Interview Day: 1 great interview, 1 neutral to bad interview

[JJAbrams]

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I had an interview this past week in which I had two separate 30-minute interviews with a faculty member.

My first interview with a faculty member was neutral at best and bad at worst. He projected such a negative energy and acted as if interviewing me was the last thing on Earth he'd like to be doing. He didn't ask me any standard interview questions...instead he chose to focus on all the negatives he could find in my application as he sat in front of me and thumbed through it. I did my best to not let him rattle me and think I did well in that, but I left very unsure about that interview.

My second interview went MUCH better. The second faculty member took a genuine interest in me as a person and as a result the interview was much more conversational and dynamic. As we finished the interview he said he was happy to meet me and would recommend me for acceptance to the admissions committee.

So now I'm wondering, what happens if you have 1 great interview and 1 bad interview and there might be two completely differing opinions of you from interview day? I would hope that would beg further deliberation by the rest of the admissions committee, but I'm not sure how that all works and whether ultimately 1 not so good interview could bring upon a rejection from the school.

Anybody here have a similar experience?

 

[fizzle]

SDN would tell you:

1. Different interviewers have different interview styles
2. Some interviewers purposely use a stress interview to see what the candidate is really like
3. Anecdotes about someone with a supposedly bad interview getting in
4. Everything's going to be all right, and good luck

Have I covered everything?

 

[THX]

There is no way of knowing if an interview went well or not. Some have totally different approaches. Some make it easy for you and others make it difficult. Just because you left an interview with a negative impression does not mean you presented yourself negatively in the eyes of the person interviewing you.

Obviously, having an easy going, approachable and kind person interviewing you is better on the ego but it doesn't mean that it is any better than having someone who is purposely acting like a downer to see how you react.

 

[linguini]

SDN would tell you:

1. Different interviewers have different interview styles
2. Some interviewers purposely use a stress interview to see what the candidate is really like
3. Anecdotes about someone with a supposedly bad interview getting in
4. Everything's going to be all right, and good luck

Have I covered everything?

👍

 

[Ennis]

While I would agree that there's no telling when it comes to interviews, I am interested in the original question. What does happen if one interviewer has a positive impression and the other a negative impression?

 

[xrevision]

Good cop... Bad cop?

 

[thegreenlight]

I had an interview this past week in which I had two separate 30-minute interviews with a faculty member.

My first interview with a faculty member was neutral at best and bad at worst. He projected such a negative energy and acted as if interviewing me was the last thing on Earth he'd like to be doing. He didn't ask me any standard interview questions...instead he chose to focus on all the negatives he could find in my application as he sat in front of me and thumbed through it. I did my best to not let him rattle me and think I did well in that, but I left very unsure about that interview.

My second interview went MUCH better. The second faculty member took a genuine interest in me as a person and as a result the interview was much more conversational and dynamic. As we finished the interview he said he was happy to meet me and would recommend me for acceptance to the admissions committee.

So now I'm wondering, what happens if you have 1 great interview and 1 bad interview and there might be two completely differing opinions of you from interview day? I would hope that would beg further deliberation by the rest of the admissions committee, but I'm not sure how that all works and whether ultimately 1 not so good interview could bring upon a rejection from the school.

Anybody here have a similar experience?

I had a similar experience just this past week also. The interviews were also 30 minutes each at this school. Maybe it was the same as yours? My first interviewer seemed to already have an extremely negative impression of me before the interview had even started. He also criticized several areas of my application during the interview and then proceeded to ask questions that seemed almost like attacks. Not once did was actually discuss my activities; instead, he told me, at the end of the interview, that everything he needed to know was already on my AMCAS.