Apparently common interview mistakes?

[blixxex]

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After watching hours of how to interview for med school on YouTube, apparently I answered my two prompts wrong:

1. Tell me about your family.
My answer: I have cat, two twin brothers whom I'm very close with, and I wouldn't know who to live with since my parents recently got divorced.
Correct answer: I have no family yet. I look forward to starting one.
Explanation: My answer demonstrated I was still putting myself in a child perspective and the correct answer would have shown maturity and ready to start my adult life... "I have no family..."

2. Time me about a difficult time in your life
My Answer: It was probably when I bit off too much than I can chew in college... (on wards about imbalance between work and studies)
Correct answer: Do NOT say anything related to studies. If you have no other hardship - state "I've had a relatively easy life"
Explanation: Apparently, talking about difficulties of education may cause interviewer to see you too weak to handle medical school...

Dang... wish I'd known earlier.

 

[NickNaylor]

After watching hours of how to interview for med school on YouTube, apparently I answered my two prompts wrong:

1. Tell me about your family.
My answer: I have cat, two twin brothers whom I'm very close with, and I wouldn't know who to live with since my parents recently got divorced.
Correct answer: I have no family yet. I look forward to starting one.
Explanation: My answer demonstrated I was still putting myself in a child perspective and the correct answer would have shown maturity and ready to start my adult life... "I have no family..."

2. Time me about a difficult time in your life
My Answer: It was probably when I bit off too much than I can chew in college... (on wards about imbalance between work and studies)
Correct answer: Do NOT say anything related to studies. If you have no other hardship - state "I've had a relatively easy life"
Explanation: Apparently, talking about difficulties of education may cause interviewer to see you too weak to handle medical school...

Dang... wish I'd known earlier.

I interview applicants, and I've gotten answers in those veins relatively frequently. That advice is absolutely awful. No one analyzes you that much.

 

[wiloghby]

After watching hours of how to interview for med school on YouTube, apparently I answered my two prompts wrong:

1. Tell me about your family.
My answer: I have cat, two twin brothers whom I'm very close with, and I wouldn't know who to live with since my parents recently got divorced.
Correct answer: I have no family yet. I look forward to starting one.
Explanation: My answer demonstrated I was still putting myself in a child perspective and the correct answer would have shown maturity and ready to start my adult life... "I have no family..."

2. Time me about a difficult time in your life
My Answer: It was probably when I bit off too much than I can chew in college... (on wards about imbalance between work and studies)
Correct answer: Do NOT say anything related to studies. If you have no other hardship - state "I've had a relatively easy life"
Explanation: Apparently, talking about difficulties of education may cause interviewer to see you too weak to handle medical school...

Dang... wish I'd known earlier.

Sounds like you've been watching Kevin Ahern over in Oregon. He has a lot of good tips, but he speaks with forked tongue when it comes to over-preparation/memorization. He tells you not to memorize the answer to any questions, but then at the end goes through a dozen common questions and over-analyzes them to the point that everyone in the room, fearful they will convey some wrong message inadvertantly, feels they have to find the trick in every question and memorize a response.

Ultimately, you want to have thought of all the common questions and (in broad terms) how you will relate them to your experiences. Prof. Ahern's presentation will scare even the biggest slacker into taking the interview seriously, and I think that is exactly his intention. At the same time, no interviewer is going to read into your answers as much as Prof. Ahern says they will. As long as your answers to the big, important questions (Why medicine? Tell me about yourself.) are solid and you present yourself as a confident, normal human being then you shouldn't have a lot to worry about. Your answers seem fine.

 

[TreadLightly]

I interview applicants, and I've gotten answers in those veins relatively frequently. That advice is absolutely awful. No one analyzes you that much.

I think answers like those are more for trying to get the interviewer to see you as an independent, mature person. They're not impressive answers that are going to "wow" anyone.

I've watched the videos in question and the guy said that the one thing interviewers look for is maturity. It's important but it's not the only thing.

Prof. Ahern's presentation will scare even the biggest slacker into taking the interview seriously, and I think that is exactly his intention.

This. So DON'T watch all of his videos the night before your interview like I did.

