Off Topic: Interview Mishaps

[Nissan]

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Since my second attempt to get to Minnesota for my interview has been foiled by some freak blizzard on the east coast, I'm depending on a phone interview tomorrow to sell myself.

But I can't concentrate. So, instead of researching my life, I'm wondering what random slight inconveniences and horrible mishaps everyone has experienced on their way, during, or after their interviews 🙂.

Tuskegee U Interview:
I rented a car to save money from getting a taxi back and forth from Montgomery Airport to Tuskegee, and I did have a reservation for a small compact car (cheapest class, less use of gas). When I got there, the lady said they didn't have any compact cars left (what.) and instead offered me an SUV for the same price, and made it seem like she was doing me a favor.

I guess she would be if I were comfortable driving gigantic road monsters. I'm less than 5' and I drive a tiny Nissan Versa hatchback, so you can imagine the doubletakes I got from people driving past me 🙂. I had to hop and wiggle my way onto and off the drivers seat...which wasn't sexy at all. Ever look into a truck and fail to see the driver? Yeah that was me. The kicker: Holy crap that monster uses up gas. No, Ms. Rental Car Lady, you were NOT doing me a favor by giving me a larger vehicle that went through gasoline like water.

Related media: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4jhHoHpFXc

 

[quantized]

My brother decided to get married the day of my Missouri interview. No big deal, mizzou is only 3 hours from my parent's house so if I skipped some activities I'd make it home by 4 for the 5pm wedding. I'm two blocks from the house (it's -10 degrees mind you) and a black dog with an orange collar sprints across 6 lanes of traffic. Stupid me cringes and goes "here doggy" (as I'm all "I'll just call the number on the tags!") and the guy trots right over.

Of course he has no tags on the collar, so I figure "I'll call animal control and they can come pick him up so he doesn't freeze to death." I throw him in my rental and call ac and drive the two blocks home. AC doesn't answer. "well that's weird" so I call the police dispatch who tells me that due to budget cuts, there is no more weekend ac so I needed to set him free or keep him till Monday. I'm all "but I have a wedding in 30 min and it's really frigging cold out!" so logically I put him in the heated garage and get my ass to my brothers big day.

I leave the next morning (Sunday) to fly home. Dog is friendly but untrained with no manners to speak of whatsoever. Mom said she'll take him to ac Monday morning. She goes to walk him and whatever after I leave and he mows her down and heads for the hills. She calls me and goes "I would have chased after him but he chewed off the garage door sensors and pulled the air filter off the riding lawn mower." bad dog!

Moral of this is never stop for a loose dog in a town with budget cuts after an interview and before your brothers shotgun wedding!

 

[dlf]

For my OSU interview I was supposed to fly from Gainesville, FL to Columbus the morning before...giving me plenty of time to get there and relax before my first interview ever.
After the plane was delayed for 2 hours, we finally get out onto the runway and wait another hour. Finally, they tell us the plane has mechanical issues and we need to go back to the gate. Again, we wait until finally they tell us the plane won't go out and we'll all have to taxi to Jax or Orlando to get to our destinations. After waiting another hr in line to get a taxi free of charge, the line was still hours longer so I hope in my car and drive 2 hours to Jax.
Well, all flights were canceled in Jax through ATL. They couldn't get me there until the next night (and I would have missed my interview in that case). At this point I'm freaking out. We tried every option. Other airlines, flying into a nearby city and driving, etc. Nothing worked.
So thanks to my trusty iPhone and awesome boyfriend, I find a flight on Southwest through Nashville that night on standby. But, Delta doesn't have a contract with them, so I dished out close to $500 for a ticket. Made it through standby and into Columbus at 2am...in time for my 8:30am check in time. Whew. At least I had something to talk about when the interviewers asked how my travel was. But in the end it all paid off!

 

[HopefulAg]

In Ohio, I stayed at The Blackwell, and the power went out the night before my interview. They had no back up generator, and the power was off for several hours. Finally at 11:00 PM (after 8 hours of no electricity) they decide "Oh hey, it's getting ****ING COLD up in the rooms and some people have business they have to do, uhhhh maybe we should move them to another hotel?" Good thinking Einsteins.

I guess it turned out alright, but wasn't impressed at all with the management.

 

[Crazy Hippos]

I mentioned this in a previous thread, but because it's very relevant to this one, I'll mention it again!

During my OSU interview, my interviewer kept putting his arms behind his head and revealing his very noticeable armpit stains. I tried to not to look but my eyes were inadvertently drawn to that area. At one point, I was so distracted by them that I had to ask him to repeat his question.

Lyndaelyzoo said it may have been an intentional interviewing strategy to see how well I think amid distractions.

 

[jpeterman13]

When I was at Western, I stayed at the Shilo Inn (not the nice one) and I had to go to three different rooms until I finally got one that was clean. And the last night I was there, I was hungry. People that were there know that there is NOTHING there to eat that is even remotely close. I called this pizza place called JoJos and ordered a medium pizza...long story short, I spent $22 on a pizza and a can (not a 20oz) of Coke.

 

[HopefulAg]

People that were there know that there is NOTHING there to eat that is even remotely close.

There's a Wendy's down the block (where I ate) and two gas stations right by it that have some frozen meals.

 

[Nissan]

OH Speaking of Western, another SNDer joined me in hunting for food after the Western interview, but I think we were a little turned off by the shady-looking chicken and taco joints. I offered: "Oh if we head to the airport, they probably have an Applebee's or something like that," and after a $40+ taxi, we finally made it to Ontario Airport around 5:15.

