Share your Interview blunders :)

[gcomplex7]

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Hey guys,
Share your interview blunders here. I would start but it will take me a while to muster up the courage to do so.
so after you...

 

[Dr. Giggles]

The dumbest thing I've done is to ask about the research opportunities at a school (ECU) that's devoted to primary care.

This whole cycle I've been worried I'd forget which school I'm at during the interview and name the wrong institution when asked "Why did you apply here." Thankfully I made it through this cycle without screwing that up. Did this happen to anyone?

 

[deuist]

Saying that I wanted to go to Baylor because of its Baptist affiliation.

 

[KAI1927]

Well the interview was going great right, but then my interviewer goes, "Are you aware that you are not wearing pants?" And sure enough I looked down and I just had my boxers on. I was so nervous that morning I put my Shirt/Tie/Coat on, but had neglected my slacks; boy was my face red. Wouldn't you know it thought, I actually got into the school!

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

I compared myself to a monkey when describing my research experience at Rochester.

 

[hardy]

I cut myself shaving when I was running late for an interview. At the beginning they took a picture (must have looked awful) and my cut just wouldn't stop bleeding. Later in the day I had this scab in my face. Quite embarrassing...
I was accepted anyway, probably out of pity

 

[HC05nmd]

My interviewer asked the dreaded "whats wrong with our healthcare system/what do you want to fix?"

So I said the biggest problem was too many people without health insurance, yadda yadda yadda.

Inteviewer: So would you want to move to a Canadian system?

Me: Well, I like this country.

Inteviewer: No, I mean would you want to move to change our system to a Canadian system?

oops. at least he knows I'm patriotic! Geeze, I didn't realize how stupid I sounded until I just thought about it. Perhaps thats why its taking them 5 months to hand me a decision!

 

[Law2Doc]

My interviewer asked the dreaded "whats wrong with our healthcare system/what do you want to fix?"

So I said the biggest problem was too many people without health insurance, yadda yadda yadda.

Inteviewer: So would you want to move to a Canadian system?

Me: Well, I like this country.

Inteviewer: No, I mean would you want to move to change our system to a Canadian system?

oops. at least he knows I'm patriotic! Geeze, I didn't realize how stupid I sounded until I just thought about it. Perhaps thats why its taking them 5 months to hand me a decision!

That's classic!

 

[gdbaby]

My interviewer asked the dreaded "whats wrong with our healthcare system/what do you want to fix?"

So I said the biggest problem was too many people without health insurance, yadda yadda yadda.

Inteviewer: So would you want to move to a Canadian system?

Me: Well, I like this country.

Inteviewer: No, I mean would you want to move to change our system to a Canadian system?

oops. at least he knows I'm patriotic! Geeze, I didn't realize how stupid I sounded until I just thought about it. Perhaps thats why its taking them 5 months to hand me a decision!

HAAA! I love it, becaue I would have said that too!!

 

[LucidSplash]

The interviewer was asking about where I had worked during undergrad. I was explaining why I hadn't taken the work-study offered by my college and found jobs on my own instead. She thought I was working just for pocket money and I said that no, I was working to meet the gap between financial aide and my tuition. Except before I gave that answer, I misunderstood her question and I thought she as asking about my job now and how much I make.

Me: "I make good money now." (Completely and entirely off topic).
Interviewer: "Oh?"

I still got in though, so phew!

 

[baylormed]

Well the interview was going great right, but then my interviewer goes, "Are you aware that you are not wearing pants?" And sure enough I looked down and I just had my boxers on. I was so nervous that morning I put my Shirt/Tie/Coat on, but had neglected my slacks; boy was my face red. Wouldn't you know it thought, I actually got into the school!

Troll.

 

[KAI1927]

Troll.

Please padron my ignorance, what does "troll" mean in our common SDn vernacular?

