Most UNEXPECTED INTERVIEW questions...

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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OneStrongBro

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I have one, that I was asked.

"So, do you have a tattoo?"

My response. "Yes"....
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"Over the next 5 minutes, tell me about something. I'll just listen" (proceeds to set stopwatch to five minutes) then "GO!":(
 
wow, mike...that sounds tough.. I hope things went okay.
 
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Originally posted by Mike59
"Over the next 5 minutes, tell me about something. I'll just listen" (proceeds to set stopwatch to five minutes) then "GO!":(
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good lord.
 
Originally posted by manicmaven
good lord.
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I was about to crash and burn, but decided to talk about something related to one of my hobbies. I actually did a pretty good job, and it turns out my interviewer did the same activity! Thank god I didn't mess up! What was bizzare is that he sat there, taking notes and nodding his head as I spoke, and didn't even tell me until the five minutes were up that he shares the same hobby!:eek:
 
I had an interviewer ask me if I saw myself taking time off from my medical career to raise a family. This just totally caught me off guard...I'm guessing he didn't ask this to the guy who went before me!
 
what school?
 
Nova SouthEastern U
 
One of my interviewers said, "Tell me a joke". I had to be quick on my feet and be sure not to blurt out one of the obscene jokes from my adolescence.
 
do you have a "special friend"? :confused: :rolleyes:
 
just my 2cents ladies but i think that questions about families and "special friends" are totally off limits. My pre med advisor said that if I got any questions like that I should let her know ASAP becuase this is something that they are working very hard to phase out of medicine....I don't know i think that it is pretty sexist (not trying to flame!!!) to ask women whether they are planning to raise families...that is your buisness to decide and work out (ok I am a little bias...my mom was a full time attorney and had three kids so I dont' think there should be any question of someone's ability to do both successfully.)
 
Originally posted by lola
do you have a "special friend"? :confused: :rolleyes:
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haha that's what my mom and grandma call boys that i'm just beginning to date. :D
 
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Originally posted by ShortStuff
just my 2cents ladies but i think that questions about families and "special friends" are totally off limits. My pre med advisor said that if I got any questions like that I should let her know ASAP becuase this is something that they are working very hard to phase out of medicine....I don't know i think that it is pretty sexist (not trying to flame!!!) to ask women whether they are planning to raise families...that is your buisness to decide and work out (ok I am a little bias...my mom was a full time attorney and had three kids so I dont' think there should be any question of someone's ability to do both successfully.)
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I'm a guy and was asked questions along these lines. "are you married", "do you plan to have kids" etc.

I went ahead and answered the questions honestly. I felt that the otherwise pleasant tone of the interviews would have gone sour if I responded with "that's an illegal question, I won't answer it".

I almost wonder if some interviewers don't know any better and are just trying to be friendly?
 
two questions out of the blue:

what do you think of mahler's symphonies? (i had given no indication i have any prior knowledge of classical music)

what is the primary antigen presenting cell in the epidermis? (likewise, i had given NO indication i had any immuno knowledge and the interview was closed file)
 
Originally posted by GoodMonkey
haha that's what my mom and grandma call boys that i'm just beginning to date. :D
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That's what my grandma still calls my live-in BF of 3 years!

I agree with Mike59's idea that the tone would be ruined if you respond defensively. A lot of times people are just trying to get to know you better. But what about responding with "I'm not at that time in my life right now and I'll decide that when the time comes."
 
i don't think questions about relationships are really allowed, but i thought it would be to my advantage to answer the question honestly rather than come off as difficult/argumentative. what if i was a lesbian or something, though? i would have felt really uncomfortable with the question and would have felt even more uncomfortable lying. i'm just glad he didn't ask me if i wanted to have kids and how i was going to have time for them.
 
Originally posted by klp14
I agree with Mike59's idea that the tone would be ruined if you respond defensively. A lot of times people are just trying to get to know you better. But what about responding with "I'm not at that time in my life right now and I'll decide that when the time comes."
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That's how I responded. I don't know yet if I'll ever get married/have kids, and that's exactly what I told them. I said I'm open to the idea, but can't say for sure.
 
Originally posted by OneStrongBro
I have one, that I was asked.

"So, do you have a tattoo?"

My response. "Yes"....
Click to expand...


OSB, what would have been your response if your interviewer had asked you "Do you have one night stands"?

Your response: "Yes, but only since I got accepted to medical school"?!!!!!!:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
 
1) If you had to start a colony on a distant plant and could only take three people... who would you take?