...By the way. Did you know that Ontario International Airport, despite being an international airport, closes all of its establishments at 5:00pm? Yeah. Our flight was at 10:55pm, and the airport was DEADDDD. We were lucky that we caught a newsstand-type store right before they closed. I ate a bag full of combos and a cheese danish for dinner that day.

I apologize for poor planning and suggesting we eat at the airport 🙁

 

[turnbackhelly]

I interviewed at the OSU during the first big east coast snowstorm, the weekend before Christmas. I made it to Columbus fine on Friday for my Saturday interview, and I was scheduled to fly back to Philadelphia Saturday evening. I was in my hotel room on Friday night and went to check into my flight online right before going to bed, and my flight for the next night had already been canceled. It wouldn't let me reschedule online, but instead gave me an 800 number to call. So I call the number, knowing I wouldn't have any time the next day to take care of rescheduling my flight since interviewing at the OSU is an all day affair. Long story short, I sat on hold for 2.5 hours until 2:30am before finally giving up ("I've already been on hold for X amount of time, I can't hang up now, I might be next!" ...x 2.5 hours), and I think I cried for at least an hour of that time. Also, the hold music was the same 4 songs on repeat (one of which was "Two is Better than One" by Boys Like Girls ).

I slept for 3 hours, then got up and immediately called again to reschedule my flight and only had to wait 5 minutes before someone picked up. The woman rescheduled me for 10:30 the following morning (Sunday), which I thought wouldn't be so bad. I booked a room at one of the airport hotels so I could return my rental car to the airport on time later that day (it was costing me >$100 a day...), and thought I was all set! After my interview I drove to the airport, returned the car, and caught a shuttle to my new hotel. About 5 minutes after checking in, I got an automated phone call on my cell saying the 10:30am flight the next day (Sunday) had already been canceled and I had automatically been rescheduled on a 12:30pm flight that would connect in Atlanta instead of Detroit. Ok, no big deal... until I went to check into said flight and realized that the new flight was actually on MONDAY, not Sunday as my 1st reschedule had been. THEN I found out that room service in the hotel was not operating due to "lack of demand" - and I no longer had a car, and there was nothing within walking distance. So I basically ate Pizza Hut for 2 days, since it was the only place I could find that would deliver to my hotel.

In hindsight I guess it wasn't horrible, although paying for 2 extra nights in a hotel was expensive. I caught up on sleep, watched A LOT of movies, and finished my MSU supplemental. And then on my way home, while I was laid over in Atlanta, I got the acceptance call from the OSU - so it was totally worth it in the end!

 

[luplodw]

In Ohio, I stayed at The Blackwell, and the power went out the night before my interview. They had no back up generator, and the power was off for several hours. Finally at 11:00 PM (after 8 hours of no electricity) they decide "Oh hey, it's getting ****ING COLD up in the rooms and some people have business they have to do, uhhhh maybe we should move them to another hotel?" Good thinking Einsteins.

I guess it turned out alright, but wasn't impressed at all with the management.

I was going to stay at the Blackwell too. I got there and had to change really fast to go to the tour. There were no lights so I had to go into the bathroom there and use my phone as my source of light to put on my suit and get ready. Thank goodness my interview was the next day. I got to transfer to a new hotel whew!

 

[lyndaelyzoo]

While preparing for my interviews for VMRCVM, I was telling everyone about their scenario interviews and commented that one of the tests may involve the scenario in which my name is not on their interview list and they will want to see my reaction. I kept thinking about this and even had a dream about it. Anyways, you're not going to believe this, but when I arrived at the school, yes, you guessed it, my name was not on the interview list!!!! I told admissions that I thought that this might be part of their interview process to see my reaction!! Anyways, it was just an oversight and everything worked out, but I couldn't believe it!!! So,now I'm thinking, that something about that Sea World death is going to be in the UF interview......

 

[dlf]

Haha anyone see the common OSU trend here? Yikes!

 

[eventualeventer]

Oh boy. On my way out to interview at ISU, my flight from Chicago to Des Moines got cancelled because it was really cloudy and they could not fly as many planes per hour. They cancelled our flight to Des Moines but kept running the later flights to Des Moines (why didn't they just delay us?), but of course the later flights were pretty much all close to full. After walking several miles (NOT KIDDING) through O'Hare trying and failing to fly standby (oh, thank you very much, idiot on the United ticketing helpline who told me I had a TICKET on the 4 PM flight, only for me to find out that I was still #31 on the standby list for 5 seats), I finally got on a flight and got to Des Moines at about 11 PM local time. Of course, I had paid for a reservation on Executive Express to get to my hotel earlier that afternoon, but the airport was deserted at 11 PM. So, I had to rent a car and drive to Ames.

That went better than I thought, I didn't actually hit anything with the rental car (I drive a Subaru Legacy, so I am sympathetic to the unfamiliarity with big cars), and I got to my hotel around midnight -- of course, the GPS had given me confusing directions and I got on the highway in the wrong direction the first time. The next day, I blundered my way to the Starbucks for some chocolate-covered coffee beans and yoghurt (yay GPS!) (lunch of champions), then punched the vet school's address into the GPS. Of course, I had forgotten to print out the map and directions from the ISU website because, well, I wasn't going to have to rent a car. So, here I am, at the address my GPS claims is accurate (after a few *cough* mistakes), and all I see around me is cornfields. I called my mom in a panic and she talked me in, but I was half an hour late.

