Interviews... Is a long one good?

[MSgtLou]

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I just got done with my first interview for PA School, and my peers were able to gt in and out in 20 minutes or less! The guy who went after me was timing mine, and mine went over 35 minutes! His was long as well, though not as long as mine. We were both in our 40's while the next oldest was about 28.

When I walked out of the room, I felt pretty good about it. I had put my foot in my mouth a few times, but was able to clarify the points and fill in any major pot holes.

My fellow ole' timer said that a long interview is a very, very good sign and he felt that he did very well. I thought I did great, but after 3 hours, I have reflected on it and I am having self doubts. Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not a longer than normal interviews is a good or bad sign?

 

[DeadorAlive]

I think that a long interview is a GREAT sign! When I've interviewed folks (not for med school, but in other situations), I tend to only keep them around if i'm still interested. If it's clear that you can't hack it, why put us both through the trouble? You must have really held your interviewer's interest and done a great job. Congrats! No self-doubts needed.

 

[tiredmom]

It sounds good to me... especially if the conversation was flowing well. My worst interview ended up being at the school I matched to (he made me cry 🙁 ) So, what I learned was - my read on the interview obviously was much worse than his was! Good luck!

 

[cadilakgrl]

I had the same concern with a couple long interviews that were almost 1 hour! They were laidback and comfortable, but when I looked back at the experience I was worried that maybe it was a little too casual and I might have also put my foot in my mouth. But I guess you can never tell until you get the decision from the school! Hopefully it is a good sign 😕

 

[primadonna22274]

Heh, when I interviewed for PA school we literally had a monitor with a stopwatch timing each one. 15 minutes, time's up!
It was a relief for me because I had influenza (sooooo sick) and had completely lost my voice by the third interview. I was popping ibuprofen and drinking TheraFlu from a thermos all day long. I think they let me in out of pity (NOT).
A long interview generally means you hit it off and found some common ground. I would say it's probably a good sign.
Good luck!

 

[MSgtLou]

Thanks to all who responded. I did say some stupid things and they gave me a chance to dig my way out of them. Maybe they expect that and wanted to clarify before they dropped the axe.

Now, if I only knew how much weight they give the interview... They said that they looked at the "Total application". I sure hope that that is the case.

Does anyone know how the "admissions commitee" votes on the applicants after the interview?