Interviewing when sick?

[Caledfwlch]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey guys! I'm scheduled to interview at a school tomorrow (my top choice) and I'm pretty sick 🙁 This has been ongoing since Saturday, and I was hoping to be much better by now but no such luck. I'm planning to dose myself up on meds, and bring lots of tissues, and interview anyway...this school only has one more interview date, so this is probably the only chance I'll have to interview. Bad idea? Will the adcom view it negatively if a sick person shows up for an interview?

 

[aSagacious]

Are you asking if a panel of doctors will be comfortable with a sick person?

 

[Bartemius]

Hey guys! I'm scheduled to interview at a school tomorrow (my top choice) and I'm pretty sick 🙁 This has been ongoing since Saturday, and I was hoping to be much better by now but no such luck. I'm planning to dose myself up on meds, and bring lots of tissues, and interview anyway...this school only has one more interview date, so this is probably the only chance I'll have to interview. Bad idea? Will the adcom view it negatively if a sick person shows up for an interview?

go see your doctor right now, explain your situation, and hopefully he/she can give you the secret docs-only panacea that's sometimes gifted to prospective members of the the future profession.

but seriously, go see your doctor. maybe he/she can help/prescribe you something to get through tomorrow. good luck!

 

[Bartemius]

If you are sick to the point of being disgusting, you may want to reschedule.

If you just have a groggy head and stuffy nose, go for it. Impress your interviewer by claiming that you are running your own clinical study with a novel strain of rhinovirus.... the interviewer will become weak in the knees and undoubtedly ask how many subjects you have enrolled in your study. Hit her with the response:

You're looking at the subject, baby. 😎

I did this. Won me an instant waitlist. 🙂👍

better idea lol

 

[Caledfwlch]

Are you asking if a panel of doctors will be comfortable with a sick person?

well, it's not so much that I'm concerned they won't be comfortable, just that they might view it as irresponsible of me to show up this way. the interview is mmi format. So I'll be meeting lots of people, probably shaking lots of hands, getting germs on surfaces etc. etc.

Or do I just say, "sorry dude. I'd love to shake your hand, I'm sick and suchlike."

 

[Caledfwlch]

go see your doctor right now, explain your situation, and hopefully he/she can give you the secret docs-only panacea that's sometimes gifted to prospective members of the the future profession.

but seriously, go see your doctor. maybe he/she can help/prescribe you something to get through tomorrow. good luck!

thanks. I have an appointment for this evening; maybe he'll give me a prescription for something. Otherwise, I'll show up to my interview all zoned out on sudafed and dayquil...which will probably make for a super entertaining interview

 

[aSagacious]

Ok, to give you a serious response... I'm sure the interviewers are well aware that interview dates are relatively inflexible and scarce at this time of year so they'll understand why you decided to tough it out. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[Ilovewater]

I wouldn't worry about it unless you're extremely sick. When I took 1 week off to go interview at schools across the country, I got sick after the first 2 interviews. Obviously, I couldn't cancel or re-schedule. At one interview, I knew I had a cough attack coming, so I told the interviewer and excused myself for almost 5 minutes. The interviewer was actually really nice about it and didn't seem bothered. At the next interview, I was less sick, and the interviewer (an M.D.) actually made a comment about how I shouldn't have come to the interview being sick. We had the interview in a big conference room, and he told me to go sit at the opposite end of the conference table at least 10 ft away from him. So yeah, you're going to get different responses from different interviewers. However, I think most of them will be understanding.

 

[Donnie1310]

If you are sick to the point of being disgusting, you may want to reschedule.

If you just have a groggy head and stuffy nose, go for it. Impress your interviewer by claiming that you are running your own clinical study with a novel strain of rhinovirus.... the interviewer will become weak in the knees and undoubtedly ask how many subjects you have enrolled in your study. Hit her with the response:

You're looking at the subject, baby. 😎

I did this. Won me an instant waitlist. 🙂👍