Is 3-4 minutes (each) too long of a response to "Tell me about yourself" and "Why medicine?"

[juleppedMint]

I feel like I'm focusing on the most relevant points of each question, but wanted to know if I should try to pare down further. Thank you in advance!

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[Goro]

2 minutes for each, tops. Note, that's just my take, your mileage may vary

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I feel like I'm focusing on the most relevant points of each question, but wanted to know if I should try to pare down further. Thank you in advance!

"Science" says, 90 seconds.

Don't Talk Too Much

If you go on and on about yourself, you may not sell interviewers on hiring you. Learn how to hush up and keep them involved.

www.monster.com

 

[GoSpursGo]

I would have said 60 seconds, even before reading the article above.

They've read your personal statement and CV, so this doesn't need to be an all-encompassing regurgitation of everything you've ever done. Just literally the top 2-3 points that bear emphasis and should be the jumping off point for your interview.

 

[LizzyM]

If Madison Avenue can sell you on almost anything in 60 seconds or less, you should be able to do the same. Don't make it a 30 minute infomercial.

 

[Moko]

If Madison Avenue can sell you on almost anything in 60 seconds or less, you should be able to do the same. Don't make it a 30 minute infomercial.

We had an interviewee who gave a 15 minute long speech in response to "why medicine?" Their response was poorly received by the interviewer who had also jotted down the start and stop times of this applicant's response.

 

[LiteralLungs]

@Moko @Goro @LizzyM @GoSpursGo @Mr.Smile12

For any interview questions in general, is there a general guideline on how long responses should be? Should they always be not longer than 2 minutes, depending on the question?

For example, if someone were to ask me 3 competencies that would make me a good physician, I feel like I should name each and give personal examples of each from my own life, and then connect that to becoming a physician. I just recorded myself, and it takes me about 5 minutes to do this.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

@Moko @Goro @LizzyM @GoSpursGo @Mr.Smile12

For any interview questions in general, is there a general guideline on how long responses should be? Should they always be not longer than 2 minutes, depending on the question?

For example, if someone were to ask me 3 competencies that would make me a good physician, I feel like I should name each and give personal examples of each from my own life, and then connect that to becoming a physician. I just recorded myself, and it takes me about 5 minutes to do this.

Assuming this is not in MMI format.

You can message me or set up an appointment (see my signature) for specific pointers, but my first question to the question is "that's a great question. How much time do I have?" That should help.

 

[GoSpursGo]

@Moko @Goro @LizzyM @GoSpursGo @Mr.Smile12

For any interview questions in general, is there a general guideline on how long responses should be? Should they always be not longer than 2 minutes, depending on the question?

For example, if someone were to ask me 3 competencies that would make me a good physician, I feel like I should name each and give personal examples of each from my own life, and then connect that to becoming a physician. I just recorded myself, and it takes me about 5 minutes to do this.

Again if you look at the link above, 90 seconds is about as long as you’re going to hold someone’s attention in a conversation.

This isn’t an essay or a lecture where you need to exhaustively answer every potential aspect of a question, it’s intended to be a conversation where you have a back and forth. You need to let the other person talk. So in your hypothetical scenario, I would give the three competencies and then pass back and allow them to determine how much detail to go into.

 

[LiteralLungs]

Assuming this is not in MMI format.

You can message me or set up an appointment (see my signature) for specific pointers, but my first question to the question is "that's a great question. How much time do I have?" That should help.

Again if you look at the link above, 90 seconds is about as long as you’re going to hold someone’s attention in a conversation.

This isn’t an essay or a lecture where you need to exhaustively answer every potential aspect of a question, it’s intended to be a conversation where you have a back and forth. You need to let the other person talk. So in your hypothetical scenario, I would give the three competencies and then pass back and allow them to determine how much detail to go into.

Okay, I need to be more intentional about doing this.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Again if you look at the link above, 90 seconds is about as long as you’re going to hold someone’s attention in a conversation.

This isn’t an essay or a lecture where you need to exhaustively answer every potential aspect of a question, it’s intended to be a conversation where you have a back and forth. You need to let the other person talk. So in your hypothetical scenario, I would give the three competencies and then pass back and allow them to determine how much detail to go into.

