Post-interview questions

[Phrasing]

Can an interview have been good even if it didn't feel "conversational"? Seems like some interviewers just aren't that way.

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[LizzyM]

Hard to say. The interviewer could be someone who is just going to run through a list of questions and offer little in the way of conversation. Some are bad interviewers who are going to ask questions that require little more than "yes/no" answers. In either case, the interviewer can come away believing that you gave good answers, had good social skills, responded appropriately. Or not.

No one interviewer holds all the power although some can have considerable influence with the decision-makers. Those who are fair and knowledgable are held in high regard and their reviews are considered to have face validity. On the other hand, the committee comes to realize that a specific interviewer tends to be very picky and critical of everyone and someone who is interviewed by that person will be treated a bit differently than a candidate who got a bad review from an interviewer who is very seldom critical of an applicant and "likes everyone".

tl;dr You can't tell from your side how the interview went.

 

[Goro]

People tend to be terrible at judging how their interviews went.

Can an interview have been good even if it didn't feel "conversational"? Seems like some interviewers just aren't that way.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

People tend to be terrible at judging how their interviews went.

Is this specific to med school, or are most people poor judges of this in general.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Most have really no accurate idea of how well they did at an interview at any school. I have had applicants break down discussing something at an interview be accepted and other outstanding students who perform exceedingly well they thought only to not understand they looked arrogant and entitled and thus be denied.

I'm just wondering if these same people would be equally poor at judging how they do in other situations like that, or if there is something unique to med school that makes it difficult to judge.

 

[DokterMom]

Dunning-Kruger. In my opinion, quite possibly the most brilliant piece of psychological research of the 20th century. SO widely applicable.

 

[kraskadva]

I find most people are not good judges of something they have little experience in. And most applicants have no experience in med school interviews. It is related to the The Dunning-Kruger effect where, simplified, people have no idea that they have no idea.

Dunning-Kruger. In my opinion, quite possibly the most brilliant piece of psychological research of the 20th century. SO widely applicable.

Hadn't heard the term before, so just looked this up...and ermagerd, this describes basically everything I have ever dealt with in teaching. And most of life.
Gonna start dropping this into conversation with my students all the time.

And Dunning used to teach a course with visting professor John Cleese from Monty Python. Whatelse could be better

I'd take that class in a heart beat. Sounds amazing.

 

[DokterMom]

Hadn't heard the term before, so just looked this up...and ermagerd, this describes basically everything I have ever dealt with in teaching. And most of life.
Gonna start dropping this into conversation with my students all the time. .

I predict it'll soon be up there with Murphy's Law and Catch 22

 

[kraskadva]

I predict it'll soon be up there with Murphy's Law and Catch 22

Lol. Well I'll do my part to get it into the lexicon.