Post-Interview Stressors- hellpppp

[Midnight0217]

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Hey y’all, just to start I’m a 21 year old female and applied to three schools.

UF (IS)
Auburn
Georgia

I had interviews at both Auburn and UF, of course Georgia does not hold interviews. My interview for Auburn was first and went amazing! The interviewers were very nice, and I was oddly enough calm during the whole process. However, my UF interview didn’t go so well. I had three interviewers, one was amazing, the student (seemed shy) and then the last one was grueling. He seemed to really grill and was very opinionated on certain things I.e a question about how I felt in regard to the TNR program (also almost like he didn’t want to be there?). It felt like everything I said seemed to offset him. The older one that was very nice, seemed to genuinely care for everything I said. I’m just very nervous because they brought up a very touchy subject of what brought me into wanting to be a vet (my dog saved my life, and died in the process). So I teared up when brought up, composed myself and explained. But I felt like two of the three interviewers saw my compassion and empathized with me whereas the one stickler seemed very annoyed. I can’t help but think I bombed this interview and I guess I just need some words of encouragement or some advice from my peers. I also practiced that answer with others and even answered it for Auburn and never teared up. I was not expecting to tear up AT ALL. It surprised me when I did but now I can’t help but feel weak, even with how genuine it was. When I mean tear, I mean like just a couple of tears (like my face wasn’t even red) not full on mental breakdown.

Pls help I know nothing can be done now but my anxiety is running rampant with the worry that I’m doomed for failure now

 

[PippyPony]

I don't know what the interview structure is like at UF, so take this with a grain of salt, but...

At the tech company I worked for before vet school, we used to be assigned "roles" as interviewers. Basically, it ended up being like a good cop/bad cop scenario, where one interviewer would be super friendly and see if you could socialize, one would target critical reasoning skills and be really ruthless with the logical answers we would accept, one was supposed to ask only about role-related knowledge/applicable resume experience, etc. Many consulting companies do the same kind of thing.

So, it's entirely possible that the one "stickler" was told to go into that interview and test how you react to being challenged. Vets have to stand up to clients every other day and not be overpowered by strong/demanding personalities, so it's a reasonable skill to assess imo.

But that said, I also don't want to make you feel bad about showing emotion. Your dog died to save your life? That is pretty freaking heavy and I think it is 100% reasonable and normal to shed some tears over a memory like that. Even if someone was supposed to evaluate composure under fire, I can't imagine being deep down unsympathetic to that situation. So hopefully the feedback will not be as bad as you think it will.

However...there is also a chance they had someone interviewing who was not a good interviewer to represent the school. If you end up not getting accepted, I think it is perfectly acceptable to reach out to admissions to tactfully say you had a negative experience with one of the interviewers. They should be made aware of people who are acting like grumpy jerks without reason, because that reflects poorly on the school and may turn people off from the program.

 

[Midnight0217]

I don't know what the interview structure is like at UF, so take this with a grain of salt, but...

At the tech company I worked for before vet school, we used to be assigned "roles" as interviewers. Basically, it ended up being like a good cop/bad cop scenario, where one interviewer would be super friendly and see if you could socialize, one would target critical reasoning skills and be really ruthless with the logical answers we would accept, one was supposed to ask only about role-related knowledge/applicable resume experience, etc. Many consulting companies do the same kind of thing.

So, it's entirely possible that the one "stickler" was told to go into that interview and test how you react to being challenged. Vets have to stand up to clients every other day and not be overpowered by strong/demanding personalities, so it's a reasonable skill to assess imo.

But that said, I also don't want to make you feel bad about showing emotion. Your dog died to save your life? That is pretty freaking heavy and I think it is 100% reasonable and normal to shed some tears over a memory like that. Even if someone was supposed to evaluate composure under fire, I can't imagine being deep down unsympathetic to that situation. So hopefully the feedback will not be as bad as you think it will.

However...there is also a chance they had someone interviewing who was not a good interviewer to represent the school. If you end up not getting accepted, I think it is perfectly acceptable to reach out to admissions to tactfully say you had a negative experience with one of the interviewers. They should be made aware of people who are acting like grumpy jerks without reason, because that reflects poorly on the school and may turn people off from the program.