Everything about the interview, tour, chat with faculty, etc., went fine, but at the end of the day I asked a grey-haired gentleman where he was from, assuming he was one of the interviewees' family members. Er, um, he was the dean, but I had missed his speech at the beginning because of my navigation issues. He was very nice, though.

Coming back from Minnesota, I caught the shuttle to the airport and went to the check-in counter to, well, check in. I kept typing in my confirmation number and ticket number and it kept saying that it wasn't valid. I looked at my Expedia confirmation VERY closely, and realized that the return date was MARCH 13, not Feb. 13. I asked, and the flight I was supposed to have scheduled myself for was full. Oh crap. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap. I went to the ticketing counter, and they said that it would be $150 change fee plus whatever difference in fares there was. To fly out on a later Saturday night flight, sure, there was plenty of room on the plane, but they wanted to charge me more than $600 total because you get a better fare if you stay over a Saturday night. I managed to get a flight the next morning (and had a lovely time with a family friend who came and rescued me at the airport) for *only* another $170. The flight I was on? Had about one person for every 3 empty seats. This was Delta, BTW.

For my OSU interview I was supposed to fly from Gainesville, FL to Columbus the morning before...giving me plenty of time to get there and relax before my first interview ever.
After the plane was delayed for 2 hours, we finally get out onto the runway and wait another hour. Finally, they tell us the plane has mechanical issues and we need to go back to the gate. Again, we wait until finally they tell us the plane won't go out and we'll all have to taxi to Jax or Orlando to get to our destinations. After waiting another hr in line to get a taxi free of charge, the line was still hours longer so I hope in my car and drive 2 hours to Jax.
Well, all flights were canceled in Jax through ATL. They couldn't get me there until the next night (and I would have missed my interview in that case). At this point I'm freaking out. We tried every option. Other airlines, flying into a nearby city and driving, etc. Nothing worked.
So thanks to my trusty iPhone and awesome boyfriend, I find a flight on Southwest through Nashville that night on standby. But, Delta doesn't have a contract with them, so I dished out close to $500 for a ticket. Made it through standby and into Columbus at 2am...in time for my 8:30am check in time. Whew. At least I had something to talk about when the interviewers asked how my travel was. But in the end it all paid off!

I friggin' hate airlines and flying. That's all. I'm considering pack mules for my trip to Davis.

 

[nyanko]

OH Speaking of Western, another SNDer joined me in hunting for food after the Western interview, but I think we were a little turned off by the shady-looking chicken and taco joints.

DUDE!! In California, the shadiest looking taquerias have the absolute best Mexican food!!!

 

[lyndaelyzoo]

DUDE!! In California, the shadiest looking taquerias have the absolute best Mexican food!!!

And probably the best margaritas!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

 

[Nissan]

DUDE!! In California, the shadiest looking taquerias have the absolute best Mexican food!!!

Which is true! But I think sitting down to eat tacos, burritos, y arroz con pollo in our spiffy suits kind of got the best of us. But oh, we would've at least been full of delicious food 🙁.

 

[HopefulAg]

Oh I forgot to mention my Iowa adventures. I flew into Kansas City, MO since flying in there and renting a car was cheaper than flying into Des Moines and renting a car. This was my second time seeing snow, and my first (and hopefully only) time seeing snow quite like that. I'd definitely never driven in the snow/ice before and I think it showed lol.

So I'm doing fine on the drive, it's pretty monotonous between and after Des Moines, but going through Des Moines was quite a trip. On the approach, there were cars everywhere on the side of the road, some facing completely the wrong direction, one down in a well type thing where the highway exits to a lower highway, a few turned over, and another that was propped against a tree that was leaning backwards against the tree with the front end facing the ground. Not sure how they managed that, but I was impressed. Quite the welcoming to Des Moines. Had it been a movie, I would've imagined they were trying to say "Stay Out!"

Going through Des Moines wasn't too bad, but there were every now and then another couple of abandoned cars (at one point there were 5 just in a tight cluster as if they decided to synchronize for the sake of artistic value). The worst part was when I'm driving along in my little Kia Sportege rental car (that's not worth ****) and the truck in the left lane, in front of me (I'm in the right lane, behind him) has his tailgate fall off. Not open. Off. So now I have this projectile tailgate flying at me and it's by some crazy synaptacular reaction in my brain (or maybe a simple reflex and it didn't even make it that far) that I was able to avoid the wayward tailgate and dodged to my right. The car behind me wasn't quite so lucky.

Then, when I got to Ames, I was ready to go to my interview the next morning and my car wouldn't start due to the cold I guess. Outstanding. Luckily Ames has a cab (singular) and I was able to get there. Leaving the next morning was fun because again, the car refused to start and I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me.

Edit: Oh right and the GPS unit decided to send me up a ****ing steep hill in the snow and ice with my little clown car when I decided to go to the vet school the previous day so I'd know where it was in the morning. Off to one side was a drop off into a field (and trees) and off to the other was the vet school. The whole hill is slippery as all get out and it's a wonder I actually got to the vet school because I had no control over my car. I get to the top and notice it's gated off and I have to go around the block (to a much friendlier entrance) to get in, which meant I had to go back DOWN the hill. At the top of the hill I just kind of braced myself, reflected on life, decided it was a good one, and eased over the edge. Some how I came out at the bottom with life, limb, and car intact.

 

[Nissan]

Oh I forgot to mention my Iowa adventures. I flew into Kansas City, MO since flying in there and renting a car was cheaper than flying into Des Moines and renting a car. This was my second time seeing snow, and my first (and hopefully only) time seeing snow quite like that. I'd definitely never driven in the snow/ice before and I think it showed lol.

