What was Your Hardest Interview Question,

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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RadMD1day

RadMD1day

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and what was your reply?

Please respond seriously, I have a list of about 70 questions already, I am adding to it and will post the whole list for everyone on SDN
 
jota_jota said:
If you could clone yourself, what would you have your clone do?

I forget my exact BS answer to that BS question.
Click to expand...

WTF! You have got to be kidding me, right? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
 
How many mammograms are done each year in the U.S.

The proper answer was to come up with a number estimate by using logical reasoning.
 
After an entire 45 minute interview: "So tell me something about yourself I can't find on this paper."

Totally blanked. Yeah... didn't get in.
 
Robizzle said:
After an entire 45 minute interview: "So tell me something about yourself I can't find on this paper."

Totally blanked. Yeah... didn't get in.
Click to expand...

That sucks that you blanked out. Seems like you got caught off guard. However, that question is much more reasonable then the other two!
 
describe dna transcription.
 
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You say you had trouble with those particular basic science classes due to the compressed nature of the curriculum (referring to a accellerated program I had been in several years earlier)... How could you have trouble with them, they were basic sciences?
 
Depakote said:
You say you had trouble with those particular basic science classes due to the compressed nature of the curriculum (referring to a accellerated program I had been in several years earlier)... How could you have trouble with them, they were basic sciences?
Click to expand...


ouch
 
Goldenhair said:
How many mammograms are done each year in the U.S.

The proper answer was to come up with a number estimate by using logical reasoning.
Click to expand...

Was this at your Buffalo interview?
 
Him: "Years from now, you are a doctor. Describe to me a day at work."
OwnageMobile:"Hmm, umm, uhh, well, I really don't know just what I'm going to be doing yet. So that's a toughy."
Him: "Ok, just explain to me what a day at work would be like."
OwnageMobile, a bit surprised, frustrated, and feeling like he's being put to the proverbial pressure test: "well, hmmmm. I'll get up, go to the hospital or office, maybe 'see patients,' maybe 'do research,' then eat lunch."
Him, not amused: "Ok, let's move on."

Yeah, "let's move the f*ck on." I mean, wtf. Weak sauce. Waitlisted.
 
Come up with six words that describe you and explain why. SIX!!!
 
I was lucky. 4 interviews and never got anything close to what I would consider a hard question.
 
At Buffalo:

Tell me about a time that your curiosity got you in trouble.
>>Blanked.

Tell me about a time you felt really strongly about something, but compromised anyway.
>>Still can't think of a good example.

Wasn't such a great interview.

At a different school:

Why do so many people at MIT kill themselves? I've always wondered.
>>Uh...it's a high stress environment that attracts driven individuals? (this cannot be an appropriate question, right?!?)
 
"Being that you're an accomplished premed with good grades/MCAT/activities... what is your biggest failure?"

i shoulda said "not getting into med school last year" but i didn't think of it.
 
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Are these just extreme examples or is it normal that you get asked crazy questions like these during interviews? How the hell do you prepare youself for this?
 
badasshairday said:
Are these just extreme examples or is it normal that you get asked crazy questions like these during interviews? How the hell do you prepare youself for this?
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i think they get so sick of asking the same ol same ol...and they just like f**kn with us!:laugh:
 
"With your interest in science and physics, do you believe in God?"

You can probably guess why this was difficult for me! 🙄
 
HamburgerHelper said:
"With your interest in science and physics, do you believe in God?"

You can probably guess why this was difficult for me! 🙄
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Is that really an appropriate question? I think I would refuse to answer this if it were really phrased in that manner ("do you think it's possible to be interested in science and physics and still believe in god" is a different matter though).
 
Interviewer: "what bugs you about people?"

Me: "ummm..."

- I ended up giving a long-winded response to this question. I think it's a trap in some ways.

Interviewer: "given that you need to pay staff and break even with overhead costs for a clinic, how do you manage to fit in home visits into your clinical practice?" (I got this question because I had brought up home visits earlier in the interview, as a way I was exposed to the medical field)
 
This question is taken out of its context, but scary nonetheless:

"So say I told you I wanted to commit suicide. What would you do? What would you tell me?"
 
jochi1543 said:
Is that really an appropriate question? I think I would refuse to answer this if it were really phrased in that manner ("do you think it's possible to be interested in science and physics and still believe in god" is a different matter though).
Click to expand...

No, it wasn't appropriate. However, it's the nature of the beast (I hate saying that), but I think it is the truth. Perhaps I should have brought it up with the Dean of Admissions, but oh well...
 
Why is your MCAT score so low?