 

[MrBurns10]

This whole cycle I've been worried I'd forget which school I'm at during the interview and name the wrong institution when asked "Why did you apply here." Thankfully I made it through this cycle without screwing that up. Did this happen to anyone?

This didn't happen to me at a school so this won't be nearly as exciting or interesting, but that did happen to me when I went to interview for my independent study. I had e-mailed several professors in several different fields saying that I was looking for an independent study position and why I thought their research matched well with my interests. Well, when I went to interview with one of them he asked, "So what area of my research are you specifically interested in?" and it hit me that I had no idea who this professor was. He could have done anything from mouse models of psychiatric illnesses to sex pheromones in the fruit fly. I quickly scanned his office and saw a Neuroscience textbook, so I blurted out some general answer about why neuroscience interests me. Thankfully he didn't seem to notice and I ended up doing a study with him. I really hope this didn't happen to anyone during med school interviews because it's incredibly awkward and the stakes are so much higher...

 

[Bluntman]

Please padron my ignorance, what does "troll" mean in our common SDn vernacular?

It comes from the process of putting out bait on a line to troll for fish...although in this case the bait is an inflammatory post meant to incite reaction from other posters. The post he was refering to wasn't a troll though, just a funny post.

 

[baylormed]

It comes from the process of putting out bait on a line to troll for fish...although in this case the bait is an inflammatory post meant to incite reaction from other posters. The post he was refering to wasn't a troll though, just a funny post.

I am a she!! 😛

 

[medfool24]

Hey guys,
Share your interview blunders here. I would start but it will take me a while to muster up the courage to do so.
so after you...

Umm, this is from a few years ago when I was applying to a BA/MD program, but basically I knew from her tone of voice and the look on her face that the interviewing wasn't going well, as hard as I tried. And when I walked out, I was like "There's no way that went well, I'm not going to get in." And sure enough, a rejection letter came about a month later.

I think sometimes you just know if your interview went well or not. And after you do it enough times, your sense of that improves.

 

[Kimka83]

At my Northwestern panel interview:

Scenario - A medical student forged a resident's signature on an x-ray b/c he couldn't/didn't feel like finding the resident. The patient had complications b/c the student missed something on the x-ray. Tha patient almost died. What should happen to the student?

Me: "Well, no one would have cared if he didn't forge the signature"

Eeeek! That sounds like I was saying that no one would have cared if the patient almost died!!!! I didn't mean that! I was just trying to say that the forgery was the issue, not the patient's prognosis. You know, like it didn't matter if the patient was affected or not, what the student did was was still REALLY wrong. So yeah, I came off as a heartless jerk. I worried about that for weeks afterward.

 

[ahumdinger]

At my UW interview, I had a 3 person panel, with one person as the executive member who will represent me in committee. My interview went as well as one can expect from UW. Afterwards, I went on this tour with a med student, and at one point we walked back towards the main building through a parking garage. It was very dim, and a woman was approaching us. It seemed like she was looking at me, and looked vaguely familiar, but I wasn't sure since it was so dark. I was also busy talking with the medical student. As we passed the other person, I turned and looked and saw that she had a tattoo behind her ear...it was my interviewer from that morning!!! I was SO mortified-- I passed her without saying a word and probably seemed like such a snob, as if I just pretended I didn't know her. But then again, she didn't say anything to me either, no smile or hint of recognition.

Maybe that's why I'm still swimming in the UW's competitive pool.

 

[Tiger26]

I was supposed to go up to room 165 for an interviewe, but I was a little nervous and I thought I read 155 on the sheet, so I starting interviewing with the wrong interviewer. He was expecting somebody else, but he just figured admissions made a mistake, so we started the interview and after a couple of minutes, the person he was supposed to interview knocked on the door . . . I was fairly embarrassed, but like anything embarassing it makes for a good story.

