Worst/Funniest Interview Experiences

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Etorphine said:
I finally have an entry for this!!!
=================================

Interviewer: Ok, so your qualifications and resume are looking good. I'm just going to need you to sign this form here authorizing a background check. It's just to make sure you're not a serial killer or anything.
Me: Maybe I am :laugh:
Interviewer: :lame: .......silence for 10 seconds
=================================
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Doesn't AMCAS do that?
 
Evergrey said:
Plus, that is totally not actual CPR protocol! Supposed to call 911, and then begin CPR 😀
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Even before that you're supposed to make sure the surroundings are controlled/safe for yourself and the victim. Then check for consciousness and any other signs of life (pulse, breathing by either sight or sound). But now we're just getting nit-picky.
 
autotroph said:
Even before that you're supposed to make sure the surroundings are controlled/safe for yourself and the victim. Then check for consciousness and any other signs of life (pulse, breathing by either sight or sound). But now we're just getting nit-picky.
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Aren't interviewers looking for that nit-picky answer?
 
autotroph said:
Even before that you're supposed to make sure the surroundings are controlled/safe for yourself and the victim. Then check for consciousness and any other signs of life (pulse, breathing by either sight or sound). But now we're just getting nit-picky.
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Yeah, and if there are bystanders we are supposed to have the first person call 911, and the second person to get the AED 🙂
 
Evergrey said:
Yeah, and if there are bystanders we are supposed to have the first person call 911, and the second person to get the AED 🙂
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I remember that video. I can't stop laughing now. :laugh:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN-zsKCvJWo[/YOUTUBE]
 
I just posted this in another forum and it made me remember.
This was at one of my interviews last cycle and it was a typical "why should we admit you over the other applicants?"
First words to come out of my mouth: "Because I'm awesome." To which both the interviewer and I promptly started laughing. It had been a really light hearted interview and we really hit it off.
I spent a good 2 minutes after talking about how my life experiences set me apart and have made me more mature than a lot of the other people my age etc etc. and ended with another "And, I'm awesome."

Sadly, didn't quite make up for the fact that I totally put my foot in my mouth during my first interview with a student. She was asking about my shadowing an oncologist and asked me what surprised me the most. My honest answer was that some of the patients were just so, and here's the foot insertion into oral cavity, stupid. I tried to recover by saying that what i meant was misinformed. That I had seen this woman who had been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer not seek treatment for 5 years (!) because she was convinced god would heal her. Comes in because you can literally see the tumor growing under her skin. I kept trying to recover by saying everyone's entitled to their beliefs but that she really should've gotten help sooner etc etc.
I couldn't pull the foot out of my mouth 😛
Result: waitlisted (to be fair, everyone from my interview date and later was WL so it's possible had it been earlier in the year, I may have gotten an acceptence. Who knows)
 
StephBee said:
Sadly, didn't quite make up for the fact that I totally put my foot in my mouth during my first interview with a student. She was asking about my shadowing an oncologist and asked me what surprised me the most. My honest answer was that some of the patients were just so, and here's the foot insertion into oral cavity, stupid. I tried to recover by saying that what i meant was misinformed. That I had seen this woman who had been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer not seek treatment for 5 years (!) because she was convinced god would heal her. Comes in because you can literally see the tumor growing under her skin. I kept trying to recover by saying everyone's entitled to their beliefs but that she really should've gotten help sooner etc etc.
I couldn't pull the foot out of my mouth 😛
Result: waitlisted (to be fair, everyone from my interview date and later was WL so it's possible had it been earlier in the year, I may have gotten an acceptence. Who knows)
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Straight forward honestly in the US is unfortunately second fiddle to political correctness. I think that's a legitimate answer that was gaffed.
 
Maybe trying to correct yourself was the unnecessary part. A lot of the people that would have supported the woman's decision would not have tried to be politically correct about it either, why should you?

I mean, from a religious person's perspective they probably would have referred to some religious beliefs and probably would have used it as a supportive fact, and probably would not have worried about political correctness. I mean, when was the last time you heard people that are against abortion being politically correct, rarely.

Just as people do with religious beliefs you need to be confident with your own beliefs even if they might not be religious.

Basically I think you should have stuck with your answer and instead of trying to correct it for politically correctness instead further explained and supported your opinion. I could be wrong obviously, lol, but maybe it was just lack of confidence in your answer rather than the content of it that wad the real issue.
 
