most bizarre interview moment?

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Originally posted by calebho501
This is the most bizarre experience yet, at Albert Einstein.

So when I was back in high school, I signed up for a Yahoo! Email account, and I have always liked the name "Mike", and there was this TV show I watched and one of the actor was called Mike Damus, so my email address ended up to be [email protected]

I continued using this address when I applied to AMCAS. When my interviewer at Einstein read it, she was like, Oh my gosh, do you know Mike Damus? I was like no, but I was trying to make up a name for my email address and I just randomly picked a name.

Then my interviewer took me that one of her colleagues was Mike Damus' mom, and she has also met the actor herself.

I was like...wow, what's the chance of that?

The funny part about this is that I actually know Mike Damus' mom... that's pretty funny :) I met her when I worked at the March of Dimes.. I think she's an Asst/Associate Prof there (don't quote me on that).

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This was really before my interview but it will qualify. The day before I flew out to the east coast for my interview my car battery died at 4:30 giving me an hour to get my car jumped and get a new battery. Not what I was looking for the night before 10 hours of traveling. My flight was out of LAX at 10:30 AM on a thursday. A word of advice never take a midmorning flight from LAX during the week. I left at 6:30 and was stuck in traffic for 2 hours. It normally only takes me an hour and a half to get to LAX. I got to the airport at 10:00 and had to cut in front of 75 or so people standing in line at the security checkpoint. I got to the gate 10 minutes before my plane took off and the gate officer said the plane was delayed for half an hour. F$CK!!!. I had already decided that I was going to miss my flight and was thinking on how to get another flight on that day. For some reasoin I decided I should try and make the flight. I felt pretty hopeless when I was not even in the airport at 10. Even worse I had to take a piss in the LAX parking lot C because I was stuck in the car for 4 hours and didn't really go before I left. I thought I was going to piss on myself for the last half hour of the drive.
 
Originally posted by MErc44
Even worse I had to take a piss in the LAX parking lot C because I was stuck in the car for 4 hours and didn't really go before I left. I thought I was going to piss on myself for the last half hour of the drive.

Ah, so that's why last time I was outside the parking lot, I can smell the urine :D Just kidding
 
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when i was at the university of iowa, my interview was going pretty well. i was talking about my research experience when one of the interviewers suddenly interrupted me and asked "what would you do if there was a little boy sitting in the corner over there, hammering his thumb as hard as he could?"
i was totally confused and i thought for a minute that maybe it was one of those tactics they throw at you to see how you handle the situation. but then one of the other interviewers said "what the hell are you talking about?" and they sort of got in a little argument while myself and the 3rd committee member just sat there.
i never had to answer the question, but it was a very weird moment.
second only to the time my interviewer at wayne state said, as he was shaking my hand and i was leaving, that i reminded him of his cat. his cat??? umm, thanks....
 
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I have interviewed at one DO school so far and it has been a hell of an experience.

The interview starts with why DO? I tell her. Then, she goes that is not what a DO does... I knew that i was right so I politely stood my ground. Then, she didn't know what an MPH was... Then, she accused me of making up a word, not having understood my pronunciation and made me write it down... then, she proceeds on accusing me of being an idealist... then, she moves on to the problems she had with her first husband, a doctor. wait, it gets even better... then, she asks me about one of my research experiences and I told that it was on contraception. She goes, so anti-fertility... and, then she starts talking about her fertility problem... and continues questioning me...

at the end of the interview (which was the longest of the day of the whole interviewee pool), she says that she got a positive impression of me and apologized for accusing me of being an idealist.

I have to tell you, I wanted to run out of the office. Got really disappointed from the school and realized that if i have to attend a place like this, I will consider changing professions.

PS: the second interview was short and sweat. felt almost way too short after the one described above.
 
Some interviewers believe that stress interviews can better reveal an applicant's true personality. However, what they probably don't recognize is that that will give applicants bad impression of the school, and the school may lose a good applicant b/c of that. I think more and more directors of admission recognized that, and were making sure that no stress interviews were conducted anymore
 
My student interviewer for this particular school was incredibly chilled...we talked about t.v., movies, and just basically "fun stuff". So, this inclined me towards thinking that the faculty interviewer must be fairly simple to talk and converse with. WAS I WRONG:eek:

The interviewer tells me to wait in a conference room.

