Gauging the Interview

[DrHiner]

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What would you guys say are the top signs an interview went well?

I had an interview recently that I thought went really well and I'm try to stay positive...

-Interviewer gave me his business card and told me to "look him up if I got to their school"
-Interviewer gave me a CD of a lecture he'd attended and enjoyed.
-Interview was longer than normal 30 minutes
-Interviewer and I also chatted pleasantly about non-interview things like hope from doctors to patients + benefits of this, patient contact, what type of doctors he really admires, etc... all of this "off the record" as he said. We also shared stories about our parents' illness and how its hard to have a parent die when you're young.
-Interviewer seemed impressed by my "pretty GPA" (closed file interview but he asked and I told him)
-Interviewer smiled and laughed several times and was very pleasant with me, after grilling me a tiny bit at the beginning.
-I didn't ramble, but rather gave succinct, appropriate answers (my biggest goal for this interview because I had a problem with rambling last year )


What do you guys think? Also, how do you gauge if an interview went well?

 

[brooklynblunder]

if you think it went well, then it probably went well. that doesn't mean an acceptance at all. so don't try to gauge it after the 10 seconds following an interview. no need to reason out or justify being positive, just be.

at the end its still a committee decision looking over your whole app + interview + letters. but i'm happy that you enjoyed your interview and wish you the best of luck getting into the school!

 

[J ROD]

They seem to like you and want you there....

Because they will need to fight for you in the full committee! that's the only way you know if they like you.... if they fight with their rep on the line!

An acceptance will be the only way you can know without inside connections....

 

[JJMrK]

What would you guys say are the top signs an interview went well?

I had an interview recently that I thought went really well and I'm try to stay positive...

-Interviewer gave me his business card and told me to "look him up if I got to their school"
-Interviewer gave me a CD of a lecture he'd attended and enjoyed.
-Interview was longer than normal 30 minutes
-Interviewer and I also chatted pleasantly about non-interview things like hope from doctors to patients + benefits of this, patient contact, what type of doctors he really admires, etc... all of this "off the record" as he said. We also shared stories about our parents' illness and how its hard to have a parent die when you're young.
-Interviewer seemed impressed by my "pretty GPA" (closed file interview but he asked and I told him)
-Interviewer smiled and laughed several times and was very pleasant with me, after grilling me a tiny bit at the beginning.
-I didn't ramble, but rather gave succinct, appropriate answers (my biggest goal for this interview because I had a problem with rambling last year )


What do you guys think? Also, how do you gauge if an interview went well?

Sounds like it went well, but it's pretty hard to tell sometimes. Good luck.

 

[DrHiner]

Thanks for the responses 🙂 I really appreciate the feedback!

 

[OpalOnyx]

What would you guys say are the top signs an interview went well?

I had an interview recently that I thought went really well and I'm try to stay positive...

-Interviewer gave me his business card and told me to "look him up if I got to their school"
-Interviewer gave me a CD of a lecture he'd attended and enjoyed.
-Interview was longer than normal 30 minutes
-Interviewer and I also chatted pleasantly about non-interview things like hope from doctors to patients + benefits of this, patient contact, what type of doctors he really admires, etc... all of this "off the record" as he said. We also shared stories about our parents' illness and how its hard to have a parent die when you're young.
-Interviewer seemed impressed by my "pretty GPA" (closed file interview but he asked and I told him)
-Interviewer smiled and laughed several times and was very pleasant with me, after grilling me a tiny bit at the beginning.
-I didn't ramble, but rather gave succinct, appropriate answers (my biggest goal for this interview because I had a problem with rambling last year )


What do you guys think? Also, how do you gauge if an interview went well?

sounds like an awesome interviewer and regardless of the outcome, that particular interview probably went well and he likes you. I'd keep in touch regardless of whether you get into the school or not, might be a good networking opportunity.

 

[harvman11]

Do yourself a favor and don't think any more about it. Send a thank you note/email if you want, but after that don't think any more about the interviews, you'll drive yourself crazy if you try to analyze all of them like this.

 

[JmanDO]

All of my interviews thus far have been pleasant, with laughs and frank discussions about interesting social matters and even some where the person tells me about their work and gives me their card.

I'm happy about them but I've also heard that it's the toughest interviewers that give the best, glowing reviews on your behalf (given that you survived w/o failing miserably like becoming too scared to talk, jumbling or even crying). This sounds like it has a grain of truth to it.

 

[metallica81788]

Hate to break it to you, but it doesn't mean much. I'm sure if your interviewer was the only person voting on your file, you'd be golden.

I had (in my mind) a great interview that led to an outright rejection. Sometimes the interviewers don't ask the right questions to clear the committee's concerns about you.

But it sounds like it went really, really well for you - so good luck!

 

[honker]

There are way too many anecdotes from applicants who felt that they bombed the interview only to get an acceptance anyway. There are even more anecdotes from people who thought they nailed their interviews only to get rejected.
The bottom line is, you really don't know what they adcoms are looking for in terms of the interview process. Interviews do count for a lot at some schools and not very much at others. You need to keep in mind that your entire application is considered. The interview is a component, not the end all that a lot of people on SDN seem to think.