MeowMeowCAT said:
Maybe trying to correct yourself was the unnecessary part. A lot of the people that would have supported the woman's decision would not have tried to be politically correct about it either, why should you?
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Interesting thought, but the difference is that StephBee's initial statement (that patients could be stupid [over their beliefs]) was offensive at best, and condescending at worst. When I read those first lines, I was pretty put off. I don't expect anyone to think positive thoughts about patients all of the time, but for that to be the one thing that was most surprising? The clarification made me think that the initial use of the word "stupid" was used more out of frustration (how could people not try to do more for their health?) than out of arrogance (how can people believe this garbage?).

The problem is that the use of the word "stupid" was so negative that it practically forced further explanation and a defensive statement about being open-minded. As MeowMeowCat says, you don't want to appear to be wishy-washy during an interview, but in this case you wouldn't want to appear close-minded and judgmental, either.

You can still be honest without getting yourself into trouble. It's all about how things are worded and presented. In an interview you want to remain as positive as possible.
 
^ I agree with your analysis, but we are making the grand assumption that of all the factors that lead to a decision this one student interview was the deal-breaker, which IMO is a pretty bold assumption.
 
aSagacious said:
^ I agree with your analysis, but we are making the grand assumption that of all the factors that lead to a decision this one student interview was the deal-breaker, which IMO is a pretty bold assumption.
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I agree with that. I wasn't trying to say whether it made a difference in the school's decision over StephBee, I was just remarking on that little bit from the interview.
 
aSagacious said:
^ I agree with your analysis, but we are making the grand assumption that of all the factors that lead to a decision this one student interview was the deal-breaker, which IMO is a pretty bold assumption.
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Yes, we don't know about everything else that went into the application. But it's important to not underestimate the student interview, as at many schools it is treated as every bit as significant as the faculty interview.
 
Is it not safe to assume that if you were invited for an interview that your application is at very least on the fence of either being rejected or accepted, or do schools actually bother inviting people that were predetermined to be rejected? I mean, if anything the interview seems like is your last moment to shine and really sway the decision in your favor.
 
MeowMeowCAT said:
Is it not safe to assume that if you were invited for an interview that your application is at very least on the fence of either being rejected or accepted, or do schools actually bother inviting people that were predetermined to be rejected? I mean, if anything the interview seems like is your last moment to shine and really sway the decision in your favor.
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Schools weigh the interview differently. But the thing is that I'm sure most people interview well, so they still have to look through applications and make a decision based on everything.
 
st0w said:
You'd be quite surprised.
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Really? Well I'm sure not everyone totally botches the interview at least...

PS: I look forward to being on the other side of the interview as a medical student 😀. M1s and M2s conduct interviews at my school.
 
MMI is hardly new. Most Canadian med schools and some US schools had them for a long time.

gujuDoc said:
A M4 mentioned this article that I'm about to post. So I looked it up.

Interesting read and relevant to this thread.

New format for interviews at 8 medical schools and may spread to more with times. Kinda like speed dating, its speed interviewing across 9 mini interview sessions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/health/policy/11docs.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=student doctor network&st=cse&scp=3
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deathvvv said:
MMI is hardly new. Most Canadian med schools and some US schools had them for a long time.
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Yeah it said most canadian schools had it. but its new in the US in the sense by "some" US schools we are talking about less then 10 schools according to the article. According to the article it is currently only 8 of more then 130 medical schools that exist. And one of those 8 is one of the newest schools. Another only recently adopted this system.

It could very well take place in many more US med schools in the future.

But I agree that its not new in canada as the article even said as much.
 
In all, I doubt this affected my outcome at the school that much, simply because by the end, I had explained myself and she seemed to understand. But needless to say, calling patients stupid isn't a good idea. (I went on to explain that I was surprised how the doc was able to respect her beliefs but still subtly tell her she had made some really poor decisions. Outside the patient room, he went on to tell me how much he hated these kinds of patients and likened it to natural selection)
The part that surprised me the most (and I went on the explain this) was the fact that some people could be so misinformed. As someone who wants to know everything and immediately googles/wikis/pubmeds everything (especially when it comes to my own medical conditions), it was shocking to me that so many patients didn't know the first thing about what was going on in their bodies.

But yeah, foot in mouth 😛
 
I will freely say that I read a good amount of this topic to see what questions were asked and what answers to not say as I diarrhea out of my mouth.
 
Bza said:
Really? Well I'm sure not everyone totally botches the interview at least...