So, I sit at one side of a round table and he comes and sit exactly opposite of me.

Slaps my file on to the table...and

Interviewer: What's wrong with you? Why would you want to be a doctor?:eek: :eek:

DE thinking *sh1z...damn that was sarcastic* I decided to be gutsy and responded

DE: Well, let us find out WHAT is wrong with me. *With a smile, of course*


Later on in that interviewer

Interviewer: I noticed you did some research in summer at _____ University. Did you publish anything?

DE: It was a short time to work on a pretty extensive project. So, NO. I didn't publish anything.

Interviewer: Yeah, only a genius could publish something in that amount of time. And, of course, we know that you're not a genuis.

*I am :mad: and I just look straight into his eyes without giving any sense of annoyance or somehow jilted by his comments*
.................


Interviewer: What do you think of Bush? By the way, I am a socialist?

DE: :laugh: *restraining myself* I explained Bush's unilateral policty and its effects...

Hope you guys don't have to go through such an interview

-DE
 
One of my friends interviewed at USC and the student interviewer told him that she was a Communist....that's right, Communist! I think that really adds to the diversity of the class :)
 
What a great thread! I'm kinda scared of interviews though. I'm a friendly, talkative person, but I have a tendancy to put my foot in my mouth. I'm sure I'll have some interesting stories for this thread when its my time to do all that application bs
 
The fire alarm went off five minutes before my interview was supposed to start and that entire section of the buildling had to evacuate for half an hour.
 
Originally posted by Soccrtrela
The fire alarm went off five minutes before my interview was supposed to start and that entire section of the buildling had to evacuate for half an hour.

My whole interview group was trapped in the elevator when we were having a tour at SUNY Upstate. It was really scary at all, and everyone was just laughing and said how the school can make it up to us by letting all of us in. We were only trapped for 5-10 minutes though. The tour guide called up the director of admission on a cell phone and the director was like "Oh my gosh!" It was my first real trapped-in-the-elevator experience.
 
MSTP interviews usually have this "why you would want to spend 8 years here" add-on, which consists of an extra meal and tour with current students.
One interview I talked to an mstp student about his experiences applying last year, so here's his story:
He goes to the dinner the night before the interviews, and after dinner some of the students go out dancing. He's feeling pretty good, so starts freaking this girl on the dance floor. The next day he goes to his interviews, and as you may have guessed, she's his student interviewer. There's an awkward pause, followed by "...so, tell me about your research." He wound up getting in...
 
Just a word of advice to you if both your mom and dad are physicians. Before you go on your interview, be prepared to respond to this:

Interviewer: "Prove to me that you are not going into medicine just because your parents are doctors."

(That happened to me at two interviews...I was like, sheesh!)

Also, at one of my interviews the interviewer, who happened to be the director of admissions, asked me, "Since your parents are both doctors, you know that they don't have much time to spend with their children, so how will you manage that one when you have kids?"

Again, I was like Sheesh!! But i was calm and i answered her question honestly.
 
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Originally posted by donuthole
Just a word of advice to you if both your mom and dad are physicians. Before you go on your interview, be prepared to respond to this:

Interviewer: "Prove to me that you are not going into medicine just because your parents are doctors."

I never got asked that question in any of my interviews, maybe it's because I didn't mention that fact at all in my AMCAS or Secondary essay. The only way the interviewers can tell is from the occupation of my parents listed on AMCAS.

Even if that fact was brought up, the interviewers tried to see if my parents had positive influence on me. That happened twice I think, and I just said if my parents taught me anything, it would be the negative but realistic side of medicine
 
It's strange that my interviewers asked me that (bad luck I guess) because nowhere in my application did I mention that my parents are docs...I actually try to downplay that fact... But anyway, I feel that I answered the question fine, and if you do happen to be asked something of that nature, just be totally honest, of course!

Now back to the funny stories of interviewees... sorry for this little digression...
 