I'll also add that a couple of schools ask this in a secondary essay prompt.

 

[mlfpprf]

I'd do 1.5 to 2 minutes tops.
The way I approach these questions is that you want to stimulate topics for the interviewer to ask you about. So I tend to give a brief introduction/overview with these answers and let the interviewer take it from there. This will give them topics to talk about for their follow up questions.

 

[a_distant_dream]

I’m trying to target 1.5 minutes but I don’t worry if I hit 2 minutes. Being able to dynamically adjust (adding more if they ask for more) is probably the best approach.

 

[Goro]

We had an interviewee who gave a 15 minute long speech in response to "why medicine?" Their response was poorly received by the interviewer who had also jotted down the start and stop times of this applicant's response.

When I get a blowhard interviewee that goes past my stop line, I will cut them off.

 

[LadyDustyBlue]

Just imagined this person having some sort of background in speech, poli-sci, or communication, but they got so nervous they blew it. Or maybe they were really young and didn’t practice with anyone prior to interviewing.

Did anyone try to stop the interviewee? 15 minutes is way too long.

@juleppedMint have you practiced w/ people you trust? Sometimes we time it by ourselves & it’s never as natural-flowing or timed well as when we practice with another person in the room… or multiple people at the same time.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Fifteen minutes is a TED talk. Or an influencer video. But even when I was "interviewing" for a test prep job as a teacher, I had five minutes... when I had to assess others doing it, that sometimes felt really long.

 

[Goro]

.Did anyone try to stop the interviewee? 15 minutes is way too long.

I imagine that they were giving the candidate enough rope to hang themselves

 

[LadyDustyBlue]

I imagine that they were giving the candidate enough rope to hang themselves

Must’ve been a slow day 😂.

 

[LadyDustyBlue]

Fifteen minutes is a TED talk. Or an influencer video. But even when I was "interviewing" for a test prep job as a teacher, I had five minutes... when I had to assess others doing it, that sometimes felt really long.

I think us pre-meds need to think of it like dating or getting picked up over a drink.

“You’ve got 90 seconds to be completely upfront about who you are, go!”

 

[juleppedMint]

@juleppedMint have you practiced w/ people you trust? Sometimes we time it by ourselves & it’s never as natural-flowing or timed well as when we practice with another person in the room… or multiple people at the same time.

Yes, I have! Although I haven't timed my responses when practicing with other people. I'm currently working on cutting down my response times to about 1.5-2 minutes, give or take. Thank you very much everyone for the feedback so far, I appreciate it!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I imagine that they were giving the candidate enough rope to hang themselves

Sure... but five minutes is enough rope. This isn't American Pie by Don McLean.

 

[sunshower26]

Have done a few interviews and found that the most valuable preparation is just having a few points you may want to get across (3 since people like to think in groups of 3), and then gauge what you say based on the conversation and alter it based on nonverbal feedback/cues/perceived interest of the interviewer! I feel like my interviews thus far have gone really well, and I think the key is to just make it a fun conversation and not allow your responses to seem too rehearsed. If it starts feeling like your response is getting super monologue-y or the interviewer’s eyes look like they’re starting to glaze over I would quickly sum up/wrap up your answer.

 

[K-Frog]

My rule of thumb is to be able to answer any question in 60 seconds and then explain more with examples from your life experiences only if it strongly supports you AND they want to hear it.

I think 4 minutes is too long. You will bore the interviewer. And there are too many other questions you should want to have an opportunity to answer.

When people take a long time to answer a question I always think: 1. they are unprepared, 2. they are not able to focus, 3. they have no social awareness, or 4. they are trying to dodge the question.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

I've been meaning to talk about this as well. I like to think of myself as an affable person, and approach interviews in a "casual yet serious" way. I like for things to feel like a natural conversation. I have a lot of experience in writing and telling stories, so for some of these questions I would be highly inclined to "show don't tell" and give a brief narrative (2-3m) basically rather than just summarizing things as if rattling off bullet points.

But it's difficult to plan what stories should be put in the essays, and then if you should just give a 60s summary your essays while adding a bit more, or if some stories should just be saved entirely for the interview. (especially since some interviewers may not have seen your essay/ps etc).

