Is it weird that at my top 10 school interview we only talked about farming?

[ponybreeder4]

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So by some miracle a top 10 school invited me for an interview. I have a lot of medical experience, which they must have seen on my application to have invited me. But 70% of my interview they talked about my background in farming. When they asked me the if not medicine, what would you do question i said farming. Do you guys think that was weird. Or is it normal, since they saw all of my medical experiences on my application they wanted to get to know me better and talked about my farming background?

 

[IHeartNerds]

I interview a lot of people. Most have completely indistinguishable applications. I for one would be happy to talk about anything that isn't the typical research / volunteer boredom.

 

[runawayclock]

I had two interviews at a med school, one with a faculty member and one with a current student. At my faculty one, we only talked about my research (non-clinical- basic science) and at my student one, we talked about basically... everything except my clinical activities (!). Got accepted though. I think interviewers ask about what they think they should know - if they think they have a good enough understanding of your clinical activities and they think that you have enough experience, they might rather you talk about something more interesting or unique (like farming).

 

[BushidoBrown]

I think you could have come up with a better response than 'farming' about your backup to medical school (because some may interpret it as a lack of dedication to the profession), but if an interviewer was so interested about my background to spend most of an interview talking about it, I would take it as a positive sign.

Assuming you didn't make an ass of yourself during the interview, of course.

 

[takk]

So by some miracle a top 10 school invited me for an interview. I have a lot of medical experience, which they must have seen on my application to have invited me. But 70% of my interview they talked about my background in farming. When they asked me the if not medicine, what would you do question i said farming. Do you guys think that was weird. Or is it normal, since they saw all of my medical experiences on my application they wanted to get to know me better and talked about my farming background?

I had a similar experience where my interviewer and I randomly talked for 15 minutes about 16th century Spanish lit. It was strange but actually a welcome change (for both of us, I think) to not have to talk about the same old stuff we always talk about in interviews 🙂

 

[ponybreeder4]

Really, so what would have been a better answer for what would you do if you couldnt' go into medicine? He said it couldnt be anything in medicine at all.

 

[Torr]

I interview a lot of people. Most have completely indistinguishable applications. I for one would be happy to talk about anything that isn't the typical research / volunteer boredom.

👍 I agree.

Even when I think back to my own interviews, the parts where everyone was really interested were topics non-clinically or medically related. Books I like or time abroad or things that set you apart. It might be a good thing that you'll be remembered as that applicant with the background in farming.

One of my friends spent the bulk of his interview talking about work he'd done on Sesame street :|. Got in.

 

[BushidoBrown]

Really, so what would have been a better answer for what would you do if you couldnt' go into medicine? He said it couldnt be anything in medicine at all.

I read that wrong, I thought the question asked was "What if you're not accepted anywhere" (which, incidentally, I've been asked in every single interview).

Might I ask what your reasoning behind going into farming (if not medicine) is?

 

[ponybreeder4]

Farming because i already have so much experience in it, so it wouldn't be that hard to change careers. What did you guys say for your if not medicine question?​

 

[gravitywave]

would not be weird at an interview for any school. interviewers like to talk about the things that set you apart, for reasons already expressed above

 

[hopki099]

.

 

[wanderer]

Nice job getting a top 10 interview with a 3.2/23!!

So my GPA is in the low 3.'s and MCAT is a 23...but i have a burning desire to be a doctor. This is my childhood dream. I have done everything in my power to gain more exposure to medicine, shadowing as early as high school. It angers me so much when i see my fellow pre-meds who just a year ago were saying oh "im not sure if i want to do pharmacy, medicine, maybe nursing" those kinds of people getting interviews now. While since childhood, my idea hasn't changed.
So what if i like to party, so what if i can honestly say i enjoyed my college experience? No i didn't spend my college years living at the library. But am i to be punished for wanting to experinece more than the academic side of college?
Now im kinda wishing i was one of those annoying antisocial premeds with a 3.8, maybe then id have interviews. I applied to 35 schools 🙁

 

[gettheleadout]

Nice job getting a top 10 interview with a 3.2/23!!

Beginning to doubt the situation...

 

[Torr]

Beginning to doubt the situation...

This is really annoying. I don't have the time to check the legitimacy of every poster. I vote to appoint someone to do that for us. Like a new super-mod that investigates prior posts before we spend our precious time and insight on frauds.

Yes, a super-mod.

 

[Myuu]

Why would we do that when such enterprising and helpful users such as yourself are so willing to do it for us?🙂

 

[Ride Big Sky]

All we have to do is assume everyone is a crazy, untruthful, annoying little troll until proven otherwise.