Originally posted by drdr2010
when i was at the university of iowa, my interview was going pretty well. i was talking about my research experience when one of the interviewers suddenly interrupted me and asked "what would you do if there was a little boy sitting in the corner over there, hammering his thumb as hard as he could?"
i was totally confused and i thought for a minute that maybe it was one of those tactics they throw at you to see how you handle the situation. but then one of the other interviewers said "what the hell are you talking about?" and they sort of got in a little argument while myself and the 3rd committee member just sat there.
i never had to answer the question, but it was a very weird moment.
second only to the time my interviewer at wayne state said, as he was shaking my hand and i was leaving, that i reminded him of his cat. his cat??? umm, thanks....


(Laughing out loud)
 
Originally posted by calebho501
My whole interview group was trapped in the elevator when we were having a tour at SUNY Upstate. It was really scary at all, and everyone was just laughing and said how the school can make it up to us by letting all of us in. We were only trapped for 5-10 minutes though. The tour guide called up the director of admission on a cell phone and the director was like "Oh my gosh!" It was my first real trapped-in-the-elevator experience.

did anyone go into labor?

sorry, i couldn't help it, that's just what always happens in the movies, a bunch of people trapped in an elevator, and the poor, broke woman always goes into labor.
 
Ok, so this is a job interview story, not a med school interview:

After I got out of college, I started stressing about finding a job (what bio major wasn't in 2002?). So, I was moving to San Diego, and I had sent out about 500 copies of my resume in desperation. I was going to set up my new house the weekend before graduation, so I had limited time in SD.

The day before I left for SD, 2 companies called me for an interview!! I was so excited!! However, since I only had the weekend to set up house, I had to schedule one in the morning Friday and one later in the afternoon on Friday.

I get to the first interview, and I think it's going smoothly. The PhD conducting the interview was very nice, and I had a great conversation with the girl that was vacating the position. Then, the PhD guy asks me about any other job interviews I might be having. I'm thinking, I don't want to come off as cocky, like I'm dangling this other job possibility in front of him or anything, so I decided to not mention the other interview. He gave me a weird look, but nothing untoward.

Later in the day, I interview at the second company. The woman conducting the interview was very nice and excited about the company. She had her assistant interview me as well, and that went smoothly too.... UNTIL...

...the assistant informs me that her boss knows about my interview from the morning!!

WTF!! I'm thinking...

Yeah, it turns out that the interviewers from the two places are MARRIED!!

Aack!

Yeah, I didn't get either job. Freaky.
 
Originally posted by lessismoe
Ok, so this is a job interview story, not a med school interview:

After I got out of college, I started stressing about finding a job (what bio major wasn't in 2002?). So, I was moving to San Diego, and I had sent out about 500 copies of my resume in desperation. I was going to set up my new house the weekend before graduation, so I had limited time in SD.

The day before I left for SD, 2 companies called me for an interview!! I was so excited!! However, since I only had the weekend to set up house, I had to schedule one in the morning Friday and one later in the afternoon on Friday.

I get to the first interview, and I think it's going smoothly. The PhD conducting the interview was very nice, and I had a great conversation with the girl that was vacating the position. Then, the PhD guy asks me about any other job interviews I might be having. I'm thinking, I don't want to come off as cocky, like I'm dangling this other job possibility in front of him or anything, so I decided to not mention the other interview. He gave me a weird look, but nothing untoward.

Later in the day, I interview at the second company. The woman conducting the interview was very nice and excited about the company. She had her assistant interview me as well, and that went smoothly too.... UNTIL...

...the assistant informs me that her boss knows about my interview from the morning!!

WTF!! I'm thinking...

Yeah, it turns out that the interviewers from the two places are MARRIED!!

Aack!

Yeah, I didn't get either job. Freaky.

2 words. that blows.
 
This happened to me at one of my interviews:

I came about 15 minutes late to the interview(I underestimated the time to get there). The interview coordinator took my coat and told me to hurry and get to my interviewer.

The interview, thankfully, went very well and we talked for about 2 hours. I missed the financial aid presentation + half the tour and I went after the tour to talk to the financial aid dean to go over what I missed. After my talk, I asked the financial aid dean, where is my coat. He jokingly remarks, "someone stole it." After we both laugh, he then takes me to the coat rack. Here's the funny/ironic part:

I take my coat(or what I thought was my coat) and then head to work. I get to work and get a call from my brother saying "YOU STOLE SOMEONE's COAT who also has his cell phone in it!"

