Do our chances of getting into medical school increase if we get a nice interviewer vs. a mean one?
nice vs. mean interviewers
- Thread starter ddalgi
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I should actually ask if our chances of getting a good recommendation letter decrease if we get someone really mean.
Some interviewers act mean to try and see how you react, but you never really know if they are doing that or not.
How you felt during the interview and how nice/mean your interviewer acts are both very poor indicators of how you actually did in the interview.
How you felt during the interview and how nice/mean your interviewer acts are both very poor indicators of how you actually did in the interview.
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Those of us who use interviewer feedback to make admission decisions know who's a sweetheart and who's a meany. We adjust accordingly.
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Win the respect of a meanie and it's a gold mine. I think that's what happened at my top pick! 👍
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What do you think?
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Depends how you look at it. If you catch a normally neutral interviewer (or even nice one) who's having a bad day and takes it out on you, yup it may affect your chances. There's always the possibility of interviewers having uncharacteristically good or bad days that an Adcom would not know to adjust to.
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Just gotta watch out for the good-interviewer bad-interviewer technique
It's also possible that an interviewer is extra nice because he/she likes your application a lot or is extra mean because he thinks your app sucks and he is wasting his time.
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I think something similar happened to me. I had an interview that I felt really unsure of afterward because I was asked a lot of difficult questions. Turns out, those difficult questions give the interviewer a much better idea of who you are than the easy ones.
don't you think then that luck also plays a part in this entire med school application process. what if you get an interviewer who is having a bad day? what if you get an interviewer who is a newbie and whose letter doesn't carry as much weight? what if you get someone who is more nit-picky than others? why are there so many variables involved in this process?!?
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I wouldn't stress yourself out over it too much. All of your concerns are legitimate, but consider this: admissions committee members are all volunteers. At least I've never heard of a school that pays their admissions committee. So the reason why they are there, and why interviewers volunteer to conduct interviews, is because they have some pride in their institution and want it to succeed. If you're a good applicant and a good fit for their school, they'll want you there. An interviewer could have the worst day of their life, and you might have a terrible interview with them, but if you present yourself well in spite of that, they're still going to want you (again, if you're a good fit).
I know there is some data floating around out there that things as obscure as the weather can affect admissions decisions, but that's why you apply to a broad range of schools-hopefully, the coincidental negatives that you might run into will be evened out by positives somewhere else.
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I hear sunspots have an effect on how well your interview goes too...
in all seriousness, I will go with LizzyM's take on it. Adcoms know their interviewers. Part of the med school interview trail is to learn to roll with the punches and hope for the best, while expecting the worst (3 cliches in one sentence, not bad 😛)
in all seriousness, I will go with LizzyM's take on it. Adcoms know their interviewers. Part of the med school interview trail is to learn to roll with the punches and hope for the best, while expecting the worst (3 cliches in one sentence, not bad 😛)
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With the slight editing, we together hit a home run (and 4 cliches).
This is the killer....anyone else have a polygraph test at interview? I was hooked up to one and my answers to questions were checked for lying.😱
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You kids are lucky. Back when I interviewed, most schools used waterboarding.
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C
cowme
Being on the other side of this process, I can tell you that who interviews you is certainly just as important as how you interview.
Just to give you an example, at our school, when med students interview applicants, we can't really help your chances to get accepted, but we certainly can kill your chances if we give you bad interview marks. Knowing this, I only gave applicants perfect (or near perfect) marks when I interviewed, regardless of their performance. I remember the randomness of this process, and don't want to be the one keeping one of you from your dream school (because, honestly what do I care about your interview performance unless you are a total D-Bag?). My classmate peers were far more harsh on interview performance, and never gave any applicant a perfect interview score. Occasionally their low marks would be the only thing keeping a borderline applicant from acceptance.
FWIW, you will find medical school 3rd year rotations to be the exact same. You will have attendings that give even the weakest students Honors no matter what, because they are just nice people and want the best for every student. You will also find old-school attendings who only give honors to one student every year, because that was how they were trained. Your grades will be largely determined by who your attending is, just like your chances of acceptance may depend on who is leading your interview.
Just to give you an example, at our school, when med students interview applicants, we can't really help your chances to get accepted, but we certainly can kill your chances if we give you bad interview marks. Knowing this, I only gave applicants perfect (or near perfect) marks when I interviewed, regardless of their performance. I remember the randomness of this process, and don't want to be the one keeping one of you from your dream school (because, honestly what do I care about your interview performance unless you are a total D-Bag?). My classmate peers were far more harsh on interview performance, and never gave any applicant a perfect interview score. Occasionally their low marks would be the only thing keeping a borderline applicant from acceptance.
FWIW, you will find medical school 3rd year rotations to be the exact same. You will have attendings that give even the weakest students Honors no matter what, because they are just nice people and want the best for every student. You will also find old-school attendings who only give honors to one student every year, because that was how they were trained. Your grades will be largely determined by who your attending is, just like your chances of acceptance may depend on who is leading your interview.
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My ideal interview will consist of 4 drill sargs.
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So in general, would you say it is more to your advantage to have faculty interviewers over student interviewers, as faculty would usually have more pull than students?
I have to say that interviewers DO play a part in acceptance or not.
I am a reapp. Last year, I had an interviewer who was just insulting to me at everything I did or wrote in my application. It was very bad tto the point that I almost requested a new interview after I left but I didn't want to risk burning bridges. Result: WLed. I called teh school and was basically told that one poor interview out of three interviewers killed my app. Fast forward: Same schools, three nice interviewers. Acceptance. And btw, my app didn't change very much between the two cycles. I started two new volunteering positions and that was all.
I am a reapp. Last year, I had an interviewer who was just insulting to me at everything I did or wrote in my application. It was very bad tto the point that I almost requested a new interview after I left but I didn't want to risk burning bridges. Result: WLed. I called teh school and was basically told that one poor interview out of three interviewers killed my app. Fast forward: Same schools, three nice interviewers. Acceptance. And btw, my app didn't change very much between the two cycles. I started two new volunteering positions and that was all.
Sorry to bump such an old thread....
Sometime during this cycle, I had an interview where my interviewer spent a significant amount of time saying unfavorable things about my undergraduate institution.
How much should I worry about this attitude towards my school being prevalent throughout this school? Everyone else I met during my interview day was great, but I am concerned about encountering this sort of thing again if I were to attend this medical school. Am I taking it too seriously?
Sometime during this cycle, I had an interview where my interviewer spent a significant amount of time saying unfavorable things about my undergraduate institution.
How much should I worry about this attitude towards my school being prevalent throughout this school? Everyone else I met during my interview day was great, but I am concerned about encountering this sort of thing again if I were to attend this medical school. Am I taking it too seriously?
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K
kpcrew
I'm Sean Hannity.
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I would think that this is the case with most schools.
