Non-MD affiliated interviewers for MD program

[gshocke]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

hey so I've had 2 interviews so far and 3 more coming up. Ive been pretty prepared but one thing i certainly did not expect were non-MD interviewers/not affiliated with the MD program interviewers.
On both of the interviews I have been on, i have had interviewers that aren't affiliated with the medical program. Not saying that it takes away from one's ability to judge an individuals character but it made it very hard when it came to the 'do you have any questions for me?' part.
Like most students, I have done extensive research on the schools I applied to so I came prepared with questions such as 'your univ advertises early clinical exposure - how do they go about that?' , 'do you know more about this program that yur school advertises and 80% of 1st years participate in?'
Basically, my questions are specific enough that my interviewer knows i am genuinely interested in the university and some of their programs that make the school unique, but broad enough that anyone who goes on the school homepage for 2 secs would know what I am talking about.
and on both interviews, i have received the answer 'umm, i don't really know'
you could imagine the awkwardness after the 5th 'i don't know'...
well basically, my question is - has anyone else encountered this issue? at first I thought it was isolated until it happened again. Should I stick to basic questions for the interviewers? Sadly, a lot of these questions are genuine questions and not 'questions i already know the answers to'

 

[Goro]

This isn't as uncommon as you think. Some schools use members of the community, and others certainly will use PhD faculty (like, well, me!).

What their viewpoint is is to judge whether you can connect, and can both listen and communicate. Obviously, they're not there to sell the school, but certainly other people on your interview day could have answered your questions.

 

[Winged Scapula]

As Goro notes, not so unusual. It can also be a function of funding sources, e.g., if a program receives some funding from an endowment, a stipulation may be that a non-physician be involved in the interviewing. I found this to be the case even when I interviewed for fellowship programs.

You might wish to ask them not specifically about the program but about the community (assuming its not someplace you already live).

 

[gshocke]

@Goro @wingedscapula ohhh thank you for the insight! i never looked at it from those viewpoints. I guess i will start tailoring some of my pre-developed questions to encompass the community, or healthcare in general not just medical school related.

thank you very much for your input!

 

[NickNaylor]

If you're interviewing with PhDs, questions related to research and/or teaching of pre-clinical courses might be most pertinent. Even if you don't have a particularly strong interest in research, that's probably the go-to topic to ask these folks.

 

[FIREitUP]

If you're interviewing with PhDs, questions related to research and/or teaching of pre-clinical courses might be most pertinent. Even if you don't have a particularly strong interest in research, that's probably the go-to topic to ask these folks.

or ask them how much worthless minutiae you have to memorize to do well in their class

 

[Catalystik]

Should I stick to basic questions for the interviewers?

Basic questions that should be important to you and on which any interviewer can provide feedback, would be variations of "What do you like most about this community/city/region?" If you find yourself with an interview group that can't answer internal questions about med school workings, ideally, you would course-correct, adapt your questions to be more general, and make everyone feel like they can make a contribution to helping you. Shouldn't a physician candidate have the gift of making anyone feel comfortable?