bad interview but still got accepted?

[s1lver]

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Just curious (I'm sure it has happened) and what made the interview "bad" in your opinion?

 

[red10]

look at the worst interview answers thread lol

 

[redrower]

Interviewer started off by explaining to me how difficult the program was and how driven and motivated students in this program needed to be to succeed. This went on for about 10 minutes with me simply nodding politely and uttering occasional one syllable words, you know, the whole active listening bit.

All of a sudden he turns to me and goes on a rant about the three types of premed students he sees at interviews: the ones who genuinely like the "mundane like of a GP", those who pretned to genuinely like the life as a GP, and those who just want to be doctors after having some sort of enlightening experience as an 8 year old in the backyard with frog guts. He then asks me which one I am.

I say I'm a hybrid of the first and third premed, to which he responds, "I don't believe you. You're entire application lacks passion for any aspect of a career in medicine. I spent last night reading your file and only saw a misplaced sense of compassion for terminally ill patients."

2 weeks later I got accepted.

 

[FlowRate]

Interviewer started off by explaining to me how difficult the program was and how driven and motivated students in this program needed to be to succeed. This went on for about 10 minutes with me simply nodding politely and uttering occasional one syllable words, you know, the whole active listening bit.

All of a sudden he turns to me and goes on a rant about the three types of premed students he sees at interviews: the ones who genuinely like the "mundane like of a GP", those who pretned to genuinely like the life as a GP, and those who just want to be doctors after having some sort of enlightening experience as an 8 year old in the backyard with frog guts. He then asks me which one I am.

I say I'm a hybrid of the first and third premed, to which he responds, "I don't believe you. You're entire application lacks passion for any aspect of a career in medicine. I spent last night reading your file and only saw a misplaced sense of compassion for terminally ill patients."

2 weeks later I got accepted.

Whaaaat?!

 

[armybound]

You never know how an interview really went. You don't know if the interviewer is going to remember that one stupid thing you said or is going to dwell on the one brilliant thing you said.

I felt like the interviews that ended up with acceptances were pretty middle-of-the-road for me. I had other interviews where I really knocked the interview out of the ballpark, and at those schools I also had competitive GPA/MCAT and some fairly unique ECs, but they didn't accept me (got waitlisted). You never know how it's going to end up. Just do as well as you can.

 

[armybound]

You never know how an interview really went. You don't know if the interviewer is going to remember that one stupid thing you said or is going to dwell on the one brilliant thing you said.

I felt like the interviews that ended up with acceptances were pretty middle-of-the-road for me. I had other interviews where I really knocked the interview out of the ballpark, and at those schools I also had competitive GPA/MCAT and some fairly unique ECs, but they didn't accept me (got waitlisted). You never know how it's going to end up. Just do as well as you can.

 

[dingyibvs]

Interviewer started off by explaining to me how difficult the program was and how driven and motivated students in this program needed to be to succeed. This went on for about 10 minutes with me simply nodding politely and uttering occasional one syllable words, you know, the whole active listening bit.

All of a sudden he turns to me and goes on a rant about the three types of premed students he sees at interviews: the ones who genuinely like the "mundane like of a GP", those who pretned to genuinely like the life as a GP, and those who just want to be doctors after having some sort of enlightening experience as an 8 year old in the backyard with frog guts. He then asks me which one I am.

I say I'm a hybrid of the first and third premed, to which he responds, "I don't believe you. You're entire application lacks passion for any aspect of a career in medicine. I spent last night reading your file and only saw a misplaced sense of compassion for terminally ill patients."

2 weeks later I got accepted.

Dude, that's the BEST interview experience. I have yet to see anybody getting grilled like that and NOT get accepted, unless the person just breaks down or something. I think interviewers do this only when they're pretty much sure they're gonna accept you, and the only thing left is to make sure that you can handle trying situations.

 

[FallenHero]

Dude, that's the BEST interview experience. I have yet to see anybody getting grilled like that and NOT get accepted, unless the person just breaks down or something. I think interviewers do this only when they're pretty much sure they're gonna accept you, and the only thing left is to make sure that you can handle trying situations.

fo REELZ? how u know dat

 

[schrizto]

Interviewer started off by explaining to me how difficult the program was and how driven and motivated students in this program needed to be to succeed. This went on for about 10 minutes with me simply nodding politely and uttering occasional one syllable words, you know, the whole active listening bit.

All of a sudden he turns to me and goes on a rant about the three types of premed students he sees at interviews: the ones who genuinely like the "mundane like of a GP", those who pretned to genuinely like the life as a GP, and those who just want to be doctors after having some sort of enlightening experience as an 8 year old in the backyard with frog guts. He then asks me which one I am.

I say I'm a hybrid of the first and third premed, to which he responds, "I don't believe you. You're entire application lacks passion for any aspect of a career in medicine. I spent last night reading your file and only saw a misplaced sense of compassion for terminally ill patients."

2 weeks later I got accepted.

lol, I'm sure some people would cry if an interviewer said that about their application.

 

[jckut10]

.

 

[redrower]

Dude, that's the BEST interview experience. I have yet to see anybody getting grilled like that and NOT get accepted, unless the person just breaks down or something. I think interviewers do this only when they're pretty much sure they're gonna accept you, and the only thing left is to make sure that you can handle trying situations.

it was at Miami 😛

 

[ilovefishing]

I had bronchitis and everytime the interviewer asked a question I went into long coughing fits and gave one sentence responses. The interview was supposed to be 30 minutes, but after 5min he got up, made his closing remarks and tried to shake me hand. I reached my hand out then pulled back quickly stating that I coughed on that hand and didn't want to give him germs. He gave me a strange look and a pat on the shoulder, then walked away.

