Very brief interviews?

[premed_1234]

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I was curious. So far, my traditional interviews (three interviews across two schools) have all felt very short. I've only been asked questions for around 10~ to 15~ minutes before my interviewers ask if I have any questions for them.

I always come prepared with questions and don't have trouble conversing with interviewers at that stage, but I'm anxious that I'm doing something wrong for interviews to consistently "end" that quickly. The allotted time for these interviews has been 30, 30, and up to 60 minutes, respectively — and except for one time where the interviewer had to go in for clinic, they did stick around for the entire time to converse/answer questions.

Does this mean anything? I have some additional interviews coming up, so I'm curious if I need to change my approach.

 

[LizzyM]

Are you giving very short answers? I have my standard questions each of which, with follow-up, can take about 3-5 minutes leaving 5 minutes for questions. If someone is not very talkative and answers each question in a minute or less, it is going to be a short interview although I'll usually go back to some softball questions about hobbies, etc to fill out the time.

 

[LelouchLamperouge]

I was curious. So far, my traditional interviews (three interviews across two schools) have all felt very short. I've only been asked questions for around 10~ to 15~ minutes before my interviewers ask if I have any questions for them.

I always come prepared with questions and don't have trouble conversing with interviewers at that stage, but I'm anxious that I'm doing something wrong for interviews to consistently "end" that quickly. The allotted time for these interviews has been 30, 30, and up to 60 minutes, respectively — and except for one time where the interviewer had to go in for clinic, they did stick around to converse/answer questions.

Does this mean anything? I have some additional interviews coming up, so I'm curious if I need to change my approach.

Hopefully all 3 turn into A’s for you. In the mean time, I think these interviews should get easier for you as you go. Just be yourself, relax, and let a conversation flow with them. That will pass and fill up the time.

If your answers are short, that’s not too bad, but make sure they’re succinct and actually answers the question. Towards the end if there’s time left, have some fun! If an interviewer is dry, that’s just what it is.

 

[premed_1234]

Are you giving very short answers? I have my standard questions each of which, with follow-up, can take about 3-5 minutes leaving 5 minutes for questions. If someone is not very talkative and answers each question in a minute or less, it is going to be a short interview although I'll usually go back to some softball questions about hobbies, etc to fill out the time.

During my first interview, I actually got the sense that I was rambling a bit too much. My answers that time were in the 3~ minute range, including follow-up questions.

For the other two interviews, I've tried my best to be more concise and stay generally around 90 seconds to 2 minutes, but it depends on the context/question.

Not including brief follow-ups IIRC I've been asked 4 questions in all of my interviews.

 

[premed_1234]

Hopefully all 3 turn into A’s for you. In the mean time, I think these interviews should get easier for you as you go. Just be yourself, relax, and let a conversation flow with them. That will pass and fill up the time.

If your answers are short, that’s not too bad, but make sure they’re succinct and actually answers the question. Towards the end if there’s time left, have some fun! If an interviewer is dry, that’s just what it is.

Fortunately my interviewers have all been very kind and insightful, and the vibe has been more conversational. I think it's just different from what I expected. My pre-med committee mock interviews were all very Q&A style and direct, rather than dynamic.

I've worked to be more concise and improve my cadence when speaking, etc. I try to keep myself at 1.5 to 2 minutes per question, unless I find it appropriate to go a tad longer/shorter depending on the context.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

How much interview prep have you had before your interviews, and what feedback did you get? Did your mock interviews also feel short?

 

[premed_1234]

I've done two mock interviews with my college. They didn't feel short (both actually went over the allotted time) and the committee had mostly positive things to say. The first time, the main feedback was that I ramble a bit and get lost in the weeds when telling stories, so I've worked to scale back extraneous details and have those stories come out naturally.

Generally, I prepare for a couple of days before each interview. I make sure to revisit my entire primary and all my secondaries, and for open-file interviews I try to supply new examples that aren't just repeats from my application. I also make sure I can explain my research and explain why I'm a fit at that particular school. I don't memorize the answers, but I do have a mental list of like 20~ experiences that I can use to answer questions about challenges, teamwork, etc.

