Funny/Embarrassing Stories about the Application Process

One time before an interview I got a little crazy and snorted pixie stix to try to calm the nerves. It actually didn't calm my nerves down at all and I ended up having to do an "uh-oh" number 2 really bad during the interview.

 

you sure it wasn't the coffee?

 

i, too, tripped on an uneven sidewalk and fell flat on my face going to my mcat diagnostic for kaplan. i showed up at the kaplan center with torn jeans, a bloody knee, scraped hands and a reddened nose. i actually scraped my knee so much that i could see fat, and i still have a scar. it's my lovely mcat scar. man, that hurt. needless to say, i felt like everyone in my kaplan class thought i was a total basket case. good think i don't believe in omens because that's a bad start.

 

I have an MCAT dent in my car. On the way back from the test, I was so exhausted and out of it that I ran into a pole and smashed one of my headlights in. Driving after an MCAT was worse than driving drunk...Don't MCAT and drive!

 

ok try eating it as i was walking down the steps of the auditorium to turn in a diag...in front of all the princeton review students from my city


wooops.

 

At my Baylor interview, right after the first interview and about a half hour prior to the second, I got the worst case of nausea that I've ever had without actually finally throwing up. I was sweating, totally distracted, and miserable. I took the tour, but my main memories were the really cool student lounge, the huge auditorium like classroom, and the door to the anatomy lab... ah, the anatomy lab, where wafts of formalin were threatening to make me finally release my iron hold on my cardiac sphincter. Despite the impression I wanted to make, I fell asleep in the auditorium where we were all hanging out between interviews. When asked, I confessed my condition to the student in charge of the student part of the interview day.

That was my first interview by a student. I wasn't sure whether to tell him how I felt or not, so I didn't. I almost did, because I kept thinking I might have to bolt to find a bathroom or even to puke in the trashcan if the urge came on strong enough. I don't even remember what I said and they still haven't called me.

After the interview, I left. I couldn't stay, no matter that I had been looking forward to the social at Two Rows for weeks. I went to my hotel, laid down, and was miserable for about three hours. Then I was perfectly fine. I still don't know what happened.

 

During the MCAT lunch break I was driving myself and friends down the block to get lunch and almost got into a car accident! (how awful... we wouldn't have even gotten to finish, friends would have killed me) but it's worse than having a blood alcohol level of like... 10.... not .10 , just 10.
Crazy.

 

Sounds like food poisoning to me.

 

I thought it was, but I've had suspected cases before and I was sick for a long time. Anyway, it was miserable timing.

 

Similar story. The night before my interview I had these terrible abdominal cramps and was up with diarrhea the entire night. So I woke up the next morning looking like hell and feeling even worse because I was already stressed out and hadn't gotten any sleep. I was so paranoid I'd be running to the bathroom multiple times during my interview that I didn't eat anything all day. However, I did learn that Peptol Bismol can cure anything.

 

I was interviewing in Chicago this week when they got several inches of snow. Heels + snow don't really work together. So, yes, I definitely took a dive during our tour and wiped out in the lobby of one of the buildings. It wouldn't have been too bad b/c I was toward the back of the group, but I blurted out a loud "whoa" when I fell, so that everyone turned and looked at me.

 

I had a similar situation. Who told me to eat prunes just for fun, the night before I had to leave for my interview. I woke up with such a bad tummy ache. I was at the airport drinking pepto bismol straight from the bottle.