I was surprised by this because I had received a lot of interviews, so I thought I was alright and hence hadn't prepared for this question. Anyway, I blamed my Kaplan course and my physics class (for never really teaching me physics), which the interviewer told me in the end wasn't a good answer, lol. So yeah, I got waitlisted there, but obviously the Lord has better plans for me.
 
"Tell me about yourself."


😕
 
You guys had it easy. Here's one of my favorite from a memorable interview in which I was asked more stuff along these line (pm me if you care): "Are we smarter, less smart, or equally smart to humans that lived during the stone age?"
 
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"If you had access to a time machine, who from history would you want to speak to and why?"
 
SB100 said:
You guys had it easy. Here's one of my favorite from a memorable interview in which I was asked more stuff along these line (pm me if you care): "Are we smarter, less smart, or equally smart to humans that lived during the stone age?"
Click to expand...

I would have LOVED answering that question!!

"What is the biggest problem facing healthcare today?" was the hardest one I got. Another one that would throw off many young interviewers was the first question one interviewer asked me, "What should I ask you about yourself and/or your application?"
 
you have a magic wand...now how would you fix healthcare?
 
these are fairly typical questions, it's surprising that after 5 interviews (2 seasons) i haven't learned how to articulate answers:

1. why do you want to be an md? (i know why, i just don't know how to explain it well even after all this time 🙁)
2. why did you decide to go from literature to medicine (see above)
3. it seems like you were destined to become a doctor? (my parents are md's. i hate the idea of just following what my parents did w/o a thought...i didn't!)
4. what are you going to do if you don't get in? (this is the second time around, and in the context of a convo about serving ppl living in poverty...as in, applying to med school is really expensive, if you are serious about fighting poverty why are you wasting all this $$? or at least that's where i thought it was going 🙄)


it's hard answering questions about yourself! at least for me it was...ask me about healthcare, the world, anything but me!!! i dunno why. 😕
 
First question in two of my interviewers. "Tell me about yourself".

This always catches me off guard and for some reason I think I need to tell my life story in chronological order. Both times I didn't include medicine in my answer.😱
 
when I interviewed at a reach school:

interviewer: so where all have you interviewed?
me: blah blah blah...
interviewer: oh, those are all tier 2 schools? how does that make you feel?
me: ...

at my state school:
So let's say you have a practice, you allocate 15% of your patient base to be uninsured patients. The other practice in the city only accepts 5%. Knowing you take uninsured patients, the emergency rooms keep referring them to you. Ethically, is it alright to say no and turn patients away? Let's say if your uninsured patient quota reaches 20 or 25% of your patient base??

Me: :scared:
 
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Here's my answer to this question from above...

Tell me about a time you felt really strongly about something, but compromised anyway.
....

Every day in my marriage! Ha!
 
jota_jota said:
If you could clone yourself, what would you have your clone do?

I forget my exact BS answer to that BS question.
Click to expand...

1) teach him to read
2) give him a copy of the 13th amendment
 
CATallergy said:
1) teach him to read
2) give him a copy of the 13th amendment
Click to expand...

hahahahaha. good call -- if i were the interviewer, that would be an acceptance right then and there.

My hardest question(s):

(preface) I used to work as a consultant for a major pharma company, on the medical team of a recent controversial blockbuster drug. This was on my application, so my interviewer knew about it. He has a history in pharma as well, but now is in academia. For one reason or another, he was of the opinion that big pharma is evil.

First question of the interview:

"So do you believe all the bulls**t that [my company] spews to patients and the media about [the drug]?"

That was the only question of the interview... what followed was an hour-long debate over whether or not big pharma is pure evil and if the drug I worked on actually does what people say it does. At the end, he revealed to me that he used to work in the lab that discovered the drug that I worked on. I freaked, but stuck to my guns. I was accepted 5 days later...
 
I had been practicing the "What are your weaknesses" response, but was asked the "What are your strengths" question.

Totally blanked and had to get out my "notes".

(shudders)

My first interview at my top choice school too.

GAH!
 
Interviewer 1: "What is your denomination?" (Weird, "illegal" question...why does that matter for this interview, anyway? I had to answer it though...)
At another school....
[Female Residency director (married to a fellow physician) who as interviewing me for med school said this regarding pregnancy during training]: "I tell my female students/residents: 'you know how this happens and you know how to prevent it.'" (As if children or not are her business--I don't even know how that got into the discussion--it's not like I wanted to discuss that with her!)
She asked about my mother (?) (Father had passed away more than 1.5 yrs previous to this): "How is your mother doing?" I said mom was doing very well and was getting remarried. (Which I had no problem with.) The residency director kind of stiffened and said kind of coldly, "Well! I'm glad she's moved on so quickly!" (I was like "WHAT??? You don't even know my mom! Why would anybody say it that way??" I wondered if maybe her husband had left her or she was widowed or something. It was very odd...) I just smiled...
The same residency director then proceeded to question my dedication to medicine because she was aware that my husband and I both wanted to attend med school at the same location. (She and her husband had been separated for part of med school.)
I, as a female, had a much easier time with male interviewers than that female interviewer! She told me that she was cynical ("Really??")...Funny thing is, this was a school that has a fantastic reputation for being "family oriented" and working with nontrads, and married students!
Wasn't expecting that kind of behavior, especially about kids/family issues--especially since it was a female saying anti-female comments! My premed advisor was horrified and told me I should've immediately requested another interview, but I didn't think of it then. Oh well!
I thought for sure that I wouldn't get in there. But, I did. Somehow. Didn't go there, though.
 