Interestingly enough, I've never been asked, "Why X School?" or "Tell me about your research," despite my interviews so far being at research-heavy schools. I'll weave the "Why X?" into the conversation when it's my turn to ask questions as things become more conversational.

 

[moltmannfanboi]

I was curious. So far, my traditional interviews (three interviews across two schools) have all felt very short. I've only been asked questions for around 10~ to 15~ minutes before my interviewers ask if I have any questions for them.

I always come prepared with questions and don't have trouble conversing with interviewers at that stage, but I'm anxious that I'm doing something wrong for interviews to consistently "end" that quickly. The allotted time for these interviews has been 30, 30, and up to 60 minutes, respectively — and except for one time where the interviewer had to go in for clinic, they did stick around for the entire time to converse/answer questions.

Does this mean anything? I have some additional interviews coming up, so I'm curious if I need to change my approach.

I have had this experience in one of my interviews. For context, the other 2 interviews I did at other schools went to the wire, with one not having time for me to ask questions and the other having the platform automatically cut us off at the time limit while I was asking my second question.

The interview that I had at one school that matches your experience went like this:

<Pleasantries> - 2 minutes
<You've had an interesting path (career changer), tell me about your journey to medicine> - 7-8 mins with some follow up
<Ok let's jump into the questions you have for me> - 25 minutes. They didn't cut me off for being over time. And we had a good conversation based on the questions I was asking. But I had to have like.... 7-8 questions.

I've done a mock with a comittee (even though I'm a career changer, my comittee at my undergrad let me participate in the process) and three other mock interviews with both paid and unpaid resources. The feedback from those was quite positive with small things to fix here and there. So I don't imagine that I horribly screwed up in this particular interview. But I guess I could have said something that made them, "end it" after the first question.

More likely, I think it's just possible that everyone has their own style and you got people who think they get more from what types of questions you ask. I certainly had to demonstrate that I had a bank of thoughtful questions that could sustain conversation for the majority of the interview.

 

[premed_1234]

I have had this experience in one of my interviews. For context, the other 2 interviews I did at other schools went to the wire, with one not having time for me to ask questions and the other having the platform automatically cut us off at the time limit while I was asking my second question.

The interview that I had at one school that matches your experience went like this:

<Pleasantries> - 2 minutes
<You've had an interesting path (career changer), tell me about your journey to medicine> - 7-8 mins with some follow up
<Ok let's jump into the questions you have for me> - 25 minutes. They didn't cut me off for being over time. And we had a good conversation based on the questions I was asking. But I had to have like.... 7-8 questions.

I've done a mock with a comittee (even though I'm a career changer, my comittee at my undergrad let me participate in the process) and three other mock interviews with both paid and unpaid resources. The feedback from those was quite positive with small things to fix here and there. So I don't imagine that I horribly screwed up in this particular interview. But I guess I could have said something that made them, "end it" after the first question.

More likely, I think it's just possible that everyone has their own style and you got people who think they get more from what types of questions you ask. I certainly had to demonstrate that I had a bank of thoughtful questions that could sustain conversation for the majority of the interview.

That makes sense! And yes that's exactly how my most recent interview went. There was one interview where I was asked 4 questions about how I work in various team settings, and then nothing else.

It definitely did not feel like I bombed or got grilled, but because my interviewers have all been the nicest people I bet it's possible that they were just putting on a happy expression for the interview lol. But who knows?

 

[Emperor Napoleon]

I was curious. So far, my traditional interviews (three interviews across two schools) have all felt very short. I've only been asked questions for around 10~ to 15~ minutes before my interviewers ask if I have any questions for them.

I always come prepared with questions and don't have trouble conversing with interviewers at that stage, but I'm anxious that I'm doing something wrong for interviews to consistently "end" that quickly. The allotted time for these interviews has been 30, 30, and up to 60 minutes, respectively — and except for one time where the interviewer had to go in for clinic, they did stick around for the entire time to converse/answer questions.

Does this mean anything? I have some additional interviews coming up, so I'm curious if I need to change my approach.

My interviews (30 min slots) have been around 12-15 minutes and with the questions I ask about their career/any advice they have etc. etc. it will usually extend it out to 20-30 minutes. It honestly depends on the interviewers/school culture. I feel that my interviewers were generally not the most conversational type to begin with.