The next day I got a phone call saying they wanted me! 👍

 

[Catalystik]

Interviewer started off by explaining to me how difficult the program was and how driven and motivated students in this program needed to be to succeed. This went on for about 10 minutes with me simply nodding politely and uttering occasional one syllable words, you know, the whole active listening bit.

All of a sudden he turns to me and goes on a rant about the three types of premed students he sees at interviews: the ones who genuinely like the "mundane like of a GP", those who pretned to genuinely like the life as a GP, and those who just want to be doctors after having some sort of enlightening experience as an 8 year old in the backyard with frog guts. He then asks me which one I am.

I say I'm a hybrid of the first and third premed, to which he responds, "I don't believe you. You're entire application lacks passion for any aspect of a career in medicine. I spent last night reading your file and only saw a misplaced sense of compassion for terminally ill patients."

2 weeks later I got accepted.

Sounds to me like a classic "stress interview" where the purpose is to fluster you or get you on the defensive. There was no right or wrong answer, the important point was that you kept your cool, and didn't argue or lose your temper.

I didn't use my frog guts experience in my PS, but you've got me wondering if this is such a common inclusion in PSs that it's a cliche for interviewers.

 

[redrower]

Sounds to me like a classic "stress interview" where the purpose is to fluster you or get you on the defensive. There was no right or wrong answer, the important point was that you kept your cool, and didn't argue or lose your temper.

i love how they were the one school that insisted they didnt conduct stress interviews. it just goes to show that regardless of what other interviewees say or what the admissions staff tell you, stress interviews are a definite possibility

 

[ahmcadams]

As was mentioned above, short of a horrendous interview, there's really no telling exactly how well things went in the eyes of your evaluator. A really smooth interview where you think you gave good answers without any verbal missteps might have simply been one where the interviewer didn't ask enough meaningful questions to really make you think (and thus, afterward, didn't have that much to really write about in your evaluation). Likewise, a tricky interview might have just involved some difficult questions that you maneuvered through well overall.

I interview very polished speakers who I find extremely bland and some nervous kids who stumble a few times - and thus probably leave the room thinking things went terribly - who really impress me. So don't stress about a 'bad' interview.

 

[HristosKaran]

As was mentioned above, short of a horrendous interview, there's really no telling exactly how well things went in the eyes of your evaluator. A really smooth interview where you think you gave good answers without any verbal missteps might have simply been one where the interviewer didn't ask enough meaningful questions to really make you think (and thus, afterward, didn't have that much to really write about in your evaluation). Likewise, a tricky interview might have just involved some difficult questions that you maneuvered through well overall.

I interview very polished speakers who I find extremely bland and some nervous kids who stumble a few times - and thus probably leave the room thinking things went terribly - who really impress me. So don't stress about a 'bad' interview.

^^

That is a very meaningful post and makes me feel tons better about my last interview..its nice to hear that things don't have to go perfectly in order to obtain someone's respect!

 

[teenmachinery1]

Sounds to me like a classic "stress interview" where the purpose is to fluster you or get you on the defensive. There was no right or wrong answer, the important point was that you kept your cool, and didn't argue or lose your temper.

I didn't use my frog guts experience in my PS, but you've got me wondering if this is such a common inclusion in PSs that it's a cliche for interviewers.

I know you shouldn't get defensive or argue but perhaps you should disagree and give a reason why.

for example:

"well, in this part of my app perhaps i demonstrated a passion for blah blah blah.."

but say this cooly and calmly, and dispassionately. ??

you shouldn't just roll over and say yeah i smell funny, right?

 

[SteinUmStein]

Northwestern, but it was the group interview that was so-so, just an awkward kind of feeling from the interviewers. My individual interview afterward went fine, and I got accepted shortly thereafter.

I think for you'd have to do pretty bad in all interviews at a school for that to be the only reason you were rejected. If you're borderline, I think a solid interview plays a bigger role in pushing you into the accepted pile.

 

[Hifey]

All my interviews where my interviewer grilled me, I got accepted right away. The more conversational interviews led to waitlists. I didn't argue, but if I disagreed, I stated that I did disagree and the reason I did. However, after both interviews, the interviewer became really nice and chill all of a sudden and in one instance we discussed mythology briefly on the way back to the admin office and the other one gave me his card and told me to call or email him if I had any questions.

It's possible for sure. And I feel these are the kind of interviews that make you really stand out based on your reaction.

Oh, and both interviews really had nothing to do with my application for the most part. One went on about his own experiences and grilled me about why I want to go to that school. The other one kind of ranted about how when teachers spend a days preparing a presentation to have only three students show up and and one sleeping in the back. He asked me what I would do or think of these situations.

If you can keep your cool, you'll probably be ok 🙂

 

[JJMrK]

You never know how an interview really went. You don't know if the interviewer is going to remember that one stupid thing you said or is going to dwell on the one brilliant thing you said.

I felt like the interviews that ended up with acceptances were pretty middle-of-the-road for me. I had other interviews where I really knocked the interview out of the ballpark, and at those schools I also had competitive GPA/MCAT and some fairly unique ECs, but they didn't accept me (got waitlisted). You never know how it's going to end up. Just do as well as you can.

I'd agree with that. The only interviews I've had that I'd really call bad are when the interviewer is really weird.