Interview advice?

[canmed96]

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Hi there,

I am having a lot of trouble with the "tell me about yourself" question. I dont know where to start it, structure it and how far to take it.

I dont want to make it a boring summary of my app but i also want to be sure to mention key experiences.

Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated as well as other general advice.

Thanks

 

[Goro]

Supposed a distant relative from, say, Finland comes to visit. She asks you, "so, canmed, tell me about yourself?"

What do you say?

Introspection is a required competency for med school and residency.

 

[canmed96]

Supposed a distant relative from, say, Finland comes to visit. She asks you, "so, canmed, tell me about yourself?"

What do you say?

Introspection is a required competency for med school and residency.

I was thinking along these lines:

Iam a 21 year old student in my last year of bio with a minor in psych. I was born in India and moved to Canada at 5 years old with a lot of moving around as a kid along the way. This lead to several stops along the way including the Bronx, New York when i was 10 years old. Here, i was subject to a lot of bullying and that was the first time that i knew i'd like to use my life to serve others in need, because i was a person in need of support and help. I now make fintess and education foundational pieces of my life in an effort to advocate a healthy lifestlye and the value of education to others trhough my youtube channel and blog along with other extra-circullar activites. Ultimately, I'd like to be a physician and serve as an example for others that no matter your background or challenges you face, if you choose the path of hard work and compassion, there is nothing you cannot achieve and it is because of that mentality that I am sitting here now and I'd like to thank you for this oppurtunity.


Any advice?

 

[SpoiledMilk]

The interviewer already has your accomplishments via your application. That question is designed to see whether you can carry a normal conversation.

Speak about yourself honestly, naturally, and highlight a couple of experiences that made you who you are presently.

The question is not designed to trip you up.

 

[Goro]

I was thinking along these lines:

Iam a 21 year old student in my last year of bio with a minor in psych. I was born in India and moved to Canada at 5 years old with a lot of moving around as a kid along the way. This lead to several stops along the way including the Bronx, New York when i was 10 years old. Here, i was subject to a lot of bullying and that was the first time that i knew i'd like to use my life to serve others in need, because i was a person in need of support and help. I now make fintess and education foundational pieces of my life in an effort to advocate a healthy lifestlye and the value of education to others trhough my youtube channel and blog along with other extra-circullar activites. Ultimately, I'd like to be a physician and serve as an example for others that no matter your background or challenges you face, if you choose the path of hard work and compassion, there is nothing you cannot achieve and it is because of that mentality that I am sitting here now and I'd like to thank you for this oppurtunity.


Any advice?

I'd reject you right there because you have made the classic pre-med mistake of thinking every answer has to be about Medicine.

Pay very careful attention:
The question is about who you are, NOT "why do you want to be a doctor?"

Capeesh?

 

[canmed96]

I'd reject you right there because you have made the classic pre-med mistake of thinking every answer has to be about Medicine.

Pay very careful attention:
The question is about who you are, NOT "why do you want to be a doctor?"

Capeesh?

Is it safe to assume that "tell me about yourself" and "why medicine" will both be asked separately as i dont want to miss out on showcasing myself and my experiences.

As for my tell me about yourself answer, other than specifically mentioning that i'd like to help people, can i still mention bullying and how that has made me the person i am now since its true?

 

[Goro]

Is it safe to assume that "tell me about yourself" and "why medicine" will both be asked separately as i dont want to miss out on showcasing myself and my experiences.

As for my tell me about yourself answer, other than specifically mentioning that i'd like to help people, can i still mention bullying and how that has made me the person i am now since its true?

It is NOT safe to assume anything. I personally don't ask the questions that yield canned answers, for example. Mine tend to be from way out of left field.

You should have ready answers for the common questions though.

Pretend you're never, ever going to be a doctor. When asked "Who are you?" will your answer change????? What would your friends say about you if they were asked the former question?

 

[Drekan311]

I’m not sure I’m doing it right or if this help but when I got asked that question, I started off by my brief story of where I came from, my path of education and where I am at now along with some what I am currently doing that exemplified some characteristics (community activities that I’m doing but weren’t mentioned in the original app)

I had an interesting education path so within that part of it I hinted in resilience and hard work!

To put it, most of my interviews were interested in where I came from most of the time since I’m a recent immigrant lol so that answered the question for them