Bad interview. Help!

[krodriguez]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone else who has since been accepted had a bad interview. I don't think I did a very good job at mine and I have been told we won't hear back until mid-March, so I'm just trying to gauge my chances. Is the interview just a piece of the puzzle? Or if you got an interview does that mean they liked your application and you will get only in if you do great at your interview? Any advice you could give would be really helpful!
Thanks,
Katie

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[cyrille104]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone else who has since been accepted had a bad interview. I don't think I did a very good job at mine and I have been told we won't hear back until mid-March, so I'm just trying to gauge my chances. Is the interview just a piece of the puzzle? Or if you got an interview does that mean they liked your application and you will get only in if you do great at your interview? Any advice you could give would be really helpful!
Thanks,
Katie

Don't feel bad, no one can have great interviews all the time. It really depends on exactly how bad it was...but in general, you should probably start to consider your other options. Because the applicant pool is so competitive, it is unlikely that they will admit anyone who did not perform well on the interview, even if it is just a piece of the puzzle. Sorry

 

[ri23]

Don't give up hope. If you are anything like me you are probably just being hard on yourself. Why did you think the interview went so poorly? In my interview there were a couple of questions that I wasn't sure of, and some that I was really confident about. I felt like an idiot when I left the interview because I had to answer "I don't know" on a couple of things, so I wasn't really confident about my performance. The good must have outweighed the bad though because I got in!

Do you have any other interviews coming up?

 

[winterfire1203]

Just because you felt it was bad doesn't mean it was. The stress will make it feel terrible usually! I did a mock interview before this one and thought I did terribly. When I checked back with my advisor about how I'd done I got glowing reviews somewhere along the line of "best vet applicant interview ever!" So, don't count your pony out of the race yet! And if you did do badly, most schools will advise you on what to improve on and you have a year to practice and get even better.

 

[RTHA06]

An interview is really a glimpse at your personality and to gauge if you can handle thinking "on your feet". Some of the best vets and vet students I know had horrible interviews. It really depends on your whole package and it is impossible to tell their take on your performance sometimes. Just keep a positive attitude and focus worry towards things you can do something about. I know it is difficult, but try not to make yourself crazy, schools are all so different adn you made it that far!!!!

 

[krodriguez]

I guess it wasn't horrible, I just don't think I made myself stand out. I just think I had really generic answers for a lot of the questions. One that freaked me out was, do you think you will be at a disadvantage because you have no clinical experience? This was because all of my animal experience is with lab animals or volunteering at shelters/zoos but not working with any vets in clinical practices. I know it makes sense they asked about this, since they generally ask you about the weakest part of your application, and that is definitely mine. I just said that I thought perhaps it might be a disadvantage, but I also have the advantage having done more benchtop research than some of my classmates. I just said that we are all going into vet school with different experiences so we would all be at a disadvantage at something. I'm not sure if this was what they were looking for but I couldn't think of anything else to say to make up for this. I think the main reason I felt like it didn't go well is because they didn't respond much to my answers. They would ask a question and then nod with no expression when I was answering.... Oh well I guess I will find out soon (although it seems like forever to wait) This was my only interview so unfortunately all of my eggs are in this one basket. Thanks for all of the advice!

 

[RazorDoc2010]

Where was your interview? Perhaps one of us knows how heavily it will we weighted...for instance, at LSU, interviews aren't weighted that heavily compared to academics and such.

 

[Cheska]

I just said that we are all going into vet school with different experiences so we would all be at a disadvantage at something.

That is an excellent point!!! It is Very True!

The main thing you want to do in an interview is turn any of your weaknesses into strengths. To go along with your point- you definitely have strengths that somebody with a million hours of clinical experience does not have! Everybody has something special to contribute to a vet school class.

Think about it- you made it to the interview , they saw something in your application that they liked enough to invite you... Don't be too hard on yourself, it is an even higher stress situation when it is your one and only school, just try to think about the good parts of the interview. There isn't much you can do now until the letter/phone call comes.

And with the interviewers being quiet- sometimes they are, they may just want to see how you do in a higher stress situation. There are plenty of times in clinical medicine when a client won't give you much of a response.
Good luck with the results!

 

[krodriguez]

Where was your interview? Perhaps one of us knows how heavily it will we weighted...for instance, at LSU, interviews aren't weighted that heavily compared to academics and such.

My interview was at Tufts. Does anyone know how heavily they weigh the interview there?

 

[soxbox]

So some insider info from working at Tufts for the last few years and talking with various vets who served or are serving on the admissions committee...basically how it works is that everyone is put into a giant spreadsheet based first on grades/GREs... this is how they make the initial "cut"... so its pretty much straight forward a numbers game... then they "score" your experience, recommendations, and personal statement to help get down to the 240 they interview... then your interview score gets put in... if you were a strong candidate to begin with, you would basically have to completely screw up your interview (ie: not speak or give absolutely ridiculous answers) to knock you out of the competition. The interviews are given scores that go into this spreadsheet... I am not sure where the cutoff is, but the top x number in this final spreadsheet are automatically in... then the last x amount (lets just say from numbers 60-100.. so some within the top 80 and then the next closest amount) are discussed amongst the different interviewers and admissions committee... Then a final order is made including waitlisters... they meet for about 1-2 weeks after interviews to finalize their list... Oh yeah, and of course then your residency comes into play somehow into that whole thing as well... 50% of the class must be from MA...


So yes your interview matters if you were in the bottom percent of that spreadsheet but its overall just a small portion of everything they look at. If you had a strong application before the interview, dont worry!!! I hope this helps a bit

 

[Pennymare]

I just said that we are all going into vet school with different experiences so we would all be at a disadvantage at something.

I agree that that sounds like a very good response! I think the majority of interviewee's will say that they said 'I don't know' or botched a question or two. I know I did, and some how they still liked me . I wasn't there with you to know how you performed, but I think that you should stay strong and not give up. This interview was practice; you will be sure to rock next time! (Or perhaps you did pretty good! and the jitters are getting to ya)