Interview Venting/Need Options. Possible inappropriate questioning?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
If this is true, it does sound inappropriate in my opinion. Have you contacted the dean or the ADCOM?

definitely worth reporting how you feel it was inappropriate, even if they decide it wasn't.
 
Maybe the way you answered their questions led them to keep pressing you about this issue? I mean if you wrote it on your application then its fair game for them to ask you about it and understand the situation before they invested on you at their medical school. Reflect on how you may have answered these questions and make sure you improve your responses on future interviews
 
baxt1412 said:
yeah i guess you're right. part of me says i wouldn't want to go to a place that allows this kind of questioning, but then again it's only one person.
Click to expand...

I totally agree, but this is one of my top choice schools :/
 
Addiction is in part genetic and it is common for addicts to lie. The interviewer was trying to do a risk assessment based on the info that you volunteered. The school could have completely ignored your app.
 
I realize this. Happy they didn't though, I am a strong applicant besides my past struggles. And I did not have to tell them about my past but I did, because I am not a liar and it has changed my life, and I wanted to share this life changing experience with them. When shadowing a physician, she was telling me its easy to tell when people lie when getting histories. And I asked her if she would think they are lying if they told her they are completely sober and don't drink, she said it's an unusual answer so she would believe it. idk why this came to mind- but it did.
 
You don't want to lie, but you dont have to tell them everything about yourself either especially if it can raise red flags. Its like when someone asks you about your weaknesses. You don't want to paint a negative image of yourself, but you have to answer the question so you try to put a positive spin on it. Similarly here, you have to focus less on the addiction and more about what you learned from it. I think mentioning it on the PS was a no-no because now you have let them know about this, even if you are trying to show them what you have learned. What is done is done, but for future advice do not put negative attributes into PS. Save that for secondaries where you may be asked for "describe a challenging situation" questions.
 
That's a matter of opinion. I had DO's and a friend who is a PA read my PS and they loved it- it was not negative at all and was not a negative experience at all. This was the first school to continually ask me negative aspects of it. I have had numerous ii and I would not change my decision to take it out if I could.
 
I agree with you, crossfit. People say to never mention anything negative about yourself in your PS, but I don't see it as a bad thing at all. You can give such clear examples/explanations of your strong attributes by explaining how you earned them, through overcoming hardship and adversity. Like you, I talked about my past mistakes. I used those experiences to show how I've become a stronger person and how those experiences will make me a better doctor than if I hadn't made the mistakes I made. My first school where I was complete was on 9/30. In 3 weeks, I've received 3 IIs.

It's one thing to harp on the negatives and make excuses, but by talking about what hardships you went through to become the person you are today, I think it gives you the potential to create a very, very strong PS. Just depends on how you word it.
 
Last edited:
karling said:
I agree with you, crossfit. People say to never mention anything negative about yourself in your PS, but I don't see it as a bad thing at all. You can give such clear examples/explanations of your strong attributes by explaining how you earned them, through overcoming hardship and adversity. Like you, I talked about my past mistakes. I used those experiences to show how I've become a stronger person and how those experiences will make me a better doctor than if I hadn't made the mistakes I made. My first school where I was complete was on 9/30. In 3 weeks, I've received 3 IIs.

It's one thing to harp on the negatives and make excuses, but by talking about what hardships you went through to become the person you are today, I think it gives you the potential to create a very, very strong PS. Just depends on how you word it.
Click to expand...

very much this. other people are "giving clear examples of strong attributes" as well, but they use things that basically can't be considered negative (disregarding extreme cases) like tutoring at an elementary school, balancing intercollegiate athletics with pre-med, etc. whereas drug history has a much higher (lol.. see what I did there?) possibility of coming off as negative... especially if you get a (typically) older, less-understanding/more traditional interviewer.

it isn't guaranteed to be negative. i don't think that is what anyone is saying here.. it's just that it's dangerous. but what's done is done. time to own it in your IIs
 
I guess what I'm trying to say is that an absolute such as "for future advice do not put negative attributes into PS" is a little over-simplified. If tutoring or collegiate athletics were defining experiences in your life, then they are worth writing about. If a personal struggle you had to overcome was the defining experience, then that's worth writing about. OP has received 4(?) IIs, and I wouldn't be surprised if his/her strong PS has been a factor in receiving them.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm not an adcom, so I could be totally off base here. But I know that if I was an adcom, I'd be very impressed by an applicant's ability to tackle a huge problem, change their life around, and have the courage to talk openly and honestly about their past struggles.
 
karling said:
I guess what I'm trying to say is that an absolute such as "for future advice do not put negative attributes into PS" is a little over-simplified. If tutoring or collegiate athletics were defining experiences in your life, then they are worth writing about. If a personal struggle you had to overcome was the defining experience, then that's worth writing about. OP has received 4(?) IIs, and I wouldn't be surprised if his/her strong PS has been a factor in receiving them.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm not an adcom, so I could be totally off base here. But I know that if I was an adcom, I'd be very impressed by an applicant's ability to tackle a huge problem, change their life around, and have the courage to talk openly and honestly about their past struggles.
Click to expand...

i'm with you. we're all just making guesses anyway.

i'm just saying that 99.99999% of people would probably say that athletics/tutoring/etc could essentially never be considered a possibly negative thing. again, it all depends on how OP wrote about his history and how he articulates it in an interview as well. i wish him/her luck for sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
Is this inappropriate?
Replies
4
Views
524
notEinstein
N
Goro
So much for D.O. limiting one's options
Replies
8
Views
2K
EEqualsRx2
EEqualsRx2
T
Need advice on getting final LOR
Replies
3
Views
279
camplakemn
C
G
low gpa options
Replies
7
Views
4K
dial1010usa
D
L
Need some guidance...
Replies
8
Views
1K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top