I'd like to think of "why medicine" question is the seed and then the rest of the interview is watering that seed, and figuring out how to do that via the essays and interview is the tricky bit.

 

[sunshower26]

I've been meaning to talk about this as well. I like to think of myself as an affable person, and approach interviews in a "casual yet serious" way. I like for things to feel like a natural conversation. I have a lot of experience in writing and telling stories, so for some of these questions I would be highly inclined to "show don't tell" and give a brief narrative (2-3m) basically rather than just summarizing things as if rattling off bullet points.

But it's difficult to plan what stories should be put in the essays, and then if you should just give a 60s summary your essays while adding a bit more, or if some stories should just be saved entirely for the interview. (especially since some interviewers may not have seen your essay/ps etc).

I'd like to think of "why medicine" question is the seed and then the rest of the interview is watering that seed, and figuring out how to do that via the essays and interview is the tricky bit.

You sir, have watched Dr. Gray, haha

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

You sir, have watched Dr. Gray, haha

Only heard about him last week actually! I did steal the seed phrasing. These ideas are my own though, so I'm still trying to figure out the essay / interview overlap problem.

But I know a large part of it will be "feeling things out" in the interview, trying to match their energy, get a feel for if they are looking for more formal / informal. That's the type of stuff you can only get with experience. But having some background info (hence my post here) always helps.

I honestly don't know how these traditional students manage to pull this stuff off, really impressive and my heart goes out to them for getting through it.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Ryan's a great guy, and I like him a lot. But as for someone who has competed or run interviews for competition purposes (US Academic Decathlon) for about a decade independent of my life in admissions/advising, I can tell you that there are many other ways to address this, even professionally. It's great to have a lot of plans on how you will do your interview... until the interviewer decides you need to show something else.

The essay/interview overlap problem can be different if you know that your interaction is open-file or closed-file. But you still have to be brief and get to your point. The interview is not just about you, and we don't have time to see a lot of seedlings grow. It will take me 10 seconds to start triaging you for a rating, as it will happen with every interviewer. In other words, you really don't have the time.

In contrast, I like to make sure that a professional interview is all about presenting yourself as if you already have the white coat on. The question is whose branding the interviewer sees on it and what its condition is going to be (meant in a good way).

(Please note: I come from an interprofessional background, so "why medicine" isn't the relevant question I want to know from candidates. That is where the advice fails.)

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

It's great to have a lot of plans on how you will do your interview... until the interviewer decides you need to show something else.

...

It will take me 10 seconds to start triaging you for a rating, as it will happen with every interviewer. In other words, you really don't have the time.

This, Succinctness is something that I feel a lot of students don't fully understand the value of.

(I'd love to pick your brain more on this topic but I don't want to derail the thread. I haven't read any of Dr. Gray's books or spent much time looking at his content so I can't comment on his approach to an interview or how much of it overlaps with mine.)

EDIT: Saving for another thread for another time

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I admit I didn't read any of Dr. Gray's books. But I do listen in on a lot of advice from other prehealth advisors and consultants, partly to pick up on others' problem-solving approaches and analogies (like the seed one). You never know when you can pick up something useful for someone else.

But why students don't understand succinctness... I have my thoughts that we really don't teach communications skills anyway, and it is arguable if we teach it in professional school (we do when it comes to case presentations in first-year). We are used to talking while thinking, especially when it comes to creating first drafts. We don't talk professionally as a habit, and it is arguable whether this is a benefit of college. It's a code switch.

Suffice it to say, you have to be adaptable. One interviewer may want you to get to the point, summarize the highlights, and move along so you can cover more topics in your conversation (or as required for your interview evaluation). Another may not mind more depth to the story. It completely depends on the interviewer's goals.

Practicing on Casper is a nice example (go to our forum). You have 5 minutes to answer 3 questions, but Altus says you are NOT penalized if you don't answer all three questions (believe it or not). In contrast, some MMI rubrics I have seen give bonus points if all three questions were answered in the 8-minute block to reward succinctness.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Also a very good article with a video: Preparing For Your Interview: A Master Class - SDN