When the interviewer misreads your file...

[ReapPremed]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Last cycle I was asked by an interviewer. "So tell me about your work with the homeless?" And I was stunned. I didn't really have any ECs directly related to serving indigent populations! I thought I kept my cool and described an encounter with a homeless man in the ED where I volunteer, and how I approach such disadvantaged patients. It was a truthful but lame answer. I was waitlisted. Later I realized I had an anecdote in my app about PHYSICIAN SHADOWING where the patient was homeless. My guess is the interviewer got a little mixed up, thought I was Mother Theresa, and was quite disappointed.

Adcoms, would there have been any way to salvage this interview? Would answering with poise have helped, or is it more a matter of: it turns out I'm not the guy the interviewer thought I was, due to misreading the shadowing section, and he was let down.

Has anyone else had an experience like this? Spend a summer washing Erlenmeyers... then have to tell the interviewer you're not Eric Kandel, and hide your shock that he thought you were in the first place?

 

[longhaul3]

Know thy application...if you had caught on during the interview, you might have gently redirected.

I doubt it made much of a difference in the outcome though.

 

[LizzyM]

This is a good example of why you should re-examine your application, including the secondaries, before the interview. You can also err on the side of humility and say, "I really haven't had any work experiences with the homeless. Maybe you've mixed me up with someone else??"

 

[mariposas905]

This is a good example of why you should re-examine your application, including the secondaries, before the interview. You can also err on the side of humility and say, "I really haven't had any work experiences with the homeless. Maybe you've mixed me up with someone else??"

Couldn't this come off as a negative though in OP's case? Since he did include something about a homeless patient in his application, would the adcom question his II preparation if OP said this?

 

[ReapPremed]

I was aware the experience was on my application. I honestly just didn't make the connection until after the fact! Granted, that caveat doesn't help me much...

Even with a redirect, though, I already fell short of his original estimation of me. But I guess a polite redirect is still the best option sounds like.