The art of the answer (phone calls from medical schools)

[Looque]

Who here has done or plans on doing one or both of the following things:

1) Change your cell phone voicemail message
2) Have "the talk" with roommates/housemates about the etiquette of answering a phone call

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[DoctaJay]

I might change my answering machine to something a little less stupid. I actually have a funny story about that. My answering machine at one point had me pretending like you had called a Jamaican male escort service. Well I had forgotten that I had given the Dean of the UMiami Graduate School my cell # so he could navigate his way to our school. Needless to say, when you called and left a message he was tickled by my answering machine. Part of me wonders whether you should just have your regular answring machine so that the adcoms can hear what makes you unique, lol.

 

[Looque]

I might change my answering machine to something a little less stupid. I actually have a funny story about that. My answering machine at one point had me pretending like you had called a Jamaican male escort service. Well I had forgotten that I had given the Dean of the UMiami Graduate School my cell # so he could navigate his way to our school. Needless to say, when you called and left a message he was tickled by my answering machine. Part of me wonders whether you should just have your regular answring machine so that the adcoms can hear what makes you unique, lol.

No doubt a lot of college students have some pretty ridiculous voicemail greetings, so I figured there would be quite a few of us who should consider changing it in case a school calls. Some messages are probably weird but harmless, others maybe not so much.

 

[C.P. Jones]

i changed my voicemail from something funny/stupid to the one where i just says the phone number. i want to change it back or at least have a normal "hi you've reached CP" message, but i've been too lazy to do so

 

[kypdurron5]

I might change my answering machine to something a little less stupid. I actually have a funny story about that. My answering machine at one point had me pretending like you had called a Jamaican male escort service. Well I had forgotten that I had given the Dean of the UMiami Graduate School my cell # so he could navigate his way to our school. Needless to say, when you called and left a message he was tickled by my answering machine. Part of me wonders whether you should just have your regular answring machine so that the adcoms can hear what makes you unique, lol.

Yeah, I really don't think this is a big issue either. No matter what your message is, it's not like they're going to change what they called for just becuase of a silly message.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Who here has done or plans on doing one or both of the following things:

1) Change your cell phone voicemail message
2) Have "the talk" with roommates/housemates about the etiquette of answering a phone call

1. This is Premed Machine. If you're calling to offer me a med school acceptance, please respond after the beep with your med school name and number. If you're calling for anything else whatsoever, I'm studying.

2. Premed Machine: Don't answer the phone and I'll give you my MCAT notes, Volume 1.

(My first attempt at being Premed Machine....I think I'm better acting like myself though. )
-Dr. P.

 

[DoctorPardi]

1. This is Premed Machine. If you're calling to offer me a med school acceptance, please respond after the beep with your med school name and number. If you're calling for anything else whatsoever, I'm studying.

2. Premed Machine: Don't answer the phone and I'll give you my MCAT notes, Volume 1.

(My first attempt at being Premed Machine....I think I'm better acting like myself though. )
-Dr. P.

Hey Dr. Pepper when are you applying to medical school?

 

[coralfangs]

definitely change that message if it's stupid

i had one that i went, "hello? heeellllooooo? can't hear you.... hello? can u plz talk louder? hello? oh you know wut, i'm here right now, leave me a message"
i lost 2 research interviews becuz of that....

 

[Dr Durden]

Dr P, you're much too intelligent and helpful to be a very good troll. But if you have the time, kindly answer DoctorPardi's question at least by PM so he can stop hijacking threads to ask it. I believe this is his third attempt.

But back to the topic at hand....

 

[nekrogg]

definitely change that message if it's stupid

i had one that i went, "hello? heeellllooooo? can't hear you.... hello? can u plz talk louder? hello? oh you know wut, i'm here right now, leave me a message"
i lost 2 research interviews becuz of that....

LOL no joke? i had one like that too but i changed it once i started calling aamc

 

[DoctorPardi]

Dr P, you're much too intelligent and helpful to be a very good troll. But if you have the time, kindly answer DoctorPardi's question at least by PM so he can stop hijacking threads to ask it. I believe this is his third attempt.

But back to the topic at hand....

Haha, I was going to just ask it once, but when he didn't respond I thought I would give it another try, then another try lol. Apparently he doesn't check to see if anyone responded to his posts.

As far as stupid phone messages go, I had one message that was me imitating the automated female voice that tells you what to do. It went (terrible automate female voice attempt), "You've reached the voice mail box of (pause and then my normal voice) "Brandon Pardi" leave a message after the beep."

