Hilarious moments on the interview trail

[IvyHopeful20]

Now that the season is over for some of us, what were your favorite moments?

Mine:

1. Half the kids at all my interviews are from UCLA
2. Every school claims it has the best clinical reputation
3. Every school claims it is above average in board scores

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[rhesuspieces]

So I've been on 10+ interviews and now that the season is over, what were your favorite moments?

Mine:

1. Half the kids at all my interviews are from UCLA
2. Every school claims it has the best clinical reputation
3. Every school claims it is above average in board scores

To be fair, every school you applied to is above average.

 

[rhesuspieces]

So I've been on 10+ interviews and now that the season is over, what were your favorite moments?

Also, inb4 "cool story bro"

 

[IvyHopeful20]

Also, inb4 "cool story bro"

Edited. That came out sounding wrong .

 

[Slowpoke]

I love editing ego-boosting comments after the fact. Shows humility.

 

[texahn]

if those 3 moments are hilarious to you then idk what wouldnt make you laugh

 

[juliedi]

Now that the season is over for some of us, what were your favorite moments?

Mine:

1. Half the kids at all my interviews are from UCLA
2. Every school claims it has the best clinical reputation
3. Every school claims it is above average in board scores

Yep, I heard this about the board schools at literally every school I interviewed at.

One fun moment I had was discussing Grey's Anatomy and House with an interviewer who also is a medical consultant for the shows. He was straight up baller.

 

[iusesharpies]

if those 3 moments are hilarious to you then idk what wouldnt make you laugh

This exactly.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

i had a chuckle when a kid said he went to "columbia university in the city of new york"

 

[skyhyp2009]

deleted...

 

[munchymanRX]

i had a chuckle when a kid said he went to "columbia university in the city of new york"

Should have said you'd never heard of it and asked him for more detail..

 

[vivalavie]

Should have said you'd never heard of it and asked him for more detail..

Or say, "Wow, but some of these guys interviewing with us are from IVY LEAGUE schools!"

 

[Isoprop]

In a presentation of the school, one of the kids let out a small but audible fart.

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

There was this one hilarious applicant I met at harvard during my 15th interview in October. He told me he was nervous because it was his first interview. That guy was a riot.

 

[ddsunnyd]

my first interview was in a big city that has two big med schools. I think of myself usually as quite smooth at things like interviews. i did pull it off smooth... until the very end.

the interviewer looked at me with a smile and said,"do you have any questions for me?" im thinking, man, i really did a good job on this interview.

Me: smiling. being very charming. "well yes... i would like to know what is your favorite thing about [Med School A]."

interviewer: smile immediately inverts and eyebrow is raised.

awkward pause.

me: FML.

I am at [Med School B] right now. i already got rejected from [Med School A].

interviewer: "you mean [Med School B]?." NOT AMUSED.

Result: waitlisted.

Take away message: when you go to an interview, try to remember what school you are at.

 

[unhappytnt]

There was this one hilarious applicant I met at harvard during my 15th interview in October. He told me he was nervous because it was his first interview. That guy was a riot.

Only 15? Pff. You guys are softcore.

 

[MRSAful Fate]

Watching two applicants text away during an entire presentation while the dean of admissions was sitting less than ten feet away staring at them and looking pissed was kinda funny.

 

[IvyHopeful20]

If we're talking about individual moments, there was one guy at one of my interviews who brought a camera and was taking pictures of EVERYTHING. Like, every five seconds during the tour, he kept on pulling his camera out and taking pictures. Even in the anatomy lab...though they got mad at him obviously for that since that's not allowed out of respect to the donors.

He didn't catch the dirty looks the admissions office was throwing him...one guy tried to tell him but he didn't listen. Crazy.

 

[goldenwest]

I high-fived an interviewer.... didn't hear back from that school.

 

[Lilliput]

At three separate schools: "One thing that makes our school VERY UNIQUE is that we offer early patient contact."

 

[IvyHopeful20]

At three separate schools: "One thing that makes our school VERY UNIQUE is that we offer early patient contact."

Haha yes! That is every school's unique point.

 

[texahn]

having had 11+ interviews, i immensely

 

[wolverinepwns]

Now that the season is over for some of us, what were your favorite moments?

Mine:

1. Half the kids at all my interviews are from UCLA
2. Every school claims it has the best clinical reputation
3. Every school claims it is above average in board scores

Bruins are awesome, dont hate.

 

[boo5000]

having had 11+ interviews, i immensely

Is that a subtle "The Office" reference?

I guess the most comical thing was sitting in the waiting area of a school I had no real interest in, talking to everyone else about what schools they applied to and kinda talking those schools up. The moment I was mentioning about how much I wanted to land a couple of those schools, the dean walks out of what I felt was a secret little office -- he must have overheard the entire thing!