PS: I look forward to being on the other side of the interview as a medical student 😀. M1s and M2s conduct interviews at my school.
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Oh, definitely, most people don't botch the interview - I didn't mean to give that impression. But plenty of people aren't stellar interviewees, either. The people who make it to the interview portion generally all have great stats on paper and have very interesting, if not unique, stories - so the interview becomes even more important to help differentiate them from one another. Passion and genuine excitement are worth a lot more at this stage than I think many applicants realize.

Being a student interviewer is a ton of fun, and also incredibly insightful. I enjoyed doing it during M1 and M2, and I feel like it gave me knowledge that will be very valuable come residency interview time. I definitely recommend doing it!
 
Do you guys ask if they are members of SDN and formulate a dis/favorable predetermined opinion? :meanie:
 
MeowMeowCAT said:
Do you guys ask if they are members of SDN and formulate a dis/favorable predetermined opinion?
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I never got asked anything about this website. If anyone brought it up it was the other interviewees. Not the interviewers. SDN has nothing to do with our file so I'm sure no one is going to ask about such unless u list being a mod as an activity or something like that or yourself bring it up.
 
st0w said:
Oh, definitely, most people don't botch the interview - I didn't mean to give that impression. But plenty of people aren't stellar interviewees, either. The people who make it to the interview portion generally all have great stats on paper and have very interesting, if not unique, stories - so the interview becomes even more important to help differentiate them from one another. Passion and genuine excitement are worth a lot more at this stage than I think many applicants realize.
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Oh, interesting... I guess I assumed from talking to other people at my interviews that most people had good interviews (or most people seemed like they would be good interviewees).

st0w said:
Being a student interviewer is a ton of fun, and also incredibly insightful. I enjoyed doing it during M1 and M2, and I feel like it gave me knowledge that will be very valuable come residency interview time. I definitely recommend doing it!
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I had a lot of fun during my student interview. It was much more relaxed and conversational, in fact it didn't feel like an interview at all. And I agree that being an interviewer can definitely give you some perspective. I had to interview people for research positions in my lab, and it was then I realized just how important it is to ask questions during an interview (nothing's worse than seeing this :lame: when you ask, "Do you have any questions for me?"). I used what I learned for my med school interviews. I'll definitely try to be a student interviewer, if my schedule permits! 🙂
 
gujuDoc said:
I never got asked anything about this website. If anyone brought it up it was the other interviewees. Not the interviewers. SDN has nothing to do with our file so I'm sure no one is going to ask about such unless u list being a mod as an activity or something like that or yourself bring it up.
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I wonder if anyone from SDN has actually done this. Listed being a mod here as an activity and got questioned about it.
 
I would turn around and blackmail said interviewer, muwahaha!

I don't think your boss would want to see some of the stuff you wrote publicly about them on this message board. Why not just push that acceptance through and pretend this never happened.

:meanie:
 
gujuDoc said:
A M4 mentioned this article that I'm about to post. So I looked it up.

Interesting read and relevant to this thread.

New format for interviews at 8 medical schools and may spread to more with times. Kinda like speed dating, its speed interviewing across 9 mini interview sessions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/health/policy/11docs.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=student doctor network&st=cse&scp=3
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The article lists 5 US schools, but mentions that 8 use MMI. Does anyone know the other three schools that use it? The concept sounds intriguing... definitely makes me hope I score an interview at Virginia Tech.
 
MeowMeowCAT said:
I would turn around and blackmail said interviewer, muwahaha!

I don't think your boss would want to see some of the stuff you wrote publicly about them on this message board. Why not just push that acceptance through and pretend this never happened.

:meanie:
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That is only if they tell you who they are on SDN.
 
I don't know if this qualifies but...

I had a group interview it was me and another girl with 1 interviewer. This girl was laughing at everything, and I told some random story about how I wheeled a lady out of the hospital and I had to run up back to her room several times to pick up things she forgot. This girl kept laughing... HARD and for a very long time - like both the interviewer and I would do a short giggle she would be nearly on the floor. I couldn't tell if she was just really excitable or she was trying to come off "fun" to the interviewer.

Well, after the interview when we were at the lunch she said to me when we were getting the food "sorry about the interview, I know you were having a really tough time so I was trying to make you feel better"

I was like WTF... btw I got accepted there 🙂
 
st0w said:
You'd be quite surprised.
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Fo' real.

Bza said:
Really? Well I'm sure not everyone totally botches the interview at least...

PS: I look forward to being on the other side of the interview as a medical student 😀. M1s and M2s conduct interviews at my school.
Click to expand...

You'll see!:d

Bza said:
Oh, interesting... I guess I assumed from talking to other people at my interviews that most people had good interviews (or most people seemed like they would be good interviewees).