Thank you so much for responding, this has been eating at me since the interview and that felt like what was happening (an almost good cop bad cop routine). At the end the “good” cop said I did very good and the other guy agreed. But just the fact that I got weak in that moment hurts me. Although when it happened they moved to a diff question while I calmed down a bit and then I *myself* went back to reiterate. I apologized and said now that “ I’m more composed, once that happened (the traumatic event) I immediately started volunteering at vet hospitals starting at age 12 (that’s when the event occurred) and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a vet.” They seemed happier that I recollected and double backed but just that looming feeling of uneasiness hurts me because UF is my top choice since it’s IS and has the Aquatic program. You helped me a lot, especially since it could have been just the way their roles are set up. I’m hoping that’s the case because that would make more sense but of course I’ll take it with a grain of salt, it’s just comforting to have others opinions on this

 

[mmmdreamerz]

Hey y’all, just to start I’m a 21 year old female and applied to three schools.

UF (IS)
Auburn
Georgia

I had interviews at both Auburn and UF, of course Georgia does not hold interviews. My interview for Auburn was first and went amazing! The interviewers were very nice, and I was oddly enough calm during the whole process. However, my UF interview didn’t go so well. I had three interviewers, one was amazing, the student (seemed shy) and then the last one was grueling. He seemed to really grill and was very opinionated on certain things I.e a question about how I felt in regard to the TNR program (also almost like he didn’t want to be there?). It felt like everything I said seemed to offset him. The older one that was very nice, seemed to genuinely care for everything I said. I’m just very nervous because they brought up a very touchy subject of what brought me into wanting to be a vet (my dog saved my life, and died in the process). So I teared up when brought up, composed myself and explained. But I felt like two of the three interviewers saw my compassion and empathized with me whereas the one stickler seemed very annoyed. I can’t help but think I bombed this interview and I guess I just need some words of encouragement or some advice from my peers. I also practiced that answer with others and even answered it for Auburn and never teared up. I was not expecting to tear up AT ALL. It surprised me when I did but now I can’t help but feel weak, even with how genuine it was. When I mean tear, I mean like just a couple of tears (like my face wasn’t even red) not full on mental breakdown.

Pls help I know nothing can be done now but my anxiety is running rampant with the worry that I’m doomed for failure now

Agree with Pippy that what your described immediately sounded like the less-than-kind guy was testing you, but I don’t know anything about UF either.

It sounds like you were describing a very emotional situation. Don’t fault yourself for the tears. I don’t think they detract anything from the interview. We are all human, afterall.

 

[SnowJ]

If it makes you feel better I talked about a very important pet in my life during my interview (at UMN) and cried the whole time I was talking because he had died exactly one week before. I let them know I was gonna cry and why, and they had a box of tissues for me. I was accepted (after a waitlist period), and part of me thinks I wouldn't have gotten in if I hadn't talked about him. I think your situation is something very reasonable to be emotional about and shows a level of compassion that I think is often appreciated. Of course I can't speak to UF specifically, but I think in general this kind of thing is common in interviews so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[amsweeney]

I didn't think that I did well in my Midwestern interview, and I got accepted 8 days later. Take solace in the fact that they invite you for a reason, because you have already impressed them. They're not trying to take the "toughest" applicants, they want to most passionate and qualified. You are 100% not the first to tear up during an interview. Some of the interviewers may come off as tough so they can see how you react to it. I'm sure you'll be fine. Good luck!

 

[LunaTuxedoCat]

I don't know if this helps at all, but when I went interview at UTennessee, in the pre-interview information session, they literally took 5 minutes to talk about crying during interviews. They made it a point to say that it's more common than applicants think, not a "death sentence" by any means, and that the interviewers understand a lot of heavy stuff comes up when people are taking about their past experiences and motivations for going into vet med. After all, everyone in the field by default is likely to be extremely compassionate.

They said it's fine to even take a minute or two to regain your composure before continuing on, as long as you are able collect yourself. It sounds like you did an excellent job at that! I know this was for UT specifically, but I'm sure this type of perspective would apply to interviewers at least to some extent at other schools!