During one of my interviews, I had mentioned that I have a very strong background in evolution, which sparked the following question:

"From an evolutionary perspective, why are humans the only species that expose the whites of their eyes?"

It's one of those deductive reasoning questions -- it doesn't really rely on someone's knowledge of anything in particular, just a basic understanding of evolutionary principles and decent deductive reasoning skills. It took me about 5 minutes to come up with an answer, but I eventually got it...
 
klayn said:
During one of my interviews, I had mentioned that I have a very strong background in evolution, which sparked the following question:

"From an evolutionary perspective, why are humans the only species that expose the whites of their eyes?"

It's one of those deductive reasoning questions -- it doesn't really rely on someone's knowledge of anything in particular, just a basic understanding of evolutionary principles and decent deductive reasoning skills. It took me about 5 minutes to come up with an answer, but I eventually got it...
Click to expand...

ummmm. (with hand of popcorn to mouth) what did you say?
 
Well, it wouldn't be any fun if I just gave it away now would it? 😉

This was my reasoning. I said everything out loud, pretty much in this exact manner:

If humans are the only species that expose the whites of their eyes, that means exposing the whites of your eyes is a favorable trait (otherwise it wouldn't have survived for so long). The only effect I can think of that exposing whites would have is a negative one -- it makes camoflage less effective for hunting or hiding, especially in the dark. So, if it can't be a positive trait based on appearance, it has to be a positive trait based on something else. If not structure, then most certainly function.

From the statement, humans are the only species that expose whites (which I was not aware of), so that means that there has to be some function that human eyes have that other species' eyes do not. What is unique about human eyes?

Each eye's field of vision overlaps with the other. That in itself isn't special. What's special about this is that humans have this ability AND peripheral vision. From an evolutionary standpoint, that's big. Most species either evolved eyes that are located on the sides of the head, allowing for a greater range of vision (better for defensive purposes moreso than hunting), or eyes in the front of the head (better for hunting but definitely not for self-defense).

Now that that's established, what's so special about the whites? Well, this again goes back to function. What does having exposed whites enable us to do? Or rather, what would we not be able to do if we did not have exposed whites? The answer also has to do with the unique structure of the human eye (or rather, the eye socket).

That's as far as I'll go with that... I don't want to spoil all the fun 🙂... but the important thing to remember is that it doesn't matter if you get the question wrong, all that matters is that you have a coherent and rational line of reasoning to get to whatever your conclusion is, even if that conclusion is that you have no idea.
 
-As a female, how do you plan on balancing being a doctor with taking care of your kids. (I later learned this was an illegal question. Besides, I don't have any kids so I'm not sure where that came from.)

-You're only 20. Your best friend is going to get married, have kids, and embark on a new career. How do you justify throwing out your 20s for more schooling and hard work?

-What do you think are the greatest challenges facing female doctors today?

I had no idea my gender was going to be such a big issue during interviews!
 
nabs86 said:
-As a female, how do you plan on balancing being a doctor with taking care of your kids. (I later learned this was an illegal question. Besides, I don't have any kids so I'm not sure where that came from.)

-You're only 20. Your best friend is going to get married, have kids, and embark on a new career. How do you justify throwing out your 20s for more schooling and hard work?

-What do you think are the greatest challenges facing female doctors today?

I had no idea my gender was going to be such a big issue during interviews!
Click to expand...

Those aren't really illegal and they're understandable. They can't discriminate against you because you're female or want to have kids but they can (and will) ask. I got asked that. Its just like the "why MD" question. They want to know that you've REALLY thought through what your career will be like as an MD and you really understand how hard it is to have a family and have considered how you will handle it.

And yes, they ask women this question more than they ask men because shockingly despite feminism women are still the ones who give birth and still have to consider when is a good time to do that.

Men get questions about "have you considered military to pay for med school" and "how do you think you'll juggle a marraige with your profession." Which women are less likely to get.

Is it sexist? Yes. Is it understandable and necessary? Yes.
 
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