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May an interviewer ask you where you are interviewing...how many interviews? I don't really appreciate that question so if I'm asked, can I politely 'refuse' to answer?
What questions can't be asked?
- Thread starter bluealiendoctor
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Of course you could refuse, but do you think that would be the response that produces the most favorable evaluation by your interviewer?
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I actually think that question isn't "illegal." The program director of my home program told us it wasn't illegal, anyhow...
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You will commonly be asked, "Where else are you interviewing?" and/or
"How many places are you interviewing?".
I would not suggest you refuse to answer. They won't like that.
You should answer. You don't necessarily have to answer 100% honestly if you don't want, but I wouldn't lie too much.
I got asked this often in fellowship interviews. I believe they are trying to ballpark the following -
a) How competitive is this applicant? (i.e. should we feel lucky to be interviewing him b/c he also has interviews at Harvard and UCSF, or should we feel like he's lucky to be here since he only got a few interviews at noname hospital A and Noname Hospital B)
b) How likely are we to be able to match this applicant if we want to? (i.e. if he's interviewing 6 places we might have a good chance, but if he's going to 20 interviews maybe he's not serious about going here?).
c) What geographic area(s) is he interested in? (i.e. Is he applying only in New York and we are a New York program - that might be good!, or is he applying all over the West and we are in upstate New York and don't believe he really wants to come here?)
Sometimes they are just making conversation, but don't bet on it.
Here's the tactic I used successfully:
If they asked where else I was interviewing, I started naming a few other places, and then tried to stop/redirect the conversation. Sometimes this worked. Some people were insistent that I name very place I was interviewing, in which case I would be basically truthful (leaving off a couple of less competitive places because I didn't want to admit quite how many interviews I was going on). Try to reassure them that you are interested in THEIR program and state what you like about that program and that particular geographic area, and why you WOULD be willing to move there.
If they ask the "How many places are you interviewing?", you might want to fudge if it's a large number, particularly if the interview is at one of your middle or lower down choices. They might not rank you as high if they think they can't get you, and YOUR goal is that they rank you as high as possible. I think that some of the fellowship programs where I interviewed were suspicious of me b/c I was at a big academic institution for med school and for residency, and they felt maybe I wouldn't be willing to come to a lesser known place. If you only have a small number of interviews, that's tricky too...I mean if they know you only got 2 derm interviews then maybe they might reconsider the strength of your application...I don't know...maybe they'd just think they are more likely to get you 🙂
In the ideal world they should only care about how good a fit you are for their program, but in the real world this is another question where they are trying to size you up.
"How many places are you interviewing?".
I would not suggest you refuse to answer. They won't like that.
You should answer. You don't necessarily have to answer 100% honestly if you don't want, but I wouldn't lie too much.
I got asked this often in fellowship interviews. I believe they are trying to ballpark the following -
a) How competitive is this applicant? (i.e. should we feel lucky to be interviewing him b/c he also has interviews at Harvard and UCSF, or should we feel like he's lucky to be here since he only got a few interviews at noname hospital A and Noname Hospital B)
b) How likely are we to be able to match this applicant if we want to? (i.e. if he's interviewing 6 places we might have a good chance, but if he's going to 20 interviews maybe he's not serious about going here?).
c) What geographic area(s) is he interested in? (i.e. Is he applying only in New York and we are a New York program - that might be good!, or is he applying all over the West and we are in upstate New York and don't believe he really wants to come here?)
Sometimes they are just making conversation, but don't bet on it.
Here's the tactic I used successfully:
If they asked where else I was interviewing, I started naming a few other places, and then tried to stop/redirect the conversation. Sometimes this worked. Some people were insistent that I name very place I was interviewing, in which case I would be basically truthful (leaving off a couple of less competitive places because I didn't want to admit quite how many interviews I was going on). Try to reassure them that you are interested in THEIR program and state what you like about that program and that particular geographic area, and why you WOULD be willing to move there.
If they ask the "How many places are you interviewing?", you might want to fudge if it's a large number, particularly if the interview is at one of your middle or lower down choices. They might not rank you as high if they think they can't get you, and YOUR goal is that they rank you as high as possible. I think that some of the fellowship programs where I interviewed were suspicious of me b/c I was at a big academic institution for med school and for residency, and they felt maybe I wouldn't be willing to come to a lesser known place. If you only have a small number of interviews, that's tricky too...I mean if they know you only got 2 derm interviews then maybe they might reconsider the strength of your application...I don't know...maybe they'd just think they are more likely to get you 🙂
In the ideal world they should only care about how good a fit you are for their program, but in the real world this is another question where they are trying to size you up.
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I've been asked this at both interviews i have been on so far, and expect more of the same down the road. Both times, the question was phrased in a way that they wanted to know how likely I would be to rank them, as in would I really consider moving out of my current locale (HECK YES!!!) to come to them. I don't mind explaining why I chose where I applied, but that's also because I think I have excellent reasons for choosing the places I choose (i.e. my wife, being close to family, etc).
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This question is definitely not illegal. I was frequently asked about what other programs I was interviewing at and was always honest. Usually they cut me off after I named some and that was that. I interviewed at 9 places, so I felt like I could be honest. If I had interviews at 20 programs I might have been inclined to fudge a bit even though I am a terrible liar.
As a female, I was often asked the illegal questions "Are you married?", "Do you have children?", or "Do you plan on having children?". In this day and age these questions are such no no's, but people routinely ask them so be prepared. I usually felt like they were just asking to make small talk, but it is hard to know what their intentions were. Not once was my husband asked these questions!
As a female, I was often asked the illegal questions "Are you married?", "Do you have children?", or "Do you plan on having children?". In this day and age these questions are such no no's, but people routinely ask them so be prepared. I usually felt like they were just asking to make small talk, but it is hard to know what their intentions were. Not once was my husband asked these questions!