Now I just have a normal one. I think I am just going to keep my cell phone off at all times, because I have horrible reception almost everywhere. I can just see an adcom member trying to tell me important news and I am screaming, " CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!?!" (damn verizone wireless)

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Haha, I was going to just ask it once, but when he didn't respond I thought I would give it another try, then another try lol. Apparently he doesn't check to see if anyone responded to his posts.

As far as stupid phone messages go, I had one message that was me imitating the automated female voice that tells you what to do. It went (terrible automate female voice attempt), "You've reached the voice mail box of (pause and then my normal voice) "Brandon Pardi" leave a message after the beep."

Now I just have a normal one. I think I am just going to keep my cell phone off at all times, because I have horrible reception almost everywhere. I can just see an adcom member trying to tell me important news and I am screaming, " CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!?!" (damn verizone wireless)

Haha, ok I sent Doctor Pardi a PM.

My apologies for instigating Doctor Pardi to hijack threads....I'm an accomplice if not the primary culprit in the crime.
-Dr. P.

P.S.: Now I'll start checking threads I reply to.

 

[mellowmarshall]

Just while you guys are on the topic, my First Sergeant gave me hell one day for having a voicemail message that wasn't hardly inappropriate, but as he said, "If you use this phone number and this voicemail message as a point of contact as a professional, it had better be professional."

So now I just use the "You've reached...."

 

[BlackBantie]

I keep my silly voicemail messages for my dorm room and have the default message on my cell phone. When I say default, I mean the extreme default "You have reached the number..." No customization whatsoever.

 

[coralfangs]

LOL no joke? i had one like that too but i changed it once i started calling aamc

no jokes

when i called the profs back (i saw their # on calldisplay), they were like, "sorry, we've filled up the spots"
they didnt even leave a message..... haha

 

[TheEponine]

My friend had a rap song instead of a ring tone on his phone and he got a phone call from someone he wanted to shadow and that person said to him that if he wanted to be a professional he better change his ringtone. So I would think the same goes for voicemail

 

[baylormed]

Who here has done or plans on doing one or both of the following things:

1) Change your cell phone voicemail message
2) Have "the talk" with roommates/housemates about the etiquette of answering a phone call

Haha, I actually did change my voicemail message. I had a long one (not a crazy one, just long), so I just made it short and sweet.

And I never gave schools my apartment phone number, so I didn't have to worry about a roomate not taking a message or anything.

 

[kevster2001]

Yeah i changed mine. It use to be "Hello? (pause) just kidding I'm not here, leave a message."

now it's just "Hi this is Kevin, please leave a message"

 

[QuantumMechanic]

2) Have "the talk" with roommates/housemates about the etiquette of answering a phone call

umm landlines were so 2001...

 

[EBI831]

yeah the ringtone thing is supposedly a big deal too.my dad made me change mine yesterday b/c he said if you'd be embarassed of it going off during an interview b/c of the ring then get rid of it. he said there was some lady who they were about to nominate to present for the whole department at some meeting and her phone went off and it was like some stupid pop song that went on and on as she searched in her purse and so they started whispering amongst themselves and decided to nominate someone else b/c of her lack of professionalism. that said i dont think they'd take away an admission based on voicemail except if it said something dirty or something offensive.

 

[alwaysaangel]

umm landlines were so 2001...

Seriously.

 

[braluk]

I used to have one that really pissed off friends and so I changed it, cause I could only how "egoistic" employers and schools would respond to it. My voicemail would start off like, "Hello?" as if I picked up the phone to answer, then "hello? speak up, I can't hear you", "hellooo?" and then finished by "hey just leave a message because I cant hear you". Id certainly feel like an idiot talking to a voicemail msg

Long story short, change it and just lay down the law for this short period of time.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Who here has done or plans on doing one or both of the following things:

1) Change your cell phone voicemail message
2) Have "the talk" with roommates/housemates about the etiquette of answering a phone call

Change voicemail so that they only hear my name along with the automatic message. I tried a full length message but I just end up sounding stupid.

 

[akademiks1989]

definitely change that message if it's stupid

i had one that i went, "hello? heeellllooooo? can't hear you.... hello? can u plz talk louder? hello? oh you know wut, i'm here right now, leave me a message"
i lost 2 research interviews becuz of that....

