How Honest Were You In Interviews?

[Darksmurf]

Now that interview season is basically over, I was wondering how people approached interviews.

The interview can probably make or break an applicant.

And contrary to popular opinion (or popular interview answer), we don't all want to be doctors to help people and not every school we interview at is our top choice. Moreover, some of us have controversial personal opinions on ethical issues that might rub the adcom the wrong way.

So, how truthful were you?

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[TleilaxuMD]

Now that interview season is basically over, I was wondering how people approached interviews.

The interview can probably make or break an applicant.

And contrary to popular opinion (or popular interview answer), we don't all want to be doctors to help people and not every school we interview at is our top choice. Moreover, some of us have controversial personal opinions on ethical issues that might rub the adcom the wrong way.

So, how truthful were you?

Lets just say if I told the truth about motivations and on the ethical issues I would probably be arrested or taken to psychological testing..

 

[Darksmurf]

I always had trouble with the "Where do you see yourself in 20 years" question because I eventually want to be a farmer. I didn't think the any interviewer would really go for that. I guess I'm just glad no one asked.

 

[Darkshooter326]

I really don't think this is a good poll. So if you interview at your safety school, and you most likely don't want to go there, what do you say if they ask something like "why would you choose our school over the others you applied to"

honest response "I wouldn't really choose to go here, I would definitely go here if I had no other options though "

 

[Law2Doc]

Now that interview season is basically over, I was wondering how people approached interviews.

The interview can probably make or break an applicant.

And contrary to popular opinion (or popular interview answer), we don't all want to be doctors to help people and not every school we interview at is our top choice. Moreover, some of us have controversial personal opinions on ethical issues that might rub the adcom the wrong way.

So, how truthful were you?

What makes you think someone who would lie on an interview would answer your poll truthfully?

 

[Green Pirate]

What makes you think someone who would lie on an interview would answer your poll truthfully?

oh snap

 

[OwnageMobile]

What makes you think someone who would lie on an interview would answer your poll truthfully?

Anonymity

 

[Law2Doc]

Anonymity

I doubt it. Folks who lie in important situations aren't going to suddenly start telling the truth in unimportant ones. The chances of getting caught in a lie in an interview are much much higher, so someone prone to lying so long as they think they won't get caught is more likely to lie on the net. And SDN and the internet aren't nearly as anonymous as some people seem to think.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

And SDN and the internet aren't nearly as anonymous as some people seem to think.

I think he meant that the poll was anonymous in that your semi-anonymous SDN username isn't displayed alongside your vote.

 

[Law2Doc]

I think he meant that the poll was anonymous in that your semi-anonymous SDN username isn't displayed alongside your vote.

I guess. But if you are a liar, you will certainly have no compulsion to tell the truth here anyhow.

 

[maestro1625]

I guess. But if you are a liar, you will certainly have no compulsion to tell the truth here anyhow.

I can't really say that I was had too many reasons to lie... I never really was hit with any moral/ethical questions, though I did flip-flop a bit.

Though I told one interviewer that I more or less applied to that school on a whim... I was accepted 2 weeks later.

 

[Darksmurf]

I really don't think this is a good poll. So if you interview at your safety school, and you most likely don't want to go there, what do you say if they ask something like "why would you choose our school over the others you applied to"

honest response "I wouldn't really choose to go here, I would definitely go here if I had no other options though "

It is a good poll question becaues it is meant to measure this exact phenomenon. The honest thing to say is that it's not your top choice, but who has the balls to say that? My point is that interviews are limited in their ability to analyze an applicant because most applicants will mouth whatever dogma to get accepted.

What makes you think someone who would lie on an interview would answer your poll truthfully?

As others have said, anonymity is the key. This poll doesn't even link to one's anonymous online personality.

I don't think people who lie in their interviews are necessarily liars in the sociopathic sense. There is pressure in an interview not to tell the truth, or at least to conceal the truth. Such as: is this your top choice? Even if it's not, there is serious pressure on the applicant who is not holding any acceptances to say that it is their top school. Now, a person who would lie in that situation is motivated by circumstances. But since there is no impetus, no motive to lie in this poll, I assume that most people who lied in their interivews will be willing to admit that here. That won't be true across the board, but such are the vagaries are all such polls on this site.

 

[Ladyfingers]

I don't feel like I really left anything out and I certainly didn't flat out lie. I didn't apply to "safety" schools, meaning all the schools I sent an application to were schools that I genuinely liked and would have attended. Before interviews I really didn't have an order of preference per say and so it wasn't hard to tell the truth.

 

[Darksmurf]

I don't feel like I really left anything out and I certainly didn't flat out lie. I didn't apply to "safety" schools, meaning all the schools I sent an application to were schools that I genuinely liked and would have attended. Before interviews I really didn't have an order of preference per say and so it wasn't hard to tell the truth.

I feel you on this. I only applied to schools that I wanted to attend and didn't put down any safety schools, so it was easy to say that I wanted to attend a school. Still, there was something uncomfortable in trying to impress, as though I couldn't relax, be myself, and express my 'most truest' opinions.

 

[szhao]

lol that is so true law, hehe. but yea i was like ... i am going to take a job in two days during my yale interview, haha needless to say i didn't get in LOL

 

[Trismegistus4]

At one school, I got a liberal interviewer who clearly supported socialized medicine. He asked me what I thought the greatest problem in our health care system was. I said "access." Oh, the shame, the shame!

