most bizarre interview moment?

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After 3 days, I finally read through the entire thread 😀. Awesome stories, hopefully, I'll have some to add.
 
catullus said:
During the general Q&A with all the interviewees at one interview, the dean asked me what my favorite kind of music was. Having lived in east Africa for the last year, I said "east African pop." The dean then _asked me to sing something_. Without thinking too much about it, I began singing something. When the dean asked me to translate it, I realized that the song I had been singing was actually incredibly inappropriate. I politely excused myself from translating it, saying that it "wasn't completely appropriate for this setting" or something like that and turned bright red. 😱 Bet I won't get into that school!
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Great story and I bet it helped more than hurt 🙂
 
on my very FIRST med school interview i've got this older doc, probably in his 70s...i'm incredibly nervous, he seemed generally disinterested in anything i had to say, compulsively blinked during the entire interview, no smiling or any sort of reaction to anything i say at all...some highlights:

Interviewer: tell me about a meaningful volunteering experience
Me: I volunteered in the children's hospital and
[he interrupts]: Yeah yeah, i saw that on your application....next!
Me:....(next? what is this?) Well...I also volunteered as a tutor during
[he interrupts, glaring at me]: Yes. I already SEE that on your application. next!
Me:....um....I volunteered in a clinic during my
[he interrupts....aaaagain]: Ok i see that all on your application, nevermind.
Me.....?????


[Later}
Interviewer: So tell me why you are interested in coming here
Me: I go on to talk about the curriculum, my overall impression of the student life there...etc....and in the middle of my explanation he interrupts me and actually shouts with a BIG smile on his face
"WELL THE GEESE CERTAINLY SEEM TO LIKE IT HERE!!!!!"
Me: ....(what?)....oh yeah, i see them out there on the field (attempting to return his smile)
Him: (still smiling to himself) yeah....(smile completely drops as he looks back up at me) ok well let me show you out.
 
I was mentioning to my interviewer a book I had read about Captain Cook and she stops me and says, "Wait! He was real?!" :wtf:


BTW, this was at a top 5 school.
 
LittleRocker said:
I was mentioning to my interviewer a book I had read about Captain Cook and she stops me and says, "Wait! He was real?!" :wtf:


BTW, this was at a top 5 school.
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Maybe he thought you said Captain Hook....?

Just cause you are an MD doesn't mean you know everything....
 
virusgirl said:
"Summarize Islam."

WTF?!?!?!
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Well, on the off chance anybody here gets asked that, maybe just reciting the shahada would work.

I haven't yet had med school interviews, but I remember a job interview where I had to take a test, including such gems as "When is it okay to steal from the company?" "When is it okay to take illegal drugs on the job?" and "When is it okay to be rude to a customer?"
 
some interviews are hilarious but i like reading the more god awful boring stories on this thread.
 
wow just wasted a crazy amount of hours reading this while waiting for the mcat scores last couple of days, any suggestions for a thead i should go to now to waste the last 7 days before i get scores back??
 
This wasn't 'bizarre' per se but it was a horrible question at a interview:


Interviewer at USC: So, what's your MCAT and GPA. They won't tell me but I ask anyways.

Me: (thinking.... f*ck), um... it's xyz (thinking... that's none of your fliggin' beezwax).

Mind you, this interview was SUPPOSED to be a "closed" interview meaning they're not supposed to know my stats. They didn't tell him on purpose and it's the first question he asks.

He went on to tell me my mcat was low and basically, better luck next year. I was tempted to say something to the admissions board or whatever saying I didn't get a fair shake but ... oh well.

I got waitlisted. 🙁
This was in 2006.
 
My first time applying to medical school I interviewed at LECOM Erie (which as we all know is a DO school). I have a degree in psychology with a heavy emphasis on research and a science minor. Anyway...

In the elevator on the way to the "panel" interview, the admissions officer who organized our interview day has my application in front of her. She opens it up (still in the elevator), glances at it, looks me up and down.

She then turns her back to me (literally turned her back on me) and says, while facing away from me:

We generally don't admit students with a BS in social sciences here at LECOM Erie, we find that they don't perform as well in our program. You HAVE to be an EXCEPTIONAL student to be matriculated with a degree in social sciences.