 

[Dookter]

I cut myself shaving when I was running late for an interview. At the beginning they took a picture (must have looked awful) and my cut just wouldn't stop bleeding. Later in the day I had this scab in my face. Quite embarrassing...
I was accepted anyway, probably out of pity

Hey for my Vandy interview [my first interview of the year!] I cut my face shaving!!! I looked like I had just gotten in a street fight. Also, the barber totally screwed my hair up, so I had it buzzed off. So I looked like a little less professional than the other applicants with my buzzed hair and cut face!

 

[KAI1927]

I am a she!! 😛

No really, my pants were off.

 

[baylormed]

No really, my pants were off.

you seriously didn't notice the nice breeze between your legs??

 

[Depakote]

No really, my pants were off.

I remember you. That was a long interview day too.

 

[sacrament]

It's been a long time since I interviewed for med school, but I may never forget this moment. I was interviewing at a school which held racial diversity in extremely high regard, and it just so happened that on my interview day, I was the only caucasian. Then throughout the morning, the admissions staff repeatedly mentioned how very diverse the class was, and how we'd meet so many different people... etc. etc. on and on. I was feeling a little beat over the head. So my first interview is going okay, and then the guy asks me, "So, here's a very important question: how do you feel that you personally could bring diversity to School X?" And without thinking I immediately said, "Well, judging on everything I've seen today, I'd bring diversity by being a white guy." I meant this seriously, but the look on his face told me that he was thoroughly unimpressed with this answer. There was a long pause, and he eventually just went on with another question.

I stayed in the city for another two days, just hanging out, and then flew home. When I got home, there was a rejection letter waiting for me. My rejection letter beat me back home.

(Luckily, residency interviews have now come and gone with nary a hint of non-PCness on my part.)

 

[KAI1927]

I remember you. That was a long interview day too.

Thank Christ for some pre-meds with a little sense of humor, sometimes I feel like making a joke on these forums is more valuable then all the squabbling and nerotic paranoia. Can't take ourselves too seriously or we'll never get through med school.

 

[Depakote]

Thank Christ for some pre-meds with a little sense of humor, sometimes I feel like making a joke on these forums is more valuable then all the squabbling and nerotic paranoia. Can't take ourselves too seriously or we'll never get through med school.

Wait, so you weren't the guy in my interview group without the pants?

 

[KAI1927]

Wait, so you weren't the guy in my interview group without the pants?

You mean I am not the only one?!!! So this is what its like when doves cry.

 

[Depakote]

Ah humor, my anti-drug.

Humor and LSD.

 

[LucidSplash]

My rejection letter beat me back home.

😱

 

[TinyFish]

Question: Why do you want to be a doctor?
Answer: What I *meant* to start off with was a statement about how I have always had a fascination with the human body, etc., how I was always the first one at the dissection table. How I love to poke and prod at people, discover what's going on and why. And how until I was 16 this formed the whole of my desire to be a doctor, but after having other experiences, my point of view became more well-rounded, yadda yadda yadda.

What I *actually* said:

Interviewer: Why medicine?

Me: I like to cut!

Interviewer: Umm...are you armed?

😳

 

[kirexhana]

The dumbest thing I've done is to ask about the research opportunities at a school (ECU) that's devoted to primary care.

This whole cycle I've been worried I'd forget which school I'm at during the interview and name the wrong institution when asked "Why did you apply here." Thankfully I made it through this cycle without screwing that up. Did this happen to anyone?

yes, at davis. when i asked about it, the dean said that they were more clinically focused but it was weird, cuz in the video they showed us, they mentioned how research was something that students participated in too (it supplemented their analytical skills as clinicians). was that just a lie?

