Applicants. What are the worst/most shocking questions interviewers have asked?

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Icebird

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In light of the thread targeted towards the adcoms, I'm curious to see what kinda trifling comments/questions your interviewers have posed.

Not necessarily one specific question but I had one interviewer come 20 minutes late to my one-hour timeslot, forget to bring my application folder so they proceeded to waste another 8 minutes getting the information printed out, and then the next 32 minutes was more or less her verifying my primary/secondary by asking me which dates I did certain ECs and questioning my ability to succeed in medical school.

After half an hour of overall rudeness, passive aggressiveness, and my overall lukewarm desire to go to this medical school to begin with, I just started starting throwing barbs back at it her the last 10 minutes of the interview.

ex:
"Who were your letter of rec writers?"
"*lists them all*" - me
"Think it would have been smart having an MD letter of rec if you're applying to an MD school? Shows a lot about your intelligence not having a doctor on here."
"Considering all 5 of my LoR writers have known me in both a professional and academic setting for the past 4 years, I think it definitely shows a lot about my intelligence having them on here to speak for my character rather than someone I did a passive learning experience for 2 weeks with such as shadowing." - me
---------------------
(Harps on a B- I got in a gen chem 1 course my first semester of college)
"Looking at your grades in your underclassmen years I would have not been as generous as the admissions committee in extending you an interview invitation. Do you really think you can manage through medical school? I certainly have my doubts"
"While I might not have had the best start my first semester in college, I think my performance these past few years and on the MCAT show that I am definitely capable of performing effectively at the medical school level." - me
"And you are confident in that?"
"I am very confident in my abilities, as are your admissions committee and the other 16 schools that have extended me an interview. "- me

The look on her face was priceless and it was very well worth the WL I got. :angelic:

EDIT: Typo
 
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BOTH interviews at one particular institution (one in which they know their name has weight, and this can come off as pretentious) were focused on my “trajectory.”

The first dude asked “how did you get here” and I started to tell my post-high school Army story but he interrupts me and says “no, your family, growing up - how are you who you are now?” And so my entire hour was just talking about my childhood hobbies, my childhood economic situation, my childhood clubs and sports, my interests in high school....Like...I was poor, didn’t have any hobbies, and didn’t want to be a doctor until I was 21....refocus...

Second gal....same. Damn. Thing. Just so focused on my “trajectory.” It seems positive as they said “wow and you got from that background to now here you are interviewing at XYZ som” but like....yah, I know I am here. Can we ask about how I got here, not focus on the limitations I faced in childhood? What do my grades in high school have to do with anything?
 
Also had one interviewer where I sat down, she glanced over my file, and just looked at me and said “alright All of my questions were already answered by your file. Do you have any questions for me?” So....that was weird.
To be fair, this could be a good thing? One of my interviewers asked me about who my childhood pediatrician was and my job as a server (I have a lot more impressive things on my app than that) but when I asked my fellow interviewee who had the same interviewer, she was asked about how she got there, , what she did in college, why she wanted to do medicine, ect.
 
To be fair, this could be a good thing? One of my interviewers asked me about who my childhood pediatrician was and my job as a server (I have a lot more impressive things on my app than that) but when I asked my fellow interviewee who had the same interviewer, she was asked about how she got there, , what she did in college, why she wanted to do medicine, ect.

It is a good thing. It’s a humble brag, though I really don’t think he is aware when he does it.
 
I am currently working at a federally qualified health center and an interviewer asked me all about whether I think the government should be involved in healthcare or not and clearly stated he didn’t think so. That was not fun. Plot twist, I still got in to the school.
 
Yikes that is both hilarious and terrible at the same time. That would have been awful if it were your only interview 🙁
 
To be fair, this could be a good thing? One of my interviewers asked me about who my childhood pediatrician was and my job as a server (I have a lot more impressive things on my app than that) but when I asked my fellow interviewee who had the same interviewer, she was asked about how she got there, , what she did in college, why she wanted to do medicine, ect.
It is a good thing. It’s a humble brag, though I really don’t think he is aware when he does it.
Deleted the second one, misread the question as weirdest not worst...MB.
 
