Morbid Question

[Minnerbelle]

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So as I'm finishing up my VMCAS, I'm starting to have some discouraging thoughts and came up with this morbid question.

If you get rejected for subjective reasons (e.g. you said something that rubbed the adcoms the wrong way in your PS/interview), will they actually tell you that when you have your post-mortem? How specific are they in these things?

My worst fear is that I'm going to say one thing that pisses them off, and without knowing that was where I went wrong, keep saying the same thing over and over, year after year... never to end up in vet school ever.

And I'll be sitting here wondering if it was because they just thought I was ugly or something like that!

 

[No Imagination]

They should tell you, if you say something that rubs the adcoms the wrong way, that your weakest point was your interview and you need to work on that.

With that said, the EASIEST thing you can do in the application process is NOT piss anyone off during your interview. You may not come off as witty as you think you are, or as intelligent, or whatever - but it really isn't the time or place to be confrontational.

That said, I doubt you will piss anyone off or rub them the wrong way completely unintentionally, but it might be subtle.

An Example: I came out with a degree in Biochemistry, us biochem people have been groomed for the last four years as being "harder", or "tougher" classes then Biology/Animal Science people. Regardless if that's true or not, I was very careful not to give that vibe. In fact, when an Adcom said "Wow, biochem", I think I replied that the value of the degree is what you put into it, nothing in the name IMO".

So you just have to be cognizant.

 

[GellaBella]

Unless you do something crazy like threaten your interviewers I can't imagine that you would say something that would make the adcom say "we DEFINITELY do. not. want. this person at our school"

sure you can have a bad interview but I don't think thats the same thing.

and lets say you did (for whatever reason) get into a fight/threaten your interviewers I think they would tell you at your post mortem that your unprofessional behavior was the cause of your rejection from the applicant pool.

But I don't think you're going to get yourself into that situation, so try not to worry so much 🙂

 

[twelvetigers]

I think you're being silly and letting your imagination get away from you. Deep breaths!

 

[StayingHopeful]

During my interview at one of the schools I was sure I pissed off one of the adcoms, but I talked to people who had her after and they had very similar vibes (like they were digging deeper and deeper in the wrong direction with just that one interviewer). At another school I said two things that I thought seemed unclear and one I was able to clarify during the interview and the other I went home and emailed after the fact to explain why I had said what I said (we called a calcium carbonate buildup in the bladder of rabbits "sludge bunnies" and that didn't go over well, but I emailed the three interviewers an article my boss wrote after and I quickly got back very respectful and understanding emails). I really really don't like interviews and tend to get flustered during them, but I think most things can be fixed either on the spot or after the fact by email because I ended up getting into both of those schools. They know you are human and expect that. Just show that you can explain what you meant and that is okay. 🙂

Also...I would strooonngly recommend applying to a school with an early interview date that isn't your first choice because the practice is priceless.

 

[StartingoverVet]

So as I'm finishing up my VMCAS, I'm starting to have some discouraging thoughts and came up with this morbid question.

If you get rejected for subjective reasons (e.g. you said something that rubbed the adcoms the wrong way in your PS/interview), will they actually tell you that when you have your post-mortem? How specific are they in these things?

My worst fear is that I'm going to say one thing that pisses them off, and without knowing that was where I went wrong, keep saying the same thing over and over, year after year... never to end up in vet school ever.

And I'll be sitting here wondering if it was because they just thought I was ugly or something like that!

Empirical evidence argues against "ugly" ever being a cause of rejection. Otherwise this post is hilarious.

 

[heylodeb]

dang, SOV, you really had it out for Minnerbelle this morning, didn't you?

LOL. These were some pretty funny posts tho. 😛

 

[StartingoverVet]

I guess I am fair game now!

Still, there are a lot of classic threads that would good to resurrect for a "new" generation to enjoy, learn from, or commiserate with.

 

[New Foundland]

I trust that most schools have a scoring system that favours a pseudo-objective marking scheme..

If they have not updated their interview marking scheme to remove the bulk of subjective biases, then it's a failure to progress on the part of the adcom..

there's always inevitable biases that influence any graded interview...
But with something like OVC's multiple-mini-interview system, the bias factor is really quite limited.. And that should be the goal of any adcom, to minimize and limit unfair treatment of applicants

 

[Minnerbelle]

Empirical evidence argues against "ugly" ever being a cause of rejection. Otherwise this post is hilarious.

Dang, after my post last night about embarrassing threads I started 2 years ago, you just hadda go and check them out didn't you? lol

 

[nyanko]

Dang, after my post last night about embarrassing threads I started 2 years ago, you just hadda go and check them out didn't you? lol

Haha this is amazing.