 

[konverse]

i don't believe that i have something to actually post on this thread but...
last week i was at an interview at the university of alberta in edmonton
3 interview panel. just dishing out questions from all sides of the map. the usual ones like why md, some ethics, then stuff on globalization, integrity, health as a way of life etc. ok. i thought i did reasonably well, although i was definitely on edge, defending for my life etc... nearing the end it almost got conversational like. they even seemed sorta impressed. so anyways i guess the one hour or whatever was up and they just ended it abruptly and got up to shake hands. and i don't really know what happened or what in sam hill i was thinking but...
when i shook their hands i said "thanks guys".
like wtf is that
and when i left the room i was in complete shock -- these three doctors interviewing me, complete formal situation, 100% respect called for, i'm trying to get into the school and my final note was a casual "yo whazzup boyz swing by the crib later for some drinks"
i honestly hope they didn't hear me or just didn't pay attention. looking back i think because it was such a high stress situation and then when it ended i just relaxed 2 notches. but a bit too soon i guess 😱

 

[kirexhana]

i don't believe that i have something to actually post on this thread but...
last week i was at an interview at the university of alberta in edmonton
3 interview panel. just dishing out questions from all sides of the map. the usual ones like why md, some ethics, then stuff on globalization, integrity, health as a way of life etc. ok. i thought i did reasonably well, although i was definitely on edge, defending for my life etc... nearing the end it almost got conversational like. they even seemed sorta impressed. so anyways i guess the one hour or whatever was up and they just ended it abruptly and got up to shake hands. and i don't really know what happened or what in sam hill i was thinking but...
when i shook their hands i said "thanks guys".
like wtf is that
and when i left the room i was in complete shock -- these three doctors interviewing me, complete formal situation, 100% respect called for, i'm trying to get into the school and my final note was a casual "yo whazzup boyz swing by the crib later for some drinks"
i honestly hope they didn't hear me or just didn't pay attention. looking back i think because it was such a high stress situation and then when it ended i just relaxed 2 notches. but a bit too soon i guess 😱

oh, you're so overreacting, from what you said it sounds like they loved you and i'm sure they wouldn't have even given that a second thought. you just reminded me of my story at UCSD, tho.

interview was going great, we get to having a nice conversation about how his life is as a clinician, researcher, professor AND a family man. at the very end of the interview, i get his first name confused with his last name, because his first name was the last name of my first interviewer ever (did that make sense?). i laugh nervously, quickly correct myself and apologize, but omg, it was so embarassing. 😳

 

[Saluki]

Wash U interviewer: Why do you want to be a doctor?

Me: I realized when I was working 30 hrs a week in the cafeteria that manual labor was not where I wanted to be... Eek!--- That isn't even one of the main reasons- after all I could have been a teacher or a lawyer instead if that's what I cared about. I was just so nervous, and it was the first thing that popped into my brain.... Don't be afraid to think for a second before you speak 🙄 Maybe that's the reason I haven't heard; on the other hand, it could be my lack of research or my MCAT score 😛

 

[Saluki]

My first interview

Interviewer: You can head down to the waiting room to have another snack before the tour.

Me: Yea, now that I'm done with my interviewer I can eat without worrying about getting cheese in my teeth...

Ugh... I wish SDN had a little icon for a foot going in a mouth...

 

[SuzieQ3417]

My first interview

Interviewer: You can head down to the waiting room to have another snack before the tour.

Me: Yea, now that I'm done with my interviewer I can eat without worrying about getting cheese in my teeth...

Ugh... I wish SDN had a little icon for a foot going in a mouth...

Lol...that's funny. If I were your interviewer I would have chuckled at that. Of all the "bad" things you could say, that's pretty low on the radar. It could have even earned you points for lightening the mood!

 

[supa]

NOOOOOOOBODY can even enter my stratosphere when it comes to interview blunders. My med school interviews all went smooth, but a few years ago at my PA interview it was a disaster:

Interviewer 1: So tell me about yourself

Me: Uh, I'm from Brooklyn and umm, joined the military, and uhh, umm, decided to become a PA after I left.

Interviewer 1 and 2 both looking extremely confused

Me: You want me to go on?

Interviewer 2: No I think we got the idea. Do you know what a PA does?

Me: Well a PA uh...orders tests and stuff, and does physicals, and sees patients.

