First Interview - Few Questions!

[Haybrant]

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Hi,
I have my first interview comming up in a few days; Im curious if there is a posting anywhere that lists good questions to ask interviewers? Also, what specialty do each of the people you will talk to at the interview have: like should you ask curriculum questions to your interviewer or only the the students? Questions about financing, city life etc...
Should one assume in the 30 min or so interview that the interviewer knows precisely what they want and ask questions to get that from you or do you need to make an effort to steer the interview somewhat and get out what you want to say. How to answer the 'is there anything else you want the adcom to know?' question.
What if you blank/dont have an answer for a particular question (i.e the biggest mistake you made), one of the questions that you prob should have an answer for unless you are living in a bubble. How do you get around that?
Also, kinda random but do you keep the suit buttoned during the interview or open it up? Just curious what is standard ettiquite.
Thanks!

 

[Haybrant]

anybody, anything?

 

[sunUCB]

i ask "what brought you to this school" and stuff like that, to get a feel for why they chose to teach there over other places. i've also asked if they saw any weaknesses with the school.

you might ask about curriculum, but if it's a faculty member, i think you'd be better off not asking about student life and financial aid, etc.

i keep the suit buttoned. if they ask "do you want to take off the coat?" then feel free to, otherwise, unless it's really hot and you're sweating, i'd just leave it buttoned and on.

Hi,
I have my first interview comming up in a few days; Im curious if there is a posting anywhere that lists good questions to ask interviewers? Also, what specialty do each of the people you will talk to at the interview have: like should you ask curriculum questions to your interviewer or only the the students? Questions about financing, city life etc...
Should one assume in the 30 min or so interview that the interviewer knows precisely what they want and ask questions to get that from you or do you need to make an effort to steer the interview somewhat and get out what you want to say. How to answer the 'is there anything else you want the adcom to know?' question.
What if you blank/dont have an answer for a particular question (i.e the biggest mistake you made), one of the questions that you prob should have an answer for unless you are living in a bubble. How do you get around that?
Also, kinda random but do you keep the suit buttoned during the interview or open it up? Just curious what is standard ettiquite.
Thanks!

 

[sunUCB]

by the way, good luck! and relax🙂

 

[constructor]

prepare answers to "why do you want to be a doctor?" and "why this school?". other than that, just be yourself. if you're not going to treat it like just another fun conversation with a friend, the time will pass verrrry slowly and that's usually not good. don't worry about the suit, people don't notice or care. you're thinking way too much... just know what you're going to say for the two questions i mentioned and be prepared to talk about your ec's.

 

[aparecida]

It's better to try to steer the conversation than to sit and wait for questions, partly because it makes you look proactive and articulate, but mostly because that way you give them the answers to the common questions on your terms rather than on their terms -- if you wait for them to ask it, they may do it in a "hard question" kind of way.

Button your suit, or rather, the top (and middle, if you have one) button. The bottom one is left unbuttoned.

 

[vtucci]

Have you looked at the interview feedback on this site? They have some good questions.

Good luck!

 

[Mistress S]

I just wanted to congratulate you on your first interview Haybrant! I second looking at the interview feedback, it seems like it would be helpful (don't know for sure yet, still waiting on an interview 🙁 ). One thing: If you "blank" on a question, I think it is perfectly acceptable to say something like, "that's a really interesting question" or "let me think about that for a moment"--and then take a few seconds to formulate an answer. One thing I've seen a lot in interviewing people at my work is that they often feel like they have to jump in immediately with an answer, or they're nervous so they talk too much. It's perfectly okay to pause before answering a question and think about it, and you'll probably answer much more articulately then if you rush ahead and start talking just to fill the silence. Anyway, good luck! I'm sure you'll do great!

 

[lakersfan]

Good luck Hay! Our career center has this thing where I thinkt hey videotape you so you might want to try that out (I still dont have an interview until early December so while I haven't done it yet, I might check it out)..but yeah, good luck.

 

[sunUCB]

yeah cal's career center does group interviews that they videotape (i never did it) but they also have one-on-one mock interviews, non-videotaped, but they still help, i did one of those.

Good luck Hay! Our career center has this thing where I thinkt hey videotape you so you might want to try that out (I still dont have an interview until early December so while I haven't done it yet, I might check it out)..but yeah, good luck.

 

[lakersfan]

since we are letting it out that we are cal students (hehe), what did you think of the mock interview w/o tape (do they just ask you typical interview questions and then assess your ability to respond to the questions and give you pointers on things like eye contact, hand gestures, etc, etc, etc).

 

[tic112]

I did the mock interview (w/o tape). They give you feedback about everything-content of your answers and little behavioral things such as posture, hand gestures, eye contact, handshake, etc...
I thought it was helpful.