good interview?

[benjjang751]

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I just had my very first interview at my dream school.

I know there has been a lot of talk about post-interview impressions, but I wanted to know if my interview is actually a 'good' one.

Both of my interviewers were very friendly, and they were 'conversational' and relaxed from start to finish.
However, I think I talked about my goal and research for about 5 mins, and both of my interviewers were busy talking about their work and how great the school would fit my goal. It was 30mins interviews where they talked about 25mins.
Hmm... I thought it went well.. when I walked out of the room... but NOW I feel like I did not have time to talk about things that I wanted to say in the interview.

Maybe I am reading these threads about the acceptances too much... I am getting anxious...🙁🙁🙁👎

Sigh....

 

[fizzle]

It is impossible to tell from your description. Interviews are all about subjective impressions on areas such as initiative, passion, etc. These things can't really be measured, and your description of your interview doesn't tell us any of these things. That said, at least you came out of the interview with a good feeling, right? 🙂

 

[tncekm]

It'd be impossible to tell whether that's a "good interview". It sure as heck doesn't sound bad! If its your dream school, you may want to follow up your interview with a well thought out letter of intent to increase your odds of being accepted. 👍

As far as the interviewers talking for 25 mins each, I haven't interviewed anywhere, and I'm not an expert by any means, but IMHO, there are polite ways to interject and create dialogue. I.e. "Oh, wow, you're a practicing nephrologist and research how intrinsically disordered proteins contribute to diabetes? How do you find time for both?" Blah, blah, blah. Ask questions and show signs of life! You can make people talk to you (well... most people. It doesn't work with my mother in law She just "talks, and talk and talks").

 

[benjjang751]

Sorry... let me make myself a bit clearer

I was concerned about both of my interviewer talking most of the time... where I nodded and asked some questions along the way.

It was 30 mins interview and they LET me talk for about ONLY 5 mins... During the interview, I thought that it would be rude to interupt while they are speaking... so it ended up that I could only point out few things...

Although I felt good about both of them being pleasant and conversational, I also felt like I wasn't allowed enough time to speak and maybe defend some of my weak points.

Well... I guess I will never know until decision time comes around...

 

[202781]

Sorry... let me make myself a bit clearer

I was concerned about both of my interviewer talking most of the time... where I nodded and asked some questions along the way.

It was 30 mins interview and they LET me talk for about ONLY 5 mins... During the interview, I thought that it would be rude to interupt while they are speaking... so it ended up that I could only point out few things...

Although I felt good about both of them being pleasant and conversational, I also felt like I wasn't allowed enough time to speak and maybe defend some of my weak points.

Well... I guess I will never know until decision time comes around...

Hey I just interviewed at USC and I thought that the interview went really well but my interviewer talked for about 50-60% of the time about where I should live, what he studies, similarities between us... The interview was very conversational, I just hope that he learned enough about me and why I want to go there. Anyway I should know in a few weeks. Good luck

 

[p30doc]

I wish my interviews would talk more, I'm sick of talking about myself. My experience has been the interviewer only talking while asking me a question or answering my questions at the end.

 

[littlealex]

Sometimes when the interviewer talks a lot it's because they've already decided to recommend you for acceptance and wants to take the chance to sell the school to you.

 

[PandaBrewMaster]

Sometimes when the interviewer talks a lot it's because they've already decided to recommend you for acceptance and wants to take the chance to sell the school to you.

That's what I feel too. One of my interviews consisted almost entirely of my interviewers (a really famous and distinguished professor, actually) telling me why I should go to that school. I feel like, if they're gonna spend the time trying to sell the school to you, that means that they already like you. So you're set.

 

[benjjang751]

Hey,

Thank you guys for posting here with encouragements.
I hope that is the case, and even if it is not... your comments surely comfort me!

Thanks, 👍

 

[chiz2kul]

So yea at one of my interviews, I was with some guy thats a bigshot in the admissions committee, and he kept on stressing on how much of a unique and exceptional candidate i'll be, and how he is really trying to recruit good candidates like myself to the school....and how, the night before, when he was talkin w the dir. of admissions, how they both somehow 'agreed' that I was a special and wonderful candidate lol and he went on and on about that lol.
Made me feel like that was a sure bet. Well I shld be hearing back soon..

In another interview, my interviewer winked at me after the interview was done.
I got in.

 

[NTF]

I think we all know when an interview goes poorly. But parsing out whether an interview was good, very good, berry berry good, great, sort of great, etc, is pretty much impossible.

Once it's over - just keep reciting the serenity prayer.

They really need an atheist version of that prayer.

 

[p30doc]

Once it's over - just keep reciting the serenity prayer.

They really need an atheist version of that prayer.

Oh but there is! 'serenity now' ala seinfeld.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mbdiekT-7w[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Fibroblastman]

It's hard to gauge your performance during an interview because the interviewer might look like he/she may have enjoyed it... and they did, but they may also mark you down on certain things. The opposite applies as well.

For example, at one of my interviews the Dean gave us an example (several years ago) about how a student arrived for her interview and the faculty just looked at her and said, "I can't believe any of this on your application. It's complete bullsh*t." She spent the whole time defending her application, but he still insisted that it was BS. She complained, and the Dean looked into both sides of the story. The faculty interviewer admitted that he did what he did, but in his review of her he wrote "Most amazing applicant, she walks on water."

Don't let it get to you, focus on doing well on your upcoming interviews. What is done, is done. Best of luck!