2) If you had three wishes, what would they be?

3) Do you like elephants?
 
just for the record...I totally agree that you have to just move on through the interview and suck it up but it might be worth mentioning if you do have a pre-med advisor/committee etc.

Also, I totally agree that there are some old farts out there interviewing who don't realize that a question like that may be not very "PC"....I heard of an example of at Loyola - the poor guy had no idea he was causing a problem and wound up calling and apologizing to the female applicants he had interviewed....
 
If you could be any character on Gilligan's Island, who would you be and why?
 
Originally posted by GoodMonkey
haha that's what my mom and grandma call boys that i'm just beginning to date. :D
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Wow, do you get that too? My mother always asks, "how's your friend doing?"
 
My interviewer at Howard asked me if I had a boyfriend, but what made it worse it that he was 32, an attending, from the Carribean and rediculously fine. I felt my face turning red, but I kept my cool and said "yes". Then he asked (since I'm from Cali), how do you think a long distance relationship is going to work? I told him I wasn't sure but I would take it one day at a time....then he kept asking me...if I recommend you are you going to come to Howard???:rolleyes: :) I didn't know how to feel, just smiled, lied through my teeth and left.
 
Originally posted by cbpremed
My interviewer at Howard asked me if I had a boyfriend, but what made it worse it that he was 32, an attending, from the Carribean and rediculously fine. I felt my face turning red, but I kept my cool and said "yes". Then he asked (since I'm from Cali), how do you think a long distance relationship is going to work? I told him I wasn't sure but I would take it one day at a time....then he kept asking me...if I recommend you are you going to come to Howard???:rolleyes: :) I didn't know how to feel, just smiled, lied through my teeth and left.
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LOL, sounds like he was really tryin to hit on u...flirtatious and all :p
Seems like a great interview 2 me, wish I would get one of those :)
 
one of my interviewers asked me to name the 5 major religions of the world, i got stuck on only 3.
then he asked me what is the country with the best family planning...eh??? it was jeodardy
 
Originally posted by Iffy premed
one of my interviewers asked me to name the 5 major religions of the world, i got stuck on only 3.
then he asked me what is the country with the best family planning...eh??? it was jeodardy
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In that case, shouldn't he have given you the 5 religions and the name of the country? :)

Anyone ever had them ask boxer or briefs? :)
 
One of my female interviewers kept asking leading questions to see if I was planning on having a family/worried about it. I knew what she was getting at, so I tried to answer each time with other things I might see as difficult in the future and how I'm prepared to tackle them. Finally, (after several rewordings of the question) I figured the interview was getting nowhere and finally answered her. I told one of my prof's about this and she said I should have never done that, but I don't know what else I should have done since the interviewer seemed to want that information so badly.
 
I actually had a response planned in case someone asked me one of those off-limits questions. I was just going to remark inoffensively, "you know, I don't want to offend you, but I don't think you're allowed to ask that." In a tone that assumes it's an honest mistake on their part.
 
Originally posted by Mike59
I'm a guy and was asked questions along these lines. "are you married", "do you plan to have kids" etc.

I went ahead and answered the questions honestly. I felt that the otherwise pleasant tone of the interviews would have gone sour if I responded with "that's an illegal question, I won't answer it".

I almost wonder if some interviewers don't know any better and are just trying to be friendly?
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I imagine that some interviewers are just being conversational, but the problem is that these questions have totally different implications when asked of a woman rather than a man.

I think Samoa's response (in a very pleasant tone & with a nice smile) is good. :)
 
Originally posted by relatively prime
1) If you had to start a colony on a distant plant and could only take three people... who would you take?

2) If you had three wishes, what would they be?

3) Do you like elephants?
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Good to know that they were asking questions that are pertinent to medical school! :rolleyes:

I know that part of the point is to get to know you & see how you think on your feet, but these kinds of questions just seem silly!
 
From a reach school, unexpected interview:

"So, what will it take to get you to come here?"

Still waiting for response...
 
Interviewer: "you look a little small to be a wrestler (as in professional)...how much you weigh?"

me: um...165 last time i checked


wtf...
 
"You have 3 lightbulbs in room A. The switches to these lightbulbs are in another room B. How can you tell which switch belongs to which bulb, if you can only enter room A once."

-UTSouthwestern

:p I'm just lucky that I like solving puzzles!
 
