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What I've learned from my interview experience
Alright so everyone seems to be stressing about interviews this time of year so I figured I could try to alleviate some of that stress for you future interviewees and applicants. Personally when I was getting ready for interviews I was nervous because I have never really done anything like this before and most of what everyone was telling me about interviews wasn't really helping. So hopefully this addresses some of your concerns. I guess I should list some credentials so people can say "oh he must know what he talking about", so I've been on 5 interviews, I've been accepted to 3 schools and waitlisted at the other 2. Stats are not really important at this point, either you are going to get an interview and you can't really improve what you got that quick or you're not going to get an interview and… well this post isn't really for you.
Remember this is just my personal experience, you can't have the same experience as me cause you're not me.
Typical interview questions
So I figure is a big one for most people "how do I prepare for interview questions?" Well you can and can't prepare for some interview questions.
• Why do you want to be a doctor? Yes prepare for this one. This is honestly a very tricky question to answer for most people and it because everyone's answer always sounds the same, "I want to be a doctor because I want to help people and I like science." If you have answered this question with this answer you need to find a new answer. This is what everyone in your interview group is going to say with 1 or 2 exceptions, so if you want to stand out from the group really work on this answer and with all answers try not to sound to rehearsed.
• Tell me about yourself. Ok, this one I believe was answered pretty thoroughly in an article on SDN. This questioned gives you a chance to talk about yourself, what you like to do, and show your interviews who you are as a person. Take this one seriously, it's usually asked at the start of the interview so it's pretty much going to set the tone for the entire interview. If you are having trouble with it talk to a friend, parent, or professor and ask them what kind of person they think you are, sometimes that really gives you a jumping off point.
• Why DO? If you are applying DO and they will ask this question in some shape or form at DO interviews. The best advice I can give you is read up on the DO philosophy, take what you've learned from shadowing a DO, and know something about OMM. That's kind of all I've got for this one, maybe that would explain the 2 waitlists, but if anyone has anything else to add please do.
• What are some of your strengths/weaknesses and/or what strengths make a good doctor? Personally I like these three you can sub anything you want in or out, just have a good explanation for why and when you have demonstrated it.
1. Teamwork: Medicine is moving away from a doctor being an island and towards working as a team. Being able to show them that you work well in a team really goes a long way because it shows you work well with others, you can take orders, and also when needed give orders. And usually everyone has had a chance to be part of a team, enough said.
2. Leadership: They will want to know that you can direct people, if a child comes in with a gunshot wound you need to be able to stay calm and direct your team to save this child's life. Hopefully you've had a leadership experience, if not a… don't know what to tell you other then pick a different quality.
3. Determination/Passion: I personally like this one. If I was interviewing someone for any job, I would want them to enjoy the job they are interviewing for, but hey that's me. This could also be a chance to point out a time when you struggled in school, with family, or life in general. I know pre-med students struggle who am I kidding, but if you can point to an event in your life, show them that you struggled, but that you have corrected the error and it has made you more motivated to pursue medicine it will really show maturity, which most of us probably don't have yet.
4. Weakness: I always picked that I'm stubborn or too serious, other people will say no pick something that sounds like a strength, like "I'm too quick to except responsibility" or "I work too hard." Really, you work too hard, next you are going to tell me that if you become a doctor you are going to give your entire paycheck to orphans. Seriously though if they ask you to explain how "I'm too quick to except responsibility" is a weakness you are probably going to fall on your face.
• Why this school? Ok this one sucked for me. My state has only one school and I didn't apply to it and I have never visited another medical school before because of distance. So if you're in my shoes and applying out of state make sure you call them for info or scour the school's website for information. Have a good answer for this, because it's nice to show them that you want to go to their school vs. just wanting to go to medical school. It really sucks interviewing with someone who is currently going to the school, knows their interviewers and has all this knowledge of the school and all you can say about the school is I like the school because they wanted to interview me.
• Do you have any questions for us? Seriously if you do ask them. Ask them what they like about the school, ask them about the city, and ask them about research opportunities or whatever else floats your boat.
Those were all pretty basic questions that you are probably going to see in most interviews. These can be prepared for.
The next few are just some examples of one's I've come across that I have no idea why they would even ask these.
• What kind of kitchen appliance would you be?
• If you could invite 3 people to dinner who would they be? (Interviewers everywhere need to stop asking this question. Even if someone has a good answer does it really show any particular quality that you are looking for, really?)
