Misleading interviews

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SD Skunk

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i was recently waitlisted at nyu (like many people), which was surprising namely due to my interviewer ending the interview with the following words:

"Well, I do hope you choose to come here! I think you'd be a great asset to our school."

i have a very strong application. very good numbers and personal statement, and decent extracurriculars with several unique activities/hobbies. but that aside, having talked with other interviewees at other schools about their interview process, i have come to the conclusion that interviewers really should be cautious about the words they choose. i would honestly prefer the aggressive, hellish, and pseudo-offensive interview that is candid over the gentle and encouraging interview that is misleading.

i'd like to hear what the rest of my pre-med homies out there think

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I think generally schools will say something like this. It kind of poked a hole in my confidence, because I spoke with the director of admissions at my top choice and she said I'd be very competitive there.

Why? They want you to stay interested in their school, giving them the choice. If you make the choice, power rests in you. If you stay hooked on their school, then they have the choice, so power rests in them. That's their goal, to be able to decide if you go there or not, while your goal is to be able to decide if you go there or not.
 
SD Skunk said:
i was recently waitlisted at nyu (like many people), which was surprising namely due to my interviewer ending the interview with the following words:

"Well, I do hope you choose to come here! I think you'd be a great asset to our school."

yeah. my interviewer at nyu told me "NYU would love to have you!" the outcome: WAITLIST.

i take everything with a grain of salt. this process is too random.....
 
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interviewers are trained to say that at the end of an interview to any hapless chump that walks in there. don't take it to mean they actually want you or anything.
 
After a date have you ever told someone "I'll call you" (or been told that)?

Words are just words. Sometimes they're lies.

NS
 
NotShorty said:
After a date have you ever told someone "I'll call you" (or been told that)?

Words are just words. Sometimes they're lies.

NS

What a bummer!!! I think you are right, though. Sounds alot like that book, "He's just not that into you."
 
Sparky Man said:
What a bummer!!! I think you are right, though. Sounds alot like that book, "He's just not that into you."

all good points
 
yeah, i had the same experience with NYU . . . judging from the fact that every other applicant that interviewed within the last couple of months was similarly waitlisted, i think NYU is trying to buy a little more time and see who's truly interested -- after all, they had something like 8000 apps this year.
 
yah; ive never gotten too excited about anything that interviewers or anyone for that matter says. They have their preferences and if you meet it you'll get in. Thats kind of why this parallels a roll of the die. Interviews dont really carry that much weight at many schools i think
 
After an interview with the Assistant Dean of Admissions for my first choice school, I sent an e-mail to thank her and reaffirm that it was indeed at the top of my list.

Her e-mail back to me said that she thought I was a good fit and that she would "work hard to get a letter to me soon."

It was certainly ambiguous, but being a perpetual optimist, I took "letter" to mean acceptance. And sure enough, I did receive a letter three weeks later notifying me of my place on the waitlist!
 
you have to understand, even he truly loved you, even if he really thought you were the best candidate in the history of NYU, he does not have the power to accept you by himself. That is why there are committees, so that no one person can have too much influence.

Also, I think it is formality.
 
SD Skunk said:
i was recently waitlisted at nyu (like many people), which was surprising namely due to my interviewer ending the interview with the following words:

"Well, I do hope you choose to come here! I think you'd be a great asset to our school."

i have a very strong application. very good numbers and personal statement, and decent extracurriculars with several unique activities/hobbies. but that aside, having talked with other interviewees at other schools about their interview process, i have come to the conclusion that interviewers really should be cautious about the words they choose. i would honestly prefer the aggressive, hellish, and pseudo-offensive interview that is candid over the gentle and encouraging interview that is misleading.

i'd like to hear what the rest of my pre-med homies out there think

Let me put things in perspective for you (as I seem to be doing for so many SDN-ers): it's only NYU. If you have good numbers etc., as you've suggested, then I am sure much, much, much, much better schools would not only agree with the NYU interviewer but actually act on their assessment of you. Sometimes I forget that NYU has a medical school but I suppose that's to be expected.

*Adds two cubes of sugar to freshly decanted tea. Stirs with silver spoon ever so genetly. Sips*
 
Applicants/Interviewees mislead schools as well.

Whether it's content from your personal statement...a slight overexaggeration of how some experience motivated you toward medicine.

At interviews...your curriculum is amazing/it's the perfect fit for me.

Thank you cards/letters of interests (for those that write 'em)...I appreciate yada, yada, yada.

For all intents and purposes everything what we and they say is true. I would like to attend your school, but if one of my higher choices come through - PEACE! I really would love to accept you, but our class is filling up and we need a second look - WAITLIST!

Maybe we should question why we, Americans, are so polite.
 
2tall said:
Maybe we should question why we, Americans, are so polite.

hmm. i would not characterize americans as especially polite, myself.
 
hmm...perhaps polite isn't the right word.

It's not really...if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all...either.

Perhaps we, Americans, are Fools of Flattery - No matter if we're on the giving or receiving end.

What do you think about that beep?
 
I just had an interview at my top choice a couple of days ago, and the interviewer ended by saying that my app is "very impressive" and I have a "very good chance of being offered an acceptance." He then asked me what message I'd liked him to take back to the admissions committee. I gave some shpeel, after which he responded that I was very eloquent.

After that, I thought I was golden! But after reading this thread, I'm not so sure...
 
2tall said:
hmm...perhaps polite isn't the right word.

It's not really...if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all...either.

Perhaps we, Americans, are Fools of Flattery - No matter if we're on the giving or receiving end.

What do you think about that beep?

maybe.
 
2tall said:
hmm...perhaps polite isn't the right word.

It's not really...if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all...either.

Perhaps we, Americans, are Fools of Flattery - No matter if we're on the giving or receiving end.

What do you think about that beep?


I agree. Although we may think that we like honesty, blunt and direct comments can be selfish and hurtful.

If Simon Cowell (American Idol) was your interviewer, you may think that it would be better because of his brutal honesty, but I disagree.

"You have good numbers, but you are too fat and ugly to become a doctor."
just doesn't sound right.

Superficiality is a good thing sometimes, it lets us say no without hurting others' feelings.
 
NapeSpikes said:
I just had an interview at my top choice a couple of days ago, and the interviewer ended by saying that my app is "very impressive" and I have a "very good chance of being offered an acceptance." ...

...I got the same statement from one of my interviewers despite the fact that I felt my performace was sub-par.

I ended up getting in.
 
Trouble is, there's no need for the interviewer to say anything at all. If they accept you, that says "We want you" loudly enough. On the other hand, saying, "We would love to have you here" and then waitlisting you doesn't make any logical sense. The next decision is the school's: whether to admit you from the waitlist. Only then do you get to make the decision of whether to go there. Making that kind of statement to you has no effect on the school's decision. Furthermore, since it is hardly going to make you less likely to decline the waitlist acceptance, it doesn't even set them up better strategically. They just look like hypocrites.
 
Dunno about the rest of you out there, but at my top choice, the interviewers were very neutral but at times even gave me negative looks. In fact, I thought they got really tired of hearing my rambling and they seemed to try to end the interview before I was through.

Anyways, I got in after less than two weeks.

On the other hand, at the only school I got rejected from, the interviewers were all smiles and left me with a warm, confident feeling as I left.

Go figure.
 
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