Do interviews work?

[geldrop]

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I wonder if its possible to determine if someone would make a good doctor after meeting them for 15-60 minutes? Also I'm not sure there is several characteristics or even one that is necessary to become a great doctor. Does a pathologist need the same characteristics as an internist? Or a doctor working in the military, or even an FDA doc that decides what meds are good or bad?

Are interviews ment to predict how well they do in medical school? Or if the interviewer think's they would make a good doctor? Sometimes I feel like its the former throughout some of my interviews.

UPDATED
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/research/bibliography/haray001.htm

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[merlin17]

Okay, I'll bite on this one.

I think that interviews do serve their purpose to an extent. I have met a number of people at my interviews that within 30 seconds you could tell would not be pleasant to study with. This could be because they are extremely antisocial, disrespectful, arrogant...you name it. Particularly if a school uses PBL and small group learning, the personalities of your students are extremely important. Med schools want dynamic and interesting people in their classes so that small group sessions can thrive. I know you might counter-argue that only knowing someone for an hour is not enough time to decide this, but it seems to me to be just like a last test. Can you keep your nerves together enough to present yourself well in a stressful situation? Do you make a good impression? Even if you are going to be a pathologist you need to interact with your other collegues.

Obviously, the interview isn't perfect. But I would be a lot more confident accepting a student if I was an adcom after meeting him than I would be after only reading about the student on paper.

 

[xaelia]

According to some old research, the answer is: kind of.

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/research/bibliography/elamc001.htm
"The results indicated that admission interview ratings were modestly predictive of medical school performances as measured by the GPAs in basic science (years one and two) and the GPAs in clinical science (years three and four)."

 

[Moskeeto]

I haven't been to too many interviews, but I've been told a couple times that they're pretty much there to find out if you're a psychopath or not. I guess that hurts me in the long run.

 

[Zoobaby]

Originally posted by Moskeeto
I haven't been to too many interviews, but I've been told a couple times that they're pretty much there to find out if you're a psychopath or not. I guess that hurts me in the long run.

Yeah, I've been told that a couple of times. Unfortunately, sooo many psychopaths are capable of hiding it for 30 minutes... Oh well, we've gotta have something I guess.

 

[spanky]

Other than the obvious things of just seeing how you present yourself at the interview, I think the most important question that was asked of me at every interview was what one thing could they convey about me to the admissions commitee to help them make a decision. This is your opportunity to convey why you are unique and how you could be an asset to their school. Be prepared and have a well thought out response, because this is your opportunity to sparkle and relay your personal charactersitics that can't be seen on a piece of paper.

 

[lola]

Originally posted by Moskeeto
I haven't been to too many interviews, but I've been told a couple times that they're pretty much there to find out if you're a psychopath or not. I guess that hurts me in the long run.

apparently i'm a psychopath b/c i just got rejected post-interview by uvm 🙁 the first school i've heard back from 🙁

 

[Moskeeto]

😱 aargh, thats terrible news lola 🙁 you know i didn't mean to imply that anyone who gets a rejection is a psychopath. Its their lose tho right. thats such a bummer, but try not to let it get you down theres more schools out there.

 

[Medical123]

Originally posted by lola
apparently i'm a psychopath b/c i just got rejected post-interview by uvm 🙁 the first school i've heard back from 🙁

I'm sorry Lola! However, you have several interviews! I'm sure that you will get in somewhere else!

 

[lola]

no worries, moskeeto 🙂

as for whether or not interviews work... i think it's hard to say. i mean, i'm sure they weed out some people who completely lack social skills. other than that i don't know. i also think it depends on who interviews you. sometimes you really click with a person and sometimes you don't. whether or not you click with them may not have any relationship to whether or not you'd be a good doctor.

 

[scootad.]

Im gonna stick my nose out and say that the interview does not work very well. In my experience, the people who interview well are the ones who really stand out from the crowd. These tend to be the people who are a little too confident bordering on arrogant and cocky. Unfortunately, med school interviews select for arrogant pricks which is why most people complain about doctors being asssholes and thinking they are G-d.

