Phones on Interview Day

[YCP Pre-Med]

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Hello all,

Just had my first interview yesterday. It was a very exciting day and I enjoyed learning about the program, talking with students, and the low-stress of my interviews.

One thing really stood out and it was how much some of the other candidates had their phones out. During down time, around 25 - 50% of the other applicants were looking at their phones.

For those of you with experience on this topic, I would love to hear your opinion of when it is acceptable to take a glance at your phone. Personally, I only looked at my phone when I went to the bathroom during lunch. The rest of the day, it was on airplane mode until I had finished.

 

[Cath Up]

Hello all,

Just had my first interview yesterday. It was a very exciting day and I enjoyed learning about the program, talking with students, and the low-stress of my interviews.

One thing really stood out and it was how much some of the other candidates had their phones out. During down time, around 25 - 50% of the other applicants were looking at their phones.

For those of you with experience on this topic, I would love to hear your opinion of when it is acceptable to take a glance at your phone. Personally, I only looked at my phone when I went to the bathroom during lunch. The rest of the day, it was on airplane mode until I had finished.

I have not even taken my phone into the interview days- leave it in the car.

I am not sure what adcoms/admissions staff think about applicants who use their phones during the day. Does it seem reasonable to check your phone while sitting in a room with nothing much else to do? Probably (though it's good to interact with other applicants). Do adcoms notice each and every candidate that checks their phone a couple times throughout the day? Probably not.

But my mentality is: why risk it? Have put a TON of effort into getting to this point. Being on your phone during an interview day is at best going to be a neutral thing.

 

[YCP Pre-Med]

But my mentality is: why risk it? Have put a TON of effort into getting to this point. Being on your phone during an interview day is at best going to be a neutral thing.

The above is a great way to put it. I enjoyed talking with the other applicants and hearing where they were from and some of their experiences. I literally had a nightmare about my phone going off during an interview.

 

[Catalystik]

Just had my first interview yesterday. It was a very exciting day and I enjoyed learning about the program, talking with students, and the low-stress of my interviews.

One thing really stood out and it was how much some of the other candidates had their phones out. During down time, around 25 - 50% of the other applicants were looking at their phones.

For those of you with experience on this topic, I would love to hear your opinion of when it is acceptable to take a glance at your phone. Personally, I only looked at my phone when I went to the bathroom during lunch. The rest of the day, it was on airplane mode until I had finished.

You win.

There's a difference between a brief, rare glance at your phone and staying glued to the screen for any length of the time during downtime between events. But engaging with other people during those times trumps both.

 

[Catalystik]

But my mentality is: why risk it? Have put a TON of effort into getting to this point.

I agree.

 

[YCP Pre-Med]

You win.

There's a difference between a brief, rare glance at your phone and staying glued to the screen for any length of the time during downtime between events. But engaging with other people during those times trumps both.

I don't know if I'm ready to accept the premise of articles like this one from The Atlantic, but I was actually shocked. I guess I had the superstition that pulling your phone out was grounds for rejection. Even if that's not completely true, I am not going to risk it.

I am not going to climb atop my high horse and claim I never get on my phone, but I figured a day that could determine my future was not the right time. I guess my prize is reviewing my admission decision in 4 - 6 weeks...

 

[Avada Cadaver]

At my most recent interview, we were specifically told to turn off our phones. By mid day some people had it out anyways 😀

 

[Kingsmen2018]

My interviewer had his phone go off during the interview 🤣

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I kept mine on me but didn't take it out until I was back in my car.

 

[DBC03]

The medical students who met us for dinner the night before told us that we should keep ours in our bags when we were meeting with everyone. Apparently they had an issue with it the year before. It would never occur to me to have mine out...

 

[SpoiledMilk]

A smartphone brought into a school during interview day should not be a barrier to you and your fellow interviewees interacting and conversing. Use a little common sense and be aware of the optics associated with burying your nose in your phone when you should be conversing with your fellow interviewees.

The smartphone should be used as a tool where you quickly and discreetly google your interviewers and read up on their background so that you can go into the interview with a little knowledge about your interviewer, where they are coming from, and perhaps use the background information to ask questions at the tail end of the interview.

 

[Isoval]

A smartphone brought into a school during interview day should not be a barrier to you and your fellow interviewees interacting and conversing. Use a little common sense and be aware of the optics associated with burying your nose in your phone when you should be conversing with your fellow interviewees.