Had an interviewer who asked me how exactly coming to terms with my parent's terminal illness will prepare me to........ lose patients as a doctor? idk felt like it was very directly applicable I was just like "well if I can bounce back from losing a parent I can handle losing a patient." It was an MMI so I think it was a scripted follow-up question they had but still was very off-putting
 
Had an interviewer who asked me how exactly coming to terms with my parent's terminal illness will prepare me to........ lose patients as a doctor? idk felt like it was very directly applicable I was just like "well if I can bounce back from losing a parent I can handle losing a patient." It was an MMI so I think it was a scripted follow-up question they had but still was very off-putting

I think it was since I had a similar situation.

For hardest challenge MMI I spoke about being gay, coming out and how the relationship with my parents got rocky for several years, and she promptly followed up with "How would you have changed it?" and I was kind of confused for sec like "Uhmm I kinda can't lolol" and she noticed what she said and mentioned these were all scripted follow ups and we moved on to the next lol.
 
Tell me about a time you lied- was not at all prepared for that one.

Whats the biggest challenge facing U.S. healthcare?- was better prepared for that one, but when they start to argue against your points it's stressful. I'm assuming this question is more to assess a base level knowledge of the healthcare system and ability to be calm under pressure but that doesnt change the fact that it's no fun in the moment
 
Tell me about a time you lied- was not at all prepared for that one.

Whats the biggest challenge facing U.S. healthcare?- was better prepared for that one, but when they start to argue against your points it's stressful. I'm assuming this question is more to assess a base level knowledge of the healthcare system and ability to be calm under pressure but that doesnt change the fact that it's no fun in the moment

The first one is easy. I lie to my kids all the time.
 
I had one interview where they ONLY asked me questions about every. single. “blemish” on my app to the point where by the end I was like dang does that one even really count as a problem!? I spent an entire hour trying to strike that balance between not making excuses and not being overly apologetic. It was stressful and kind of irritating honestly.

I feel very grateful to now be in the position to withdraw from places, because that on top of my already mediocre feelings about the school was just super off-putting.
 
2 out of 4 interviewers so far have forgotten to bring my application to the interview and were unable to ask me specific questions about my application. Another interviewer admitted she ran out of time to fully read my application, and she didn’t refer to it at all throughout the interview. Instead spent the time asking me a bunch of basic questions that were answered on my app
 
"Do you think a certain cancer like chronic myelogenous leukemia would be more prevalent in a rural or urban area? Explain why you think that." Needless to say, I was taken aback lmao

EDIT: I think I was asked because I've taken a cancer-related class? I'm still 100% unsure of why I was even asked something like this.
 
During a closed file interview my interviewer's first question was "so whats your mcat and GPA. How about sGPA? What about your ECs? Oh and I almost forgot, clinical experiences, tell me about that. Oh yeah and how about your volunteering, what did you do for that?" Correct me if im wrong but this pretty much defeated the purpose of it being closed file lol I pretty much just recited my app to her


or my personal favorite. My interviewer spent the better part of the interview just proposing random careers, everything from law enforcement to investment banking or personal chef and asking me why I wouldnt want to do those
 
"Do you think a certain cancer like chronic myelogenous leukemia would be more prevalent in a rural or urban area? Explain why you think that." Needless to say, I was taken aback lmao

EDIT: I think I was asked because I've taken a cancer-related class? I'm still 100% unsure of why I was even asked something like this.
I'd wager it's motivated by the cancer class you took. SDNers need to remember than anything in your file is fair game for an interview question.
 
I'd wager it's motivated by the cancer class you took. SDNers need to remember than anything in your file is fair game for an interview question.
As someone who has taken and TA’d for both genetics a molecular - all of which were the same prof as my current human genetics class - and still forgot all of Mendel’s principles for the first exam in said human genetics class, I say this is an unfair question.

Also, yes that is all one sentence and no, I am not sorry.
 
what if they say they're independent?
Then I can tell they are a coward
Is "dem in the streets, republican in the sheets" an appropriate way to convey the idea of socially liberal, personally conservative?
It tells me they are a bleeding heart to anyone that will listen in order to appear socially acceptable to their peers and all about perception over performance when it matters.
 
But I like taxes and think we need more of them. The fiscally conservative part just means I am a cheap ass who won’t spend more than $15 on a polo.

