Can I play? These are all case reports of yes, high stat, high-achieving people. Why were they being interviewed at a DO school? They obviously were rejected from MD schools, or wanted to stay close to home.
Being unprofessional for any reason. An example is addressing a faculty member by their first name. Another is chewing gum during the interview. If you have a dry mouth, suck on a lozenge instead. BTW, the interview lasts all day. Acting unprofessionally during your tour, like yelling at a parking attendant, or trashing the school, or expecting the Admissions Office staff to hang up your coat or fetch you coffee is duly noted and affects your fate accordingly.
Not taking the interview seriously, like showing up poorly dressed. This is suit and tie time (and nice dress/outfit/suit for the ladies). You're going into character. Yes, if the airline loses your luggage, we understand that.
Being arrogant. People who think that they're God's gift to Medicine do not go into Medicine.
Being too shy or nervous. Being quiet is OK; being monosyllabic or robotic is not.
Not making eye contact is also a no-no (yes I'm aware that in some cultures, one does not look elders in the eye, but this is the USA and you need to look people in the eye here).
Any hints of immaturity will be lethal for your chances. We expect you to be thoughtful and self-aware. Would you admit the gal who, when asked a hypothetical, "
What would you do in this situation?" answers, "
Oh, that wouldn't happen."
Showing you're greedy.
Being clueless as to why you're choosing Medicine as a career.
Doing this because your mom/dad wants you to be a doctor (or don't think you can be doctor).
Completely lacking people skills (4.0 automatons are a dime a dozen, really).
Showing that you're more interested in research than Medicine. This might be OK at Stanford, but it won’t fly at most other schools.
Still being the hyper-gunner...I rejected a 4.0 gal who wanted to answer the questions I asked of another person in the interview panel. I don't want to admit someone who will be in my office whining about how they got a 95 on an exam and deserved a 96.
Having a flat affect. This might be due to medication, or a mental or personality disorder. You ever meet someone who could never crack a smile? I don't want someone like that touching patients.
Copping an attitude. I asked a woman why she didn't have any volunteer experience. She replied that she was too busy working. Fair enough, some people have lives, but she copped an attitude while delivering this, and I just wrote down "reject".
Coming in with scripted answers and being unable to deviate from said script.
Being ill-prepared for fairly common interview questions (e.g. Why this school? Why Medicine?)
Thinking that always circling back to your accomplishments and how great you are impresses us.
Doing show and tell....with props.
Being a babbling idiot.
So I'm always surprised to hear about people with insanely high metrics struggling with admissions.
I'm curious, what specific things are red flags or turn offs for an adcom when reviewing a high metric candidate?
You had me double over my keyboard in laughter on this one, colleague.
Think of the biggest a-hole you know. Now imagine that person is sitting in a medical school interview just oozing a-holishness from every pore. Sound like a good enough reason to toss that fish back in the pond? We have also had some with IA's who, after the interview, we simply cannot give them the benefit of the doubt.