So I'm doing fine on the drive, it's pretty monotonous between and after Des Moines, but going through Des Moines was quite a trip. On the approach, there were cars everywhere on the side of the road, some facing completely the wrong direction, one down in a well type thing where the highway exits to a lower highway, a few turned over, and another that was propped against a tree that was leaning backwards against the tree with the front end facing the ground. Not sure how they managed that, but I was impressed. Quite the welcoming to Des Moines. Had it been a movie, I would've imagined they were trying to say "Stay Out!"

Going through Des Moines wasn't too bad, but there were every now and then another couple of abandoned cars (at one point there were 5 just in a tight cluster as if they decided to synchronize for the sake of artistic value). The worst part was when I'm driving along in my little Kia Sportege rental car (that's not worth ****) and the truck in the left lane, in front of me (I'm in the right lane, behind him) has his tailgate fall off. Not open. Off. So now I have this projectile tailgate flying at me and it's by some crazy synaptacular reaction in my brain (or maybe a simple reflex and it didn't even make it that far) that I was able to avoid the wayward tailgate and dodged to my right. The car behind me wasn't quite so lucky.

Then, when I got to Ames, I was ready to go to my interview the next morning and my car wouldn't start due to the cold I guess. Outstanding. Luckily Ames has a cab (singular) and I was able to get there. Leaving the next morning was fun because again, the car refused to start and I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me.

Edit: Oh right and the GPS unit decided to send me up a ****ing steep hill in the snow and ice with my little clown car when I decided to go there the previous day so I'd know where it was in the morning. Off to one side was a drop off into a field (and trees) and off to the other was the vet school. The whole hill is slippery as all get out and it's a wonder I actually got to the vet school because I had no control over my car. I get to the top and notice it's gated off and I have to go around the block (to a much friendlier entrance) to get in, which meant I had to go back DOWN the hill. At the top of the hill I just kind of braced myself, reflected on life, decided it was a good one, and eased over the edge. Some how I came out at the bottom with life, limb, and car intact.

Holy crap son... Dude, with all the life risks we've taken, we should be given medals .. .... or admission to the schools of our choice

 

[Nissan]

Also, is anyone seeing a trend with their GPS being little bitches and sending us to the wrong addresses? I tried to type in the address to this restaurant (this is back home, and not en route to an interview), and the GPS wanted me to stop in the middle of a bridge -_-. A bridge over water. "Destination on your right" .... in the sea? Really??

 

[HopefulAg]

Lol, maybe it was a restaurant on a boat?

For the most part my GPS does well (it's a Garmin) and got me everywhere I needed it to go. It was just that one time that I've really had a problem with it and, I suppose, technically it would've gotten me there had it not been for the gate.

 

[eventualeventer]

Yup, give me a real map any day. I'll use the GPS to tell me where to get coffee, and the real map to get there. 😀

 

[turnbackhelly]

Also, is anyone seeing a trend with their GPS being little bitches and sending us to the wrong addresses? I tried to type in the address to this restaurant (this is back home, and not en route to an interview), and the GPS wanted me to stop in the middle of a bridge -_-. A bridge over water. "Destination on your right" .... in the sea? Really??

this is how they get you to pay for those $75 map upgrades every year! the first year i had my GPS i just ignored it (for months) when it told me i needed a map upgrade every time i turned it on. well, then one day i was out somewhere, no idea where i was going (but who cares, i've got the GPS!) and the damn thing just stopped working. like, GAME OVER. so that put the fear of god in me, and now i upgrade my maps promptly when told to. i shelled out the money for the upgrade download the night before i left for my OSU interview. suckaaaah!

 

[Crazy Hippos]

Also, is anyone seeing a trend with their GPS being little bitches and sending us to the wrong addresses?

Ugh, yeah. My Garmin brought me to a dead end street (I updated my maps the night before!) and made me 20 minutes late for my Tufts interview. Luckily, there was a cop in the dead end street (strangely enough) who was able to give me some good directions.

"Destination on your right" .... in the sea? Really??

Haha, reminds me of the episode of The Office when Michael drives into the lake.

 

[lyndaelyzoo]

Oh I forgot to mention my Iowa adventures. I flew into Kansas City, MO since flying in there and renting a car was cheaper than flying into Des Moines and renting a car. This was my second time seeing snow, and my first (and hopefully only) time seeing snow quite like that. I'd definitely never driven in the snow/ice before and I think it showed lol.

So I'm doing fine on the drive, it's pretty monotonous between and after Des Moines, but going through Des Moines was quite a trip. On the approach, there were cars everywhere on the side of the road, some facing completely the wrong direction, one down in a well type thing where the highway exits to a lower highway, a few turned over, and another that was propped against a tree that was leaning backwards against the tree with the front end facing the ground. Not sure how they managed that, but I was impressed. Quite the welcoming to Des Moines. Had it been a movie, I would've imagined they were trying to say "Stay Out!"

Going through Des Moines wasn't too bad, but there were every now and then another couple of abandoned cars (at one point there were 5 just in a tight cluster as if they decided to synchronize for the sake of artistic value). The worst part was when I'm driving along in my little Kia Sportege rental car (that's not worth ****) and the truck in the left lane, in front of me (I'm in the right lane, behind him) has his tailgate fall off. Not open. Off. So now I have this projectile tailgate flying at me and it's by some crazy synaptacular reaction in my brain (or maybe a simple reflex and it didn't even make it that far) that I was able to avoid the wayward tailgate and dodged to my right. The car behind me wasn't quite so lucky.

