Worst/Funniest Interview Experiences

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FrazzleSnazzle said:
Sounds like the interviewer was trying for a "gotcha" moment by putting doubt over your sincerity on wanting to become a pediatrician but didn't read your app correctly and then tried to cover his/her mistake by confusing you. :laugh:
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I have no clue what he was doing. That's probably what happened though. I just remember giving up at that point and praying that the interview was done which, thankfully, it was. :laugh:
 
Tapepsi said:
I have no clue what he was doing. That's probably what happened though. I just remember giving up at that point and praying that the interview was done which, thankfully, it was. :laugh:
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Which school were you interviewing at?
 
Question: What was the last book you read, and how did it enrich you as a person?

Answer: I don't read book, per say, buy, Uh, I read a lot of wikipedia, and perezhilton.com.

ACCEPTED
 
Honze55 said:
Question: What was the last book you read, and how did it enrich you as a person?

Answer: I don't read book, per say, buy, Uh, I read a lot of wikipedia, and perezhilton.com.

ACCEPTED
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Ew, perez.

Join ONTD.
 
What did all of you say to why you want to be a doctor?
 
didn't happen to me, but a friend of mine that got an interview at some HBU[?]. I found it pretty funny

interviewer : "So why is that you want to go to a medical school dominantly black but you're not"

her : "I come from New Orleans and I went to Xavier University which is a HBCU and my previous high school and elementary schools were always dominantly black, so I was raised in a dominantly black atmosphere."

interviewer : "I see...interesting"

wtheck?
 
nola2016 said:
didn't happen to me, but a friend of mine that got an interview at some HBU[?]. I found it pretty funny

interviewer : "So why is that you want to go to a medical school dominantly black but you're not"

her : "I come from New Orleans and I went to Xavier University which is a HBCU and my previous high school and elementary schools were always dominantly black, so I was raised in a dominantly black atmosphere."

interviewer : "I see...interesting"

wtheck?
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Yes but it is a valid question. what is the WTH moment is the interviewer's response to the student's response. Something more then I see interesting would've been nice in this person's case.
 
Is there any other threads/sites to get insight on how to have a good interview at med schools? This is great though!
 
For context; Many of my college friends are from various parts of India, and I usually have not found it difficult to understand their spoken English.

Interviewer (Indian Ph.D with a strong accent): "Give me an instance within the last three months when you did something [garbled] sexist?"
Me: "Errrr... could you repeat the question?"
Interviewer: "What did you do in the last three months that was [garbled] sexist?"
Me: "Excuse me, are you saying sexist?"
Interviewer: "Yes,[garbled] sexist".
Me: :wtf: " Well, I do not tolerate sexism, especially in my own life, and am continually introspective regarding my actions as to avoid ignorant thoughts and/or actions. Therefore, within the last three months I cannot recall an instance were I would have been sexist, though there may have been an instance that I am unaware."

Interviewer: "Well, just keep thinking about it. We'll come back to that question later".

45 min later-
Interviewer: "Back to our question about you being [garbled] sexist"
Me: "I'm still thinking [blank stare until interview ended]"


----I seriously was about to just blurt out for his satisfaction, "I pointed at a little girl and told her, 'You'll never be good at math! Stick to beauty pageants.' What did he realistically expect me to answer. Next question, "In the past three months, what have you stolen".

Decision: Accepted + scholly.
 
Last edited:
iceman132 said:
Is there any other threads/sites to get insight on how to have a good interview at med schools? This is great though!
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On the actual SDN website, there is a section where people post the questions they got asked and other helpful stuff
 
this thread is amazing. i'm applying this cycle, but hope i don't have anything to contribute here and hope even more that this isn't due to a lack of interviews. knowing me though, i'll have plenty to say.
 
iceman132 said:
Is there any other threads/sites to get insight on how to have a good interview at med schools? This is great though!
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If u look at the top of the page where it says interview feedback you will get a better, more comprehensive idea of how interviews are at different schools and questions asked there. good luck.
 
This wasn't my own experience (my own experience involved talking to my interviewer about her upcoming date that night and recommending the movie Love Actually to her...I got accepted so I assume she liked it.), but this happened to my mom when she applied in 1989.

Interviewer: What do you think about euthanasia?
My mom: Well...I think they're pretty similar to youth in any other country really.

Result: My mom was accepted.
 
I am really getting confused to some of these responses. Sure, they are witty, butDoes the interviewer like that....and what if they don't? I say you guys have had a lot of good luck concerning your interviews...
 
I am really getting confused to some of these responses. Sure, they are witty, but does the interviewer like that....and what if they don't? I say you guys have had a lot of good luck concerning your interviews...
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I don't think it's so much luck, as it's a matter of properly reading and following your interviewers lead. As evidenced by some of the anecdotes in this thread, humor doesn't always work. And then at times it can work really well. As with most things in life, it just depends.

You can't go into every interview with the exact same game plan. Each one is unique. Sometimes you'll get a PhD, sometimes an MD, sometimes a student. Sometimes they'll be hip to pop culture references, sometimes they won't. Sometimes they'll be really strict and tight laced, sometimes they'll be more laid back. Each requires its own fine tuning to strike the right chord with the interviewer.

In general if you have a doubt about how they would respond, if it could be potentially controversial or if it it may misrepresent your respect level for the interview process (like cracking TOO many jokes might do)...don't take the risk.