 

[rhesuspieces]

After one of my interviews, I was asked out by a fellow interviewee. I shot him down, but he wins points for trying to pick up a girl at a f*ing MED SCHOOL INTERVIEW.

 

[eli20]

At an interview early in the season I was talking to a fellow applicant that I built a pretty good rapport during the day with. During the usual where have you interviewed so far/where will you be going convo they told me they and already been to a particular school/that it was awesome and they thought it would be their first choice. All fine and dandy til I saw them at my interview at this school a month later...

To which my immediate thought was "I bet half the things people have said during these interviews between applicants is pure grandstanding BS"

 

[rHinO1]

After one of my interviews, I was asked out by a fellow interviewee. I shot him down, but he wins points for trying to pick up a girl at a f*ing MED SCHOOL INTERVIEW.

Hey, it is as good of a place as any. The game is the game .

 

[IvyHopeful20]

At an interview early in the season I was talking to a fellow applicant that I built a pretty good rapport during the day with. During the usual where have you interviewed so far/where will you be going convo they told me they and already been to a particular school/that it was awesome and they thought it would be their first choice. All fine and dandy til I saw them at my interview at this school a month later...

To which my immediate thought was "I bet half the things people have said during these interviews between applicants is pure grandstanding BS"

That's hilarious - and you're probably right.

 

[curlytop]

There was this one hilarious applicant I met at harvard during my 15th interview in October. He told me he was nervous because it was his first interview. That guy was a riot.

What a n00b! He'll make a horrible doctor.

 

[HawaiiHereICome]

One of my interviewers asked me if some of my activities (vocalist, dancer, surfer, restore/ride motorcycles) got me chicks. I told him the truth.... YES lol

We talked about girls for the rest of the interview. Most inappropriate interviewer ever.

Result: Acceptance

note: I can't imagine what he wrote on his evaluation

 

[still h0ping]

i had a chuckle when a kid said he went to "columbia university in the city of new york"

Actually there is a city called New York, within the state of NY.. Wikipedia: "Columbia University in the City of New York (Columbia University), one of the eight members of the Ivy League......"

I'm afraid I don't get the joke?

 

[curlytop]

Actually there is a city called New York, within the state of NY.. Wikipedia: "Columbia University in the City of New York (Columbia University), one of the eight members of the Ivy League......"

I'm afraid I don't get the joke?

The way the kid said it is pretentious and boastful. He doesn't need to emphasize Columbia's location..."the city of New York" is just a d bag way to phrase it. Everyone knows Columbia's a big deal and we know it's in NYC....or the C of NY.

The joke about the Ivy League kids is just playing along, acting as though you don't know Columbia's reputation or Ivy League status. That way you don't reward this guy with the reaction he obviously wants...which is for you to be impressed.

 

[PrinceVersed]

One of my interviewers was talking about how she ran a program that would test high school football players pre and post concussions. I said, "that's great! I wish that would have been around during my playing time. I always had pretty bad headaches after my games.....Come to think of it, I bet I had a small concussion after every game." There was then some nervous laughter and looking back and forth between my interviewers. I quickly held up my hands and said, "But look, my hands don't shake much at all!"

I haven't heard back from them yet haha.

 

[Narmerguy]

After one of my interviews, I was asked out by a fellow interviewee. I shot him down, but he wins points for trying to pick up a girl at a f*ing MED SCHOOL INTERVIEW.

Hey what's wrong with that? You never know who could be your future wife. I'd pick mine up at Wendy's if I had to.

 

[ieightkate]

The way the kid said it is pretentious and boastful. He doesn't need to emphasize Columbia's location..."the city of New York" is just a d bag way to phrase it. Everyone knows Columbia's a big deal and we know it's in NYC....or the C of NY.

The joke about the Ivy League kids is just playing along, acting as though you don't know Columbia's reputation or Ivy League status. That way you don't reward this guy with the reaction he obviously wants...which is for you to be impressed.

While I agree that this kid was probably being pretentious, Columbia's official name is Columbia University in the City of New York. It's in their logo and all over their website. So, there's that.

 

[iusesharpies]

While I agree that this kid was probably being pretentious, Columbia's official name is Columbia University in the City of New York. It's in their logo and all over their website. So, there's that.

That's as ridiculous as saying the full names of UCLA and USC... There is no reason..... unless you're being a d bag.

 

[rHinO1]

i had a chuckle when a kid said he went to "columbia university in the city of new york"

Columbia University? I've never heard of it. Although, now I know it is in New York, and not some online thing.

Hey what's wrong with that? You never know who could be your future wife. I'd pick mine up at Wendy's if I had to.

haha, there are a few places I wouldn't pick up a girl. Like the bus stop. Personally, I think the grocery store after 5 pm during the week is good. That way you know she stocks the fridge with food, but also has a job .

