Dont stress. First off there's nothing you can do now but prepare for the next interview. Second, this process is quite impossible to predict. What I thought was my worst interview ended up being one of my first acceptances (with a significant merit scholarshop as well). The school I thought I was a shooing to get in sent me the R. And I'm not the only one. This site is full of similar stories because as Goro said, we're bad judges of our own performance
At least for one of them, yes every student felt the same way. For that station, for every answer we gave, the MMI person would point out flaws in the answer and some of the critiques were really reaching and pissed me off. And these critiques weren't normal MMI follow up questions (I've been to three MMIs now, so over 40 stations), they were ridiculous but I had to respond to them and be polite. And another station consisted of the guy interrupting me every 20 seconds in my answer and asking a different question. Maybe that was a specific interviewer, but the entire experience left a really bad taste in my mouth about the school (t10). At the end of the day the Dean asked "how did everyone like the MMI" and everyone was visibly uncomfortable, whereas at other schools everyone loved the MMI and was enthusiastic.
I'd argue otherwise, considering I've had very fun and interesting MMIs and traditional interviews where I emerged even more excited about the school. The interview is the one part of the day where I am given individualized attention, so I'd argue it's the most important part of the day for both the school and myself.
I think there's a lot to say from how they treat you during interviews too. For example, at the one MMI I was at, they provided us with water bottles and candy, and also gave us two minutes to rest before having to read/prepare for the next room. In my opinion, that showed me that despite wanting to evaluate us, they are concerned about our mental-being in the process. Afterwards, the organizer (who happened to be the dean of admissions) also solicited feedback, even on the MMI administration, with an open mind. That, to me, showed that the school really cares about student input and that the administration would likely be responsive to feedback in other realms.
I know which school you’re talking about and am glad you liked it. 🙂
Certainly they can have aspects of recruiting, especially if you interview with the admissions Dean or someone of the like, but like I said, the interview is not designed for recruiting like the rest of the day. The primary purpose is to evaluate you. Sometimes that means being uncomfortable, but that shouldn't be held against the school. I just dont think it's a good environment to use to form an opinion on one's fit at a school.
Interesting. I had one school where one interviewer was trying to recruit and the other was pretty cold/rude/unfriendly. I don’t think it was inappropriate or even reportable. I gave the best answers I could, even if all he did was move on to the next question.
Certainly not. I agree there's nothing wrong with reporting, and maybe you can judge the school better based on their response since institutional action is more indicative of an administration's values than the actions of any individual. I would just encourage everyone to take their interview experiences with a grain of salt. We tend to remember stressful events very well and even if it was someone being rude as opposed to the interview style, it's still just one individual. I'm a fan of keeping the selection of your school as objective as possible, relying on more easily measurable pros and cons like financial aid and geography, so an interview experience, with so much subjectivity introduced from the stress, is the last thing I would consider.
