Interview Bloopers

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EquestriAnn

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So everyone is talking about interviews in such a serious manner, I figure it wouldn't hurt to lighten things up a bit! Someone mentioned gold stilettos and a see-through top in another thread, and it made me think- there must be some good stories from all these interviews! What kind of crazy, weird, inappropriate stuff have you guys seen?

Sadly, I don't have anything as good as gold stilettos....or really anything good at all. We had dinner at a faculty member's house and one of the interviewees kissed one of the faculty member's little daughter (on the head, but still the mom was right there), which I found a little weird. Perhaps I have really strong social boundaries, but that just didn't seem like something I'd do in an interview setting. I very well may be overly professional though, I also wouldn't drink more than 1 beer when other people were drinking more. Anyway, anybody else have better stories??

PS they can be about you too 😛
 
I leaned against a wall that wasn't actually as close to me as I thought it was. I did not end up on my butt on the floor, but it was a close call. 🙂 And yes, I was sober-- this was actually right after the interview itself.

Other than that (which was embarrassing but harmless), I have nothing. 🙂 Everyone was pretty professional. One (male) student showed up in khakis and a sweater instead of a suit, but I think he pulled it off...
 
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Messipsych said:
During a group interview, a professor asked an applicant to explain her relationship to one of her recommenders. Turned out that her old therapist had written the letter! She made it pretty clear to the applicant requesting that letter was a mistake. I think it was unethical on the part of the therapist too...👎
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Ah!! How inappropriate and embarrassing! There was a link floating around in the forums yesterday with a list of the "Kisses of Death" for applying to graduate school. My favorite was a list of people not to get your LOR from: therapist, parent, boyfriend/girlfriend, priest, the applicant. :laugh:
 
I walked into a glass door ... Just straight into it, like it wasn't even there. Luckily no one interviewing me saw this but another professor saw it and I think she must have had a good laugh.
 
oh dear!
i hope you were able to laugh at yourself after the fact.
 
it happened because I was hurrying to an individual interview because i had just gone to the wrong professor to be interviewed because i misread the interview sheet because it was confusing!

another applicant saved my butt when she pointed out to me that she was interviewing with dr. b first ...

at least it's not as bad as my first interview blooper back in the 90's. i was really nervous and during the first morning session with the DCT and three other applicants one of the applicants mentioned that he wanted to work with dr. x and the DCT extolled the virtues of dr. x. at which point -- having seen dr. x the prior evening -- i chimed in with a big smile, "and he's really cute too!!!" is it any wonder they didn't admit me?

islandgirl1 said:
oh dear!
i hope you were able to laugh at yourself after the fact.
Click to expand...
 
:laugh:! That's hilarious!
They were probably guarding against any potential violation of professor-student ethics. Just in case!
 
We were taken on a tour of the campus during near-hurricane wind conditions (peoples jackets were blowing off if they were caught in just the right position). I was talking to to the grad student leading the tour, as we walked back to the main building, about Professor X who I really wanted to meet. As we walked back in, I caught a look at myself in the glass door and my (more than shoulder-length) hair looked as if it had been teased into a dome around my head. We went into the lobby and...you guessed it! Professor X was there and the lovely grad student said "Oh...Professor X, this applicant really wanted to meet you today!"

Quite a first impression to make. :laugh:
 
:laugh: Well, hello Domehead! Pleased to meet you.

psychwanabe said:
I caught a look at myself in the glass door and my (more than shoulder-length) hair looked as if it had been teased into a dome around my head. We went into the lobby and...you guessed it! Professor X was there and the lovely grad student said "Oh...Professor X, this applicant really wanted to meet you today!"

Quite a first impression to make. :laugh:
Click to expand...
 
I had a complete wipeout while going from one building to another. One of the professors was walking me from his office to my next interview and I slipped on a patch of ice since my shoes didn't have great traction. It was a really bad fall feet over my head etc, though luckily I didn't break or rip anything (bones or clothing). Just a bruised butt and pride 😳.
 
