Interview panic!

[raindropx]

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Hello my friends. It is a beautiful day to be a premed!
Some questions:
-what happens when you're terrible at interviews in general? I blank out when I'm nervous.
-do you talk to the other interviewees? or will they stress you out?
-are most of them like conversations? or do you talk while they jot down your answers and proceed to the next question indifferently?

 

[Goro]

I can't sugar coat this: you don't get wait-listed, you get outright rejected. This is no mean feat, BTW.

-what happens when you're terrible at interviews in general? I blank out when I'm nervous.

All of the interviewees at my school chat with each other. they're all in the same boat. Bonding time.
-do you talk to the other interviewees? or will they stress you out?

We ask you questions, you answer them. We don't write down answers, but we do write notes, like "'didn't answer Joe's question" or "great answer!"
Look at the Interview feedback section of SDN for any particular school and imagine those questions are coming to you one at a time. They ask, you answer.
-are most of them like conversations? or do you talk while they jot down your answers and proceed to the next question indifferently?

 

[Catalystik]

-what happens when you're terrible at interviews in general? I blank out when I'm nervous.

If you know this is a problem ahead of time, strategize to overcome or obscure the problem. Practice. Practice. Practice. See if your school's Career Center offers mock interviews and will work with you to tune up your interview skills.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

I feel your anxiety too. I've been writing out practice questions, scripting answers then practicing with others. It is not easy, but after a week or so, I am getting more comfortable talking about myself. This is not natural, but I am feeling better about not freezing or getting the deer in the headlights look. Good practicing to you ( luck will not help us)

 

[lhooq]

1. Don't worry! All of us feel nervous about interviews and blanking out at some point or another. I would recommend doing practice interviews - your pre-med or career services advisors at your school should be able to set this up for you - you'll be able to get a feel for what the interview will be like and valuable feedback, and you will be much less nervous overall during the actual thing.

2. Yes, at most schools you'll have the chance to talk to other interviewers - I didn't find this to be stressful at all, in fact I thought it helped relax me before the actual interview.

3. This really depends from school to school, interviewer to interviewer, and interview format (MMI vs. traditional), but I found most of mine to be conversational. Ultimately, the goal of the interview is to get a sense of who you are as a person. Overall, I enjoyed most of my interviews (waiting for the decision afterward is a whole other story...).

Good luck!

 

[raindropx]

Thanks for giving me hope!

 

[narvik2016]

Try using down time or commuting time to practice your interview skills, informally. Back when I prepared for a pretty serious gap year program, I kept a list of possible questions with me and during my commute I would run my answers through my head, or even speak them aloud if I was in the car alone, haha. It really helped me to improve rambling and make my answers more concicse without the pressure/anxiety of answering to peers/friends/family. Once you feel more confident with your answers, then turn to others to practice with another person.

Also, the best interview advice I have ever been given is to be honest. It is much easier to answer and perform well when your answers are true to you, your experiences, and what you believe in. Remind yourself of this if/when the nerves set in!

 

[IlyaR]

Practice interviews really do wonders. I surprised myself at a couple of interviews despite being pretty nervous beforehand

 

[raindropx]

You all have no idea how much more confident your stories are making me!!