photo album for interview

[Omni]

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Has anyone done this?
I was thinking about putting together something real short to show the interviewer what I'm like. Pictures I'd include would be hobbies such as:

car modeling:

sketching:

Other things such as research posters (I take great pain to make them look as attractive as informative) will be included as well.

This album would have various other things on it that would be better explained through pictures, than words.
Would this be a good idea? Has anyone else done this?

 

[brooklynblunder]

wow. hmm no, maybe stick to a research abstract? you would stand out if you go ahead with your idea though

 

[aggie08]

I do not think this would be a very good idea.

Interviews are led by the interviewer and not the student, I highly doubt they are going to bring up a photo album and ending your interview with "by the way, take a look at the cool **** I build" would be quite awkward.

 

[mechtel]

An interview, in part, tests your ability to convey ideas verbally just as essays test your written communication. As a doctor, you often would not have time to prepare props in order to convey crucial information.

I think it would be best to just think of interesting stories you could tell if you have the opportunity (i.e "what do you do for fun?") but don;t force them on the interview. Let the interviewer get whatever information he or she thinks is necessary.

 

[KMFDM]

This sounds weird as hell.

 

[mechtel]

This sounds weird as hell.

🙂 More blunt, but also what I was thinking.

 

[KMFDM]

🙂 More blunt, but also what I was thinking.

Heh, I didn't mean to be a jerk about it, but that was my first thought.

 

[brooklynblunder]

im not gonna lie, i laughed my ass off as well.

 

[KMFDM]

im not gonna lie, i laughed my ass off as well.

Hahaha oh man, now I feel bad for OP.

OP, I didn't mean to be a jerk, it's just very unconventional.

 

[brooklynblunder]

take the interview as a conversation, some people might share your hobbies, some may not. no need to take it too too seriously

 

[CupcakeMD]

I've heard of pre-dentals who do this. The pre-dental honor society at UCSD actually pushes their members to do this to stand out. They bring pictures and dental molds they've made at their free clinic. They also got accepted too. Not sure if there are any correlation.

I've always wondered if this would work for med interviews. Any more inputs? Hopefully from an admin or someone of experience?

 

[teenmachinery1]

If I was interviewing someone and they whipped out a photo album I'd feel like I'm:

a) held hostage by my grandma who's showing me, again, what i was doing when i was little

b) shopping with a girl. They take sooo long and they try on everything and you just have to sit there and wait and pretend like you care how things look on them

In other words, I would not do it. I would say it's weird and if they're like most (normal, jk) people, they're probably not too interested in those hobbies of yours.

👎

 

[teenmachinery1]

Pictures of pets (especially dogs) on the other hand..

Win!

 

[Omni]

An interview, in part, tests your ability to convey ideas verbally just as essays test your written communication. As a doctor, you often would not have time to prepare props in order to convey crucial information.


I think it would be best to just think of interesting stories you could tell if you have the opportunity (i.e "what do you do for fun?") but don;t force them on the interview. Let the interviewer get whatever information he or she thinks is necessary.

That's what I figured. Originally I was planning on not doing it solely for that reason, but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Hahaha oh man, now I feel bad for OP.

OP, I didn't mean to be a jerk, it's just very unconventional.

lol, I didn't take offense or anything. everyone has their own opinion. I know this is the first time people may have heard of this. This idea dawned on me a few days ago.

 

[teenmachinery1]

I change my mind OP;

Life is short so do it if you think it'll work. Then you can come back and laugh at US for thinking we know best.

👍

 

[kia ora]

Pictures of pets (especially dogs) on the other hand..

Win!

so cute! maybe bring your dog to the interview (I'd let you in if I were the interviewer)!

 

[aggie08]

so cute! maybe bring your dog to the interview (I'd let you in if I were the interviewer)!

What if your interviewer was an allergist?
Fail.

 

[sustentacular]

Pictures of pets (especially dogs) on the other hand..

Win!

👍


My dog helped me pick schools from the msar, and I'm planning on mentioning it when answering the "why this school?" question.

 

[sustentacular]

What if your interviewer was an allergist?
Fail.

Allergists hate dogs?

 

[aggie08]

Allergists hate dogs?

Please tell me you are not really that dense.

 

[teenmachinery1]

My dog went through the MSAR and told me to wait a year..

👎

 

[sustentacular]

Please tell me you are not really that dense.

My post was tongue in cheek, please tell me you're not that dense. Did you mean to say allergic? Or were you being sarcastic?

 

[aggie08]

My post was tongue in cheek, please tell me you're not that dense. Did you mean to say allergic? Or were you being sarcastic?

I meant to say allergist and I was being sarcastic.

 

[muhali3]

The interview is like a first date. You wouldn't bring a copy of your resume and eharmony.com profile to a first date to show...hey look, this is what I've accomplished and all the awards I've received, don't you see how cool I am? Please accept me.

 

[sustentacular]

I meant to say allergist and I was being sarcastic.