This is the funniest story I have from interviews so far:

A grad student took some applicants to view the fMRI machine. Everyone took off all their metal so we could go inside the room and check it out. As we walked through the door way one girl said, "will my chastity belt be okay in here?" And then proceeded to pretend as if she was being pulled by her pelvic area towards the magnetic machine saying "woah . . . woah . . . woooaah!" It was probably the funniest joke I have heard/seen in a looooong time. I hope she got accepted to that program just for having a great spirit!
 
dontknowitall said:
This is the funniest story I have from interviews so far:

A grad student took some applicants to view the fMRI machine. Everyone took off all their metal so we could go inside the room and check it out. As we walked through the door way one girl said, "will my chastity belt be okay in here?" And then proceeded to pretend as if she was being pulled by her pelvic area towards the magnetic machine saying "woah . . . woah . . . woooaah!" It was probably the funniest joke I have heard/seen in a looooong time. I hope she got accepted to that program just for having a great spirit!
Click to expand...

Oh my god that's amazing! I have to say I wouldn't think to do something like that at a grad school interview, but funny nonetheless!
 
I don't have too many funny stories...but I did attend one interview where a surfer guy had been selected to interview...which is fine, except that he had shoulder length hair that had been:

1) strategically combed over his face
2) curled with a curling iron at the edges so it flipped out

He quickly made friends with another male applicant who kept his lip ring in during the ENTIRE interview day.

I was pretty appalled.

---------------
My only personal story is that on my first interview, I had to meet with three professors. I got my first interview out of the way just fine...but I had 2 hours until my next one, and I over-analyzed. I decided that my enthusiasm was my best quality and to REALLY play it up.

Of course, that ended up with me going into my second interview and being REALLREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLY excited about psychology. I don't think it looked fake, but...I think I looked crazy/ditzy. I was really beating myself up for that one afterwards. I got accepted, though, so either he appreciated the weird brand of enthusiasm, or my GPA/GRE scores made a case for my intellect which my interview didn't lol. :laugh:
 
AlairaK said:
I don't have too many funny stories...but I did attend one interview where a surfer guy had been selected to interview...which is fine, except that he had shoulder length hair that had been:

1) strategically combed over his face
2) curled with a curling iron at the edges so it flipped out
Click to expand...

[embarrassing disclosure]
When my hair gets long it flips up naturally....so my nickname in college was Dawson. :laugh:[/ed]
 
Sorry, but you guys have nothing on the med students when it comes to wierd interview stories!

*batty old MD peers at nervous interviewee*

"You know, you look a lot like my cat."
 
As absolutely stress-inducing as the interview process was back in the day, these stories made me miss it all and helped me know that I'm really ready to try this again next fall.

My worst interview story... I was absolutely sleep deprived from travel, on my 36th hour, and during the individual interview w/would-be adv, I spurt out, "my friends think I'm ******ed sometimes."

Yup, I said "******ed" in a doctoral interview. Another kid I was interviewing with sneezed and blew snot on the director of the program.

I miss it, the nerves, the laughter, the cool friends you meet after all applying to the same schools, thanks for sharing guys.
 
I was wondering if anyone else had any good bloopers?

I sort of had one. When I was interview at one school I accidently referred to the population with serious disorders as "the real crazies". I think I said it because thats what my mom calls them and it just slipped out. Luckily the my POI must have looked past it because thats the school I'll be attending in the fall. Whoops 😳
 
EquestriAnn said:
Someone mentioned gold stilettos
Click to expand...

That's a blooper? lol. I wore metallic silver high heels to my interview because they went with my outfit. They weren't stilettos though. I was dressed appropriately, but to hell with anyone who can't deal with me being me. A little flair goes a long way. I got accepted. 🙂
 
PinkSoil said:
That's a blooper? lol. I wore metallic silver high heels to my interview because they went with my outfit. They weren't stilettos though. I was dressed appropriately, but to hell with anyone who can't deal with me being me. A little flair goes a long way. I got accepted. 🙂
Click to expand...

FYI-- THe gold stilettos were the cherry on top of a very crazy sundae. The girl was wearing a see-through halter top with her bra showing through, tight jeans, and gold stilletos to the reception hosted at the department head's house!

I am all for flair and all for metallics, but with a touch of class mind you.

At one place I interviewed at there was a professor who tended to close his eyes while he interviewed you. Luckily I was warned of this before I started and just kept on talking. As a sentence would wind down, he would pop his eyes back open and say something like, "Where do you see yourself in ten year?" Was he even paying attention????
 
dontknowitall said:
At one place I interviewed at there was a professor who tended to close his eyes while he interviewed you. Luckily I was warned of this before I started and just kept on talking. As a sentence would wind down, he would pop his eyes back open and say something like, "Where do you see yourself in ten year?" Was he even paying attention????
Click to expand...