I was like OH MY GOD and immediately called the interview coordinator who tells me that I took some guy's coat and that my coat was behind the door and not at the coat rack. I immediately go back to the school to give back the coat. I apologize and remark how alike the coats were. Also, I swear to them there was no cell phone, just some map instructions. The interview coordinater later emails me back, telling me that they are going to mail back the coat to the applicant and that she asked my brother IF I HAD A cell phone so they could call me to tell me I took someone else's coat but my brother misinterpreted and thought that she said the guy's cell phone was in his coat.

Anyway at that point I thought I was doubly screwed and would be rejected(one for coming late, two by taking someone else's coat). Two weeks later, I got accepted. Go figure.
 
BUMP

I'm off to my first interview today. I'm a little sick still, but hopefully things will go better for me than it did for some of the people on this thread.
 
Good luck!

Originally posted by umass rower
BUMP

I'm off to my first interview today. I'm a little sick still, but hopefully things will go better for me than it did for some of the people on this thread.
 
Originally posted by BananaSplit
Good luck!

Was this a bump in disguise? ;)

Good luck umass rower!
 
Originally posted by Kashue
I was like OH MY GOD and immediately called the interview coordinator who tells me that I took some guy's coat and that my coat was behind the door and not at the coat rack. I immediately go back to the school to give back the coat.

similar situation occured with me. after my interview, i grabbed my bag and my coat, which i thought was the one haning right over the bag. i don't put it on until i'm about to go out of the main exit, which is a long journey from the admissions office. i attempt to stick my arm into the sleave and my arm gets stuck 1/4 through. realized it wasn't mine, but rather a female coat. ran back and returned it. it turned out to belong to that cute interviewee still waiting for her interview. we had a good laugh about it and i didn't mind talking to her one last time. ;)
 
Originally posted by seaworthc
my weirdest moment was when I got asked at Tulane if I really thought slaves had been used in flood fight protection after they had run out of sandbags during the great flood of 1917 (might be 1918, can't remember). my interviewer and I had both read the same book on the mississippi river which mentioned this technique.

I've been reading a lot of comments on this board lately and have realized that you guys know a lot about everything.

Who gets asked questions on the usage of slaves during flood flight protection in 1917! :wow:

Do they expect you to know everything about everything during the interview? What do they say when you tell them you've never heard of that before?

Should I be practicing trivia and watching Jeopardy to prepare for my interviews?
 
Originally posted by polo
I've been reading a lot of comments on this board lately and have realized that you guys know a lot about everything.

Who gets asked questions on the usage of slaves during flood flight protection in 1917! :wow:

Do they expect you to know everything about everything during the interview? What do they say when you tell them you've never heard of that before?

Should I be practicing trivia and watching Jeopardy to prepare for my interviews?

It's because they read the same book! Don't freak out!!

My weirdest, but most fun, was when an interviewer asked me to sing for him, and then he told the admissions office staff, and they had me sing for them as well. *tear* I LOVE everything about that school!
 
one of my interviewers asked me where i'd live if i were accepted...kind of weird....but then he asked me what's so special about westminster, california...
 
I had a sinus infection during one of my interviews, and my doctor had prescribed a really high dose of Guaifenesin, which had been making me dizzy and woozy. For my interview day, I decided to cut the pill in half and take sudafed and ibuprofen, too (those drugs also recommended by my doctor). At the end of my second interview, which was great, I was walking back with the interviewer and mentioned that I wasn't going on the tour because I had a sinus infection and felt pretty lousy...

Interviwer: "Oh, really? I had no idea you felt sick from the interview, you seemed on top of things"

Me: "Well, I got by because I'm pretty doped up with cold medicines."

Interviewer: "Oh, that's good to know, it explains why your pupils are so dilated... I kept noticing it during the interview, but couldn't figure it out, it seemed like there was plenty of light in the room."