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Dragonfly is spot on.
Not an illegal question, but perhaps tacky. Wonder if anyone asks where an applicant got rejected?
When I interviewed for residency (long, long ago), one attending asked me this question right off the bat, and after I answered he proceeded to formulate a ROL for me! He did rank his program first...
OP - If you dont feel like answering, you can always respond generically: Im interviewing at a variety of different locations, getting a sense of what some of the stronger quality programs such as yours has to offer.
Not an illegal question, but perhaps tacky. Wonder if anyone asks where an applicant got rejected?
When I interviewed for residency (long, long ago), one attending asked me this question right off the bat, and after I answered he proceeded to formulate a ROL for me! He did rank his program first...
OP - If you dont feel like answering, you can always respond generically: Im interviewing at a variety of different locations, getting a sense of what some of the stronger quality programs such as yours has to offer.
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It's not illegal. The only questions that really are illegal are those relating to protected classes (race, religion, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation), questions relating to marriage or family planning, disabilities, whether the interviewee have ever been arrested (as opposed to convicted), and certain questions relating to military service (national guard obligations, dishonorable discharges, and the like). Things like "where else are you interviewing" are totally fair game and many places ask this, to size you up and to gauge the competition.
If you are asked a truly illegal question, you are entitled to decline to answer, but the smart move is that if it's not something you are uncomfortable with, you probably should just give some form of an answer.
QofQuimica
Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....
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I got asked this question frequently while applying to medical school. I agree that the program is trying to gauge whether you are serious about them. I was one of those people who went on a ridiculous number of interviews, way more than I'd care to share with any interviewer. When asked the question of where else I was interviewing/applying, I'd name about half a dozen that I knew were common competitors of that school, then add, "plus my state schools." That seemed to satisfy interviewers' curiosity without me having to give an exhaustive list. I'd also make sure to mention something specific that appealed to me about that school to emphasize that I *was* serious about applying there.
This desire to feel out the applicant is probably also the reason why all of the northern schools I applied to wanted to know how I'd survive a winter--I'm from FL. The first time this came up, I was thinking, WTF? I'm looking for a school that is the best fit, and you're asking me how I feel about the *weather*? Does anyone seriously ever decide for or against attending a med school just because of the weather??? I can't think of much that would rank lower in my decision-making process unless they asked me how I felt about the local sports team, which I more than likely wouldn't even be able to name.
On a side note, John Deere Green is one of my favorite Joe Diffie songs. 🙂
This desire to feel out the applicant is probably also the reason why all of the northern schools I applied to wanted to know how I'd survive a winter--I'm from FL. The first time this came up, I was thinking, WTF? I'm looking for a school that is the best fit, and you're asking me how I feel about the *weather*? Does anyone seriously ever decide for or against attending a med school just because of the weather??? I can't think of much that would rank lower in my decision-making process unless they asked me how I felt about the local sports team, which I more than likely wouldn't even be able to name.
On a side note, John Deere Green is one of my favorite Joe Diffie songs. 🙂
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This makes sense / I can believe programs would be asking from this perspective.
But, just for sake of argument - wouldn't it make sense for them to rank applicants just like we are told to rank programs - putting the applicants they REALLY WANT first? (even if they don't think / don't know how that applicant is going to rank them?)
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I didn't even apply to programs in the Northeast - there is no way I can handle the snow.
(I grew up with snow, so I know how rotten it can be.)
QofQuimica
Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....
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Fair enough; not applying to programs in a particular region seems sensible if you know for a fact that you wouldn't want to live there. I didn't apply to any CA schools for that reason. But considering that I went to the trouble of educating myself about their programs, filling out their secondaries, flying up from Florida to their interviews, and paying out the wazoo for it all, did the Northern schools really think I would be all shocked and horrified to find out that it snows up north in the winter??? I'm sure they wouldn't ask the question if this issue hadn't come up before, but I can't say I understand it. Shrug. I wonder if the Southern schools ask the Northern applicants whether they can survive our summer heat and humidity. 😛
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Not really. Programs like to have applicants who want to come to them, and take great pride in matching folks for whom their institution was high in the ranking. Programs hate to have to get way down in their ranking list and take great pride in being able to say they got the top of their ranking list.
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They do.
Seems some people think that none of us have ever traveled, read or researched other areas of the country.🙄
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<Originally Posted by Still Kickin 
This makes sense / I can believe programs would be asking from this perspective.
But, just for sake of argument - wouldn't it make sense for them to rank applicants just like we are told to rank programs - putting the applicants they REALLY WANT first? (even if they don't think / don't know how that applicant is going to rank them?) >
Agree with Law2doc on this one. The programs want to rank people who ranked THEM high. I think like you Still Kickin...they should just desist from trying to figure out how YOU will rank them, and just rank the people they think are the best applicants. But it's an ego thing for a lot of programs to say they didn't go far down their rank lists. I think it's stupid also...but it's just how the game works. Don't hate the players...hate the game! LOL
This makes sense / I can believe programs would be asking from this perspective.
But, just for sake of argument - wouldn't it make sense for them to rank applicants just like we are told to rank programs - putting the applicants they REALLY WANT first? (even if they don't think / don't know how that applicant is going to rank them?) >
Agree with Law2doc on this one. The programs want to rank people who ranked THEM high. I think like you Still Kickin...they should just desist from trying to figure out how YOU will rank them, and just rank the people they think are the best applicants. But it's an ego thing for a lot of programs to say they didn't go far down their rank lists. I think it's stupid also...but it's just how the game works. Don't hate the players...hate the game! LOL