Then, when I got to Ames, I was ready to go to my interview the next morning and my car wouldn't start due to the cold I guess. Outstanding. Luckily Ames has a cab (singular) and I was able to get there. Leaving the next morning was fun because again, the car refused to start and I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me.

Edit: Oh right and the GPS unit decided to send me up a ****ing steep hill in the snow and ice with my little clown car when I decided to go to the vet school the previous day so I'd know where it was in the morning. Off to one side was a drop off into a field (and trees) and off to the other was the vet school. The whole hill is slippery as all get out and it's a wonder I actually got to the vet school because I had no control over my car. I get to the top and notice it's gated off and I have to go around the block (to a much friendlier entrance) to get in, which meant I had to go back DOWN the hill. At the top of the hill I just kind of braced myself, reflected on life, decided it was a good one, and eased over the edge. Some how I came out at the bottom with life, limb, and car intact.

I couldn't stop myself from laughing when reading this...you need to write a book about these vet school adventures!!!

 

[Minnerbelle]

DUDE!! In California, the shadiest looking taquerias have the absolute best Mexican food!!!

Right on! Seriously, the places where you worry about food safety ALWAYS has the best food in cali. Naan 'n Curry in Berkeley's where it's at. mmMmmmMMMMMmm

(i get a tummy ache and a bit of the rumblies every time, but i can't stop myself from going back)

 

[variegata]

Also, is anyone seeing a trend with their GPS being little bitches and sending us to the wrong addresses? I tried to type in the address to this restaurant (this is back home, and not en route to an interview), and the GPS wanted me to stop in the middle of a bridge -_-. A bridge over water. "Destination on your right" .... in the sea? Really??

YES. My Magellan tried to get me lost in Kansas in the cold. I knew from looking at directions online and talking to the rental car people that I needed to take 70 the whole way. Even after turning off the "avoid toll roads" setting on my GPS, it told me to get off at EVERY. SINGLE. EXIT. I listened to it the first time and drove around in the dark for a while and a pretty long way looking for somewhere to turn around. Several exits off of 70 later, I finally muted the damn thing to that I wouldn't throw it out the windshield.

 

[HopefulAg]

Haha, reminds me of the episode of The Office when Michael drives into the lake.

That was an outstanding episode. "The GPS says to turn here!" "Micheal that's a lake!" "No no, I'm going to listen to the GPS" "Micheal that's a lake! Micheal that's a lake! Micheal...!" *splash*

 

[DVMDream]

Wow...so I really do not have any interview travel blunders. I got really lucky and nothing that bad happened. Although there were 4 gate changes in Phx for my flight to WSU so I did end up walking all over the damn airport...but still nothing bad. I do have a good GPS story though:

This past summer my family and I were in the Great Lakes, Illinois area for my sister's graduation from Navy boot camp. After we dropped her off at the Navy base one night my dad decided that he wanted McDonald's so he typed it into the GPS and it shows him all of the McDonald's in the area. He picks the closest one. First, it took us to a dead end street. So he re-entered the address and the second time it told us the McDonald's was over in the trees in the middle-of-nowhere. So he tried it again and this time it took us to an area that had small homes that looked like town-houses and told us that is was over there (anyone selling McDonald's out of their kitchen window?). He finally turned it off and got directions from someone at a gas station, but it was quite the nice adventure.

 

[chii chan]

In Ohio, I stayed at The Blackwell, and the power went out the night before my interview. They had no back up generator, and the power was off for several hours. Finally at 11:00 PM (after 8 hours of no electricity) they decide "Oh hey, it's getting ****ING COLD up in the rooms and some people have business they have to do, uhhhh maybe we should move them to another hotel?" Good thinking Einsteins.

I guess it turned out alright, but wasn't impressed at all with the management.

You must have been there the same time as me! (Unless they so oddly had 2 blackouts during OSU's interview period.) You must have had a completely different experience. OSU transferred me to the Hilton Garden Inn hotel for the night (about 9pm, after they heard they won't have power for 24 hours, and it had only been out for about 4 hours by that time). They even picked me up from the Hilton Garden Inn (though I rode in a van full of cute guys going for anesthesiology that day). Because of the inconveniences, they didn't charge me at all for the shuttle rides I needed to/from campus and to/from the airport. I thought it was managed well, but maybe that was just my luck/timing.

My Kansas flight was cancelled due to the crazy amounts of rain we were getting here in the bay area. Kansas tried to reschedule for the following day or following weekend, but I couldn't afford it at that point since the prices for everything were high for people booking flights late. They tried to reschedule another time a few weeks later (would have been today), but I decided I'd rather go to U of Edinburgh instead, so I cancelled it.

For Western, I stayed at Shilo Inn Hotel. The morning of, three of us were waiting to go over there with the free shuttle. The guy said he needed to go get gas really quick and would be back in less than 10 minutes. He ended up locking his keys in the van, and there was only 1 driver. Luckily Western didn't start anything until 8am (even though they said be there by 7:45am latest and we got there at about 7:55am). By the time we were ready to head back to the hotel, the only shuttle driver was on his lunch break so we had to wait for him to get off of lunch to pick us up (wasn't that big of a deal, but inconvenient).

 

[jpeterman13]

There's a Wendy's down the block (where I ate) and two gas stations right by it that have some frozen meals.

Yea, I considered that. But I hate Wendy's . I didn't even think about frozen meals.