It was my very first interview and I knew then and there they weren't going to admit me... to make things worse I was so upset that in the interview for the first questions my voice was shaking and a big alligator tear rolled down my cheek.
 
danimjo said:
My first time applying to medical school I interviewed at LECOM Erie (which as we all know is a DO school). I have a degree in psychology with a heavy emphasis on research and a science minor. Anyway...

In the elevator on the way to the "panel" interview, the admissions officer who organized our interview day has my application in front of her. She opens it up (still in the elevator), glances at it, looks me up and down.

She then turns her back to me (literally turned her back on me) and says, while facing away from me:

We generally don't admit students with a BS in social sciences here at LECOM Erie, we find that they don't perform as well in our program. You HAVE to be an EXCEPTIONAL student to be matriculated with a degree in social sciences.

It was my very first interview and I knew then and there they weren't going to admit me... to make things worse I was so upset that in the interview for the first questions my voice was shaking and a big alligator tear rolled down my cheek.
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that is terrible!! i would have started bawling as soon as i left the elevator...
 
danimjo said:
My first time applying to medical school I interviewed at LECOM Erie (which as we all know is a DO school). I have a degree in psychology with a heavy emphasis on research and a science minor. Anyway...

In the elevator on the way to the "panel" interview, the admissions officer who organized our interview day has my application in front of her. She opens it up (still in the elevator), glances at it, looks me up and down.

She then turns her back to me (literally turned her back on me) and says, while facing away from me:

We generally don't admit students with a BS in social sciences here at LECOM Erie, we find that they don't perform as well in our program. You HAVE to be an EXCEPTIONAL student to be matriculated with a degree in social sciences.

It was my very first interview and I knew then and there they weren't going to admit me... to make things worse I was so upset that in the interview for the first questions my voice was shaking and a big alligator tear rolled down my cheek.
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omg.
 
danimjo said:
My first time applying to medical school I interviewed at LECOM Erie (which as we all know is a DO school). I have a degree in psychology with a heavy emphasis on research and a science minor. Anyway...

In the elevator on the way to the "panel" interview, the admissions officer who organized our interview day has my application in front of her. She opens it up (still in the elevator), glances at it, looks me up and down.

She then turns her back to me (literally turned her back on me) and says, while facing away from me:

We generally don't admit students with a BS in social sciences here at LECOM Erie, we find that they don't perform as well in our program. You HAVE to be an EXCEPTIONAL student to be matriculated with a degree in social sciences.

It was my very first interview and I knew then and there they weren't going to admit me... to make things worse I was so upset that in the interview for the first questions my voice was shaking and a big alligator tear rolled down my cheek.
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How horrible!! Have you heard anything from them?
 
Stolenspatulas said:
I posted this on another thread, but I figure it sort of fits more here:

funny story.

When I was at my Penn interview I was waiting in the office lobby with maybe 5-6 students for my turn to interview. Tom Cruise came on the tv (it was some news show) and in order to lighten the mood I asked my fellow interviewees if anyone knew anything about scientology. Only one of the group had ever heard of it. I then proceeded to ask if anyone ever watched Southpark b/c it had reminded me of the awesome scientology episode. The same dude that recognized scientology was the only one out of the group who had heard of Southpark and he started laughing... He also looked confused (bc he was shocked that none of the other peeps knew about it)

He was from a state school, I forgot which one.

All the other interviewees were from Yale, Harvard, or Princeton. I remember that specifically b/c I could sense the aura. haha.

I guess the story was more tragic than funny. They had never even heard of Southpark. Thats insane.
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That IS insane!!! 😱
 
jonessoda said:
Well, on the off chance anybody here gets asked that, maybe just reciting the shahada would work.

I haven't yet had med school interviews, but I remember a job interview where I had to take a test, including such gems as "When is it okay to steal from the company?" "When is it okay to take illegal drugs on the job?" and "When is it okay to be rude to a customer?"
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Target, perhaps? I'm sure there are tests like that everywhere. I had to take a battery of tests for my job in the ER and most of them were multiple choice bull**** like that.
 
does anyone have any stories of interview experiences here in Australia? What do you think it was that got you in?

