most bizarre interview moment?

[mshollywoodmd]

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The stories here are way to entertaining. This thread should mos def stay on the first page👍

 

[Becca525]

bump bump

keep the stories coming!!

 

[powerful_squib]

bumpity bump bump

 

[ClockworkDoc]

My interviewer started talking about how the Hispanics will not be willing to pay taxes to support the aging Americans.

 

[MattD]

Don't be so sure that a male would never have been asked the same question. My interviews pressed me a couple of times about how I thought I could manage a family and medicine at the same time, how it would effect my family, how they would feel about it, etc. And yes, i'm a male. But it was fair because I mentioned having kids towards the beginning of the interview.

I second the opinion that this may not be a question just for females. Something that your interviewers are very aware of is the fact that you are a gen x'er. baby boomers hold a view of gen x'ers as being less interested in work for the sake of work, and more interested in work as a way to provide for things like family, friends, and enjoying life. It's really a pretty accurate view, actually. So, if the interviewer is making this assumption about you, they may simply be asking how you plan to balance the work with the things that are important to you in life outside of work.

 

[farikanok]

awkward interview moment:

me: "i enjoy spending time with friends..."
interviewer: "you have friends?" 😱

yeah... no comments

 

[sheepunite]

i had two awesome and a little wierd ones:
myfirst interview:
so, what do you think of adcoms looking at myspace? do you know what studentdoctor.net is?

we had a good 5 min. talk about the merits of sdn!

2nd interview: so i see you were a radio station DJ, i like wilco and radiohead, any bands you could suggest!

AWESOME! of course i threw out some gems for her.

its been fun, I thought the interview process would be a lot harder and more stressful than it actually is.

what'd you recommend?

 

[braluk]

Nothing too weird for me. I was asked what I thought medicine was (as in, define medicine). Then he answered it himself, and said "Love" and went on to explain it. Kind of caught me off guard.

 

[monwilli]

Nothing too weird for me. I was asked what I thought medicine was (as in, define medicine). Then he answered it himself, and said "Love" and went on to explain it. Kind of caught me off guard.

where was this?

 

[Zyzzyva100]

Well this story seems to have happened to a few other people as well. During the first inteview of my first interview the fire alarm starting going off. I was still in the hallway trying to find the room I needed to be in, and I heard people saying that there was honestly a fire on the floor above us.

None the less, when I found the room, my interviewer wisked me inside and said not to worry about it. A few minutes later one of his colleagues poked his head in and said "hey, there are firemen checking everything in the hallways, and they are headed this way, maybe we should get out". To which my interviewer responds "Nah, just close the door, they will leave us alone". Now I wasn't terribly worried about this, as the building had sprinklers, but it was still quite odd - and annoyingly loud.

But, I got in there (U Rochester) the first day acceptances went out, so I think the interview went pretty well in spite of the alarm.

 

[lin1984]

This is probably more troubling than bizzare, but when I was at my group interview yesterday, one of the interviewers started FALLING ASLEEP while I was responding to his question. Hahaha...am I really THAT boring? 😕

 

[dannylee718]

Weird Interview Moment:

I sang a song in spanish for my interviewer... I'm asian.

wtf? hahah.
I guess he liked the song though, becuase they accepted me~ 😀

 

[fugazism]

what'd you recommend?

1. Sufjan Stevens "Illinois"
2. Broken Social Scene "You forgot it in people"
3. Devendra Banhart "Cripple Crow"
4. TV on the Radio "Return to cookie mountain"
5. Bonnie Prince Billy & Tortise "The brave and the bold"

hey, it must have worked, I just got accepted!

 

[Max8]

One of my U of R interviewers, a really nice older gentleman, told me that my application was impressive and then asked me if I how many schools I applied to. I honestly answered "14 or 15" and he asked if I had considered Harvard or Columbia at all. I felt like it was best not to lie, so I answered that I had applied to both Harvard and Columbia.

Him: "Did you receive interviews with them yet?"
Me: "ummm....with one but not both so far"
Him: "Well, I went to Harvard undergrad and Columbia for medical school, they are both fabulous institutions, especially Harvard, and there's certainly something to be said for being in school in a big city."
Me: "uhhh, Rochester is a very nice city also." (trying to get back onto the subject of the school I'm actually interviewing for)
Him: "Well I think Harvard would be an excellent choice for you. But uhh..yeah...so would Rochester"
Me: "Yes, I really like Rochester's ART (research) elective program."
Him: "There's really excellent neuropsychiatric research at Harvard these days too you know."
......😕

The rest of the interview proceeded normally.

