Bad interview and then accepted?

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Iammeeee

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Did you ever feel like you did really bad in your interview and then got accepted? I had my first interview in one of my top choices, and felt like it didn't go well at all... unfortunately it is non-rolling, so I have to wait a while before hearing from them. I am getting worried about this now...
 
Some schools just don't reject until the end, so you may be in for a long wait. I would think that unless your perceptions of the interview were incorrect, may be in for some trouble. If you have good stats otherwise, it may makeup for a bad interview.
 
Well it seems that how one feels after an interview is not always a good indication of how they did. It is possible that it was fine, but I always feel like you shouldn't get your expectations up and set yourself up for disappointment (even after a great interview). So, hope for the best, expect the worse I guess?
 
Yeah, definitely try not to dwell on it too much. People post about getting accepted at somewhere they thought they bombed the interview for, as well as (actually, usually) getting rejected/waitlisted after amazing interviews. Preparing for your future interviews is the best thing you can do right now, especially in light of what did/didn't go as you wanted in your previous one.

I think it's really hard to tell what interviewers are going to see as the most important aspect about you, but you can help yourself by deciding ahead of time some important thing you'd like to convey (such as how you would contribute to the school environment, which is one of the primary things I'm supposed to look for while interviewing kids for my undergrad). In my most recent interview at one of my top choices, I was so nervous that I could feel myself shaking, and I was totally convinced that I had looked like a complete fool to the interviewer as a result until I got an acceptance letter =). Thank goodness poise was not on his list of necessary qualities in a future doc.
 
Did you ever feel like you did really bad in your interview and then got accepted? I had my first interview in one of my top choices, and felt like it didn't go well at all... unfortunately it is non-rolling, so I have to wait a while before hearing from them. I am getting worried about this now...
How many interviews have you done in general in your life? I've found that some applicants who haven't done a lot of interviewing in general have a bad guage for how well they do. They think okay ones went great and okay ones went horribly.

If you haven't had much experience interviewing, I wouldn't worry just yet. It may have gone better than you think. If you've done a fair bit of interviewing, there's a good chance your guess is right on.
 
Did you ever feel like you did really bad in your interview and then got accepted? I had my first interview in one of my top choices, and felt like it didn't go well at all... unfortunately it is non-rolling, so I have to wait a while before hearing from them. I am getting worried about this now...

If it reassures you at all, on my first interview I accidentally said "Is that right?" after I answered why I wanted to go to X medical school. I thought the interview was so-so, but that he and I didn't click so I readied myself for a waitlist/reject.

Still got in. 🙂 Made for a pleasant surprise
 
My first interview was absolutely horrible; I thought I wouldn't get in for sure. I was so nervous and I just blanked so many times, but I still got in! So don't think its over until its over 🙂
 
Sometimes people think they had a great interview-- and get rejected.
 
I've heard so many accounts of applicants who in their minds had horrible interviews and ultimately ended up getting in. The opposite is also unfortunately true as well. Kind of makes you wonder just how much weight is actually given to the interview itself. I think most schools have probably already made their minds up about each applicant even before the interview, but then again who really knows right? All you can do is your best and pray for a silver lining.
 
I think that interviewees are often poor judges of how well or poorly their interviews go. An enthusiastic interviewer does not mean good interview; a neutral or flat interviewer does not mean poor interview.

One of my friends happened to encounter an applicant who had interviewed with me. He was under the impression that he had blown the interview. I actually was quite impressed by him.
 
I felt that both of my first 2 interviews went the same (not great, not awful), and had 2 different results: one hold, one acceptance. You really never know. I would love to be a fly on the wall during an adcom meeting at some of these places so I could figure out a method to their madness.
 
Well it seems that how one feels after an interview is not always a good indication of how they did. It is possible that it was fine, but I always feel like you shouldn't get your expectations up and set yourself up for disappointment (even after a great interview). So, hope for the best, expect the worse I guess?

Sounds alot like the MCAT. haha
 
I've heard so many accounts of applicants who in their minds had horrible interviews and ultimately ended up getting in. The opposite is also unfortunately true as well. Kind of makes you wonder just how much weight is actually given to the interview itself. I think most schools have probably already made their minds up about each applicant even before the interview, but then again who really knows right? All you can do is your best and pray for a silver lining.

It varies from school to school on how much the interview counts. During our interview training it sounded like how we (and then the faculty interviewers) rate the interviewees will have a huge impact on whether they get in.
 
You can never tell. People get in with bad interviews all the time. Sometimes I wonder how much the interview really matters. I think that a lot of times, they want to see if you're an dingus, or if you lied about a bunch of stuff on your application.

Hell, the last time I applied, the interviewer at Drexel basically told me I was going to get in. An interview doesn't get much better than that. Well I didn't get in.

On the other hand, when I interviewed at the school that accepted me this time, I thought the interview went about as well as an interview could possibly go.
 
Did you ever feel like you did really bad in your interview and then got accepted? I had my first interview in one of my top choices, and felt like it didn't go well at all... unfortunately it is non-rolling, so I have to wait a while before hearing from them. I am getting worried about this now...
I really don't think you can judge based on how you felt. Maybe the interviewer wants to test you further so that they can give you a stronger recommendation at the adcomm meeting.

Interviews do matter, but you have to remember that the interviewer is just one person on an adcomm of dozens. So even if they really like you and think you're the greatest applicant they've ever met, the rest of the committee could decide not to take their recommendation. I also think that if the interviewer tells the adcomm that you're not a good fit for the school, you probably won't get in even if your stats are competitive. My school definitely cares about how well they perceive people will fit in here, so people who look great on paper and would probably do great in other programs can wind up getting rejected from CCLCM if the adcomm decides that they won't be good in a small-group kind of learning environment.
 
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