• If you don't get accepted this year what are you going to do? At first glance this is a pretty honest, straight up question trying to find out what your future plans might be for the next year, but when I told my interviewer what I had planned for the next year he said, "would you reapply?" No I'm going to give up on my dream and open a Krispy Kreme franchise. (face palm)
• If you could have any superpower what would it be or if you could be any animal what would you be. (Seriously stop asking these questions)
• Who would you pick for "Times" person of the year? Good question, honestly hadn't really put much thought into it, but my answer was pretty good for winging it if I don't say so myself.
• Is this your top choice school? (Really like I'm going to say no.)
• Where else have you applied? (Why does this even matter?)
Dress
Guys and gals there are plenty of threads already about this, but I'll make this short and sweet.
Guys: Suit (period) Ok, no jeans, no sports jacket and kakis just fork over the dough for a suit. Color either grey, dark grey or navy blue. Black makes you look like you are going to a funeral and apparently everyone freaking wears black, its true people aren't just saying that. Shirt, keep to either white, blue or another soft color, no pink. Make sure your belt and shoes match your suit, brown shoes do not go with a black suit, stop wearing them together you look stupid. Lastly, the tie is pretty easy just match it to your shirt and suit. If you are going to wear a gold, yellow, or red power tie I'm going to tell you what everyone at your interview is thinking, "this guy is a huge tool." Maybe you are a well qualified tool, but you are a tool none the less.
Ladies: I'm probably not the one to give advice on this topic, but I will share my opinion and give you a male perspective, considering you're probably going to be interviewed by a dude. Ok this next part is probably going to sound bad, but just bare with me. So on interviews I usually see two kinds of women the one that is very business looking (pant suit) and the one trying to make herself stand out, mind you still very professional (pencil skirt). Ok the women wearing the pant suits I usually assume are interviewees and look very professional not much else to say on the subject. The women wearing the pencil skirts you do succeed in standing out, you do look different, but you also look like someone working in the admissions office. Ok, that wasn't a shot at women that's just what pops into my head when I see it, especially when the women working in the admissions office keep re-enforcing it by wearing pencil skirts. So moral of the story, you can't control what other people think about you, you can only nudge them in the direction you want. And if you don't already know ladies you will be walking a lot so make sure you have comfortable shoes.
So the take home message is you want to look like everyone else as far as outward appearance (clothing), but you want to stand out by your accomplishments and personality.
Interview day
Ok if you made it this far I'm proud of you and you deserve the secret code that gets you into medical school it's: up, up, down, down, left, right, A, B, start.
Alright seriously the interview day is fun, but stressful and at sometime long. Unless you have been on an interview before you will be nervous. I can tell you to try and relax like everyone else, but it's pretty much point less, just don't let your emotions affect your performance. The interviewers know you will be nervous, so you don't have to look bullet proof, just try not to look like a wreck. Remember to be early to your interview, 15 minutes is usually adequate. It gives you time to park, gather your things, and find the admissions office. It also gives you time if you get lost (raising my hand). For most of my interviews the actual interview was done in the morning, which is really nice, because you can relax after it's over. For an interview that is in the afternoon, you will be stressed the entire day that is a fact. The other parts of the interview day are pretty much standard: tour of the facilities, lunch, financial aid, etc.
This next part is what really helped me get through the interview day and the interview itself. Make sure you are prepared the night before, not with questions but with your clothes and luggage. Make sure you eat breakfast, believe me after the interview you will get hungry and lunch can't come soon enough. Be early like I said before. Try to talk with your other interviewees; this will help warm you up for the actual interview itself. Also, these people could be your future classmates so don't talk about your GPA or MCAT it really just makes you look insecure, just assume that everyone has exactly what you have, but they don't have your experiences or personality and that is what is going to set you apart. When you are called for you interview give a big smile and a good firm handshake. I honestly can't believe I have to say that, but maybe someone out there didn't know that. Maintain eye contact with whoever you are speaking with, but try not to stare them down (I don't know what that means actually, to stare someone down, maybe one of your interviews is going to steal second on you). And this is actually advice that I would highly recommend, but others probably will argue against, have a swagger about you. People, not just adcoms like a doctor who is confident, but not a d-bag though, ok keep that in mind. Believe me if you walk into an interview with your shoulders back, head up, and a big smile on your face you are going to come off as confident. What you say on the other hand will make you look like a d-bag, alright there's nothing wrong with a little swagger. Lastly, when you are stressing at the interview just remember how much time you have spent in school, extracurricular activities, on your application, on secondaries, and how much money you've spent to get here. Treat this interview like it's on your time (of course don't say anything like this or you will come off as a d-bag) and think if they're going to ask me questions then I'm going to answer them how I want, when I want, cause I do what I want.
Alright that's it. If you like it, great, if you want to add something to, sweet, and if you're offend by anything I've said here, I don't care let a mod ban me I could use a break from SDN for awhile.