 

[HopefulAg]

You must have been there the same time as me! (Unless they so oddly had 2 blackouts during OSU's interview period.) You must have had a completely different experience. OSU transferred me to the Hilton Garden Inn hotel for the night (about 9pm, after they heard they won't have power for 24 hours, and it had only been out for about 4 hours by that time). They even picked me up from the Hilton Garden Inn (though I rode in a van full of cute guys going for anesthesiology that day). Because of the inconveniences, they didn't charge me at all for the shuttle rides I needed to/from campus and to/from the airport. I thought it was managed well, but maybe that was just my luck/timing.

No, they did give me a free taxi ride to the interview and airport, and did run their shuttle, but it's the duration of the delay and the attitude of the staff that got to me. They did eventually move us to a new hotel but it took them quite some time to do it, during which I couldn't get much of anything done as my laptop requires electricity to work (my battery isn't worth anything on it now a days).

 

[amom427]

The weather was horrible for flying during Ohio State interviews! I was scheduled to depart the airport at 830am the day before my interview. My flight kept getting delayed or cancelled ALL DAY! Every flight I was put on was cancelled, but the others seemed to be getting out with slight delays. I don't really know how that happened! I finally got on a flight for 230 that didn't actually end up leaving until 430pm. I spent 9 hours in an airport that is 10 minutes from my house! I was sooo freaking upset. I wish i would have known when I would finally leave so that I wouldn't have kept waiting around in a podunk airport with only a Quiznos! When I finally get to Atlanta, my next flight was delayed...thankfully this time because I got to the gate 5 minutes after its scheduled departure! I spent a total of 15 hours traveling. It would have taken me less time to just drive up there! But because of the delays I only had to pay for one day of a rental car instead of two!

Also while I was gone I left my 1 year old with my husband for their first solo over night. When I get home I find out that my husband had food poisoning the entire time I was gone! The first night I spent without my daughter, her caregiver was terribly sick! I am glad he decided to keep this from me!

 

[TrocarKarin]

I didn't notice this thread until now.

First interview - Kansas.

We had borrowed my dad's truck and GPS to drive from CO to KS. Checked out of the hotel around 11, figured we had time for lunch, then could get to the school early enough to take a tour before my 2:30 interview. The GPS sent us to an address a couple blocks away to a KSU building that said "Insect Zoo" on it. WTF? Finally found the school (should have printed maps, instead of relying on the GPS,) but missed the last tour group of the day.

During the interview, I was so convinced that I had blown any chances of getting in. Have you ever had a tickle in the back of your throat that you try to ignore, and then it turns into a huge coughing fit? Yeah, I did that... right in the middle of my interview. Coughed for what seemed like 2-3 minutes, the interviewers gave me a glass of water and some kleenex, and we continued. Talk about mortifying.

After the interview, we started to drive the 8 hours back home. We were in no hurry whatsoever, no deadline for when we got home. Somehow, that didn't stop my husband from speeding past a cop down I70 at 86 mph in a 70. Yep, that was a $160 ticket.


2nd Interview - Western.

Everything was lined up and going well for my Western interview. I had just gotten my hair cut, and it was so short that I couldn't pull it back, so I spent about half an hour that morning with my straightening iron getting it perfect. My SIL drove me to the school, and it was drizzling on the way there. She dropped me off in the parking lot, and the rain got really heavy; in the 30 seconds or so it took me to sprint from the car to the front door (in heels,) I was soaked head-to-toe. Somehow, I was the only one. Everybody else there either had an umbrella or had walked inside when it wasn't pouring. I had three people come up to me and say "oh, you poor thing." I never had a chance to look in a mirror or anything, so I don't know how bad I looked, but at least I was in one of the last interview groups, and had pretty much air-dried by the time my interview rolled around.

By that point, I figured that pretty much everything that could have gone wrong had. I already was sopping wet, so that had to have gotten the bad Karma out of the way. The interview went fine, and after all the presentations, I went outside, and called my husband to let him know I was done. He told me to stay where I was and he'd come get me. I see him walk down the street, and I'm thinking "that's odd, why didn't they just park in the parking lot?" Apparently my SIL's car broke down a couple of blocks away from the school. We call a tow truck, the tow truck driver asks her to start her car to see what it was doing. It starts up, he follows us around the block a few times, and sends us on our way. A few miles later, the car breaks down again, this time for good. We wait for another tow truck driver, get towed to a shop (by a crazy guy who talked about eating squirrels,) and start to freak out about how we're going to make it to LAX in 3 hours. Luckily, my SIL used to live close by, and found a friend who drove us there in time.

 

[BlacKAT33]

Have you ever had a tickle in the back of your throat that you try to ignore, and then it turns into a huge coughing fit? Yeah, I did that... right in the middle of my interview. Coughed for what seemed like 2-3 minutes, the interviewers gave me a glass of water and some kleenex, and we continued. Talk about mortifying.

Oh No!!! I hate this!! it is so embarrassing so i always carry cough drops with me no matter WHAT season. because when it happens to me my eyes starting tearing up. Since I ride the metro every day i always fear it will happen in the morning when it is packed for rush hour but super quiet. Last week it happened to me in my doctors office, but the time it took me from when it started to when i got the cough drop in my mouth still wasnt fast enough and i had tears running down my cheeks!! AHH

but congrats!! looks like Kansas really liked u 😀

 

[HandD42]

So I'm doing fine on the drive, it's pretty monotonous between and after Des Moines, but going through Des Moines was quite a trip. On the approach, there were cars everywhere on the side of the road, some facing completely the wrong direction, one down in a well type thing where the highway exits to a lower highway, a few turned over, and another that was propped against a tree that was leaning backwards against the tree with the front end facing the ground. Not sure how they managed that, but I was impressed. Quite the welcoming to Des Moines. Had it been a movie, I would've imagined they were trying to say "Stay Out!"