I had a lot of fun during my student interview. It was much more relaxed and conversational, in fact it didn't feel like an interview at all. And I agree that being an interviewer can definitely give you some perspective. I had to interview people for research positions in my lab, and it was then I realized just how important it is to ask questions during an interview (nothing's worse than seeing this :lame: when you ask, "Do you have any questions for me?"). I used what I learned for my med school interviews. I'll definitely try to be a student interviewer, if my schedule permits! 🙂
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That's the point.:ninja:
 
edit......deleted. lol, never mind guys, I'll post some stuff after an acceptance.
 
Here's one that I found kind of funny. Not exactly an interview, and it wasn't my question, but funny nonetheless. So during the second look weekend last year at my school there were round table discussions with some of the faculty. Sitting at the ortho table, the surgeon asked one of the applicants what she would do if she had just made big plans to go out and was about to leave, and her partner called with a family emergency and needed her to cover. Her response, "What's the right answer?". Awesome.
 
Question: What would you say a weakness of yours is?

Answer: Sometimes I don't speak what's on my mind.....like....when I'm cold....and I want the AC turned off.

*Blank faces from the interviewers*
 
Neharinaan said:
Question: What would you say a weakness of yours is?

Answer: Sometimes I don't speak what's on my mind.....like....when I'm cold....and I want the AC turned off.

*Blank faces from the interviewers*
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:laugh:
 
cgbg said:
heard the following story from someone who does interviews for a medical school we will leave unnamed

interviewer: where do you see yourself in 20 years?
interviewee: exactly 20 years?
interviewer: yes
interviewee: to the minute?
interviewer: i guess, why not
interviewee: well it is about 11:00 so on the golf course

student accepted.
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Pure gold right here.:laugh:
 
wolverinepwns said:
This was the 3rd one hour long interview at the school. I was tired from the first two and was trying very hard to stay as enthusiastic as possible:

I: So I see you do Archery!

Me: Oh Yes, It definately random, but Yes I have been doing archery for sometime now. ALTHOUGH, I really wanna go Big Game Hunting, because there is no better feeling than KILLING your own food, you know? (then I realized what I said, me thinking to my self "HOLY SH&T what did I just say, Did I just say I like killing my food! I don't even wanna go big game hunting why would I even say that crap!!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG).

I: (LONGEST PAUSE EVER!!!!), I usually go hunting with my shotgun but I would be very interested in trying out bow hunting!

Me: (thinking: OMG, thank god he goes hunting, OMG OMG thank youuuuu), Excellent, maybe I'll be able to go hunting with you next.

I: You never know!


its only been a week since the interview so I guess we'll see!

update: I was accepted, haha
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I guess you have a hunting partner. I hope his name is not Dick Cheney. That guy's a pretty bad shot. However, I think only lawyers are considered fair game.
 
The worst of the cycle for me was at one of my first interviews.

"Tell me about a situation where you had to say no."

I didn't even pause, I jumped right into my story: "Well, last week I was wearing a t-shirt I really liked, and my dad didn't like it and told me to take it off, and I really didn't want to take it off, so I told him no."

The interviewer stared at me for a good few seconds before saying, "...And you learned from this that it's important to be true to yourself?"

"Yes, yes of course. That's what I learned."
 
Both happened in a room with three interviewers.

First
Interviewer: So give an example of when you had to advocate for someone,
Me: Advocate for someone?

Interviewer: When you had to stand up for someone.
Me: Uhmmm 🙄 (looking up and to the right to think)... My brother was the bad child, so I had to stand up for him when my parents got mad...


Second
Interviewer: So which school is your top choice?
Me: (my mouth opens before I really think through things) Well, honestly, this school was my first choice when I researched. But I realized there was so much more behind a school than their website and student testimonials.

One of the interviewers: :laugh: yes.. those student testimonials
Me: So yeah... I feel like I should be open minded 🙂


I eventually redeemed my answers. Accepted to both schools.
👍 Here's to interviewers who understand that we're human just like them.
 
I was interviewing with a PhD interviewer. It went OK, until she asked about the health reform. Luckily, I read up on it the night before so I answered OK (highlighted the new implementations). Then:

I: Can you tell me what the biggest problems with the healthcare system in the US are? And what would you do to fix it?
Me: Uhmm I think it's the fact that not everyone has health insurance, therefore they don't maintain their health very well. Having health insurance will allow people to get preventative care and that would help a lot. The new health reform bill will make sure everyone has insurance, but it doesn't have public option. So, for people with chronic or terminal diseases, it will still cost a lot and difficult to manage. I also think that the majority of people don't have/maintain a healthy lifestyle. We need to provide everyone with education. (Right here I realized that I didn't mean education in general). Uhmm I mean I would educate people on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. For example, putting up billboard or playing commercials to promote good eating habits and exercise... Uhmmm well, it's not an easy problem to fix. If it was easy, it would have been fixed already! (what the heck???)

