References quoted at interview???

[paulzidane]

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I just was wondering if this happened to anyone else.

In one of my interviews, the interviewer said "One of your reference letter writers said, '[insert some slightly negative thing here]' -- how would you respond to that?"

I was kind of taken aback. I knew which person it must have been, of course, because there was only one prof that could have said that. Also, it was really stressful, being put on the spot like that.

I'm glad that I now know not to ask that person for another reference, because I don't know what else was written but that one thing sure wasn't helpful, but, this makes me wonder -- I mean, aren't they supposed to be kept secret from you???

Did this happen to anybody else???

 

[MinnyGophers]

How negative was the thing said, though?
It could have simply been the case of listing some negative stuff about you and then proceeding to explain how you overcame them or something like that.
I wouldn't discount someone based on a quote for which you don't really know the context.

 

[Law2Doc]

I just was wondering if this happened to anyone else.

In one of my interviews, the interviewer said "One of your reference letter writers said, '[insert some slightly negative thing here]' -- how would you respond to that?"

I was kind of taken aback. I knew which person it must have been, of course, because there was only one prof that could have said that. Also, it was really stressful, being put on the spot like that.

I'm glad that I now know not to ask that person for another reference, because I don't know what else was written but that one thing sure wasn't helpful, but, this makes me wonder -- I mean, aren't they supposed to be kept secret from you???

Did this happen to anybody else???

Schools want you to waive your right to see them to ensure candor of the writer, but there is really no prohibition of the school divulging info to you. Schools frequently confront you with application blemishes to get your side of it. If they had you into an interview despite that, they they probably were still interested in you despite that letter, and wanted to give you a chance to explain it away.

 

[EMH]

In principle, I believe it is good to ask about something negative. Gives you a chance to rebute or explain something.

 

[amathew]

i don't know how it is for most schools, but i know our pre-med advisors tell us that they don't send any letter that could in any way show us negatively. And if there are questions, they let us know. After all, they want to show their students in the best light possible

 

[MadHopsMD]

I just was wondering if this happened to anyone else.

In one of my interviews, the interviewer said "One of your reference letter writers said, '[insert some slightly negative thing here]' -- how would you respond to that?"

I was kind of taken aback. I knew which person it must have been, of course, because there was only one prof that could have said that. Also, it was really stressful, being put on the spot like that.

I'm glad that I now know not to ask that person for another reference, because I don't know what else was written but that one thing sure wasn't helpful, but, this makes me wonder -- I mean, aren't they supposed to be kept secret from you???

Did this happen to anybody else???

if your stats are ABOVE the schools average: that letter was probably a bad one. and invited you just because of your stats 🙂

if your stats are BELOW or ON PAR the schools average: that letter was probably a good one, the negative comment was followed by how succesfully you overcame it...

 

[ggman]

if your stats are ABOVE the schools average: that letter was probably a bad one. and invited you just because of your stats 🙂

if your stats are BELOW or ON PAR the schools average: that letter was probably a good one, the negative comment was followed by how succesfully you overcame it...

maybe his stats were above the average and the letter was good too. That seems like a viable option.

To the OP, I had one of my interviewers tell me some of the good things that was written about me, but never anything bad. I think as long as you rebutted it well you should be in good shape. Plus, now you know it's there so you can indirectly address it at other interviews 👍

 

[spospo]

this happened to me at an interview. my interviewer kept asking me to list weaknesses, i ran out relatively quickly (not because i am perfect but because all my weaknesses stem from one greater one). he then said, "well, your coach writes in her letter here that one of yours is............how do you feel about that?" he then proceeded to confront me on all these situations where it could be an issue. kind of really annoying, but i thought i handled it well.

 

[Wordplay]

i don't know how it is for most schools, but i know our pre-med advisors tell us that they don't send any letter that could in any way show us negatively. And if there are questions, they let us know. After all, they want to show their students in the best light possible

Wow lucky. Wish we had that kind of service. We don't have "premed advisors" per se and our letters don't get any kind of screening before they are sent.

 

[Ladyfingers]

i don't know how it is for most schools, but i know our pre-med advisors tell us that they don't send any letter that could in any way show us negatively. And if there are questions, they let us know. After all, they want to show their students in the best light possible

I don't think that is that great, unless, of course, they'll let you know if they think you are a cruddy applicant (if that is what you mean by having questions). Otherwise that makes the recommendation worth less.

 

[Robizzle]

i don't know how it is for most schools, but i know our pre-med advisors tell us that they don't send any letter that could in any way show us negatively. And if there are questions, they let us know. After all, they want to show their students in the best light possible

I specifically asked my premed advisor how this worked at BU. He said that if something's negative, you better believe they'll put it. If something is neutral, however, they'll leave it out.

 

[MadHopsMD]

I specifically asked my premed advisor how this worked at BU. He said that if something's negative, you better believe they'll put it. If something is neutral, however, they'll leave it out.

what excatly is a premed advisor letter aka committee letter? does the school just summarise 3-5 letters into one?

 

[hopster]

what excatly is a premed advisor letter aka committee letter? does the school just summarise 3-5 letters into one?

My premed committee requires us to get 5-6 letters of rec. They then pick out 3 from those to send to school along with a letter written by the committee (which is determined by an interview with an advisor). It seemed to me like they picked the best possible three from my 8 letters.

 

[DrZeke]

what excatly is a premed advisor letter aka committee letter? does the school just summarise 3-5 letters into one?

Yah...never let another American cry to you about how bad they have it with recommendation letters. Lots of schools have these pre-med advisory committees and if your school is decent, once you "declare" that you are a premed, they hook you up with a pre-med advisor and they meet with you periodically and tell you what you need to do, or what classes you need to take...and if they are really good, they will be like "WTF that class is hard, don't take that together".


I swear fellow Canadian...didn't you get that same treatment at your Canadian instituion??? I think they had a "sink or swim" committee at the lovely McGill University...