Dispelling one premed myth

[parserfan]

Myth: You must ask a question at the end of your med school interview.

What a joke. Don't be a kissass. Don't put on a front. Don't try to fake your interest. If you have an actual good question about the school, you will more than likely find it on the website for the school. If you don't, then don't force yourself to come up with a question. I swear I heard this so many times as advice for interview.

I went through 4 interviews and never asked ONE question. When they said "do you have any questions for me?" I said simply, no I have no questions. Accepted to 3 of those MD schools, waitlisted at the last one. Which, when I emailed them and asked for a critique, they named my interview as one of the STRONG points of my application. (The weak ones, if you care, were "leadership ability and volunteer service").

So don't be disingenuous, don't be a kissass. Let's get this myth out of everyone's head.

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[sullen-burger]

You should still ask questions.

This myth-busting thread receives 1 out of 5 sullen-burgers

 

[darkjedi]

I did applicant interviews and I can definitely say that it doesn't reflect great on an interviewer if you had zero questions at the end of the interview. Even if you don't have any questions about the school, ideally you would have connected with the interviewer enough to at least ask a question about them personally. To me not having any questions just strikes me as disinterest.

Plus there's also some evidence that shows the more the interviewer talks during the interview, the more they tend to rate the interview more favorably.

 

[ciucia53]

I had a few interviews where they went into so much detail during the info sessions that any of the questions I had prepared were already answered (and tbh most were already answered prior to the day of my interview because I researched schools like crazy). But I always at least asked the interviewer what brought them to the school, and I definitely got some interesting answers and even some that changed my opinion of the school!

 

[gyngyn]

An interchange that generates no questions at all, either has a very poor interviewer or a dis-interested interviewee.
Although a prepared "question" is always a good idea (in case of a weak interviewer), a more interesting question springs naturally from the conversation.

 

[Goro]

Because an n=1 is applicable to everyone!

Myth: You must ask a question at the end of your med school interview.

What a joke. Don't be a kissass. Don't put on a front. Don't try to fake your interest. If you have an actual good question about the school, you will more than likely find it on the website for the school. If you don't, then don't force yourself to come up with a question. I swear I heard this so many times as advice for interview.

I went through 4 interviews and never asked ONE question. When they said "do you have any questions for me?" I said simply, no I have no questions. Accepted to 3 of those MD schools, waitlisted at the last one. Which, when I emailed them and asked for a critique, they named my interview as one of the STRONG points of my application. (The weak ones, if you care, were "leadership ability and volunteer service").

So don't be disingenuous, don't be a kissass. Let's get this myth out of everyone's head.

 

[parserfan]

Because an n=1 is applicable to everyone!

actually n=4

 

[deleted781806]

actually n=4

Someone doesn't remember their stats.

But yes, as above, not having *any* questions at the end of the interview is reflective of a poor interviewer or a poor interviewee, there should definitely have been some topic that piqued your interest in the interviewer that you can talk about. Definitely don't do too bad of a canned question that comes off as cliche, but there really shouldn't just be an awkward silence at the end when they ask if you have any questions. Besides, having a question to ask at the end can never possible hurt your chances, but *not* having one may.

 

[FindersFee5]

It doesn't always need to be a a question about the school. At the end of every one of my interviews, I asked "What would your #1 piece of advice be for an incoming medical student/somebody going into medicine?" I got lots of good advice, and it drew some of my more reticent interviewers out. People love giving advice.