Same interviewer, later in the conversation:

I: what was the most challenging thing you had to do?
Me: Uhmmm breastfeeding.
I: (pause)
Me: Uhmm I had problems with it (then I proceed to telling her my problems)
I: Yeah, me too. When I had my baby, I had problems as well. You would think that breastfeeding is natural and easy, but it's not even close.

She also asked me what books I read, and I told her I read fantasy novels, like the Dresden Files. Then I proceeded to talk about how Dresden is an awesome wizard detective.

I told her I was super busy, working, taking care of my new born, volunteer...

I: when do you find time to read?
Me: Uhmm I have a nook and I read when I pump.

I: What was your weakness?
Me: (trying to come up with an answer on the spot) I guess it's how over-protective I am with my sisters. In our culture (asian), family is very close-knit and the older is supposed to take care of the younger. So I was (telling myself: do not say bossy or controlling, do not say bossy or controlling) very strict with my sisters when trying to guide them to certain directions, in school or in life. But then I realize that they need to find their own ways, so I've been trying to back off and let them figure out what they want to do... (urgh!)

At the end, when she was walking me out, I wanted to tell her that it was my birthday that day, but didn't know how, so I went like this (in a light hearted tone and half jokingly):

Today is my birthday. My husband's birthday is tomorrow. He always said "your birthday is on halloween, which is all hallows eve; my birthday is all saints day. So I'm good and you're evil". It's true though, I'm evil. (what the heck? then proceed to laughing) hahaha

In the end, got accepted.
 
dpsPanda said:
How'd that interview turn out?
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Not very well! That response was just the tip of the iceberg in a series of terrible interviews at this particular school. I had explored the campus/city the previous day and realized I would never want to live there, so I couldn't muster much enthusiasm during my interviews. (And I'm generally a very enthusiastic person!) Frankly, I'm VERY surprised I wasn't rejected post-interview.
 
This wasn't for medical school, but for my first research job. I'm a freshman and I have virtually no science experience except for high school courses and general chem... But I am very enthusiastic, and decided to apply for a job conducting cancer research! I gave a few gems aka HORRIBLE answers, so I thought I'd share....

PI: So, what lab experience do you have?
Me: Oh, you know, general chemistry lab and such.
PI: Yeah? What'd you guys do?
Me: Ummm... pipetting... and... um. Testing substances.
PI: ... Kay. Well. Good thing that this isn't a chemistry lab position, then.
Me: :bang:

Later...

PI: You will need to work with rodents at this position! What animal experience do you have?
Me: Well. What do you mean?
PI: Just anything with animals.
Me: Uhhh I guess I have some....
PI: Like what?
Me: I have a dog..... And, uh, used to have a cat. And a hamster... those are kind of like rats, right? Oh and I had two birds. But yeah, mostly the dog.
PI: ... That's not really what I meant.

At the end of the interview, though, she said, "Well, I like you, so I think I'll hire you. So if you wanna work here this summer, that's cool."

It was a really strange / awkward interview, especially since I'd never been in a real lab setting before and had pretty much no idea what I was doing.. and I don't know how on earth she could have justified hiring me after I babbled about my pets like an idiot. But! Whatever! Not gonna argue with a good thing 😀
 
sunflower18 said:
PI: You will need to work with rodents at this position! What animal experience do you have?
Me: Well. What do you mean?
PI: Just anything with animals.
Me: Uhhh I guess I have some....
PI: Like what?
Me: I have a dog..... And, uh, used to have a cat. And a hamster... those are kind of like rats, right? Oh and I had two birds. But yeah, mostly the dog.
PI: ... That's not really what I meant.

At the end of the interview, though, she said, "Well, I like you, so I think I'll hire you. So if you wanna work here this summer, that's cool."

It was a really strange / awkward interview, especially since I'd never been in a real lab setting before and had pretty much no idea what I was doing.. and I don't know how on earth she could have justified hiring me after I babbled about my pets like an idiot. But! Whatever! Not gonna argue with a good thing 😀
Click to expand...

If it makes you feel any better, I probably would have given a similar answer. Although I do have experience with mice, it's solely in the context of feeding them to my snake. 😀
 
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