Unprofessional Interviewer or fair game for Non-Trad ?

[deleted1112122]

Hi all,

I've been blessed to have had several interviews so far. They've all been quite positive experiences until the one I just had today.

80% of my interview was regarding my commitment to medicine in a comparatively aggressive manner to my other interviews.

I expected this is fair game, but I specifically asked what guidance he wished he received when he was first going through medical school and he told me verbatim, "dont be a bull****er, you know what i mean" (i can't say for certain what he meant but got the impression he was speaking to me directly). I come from a field where interviews are not like this at all, so no idea what is normal verbiage.

Context: am a nontrad with no family in medicine, nor do I know any nontrad current medical students, so came here.

Edit: also want to add while everyone tends to overrate their interviewing ability, I come from consulting & tech— where is not uncommon to have 3-6 rounds of semi-intensive to intensive interviews for a job, so I beleive I wasn't responding poorly/unprofessionally to any questions

Thanks

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[gyngyn]

This behavior doesn't break any laws but it's certainly a lost opportunity for recruitment.
When the cycle is over, you may want to let the admissions dean know. It doesn't rise to the level of an immediate report imo.

 

[deleted1112122]

@gyngyn —appreciate your reply, confirmed what I was thinking.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

Wasn't there so can't comment too much on it but could it be possible that it wasn't targeted at you? Could be that that is their general advice and they were awkward in delivering it.

 

[Goro]

Hi all,

I've been blessed to have had several interviews so far. They've all been quite positive experiences until the one I just had today.

80% of my interview was regarding my commitment to medicine in a comparatively aggressive manner to my other interviews.

I expected this is fair game, but I specifically asked what guidance he wished he received when he was first going through medical school and he told me verbatim, "dont be a bull****er, you know what i mean" (i can't say for certain what he meant but got the impression he was speaking to me directly). I come from a field where interviews are not like this at all, so no idea what is normal verbiage.

Context: am a nontrad with no family in medicine, nor do I know any nontrad current medical students, so came here.

Edit: also want to add while everyone tends to overrate their interviewing ability, I come from consulting & tech— where is not uncommon to have 3-6 rounds of semi-intensive to intensive interviews for a job, so I beleive I wasn't responding poorly/unprofessionally to any questions

Thanks

Medical School interviews are different.

Touching by the response, which could have been delivered more professionally from your interviewer, I surmise that you weren't giving him the answer they were looking for.

It's not the question I would have asked either, as how would you know what advice a medical student should get??

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Some schools give stress interviews

 

[operaman]

Also wasn’t there but I think it’s fair game to press non trads in particular on their commitment to medicine. I definitely got that when I interviewed many moons ago. And a large number of the people who dropped out of my class in preclinical years were non trads, so it’s worth pressing the issue a bit. If I were interviewing someone with a solid consulting/tech background I would definitely press them hard about why they would leave a field with high earning power to live like a student for 7-10 years.

The BS and BSer advice is solid but probably a bit early. Applies more to clinical and to residency years. Kinda hard to BS a multiple choice exam.

 

[deleted1112122]

Yeah I hear you all, upon further reflection, overall as an interview, I believe it leaned to the more stressful end of the interview category spectrum. It was unpleasant across the board to say the least, but i realize there are quite a bit of things to take away for my interviews going forward.

I also believe that while I fielded his questions fine, I could have fielded them better. I too believe I didn't give him the answer he was looking for. Nonetheless the answer I gave him was the the answer I provided in my primary and secondary and didn't deviate from them. going to prep further on this front and need to further refine my responses to ensure I am more prepared for deep dives into this aspect of my application in the future.

Thank you all.

 

[esob]

One of my most stressful interviews was at the school I eventually attended. I found out later that the guy was a tenured attending and treated everyone that way. There is no shortage of people with terminal degrees coupled with poor interpersonal skills in medicine. I'm interested to know if this was an older interviewer.

 

[NITRAS]

I’m confused what is the big deal.

Interviewee: What advise do you wish you had?
Interviewer: Don’t be a bull****er.

I mean, most of my pain points is with people that are full of it. People who wanted a doctor paycheck and a doctor title, but don’t actually care enough to take care of people.

Even if he was talking about you. . . . I mean so what. At least he let you know you didn’t do well and gave you an opportunity to respond. Gotta grow a thicker skin to ”unpleasant“ conversations.

 

[operaman]

I’ll add that if this person has been on the adcom for awhile, then everyone knows their style and that they can be a tougher interview. It’s very likely that whatever this guy thinks of you, he’s probably thought the same thing of many applicants and all of that gets weighed accordingly. My school (and many others) would bring in additional interviewers if one person scored them so differently from the others.

I remember one interviewer of mine who was so tough on younger students that they purposely started steering only the non trads to him. Apparently he had made a number of applicants come out of the interview in tears! He definitely didn’t pull any punches and had read every word of my application in detail and had a list of pointed prepared questions. I guess it was good enough in retrospect since I got in.

So do take some comfort in knowing that tough interviewers are well known for it among their peers.

 

[gyngyn]

Apparently he had made a number of applicants come out of the interview in tears!

We fire any interviewer that tortures applicants.