Alright so everyone seems to be stressing about interviews this time of year so I figured I could try to alleviate some of that stress for you future interviewees and applicants. Personally when I was getting ready for interviews I was nervous because I have never really done anything like this before and most of what everyone was telling me about interviews wasn't really helping. So hopefully this addresses some of your concerns. I guess I should list some credentials so people can say "oh he must know what he talking about", so I've been on 5 interviews, I've been accepted to 3 schools and waitlisted at the other 2. Stats are not really important at this point, either you are going to get an interview and you can't really improve what you got that quick or you're not going to get an interview and… well this post isn't really for you.
Remember this is just my personal experience, you can't have the same experience as me cause you're not me.
Typical interview questions
So I figure is a big one for most people "how do I prepare for interview questions?" Well you can and can't prepare for some interview questions.
• Why do you want to be a doctor? Yes prepare for this one. This is honestly a very tricky question to answer for most people and it because everyone's answer always sounds the same, "I want to be a doctor because I want to help people and I like science." If you have answered this question with this answer you need to find a new answer. This is what everyone in your interview group is going to say with 1 or 2 exceptions, so if you want to stand out from the group really work on this answer and with all answers try not to sound to rehearsed.
• Tell me about yourself. Ok, this one I believe was answered pretty thoroughly in an article on SDN. This questioned gives you a chance to talk about yourself, what you like to do, and show your interviews who you are as a person. Take this one seriously, it's usually asked at the start of the interview so it's pretty much going to set the tone for the entire interview. If you are having trouble with it talk to a friend, parent, or professor and ask them what kind of person they think you are, sometimes that really gives you a jumping off point.
• Why DO? If you are applying DO and they will ask this question in some shape or form at DO interviews. The best advice I can give you is read up on the DO philosophy, take what you've learned from shadowing a DO, and know something about OMM. That's kind of all I've got for this one, maybe that would explain the 2 waitlists, but if anyone has anything else to add please do.
• What are some of your strengths/weaknesses and/or what strengths make a good doctor? Personally I like these three you can sub anything you want in or out, just have a good explanation for why and when you have demonstrated it.
1. Teamwork: Medicine is moving away from a doctor being an island and towards working as a team. Being able to show them that you work well in a team really goes a long way because it shows you work well with others, you can take orders, and also when needed give orders. And usually everyone has had a chance to be part of a team, enough said.
2. Leadership: They will want to know that you can direct people, if a child comes in with a gunshot wound you need to be able to stay calm and direct your team to save this child's life. Hopefully you've had a leadership experience, if not a… don't know what to tell you other then pick a different quality.
3. Determination/Passion: I personally like this one. If I was interviewing someone for any job, I would want them to enjoy the job they are interviewing for, but hey that's me. This could also be a chance to point out a time when you struggled in school, with family, or life in general. I know pre-med students struggle who am I kidding, but if you can point to an event in your life, show them that you struggled, but that you have corrected the error and it has made you more motivated to pursue medicine it will really show maturity, which most of us probably don't have yet.
4. Weakness: I always picked that I'm stubborn or too serious, other people will say no pick something that sounds like a strength, like "I'm too quick to except responsibility" or "I work too hard." Really, you work too hard, next you are going to tell me that if you become a doctor you are going to give your entire paycheck to orphans. Seriously though if they ask you to explain how "I'm too quick to except responsibility" is a weakness you are probably going to fall on your face.
• Why this school? Ok this one sucked for me. My state has only one school and I didn't apply to it and I have never visited another medical school before because of distance. So if you're in my shoes and applying out of state make sure you call them for info or scour the school's website for information. Have a good answer for this, because it's nice to show them that you want to go to their school vs. just wanting to go to medical school. It really sucks interviewing with someone who is currently going to the school, knows their interviewers and has all this knowledge of the school and all you can say about the school is I like the school because they wanted to interview me.
• Do you have any questions for us? Seriously if you do ask them. Ask them what they like about the school, ask them about the city, and ask them about research opportunities or whatever else floats your boat.
Those were all pretty basic questions that you are probably going to see in most interviews. These can be prepared for.
The next few are just some examples of one's I've come across that I have no idea why they would even ask these.
• What kind of kitchen appliance would you be?
• If you could invite 3 people to dinner who would they be? (Interviewers everywhere need to stop asking this question. Even if someone has a good answer does it really show any particular quality that you are looking for, really?)
