Good vocabulary...bad during interivews?

[Cofo]

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I love the irony...how I misspelled (typo) "interviews." lulz
If/when I get interviews...I am somewhat afraid speaking to an admission committee, because I have an extensive vocabulary. When I communicate with others, like family and most friends, I feel they do not comprehend what I am saying to them sometimes because of their myopic vocabulary. I often have to stop and define words for them...simple words like "astute" or "germane" or "virility" for example.
It sucks. 🙁
When I speak to admission committees, should I dumb-down or suppress my lexicon?
I think my vocabulary "skills" ramify from my childhood, as I would love to read and even write short stories. I just want to make certain the adcoms do not view me as pretentious, you know? Any advice? This is a serious post btw, I am not trolling.

 

[4thMolar]

I would speak as your normally do in everyday conversations. If you try to act or speak as somebody you're not, your conversation may seem even more awkward b/c the adcom will notice you're not acting like yourself. So, just be yourself.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

There is a fine line between sounding sophisticated and pretentious. If it sounds like you're using a thesaurus on every other word, then yes, dumb it down. You don't want to come off as a d-bag.

 

[104]

OH! you have a perfect answer for when they ask, "What are your weakness?"

 

[NTATD]

Tell the adcoms you are dumb-ing down your regular speech for them. It will show your adaptability.😀

 

[Bchance]

Tell the adcoms you are dumb-ing down your regular speech for them. It will show your adaptability.😀

 

[nlbaker7]

youre lonely arent you

edit - sorry, i meant that perchance you may encounter your extensive lexicon quite alienating

 

[nlbaker7]

oh my god i cant stop laughing... i just had to come back to this thread

thanks OP

 

[aelian]

There is a fine line between sounding sophisticated and pretentious. If it sounds like you're using a thesaurus on every other word, then yes, dumb it down. You don't want to come off as a d-bag.

👍👍👍

And only because I don't want you to be a douchebag, and because I really have no life, I went and searched for a quote (passage) that I felt would be very appropriate from my favorite writer:

One of the really bad things you can do to your writing (In your case, your speech) is to
dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re
maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like
dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is
embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated
cuteness should be even more embarrassed. Make
yourself a solemn promise right now that you’ll never use
"emolument" when you mean "tip" and you’ll never say John
stopped long enough to perform an act of excretion
when you mean John stopped long enough to take a ****.
If you believe "take a ****" would be considered offensive or
inappropriate by your audience, feel free to say John stopped
long enough to move his bowels (or perhaps John stoppedlong enough to "push").
I’m not trying to get you to talk dirty, only plain and direct.
Remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word
that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful.
If you hesitate and cogitate, you will come up with another word—
of course you will, there’s always another word—
but it probably won’t be as good as your first one,
or as close to what you really mean.

Stephen King - On Writing

 

[wwuviking]

I two am to smart for everyday peeple.

 

[dentalWorks]

myopic "astute" "germane" "virility"

IMO, I would not use such words. Your gonna look like your trying to impress them. And to make things worse, what if you say a word and they don't understand.... its gonna make a gawd awkward interview moment.

You gotta remember, you are presenting yourself to a group of people who want to see HOW YOU'LL GET ALONG with the incoming class, if thats how you really talk in real life, your classmates might make fun off you (aka you won't get along)

 

[Stacker]

If that's the normal way you speak then don't worry about; be yourself. The worst thing is someone trying to use large words that they aren't used to speaking and the listener can tell if they are trying to sound smart or not. You can almost smell their pretension.
What goes equally true is the vice-versa: don't try to sound more colloquial if you aren't by nature.

Off topic:

Is it just me or is my avatar humongous?

 

[molar3]

your avatar is bigger than my whole body right now.....

 

[Stacker]

I've been reading a book about doctor-patient interactions and the thing the author emphasizes on is the doctor being able to effectively communicate problems and diagnoses with patients in lay-man terms.
Successful ($$$) dentistry is heavily contingent upon whether the patient feels comfortable talking with you, understands what you're talking about, and most importantly whether they feel that they are making a contribution to their prescribed diagnosis.
SO in this case, dumb down your speech.

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

You definitely want to avoid using simple words and sound more sophisticated.

But there's also a difference between using good sophisticated vocabulary and scholarly vocabulary which you find in scientific journals.

The best rule of thumb I use is: do you hear those type of words in everyday speech, whether it's on the news, in the papers or in normal conversation? If yes, then you're ok. If not, then you need to avoid it like the black plague.

So for examples with the words you presented:

too simple: smart
good: perceptive, clever, savvy
overboard: astute, sagacious

too simple: [can't think of any]
good: relevant, pertinent
overboard: germane, apropos

 

[rockclock]

Don't mean to pick at a weakness here, but the fact that you have a well-developed vocabulary is not a problem at all...the fact that you haven't learned how to communicate effectively and naturally with people (you're using words that cause awkwardness in a conversation and sometimes have to be defined for the person you're speaking to!) is a HUGE red flag. This is not a one-hour adjustment that you need to make for the duration of the interview--this is something that you're going to have to actively work on in order to change your personality. Getting along with fellow students, professors, patients, your employees or employers, etc. is going to be ten times more difficult than it needs to be for the rest of your life if you don't.

There are places where whatever vocabulary and writing skills you may have would be useful (manuscript writing for journal article submissions comes to mind, but even there you're more looking for succinct and clear writing rather than flowery language or verbage) but know its limits.

Bottom line goes something along the lines of that Maya Angelou quote that says people will forget what you said to them or did to them, but never how you made them FEEL. It won't matter if you're not trying to be pretentious...if you come off as a d-bag people are going to remember you for that regardless of the content you were trying to (ineffectively) communicate.

Best of luck to you.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

I can see it now:

RockClock to Patient: Oh my deity, you have a plethora of gaping chasms penetrating your enamel; it is imperative to restore them promptly. Additionallyfuthermorealso, you have an apthuous ulcer forming in your buccal cavity...

Translation: You have some cavities that need to be filled. You also have a canker sore.

 

[Doc Smile]

I love the irony...how I misspelled (typo) "interviews." lulz
If/when I get interviews...I am somewhat afraid speaking to an admission committee, because I have an extensive vocabulary. When I communicate with others, like family and most friends, I feel they do not comprehend what I am saying to them sometimes because of their myopic vocabulary. I often have to stop and define words for them...simple words like "astute" or "germane" or "virility" for example.
It sucks. 🙁
When I speak to admission committees, should I dumb-down or suppress my lexicon?
I think my vocabulary "skills" ramify from my childhood, as I would love to read and even write short stories. I just want to make certain the adcoms do not view me as pretentious, you know? Any advice? This is a serious post btw, I am not trolling.

Wow... Honestly? If you cant answer this question yourself and see the pretentiousness in it, then you are doomed. If you cannot effectively communicate with adcoms, how the heck are you going to explain a RCT to a 15 year old whiny female pt in regularpeoplespeek?

 

[tayloreve]

is this post a joke? 😕

 

[Msmouth]

👍

I can see it now:

RockClock to Patient: Oh my deity, you have a plethora of gaping chasms penetrating your enamel; it is imperative to restore them promptly. Additionallyfuthermorealso, you have an apthuous ulcer forming in your buccal cavity...

Translation: You have some cavities that need to be filled. You also have a canker sore.