Does anyone else think IT DOES matter who you interview with?

[gsmithers68]

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So I've been thinking a lot lately about my interviews over the past cycle and I got to thinking.... DOES it matter who you interview with? They say a M4 has the same voting power as the dean of admissions... but honestly... if a M4 is presenting your file and then the dean of admissions presents another students file with similar credentials... whose word is held in higher esteem?

Does anyone else think there might be a conspiracy between interviewer and interviewee matches? Could more competitive applicants be chosen to be interviewed by people with more say than others?

Maybe those little hobgoblins sitting on my ears telling me lies again. Hm... I can never tell anymore.... Damn it let be over already so I can stop caring about this process ahhhhh!

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I'm sure there is some politics involved in the sense that if you get interviewed by a big shot Dean and he says "we have to accept this kid, he's going to be someone we'll be proud of" its going to be an advantage. However, I think that adcoms try to keep things as fair as possible.

 

[arnee005]

I have thought about the same thing...at one of my interviews, I had an MSII interview me!

 

[DrVanNostran]

I think it makes a huge difference. As much as they try, people will incorporate there Biases whether it be positive or negative.

 

[gary5]

It does make a difference. That's why, hopefully, you interview at more than one school. I had interviews with two males and we got along OK, but didn't really click - waitlisted. I then had interviews with two females who were more friendly and enjoyable to talk to - accepted. That's also why they have you interview with more than one person, so it is not all dependent on one person-to-person interaction. I think they should also have one of each gender.

 

[Haemulon]

I really believe that it can matter. But I do not think that there is any conspiracy in matching up certain applicants with certain interviewers. Just the luck of the draw whether or not you get an interviewer that you really click with or not. Different interviewers have different interests and may be more or less impressed with different aspects of your application.

 

[JohnMadden]

I think it also depends on the process.

At one particular school, your faculty interviewer is the one who presents your whole application to the committee. This person represents you and has to persuade the committee on why they should accept you. If you get someone who is well-established on the committee, you would definitely have a better shot...

 

[Critical Mass]

I don't really think that it matters that much. With so many applications and interviews per school, my view is that they all use some type of quantitative indicator for each aspect of the application.

 

[crimsonkid85]

So I've been thinking a lot lately about my interviews over the past cycle and I got to thinking.... DOES it matter who you interview with? They say a M4 has the same voting power as the dean of admissions... but honestly... if a M4 is presenting your file and then the dean of admissions presents another students file with similar credentials... whose word is held in higher esteem?

Does anyone else think there might be a conspiracy between interviewer and interviewee matches? Could more competitive applicants be chosen to be interviewed by people with more say than others?

Maybe those little hobgoblins sitting on my ears telling me lies again. Hm... I can never tell anymore.... Damn it let be over already so I can stop caring about this process ahhhhh!

yea i've sometimes thought about this too...i mean, they even if they SAY it's equal, i can just imagine that a glare from the Dean of Admissions or somebody would shut the MS3-4 up. 😀

besides, i know at one school your application has to go through TWO selection committees. MS3-4's only sit and vote on the lower committee. the GOD committee, as many call it, is populated only by faculty. guess who sits on BOTH commitee's? the same faculty who do the interviewing! *tear*

 

[Homer Simpson]

Of course it matters, but chances are you get some interviewers that you click with and some that you do not. You get into some schools and not others. I don't think the schools purposely assign particular interviewers to particular students.

 

[Yehosh]

You don't even know how much.

I had an interview at the University of Toronto last sunday (they do them weekends) and the 2 people that interviewed me (it was a 2 on 1) grilled like no other interview I've had. When I left, the interviewee coming out of the room next to me told me that their interviewers were relaxed and they just had a nice and easy conversation.

I got asked (at least) 5 ethics questions, tough ones.

I was stumped intentionally by the Faculty member, and at some point he even asked me something like

"I can see from your research experience that you are intersted in Biocomputing, as you may well know, the resources required for it are very expensive, mayve you should consider applying to school elsewhere, liek Harvard, where they get more funding for such research"

At first I was thinking like WTF??? he is trying to convince me to go elsewhere?

but then I caught on, he was testing how committed I am to UFT. So I answered something like, "on the contrary, I'd make the effort to start a Canadian chapter for biocomputing and work hard to get government grants, since I see so much potential for this area of medical research..." and for the record, UFT is only second to Harvard in # of publications per year, they have the resources. He was just testing me.

But really, I felt like I was getting grilled from both directions. They (the student and Fac member) were both really nice individuals, but they asked tough question. I think my interview may have gone better in the other room.

I've had interviews at some top schools in the US, and this interview was by far the hardest.

So yeah, IT REALLY MATTERS WHO YOU INTERVIEW WITH!!!

That said, for all I know I may have answered well and made a good impression, who knows...

 

[ExKitty Doctor]

I think it definetly matters, and just adds on to the randomness factor in med school admissions.

Just can't wait for it to be over.

 

[pasta man]

Who you interview with definitely matters, even on just the very basic level of whether your personalities are compatible. I don't think there is a conspiracy, just random chance - life is many things, but being fair is not one of them.

 

[Law2Doc]

Who you interview with definitely matters, even on just the very basic level of whether your personalities are compatible. I don't think there is a conspiracy, just random chance - life is many things, but being fair is not one of them.

I personally always felt that I was being looked at more seriously as an applicant when they paired me up with a dean or department chair rather than a med student. We used to do that in law firm hiring interviews -- pair the more desirable applicants with big shot partners, and the more borderline folks with young associates. But I have no idea if that notion is borne out in reality.

 

[xylem29]

So I've been thinking a lot lately about my interviews over the past cycle and I got to thinking.... DOES it matter who you interview with? They say a M4 has the same voting power as the dean of admissions... but honestly... if a M4 is presenting your file and then the dean of admissions presents another students file with similar credentials... whose word is held in higher esteem?

Does anyone else think there might be a conspiracy between interviewer and interviewee matches? Could more competitive applicants be chosen to be interviewed by people with more say than others?

Maybe those little hobgoblins sitting on my ears telling me lies again. Hm... I can never tell anymore.... Damn it let be over already so I can stop caring about this process ahhhhh!

Of course it matters - can there really be a universal set of attributes that schools are looking for in an applicant? Are they selecting for a class of homogenuous students or a diverse class? And by homogenous/diverse I'm talking about personality, polictical views, etc.

I think that it is highly likely that different people will have different opinions about you - some may appreciate your accomplishments, views, demeanor, etc more while others might not. This is called bias - subtle or overt, and a new interviewing method called MMI was introduced to eliminate these biases.

 

[maestro1625]

well yeah it matters... If your interviewer is just plain odd it doesn't really help your case...