I got the usual ethics questions, but was also asked why I wanted to work Emergency Medicine when there was more money to be made in General Practice.
Seeing as I had gone back to Uni after being laid off as a fitter and turner, I told him I had seen quite a few accidents while I was on the job sites, and I would like to be able to help guys like me who happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.

I also told him, even if the pay for EM was less then what I was getting as a fitter and turner, I would still want to do it.

ok aussies, whats your interview story?
 
haha some of theese interviews are hilarious! Oh the joy of being interveiwed, or interveiwing for that matter!
J
 
Omg I just spent the last few days reading over this entire thread. Hilarious! Now that interview season's about to begin, I hope more people will post here ^_^
 
So I'm at an interview, and we're all leaving the group presentation and heading off to the individual interviews. But the guy leading the group thing went over, so we're all about to be late. They call out a list of buildings - "If you're going to X, Y, Z, A, B, or C follow Med Student #1". I'm going to X, so I follow #1.

She starts asking us where we're all supposed to be, and I say Bldg X. She gives me a really strange look, and says "Oh? I'm supposed to go there? I thought they weren't doing interview there." I show her my sheet. "Well, OK..." .

We drop off half the group. She leads us out the building, up some stairs....and to a completely walled-off entrance. "Oh. I guess this is closed now. Well, go back in where we came from, and then ask them at the front desk".

Now totally late. Ask at the front desk, random strange lady tells me to "Go down the 2nd hall, turn left, make your first right, go into another dimension...." . ... I find a random doc in scrubs and ask her, she walks me one way and then says, "or you can go this way, or maybe this way is better..." Then gets paged and runs off, pointing randomly.

Finally find the right elevators. Go up to 6th floor of bldg X where office is supposed to be.....AND IT'S COMPLETELY DARK. The WHOLE FLOOR. AND LOCKED. AND SCARY. And i'm totally sure an axe murderer is about to come out and kill me. Argh!!!!

Luckily they gave us the phone numbers of our interviewers; i called and the guy's secretary was totally apologetic and told me exactly how to get to the REAL office. And then as soon as we sat down, the guy apologized and took a minute to call the admissions people so his next interviewee wouldn't have the same experience. Very nice, but NOT a good way to start your first interview at your first med school!!!
 
troublebubble said:
So I'm at an interview, and we're all leaving the group presentation and heading off to the individual interviews. But the guy leading the group thing went over, so we're all about to be late. They call out a list of buildings - "If you're going to X, Y, Z, A, B, or C follow Med Student #1". I'm going to X, so I follow #1.

She starts asking us where we're all supposed to be, and I say Bldg X. She gives me a really strange look, and says "Oh? I'm supposed to go there? I thought they weren't doing interview there." I show her my sheet. "Well, OK..." .

We drop off half the group. She leads us out the building, up some stairs....and to a completely walled-off entrance. "Oh. I guess this is closed now. Well, go back in where we came from, and then ask them at the front desk".

Now totally late. Ask at the front desk, random strange lady tells me to "Go down the 2nd hall, turn left, make your first right, go into another dimension...." . ... I find a random doc in scrubs and ask her, she walks me one way and then says, "or you can go this way, or maybe this way is better..." Then gets paged and runs off, pointing randomly.

Finally find the right elevators. Go up to 6th floor of bldg X where office is supposed to be.....AND IT'S COMPLETELY DARK. The WHOLE FLOOR. AND LOCKED. AND SCARY. And i'm totally sure an axe murderer is about to come out and kill me. Argh!!!!

Luckily they gave us the phone numbers of our interviewers; i called and the guy's secretary was totally apologetic and told me exactly how to get to the REAL office. And then as soon as we sat down, the guy apologized and took a minute to call the admissions people so his next interviewee wouldn't have the same experience. Very nice, but NOT a good way to start your first interview at your first med school!!!
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I had a similar trial by fire at my first interview. It worked out for me, so maybe the same will be true for you 😉
 
starfishprime said:
Not a bad answer. You could also go with "anti-intellectual superstition."

Oh, and before someone goes off on me for being racist, the above is also my answer for "Summarize Christianity."

Oh, and before someone goes off on me for being anti-religion... actually feel free.
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Meh...by default I'm inclined to consider you anti-intellectual and superstitious. Or painfully limited and closed-minded. It goes both ways. Usually. Like most things in the world.
 