See this is what I do not understand about Iowa drivers.

I am from MN and well aware of winter driving but seriously, why does everyone in Iowa end up in the ditch. And not just in the ditch but flipped over, ass over teakettle, in the ditch. It is completely bewildering to me. And my bf owes a towing company so I see A LOT of cars in the ditch each year in MN but nothing like the travesties I saw over two weekend driving down to Ames.

My co worker who lived in Ames tells me it is because the ditches are much steeper in Iowa then MN because they are farmed. But seriously this is outrageous.

 

[HandD42]

Guess I should ad my own interview nightmare but it has a happy ending since ISU is the nicest vet school on the planet.

So I get an interview invite for the last day of the last weekend of OOS interviews at ISU. Great! Live in MN so it is just a quick 3 hour car ride down to Ames. Drive goes great. Except about an hour outside of Ames I start to feel, well, carsick. A bit odd since I was driving but oh well. Get into Ames, find the vet school (so there will be no problem the next day for my interview), check into my hotel and plan for a fantastic dinner and meet up with SDN peeps (yeah😍). Ummm, no.

About 40 min later I come down with the WORST stomach flu of my entire life. Think Exorcist+. Yep, that was me. I start out thinking, maybe it is just food poisoning and in a few hours I will feel better, get some sleep and go to the interview. Umm, no. So sick can't even get out of bed without getting even more sick. Can't even make it downstairs to the vending machine for Sprite without getting sick, sick. Horrifyingly sick.

So now I am completely alone in an unfamiliar city, no help, no way I am going to make it to one of the most important interviews of my life and I need to somehow make it home the next day because I don't have enough $$$ for another night in the hotel.

So I wait until 6am and then (on the dot) call my parents and beg them to come down and pick me up because I can't drive myself home. Needless to say they were quite surprised as I am older and don't rely on my parents much anymore. Anyway they were good sports about it and came and got me and drove me home.

The happy ending is ISU let me reschedule my interview for 2 weeks later as there were a bunch of other people who couldn't make it out that weekend due to the giant snowstorm going out East (yeah for giant snow storms). And my 'real' interview went great, everyone at ISU is super nice (and amazing) and I got an acceptance two days later. YEAH!!!!

 

[cuitlamiztli]

I am from MN and well aware of winter driving but seriously, why does everyone in Iowa end up in the ditch. And not just in the ditch but flipped over, ass over teakettle, in the ditch. It is completely bewildering to me. And my bf owes a towing company so I see A LOT of cars in the ditch each year in MN but nothing like the travesties I saw over two weekend driving down to Ames.

Not to hijack, but... this generalization really bugs me (well, sweeping generalizations in general tend to bug me). Not every Iowan ends up in a ditch and not every car you see in the ditch along the interstate here is going to have Iowa plates. Sure, there are crazy drivers here who forget about winter the next time it rolls around, but that's not exactly restricted to Iowa. I-80 and I-35 are the major interstates running through the state (re: the quickest way to get across Iowa).

Another thing to consider is that this has been the worst winter Iowa has seen since the '60s or so. We never see this kind of weather.

 

[Tobysgirl81]

DUDE!! In California, the shadiest looking taquerias have the absolute best Mexican food!!!

THANK YOU! I was reading through this thread and when she said "shady looking taco joints" my mouth immediately watered up! Hole in the wall taquerias are the BEST, and the amount of spices pretty much immediately destroy any possible pathogens!

 

[HandD42]

Not to hijack, but... this generalization really bugs me (well, sweeping generalizations in general tend to bug me). Not every Iowan ends up in a ditch and not every car you see in the ditch along the interstate here is going to have Iowa plates. Sure, there are crazy drivers here who forget about winter the next time it rolls around, but that's not exactly restricted to Iowa. I-80 and I-35 are the major interstates running through the state (re: the quickest way to get across Iowa).

Another thing to consider is that this has been the worst winter Iowa has seen since the '60s or so. We never see this kind of weather.

Oh I completely agree crazy drivers are everywhere and you can certainly end up in the ditch without it being your fault and for all I know all the people in the ditch where from MN, LOL but the sheer numbers I saw both weekends down there astounded me. And to be quite honest it is very intimidating to go down there and see that many bad wrecks🙁 That was why I was wondering what it is from (ie the ditches are not car friendly??? or maybe the roads get icier then up here? )

 

[DVMorBust]

Not to hijack, but... this generalization really bugs me (well, sweeping generalizations in general tend to bug me). Not every Iowan ends up in a ditch and not every car you see in the ditch along the interstate here is going to have Iowa plates. Sure, there are crazy drivers here who forget about winter the next time it rolls around, but that's not exactly restricted to Iowa. I-80 and I-35 are the major interstates running through the state (re: the quickest way to get across Iowa).

Another thing to consider is that this has been the worst winter Iowa has seen since the '60s or so. We never see this kind of weather.

Yeah, and it's not just restricted to Iowa either. Here in WI, the first snowfall of the season and people have forgotten how to drive in snow. Cars in ditches all over the place.

Of course, a few weeks into it, people have once again mastered the art of using that fishtail to set you up for a turn, but it's easy to lose the muscle memory when you don't have to deal with snow for a few months.

