"tell me about youself"

EricTan · Aug 28, 2009

What are everyone's thoughts about realllly open interview questions like "what do you want to talk about" or "tell me about yourself" etc. What do you guys think they are looking for... or do you think they would be happy with anything, like a discussion of sports, or would they want you to dive into "I will be the worlds greatest cardiac surgeon because..."

TopSecret · Aug 28, 2009

EricTan said:
What are everyone's thoughts about realllly open interview questions like "what do you want to talk about" or "tell me about yourself" etc. What do you guys think they are looking for... or do you think they would be happy with anything, like a discussion of sports, or would they want you to dive into "I will be the worlds greatest cardiac surgeon because..."

This is what they want....

Name
Hometown
Undergrad affiliation
Degree or major
Career goals (incorporate discussion of EC's)
Why you want to go their medical school

dd128 · Aug 28, 2009

If sports have something to do with your life then go ahead, if not I wouldn't recomend it. It's probably best to start with your background starting in where you went to highschool, college, what you studied, how old you are. After a few minutes of talking most interviewers latch onto something and will direct the convo. It's probably also partly to see if you are able to carry on a coherent conversation with another human being 😉

DrYoda · Aug 28, 2009

They aren't looking for anything in particular. Just tell the about yourself. Hobbies, where you're from, appropriate things you do on weekends ect.

TopSecret · Aug 28, 2009

DrYoda said:
They aren't looking for anything in particular. Just tell the about yourself. Hobbies, where you're from, appropriate things you do on weekends ect.

Hm, not really.

The prompt "tell me about yourself" is really to get you to talk about your background, your education, and your motivation for a medical career. Only talk about hobbies if they ask you specifically.

LizzyM · Aug 28, 2009

This is often a clue that the interviewer has not looked at your file. It is your opportunity to highlight what you think is most important, impressive, that of which you are most proud and to tie it into why you chose to apply to that medical school. Don't rehearse this little speach and don't rattle on for more than a minute. Then give the interviewer a chance to ask a follow-up question.

cher25 · Aug 28, 2009

TopSecret said:
This is what they want....

Name
Hometown
Undergrad affiliation
Degree or major
Career goals (incorporate discussion of EC's)
Why you want to go their medical school

I sooo could have used this today as both my interviewers started the interview with this question. I just rambled on about random things about myself.😕 :xf:

Jolie South · Aug 28, 2009

TopSecret said:
Hm, not really.

The prompt "tell me about yourself" is really to get you to talk about your background, your education, and your motivation for a medical career. Only talk about hobbies if they ask you specifically.

This^^^^

LiveUninhibited · Aug 31, 2009

I don't see any problem with briefly mentioning one or two of your most interesting hobbies, particularly if they foster skills relevant to medicine. I have heard this question referred to as an opportunity to steer the interview into familiar waters, though those waters should also involve providing information the adcom needs to feel comfortable accepting you.

LizzyM said:
This is often a clue that the interviewer has not looked at your file. It is your opportunity to highlight what you think is most important, impressive, that of which you are most proud and to tie it into why you chose to apply to that medical school. Don't rehearse this little speach and don't rattle on for more than a minute. Then give the interviewer a chance to ask a follow-up question.

I understand it's impossible to memorize answers to a lot of questions because there are so many variations, but why not memorize the "big picture" questions like: Tell me about yourself, why do you want to be a doctor, and, what's so special about you? Risk of sounding word-smithed and rehearsed? That reflects poorly?

LizzyM · Aug 31, 2009

LiveUninhibited said:
I understand it's impossible to memorize answers to a lot of questions because there are so many variations, but why not memorize the "big picture" questions like: Tell me about yourself, why do you want to be a doctor, and, what's so special about you? Risk of sounding word-smithed and rehearsed? That reflects poorly?

Sounding too rehearsed does reflect poorly on the applicant. There is some forgiveness given to applicants who sound too rehearsed in February (because they've answered the same question many times in previous interviews) but just starting out you should have something in the back of your mind but don't memorize a speech and attempt to recite it.

njr3332 · Aug 31, 2009

cher25 said:
I sooo could have used this today as both my interviewers started the interview with this question. I just rambled on about random things about myself.😕

Yeah I had the same question and did the whole biographic stuff (ie hometown, university, major etc) to start and then talked about my hobbies and then he asked me if that was it (I had been talking for a few minutes uninterrupted). He followed up that question by asking me to give me a 5 minute spiel about myself. I was confused because I felt like that was the same thing as "tell me about yourself." I ended up telling him more random things about myself. The whole interview felt like one big monologue and not very conversational. I felt like I did not perform well on the personal questions but the rest of the interview went fairly well after that. It was just a disheartening way to start the interview.

LizzyM · Aug 31, 2009

njr3332 said:
Yeah I had the same question and did the whole biographic stuff (ie hometown, university, major etc) to start and then talked about my hobbies and then he asked me if that was it (I had been talking for a few minutes uninterrupted). He followed up that question by asking me to give me a 5 minute spiel about myself. I was confused because I felt like that was the same thing as "tell me about yourself." I ended up telling him more random things about myself. The whole interview felt like one big monologue and not very conversational. I felt like I did not perform well on the personal questions but the rest of the interview went fairly well after that. It was just a disheartening way to start the interview.

Frankly, this sounds like someone who is coming unprepared to the interview and by that I mean the interviewer, not the applicant.