Everyone hates that one with a vengance.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

I used to have one that really pissed off friends and so I changed it, cause I could only how "egoistic" employers and schools would respond to it. My voicemail would start off like, "Hello?" as if I picked up the phone to answer, then "hello? speak up, I can't hear you", "hellooo?" and then finished by "hey just leave a message because I cant hear you".

When my friends did that I left them a nice long, descriptive message of what they could do with their phones.

 

[ssquared]

I have a friend who's voicemail is "Hi, you've reached Nick, but I'm not available right now. I know this makes you concernicus...so leave a message!" Yes, he does actually say concernicus (bonus points for those who know the reference). He once said that maybe he should change it to a normal message because potential employers probably don't have his sense of humor.

I have another friend who is an assistant at a large company and was in a top-level meeting when his phone rang. His ringtone? "Ridin dirty" That was the last time he'll ever have a funny ringtone.

(I learned my lesson when my "Barbie Girl" ringtone went off in a silent room of 200 people. I now have the Arrested Development theme because it's far less recognizable!)

 

[Hassler]

1. This is Premed Machine. If you're calling to offer me a med school acceptance, please respond after the beep with your med school name and number. If you're calling for anything else whatsoever, I'm studying.

2. Premed Machine: Don't answer the phone and I'll give you my MCAT notes, Volume 1.

(My first attempt at being Premed Machine....I think I'm better acting like myself though. )
-Dr. P.

LOL. I love Premed Machine. He is so funny. Too bad he is banned.

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

Who here has done or plans on doing one or both of the following things:

1) Change your cell phone voicemail message
2) Have "the talk" with roommates/housemates about the etiquette of answering a phone call

You're going to be a hot doctor.

 

[NiteOwl]

I used to have a voicemail greeting that said "You have reached the number you have dialed, blah blah, if you really need further instructions then that is just a little pathetic." I changed it after a while though. It now just says "This is Cynthia, leave a message. "

 

[SilkandSteel]

Hahah, hey is anyone other than me thinking about the answering machine message in Rent? Where the two of them chime in unison "SPEAAAAK!!!!"

I always thought that was the cleverest machine message ever.

~Silk and Steel

 

[Julius Erving]

What's the consensus on ringback tones? I have "Eminem - Kill You" set as mine, and am considering changing it...

 

[jackieMD2007]

Here's what mine sounds like:

"Hi, you've reached (my first name). I'm sorry I am not available to take your call at this time, but if you leave a detailed message after the tone, I will get back to you as soon as I am able. Thanks and have a great day."

I say it calmly in my regular voice. No ringback tones.

Keep it simple kids, keep it simple.

 

[Ishboo3000]

My voicemail message is pretty boring, but I used to know someone who had the "movie-phone guy" voice on his. It was really funny at first, but it was a pretty long message and it got really boring after a while because you'd have to wait through all his talking to actually leave a message.

 

[mshollywoodmd]

What's the consensus on ringback tones? I have "Eminem - Kill You" set as mine, and am considering changing it...

Naw, Keep it. You can always use it as a defense in any negligent death malpractice suits that may be brought against you:


Julius Erving: Your Honor, common sense would dictate that my ringback tone gave clear indication of my intent towards my patient

Your Honor: Get da F*ck outta here

 

[OwnageMobile]

Okay, "The art of the answer (phone calls from medical schools)" makes the reader believe this thread is going to be about how you answer the news that you have just been accepted--does it not? Maybe it's just me, but I come into this thread and I'm a bit stumped as to how it is centered on your answering machine? Wtf?

Send this into consumer reports' "selling it" section.

Slightly disgruntled OM

 

[Jacks Mannequin]

Okay, "The art of the answer (phone calls from medical schools)" makes the reader believe this thread is going to be about how you answer the news that you have just been accepted--does it not? Maybe it's just me, but I come into this thread and I'm a bit stumped as to how it is centered on your answering machine? Wtf?

Send this into consumer reports' "selling it" section.

Slightly disgruntled OM

Yeah, I thought that too. I was expecting seeing how people reacted to adcoms calling about acceptances in such manners as "OMFG OMFG NO WAY!!" or "YOU'VE GOTTA BE F$#$ING SH1TTING ME!!" ect...

 

[MeBeans]

Who here has done or plans on doing one or both of the following things:

1) Change your cell phone voicemail message
2) Have "the talk" with roommates/housemates about the etiquette of answering a phone call

If they're calling you, you're already in. I've got a feeling that you can do anything short of profuse swearing without them changing their mind.
Whatever your roommate might do, it'll only justify why you can work so well as a doctor with anyone.