In the end, I got in, but it was a good thing I had this conversation with my interviewer, or she would have gone to the committee and told them that I interviewed well but she thought I was abusing drugs.
 
my weirdest moment was when I got asked at Tulane if I really thought slaves had been used in flood fight protection after they had run out of sandbags during the great flood of 1917 (might be 1918, can't remember). my interviewer and I had both read the same book on the mississippi river which mentioned this technique.

Slaves in 1917:confused::wow: :confused: You must mean 1817.

Anyways, about the wrongest thing I have ever heard of if you ask me.
 
Any more good stories out there?!? :confused:

These are great!!!:clap:
 
At one of my interviews, we were doing the tour. This MS2 guy who was taking us to the residence decided to have us j-walk across 4 lanes of high speed traffic, in the snow and ice. Needless to say it wasn't the best idea, as one of my fellow interviewees was wearing a black skirt suit and platform heels and totally bit it in the middle of the street. She shredded the knee of her pantyhose, messed up her shoe and twisted her ankle. We proceeded on the tour, and she held it together really well. At the end, the guy was like "do you have anymore questions for me?" and she asked for a band-aid, since at this point she had a few streams of blood dripping down her knee! Luckily, she had already had her interview, but it would have soured my impression of the school had I been her!

Not necessarily "bizarre", but still memorable :eek:

Treg
 
Hi, All


When my CWRU interviewer just went from talking about Pediatric Neurosurgery to the Doors. It was just weird.

tpf
 
My interviewer at Albert Einstein asked me:

So...say you get into Albert Einstein MSTP and Harvard MD only. Which would you choose?
 
During the lunch at a school, current students came by and talked with us applicants. One asked who we were all interviewing with and said, "Oh, I interviewed with him last year!" when I mentioned my 2nd guy.

She then went on to describe how he told her at the end of the interview that she was going to have "some choices to make" and that he hoped she made "the right one". She was accepted and saw him on the revisit weekend, where he said something like, "I see you are going to make the right choice" then walked away. She chalked it up as an odd story and didn't know whether he had actually remembered her or told everyone that.

Two hours later, my interview ended with him saying, "You're going to have some choices to make, I hope you make the right one." The ridiculousness of this cat-and-mouse admissions process hit me right then, and I was accepted when decisions went out.
 
Tulane med, holy moly. I got this ancient old guy who just swore and talked and swore and talked the entire time, about his Air Force service and meeting the Pope ("those damn Catholics and....You're not Catholic, are you? Oh, good, anyway, damn Catholics!") and his son ("kid got kicked out for burning couches in some damn Jewish fraternity"-I **** you not, he said this)etc., etc. He seriously asked me about two questions the entire time. If I hadn't had a wonderful interview with the Dean later in the day, I would have flipped. This insane old man should not be interviewing there, and I intend to tell them, whether I get in or not. Insane!
 
At one of my interviews, all the interviewees were waiting in the room together and it was early October, so it was hot and we were all quite nervous.

Well I guess we'd drank all of the water from the pitcher on the table, but I was dying of thirst, so i grabbed the pitcher and when I tried to pour the water out there was a huge noise *pop*. Something inside the pitcher had EXPLODED!

Needless to say it was quite embarrassing and the assistant dean laughed when we told her the pitcher exploded :confused:

She said, "Oh, that's happened a few times now" I guess they're not meant for ice water and only for hot beverages!?? You'd think they'd have gotten rid of those damn things after the first one exploded!


...Oh well, I got in two weeks later :)
 
I had some interesting episodes . . . .most of them centering on me being from California

-"So, do you surf/How is the surfing in San Diego/How many surf boards do you own?" (Noooooo, do people really thing the Beach Boys gave an accurate picture of CA?)
- "How do you expect to survive the winters here on the East Coast?"
- "You do know that the closest beach is 4 hours away?"
- "What's your opinion of your new governor?"
- "What do you plan to do with your life, besides medicine?"(I think they were looking for if I'm planning on getting married/having kids . . .I froze and all they got was travel)
- My drexel interviewer was a real jerk. These next few are from him. (FYI: I'm currently working in a research lab)
-"Tell me what you put in your cell culture media?"
-"Where do you get your chemicals from?"
-"How many papers have you been listed as an author on . . . oh none, reeeeally, why is that?"
 