 

[IvyHopeful20]

Well maybe you might have thought Columbia University was in Colombia the country.

If I went to UCLA, I would always say "University of California (pause) Los Angeles, located in Westwood."

To be honest, I often give out the street address of the admissions office when I say my university.

 

[n3xa]

After one of my interviews, I was asked out by a fellow interviewee. I shot him down, but he wins points for trying to pick up a girl at a f*ing MED SCHOOL INTERVIEW.

I do know someone who was in a similar situation on the residency interview trail. It didn't last, but apparently the sex was good and they saved some money by sharing a hotel room whenever possible.

 

[NickNaylor]

Somehow I think I've seen a thread like this before...

 

[gamerstud77]

In a closed interview I was asked three questions:

1. What is your GPA
2. What is your MCAT
3. Do you have any questions for me?

True story,

Result: I turned their acceptance down.

 

[LoveTheRunner]

i spilled coffee during one of the financial aid talks. MLIA

 

[Circadian Squid]

One male applicant was smacking gum from 07:45 a.m. to the end of the day. Top button of shirt undone, left shoe untied. Visibly not interested in the tour of the school of medicine and all of the labs. I felt like taking him aside a few times and asking "Do you know what you're doing right now?" but figured it was too late.

One interview experience of my own: Second interview of the day. We start off our conversation with her informing me her day is going "****ty" which she laughed & apologized for. I liked it. Broke the ice nicely. I noticed her name-badge and just after sitting down exclaim: "Psychology huh? Well looks as though we have that in common." (my undergrad bachelors degree in 2008 was in psychology). She smiles big and corrects me: "Pathology". I laughed "Ahh yes . . . slightly different field and qualifications." The rest of the interview was relaxed and we had a nice chat about her 3 sons and their video-game prowess. Still waiting to hear back from the program.

 

[MediCynical]

When asked about a recent ethical dilemma I've dealt with, I brought up that I started dating my friend's ex-gf... facepalm. Haven't heard back from that school yet, and it's my first choice school, too. Oh well, at least I was real and the rest of the interview was good

 

[M1ikej]

At one school, my interviewer was extremely serious and intimidating. So I made a feeble attempt at breaking the tension by cracking a joke. In retrospect, it was in pretty poor taste haha...

Interviewer: In your opinion, what do you think are the major causes for malpractice suits against physicians? (turned out this was rhetorical because he continued to provide the answer himself)

Interviewer: Approximately 80% are due to poor communication between physician and patient, 15% due to an undesirable outcome from treatment, and the remaining percentage due to death of the patient treated. (rough estimates can't recall the exact numbers)

Me: You'd think they would just lump death under the category of "undesirable outcome".

Interviewer: (silence and somber stare...)

Me: (Awkward smile wipes bead of sweat from brow...)

Interviewer (10 painstakingly awkward seconds later): Moving on...

 

[Slack3r]

if those 3 moments are hilarious to you then idk what wouldnt make you laugh

+1

 

[obgyny]

At an interview early in the season I was talking to a fellow applicant that I built a pretty good rapport during the day with. During the usual where have you interviewed so far/where will you be going convo they told me they and already been to a particular school/that it was awesome and they thought it would be their first choice. All fine and dandy til I saw them at my interview at this school a month later...

To which my immediate thought was "I bet half the things people have said during these interviews between applicants is pure grandstanding BS"

On my UC Davis interview back in September, everybody seemed to have interviews or already interviewed at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Dartmouth, etc. And I was pretty much the only person in my group where this was my first interview at the time... it makes me wonder if these people were just trying to psych everyone out or if maybe I was just the dud of the group.

Whenever someone next to me started saying, "Well at my YALE interview last week..." in an obnoxious loud voice for everyone to hear, I would just tune them out...

Another applicant told me that she heard people comparing GPAs and MCATs during the tour...

Obviously this wasn't funny, just annoying!

 

[halethsonofhama]

At loma linda, we had a group meeting with the dean of admissions where we were supposed to introduce ourselves and say an intersting fact about ourself.

The first guy was caught off gaurd or something because his interesting fact was...

"I stabbed myself with a pencil"

...and that was it, no explanation or anything

 

[Bravetown]

I high-fived an interviewer.... didn't hear back from that school.

Dude you're my hero

 

[FlowRate]

At loma linda, we had a group meeting with the dean of admissions where we were supposed to introduce ourselves and say an intersting fact about ourself.

The first guy was caught off gaurd or something because his interesting fact was...

"I stabbed myself with a pencil"

...and that was it, no explanation or anything

A guy at my Emory interview day said "I've been using the same mechanical pencil since high school."

That's a neat fact, but also completely stupid as a first impression.