Then you're basically a Democrat

In before I get flamed and thrown out the window
 
At my first interview the guy asked me to diagnose a woman who came in complaining of stomach pain. This wasn't an MMI or an acting scenario, this was a traditional interview where he expected me to give sufficient diagnosis.

At another place I was asked to talk about the worst attribute of my best friend. Needless to say that one was difficult

EDIT: I was also asked to talk about my "guilty pleasure"
 
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Oh, you mean the non-trad who quit a $70K a year career to go back to school? I say my peace as an informed member of the tax payers, thank you very much.

1. Military income is taxed less than civilian income.
2. You file married filing jointly and have a dependant. Try being single and not having any dependants.
3. Once you get above a certain income, those wonderful child tax, earned income, and Child and Dependent Care credits go away.
4. n = 1. Don't assume your experience with taxes is typical.

I worked in tax and have done returns for college students to orthopaedic surgeons. I say:

4bcc9fe7385111b11d22e7386d1b32d386c6110b38efa6e924f3477738996b25.jpg
 
1. Military income is taxed less than civilian income.
2. You file married filing jointly and have a dependant. Try being single and not having any dependants.
3. Once you get above a certain income, those wonderful child tax, earned income, and Child and Dependent Care credits go away.
4. n = 1. Don't assume your experience with taxes is typical.

I worked in tax and have done returns for college students to orthopaedic surgeons. I say:

4bcc9fe7385111b11d22e7386d1b32d386c6110b38efa6e924f3477738996b25.jpg
Enough thread hijacking already
 
At my first interview the guy asked me to diagnose a woman who came in complaining of stomach pain. This wasn't an MMI or an acting scenario, this was a traditional interview where he expected me to give sufficient diagnosis.

Out of curiosity, did you have significant clinical work experience, exposure to GI patients via shadowing, or GI research?

If so, it could be verifying that you weren’t talking nonsense in your app.

If not, it’s could be testing how you think through problems.
 
I got asked this as a lead-off question:

“You’re clearly a lot older than our other applicants. Why would we want to invest a seat in an older guy like yourself who has far fewer productive years left in his career than, say,... someone of a normal age?”
 
I got asked all in one interview, “Don’t you think the amount of time you spend on your work and extracurriculars is unhealthy” and “Tell me about a friend that annoys you” and “Do you know anyone who struggles with addiction or mental health problems” as a lead in to a question about what I would do to solve(?)those issues from a friend perspective, a physician one and a political one.
 
I got asked all in one interview, “Don’t you think the amount of time you spend on your work and extracurriculars is unhealthy” and “Tell me about a friend that annoys you” and “Do you know anyone who struggles with addiction or mental health problems” as a lead in to a question about what I would do to solve(?)those issues from a friend perspective, a physician one and a political one.

That’s a great question - but if I had to answer it on the spot, I’d be toast. Would probably pull an, “I’d do xyz for abc and ugh aand ughhhh.. what was the question again?”
 
I honestly wouldn’t mind fielding any of the questions posed so far, but the interviewer acting uninterested and/or being unprepared would have me voicing my personal disgust to the dean of admissions immediately afterward, consequences of said voicing be damned. I get that interviews may get tough/boring/tedious to conduct after a while, but to not give someone the full respect and attention they deserve when already in a vulnerable position to begin with is beyond comprehension.

Maybe some of these stories/situations are overblown by premeds, there are always two sides and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
 
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I honestly wouldn’t mind fielding any of the questions posed so far, but the interviewer acting uninterested and/or being unprepared would have me voicing my personal disgust to the dean of admissions immediately afterward, consequences of said voicing be damned. I get that interviews may get tough/boring/tedious to conduct after a while, but to not give someone the full respect and attention they deserve when already in a vulnerable position to begin with is beyond comprehension.

Maybe some of these stories/situations are overblown by premeds, there are always two sides and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
Unprepared interviewers are very common but I never held anything against them personally. Most are clinicians and we all know medicine is borderline abusive with all their responsibilities
 
Unprepared interviewers are very common but I never held anything against them personally. Most are clinicians and we all know medicine is borderline abusive with all their responsibilities

Fair enough. I’ve only been to one medical school interview so far and found the experience quite pleasant, but I’ll be mindful of that if I do interview anywhere else.
 
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