Stories from the Interview Trail (Virtual edition)

[clumsy.md]

It's been a while since I've seen one of these threads, so why not? This cycle has been unprecedented and quite frankly, a doozy.

To bring some levity to these times, I'm curious if anyone else has had some funny or horrific experiences during their interviews this season.

Mine? Well, I was stoked to have received an interview from a top choice out West. I was beyond excited for the chance to interview at this school. The interview style was traditional but consisted of 2 separate Zoom interviews that may include one or more faculty per room. My first interview went great. We were both comfortable and enjoying our conversation. However, I get to my second interview and I'm met by two older gentlemen (like surprisingly old). With the exception of some technical difficulties on their end, I thought the interview went peachy...until the end.

As we're saying our goodbyes and thank yous, my mouth begins to say, "Have a good rest of your day!" but...my brain is reminding me that I'm speaking to TWO people so I should tag an "s" on the end of "day." Make sense? No, of course it doesn't. So my dumba** proceeds to say, "Have a good rest of your days!" It was too late to save myself as we were all clicking "Leave Meeting." but before I could escape, the older of the two men gave me a look I will never forget, as he had just registered what I had said. Something like this:

I was waitlisted.

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[M&L]

It's been a while since I've seen one of these threads, so why not? This cycle has been unprecedented and quite frankly, a doozy.

To bring some levity to these times, I'm curious if anyone else has had some funny or horrific experiences during their interviews this season.

Mine? Well, I was stoked to have received an interview from a top choice out West. I was beyond excited for the chance to interview at this school. The interview style was traditional but consisted of 2 separate Zoom interviews that may include one or more faculty per room. My first interview went great. We were both comfortable and enjoying our conversation. However, I get to my second interview and I'm met by two older gentlemen (like surprisingly old). With the exception of some technical difficulties on their end, I thought the interview went peachy...until the end.

As we're saying our goodbyes and thank yous, my mouth begins to say, "Have a good rest of your day!" but...my brain is reminding me that I'm speaking to TWO people so I should tag an "s" on the end of "day." Make sense? No, of course it doesn't. So my ******* proceeds to say, "Have a good rest of your days!" It was too late to save myself as we were all clicking "Leave Meeting." but before I could escape, the older of the two men gave me a look I will never forget, as he had just registered what I had said. Something like this:
View attachment 321573

I was waitlisted.

oh my god.... i am crying and choking on my own saliva at the same time. This is gold.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

It's been a while since I've seen one of these threads, so why not? This cycle has been unprecedented and quite frankly, a doozy.

To bring some levity to these times, I'm curious if anyone else has had some funny or horrific experiences during their interviews this season.

Mine? Well, I was stoked to have received an interview from a top choice out West. I was beyond excited for the chance to interview at this school. The interview style was traditional but consisted of 2 separate Zoom interviews that may include one or more faculty per room. My first interview went great. We were both comfortable and enjoying our conversation. However, I get to my second interview and I'm met by two older gentlemen (like surprisingly old). With the exception of some technical difficulties on their end, I thought the interview went peachy...until the end.

As we're saying our goodbyes and thank yous, my mouth begins to say, "Have a good rest of your day!" but...my brain is reminding me that I'm speaking to TWO people so I should tag an "s" on the end of "day." Make sense? No, of course it doesn't. So my dumba** proceeds to say, "Have a good rest of your days!" It was too late to save myself as we were all clicking "Leave Meeting." but before I could escape, the older of the two men gave me a look I will never forget, as he had just registered what I had said. Something like this:
View attachment 321573

I was waitlisted.

Tough to beat this one

 

[Lifeblood_20]

Horrific story...
The power went out in my neighborhood at the start of one of my interview days and I had no data so I drove 20 minutes to the nearest McDonald's to email to reschedule. The unscheduled power outage lasted a full 8 hours

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

(like surprisingly old)

This part made me lol.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Had an applicant who was ex military, ranger qualified and had worked as a sky diving instructor. In an effort to gain some insight into his persona, I asked him the fun fact question. He indicated he brought his fiancee on her first skydiving adventure. She froze in the door when her time came. He replied," I guess my fun fact is that I got to throw my future wife out of an airplane" I wonder how it all worked out?

 

[Kracin]

From my cycle 2 years ago. We had morning tours, afternoon interviews. After lunch, we are about to walk to MMIs and the admission dean says "Oh, has anyone seen (applicant)?"

Other applicant: "I think she's doing shots in the bathroom"

Turns out this girl was in the bathroom getting ready and had a coffee "shot" to wake herself up. Total word slipup that we all laughed at

 

[blanketstatement]

Lol. I need more of these stories in my life right now

 

[zeddd78893]

Today during an interview I was asked if I had other interviews lined up. This faculty member was also drilling me about why I would choose this school over my alma mater but then followed up every question with how I was a great applicant and I should really choose X school that my interview was at.

Adcoms - do you ask these questions?? I answered honestly that I had other interviews but followed with my interest in this program specifically. Not sure what else I could have done since I was caught off guard

 

[Moko]

Today during an interview I was asked if I had other interviews lined up. This faculty member was also drilling me about why I would choose this school over my alma mater but then followed up every question with how I was a great applicant and I should really choose X school that my interview was at.

