Panel Interviews

[BillrothI]

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Hey Everybody,

Interview season is gearing up and I imagine that there are a number of us who have panels scheduled.

For those of you who have been through this before - would you mind describing your experience a bit? Any advice? I'm an older, non-traditional applicant and have interviewed many times before, but I've never done a panel. To be honest, I'm rather terrified.

I'd be grateful for any info you'd care to share!

Thanks,
Bill R.

 

[mcloaf]

To be honest I found my panel interview to be better than I expected. It's definitely awkward feeling, but just remember that it feels that way for everybody. Make sure you make eye contact with all of your interviewers as you answer their questions and you should be fine. In actuality at least in my experience it was pretty much like a regular interview in terms of what's expected of you. That being said it seems scary because it feels different than what you're used to.

 

[chillaxbro]

Panel interview = multiple interviewers at the same time correct? That sounds horrifying
Which schools do panel format?

 

[BillrothI]

Panel interview = multiple interviewers at the same time correct? That sounds horrifying
Which schools do panel format?

The specific format can vary. Some schools will have a panel of interviewers along with multiple interviewees, but most often it is as you described: multiple interviewers and a single applicant. Panels seem to be less common than they were a few years ago, though, so it's entirely possible that you won't be faced with one this cycle.

Thanks for the response, McLoaf. I imagine that a lot of interviews are much easier once you settle in, but the nature of the panel interview is rather intimidating. Hard to imagine it would be as 'conversational' as a one-on-one situation.

-Bill R.

 

[Cinclus]

I only had one panel interview during my app cycle in fall 2011; it was at Emory, and there were three interviewees and three people on the panel -2 faculty and a student. I just remember it being very strange; I felt like one of the other interviewees was very aggressive during the whole thing, and neither of them seemed to want to interact with me (I thought that was part of what the panel-type interview was for). The student panel member asked me a bizarre question regarding my choice of words in part of my personal statement. I didn't find my choice of words to be very unusual or significant, and he quickly mentioned that it might be a "bad question." He was also my tour guide for the rest of the day, so that was awkward. Since this was my only panel interview, it's probably not representative.

 

[Chir0nex]

I had a panel of 3 interviewers and 3 interviewees at Northwestern. It was pretty laid back, though it felt like there was the bad cop (who asked more difficult questions and pushed you to eleborate all your answers) the good cop (tended to ask more generic questions that you could use to pivot to your strengths) and the joker (a med student who tended to ask more random, out there stuff like "what will you obituary say"). The only thing I found frustrating is that not everyone received the same question, adn there were sometimes that the person before me got a questions I could have handled better than the ones I received afterwards.