DrSno said:
I thought everyone knew about those studies by now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence That lists many sources but there are even more if you want to look for them.

From the article: Several Gallup poll studies of the general population have shown that those with higher IQs tend not to believe in God," Lynn said to Telegraph.co.uk

"His results, published in the scientific journal Intelligence demonstrated that on average, Atheists scored 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics, 3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than Dogmatic persuasions."

So atheists>agnostics>christians>evangelicals. That's really not surprising at all is it?
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I'm pretty sure I have a higher IQ than you. Reasonably sure. I could be wrong of course, but...by the nature of your post...I'm preettttty sure.
 
Food said:
I'm pretty sure I have a higher IQ than you. Reasonably sure. I could be wrong of course, but...by the nature of your post...I'm preettttty sure.
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👍

Any time someone starts making random allusions to a correlation between IQ and anything, I start getting just a tad bit suspicious.

Besides, some of the greatest minds to ever live have been (for whatever reason, whether cultural or other) religious.
 
Food said:
I'm pretty sure I have a higher IQ than you. Reasonably sure. I could be wrong of course, but...by the nature of your post...I'm preettttty sure.
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I'm pretty sure that anytime anyone claims to be smarter than someone else without knowing literally anything about them, that makes them a douchebag.

I don't know if that applies to the other guy you were quoting, but yes, that definitely applies to you.
 
Guys, really? You're going to revive a stupid argument from 6 months ago in one of the most awesome threads on the forums?

Let's keep this civil and get back to the funny.
 
Count Chocula said:
I'm pretty sure that anytime anyone claims to be smarter than someone else without knowing literally anything about them, that makes them a douchebag.

I don't know if that applies to the other guy you were quoting, but yes, that definitely applies to you.
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You're too stupid to argue with. Sorry. You should probably go back and read the entire "discussion". Perhaps you'll detect some underlying irony.
 
As for the funny - any stories about somebody farting loudly during their interview? Never happened to me, but I always imagined that it would really really suck if it did.
 
GoSpursGo said:
Let's keep this civil and get back to the funny.
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👍

I just feel like I'm too close to the memories right now though to contribute.

It is very likely that the people involved in my stories would end up reading them here and realize they are the one(s) being portrayed.

I'll come back when this cycle has cooled off a little.
 
Cant say where this happened because I'm still waiting to hear from them

Interviewer: So It says in your file that you've worked as a personal trainer.
Me: Yes, yes I have.
Interviewer : Haha so you've worked with fat people like me?
Me🙁thinking...dont say yes OH GOD DONT SAY YES) yes haha............
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pianola said:
HAHAHA. Oh my God. I really hope it works out iCY, but MAN that is a hilarious story.
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got rejected, reapplying 😍
 
I hope the old admiral is still interviewing at Tulane. Now that would be a right of passage.
 
Bumping this with my own weird story, though definitely not as weird as some of the ones on here!

So I meet my interviewer, he shakes my hand and we sit down and the first thing he says is, "So do you have any questions for me?" I was a little thrown off but I asked him something and then he says, "Ok, so do you have any more questions?" So I asked him something else. And he answers it and asks me AGAIN if I have any more questions. So I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel but I throw out a third one and as he's answering it the fire alarm starts ringing. (We're in a 7th floor office with no windows). He just keeps talking! I waited for him to finish and then said, "Umm, is that the fire alarm?" and he just says "Yes." and then asks me where else I applied to (crap!)

The fire alarm stopped ringing eventually and obviously I didn't burn to a crisp and die but it was really pretty unnerving.
 
Actually I just remembered the other one (I'm applying MD/PhD so we have like 8 interviews per school, so we get a lot more chances to have weird moments.)

Interviewer: Hi, nice to meet you, where are you from?
Me: I grew up in _____, but moved to _____ when I was 13.
Interviewer: And how did that make you feel?
Me: (thinks of all the crazy psychologist interviewers that people posted about here) Umm...well I was really upset, it felt like the end of the world because all my friends were there. But I got over it and I made new friends and I really enjoy living here.
Interviewer: Oh, that's good, I moved my daughter when she was 13 and she thought it was the end of the world too.
Me: (oh, he's not a shrink! sigh of relief!)
Interviewer: So, she's applying to college now. Do you have any advice about that?