 

[carlton]

Hm..I don't see why talking about one's parents and siblings would be considered a mark of immaturity. Rather, the question seems like an opportunity for the interviewer to understand more about your cultural background and your motivations for medicine. I wonder if "I have no family yet. I look forward to starting one" could be actually interpreted as an attempt to deflect the question and raise red flags 😱

And I'm not convinced that for the second question, "I've had an easy life" is a good answer - could easily backfire ("applicant displays a lack of introspection" or something)

Anyway, I'm currently applying this cycle so I don't know how well my own interview approach has worked for me, but I kind of just answered my interviewer's questions...truthfully 😕 Figured I'm a bad actor anyway so might as well just be myself and see where that gets me

 

[Ismet]

Oh god. Those "correct answers" are cringe-worthy.

I'll give my perspective as a student interviewer on your responses and why the "correct responses" are bad.

1) Your response: It's fine. A little strange that you started off with the cat, but I wouldn't over-analyze that. You also don't have to go into that much detail about not knowing who to live with, but I wouldn't penalize you for that either.
"Correct" response: No. Do not say this unless you literally do not have any close family members. There is a difference between coming off as dependent on your family (immaturity) vs. having a good, supportive relationship with your family. Becoming an adult doesn't mean cutting off your family or that you are no longer a part of the family you grew up in. I'd consider myself to be quite independent, but my family also means a lot to me. I still value life advice from my parents and older siblings. Something I looked for as a student interviewer was that the applicant has some kind of support system. Med school is stressful, even more so if you have no one to talk to or lean on. If you say you have no family, that's cause for concern that maybe you don't have any outside support.

2) Your response: Also a fine way to answer the question, but the rule of thumb when you talk about weaknesses or challenges is that you must talk about how you overcame these challenges and how you improved. This shows that even though you have been faced with challenges, you have developed ways to work through them, and you should be able to better handle challenges that you encounter in med school. This is even one of the secondary essays for my school.
"Correct" response: Please, please, please don't say "I've had a relatively easy life." If you are unable to talk about a challenging situation in such a way that shows your personal growth, the interviewer could think that you might crumble with the challenge of med school. It's perfectly fine to have struggled academically at some point in your life. That doesn't exclude you from going to medical school. But you need to demonstrate that you struggled and worked to overcome these challenges rather than just accepting the struggle and growing complacent. It's the people who haven't developed mechanisms to cope with stress who burn out or drop from med school.

 

[Patros]

I think Dr. Ahern's advice is solid. Always present yourself as someone who has seen a lot of things and is well-informed on your decisions/career-path. Admittedly, it's much easier to do this if you actually have the experience. Still, I am a big goof at heart and had to work extra hard to put on the professional aura.

To answer your question, I think the two major mistakes you could make are 1) Not knowing how to explain "why medicine" in a compelling way and 2) Not having the "why this school" answers nailed down. For point #1, regurgitating your personal statement is not advised, since what is interesting when written may not be the same when spoken. So basically prepare a separate answer and practice saying it to yourself or someone else. And as for point#2, always have the answers for a) Why our school b) What will you bring to our school c) Any questions for me about our school? memorized before you walk into your interview.

tldr: Don't make up answers on the fly for key questions.

Edit: OP, you butchered Dr. Ahern's answers. He didn't say "I have no family," he said "I haven't started my own family yet. But my parents live here, and by brothers/sisters live here."

And never EVER say "I have faced no difficulties yet." EVERY interview I have been to asks "What difficulties have you faced," and with good reason. Explaining a difficult/busy semester is not bad, not everyone has saved dying children in the middle of the Congo.

 

[jeghaber]

If those are in fact the correct answers, I should have been summarily rejected from all the schools at which I interviewed. Just answer like a normal human being, while maintaining your internal stupidity filter.

 

[snowflakes]

1. Tell me about your family.
My answer: I have cat, two twin brothers whom I'm very close with, and I wouldn't know who to live with since my parents recently got divorced.
Correct answer: I have no family yet. I look forward to starting one.
Explanation: My answer demonstrated I was still putting myself in a child perspective and the correct answer would have shown maturity and ready to start my adult life... "I have no family..."