Then it's agreed we were both being sarcastic and there's no more need for name calling.

 

[c5212]

This sounds weird as hell.

I couldn't agree more... you must be getting MED SCHOOL mixed up with ART SCHOOL

 

[brooklynblunder]

The interview is like a first date. You wouldn't bring a copy of your resume and eharmony.com profile to a first date to show...hey look, this is what I've accomplished and all the awards I've received, don't you see how cool I am? Please accept me.

i think it is kinda like a first date. you should be confident, somewhat nonchalant and do not want to come across nervous. however, your interviewers will have most likely don craploads of job interviews themselves and it is always customary to bring your resume/portfolio to those. i dont think its a bad idea carrying them around, but i wouldnt whip it out randomly or at all unless the interviewer specifically says "what else are you doing nowadays, or what other activities have you done, i want to get it all down".

 

[aggie08]

i think it is kinda like a first date. you should be confident, somewhat nonchalant and do not want to come across nervous. however, your interviewers will have most likely don craploads of job interviews themselves and it is always customary to bring your resume/portfolio to those. i dont think its a bad idea carrying them around, but i wouldnt whip it out randomly or at all unless the interviewer specifically says "what else are you doing nowadays, or what other activities have you done, i want to get it all down".

Resumes at job interviews and pictures of your hobby model car building efforts are so different.

They already have your application, it's senseless to carry around photos of your hobbies when you could say "I like to read, I like to build model cars and I like to volunteer in hospitals."

 

[teenmachinery1]

Me: "I like to knit, check out the patterns that I've been knitting lately.."

-I reach for my bag and whip out my album...

Me: "The history of knitting is actually QUITE fascinating..."

Interviewer: (Thoughts of suicide cross his mind).

😴

 

[Omni]

Also, for the record, I didn't plan on pulling the album out randomly in the middle and point them out. Maybe at the end of the interview when we're leaving, I'd give the interviewer the album to just flip through it and take a look at it.

 

[teenmachinery1]

Also, for the record, I didn't plan on pulling the album out randomly in the middle and point them out. Maybe at the end of the interview when we're leaving, I'd give the interviewer the album to just flip through it and take a look at it.

Reading this made me laugh, twice.

 

[RedRaider19]

I'm not sure if its the fact I am anxiously awaiting my MCAT scores in 2 days, or I have finally lost it - but I nearly crapped myself laughing so hard at some of these comments. That, and I was secretly hoping that as the pictures loaded there would be some Superbad (male genitalia) art thrown in there as a joke. I actually feel like a bad person for laughing so hard.

 

[InvitroDerm]

Well, how can premeds really tell you if that is a good idea or not - we wouldn't be premeds if we knew what worked. But, that really made me laugh very, very hard. So gut instinct is to leave that s't at home.

 

[teenmachinery1]

Reading this made me laugh, twice.

Edit: 3 times. The third one had a couple tears coming out of my left eye...

 

[teenmachinery1]

Also, for the record, I didn't plan on pulling the album out randomly in the middle and point them out. Maybe at the end of the interview when we're leaving, I'd give the interviewer the album to just flip through it and take a look at it.

4 times. tears out of both eyes.

OK im a jerk now.


👍

 

[zerial]

your idea isn't as absurd as everyone here is making it seem.

i've interviewed a lot of people for hiring, and if someone pulled out an album out of the blue after i asked something like "tell me about yourself" then i would raise an eyebrow and think 'ok this is a little weird' but as long as you don't make it too big a deal, i would just ignore that you did it. meaning: i wouldn't really think it would help, but it probably wouldn't hurt either.

if you wanna be safe and you really wanna do this, why don't you just: have it during the interview. if your car stuff ever comes up and the interviewer asks you to talk more about that, you could say "actually, i have a couple photos with me if you'd be interested in seeing them?"

and then you gauge their reaction, and if it's good then go ahead and go with guns blazing, but if they look like 'wow that's a little weird' then just show them 1 or 2 pics and put it away.

simple, easy, nothing to worry about.

 

[ReptarBar]

LOL at the first sketch.

cant stop laughing.

 

[jcm14]

I don't think it's the worst idea ever. I put down in some of my secondaries that I have pursued painting for a long time. I also thought of having a few photos with me so that they wouldn't think I was just making it up. I second zerial, it doesn't hurt to just have them with you, and you can play it by ear to decide whether or not to bring them out. I know that when I applied to college I brought photos of my work to the interviews, and I don't think it was weird at all.

 

[dw2158]

This sounds weird as hell.

im not gonna lie, i laughed my ass off as well.

+1 to both of these.

Well, how can premeds really tell you if that is a good idea or not - we wouldn't be premeds if we knew what worked. But, that really made me laugh very, very hard. So gut instinct is to leave that s't at home.

um, we'd still be pre-meds. just pre-meds who could get in really easily.

ohhh, this thread.

 

[YH5]

I can't believe I missed this thread and now the pics are gone.

 

[eeeeee]

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