We spent the rest of the interview talking about college admissions, AP classes, the SAT, etc.
 
TcuTcuca said:
I hope the old admiral is still interviewing at Tulane. Now that would be a right of passage.
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He is and he's pretty awesome. We were talking about Portuguese, because I speak it, and he was saying that he'd been meaning to learn it by using some records that he has at home. 😀

Also, my Dad was born in San Marcos, Texas, and the admiral was like "San Marcos Texas...Lyndon B. Johnson used to teach at a school there before the second World War." I told him that I did not know that.

He also was not satisfied with the quality of the pen that the admissions office had given him, and complained about the inadequacy of the chairs. He was pretty fun to talk to, but it was an experience.
 
LadyLightning20 said:
Bumping this with my own weird story, though definitely not as weird as some of the ones on here!

So I meet my interviewer, he shakes my hand and we sit down and the first thing he says is, "So do you have any questions for me?" I was a little thrown off but I asked him something and then he says, "Ok, so do you have any more questions?" So I asked him something else. And he answers it and asks me AGAIN if I have any more questions. So I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel but I throw out a third one and as he's answering it the fire alarm starts ringing. (We're in a 7th floor office with no windows). He just keeps talking! I waited for him to finish and then said, "Umm, is that the fire alarm?" and he just says "Yes." and then asks me where else I applied to (crap!)

The fire alarm stopped ringing eventually and obviously I didn't burn to a crisp and die but it was really pretty unnerving.
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Are interviewers technically allowed to ask where else we've applied?
 
lstone13 said:
Are interviewers technically allowed to ask where else we've applied?
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UF's secondary asks you to list schools you have applied to. However, I think it's an optional question. I've had interviewers ask me how I pick the med schools I apply to, and indirectly ask which schools I chose.
 
When interviewing for a lab tech position (that's right, the one who makes the solutions, orders stuff, and hangs out with the rats and mice), I was quite surprised at how intense the interview process was going to be. At the time I hadn't even decided to go to med school yet, so had no idea what "typical" med school interview questions were. I went in expecting to talk about my previous research, how I could contribute to the lab, projects I'd be working on, what new techniques I'd need to learn, etc.

Little did I know I would be subjected to an interview by the PI's spouse who also happened to be a faculty member on the med school admissions committee. This also happened to be at an ultracompetitive med school, though getting a job as a tech was not necessarily (at least, I thought) prestigious enough to warrant the full interrogation.

I sit down, and the guy leaned back in his chair and put the tips of his fingers together, a sideways smile on his face. "Would you like some candy?" he asked. The candy he offered was my least favorite (peppermint patties - what a waste of chocolate), but it's still candy, and why not? I took one and ate it. "So, who is the person you most admire in the world?"

What!? What did this have to do with a lab tech position?? You have to keep in mind that this sort of thing just isn't asked for these types of jobs, or even usually in PhD candidate interviews. It's always all about the research. "Ummm, I guess my grandpa? I'm not sure if I've thought about it that much. I don't think any person is totally 'admirable' per se, I tend to admire certain traits or acts about a person." In science, it's ok to get a little philosophical sometimes. This wasn't a pleasing answer to him, I could tell.

He sighed a bit and asked some other questions that I now know are typical and totally fair game for med school admissions ("Who'd you most like to have lunch with?" and "What's your biggest failure?") and I just kinda blundered through the whole thing, and I'm sure he could tell by the look on my face that I was completely confused and even a little weirded out by the process, but I did manage to come up with some (retrospectively) hilarious answers.

The point of this story is that, coming from someone who intended for years to get a PhD and have a pure research career, the process is so hilariously a game that you just have to play. If I would have known then what I know now...

Oh, and I didn't get the job.
 
Food said:
UF's secondary asks you to list schools you have applied to. However, I think it's an optional question. I've had interviewers ask me how I pick the med schools I apply to, and indirectly ask which schools I chose.
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Maybe it's just me, but I feel like that is a very unfair question. I don't feel like my choice to apply to one school or another should affect their opinion or judgment of me. Granted, I can see how the question, "what factored into your decision to apply to schools," is valid and can demonstrate thoughtfulness, but otherwise, I don't feel like I should have to disclose specific schools to the interviewer.
 
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