In one of my vet school interviews an interviewer asked me if I was a clinician and my student debilitated an animal what would I do and do I think the hospital is responsible for rectifying the situation?

In a different interview I was asked what Wicomico means. It's the name of my county and I just said I had no idea. The interviewer seemed disappointed and then said I could have made something up and they would have had no idea. I guess I was supposed to lie. :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by SouthernGirlie
"You have 3 lightbulbs in room A. The switches to these lightbulbs are in another room B. How can you tell which switch belongs to which bulb, if you can only enter room A once."

-UTSouthwestern

:p I'm just lucky that I like solving puzzles!
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A common question actually...some companies ask this at job interviews...if you can't figure it out, PM me. :)

Also, to add, you can't see anything in room A from room B.
 
btw...whats the answer to the lightbulb question....you never know if i may be asked that question

:)
 
Originally posted by patelakshar
btw...whats the answer to the lightbulb question....you never know if i may be asked that question

:)
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I didn't want to post it because people should have a chance to figure it out. I know at least two answers.
 
Originally posted by Random Access
Obviously didn't see my post above this yours. :p

That's one answer. I think Microsoft uses this puzzle.
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Oops... I deleted my post... so the power is back in your hands to keep it a secret. ;)
 
Well...light bulbs get hot, right?.....:D
 
Originally posted by pathdr2b
OSB, what would have been your response if your interviewer had asked you "Do you have one night stands"?

Your response: "Yes, but only since I got accepted to medical school"?!!!!!!:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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:laugh: :clap: :laugh: haha
 
Instead of asking me about a specific ethical situation my interviewer said "what do you think about ethics?". I tried to think quickly and made up a hypothetical question and answer.
 
3 most random question i've gotten so far:

1. So you must be trying to stay in this area because of your boyfriend, what does he do?
Answer: I'll tell you when I find him...still looking for him.
(interviewer was a little uncomfortable and said something about how he shouldn't have assumed that).

2.Tell me about the rules to ultimate frisbee
(it was on my app that I played, but this was kinda miniscule)

3.What would you do if your job took over your life?
(So I start to answer about how I would not be comfortable continuing in a position that took 100% of my time, but before I finish he says, "no, the rule is it takes over 100% of your life", so i try saying i would look for a different position that did not, but he says, "no, i mean it takes 100%" i finally said, i guess i'd have to be a workaholic for that job, but that's not really me. he dropped it...finally. sheesh. )
 
I fail to see why asking whether you aim to have a family or not in an un-PC question. When asked what I saw myself doing in the future, the majority of my answer, and a good part of the remainder of the interview, revolved around family.

As for the oddest question I was asked:
How the HELL did they convince you to go to (the school I ended up doing my undergrad at)!?
 
(during the same interview)

Q: What makes you mad/angry/upset?

(how are you supposed to answer that without sounding like a tool?)

Q: you're a reapplicant. so why do you think you didn't get in the first time?

A: (lots of reasons, but one part was my not-so-great-quality personal statement)

Q: (snidely) so is your personal statement better this year?

:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Originally posted by the_equalizer
I fail to see why asking whether you aim to have a family or not in an un-PC question. When asked what I saw myself doing in the future, the majority of my answer, and a good part of the remainder of the interview, revolved around family.
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are you a female?
it is a bit of an un-pc question to ask a female, particularly one that took time off after college. if she's in her child-bearing years already, it may be looked down upon if she says she wants to have a family. the next question may then be "are you going to wait until you finish school?" then what happens if she says "no"? that person may consciously or subconsciously not recommend her for med school. and if she says "yes" they may doubt her, etc...
i guess it really depends on why the person is asking the question, and how they're going to use the info. if it's just to make conversation, then not much harm will be done. but if the info provided will be used somehow to judge whether someone gets into school, it is wrong. it is really an irrelevant question, and since it could harm female applicants, it should not be asked.
 
California apps, I'm esp. interested in how you answer the awful question "Where else have you applied & interviewed?" It's not an unexpected question, but no matter how many times i reviewed my response, it still felt really awkward when i was actually asked this. I definitely didn't say that i applied to 22 schools. I tried to give a general response & emphasized my desire to study in CA. I hope I can find a better way to answer this question for next time.

Also, is it a good sign if you're asked this question? If a school is not seriously considering you, then would they even care to ask this?
 
Originally posted by lola
do you have a "special friend"? :confused: :rolleyes:
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: , what did u say?

also could someone pm the answer the the light bulb, just in case, thanks
 
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