Originally posted by celticmists18
I had some interesting episodes . . . .most of them centering on me being from California

-"So, do you surf/How is the surfing in San Diego/How many surf boards do you own?" (Noooooo, do people really thing the Beach Boys gave an accurate picture of CA?)
- "How do you expect to survive the winters here on the East Coast?"
- "You do know that the closest beach is 4 hours away?"
- "What's your opinion of your new governor?"
- "What do you plan to do with your life, besides medicine?"(I think they were looking for if I'm planning on getting married/having kids . . .I froze and all they got was travel)
- My drexel interviewer was a real jerk. These next few are from him. (FYI: I'm currently working in a research lab)
-"Tell me what you put in your cell culture media?"
-"Where do you get your chemicals from?"
-"How many papers have you been listed as an author on . . . oh none, reeeeally, why is that?"

I really HATE the California Stereotype. So during a group presentation on interview day, everyone has to introduced themselves and say what their hobbies are like. I was the only one from California that day (Well this is a school that has like 1-2 Californian in each class).

OK so I said I liked snowboarding, which seems perfectly fine to me. During the interview I was asked, "So you're from California, where can you go for snowboarding?" It's a harmless question from people not familiar with California, but still...the "Beach and Surfing" stereotype sorta bothers me.
 
Oh yea I got the California sterotype too (doesn't help that I'm blond) at many interviews. It sucks, and is silly --I live in SF and normally it ain't warm here.

Some stereotypical questions asked:
What are you going to do in St. Louis, it's so far from a beach?

Are you really going to like the weather here? (Midwest--which if they would've spent 2 sec on my app would've known that I grew up in the Midwest)

You like to ski? Well we're not too close to any mountains, is that going to affect your decision? (No, I won't have time to ski in med school :( )
 
More startling to me than funny.

I had already had my first interview at what had just become my first choice school. It was going so well I was late to the second but the first doc walked me over so it was ok.

Anyway, the 2nd doc reminded me quite a bit of an ethnic Montgomery Burns.

Interviewer: "What do you consider to be your worst qualities?"
Me (deciding to go for the candid answer rather than some sort of bs): "Well, I don't work well in groups, and I tend to hold others to the same standards to which I hold myself."
**silent pause, gazes locked**
Interviewer: "You realize those are terrible characteristics for a physician to have right?"

Accepted 2 weeks later.



At another school I didn't care about:

I: "What will you do if you don't get accepted?"
Me: started going through the speil I gave back before I had an acceptance in my pocket (from my first choice) then stopped, "you know what Dr., I am accepted."
I: "Where?"
M: "X Med School."
Needless to say, his next question, and almost every question after that was "so why here instead."

Accepted a month later.
 
Oh! that last post reminded me of quite possibly the WORST question(s) I was asked. I interviewed at Wake Forest in Jan, I had received my first (and currently only) acceptance in Oct. One of my interviewers asked me what I planned to do if I didn't get into medical school, if I would re-apply, and if I had considered my other options. Now, those are perfectly valid questions, but they way he said it insinuated a lot. I had already pretty much decided I didn't want to go to Wake so after a moment of silence I looked him dead in the eye and said "Fortunately I have already been accepted to Jefferson Medical College so I don't have to worry about it anymore." He sat in shock for a good 10-15 seconds and then said "Thats a great school." HAHAHA!
 
haha, celticchemist i did that same thing at USC, saying i was accepted at UCSD. unfortunately, it doesn't seem like this was a good idea in terms of getting in at USC.

but it felt really good at the time! that's what they get for being condescending.
 
I was asked "What is the color of love" by an interviewer. I sat there puzzled for a minute. Then the doc burst out laughing, telling me he just likes to see people sweat that one.
 
My most bizarre interview moment was when a physiology professor that I was interviewing with actually went of on what he called "lazy" medical students that wern't ready for the workload of medical school and wanted to slide by at the end without doing most of the work. He then went off on a tangent about how anyone with a MCAT below 24 should never be allowed into medical school and they will fail miserably. To me he just seemed like a slightly bitter older physician. I just kept thinking to myself that I would not want to have a class with him.
 
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