 

[MEG@COOL]

I have been honest in my interviews so far, but if I get anymore Im going to tell them whatever I think they want to hear.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

What about plausible deniability Law2Doc? It isn't a lie unless they think it is, and if you can back up your bull**** answer with the reasons why you supposedly hold it (example: "I really like this school's focus on primary care and the chance to participate in your G's, Thugs, Bitches and Hos Medical Outreach Program is the reason I applied here.") it only really matters if you get caught lying.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

what I thought the greatest problem in our health care system was

Correct answer: "HMOs and people who don't pay their bills resulting in decreasing pay for physicians"
Right answer: "Access for all the poor, the disadvantaged and the illegals"

 

[kypdurron5]

I would never lie during an interview...but I have lots of ways to "spin" different things so as to represent them in the most positive light possible. The last interview I had completely blew all that away. No matter how positively I presented my application's weaknesses, he called me out on every single one of them. I caught on right away, and was forced to be brutally honest up front...I'm sure it hurt me, but I think it was better to do that than to make it look like I was trying to hide something each time, and then get called out anyway. I wouldn't call it a combative or antagonistic interview per se, but he definitely had a knack for challenging my every response on its weakest aspect. Hopefully sincerity will count for something! >)

 

[Darksmurf]

For those who told the whole unadulterated truth, were there any situations when you found yourself saying unpopular things that you thought would hurt you in the interview? For instance, I offered some things on religion that I don't think are generally well received in the science community.

 

[spreebee]

Now that interview season is basically over, I was wondering how people approached interviews.

The interview can probably make or break an applicant.

And contrary to popular opinion (or popular interview answer), we don't all want to be doctors to help people and not every school we interview at is our top choice. Moreover, some of us have controversial personal opinions on ethical issues that might rub the adcom the wrong way.

So, how truthful were you?

Interviewer: Son, why do you want to be a doctor?

Applicant: Hell, I just wanna make 500 K+

Interviewer: Get your A$$ out of here

 

[Law2Doc]

For those who told the whole unadulterated truth, were there any situations when you found yourself saying unpopular things that you thought would hurt you in the interview?

There are topics you can sidestep or otherwise manage not to bring up without lying. For me, though, the most uncomfortable questions tended to be those asking where else I was applying/interviewing.

 

[Trismegistus4]

Correct answer: "HMOs and people who don't pay their bills resulting in decreasing pay for physicians"
Right answer: "Access for all the poor, the disadvantaged and the illegals"

Tell me about it. BTW, I haven't heard from that school yet, so I don't know whether my lying-through-my-teeth answer worked.

 

[lilnoelle]

I think I was honest in my interviews, however my thoughts on certain issues have changed over time and so what I believed a year ago, I don't necessarily today. To the school, that would be the equivalent with lying. i.e. I really thought I was going into rural primary care as of a year ago, emphasized it in my interview, got into the school, and now a year later, I'm pretty sure that I won't end up in primary care.

 

[Critical Mass]

Here's a Q that I always struggled with: "How can we fix healthcare in the US?"

I know that it's more of a measuring Q to see how much we understand the system, but it seemed to me that every answer was either something that a physician or a patient wouldn't want to hear. I tried to dance around it by complaining about administrative red tape and lawyers. Dunno if they liked it or not, but I certainly didn't have an answer that will ever see the light of day.

 

[sirus_virus]

Lying at medschool interviews is absolutely necessary for the most part. I say this because medschools are only interested in breeding "I want to help the world" zombies, and most normal human beings are not wired like that.

 

[Law2Doc]

Lying at medschool interviews is absolutely necessary for the most part. I say this because medschools are only interested in breeding "I want to help the world" zombies, and most normal human beings are not wired like that.

Actually the "I want to help the world" notion is considered naive and suggestive of immaturity by most adcoms. When med schools are looking for a good fit, it is not going to be something so shallow.

 

[Darksmurf]

Actually the "I want to help the world" notion is considered naive and suggestive of immaturity by most adcoms. When med schools are looking for a good fit, it is not going to be something so shallow.

I would agree that most schools probably see through an all-out "I want to help people" offensive if it's not backed up by years in underserved third-world communities, but I think the deceit of the interview can come in other ways. For instance, if you envision yourself doing something that you surmise the adcom would not consider a good fit. Or, if you've got honest opinions about ethical situations or healthcare problems. For instance, what if you think that IVF and abortion are both unethical. Pass that along to an adcom and see what happens.

 

[Xotica]

I would never lie during an interview...but I have lots of ways to "spin" different things so as to represent them in the most positive light possible. The last interview I had completely blew all that away. No matter how positively I presented my application's weaknesses, he called me out on every single one of them. I caught on right away, and was forced to be brutally honest up front...I'm sure it hurt me, but I think it was better to do that than to make it look like I was trying to hide something each time, and then get called out anyway. I wouldn't call it a combative or antagonistic interview per se, but he definitely had a knack for challenging my every response on its weakest aspect. Hopefully sincerity will count for something! >)

I had an interview like this. Kinda bummed me out that I had someone so perceptive (and aggressive) from my first choice school.

 

[Disinence2]

Now we need to start a "How honest were you in this poll" thread