Questions asked during interviews

[SLUsagar]

I know doctor B and others have given great responses to another post about the typical interview day, but in prepping for the upcoming interview season, I came across a common and yet difficult question:
Tell me about yourself.

I'm sure most path residents on this forum have been asked this question, but I was wondering what sort of responses people had given...

more personal background ala: well, I was born on a small farm in southern Indiana, and grew up etc etc etc.....

more professional background ala: well, I knew I wanted to go into medicine after a high school physiology class and supported this by etc etc etc

I know you could always ASK the interviewer whether they wanted personal and/or professional info about yourself, but i wanted to know what sort of responses OTHER FELLOW PATH residents had given.

thanks

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[Mrbojangles]

I just had my first interview today and I hadn't come accross that question which was a good thing. That is such a hard question to answer. I geuss they want to see where you take it. I had a weak automated response to that question... about being intellectually curious and being proud of my work and a perfectionist blah blah blah.

 

[garfield]

I tended to respond more with professional background (like "I'm from college X, med school Y, etc with strong qualities A, B, & C who is extremely interested in your program because of D, E, & F... and became interested in pathology because of...") than personal unless there could be benefit in mentioning pertinent personal info. Example of possible pertinent personal info: if the city the program is in is where you were born; if you spy fish trophies/mounts in the office of the interviewer and you like fishing, you could mention your great knowledge/hobby of fishing. I think if your response is way too long people stop listening... "I was born on a sunny day at 11:34am in a hospital in city X. It was Sunday and the doctor's hands were too cold. My mother was a homemaker with curlers in her hair and always with a screaming baby in each arm and dad was a truck driver who ate too many doughnuts..."

 

[yaah]

That question may be one that people dislike, but frankly it is an easy question. It's wide open. You can answer it however you want. If you want to talk about your educational history, that's fine. Your goals, your inspirations, your family, your personal interests. I wouldn't simply regurgitate your application resume though. I generally talked a little bit about where I was from, a bit about college, and then how I came to be interested in pathology. What parts of med school made me interested, how it evolved as I went further.

Almost every interview has many opportunities for jumping off points for further discussion.

I kind of wanted it to go:
Q: Tell me about yourself.
A: Curtain rises on a hard-scrabble Massachusetts city. A hospital made of brick sits in the square. To the right lies a small park, the children laughing on the merry-go-round and swings, dogs barking, mothers gossiping in the soft July breeze. To the left lies a factory, the men with their lunchpails, awaiting the start of the second shift. But something is not right. A thunderclap in the distance heralds the appearance of an ominous cloud. The rain suddenly begins to fall in sheets and torrents, sending the mothers and their children scrambling for the nearby supermarket, leaving traces of their mid afternoon snacks behind. A vicious wind howls up out of the southeast, sending stray newspapers on an artistic upward spiral. Darkness falls as the moon eclipses the sun, the animals howl, and day becomes night. The Child has been born.

Either that, or just respond, "NO! Tell me about yourself."

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Hmm..."Tell me about yourself?"

Seems like an easy question.

I'll just answer, "I'm a fat Asian guy."

I'll then proceed to count the number of seconds during the moment of silence.

Andy is drunk and needs rest.

 

[garfield]

Some bad answers:
1) Multiple personalities person: "Which one of me do you wanna hear about?"
2) "I'm a hot steaming t*rd"
3) "I'm a necrophiliac".... maybe that's not so bad
4) "My palm reader told me to be a pathologist"
5) "I'm a vampire who is hungry. Where's the blood bank?"

 

[Mrbojangles]

You guys are hilarious .

 

[geddy]

I always wanted to answer:

"I'm a Pisces who likes long walks on the beach, wine by candle light, and cuddling next to a roaring fire on a cold, winter night. My turn-offs include diabetic foot ulcers and fibromyalgia."

 

[QuietSylph]

I always wanted to answer:

"I'm a Pisces who likes long walks on the beach, wine by candle light, and cuddling next to a roaring fire on a cold, winter night. My turn-offs include diabetic foot ulcers and fibromyalgia."

 

[Mrbojangles]

I always wanted to answer:

"I'm a Pisces who likes long walks on the beach, wine by candle light, and cuddling next to a roaring fire on a cold, winter night. My turn-offs include diabetic foot ulcers and fibromyalgia."

Haha mine exactly. Though foot ulcers are more of a pet peeve than fibromyalgia. During general surgery the residents expected us to be enthusiastic about changing foot ulcer dressings.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Haha mine exactly. Though foot ulcers are more of a pet peeve than fibromyalgia. During general surgery the residents expected us to be enthusiastic about changing foot ulcer dressings.

"Who wants to be the lucky one to remove Mr. Johnson's staples? Anyone? Anyone?"

 

[Mrbojangles]

"Who wants to be the lucky one to remove Mr. Johnson's staples? Anyone? Anyone?"

LOL. They would expect us to have the patient's dressings changed while they rounded on the other patients. And each day I had to be "reminded" to change the dressings. I'm sorry but I wont volunteer to change dressings unless I'm told to do so. In addition, I didn't like missing the only educational point of the day (not that surgical rounds are that educational) and I'd like to know what's going on with the other patients (as I'd be pimped on patients I didn't follow). OK that's the end of my surgery rant .

 

[Doctor B.]

I honestly don't remember getting that question very often. When I did, I think I gave the usual responses as mentioned above ("I"m from X, went to college at Y", etc). More often, I got questions like "What made you interested in our program?" or "What questions can I answer about our program?". I think path might have been somewhat less competitive when I applied.

One of my favorite moments in interviewing was at Iowa. One of the attendings there is a huge Star Wars fan as am I. At dinner the night before, the residents told me this. So at the start of the interview with him, I said "So, I heard you are a Star Wars fan". That got him talking about SW for most of the interview and left me free of answering any difficult questions.

 

[yaah]

One of my favorite moments in interviewing was at Iowa. One of the attendings there is a huge Star Wars fan as am I. At dinner the night before, the residents told me this. So at the start of the interview with him, I said "So, I heard you are a Star Wars fan". That got him talking about SW for most of the interview and left me free of answering any difficult questions.

One interviewer I saw an "Ohio State Rose Bowl" sign and souvenir football in his office, and we talked about college football for awhile. Another had a picture of Wrigley Field, and so we talked about baseball. Another had an interesting sculpture in his office, and I asked about it, and we ended up talking about South Africa for awhile (not that I have ever been, but I know a lot of the history).

Others, however, you will feel like you have nothing in common with and it is tough to come up with things to talk about - definitely the rarity though. Most interviewers are friendly and trying to sell you on their program. "Tell me about yourself" is an easy, open ended question, to try to get some gauge of the person in the short period of time you have together. Thus, try to approach the question from that angle.