 

[mintendo]

One of my U of R interviewers, a really nice older gentleman, told me that my application was impressive and then asked me if I how many schools I applied to. I honestly answered "14 or 15" and he asked if I had considered Harvard or Columbia at all. I felt like it was best not to lie, so I answered that I had applied to both Harvard and Columbia.

Him: "Did you receive interviews with them yet?"
Me: "ummm....with one but not both so far"
Him: "Well, I went to Harvard undergrad and Columbia for medical school, they are both fabulous institutions, especially Harvard, and there's certainly something to be said for being in school in a big city."
Me: "uhhh, Rochester is a very nice city also." (trying to get back onto the subject of the school I'm actually interviewing for)
Him: "Well I think Harvard would be an excellent choice for you. But uhh..yeah...so would Rochester"
Me: "Yes, I really like Rochester's ART (research) elective program."
Him: "There's really excellent neuropsychiatric research at Harvard these days too you know."
......😕

The rest of the interview proceeded normally.

Isn't Rochester supposed to be close file?

 

[Funky]

I remember one interview I went on the guy asks what nationality are you? "Korean" Oh really? and then went on for about 30 minutes about how he served in the korean war and blah blah blah 🙄

 

[njcaldwell]

I was trying to sound smart, and at the last few moments of my interview at UCSF, I made some stupid comment that came across as if I thought the curriculum was crap. My mistake. She responds with holding me for 20 minutes later telling me how the UCSF curriculum was not crap...

Screwed the pooch on that one.

 

[LatinoMasFino]

Me: ....and that's what I did as president of X organization...
*silence*
Me: Doctor....
Dr: *wakes up* huh, I'm really sorry...I had a very long night last night...I'm so sorry.
Me: would you like to me to get you some coffee?
Dr: Uh...no, well...it's ok. I think there is some tea. I'll be right back.



My interviewer FELL ASLEEP during my interview. Top that one y'all.

 

[CalicoHarry]

wow i just read through this entire thread. took me only two and a half hours, i thought i was a fast reader, never mind. great 👍 stories

 

[Town]

Pritzker interview:

i was asked what i liked to do in my free time. "i really enjoy yoga," i replied. "oh REALLY," responded the interviewer, "can you...um...show me something? do you know THE EAGLE?" i said, "um yeah, i do know the eagle, but it might be hard to do it in heels." he exclaimed, "TAKE THOSE THINGS OFF!"

by the end of the interview, we were both doing the eagle, sans shoes, in the interviewer's office.

 

[Town]

1. Sufjan Stevens "Illinois"
2. Broken Social Scene "You forgot it in people"
3. Devendra Banhart "Cripple Crow"
4. TV on the Radio "Return to cookie mountain"
5. Bonnie Prince Billy & Tortise "The brave and the bold"

hey, it must have worked, I just got accepted!

i definitely would have accepted you too! those are great bands/songs. music symbiosis going on, right here. sorry, irrelevant. but congrats!

 

[Writer1985]

One of my interviewers, a very kind older gentleman, opened my folder, looked at the notes he had made, and said, "I see you're studying comparative literature.... Have you read Harry Potter?

It turns out that he was in the middle of the series and absolutely loved it; we ended up talking about HP for a good 10 minutes. Quite a surprise for someone who is used to talking about Sartre and Ibsen in class.

 

[fugazism]

Pritzker interview:

i was asked what i liked to do in my free time. "i really enjoy yoga," i replied. "oh REALLY," responded the interviewer, "can you...um...show me something? do you know THE EAGLE?" i said, "um yeah, i do know the eagle, but it might be hard to do it in heels." he exclaimed, "TAKE THOSE THINGS OFF!"

by the end of the interview, we were both doing the eagle, sans shoes, in the interviewer's office.

are you serious? i put yoga on my app too. its only come up once in an interview though, and i didnt have to bust a pose.

