Bad interview and acceptance stories??

[isa]

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I'm so depressed! I feel like my interview at my top school didn't go well at all. Is there anyone who can cheer me up with a story of an acceptance from a school they thought they interviewed badly with?

 

[praying4MD]

One of my good friends said her interview at her first choice school went quite badly. Although she usually interviews well, she was nervous because this was her first choice. When asked if she had any questions, she went blank and all she could think of is, "Do you have any malls close by?" 😱 The interviewer looked at her like she was crazy and said that malls weren't her priority because she was so busy working. After exchanging departing pleasantries, the applicant walked out mortified and knew she would be rejected.

She is now an MS3 at that school. She later asked her interviewer why they bothered to accept her. The interviewer told her that although her question was incredibly stupid and trivial, that she was natural throughout the rest of her interview and conveyed confidence.

 

[Doggy]

Just remember that you are your own harshest critic. You probably came across better than you give yourself credit for. My interview at AECOM was horrible, in my opinion. I got grilled on stem cell research and must have sounded like a idiot. Yet here I am, taking it up the tailpipe in anatomy. 🙂

 

[none]

I'm personally not convinced that interviews are the most important factor in med school admissions. There's nothing quantitative, that can go into ranking data, resulting from an interview. I'm sure there's still quite a good chance of admission.

 

[isa]

Thanks for all the positive responses. I'm under the impression that once you get to the interview stage, you're basically in the same standing as every interviewee. Does the committee review the whole app again? BeckyG or Vader, maybe you can answer this because my interview was at UCSF!

Yeah, I may be judging myself too harshly since this is my top choice, but paranoia is common in this process, right? Generally, I think I interview fine in my other schools but horribly in the schools I really, really want to get into (UCSF and Cornell).

 

[lilycat]

Originally posted by none:
•I'm personally not convinced that interviews are the most important factor in med school admissions. There's nothing quantitative, that can go into ranking data, resulting from an interview. I'm sure there's still quite a good chance of admission.•

Let's put it this way -- a good interview may not guarantee admission, but a horrible interview will definitely guarantee rejection. Don't underestimate the interview.

Isa -- I wouldn't worry too much. As long as you didn't use racial slurs in your interview or anything like that (don't laugh, it's actually happened), the interview probably did not go as bad as you think. My first 2 acceptances completely shocked me because for one school, I was 15 minutes late to the opening presentation (the Dean and 8 applicants -- it was sort of obvious when I walked in), and at the other school, I also thought I had a horrible interview experience -- I got flustered by an ethical dilemma/role playing question, and then I couldn't coherently answer why I wanted to go to that school! It's always tough to evaluate your own performance, but it probably went better than you think. Good luck.

 

[rikkitikki]

My friend had one bad and one good interview at a school. She had good stats. She was called back for a third interview, it went great and she is now attending. Don't despair. P.S. the third interview letter didn't actually say that- it said that furhter info was needed to make a decision please set up to meet with dean of admissions blah blah blah

 

[Resident Alien]

Originally posted by rikkitikki:
•My friend had one bad and one good interview at a school. She had good stats. She was called back for a third interview, it went great and she is now attending. Don't despair. P.S. the third interview letter didn't actually say that- it said that furhter info was needed to make a decision please set up to meet with dean of admissions blah blah blah•

I wasnt aware that this was another option that medical schools could resort to. Do you know which school this was at? Thanks in advance

 

[Paranoid Android]

I am in the same situation. I have my third interview at the University of Utah this Friday. They said that the third interview could be the result of a disagreement between your two interviewers, something they didn't cover in the interview, or something they want to "clear up." I hope it goes well, this is probably my first choice school...

Colby

I know I was born and I know that I'll die, what's in between is mine....I am mine -Ed Vedder