The smartphone should be used as a tool where you quickly and discreetly google your interviewers and read up on their background so that you can go into the interview with a little knowledge about your interviewer, where they are coming from, and perhaps use the background information to ask questions at the tail end of the interview.

+1.

I think you should be fine if you sparingly check your phone and/or use it to check up on your interviewers.

Don’t be the kid playing candy crush at a table with population you.

 

[Stagg737]

As an interviewee, I always just left my phone in the car during the interview day. Having the phone go off or buzz for a text is not something I wanted to even think about while trying to maneuver through the day.

As someone who helped out on interview days, I definitely noticed people that took their phones out to even glance at them. If you're going to check your phone, do it in the bathroom or sometime when you're not around the staff or ambassadors. A glance here and there is probably not a big deal, but if a candidate was glancing at it throughout the day, actually messaging, or socializing less because of it, it may or may not have been something I would mention to the admins at the end of the day...

My personal opinion is that unless you've got some family emergency going on at home, you're better off just leaving it in your car for the day. If you have to have it with you, turn it off. Treat the interview as the most important day of your life up until that point, as it's your last chance to really shine as an applicant and stand out to a school. At the same time, you don't want to stand out negatively, and being the kid on your phone all day is a sure-fire way to land your application at the top of the rejection pile.

Side note: If you do have some family emergency at home and are trying to keep in touch, let whoever is running the interview day know in advance. That way if you do need to take a call or step aside for a minute it won't hurt you.

 

[YCP Pre-Med]

Thanks for your responses everyone. For my interview next week, they are actually collecting all of our phones. I don't know how I feel about that (confiscating phones from adults), but it must have been a big enough problem for them to address it. I'll probably leave it in my car.

I like the suggestion to use it to discreetly look up my interviewer. Not to derail my thread here, but what sort of things are beneficial to look up? Specialty, research interests, involvements in groups outside of their practice/academic involvements? I'm guessing the rule of thumb would be practical information that could come up conversation.

 

[Cath Up]

Thanks for your responses everyone. For my interview next week, they are actually collecting all of our phones. I don't know how I feel about that (confiscating phones from adults), but it must have been a big enough problem for them to address it. I'll probably leave it in my car.

I like the suggestion to use it to discreetly look up my interviewer. Not to derail my thread here, but what sort of things are beneficial to look up? Specialty, research interests, involvements in groups outside of their practice/academic involvements? I'm guessing the rule of thumb would be practical information that could come up conversation.

Yeah that seems like a reasonable thing to do. At the two interviews I have attended, I did not know my specific interviewers until I was face to face with them though. So maybe this is of limited use.

As far as I can tell, those are exactly the things that I would want to look up about my interviewer- just to have a more informed conversation with them.

 

[DBC03]

Thanks for your responses everyone. For my interview next week, they are actually collecting all of our phones. I don't know how I feel about that (confiscating phones from adults), but it must have been a big enough problem for them to address it. I'll probably leave it in my car.

I like the suggestion to use it to discreetly look up my interviewer. Not to derail my thread here, but what sort of things are beneficial to look up? Specialty, research interests, involvements in groups outside of their practice/academic involvements? I'm guessing the rule of thumb would be practical information that could come up conversation.

We honestly didn't have any time to ourselves, except for a literal 5 minute bathroom break, so I wouldn't have had time to look up my interviewers on my phone - the first time I had a moment was the 2 minutes between interviews. The school gave us a sheet summarizing each interviewer, which I found somewhat helpful. Perhaps they will provide you with something like that?

 

[YCP Pre-Med]

We honestly didn't have any time to ourselves, except for a literal 5 minute bathroom break, so I wouldn't have had time to look up my interviewers on my phone - the first time I had a moment was the 2 minutes between interviews. The school gave us a sheet summarizing each interviewer, which I found somewhat helpful. Perhaps they will provide you with something like that?

That's what I was thinking about as well. Not a lot of downtime, especially downtime when no one from admissions or the school is with you. Hoping I receive something like that. If not, I guess I will have to learn about them by actually talking with them! Talk about a revelation.

 

[Terror Billy]

I strongly believe in the leaving your phone in the car/not bringing it to the interview. Unless you have an ongoing family crisis your texts/social media/email/games can wait for arguably the most important ~6 hours of your life before you get an acceptance.