 

[powerful_squib]

yoga is awesome...lol

 

[joj884]

UT Houston:

I was already feeling weird because it was early August and I wore a brown suit and there wer about 35 interviewees and every single one had a black suit except for me. The interview was in a super small room, more of a closet and it was one of those offices that you had to traverse to get to a second office behind it. The second Dr. in the farther back office came in and I stood up and he squeezed by and we were wearing the exact same tie. I said

"You have excellent taste in ties." He chuckled, then said his wife bought it and I said "then your wife shops at Target." He said "my wife is a cheapskate.....pause......but it looks good on you"

 

[airshad8]

One of my U of R interviewers, a really nice older gentleman, told me that my application was impressive and then asked me if I how many schools I applied to. I honestly answered "14 or 15" and he asked if I had considered Harvard or Columbia at all. I felt like it was best not to lie, so I answered that I had applied to both Harvard and Columbia.

Him: "Did you receive interviews with them yet?"
Me: "ummm....with one but not both so far"
Him: "Well, I went to Harvard undergrad and Columbia for medical school, they are both fabulous institutions, especially Harvard, and there's certainly something to be said for being in school in a big city."
Me: "uhhh, Rochester is a very nice city also." (trying to get back onto the subject of the school I'm actually interviewing for)
Him: "Well I think Harvard would be an excellent choice for you. But uhh..yeah...so would Rochester"
Me: "Yes, I really like Rochester's ART (research) elective program."
Him: "There's really excellent neuropsychiatric research at Harvard these days too you know."
......😕

The rest of the interview proceeded normally.

Something like that happened to me during my Harvard interview for UG. I got this stand-offish interviewer who went to Harvard however man decades ago for undergraduate but went to Dartmouth for business. He seemed pissed that Harvard rejected him for their business school or something, and kept telling me I should have applied to Dartmouth (which I didn't). At some point I had to say I had no interest in Dartmouth because of it's location, and I think he went red. ****ing weirdo.

 

[francisdoss]

The day of our interview the school arranged some kind of shuttle service to pick us up from our hotels to the school for a flat rate of $10. At the final destination ( the school ), me and two ather dudes in the van gave the driver $20 bill and asked the driver to keep $15 ( $ 10 for the fare and $5 for tip) and return us $5. As we were waiting for our $5 from the driver this other girl ( i believe she is a donkey trying to play the rich) gave a $20 bill to the driver and the next thing I hear is " keep the change" . I'm like WTF is going w her. I'm having five interviews, spending $800 on each. Every dime count;It's is crunch time men. Is she out of her mind? We all were so embarassed and all of us just told the driver to keep all the change.I guess the driver was so lucky that day.

 

[Falco2525]

Pritzker interview:

i was asked what i liked to do in my free time. "i really enjoy yoga," i replied. "oh REALLY," responded the interviewer, "can you...um...show me something? do you know THE EAGLE?" i said, "um yeah, i do know the eagle, but it might be hard to do it in heels." he exclaimed, "TAKE THOSE THINGS OFF!"

by the end of the interview, we were both doing the eagle, sans shoes, in the interviewer's office.

hopefully you got in for your trouble!!

 

[braluk]

Pritzker interview:

i was asked what i liked to do in my free time. "i really enjoy yoga," i replied. "oh REALLY," responded the interviewer, "can you...um...show me something? do you know THE EAGLE?" i said, "um yeah, i do know the eagle, but it might be hard to do it in heels." he exclaimed, "TAKE THOSE THINGS OFF!"

by the end of the interview, we were both doing the eagle, sans shoes, in the interviewer's office.

Lol...when I first started reading...I was so ready to tell you to hire a lawyer and file for sexual harassment. Looks like it turned out well for you though 🙂

 

[mintendo]

The day of our interview the school arranged some kind of shuttle service to pick us up from our hotels to the school for a flat rate of $10. At the final destination ( the school ), me and two ather dudes in the van gave the driver $20 bill and asked the driver to keep $15 ( $ 10 for the fare and $5 for tip) and return us $5. As we were waiting for our $5 from the driver this other girl ( i believe she is a donkey trying to play the rich) gave a $20 bill to the driver and the next thing I hear is " keep the change" . I'm like WTF is going w her. I'm having five interviews, spending $800 on each. Every dime count;It's is crunch time men. Is she out of her mind? We all were so embarassed and all of us just told the driver to keep all the change.I guess the driver was so lucky that day.

It wouldn't even have cross my mind to tip the guy anything.

 

[Depakote]

bumpity bump bump

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Look at Frosty Go!

bumpity bump bump

bumpity bump bump

Over the fields of snow!

