questions about responses to interview questions

[sciencechick]

Hello,

1) if you are at one of those interviews where the interviewers expect YOU to begin the conversation (as opposed to--"so tell me about yourself" after having exchanged greetings), what do you FIRST say after you shake their hand and say hi, how are you doing today?

a) after what you should first say, any suggestions on a couple of topics to engage you and your interviewers for a couple of minutes (I suspect some schools do this just to see how good you are at initiating and carrying on a convo all by yourself first...as opposed to some other schools which usually go by some of the more standard questions after the usual "hi, how are you doing today?")

2) if you're not THAT MUCH interested (only slightly interested) in some of the things the student interviewer or faculty interviewer has to say (like if you ask them "what is it like being a student here" and they give you an okay answer but not one that gets you to start firing comments at their response @ like 5 miles per hour), what do you suggest we say besides "that's great" or "that's awesome" "wow, I think that's pretty neat!" sure, there's nothing wrong with these resopnses, but after a couple of these, well, things can get kinda boring of course, the best comments to your interviewers' responses are ones where you guys can keep the conversation going, but hey, you're only human and bound NOT to be excited/thrilled/super interested in EVERYTHING your interviewer has to say. so how do you make sure you do NOT show that off AND show that you CAN carry on a conversation?

any responses would be great!
thanks guys!

[EDIT] as an add on to 1a, any suggestions would be helpful, but since some topics can lead you astray, what are some good ones that can quickly allow you to transition to those standard pharmacy questions (tell me about yourself, why pharmacy, why should we pick you), since besides getting to know you, one of the main reasons is to find out more about you (usually excellent if you can relate it back to something concerning pharmacy).

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[skp]

1 question for you and 1 general response:

*which school is this at? it sure sounds like one nightmare of an interview!

*here is a general suggestion: read through all the info. available on the school (i.e. website, brochures, etc.) and actively think of questions pertaining to the school, curriculum, student demographic, values, philosophy, something that stands out, etc. this process might give you some ideas how to handle your role as the interviewee (and also as a sort-of interviewer at the same time). it will also help your confidence level so you don't feel you must necessarily script your interview conversation.

take care,
-skp

 

[sciencechick]

1 question for you and 1 general response:

*which school is this at? it sure sounds like one nightmare of an interview!

*here is a general suggestion: read through all the info. available on the school (i.e. website, brochures, etc.) and actively think of questions pertaining to the school, curriculum, student demographic, values, philosophy, something that stands out, etc. this process might give you some ideas how to handle your role as the interviewee (and also as a sort-of interviewer at the same time). it will also help your confidence level so you don't feel you must necessarily script your interview conversation.

take care,
-skp

does it matter which school it is? true most schools probably have a list prpeared and ask u, but not all start off with that list, so you have to be prepared for ALL types of scenarios and cannot just expect to be HANDED questions. and i never said i felt i must script my interview conversation. if you read my post carefully, i asked for some conversation topics to keep in mind to break the ice and or transition to more pharmacy questions, should that be expected of me. i think this is something all interviewers should keep in mind when going in to an interview. anyway, after i posted this, my friend, a current pharmacy student, gave me some ideas.

 

[skp]

does it matter which school it is? true most schools probably have a list prpeared and ask u, but not all start off with that list, so you have to be prepared for ALL types of scenarios and cannot just expect to be HANDED questions. and i never said i felt i must script my interview conversation. if you read my post carefully, i asked for some conversation topics to keep in mind to break the ice and or transition to more pharmacy questions, should that be expected of me. i think this is something all interviewers should keep in mind when going in to an interview. anyway, after i posted this, my friend, a current pharmacy student, gave me some ideas.

(?!)

it was just a suggestion

 

[ultracet]

does it matter which school it is? true most schools probably have a list prpeared and ask u, but not all start off with that list, so you have to be prepared for ALL types of scenarios and cannot just expect to be HANDED questions. and i never said i felt i must script my interview conversation. if you read my post carefully, i asked for some conversation topics to keep in mind to break the ice and or transition to more pharmacy questions, should that be expected of me. i think this is something all interviewers should keep in mind when going in to an interview. anyway, after i posted this, my friend, a current pharmacy student, gave me some ideas.

woah.....

perhaps i read your post in the wrong light....

i would also like to know what school does this as i feel it is inappropriate
however, apparently it happens??

at any rate i think the best things would be questions about the school as well along with the curriculum
You could always ask about that person's role at the school

i'm super glad your friend, a current pharmacy student, gave you some good ideas

 

[sciencechick]

(?!)

it was just a suggestion

as an add on to 1a, any suggestions would be helpful, but since some topics can lead you astray

I guess i should've been more specific and said "any suggestions pertaining to ice-breaking topics would be helpful"

dont worry, i wasn't yelling at you. i was just slightly irritated that ppl were more concerned about "which school is this?" than referring specifically to the subject of the thread "questions about responses to interview questions" (hence irrelevant to the subject of the thread). Furthermore, I *did* start off my post with "if you are at one of those interviews " (big IF). yeah, it's easy to just say well, most schools won't do this, but you know, ANYTHING can happen at interviews so it's important to be prepared. expect the unexpected--that's all I was doing. but i guess thanks (?) for the general suggestions even though i already know about all that since i've been a couple of interviews already.

at any rate i think the best things would be questions about the school as well along with the curriculum
You could always ask about that person's role at the school

thanks.

 

[skp]

ok