 

On my way to my interview at the University of Rochester, the train I was taking got delayed - I was supposed to get into Rochester at 10:30 pm and didn't get in until 12:30 am. Plus, when we got our connecting train, they didn't have enough regular seats, so they made everyone going to Rochester sit in the dining car! By the time I got to my host's house and we talked a little bit it was pretty late, and I've always had a hard time falling asleep, so I barely slept that night. To top it all off, I had to be at admissions by 8 am, and we had to drive there, so we had to leave by like 7:30. After waking up exhausted, I went to put on my suit and found out that my skirt was missing! I had had it in an Anne Taylor bag with the bottom tied, but apparently the hanger that the skirt was on had come loose from the other hanger and fell out. I vaguely remember retying the bottom of the bag, but it didn't occur to me to check and make sure the skirt was still there. Anyway, I had had such a rotten night that I wasn't even surprised. I was totally prepared to wear khaki pants with my suit coat, but luckily my student host was really really sweet and let me borrow the skirt to her suit. It didn't completely match, but it was close enough that I didn't feel like a complete idiot (although who knows what my interviewers thought). The day ended up going ok, but I was so tired the whole time, and I spent a lot of my free time calling Amtrak and trying to figure out if anyone found my skirt. Then, to top it all off, my train the next day was also delayed, so I had to call out of work b/c I wasn't going to make it in on time. My skirt was never found, I got waitlisted at Rochester, and I'm definitely never taking Amtrak again.

 

Yes, I would like to advise other applicants NOT to eat chilli the night before an interview. 'nuff said.

 

when i went to my interview at VCU, it was that time of the month...of COURSE the heaviest day. that, coupled with the fact that i was diuresing a great deal made me have to run to the bathroom several times that day. now those of you who have interviewed there will know that there is ONE bathroom with ONE stall in the admissions hall. i had to pee so badly that i frantically pulled my ann taylor pants down instead of having to undo all the inside buttons, clasps, etc. i heard a little rip, and i ripped the sides of the waistband. it wasn't visible, but i was extremely paranoid that day that the rip was somewhere visible. that would have sucked tremendously. thank god i don't have to interview anymore.

 

At WashU, I too fell flat on my face. I also had heels but did not have the snow as an excuse because we were inside...In addition it was in October.

Anyway, the funny thing was that the other 5 ppl in my tour group all immediately tried to help me up and ending up awkwardly bumping into one another. I find it hilarious how everyone tries to be so polite during interview day. I mean, I guess it makes sense because we all want to make a good impression on anyone who could possibly be involved with the process, but I still find it comical.

 

Yeah, the whole polite thing was on overkill at my interview last week. Me and three other interviewees were walkinig side by side through the ER and we hit a narrow passageway right before the exit door. Everyone just stopped... for like 5 freakin seconds... it was one of the most intense moments of my interview day. I guess everybody was thinking "If I go first, my extreme rudeness would be looked down upon by the adcom official watching us from some hidden camera set up right at this passageway. Yep, definitely a test." Well, after our tour guide was damn near out the door and leaving us behind, I decided to take some initiative and walk first through the narrow hall... my fellow interviewees fell in line behind me like a gaggle of baby geese. Very comical indeed

 

It's probably not THAT funny to anyone else, but here goes...

After my interview I was trying to make my way out of the hospital and took a wrong turn. Not wanting to backtrack and potentially look stupid passing the admissions office (again) I continued in the wrong direction, thinking it would eventually intersect with the main thoroughfare. Instead, the hallway I was following started to look more and more like a maze. The longer I walked, the less I wanted to turn back and retrace my steps. Eventually, on either side of me were exam rooms and lots of signs that said "Patients in treatment, do not enter." Now I felt EXTRA committed to staying my course and getting out of there as quickly as possible. Double doors lay just ahead. I quickened my pace and burst through the doors to enter a waiting room-- full of young girls and BABIES. I turned around to look at the sign on the door and it said: "Young Mother Clinic."

EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, that's only funny to me because I'm a chick: a full-on, business-type chick who doesn't get charmed by babies. My whole agenda for that interview-day was to sell myself as a mature, responsible, effective leader. *Apologies* but I don't think that pregnant 13 year olds are the epitome of maturity and responsibility, so to accidentally come bursting out of THAT clinic of all clinics seemed a bit funny.

It would be even funnier if I bumped into the admissions dean on the other side of the doors. What are you doing in THERE, applicant?

Okay, sorry that was dumb...

 

Different customs due to different parts of the country?

 

I've had the opposite experience, actually. But maybe that's because I'm female AND older.