 

[ABSOLUTsher07]

at u.maryland:

interviewer:so what do you want to be when you're older?
me: uhh, a doctor
interviewer: o, really. what else?
me: ummmmmm

 

[i'm the map]

At a med school in the northeast:

Dr: So, what's the number three thing you look for in a medical school?
Me: (mumbling while thinking) mmm ... community accessiblity ... match list ...a wife... price--
Dr. - A wife? Right on!

The ten minutes were devoted to the pros and cons of having a physician wife, and the particular merits of this school's female population.

 

[tennisguy896]

I had two interviewers at the same time- one was a grumpy looking old man and one was an attractive younger female doctor. The old grumpy guy took offense to one of my answers about universal healthcare and started ranting and chewing me out about how young pre-meds know nothing about the real issues. The younger female doctor put her hand on the old guy's arm, smiled at me, and said she completely agreed with my answer. The old guy didn't say anything for the rest of the interview.

 

[DuckHunter]

bu,p

 

[melissainsd]

This is how my interview started:

"One line in particular on your PS stands out...it says you think that nurses care for patients day to day needs but you think doctors have the most profound effect on the patients ultimate outcome. You are wrong."

I then tried to explain that I do value nurses (I trained as a nursing assistant and my mother and aunt worked as nurses, but I could tell he didn't like me. It turned out he was head of the board of education and had tried to encourage people into nursing, but failed and the program was shut down. Damn...I really loved that school.

 

[baylormed]

One of my interviewers, a very kind older gentleman, opened my folder, looked at the notes he had made, and said, "I see you're studying comparative literature.... Have you read Harry Potter?

It turns out that he was in the middle of the series and absolutely loved it; we ended up talking about HP for a good 10 minutes. Quite a surprise for someone who is used to talking about Sartre and Ibsen in class.

That is absolutely awesome. 👍 👍

 

[greencouch6]

My interviewer took a cell phone call during the interview and half hour later got up to use the bathroom. He also went on about how run-down central NY state is becoming (???-we were in a NJ school), and later proceeded to describe with disgust the horrible state of pro athletes (no loyalty and such). My father passed from a disease which I wrote about in my PS and how greatly it affected me. So he asks, "if someone had that same disease, at age 60 or 70 do they deserve insurance coverage." Touchy and uncomfortable moment!!! Finally, he let me speak about 10% of the time, the other 90% he talked and talked OVER me, even when he asked me a question! 😕 I don't think that one went too well!

 

[Baritonebass]

Yeah SO my one Guy comes to get me out the conference room and when I get to the interveiw room there's another guy waiting for me as well. So yeah 2 person panel. I was asked a series of catch 22 questions that culminated with the interviewer stating that I was "shelter and knew nothing of the world" because I'm from Alabama. Then he preceded to assure me ask me questions to confirm his claim (mind you this was my first interview so I was in Shock). Yeah I was badgered........ Then reject from the school, but automatically accepted to the Post-Bac 😱

 

[mikeinsd]

First Question - Tell Me about Point Lobos.

(point lobos is a tiny state park just north of big sur and south of carmel on california's central coast. I am from a town nearby, which is why i suppose I was asked the question - as the interviewer had visited the area many times. It just so happens that I have been to this place probably 10 to 20 times in my life at least, and I did an entire report on it 7th grade, so i was able to pratle on for about three minutes about the early chinese immigration to the area, and what it is now, etc...)

2nd question (from the same interviewer)

how many fire hydrants are there in the USA?
me - sir I have no idea
well how would you go about about finding out?
me - well i suppose i would use google or wikipedia, it shouldnt take too long

...I am mad now because i think a better answer would have been trying to estimate it - may have shown a bit more craftyness (or something) than just saying the internet.

p.s. - when i got home, i did use the internet - about 6,000,000 is the best estimate


ohh, and at another school I was asked what I knew about Frog Erectile dysfunction😱 (i did a project which was tangentially related to this in a mamm phys class, which apparently was then mentioned in the letter of rec by said teacher) - again, luckily, I somehow remembered enough to not sound like an idiot😀 (the guy specialized in this area)

 

[pinfeathers6]

2nd question (from the same interviewer)

how many fire hydrants are there in the USA?
me - sir I have no idea
well how would you go about about finding out?
me - well i suppose i would use google or wikipedia, it shouldnt take too long

...I am mad now because i think a better answer would have been trying to estimate it - may have shown a bit more craftyness (or something) than just saying the internet.

hmm, just curious how you would go about estimating that...

