Interview : "Tell me about yourself" ???

[Kazzar]

When the interviewer says "tell me about yourself," do you need to have a whole life-story worked out? I was thinking about saying what makes me tick and like what life-wisdom I have right now. (I think I'll say something to the effect that I make choices based on what will help the most people and also give me the most joy and personal satisfaction). But I assume you need to go on for at least like 5 min... any personal experiences or talks with ADCOMS about what they want?

In addition, would it be wise to say how much I like video games? I am big addict to those online Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Games, but I wonder if they'll see that as a detriment to my character. Should I just hide that part of me, or be careful in how I phrase my hobby? Its seems there is a sort of a stigma attached to video games, but I would guess changing an ADCOMs opinion on them isn't a priority or wise.

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[jcd311]

When I was pondering this question last year, the most important piece of advice I got was... say something that you think will make them remember you. I decided to talk about where I was born (my mom didn't make it to the hospital), growing up, my family, and how I got to wanting to be a doctor. Some of the people that are interviewing you will interview quite a few people in one day. I wanted to make sure that when they went to the committee with my file they would remember who I was.

 

[kris]

Interviewers aren't always of the same mind when asking this question.

I had one social nitwit actually want me to give him a purely historical timeline: start with where I was born, where I lived next, etc. His way of doing it was to ask questions along the way. (There were MANY things that made this guy a social nitwit).

Another interviewer wanted more of a personality review.

Some interviewers don't have an idea of how the answer should go, but want to see where you take it.

jcd3111 worked out a nice way of integrating a quick historical bio with interesting personal information. I agree that's a good way to go.

The following does NOT assume jcd3111 did something inappropriate:

Depending on how the interview is going, this question isn't necessarily the place to talk about being a doctor again. Sometimes they want to find out about your other facets. Not EVERY interview question is a place to reiterate stuff about doctoring. They really, truly do want to find out about other aspects of you. If you don't say something about why you want to be a doctor in this question, and they want to know more, they'll ask.

If you turn every answer into 'why I want to be a doctor' they won't find out anything about you, broadly speaking.
--kris

 

[jcd311]

kris is right... It's not always the place to talk about why you want to be a doctor, but in the majority of situations it was the first question I was asked. That's why I tried to cover a little bit of everything. If you have already covered why you want to be a doctor, there definitely is no reason to do it again.

 

[Popoy]

Here's what my friends and I established regarding this question....

Think about the three things you want to present to the adcoms about yourself so that you can take charge of the interview. Use those as your response.