Post-interview self-loathing

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DrKitty

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Does that sound familiar to anyone? That feeling of "could have done than better, could have answered that better." I hate it. I could be pessimistic or a perfectionist.
 
DrKitty said:
Does that sound familiar to anyone? That feeling of "could have done than better, could have answered that better." I hate it. I could be pessimistic or a perfectionist.
I feel your pain.. I can always think of like 20 things I should have said... but always after the interview is over.

It probably went fine though! Good luck!!!! Here's to getting good news in the mail!
 
DrKitty said:
Does that sound familiar to anyone? That feeling of "could have done than better, could have answered that better." I hate it. I could be pessimistic or a perfectionist.
I felt the same way after my first interview. This last year I felt that, due to a misunderstanding, I had made a gaffe, but in hindsight, it probably showed how I dealt with a mistake.
 
yeah...happens after every interview
 
After every interview. Yuck. I'm still recovering from my Tulane interview ... it was on Monday.
 
I still think about my interview questions. They will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life.
 
I am glad to know I am not the only one 😳
 
I just wrote my thank you notes. I feel better, like there's some closure. And I got one more chance to kiss ass! I write much better than I interview. (Don't get me wrong ... I'm not antisocial ... I just get so nervous!)
 
Didn't have this feeling until my latest interview at UCD.....maybe I was just more nervous because it's my first choice. I nailed my student interview, but after the faculty interview with the asst. dean of admissions of course, I kicked myself for being a dork. I thought my answers were stupid but when I talked to a friend later about what I had answered and how I had reasoned things, it made more sense to me and I chillaxed a bit.

Whatever, I think there is always something you wish you would have said. Ha ha, there are always 10 billion really honest things I want to say....."PLEASE ACCEPT ME, I LOVE THIS SCHOOL" , "OCHEM IS THE DEVIL AND YOU SHOULDN'T REQUIRE IT", "YOU SUCK".....the list goes on and on! :laugh:
 
DrKitty said:
Does that sound familiar to anyone? That feeling of "could have done than better, could have answered that better." I hate it. I could be pessimistic or a perfectionist.

Definitely understand how you feel. My first interview was a disaster. I was so nervous they literally stopped me during one of my questions because I was losing my train of thought. Total nervous wreck! I was really upset about it too because it was at my state school (UW) which is both highly ranked and a damn good deal.

For reasons I still don't understand, however, they accepted me. Who knows, maybe perfection in an interview looks like you're cold and soulless, and nervous blunders show that you actually care about going there. In retrospect I think one of my worst interviews was one that I wasn't nervous at all about, or during it. I just didn't care very much and I think it showed.

Who knows what they are looking for in an interview. I seriously doubt it is a smooth and perfectly scripted response to every question, even if we'd feel much better about it afterwards.
 
BoogieGnome said:
In retrospect I think one of my worst interviews was one that I wasn't nervous at all about, or during it. I just didn't care very much and I think it showed.

My gosh, this is dejavous! I felt the same way. At the school that I didn't care about, I just said a bunch of standard BS about why I wanted to go there. Thank god I was a nervous wreck at my first choice. In fact, I was so nervous that I didn't even talk to anyone else there before the interview.
 
happydays said:
My gosh, this is dejavous! I felt the same way. At the school that I didn't care about, I just said a bunch of standard BS about why I wanted to go there. Thank god I was a nervous wreck at my first choice. In fact, I was so nervous that I didn't even talk to anyone else there before the interview.

I did at mine, and it was pretty funny in retrospect. I was wearing a hole in the carpet in the wiating room before my interview, and the Dean of Admissions came up to me and asked "Are you ready to interview?". I said yes, but now I was *really* scared, because he has a reputation of being very harsh in interviews, and I wasn't supposed to interview with him! His response:

"Well sit down, no one has died here waiting for an interview!" :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
 
DrKitty said:
Does that sound familiar to anyone? That feeling of "could have done than better, could have answered that better." I hate it. I could be pessimistic or a perfectionist.


After 4 school interviews this year, my problem seems to be that I can never nail BOTH of the interviews. I'll either drill the student interview and do something stupid in the faculty one, or vice versa...it's actually killing me.

A few weeks ago at Emory I had a great individual faculty interview and followed it up by looking like a complete ass in the 3 on 3 interview. Then I felt horrible the rest of the day. My scores are good but not great, so I think I need to have a solid interview to put me over the top. This is soooo frustrating. I keep thinking "what the hell is wrong with me?" And these failures actually instill doubts in my self-confidence.


I can't wait till this is over.
 
DrKitty said:
Does that sound familiar to anyone? That feeling of "could have done than better, could have answered that better." I hate it. I could be pessimistic or a perfectionist.

I think we all do this with at least one interview. Or at least the majority of us. It comes with the territory for premeds. Not only are we usually driven individuals to begin with, but the interview is a very "make it or break it" situation. So even those of us (like me) that can shrug off one subpar test grade or one subpar quiz grade, etc and think "its only one grade I'll do better next time" can't do that with the interview because the interview is IT. After my Maryland interview last year, I beat myself up for MONTHS, especially after I did not get off the waitlist. But I was later told I did great in the interview, I did not get off the waitlist because a) almost no one got off the waitlist last year and b)they assign waitlist rank by a formula and I didn't make the cut somewhere else. This year, I am determined not to castigate myself over the interview.
 
what about pre-interview self-loathing.....
"why don't they like me?" or "do i really suck that bad?"
 
i try not to replay interviews in my head, most of the time to no avail. especially when it ends up as a poopie waitlist at my #1. 🙁 oh well, it's not over till it's over!! 👍
 
I am totally looking forward to the end of interviewing!

No more having to catch up on schoolwork, make up water polo practices I miss, turning in assignments early to meet deadlines, looking like crap when I get off an airplane, paying half of my monthly income in taxi fares, eating crap airport food that makes me feel icky all over.....

I am just grateful to be in somewhere so that way, I don't have to feel like all the rest are make or break - I just wish they did phone interviews! That would be AWESOME in most respects.
 
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