He could have been trying to focus. I will frequently look at something stationary and uninteresting when listening to someone explain something to me, because I find it easier to concentrate on what they're saying. This is especially true if I'm trying to visualize something.

Of course, the prof could have just been nodding off 😀
 
Many professors have weird mannerisms. Expect them. Don't let it throw you. Academia is one of the few places us socially awkward folks can end up where its "cute" to be weird, instead of just weird to be weird.

One interview I was convinced the prof was about to have a seizure. He didn't rock back in his chair so much as push off from his desk and explode backwards so hard I thought he was going to flip over, and then started tugging the hair on both sides of his head.

Great guy, but weirded me out. His students later mentioned he does that when he's deep in thought and it was a great sign🙂
 
dontknowitall said:
FYI-- THe gold stilettos were the cherry on top of a very crazy sundae. The girl was wearing a see-through halter top with her bra showing through, tight jeans, and gold stilletos to the reception hosted at the department head's house!

I am all for flair and all for metallics, but with a touch of class mind you.
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't mention my bikini top? JK! :laugh:

The 2nd professor that I interviewed with started the interview by yelling, "SO YA WANNA BE A PSYCHOLOGIST?!" It was just one of those instances in which I had to politely giggle and come back with an appropriate, yet witty response, when all I really wanted to do was roll my eyes and burst out laughing.
 
Ollie123 said:
Many professors have weird mannerisms. Expect them. Don't let it throw you. Academia is one of the few places us socially awkward folks can end up where its "cute" to be weird, instead of just weird to be weird.
Click to expand...

That is one of the best statements I have ever read! I had a grad school interview where I was asked about experience with the CPI. As an undergrad, if it didn't begin with "MM.." I hadn't heard of it. So my response was... "If you are referring to the consumer price index, then it has little effect on my expenditures. If you're not, then I've got nothing."

Didn't get in there.....
 
This isn't my own experience, but someone I know bashed Freud in an interview with a professor she later found out was a psychoanalyst.

She got in anyway though, so maybe he liked that she had her own thoughts on the matter.
 
cara susanna said:
This isn't my own experience, but someone I know bashed Freud in an interview with a professor she later found out was a psychoanalyst.

She got in anyway though, so maybe he liked that she had her own thoughts on the matter.
Click to expand...

That reminds me of one of my interviews- this professor kept going on and on bashing fMRI saying that it is really no better than phrenology and then went, "oh....you're not into fMRI are you?" Luckily, I am not, but I thought it would have been really awkward/funny/uncomfortable if I were!
 
cara susanna said:
This isn't my own experience, but someone I know bashed Freud in an interview with a professor she later found out was a psychoanalyst.

She got in anyway though, so maybe he liked that she had her own thoughts on the matter.
Click to expand...

Along these same lines, many of the candidates who interviewed for my lab this year and who came to ask me questions during the social kept talking about my research mentor as if she was psychoanalytic. I couldn't figure out where they were getting this since my mentor isn't even a clinician. Then it hit me that we do a lot of work with Loevinger's Ego Development measure, and students must have been seeing the word "ego" on the lab's publications and running with it. We got a kick out of it, but I'm sure that mistake didn't factor into admission decisions, at least for the candidates who weren't explicitly applying to work with that measure. In fact, my mentor tells me she gets that all the time, and that I should expect to as well now that I'm using the WUSCT for my thesis.
 
Not really a blooper but entertaining none the less:

Imagine... all your future professors in one room rapid firing questions at you (This is the USUHS interview experience.) So finally we get to a "softball" question.

Q: So when you get writers block what do you do?

(Not to many ways to screw this question up... Let me try!) Now mind you, I didn't miss a beat, and rolled this off the cuff with no hesitation.

A: Well, I grab my .45 and I head down to range to unload a few rounds and repeat until I feel ready to write some more.

The look on the faculty faces was pretty priceless, none the less we quickly moved on. I carried it off without looking pathological, and fortunately didn't prevent me from getting admitted.

Mark

PS - I've done a lot of writing lately, but I haven't been shooting yet since going to school!
 
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