If you think about it, the really good humble people get overlooked during interviews. You only have ~30 minutes to impress and these people aren't comfortable doing that. Its human nature to be attracted to confidence and adcoms fall into the trap of accepting narcissistic people who belong in hollywood not in med school.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Originally posted by scootad.
Im gonna stick my nose out and say that the interview does not work very well. In my experience, the people who interview well are the ones who really stand out from the crowd. These tend to be the people who are a little too confident bordering on arrogant and cocky. Unfortunately, med school interviews select for arrogant pricks which is why most people complain about doctors being asssholes and thinking they are G-d.

If you think about it, the really good humble people get overlooked during interviews. You only have ~30 minutes to impress and these people aren't comfortable doing that. Its human nature to be attracted to confidence and adcoms fall into the trap of accepting narcissistic people who belong in hollywood not in med school.

What a load of crap. This is pretty half-baked. Having people skills does not mean you are arrogant or cocky. Being able to show an interviewer why you are right for the position is a skill grown-ups need to get jobs.

 

[periodista]

Just about any job I can think of requires an interview. Think of the med school interview as a job interview.

Having said that, a lot depends on whom you get for the interview. I've been to two interviews within a matter of weeks where one person thought I was dog poop and the other thought I was great. It's all in the luck of the draw.

 

[UCLAMAN]

I think interviews are a good way to weed out the socially inept, the psychopaths, etc. However, the majority of people I have met at interviews are all great people. I think that it is a game of luck. If you get questions that you have prepared for or have had experience with you will rock. If you really like the school the interview is a great place to express that. If your interviewer doesn't have any weird quirks that make it seem like they do not like you, then you will be put at ease and may be able to give better answers. There is definitely some luck involved.

I think the bottom line is that there are just too many great well qualified applicants that inevitably have to get cut.

So Lola...it ain't over til its over...I'm sure you will get in somewhere. You definitely aren't a psychopath.

 

[Street Philosopher]

Yes it worked for me. I only got into the schools I interviewed at. Therefore, the interview works. 😛

 

[buglady]

Originally posted by lola
apparently i'm a psychopath b/c i just got rejected post-interview by uvm 🙁 the first school i've heard back from 🙁

ooooh lola! 🙁 My heart dropped when I saw your UVM news. I did not get any mail from them today. My goodness, I'm very sorry to hear that.

Well, your UCI interview is coming up and perhaps UCD will be knocking at your door soon.

PM if you want to rant and rave and swear....😡 🙁

 

[canadagirl]

Just like any other part of the admissions process, interviewing _kinda_ works. I'm certain there are tons of excellent applicants out there who juts suck at interviewing, though...

 

[HouseHead]

As a non-trad second-timer in the application process, there are a couple things I've noticed. First, that no matter how much experience you have on paper, many interviewers want to see if you know what you're getting yourself into. That's where many of the healthcare issue (not necessarily ethics) questions come into play- do you anything about what the pressing concerns in medicine are? When I interviewed last year (3 interviews), I hadn't done nearly as much research on those and on ethical issues, and I got reamed for it. This year, I was *tight* on all those issues, and spoke with an authority that made my interviewers believe I knew what I was talking about. For those questions that are really broad- how do we fix our healthcare system- I came out and said I didn't know a single answer, but I would start by... (fill in the blank)

In the 7 interviews I've had thus far this year, all my interviewers seemed to really like me, and liked the fact that I'm non-trad. Many of them had long, real conversations with me. I'll bet that some of them would have spent a lot of time testing how mature a younger applicant was, which actually seems reasonable to me considering how young many applicants *are*. Again, no matter what you've done on paper, you can be incredibly immature (even when you're older, although I'll bet that's less common among med school hopefuls than, say, career strippers) and sheltered, and that doesn't take long to see in an interview.

Enthusiasm is another thing that comes across in an interview. Enthusiasm for the profession, the issues, and the specific school are all important. I would argue that you need *energy* to excel as a doctor. So that's important- although my gregarious facade covers the fact that I sleep a lot 😉 And enthusiasm for a school, particularly a school with significantly lower averages than your stats, helps convince them that they aren't just a back up.