And in the rare case you have "downtime" interact with those around, showing you can be social and play nice with new people is a trait admissions will be looking for, because contrary to what you might think, they truly are watching you the entire day, the impressions you make with everyone matter.

 

[ReapPremed]

Thanks for your responses everyone. For my interview next week, they are actually collecting all of our phones. I don't know how I feel about that (confiscating phones from adults), but it must have been a big enough problem for them to address it. I'll probably leave it in my car.

What school actually confiscated them?!

If they can't trust you to keep your phone shut off in your pocket how can they trust you to touch patients?

Needing to keep your phone in your car to prevent "temptation" is also ridiculous to be honest. Life is full of distractions. You gotta learn to deal with them.

 

[YCP Pre-Med]

What school actually confiscated them?!

If they can't trust you to keep your phone shut off in your pocket how can they trust you to touch patients?

Needing to keep your phone in your car to prevent "temptation" is also ridiculous to be honest. Life is full of distractions. You gotta learn to deal with them.

Prefer to keep it anonymous, but it was an MD school. I thought it was a bit odd, but I can live without my phone for 6 - 8 hours. I have a feeling we'll be busy with presentations, interviews, and activities.

 

[Goro]

Thanks for your responses everyone. For my interview next week, they are actually collecting all of our phones. I don't know how I feel about that (confiscating phones from adults), but it must have been a big enough problem for them to address it. I'll probably leave it in my car.

I like the suggestion to use it to discreetly look up my interviewer. Not to derail my thread here, but what sort of things are beneficial to look up? Specialty, research interests, involvements in groups outside of their practice/academic involvements? I'm guessing the rule of thumb would be practical information that could come up conversation.

There may have been an issue where people where secretly recording interviews.

I suspect that they're just too much of what the lawyers call an "attractive nuisance" to treat you as adults and hope that you'll stay off of them. The story above where a phone went off during an interview shows that some people can't e trusted to be responsible during an interview at med school.

I turn my phone off during interviews too.

 

[YCP Pre-Med]

There may have been an issue where people where secretly recording interviews.

I suspect that they're just too much of what the lawyers call an "attractive nuisance" to treat you as adults and hope that you'll stay off of them. The story above where a phone went off during an interview shows that some people can't e trusted to be responsible during an interview at med school.

I turn my phone off during interviews too.

No way to verify this, but in the age of vlogging and social media shenanigans, I could see this actually happening. Could you imagine someone on Youtube posting, "I GOT IN!!!! REAL INTERVIEW FOOTAGE TO HELP YOU REACH YOUR DREAMS! 🙂"

Also, a quick Wikipedia search of attractive nuisance brought up this jewel. "a landowner may be held liable for injuries to children.... doctrine is designed to protect children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed by the object." Medical school applicants now have to hand in their phones because they aren't able to control themselves. Unreal.

 

[Lannister]

Only time I used my phone during interview day was at a school where they left a few of us sitting in a room for like two hours with absolutely nothing to do.

 

[NotYou20]

I feel weird without my phone in my pocket so i just kept it on silent and never looked at it while I was on campus. If that many people were on their phones excessively your chances for an acceptance probably went up a bit

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Only look at phone in bathroom stall

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Prefer to keep it anonymous, but it was an MD school. I thought it was a bit odd, but I can live without my phone for 6 - 8 hours. I have a feeling we'll be busy with presentations, interviews, and activities.

If I knew a school was going to confiscate my phone, I just wouldn't bring it. I've seen people lose their phones that way.

 

[Dr. Stalker]

My interviewer had his phone go off during the interview 🤣

One of my interviewers was a physician and his pager went off 3x during our interview until he had to excuse himself to handle the situation and use his phone. Apparently one of his patients decided to CODE...during MY interview smh (jkjk - patient ended up fine and the doctor went on to interview me all the same...not nervous or distracted)

 

[aldol16]

Obviously don't have your phone out during an interview but it's not a big deal to have your phone out during down times in the day. Sometimes, you'll have huge gaps in time where you're just waiting for your next interview or waiting for lunch to be over. Nobody is watching you and keeping notes on which applicants used their phones for how long during the day. Use common sense and don't appear rude - so don't use your phone during an info session or when med students are talking to you. That's just basic social etiquette.