 

[gilch]

I was wandering around the pre allo forum--dangerous territory, I know 😀, and I saw a thread that was similar to this except really funny. It also made me feel so much better about my choice to do Vet med--glad I am not going into a profession that asks those sort of questions, and about myself and my interview skills. It should still be on the first or second page and has ~25 pages. I did not read even half of it, but it really cheered me up!

Several people got questions about whether they would like to be the ball or the glove in a baseball game. One person's interviewer yelled at her for not having a congress ready health care overhall. One person went on and on about obesity being the biggest threat to american health before realizing that the interviewer was morbidly obese and not too pleased with the tone of her answer. Another person told them to pick someone else if they were a better applicant...

so check it out if you are in need of a good chuckle. It had me🤣

 

[DVMDream]

I was wandering around the pre allo forum--dangerous territory, I know 😀, and I saw a thread that was similar to this except really funny. It also made me feel so much better about my choice to do Vet med--glad I am not going into a profession that asks those sort of questions, and about myself and my interview skills. It should still be on the first or second page and has ~25 pages. I did not read even half of it, but it really cheered me up!

Several people got questions about whether they would like to be the ball or the glove in a baseball game. One person's interviewer yelled at her for not having a congress ready health care overhall. One person went on and on about obesity being the biggest threat to american health before realizing that the interviewer was morbidly obese and not too pleased with the tone of her answer. Another person told them to pick someone else if they were a better applicant...

so check it out if you are in need of a good chuckle. It had me🤣

I read that exact same thread! I was definitely in tears for some of it. Another one of the good threads is the one where they are writing their own rejection letters....some people have some really hilarious rejection letters that they have written themselves.

 

[HopefulAg]

Oh man...

Interviewer: So, what's your biggest fear in this profession?

Me: Urg, killing somebody?

Interviewer: stares

Me: Yeah, killing somebody. I mean, I can't imagine if I were the resident and then a patient died and I knew it was all my fault and I could have stopped it. The guilt would have been...monstrous.

Interviewer: silently looks at his question sheet Well, my next question is--what are some of the things you could do to overcome this fear?

Me: Um, not take it so seriously?

Interviewer: stares

Me: Yeah... I mean, everyone makes mistakes, right? And it's hard to get by in medicine without making any...

I can't believe some of the answers in that thread, as in I feel they're making them up. How could someone be so devoid of tact? Some of the answers amuse me, some horrify me.

Interviewer: Can you tell me who did research on receptive fields with the cat retina?
Me: Yes, Steven Kuffler.
Interviewer (Impressed, starts smiling): Good job. So what are your long term goals?
Me: Well, while I'm young I'd like to be very active and work with my hands. But eventually I'd like to become a Professor, perhaps when I get old and start to lose my touch.
Interviewer (Smile instantly faded): ...

 

[Whyevernot55]

I just read some of that thread on pre-allo. I'm currently wiping beer off my screen and holy cow that makes your nostrils burn!

 

[chii chan]

I was wandering around the pre allo forum--dangerous territory, I know 😀, and I saw a thread that was similar to this except really funny. It also made me feel so much better about my choice to do Vet med--glad I am not going into a profession that asks those sort of questions, and about myself and my interview skills. It should still be on the first or second page and has ~25 pages. I did not read even half of it, but it really cheered me up!

Oh my, this is quite and awesome find! Thank you!!! This is my favorite one so far:

interviewer: "We have to sacrifice the males, there's a window within which their organs must be harvested."

me: "I would be fine with that. It seems like a humane way of killing them, injecting them with a toxin... that eventually kills them."

 

[HopefulAg]

Scary part is that that wouldn't be too hard to do in vet school. Not enough resistance on the male part, ya'll would eventually wear us down through sheer numbers.

 

[alliecat44]

OMG, that pre-allo thread is just the procrastination I need when (not) studying for the surgery exam I have tomorrow... 😉 Thank you thank you thank you!! 👍😀

Here's one of my favorites:

"i was interviewing at a school that i wasn't thrilled about -- rude admin, rude faculty, rude students, on top of it being the 4th school i had interviewed at in a week. needless to say, i was at my end, and didn't have the energy to articulate thoughtful answers...

interviewer: do you hate anybody?
me: um *stutter* *pause* *can't think of anything, totally blanking* um, i'm usually a tolerant person, but yeah, i HATE lindsay lohan.
interviewing: really? why? she seems like a nice girl.
me: yeah she SEEMS like a nice girl. but the she goes and loses 15 pounds and suddenly think she's a sex pot.
*DEAFENING SILENCE*"

 

[mr bigglesworth]

OMG, that pre-allo thread is just the procrastination I need when (not) studying for the surgery exam I have tomorrow... 😉 Thank you thank you thank you!! 👍😀

Here's one of my favorites:

"i was interviewing at a school that i wasn't thrilled about -- rude admin, rude faculty, rude students, on top of it being the 4th school i had interviewed at in a week. needless to say, i was at my end, and didn't have the energy to articulate thoughtful answers...

interviewer: do you hate anybody?
me: um *stutter* *pause* *can't think of anything, totally blanking* um, i'm usually a tolerant person, but yeah, i HATE lindsay lohan.
interviewing: really? why? she seems like a nice girl.
me: yeah she SEEMS like a nice girl. but the she goes and loses 15 pounds and suddenly think she's a sex pot.
*DEAFENING SILENCE*"

Lindsey Lohan is one of teh most talented actresses in teh world, you should be ashames.