Int 1 (looking down at her notes puzzled, not knowing where to go from there) : So how many hours a week do you study?

Me: I don't really study that much. I've just always done well in school.

Int 2: So what if you're struggling in a course, about to get a "D", what would you do?

Me: I don't get D's.

Int 1: But PA school is challenging, so what if you're about to fail an exam, would you be tempted to cheat?

Me: Nah I ain't gonna cheat cuz ain't nobody in that room know more that me. So if I don't know...they damn sure don't know either. (I literally said "damn sure").

Interviewers giving each other strange looks at this point.

Int 1: What if you saw someone cheating on a test...what would you do?

Me: Nothing...I ain't no snitch.

Int 2: Don't you think integrity is important in the PA profession?

Me: I'm not the one that cheated. i ain't getting involved in nobody business.

Int 1: Uh...Umm (notice how she's lost for words). So what do you do for fun?

Me: I like to go to clubs mostly.

Int 1: Well thanks for coming...it was definitely *interesting*.

That was it folks. The quickest interview in history. She actually said *interesting* with a major emphasis on interesting, and it looked as if she was trying to contain her laughter. Needless to say, that interview haunts me till this day.

 

[happydays]

At a job interview:

Interviewer - she gives the details of the job, how great it is...blah blah.
Me - asked a couple questions.
Interviewer - talk talk talk
Me - Oh, look at the time, our interview is up. It was great meeting you!

Yeah, I learned not to call time after that.



Second blunder:
It was for a research position.

Professor - I will pay you and you can start whenever you like.
Me - Oh, wow! But I don't have any research experience; I don't think I deserve to get paid. How about I work for free for a semester and then you decide whether to pay me or not?
Professor - *puzzled look* Ok, that would work too.

Eventually he did pay me, but I shouldn't have put myself down like that. Live and learn.

 

[kkbmd2b]

Last year, I got a last-minute (literally April...) interview offer. The Saturday before my interview, I participated in a mock interview at a pre-med conference and had to watch actual ADCOM members evaluate my file (not an easy thing to witness!). So...after surviving that experience, I went into my actual interview feeling like I needed to convince the interviewer that I'd be a good candidate for the school. Unfortunately, the interviewer turned out to be the passive sort (you know, the type that begins with: "so, tell me about yourself"). I decided to take an active role...so I ended up asking him a bunch of questions. One of the questions I asked was about the diversity of the class (I'd worked at the school previously, so I knew that a big complaint among the attendings was the fact that the students tended to be rather homogeneous in a 1950s sort of way). The interviewer took the question to mean that I was insulting the ADCOMs (<--I'd never even considered that asking this would seem like an insult!) and got really defensive. At the end of the interview, when we got up to leave, he asked "you're not going to write bad things about me on that student feedback website, are you?" 😱 Needless to say, I wasn't accepted!

 

[gcomplex7]

Interview at #1 choice school. The interview has gone 30minutes over and i was tired of talking all through the interiew.

Interviewer: So is there any question I should have ask that I didn't.

Me: Yeah, You didn't ask why i chose your school, why i liked it (i had already rehearsed this, my answer was impeccable. I loved the school)

Interviewer: So why did you apply here?

Me: Well, i didn't really say you should ask me that now, I was just saying you didn't ask me...

Considering how much i want to attend this school, this was mega screw up..Haven't heard.

 

[paceac]

A friend of mine, who will not be named (Dave, you know who you are), when setting up his interview with Loma Linda, asked for a Saturday interview.