 

[mikeinsd]

well the girl next to me (it was a panel interview), after being asked how she would go about figuring it out, came up with some bs about this number of people in her town, and this many fire hydrants... basically a load 😉

i looked it up online and it took a few seconds - it had been a question on the now defunt 'ask google' engine - there is some company that has been around since making fire hydrants started, and they are estimated to have made 1/2 the fire hydrants in the usa - then if you look at their records, they say they have produced roughly 3,000,000 hydrants... voila - 6,000,000

 

[Cirrus83]

well the girl next to me (it was a panel interview), after being asked how she would go about figuring it out, came up with some bs about this number of people in her town, and this many fire hydrants... basically a load 😉

i looked it up online and it took a few seconds - it had been a question on the now defunt 'ask google' engine - there is some company that has been around since making fire hydrants started, and they are estimated to have made 1/2 the fire hydrants in the usa - then if you look at their records, they say they have produced roughly 3,000,000 hydrants... voila - 6,000,000

Your answer was probably better...doctors have to look at research/texts to figure stuff out anyway, lol.

 

[Cirrus83]

Me: ....and that's what I did as president of X organization...
*silence*
Me: Doctor....
Dr: *wakes up* huh, I'm really sorry...I had a very long night last night...I'm so sorry.
Me: would you like to me to get you some coffee?
Dr: Uh...no, well...it's ok. I think there is some tea. I'll be right back.



My interviewer FELL ASLEEP during my interview. Top that one y'all.

lol I've had that happen before but not at a med school interview...I kinda just sat there and the guy woke up and kept on talking as if nothing had happened.

Good times.

 

[mikeinsd]

Your answer was probably better...doctors have to look at research/texts to figure stuff out anyway, lol.

well i would have to agree with you, but then again i always think i am right 😉

unfourtunately though i spoke with an M1 at lunch, and when i told him about that question he said 'oh - you had dr. X, didnt you?' he then explained that he always asked that question and he (the M1) thought the best way to answer for that particular dr. was to start guestimating... 😱 oh well

 

[Mayday]

OMG this thread is hilarious!

 

[Severus]

hmm... most bizarre interview moments to date....


1.) When he started hitting on me/coming onto me (? honestly, I still don't know what the hell that was). I'm not going to discuss this in too much detail out here.

2.) When we started talking farm life (specifically birthing sheep) and how the one time a ram somehow got in the pen when I was trying to get colostrum from the ewes ... things got confused... sheep were EVERYWHERE... and I just grabbed the next closest sheep and started milking so I could get back on track and start feeding the lambs. Well... I thought that "teet" felt a little different and, you all know where I'm going with this. My interviewer was like, "uhhh..." and I was just sitting there and was like, "$hit... I shouldn't have said that." Well, I guess between the milking and the swearing, something was funny because he started busting up laughing. 😎

 

[medallion]

I was running late for an IV, the parking garage was full, so I ended up parking valet. The admissions office said they could work something out - I ended up walking over to get my car with my iver and director of admissions. We were having a good time talking about everything, and, when we realized the schools validation would not cover valet parking, my iver pulled out his wallet and handed me the five bucks. Of course I refused - until he insisted and the director of admissions assured me he would be reimbursed. So after paying for parking, dropping me off at my car, I headed home....still dont really understand the etiquete involved in the situation.

But it had been a really good interview and a great professor.

Also interesting, the iv began with him meeting me in the first floor admissions office and saying we needed to go to his 12th floor office. I joked about taking the stairs and he happened to like the idea. So we started by quickly walking up 12 flights of stairs.

 

[melissainsd]

Not my interview but was a girl in my interview group (that also happened to attend my undergrad).

The interviewer forgot he was interviewing her. He came in 15 min late, threw her some scrubs, and she basically shadowed him in surgery. He then has her follow him to his next patient and showed her breath sounds etc. Although it was probably not very legal (i.e. patient's right to privacy act), she definitely hit the interview jackpot.

 

[Mayday]

Not my interview but was a girl in my interview group (that also happened to attend my undergrad).

The interviewer forgot he was interviewing her. He came in 15 min late, threw her some scrubs, and she basically shadowed him in surgery. He then has her follow him to his next patient and showed her breath sounds etc. Although it was probably not very legal (i.e. patient's right to privacy act), she definitely hit the interview jackpot.

That would make for a really cool interview! Did she get in?