Adcoms - do you ask these questions?? I answered honestly that I had other interviews but followed with my interest in this program specifically. Not sure what else I could have done since I was caught off guard

I find these types of questions to be a waste of time. But some people just enjoy being lied to. To each their own.

 

[Drsecondchance]

2) All the well-dressed interview candidates were sitting nervously in the large waiting area, when the door opens and dead silence strikes as two young guys walk in dressed in dirty tee-shirts and shorts. Turns out they had flown in together to NYC the day before, dropped off their suitcases at a hotel, and enjoyed a day of the Big Apple. When they got back late to their hotel, everything was GONE. No suitcases, no interview suits, no nothing. One was accepted to the school

I would have bought the nicest clothes the 24- hour Wal Mart had to offer! What a nightmare!

 

[RocuROMANium]

The start of my day was a doozy but the interview went great.

My interview was at 0930 but I wasn't able to go to bed until 0230 because I have a newborn...nuff said. I then woke up at 0530 to the sound of a pine tree snapping in half because a tropical storm hit with high winds and my power went out as a result. Luckily, none of my family and I were injured. The power was still out 30 minutes before my interview was to begin and I was unsure if my laptop would make it the entire interview without charging. On top of that, the area that I set up for the interview had extremely poor lighting without lamps and you could barely see me on Zoom. I finally just ended up in my car balancing my phone on the steering wheel throughout the interview but at least I was able to keep my device charged!

During my interview, tons of service trucks and cars passed by in the background so I hope that wasn't too distracting. Also, 2 amazon packages were delivered and one of the delivery guys actually approached me in the car wondering where to put the freaking package. I tried to signal with my hands, "DUDE GO TO THE F****** FRONT DOOR!" in a respectful manner but all that came out was a spastic, Parkinson's-like hand wave. I'm sure he thinks I'm an aresehole now.

Anyways, thankfully the interview was very relaxing and conversational, not to mention the events of the last few hours was a great ice breaker!

 

[clumsy.md]

The start of my day was a doozy but the interview went great.

My interview was at 0930 but I wasn't able to go to bed until 0230 because I have a newborn...nuff said.

When you started your story with not being able to sleep because of your newborn, I was hoping for some twist, like, you were actually the one taking coffee shots in the bathroom before their interview

 

[KnightDoc]

I had a rough interview a few months ago.

Some of this might be my own fault but I'm not entirely sure, in any case it was odd.

I had a faculty interviewer that asked me if I looked him up beforehand (I admitted that I did and just took note of things I was curious about). He then proceeded to ask me questions about his research project, which I admittedly skimmed through because I didn't feel it was necessary to get into the nitty-gritty of an individual faculty member's research. He then proceeded to quiz me on biological concepts that related to his research as he talked through it (do you remember 'X' concept?) as he went through it (he paused and waited for answers and then corrected me if I was wrong). I'm several years out of school so I don't remember all of these topics and some I hadn't learned whatsoever since I never took a class on the subject. He told me to look up the interviewers next time and seemed upset that I hadn't dived deep into his research topics.

I'm low SES and he asked how I afforded a study abroad program. He also asked if cost will factor into the medical school that I choose (which--yes, of course! But it felt like a trap since this school doesn't sound like it readily offers aid).

Totally not your fault. How did he know you are low SES? That should have been masked from him, since ability to pay is SUPPOSED to be totally separate from admission decisions!

In any event, he clearly decided he didn't like you and then proceeded to bust your chops. It's none of anyone's business how you financed study abroad. Also, while most of us will take the opportunity to look interviewers up so we can have a heads-up regarding who we are dealing with, most people will not do a deep dive into research projects as though we were in his class and the interview was going to contain a pop quiz.

Depending on whether you still want to go to this school, and assuming that they, like most other schools, want to attract qualified low SES candidates, I'd report this to the admissions director or dean BEFORE you receive a decision, so that it doesn't look like sour grapes after the fact. JMHO as a fellow premed, but this would make me CRAZY if it were me.

 

[clumsy.md]

I had a rough interview a few months ago.

Some of this might be my own fault but I'm not entirely sure, in any case it was odd.

I had a faculty interviewer that asked me if I looked him up beforehand (I admitted that I did and just took note of things I was curious about). He then proceeded to ask me questions about his research project, which I admittedly skimmed through because I didn't feel it was necessary to get into the nitty-gritty of an individual faculty member's research. He then proceeded to quiz me on biological concepts that related to his research as he talked through it (do you remember 'X' concept?) as he went through it (he paused and waited for answers and then corrected me if I was wrong). I'm several years out of school so I don't remember all of these topics and some I hadn't learned whatsoever since I never took a class on the subject. He told me to look up the interviewers next time and seemed upset that I hadn't dived deep into his research topics.

I'm low SES and he asked how I afforded a study abroad program. He also asked if cost will factor into the medical school that I choose (which--yes, of course! But it felt like a trap since this school doesn't sound like it readily offers aid).

He sounds like a nightmare. Sorry you had such a poor experience!

 

[deleted1053887]

Interviewer had a framed picture of a friendly, much younger-looking female on his table. Asked about how physicians balance work and family obligations. Thought she was the interviewer's daughter because Zoom quality was bad. It was his wife.

Got an R. Rip.

 

[Lifeblood_20]

The dean rambled on about his life story and went over time by an entire HOUR at the end. I was so fatigued from holding my pee.