• If you don't get accepted this year what are you going to do? At first glance this is a pretty honest, straight up question trying to find out what your future plans might be for the next year, but when I told my interviewer what I had planned for the next year he said, "would you reapply?" No I'm going to give up on my dream and open a Krispy Kreme franchise. (face palm)
• If you could have any superpower what would it be or if you could be any animal what would you be. (Seriously stop asking these questions)
• Who would you pick for "Times" person of the year? Good question, honestly hadn't really put much thought into it, but my answer was pretty good for winging it if I don't say so myself.
• Is this your top choice school? (Really like I'm going to say no.)
• Where else have you applied? (Why does this even matter?)
Dress
Guys and gals there are plenty of threads already about this, but I'll make this short and sweet.
Guys: Suit (period) Ok, no jeans, no sports jacket and kakis just fork over the dough for a suit. Color either grey, dark grey or navy blue. Black makes you look like you are going to a funeral and apparently everyone freaking wears black, its true people aren't just saying that. Shirt, keep to either white, blue or another soft color, no pink. Make sure your belt and shoes match your suit, brown shoes do not go with a black suit, stop wearing them together you look stupid. Lastly, the tie is pretty easy just match it to your shirt and suit. If you are going to wear a gold, yellow, or red power tie I'm going to tell you what everyone at your interview is thinking, "this guy is a huge tool." Maybe you are a well qualified tool, but you are a tool none the less.
Ladies: I'm probably not the one to give advice on this topic, but I will share my opinion and give you a male perspective, considering you're probably going to be interviewed by a dude. Ok this next part is probably going to sound bad, but just bare with me. So on interviews I usually see two kinds of women the one that is very business looking (pant suit) and the one trying to make herself stand out, mind you still very professional (pencil skirt). Ok the women wearing the pant suits I usually assume are interviewees and look very professional not much else to say on the subject. The women wearing the pencil skirts you do succeed in standing out, you do look different, but you also look like someone working in the admissions office. Ok, that wasn't a shot at women that's just what pops into my head when I see it, especially when the women working in the admissions office keep re-enforcing it by wearing pencil skirts. So moral of the story, you can't control what other people think about you, you can only nudge them in the direction you want. And if you don't already know ladies you will be walking a lot so make sure you have comfortable shoes.
So the take home message is you want to look like everyone else as far as outward appearance (clothing), but you want to stand out by your accomplishments and personality.
Interview day
Ok if you made it this far I'm proud of you and you deserve the secret code that gets you into medical school it's: up, up, down, down, left, right, A, B, start.
Alright seriously the interview day is fun, but stressful and at sometime long. Unless you have been on an interview before you will be nervous. I can tell you to try and relax like everyone else, but it's pretty much point less, just don't let your emotions affect your performance. The interviewers know you will be nervous, so you don't have to look bullet proof, just try not to look like a wreck. Remember to be early to your interview, 15 minutes is usually adequate. It gives you time to park, gather your things, and find the admissions office. It also gives you time if you get lost (raising my hand). For most of my interviews the actual interview was done in the morning, which is really nice, because you can relax after it's over. For an interview that is in the afternoon, you will be stressed the entire day that is a fact. The other parts of the interview day are pretty much standard: tour of the facilities, lunch, financial aid, etc.
This next part is what really helped me get through the interview day and the interview itself. Make sure you are prepared the night before, not with questions but with your clothes and luggage. Make sure you eat breakfast, believe me after the interview you will get hungry and lunch can't come soon enough. Be early like I said before. Try to talk with your other interviewees; this will help warm you up for the actual interview itself. Also, these people could be your future classmates so don't talk about your GPA or MCAT it really just makes you look insecure, just assume that everyone has exactly what you have, but they don't have your experiences or personality and that is what is going to set you apart. When you are called for you interview give a big smile and a good firm handshake. I honestly can't believe I have to say that, but maybe someone out there didn't know that. Maintain eye contact with whoever you are speaking with, but try not to stare them down (I don't know what that means actually, to stare someone down, maybe one of your interviews is going to steal second on you). And this is actually advice that I would highly recommend, but others probably will argue against, have a swagger about you. People, not just adcoms like a doctor who is confident, but not a d-bag though, ok keep that in mind. Believe me if you walk into an interview with your shoulders back, head up, and a big smile on your face you are going to come off as confident. What you say on the other hand will make you look like a d-bag, alright there's nothing wrong with a little swagger. Lastly, when you are stressing at the interview just remember how much time you have spent in school, extracurricular activities, on your application, on secondaries, and how much money you've spent to get here. Treat this interview like it's on your time (of course don't say anything like this or you will come off as a d-bag) and think if they're going to ask me questions then I'm going to answer them how I want, when I want, cause I do what I want.
Alright that's it. If you like it, great, if you want to add something to, sweet, and if you're offend by anything I've said here, I don't care let a mod ban me I could use a break from SDN for awhile.
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