 

[SeventhSon]

when i was talking about my community service I meant to say "ethnic mixing" i said "ethnic cleansing".

where? with one of the associate deans of admission at harvard at least he'll chuckle when i'm up for review 🙄

 

[calcium boy]

During the day of my interview I walked around the med school with my pants unzipped. After I ate lunch with the med students I went to the bathroom just before my interview, I go to unzip my pants to take a leak and I noticed my fly was already open. I was like holy **** I walked around all day with my fly open. 🙁 🙁

I think I know what happen. Earlier that morning I was getting dress in my hotel room and wanted to get something to drink, so I put my pants on and was only wearing my white T-shirt when I left the room to hit the vending machines on my floor. When I returned to the I put on my dress shirt and unbutton my pants to tuck my shirt in and must of forgot to zip my pants after I buttoned my pants again. FOR YOU GUYS MAKE SURE YOUR FLY IS ALWAYS ZIPPED.

 

[notdeadyet]

when i shook their hands i said "thanks guys".
like wtf is that

Only offensive if they were very masculine looking women...

 

[Risa]

The dumbest thing I've done is to ask about the research opportunities at a school (ECU) that's devoted to primary care.

Haha this reminds me of my interview at Hopkins.

We were all sitting around in a group in one of the infinite situations where the interviewees ask the students questions.

This one guy, totally serious and intent on being the one to ask questions: "So, are there research opportunities here?"

😱 🙄

 

[Spankete87]

So I was at an interview and one of the interviewers started off by asking me what made me angry - which kind of threw me off for a first question, so I said traffic ( I was at a D.O. program in Atlanta) because it does, but I didn't think about Atlanta -oops. Then the next question he asked me was what would I do if I didn't get into med school this year....well since I had already gotten into med school I wasn't really thinking the question through and I said "Oh, I'd probably reapply to med school and continue working at my clinical job to get more experience...." What I MEANT was that I would probably stay with my current job since I really wasn't sure if I wanted to stick with it or not. What he thought I meant was I would PROBABLY reapply to med school. OOps! He actually said "probably?" To which I immediately realized what he thought I meant and I was like "Ohhhh, I mean I'd probably stay with my current job. I would definitely reapply to med school." Geez, they must've thought i was the biggest idiot in history. Luckily the rest of the interview went well and I got into the school!

 

[ASU_Devil]

The worst blunder ever.

I was interviewing at a school with two interviews. So I had my first interview and after that was over, I went to chill with the other students. One of the guys was handing out gum, so I took one and started chewing it. 15 minutes later the second interviewer comes to pick me up and we walk to his office. 2 minutes into the interview I realize I am still chewing the gum, and I freeze. I can't can't even remember my name. I am just mumbling, umm, uhh, and then he notices I am chewing and hands me a tissue. He didn't look happy. Needless to say, I was Rejected within a week.

 

[MN81]

Driving to interview at 6:30 a.m. and I spill Red Gatorade all over the collar and front of my white shirt. Stain-stick, no luck. Running late. No options in a strange, small town. So I just go the interview. My interviewer sat down and didn't really notice at first. About 8 minutes in she is asking me a question and all of a sudden she freezes up as she is gazing generally in my collar region. Her eyes returned to the huge red stain a number of times for the next hour...

Fun. Still waitlisted...

 

[Lorrayne]

Haha, this happened to me at one interview, so I stuck the gum to the roof of my mouth and tried to just play it cool. I sounded like I had a lisp throughout the entire interview...

The worst blunder ever.

I was interviewing at a school with two interviews. So I had my first interview and after that was over, I went to chill with the other students. One of the guys was handing out gum, so I took one and started chewing it. 15 minutes later the second interviewer comes to pick me up and we walk to his office. 2 minutes into the interview I realize I am still chewing the gum, and I freeze. I can't can't even remember my name. I am just mumbling, umm, uhh, and then he notices I am chewing and hands me a tissue. He didn't look happy. Needless to say, I was Rejected within a week.

 

[smallqt]

During a student interview that I thought was going pretty well so I was relaxed and just making conversation. We started talking about what specialties I might be interested. So I was telling him about my very different experiences in the PICU vs. on the ortho floor n how the PICU was very difficult for me since I have a weak spot for children...and then I said (trying to be funny)

"Yah give me old people any day"

He didn't seem to think it was funny n I'm still on hold there.... 🙁