I saw the video that this advice came from, and I really strongly disagreed with it. Saying "I have no family but I plan to get married and have kids someday...." (or something like that, I forgot Kevin Ahern's exact phrasing) when you have parents/siblings/pets, etc just comes off super weird and insecure and like you're trying to act older than you are because you're insecure about your maturity. Anyway, I don't think most interviewers would expect most 22-24 year olds to have their own created family. The question is just another way to assess your support network and what kind of person you are (family-oriented values, etc). Maturity, I think, is better shown by demonstrating that you have a healthy and supportive relationship with your parents/siblings. It's perfectly normal to be an adult and still get advice from your parents. It only becomes a red flag if it seems like your motivation for medicine stems from parental pressure or you're incapable of making decisions without your parents. You can still show yourself to be an autonomous, mature young adult without making it seem like your parents/siblings are totally out of your life.

 

[Got Heem]

The best way I've found to prepare for my interviews:

1. Know how you want to present yourself to the interviewer (important traits, unique backgrounds, personality, etc.). Make sure you are able to convey that in some of the common questions you can expect to be asked.
2. Review your primary and secondary essays. Unless it's a blind interview, they will ask you about these things, and even if it is blind these experiences should help you explain why you want to be a part of the medical field.
3. Have an answer prepared for "Tell me about yourself," "Why medicine," and "Why this school" (I personally have things prepared for several other common questions, but haven't found them to be absolutely essential for every interview)

Really, the rest of it comes down to being a confident, friendly, normal person that has the ability to hold a coherent conversation with another person. Dr. Ahern makes it sound much more complicated than it really is.

 

[boomshaketheroom]

1. Tell me about your family.
My answer: I have cat, two twin brothers whom I'm very close with, and I wouldn't know who to live with since my parents recently got divorced.
Correct answer: I have no family yet. I look forward to starting one.
Explanation: My answer demonstrated I was still putting myself in a child perspective and the correct answer would have shown maturity and ready to start my adult life... "I have no family..."

Thats dumb. Unless you aren't in contact with them, you do have a family. I would see the "correct" answer as an inability to even relate to the people closest to you for much of your life, or that the interviewee thinks they are more clever than they are.

You should tell the interviewer about you family members and how they influence you, especially how their influence has made you want to be a doctor, driven you work harder, or made you capable of being a great doctor.

Having a strong family relationship isn't a sign of immaturity...

 

[bc65]

1. I also disagree with Ahern's advice on answering the family question. That question gives you a good opportunity to talk about your background. If you had a difficult upbringing, this is your chance to talk about what you have overcome. If you had a "normal" background, you can talk about that and demonstrate your stability and that you have a healthy relationship with your parents and siblings. I agree that not talking about your family makes you look weird.

In fact, I'm married with kids, but if asked to talk about my family, I would assume the questioner was talking about my "childhood " family. If someone wanted to know about my current situation, I would expect them to ask, "Are you married, do you have kids, how old are they?". Of course, in an interview situation, those questions are prohibited, but in normal conversation, that's how I would interpret that question.

2. If you have not had any great challenges to overcome, I think acknowledging that is entirely appropriate. Saying "3rd semester was tough, I took 21 credits" shows a lack of perspective, in my opinion. Saying, " I have been very fortunate to have grown up in a home with two parents, always had a roof over my head, and I have never gone hungry due to a lack of food, so my challenges have not been great. Nonetheless, I did have a difficult situation when............................etc " shows that you have a good appreciation for the good fortune you have had, and that you recognize the difficult challenges that others face. That let's you talk about a difficult situation you dealt with, without making you look like an ungrateful jerk. Just my $0.02

 

[13132]

Talk about overthinking/overanalyzing the interview. I don't even know what to say to OP.

 

[Doctor Strange]

After watching hours of how to interview for med school on YouTube.

There's your mistake.

 

[13132]

There's your mistake.

Exactly. I've never understood obsessive preparation for an interview. What happens is you end up being a shell of your natural self and seem rehearsed.

 

[blixxex]

i watched it after my interviews haha