Keep in mind that the unprepared interviewer wants you to feed him (her) information he can use to formulate a follow-up question. You want those follow-up questions to relate to what you most want to highlight about your appliation. Beyond college, major, hometown or whatever, you might want to go with research or clinical activities or volunteer service either as in "...university has given me so many opportunities to ...." or "I've been a... major at .... College but summer has been when I've really had an opportunity to dedicate myself to...." You want to get the interviewer to the point where he says, "tell me more about that". You want the that to be the thing that you most want to talk about and that will be most impressive to the adcom.

Exalya · Aug 31, 2009

LizzyM said:
Frankly, this sounds like someone who is coming unprepared to the interview and by that I mean the interviewer, not the applicant.

Keep in mind that the unprepared interviewer wants you to feed him (her) information he can use to formulate a follow-up question. You want those follow-up questions to relate to what you most want to highlight about your appliation. Beyond college, major, hometown or whatever, you might want to go with research or clinical activities or volunteer service either as in "...university has given me so many opportunities to ...." or "I've been a... major at .... College but summer has been when I've really had an opportunity to dedicate myself to...." You want to get the interviewer to the point where he says, "tell me more about that". You want the that to be the thing that you most want to talk about and that will be most impressive to the adcom.

Is there anything wrong with mentioning something non-clinical and non-volunteer? I have my own business, which I think has been a great experience, since it will help me if I ever have a private practice and it has honed my skills as a leader. However, the adviser I spoke to about my interview discouraged me from mentioning it. She said it wasn't related enough to the topic of medicine.

njr3332 · Aug 31, 2009

LizzyM said:
Frankly, this sounds like someone who is coming unprepared to the interview and by that I mean the interviewer, not the applicant.

Keep in mind that the unprepared interviewer wants you to feed him (her) information he can use to formulate a follow-up question. You want those follow-up questions to relate to what you most want to highlight about your appliation. Beyond college, major, hometown or whatever, you might want to go with research or clinical activities or volunteer service either as in "...university has given me so many opportunities to ...." or "I've been a... major at .... College but summer has been when I've really had an opportunity to dedicate myself to...." You want to get the interviewer to the point where he says, "tell me more about that". You want the that to be the thing that you most want to talk about and that will be most impressive to the adcom.

Yeah that is exactly what I did after I told him the basic information. I told my interviewer about my research, student mentoring, and clinical experiences. That wasn't necessarily the problem. The problem was what to say during the "5 minute speech" about myself after I had already talked about my good extracurriculars. I ended up talking about my personal characteristics that would make me a good doctor. Needless to say, I was thinking on my feet a lot. It honestly felt like my interviewer was trying to frustrate me to see what my reaction was. The rest of the interview went well and became a little more conversational after the initial 15 minutes. Anyways, thank you LizzyM for your insight. I will keep your advice in mind for the rest of my interviews.

LizzyM · Aug 31, 2009

Exalya said:
Is there anything wrong with mentioning something non-clinical and non-volunteer? I have my own business, which I think has been a great experience, since it will help me if I ever have a private practice and it has honed my skills as a leader. However, the adviser I spoke to about my interview discouraged me from mentioning it. She said it wasn't related enough to the topic of medicine.

The only problem can be that some adcom members feel a twinge of concern about applicants who are very interested in business as it seems to them that it could be that the applicant is more interested in health care as a business rather than caring for people during vulnerable times in their lives. If you can come across as a humanitarian with an interest in business administration then you might be ok.

Exalya · Aug 31, 2009

LizzyM said:
The only problem can be that some adcom members feel a twinge of concern about applicants who are very interested in business as it seems to them that it could be that the applicant is more interested in health care as a business rather than caring for people during vulnerable times in their lives. If you can come across as a humanitarian with an interest in business administration then you might be ok.

I appreciate your advice. 🙂 Since half of my business is non-profit and raises money for charities, I think I can pull it off. I'll just be sure that I mention that part of the company.

LiveUninhibited · Sep 1, 2009

LizzyM said:
Sounding too rehearsed does reflect poorly on the applicant. There is some forgiveness given to applicants who sound too rehearsed in February (because they've answered the same question many times in previous interviews) but just starting out you should have something in the back of your mind but don't memorize a speech and attempt to recite it.

Perhaps what I should have asked is why it reflects poorly? Does it seem disingenuous or does it imply they are poor at impromptu speaking? Or?..

Would an alternative be to have a mental list of things you want to convey during the interview, perhaps with memorable word groups you made up meant to stick in their mind? 🙂

I hate interviews so much. I hate talking about myself. :laugh:

vin5cent0 · Sep 1, 2009

If an interviewer asked me what I wanted to talk about, I think the smart reply would be inquiring meaningful questions about their school. Shows you actually have an interest in their school and you're not just applying there to have another application on your list.

BerlinDude · Sep 1, 2009

I just start out with bizarre enthusiasm for a topic that will catch the interviewer's attention. For example, if I am meeting with a cardiologist, I'll say "The most important thing about me is that I looooove cardiology". Then I talk about anything I've ever done related to that, research, patients I've seen, classes, some stupid article I read, whatever.

LizzyM · Sep 1, 2009

BerlinDude said:
I just start out with bizarre enthusiasm for a topic that will catch the interviewer's attention. For example, if I am meeting with a cardiologist, I'll say "The most important thing about me is that I looooove cardiology". Then I talk about anything I've ever done related to that, research, patients I've seen, classes, some stupid article I read, whatever.

the interviewers that most like the "tell me about yourself" question are psychiatrists.

Narmerguy · Sep 1, 2009

LizzyM said:
the interviewers that most like the "tell me about yourself" question are psychiatrists.

Anyone ever get diagnosed at the end of their interview?

LizzyM · Sep 1, 2009

Narmerguy said:
Anyone ever get diagnosed at the end of their interview?

It can happen.

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