midwestern AZ after that debacle.