Question about open/closed interviews

[Rainbowsheep5]

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Do you find out on the day of the interview whether or not your interviewer has read your profile/application? As a general rule of thumb, should you ever repeat what is already said in your personal statement and the rest of the application? Thank you!

 

[MLC45]

At interviews I've had some that have read and underlined parts of it and others that told me they received it a few weeks earlier, but haven't taken the time to even glance at it. Others wouldn't say anything about it. So I would say it depends on the school and the interviewer. As for repeating things from you personal statement, I only did that if I was asked a question that I had already addressed. I would say something like, "As I wrote in my personal statement..." and then expound on it. Most times I was asked questions that weren't addressed as part of my personal statement.

 

[TheDentalSchoolCoach]

Do you find out on the day of the interview whether or not your interviewer has read your profile/application? As a general rule of thumb, should you ever repeat what is already said in your personal statement and the rest of the application? Thank you!

Most interviewers are probably going to spend less than 2-3 min looking at your application. So, it's completely fine to mention a story that you discussed on your personal statement. It reinforces what they read about you (if they do read the personal statement). If they haven't read it, it's still fine.

Repeating a story is completely fine to different people as long as you can tell the story in an authentic and compelling way.

 

[Firik]

You can find whether the interview is open or closed by looking at the specific school webpage info or go to "specific school discussions" forms on sdn.
In my opinion, even in open interviews, repeating important events/things won't hurt especially if it's essential to the story.