As for the experiences I mentioned above,

My interviewer started out our interview asking me what my weekend plans were and then proceeded to tell me about this "hot date" she had that night that she was really looking forward to. That being the case I felt comfortable somewhat lowering my "I'm a super serious prospective medical student" shield and answering some things with unpolished honesty. That didn't mean I answered everything with a joke, it just meant the interview was a little more laid-back, allowing me to discuss who I am as a person instead of who I am as a pre-med student. However, my earlier interview that day was completely serious with an older doctor who'd actually taught my mom! So I was more traditionally professional with that one.

My mom's interviewer was also more laid-back and thought her answer was funny. Plus, my mom didn't just leave it at that. She immediately followed up that answer with her real thoughts on euthanasia. However, earlier in the season, my mom had an interviewer who asked her in all seriousness if she really thought a woman could handle being a doctor (this was 1989). So she didn't joke around with him at all.
 
Halcyon03 said:
For context; Many of my college friends are from various parts of India, and I usually have not found it difficult to understand their spoken English.

Interviewer (Indian Ph.D with a strong accent): "Give me an instance within the last three months when you did something [garbled] sexist?"
Me: "Errrr... could you repeat the question?"
Interviewer: "What did you do in the last three months that was [garbled] sexist?"
Me: "Excuse me, are you saying sexist?"
Interviewer: "Yes,[garbled] sexist".
Me: :wtf: " Well, I do not tolerate sexism, especially in my own life, and am continually introspective regarding my actions as to avoid ignorant thoughts and/or actions. Therefore, within the last three months I cannot recall an instance were I would have been sexist, though there may have been an instance that I am unaware."

Interviewer: "Well, just keep thinking about it. We'll come back to that question later".

45 min later-
Interviewer: "Back to our question about you being [garbled] sexist"
Me: "I'm still thinking [blank stare until interview ended]"


----I seriously was about to just blurt out for his satisfaction, "I pointed at a little girl and told her, 'You'll never be good at math! Stick to beauty pageants.' What did he realistically expect me to answer. Next question, "In the past three months, what have you stolen".

Decision: Accepted + scholly.
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[Garbled] Sexist :laugh:
 
serendipity513 said:
This wasn't my own experience (my own experience involved talking to my interviewer about her upcoming date that night and recommending the movie Love Actually to her...I got accepted so I assume she liked it.), but this happened to my mom when she applied in 1989.

Interviewer: What do you think about euthanasia?
My mom: Well...I think they're pretty similar to youth in any other country really.

Result: My mom was accepted.
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Asia isn't a country.

Bam! Rejected. :laugh:
 
Haha...really great thread! Just spent two days reading it 😀

I'm applying this cycle and we'll see if I have any interesting ones to contribute.
 
serendipity513 said:
This wasn't my own experience (my own experience involved talking to my interviewer about her upcoming date that night and recommending the movie Love Actually to her...I got accepted so I assume she liked it.), but this happened to my mom when she applied in 1989.

Interviewer: What do you think about euthanasia?
My mom: Well...I think they're pretty similar to youth in any other country really.

Result: My mom was accepted.
Click to expand...


This is great.
 
Circadian Squid said:
Second interviewer of the morning. She comes to the office of admissions and we walk down the hallway to our interview room. Breaking the ice:

I: So how has your morning been?
Me: Interviewing for medical school, so great.
Me: How's your day?
I: "****ty. My three children are home sick and my husband, who's also an anesthesiologist, is home with them today."
I: Oops, I probably shouldn't swear.
Me: Sure I'm from Utah, but not offended by language. I hope your kids get feeling better.
Me: (notice that she's wearing an ID badge, glance at it briefly, we get to the room and take our seats)
Me: Psychology huh? I see we have something in common (I graduated in 2008 with a B.S. in psych)
I: (smiles and points to badge). "Pathology"
Me: Yup, slightly different field.

Later on in the interview:

I: So how did you prepare for your interviews?
Me: I spent time considering what questions I would ask if I were interviewing prospective medical students. Made a bullet-point list of these questions, printed it out, condensed my answers and practiced saying them out loud to myself in the bath tub ...
I: (stare)
Me: Not quite sure why I told you that. I actually do a majority of my studying in the bath tub (oh, so we're keeping with the bath tub and elaborating a bit are we?). Been doing that since my senior year of high school.
I: (stare)
Me: Has some neuroscience logic to it . . . . you know . . . . no distractions, the running water provides a form of white-noise that you can tune out and focus on the material. I also re-familiarized myself with current health care reform legislation and bioethics topics on a variety of government and medical web sites.

My friends and fam constantly tease me about my bath-tub studies. Not quite sure how forcing an interviewer to picture me nude in 3" deep warm water while talking to myself like a schizophrenic will work out. Currently waiting on the final decision. :xf:
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Haha, I study and read in the bathtub, too! 👍
 
Halcyon03 said:
For context; Many of my college friends are from various parts of India, and I usually have not found it difficult to understand their spoken English.

Interviewer (Indian Ph.D with a strong accent): "Give me an instance within the last three months when you did something [garbled] sexist?"
Me: "Errrr... could you repeat the question?"
Interviewer: "What did you do in the last three months that was [garbled] sexist?"
Me: "Excuse me, are you saying sexist?"
Interviewer: "Yes,[garbled] sexist".
Me: :wtf: " Well, I do not tolerate sexism, especially in my own life, and am continually introspective regarding my actions as to avoid ignorant thoughts and/or actions. Therefore, within the last three months I cannot recall an instance were I would have been sexist, though there may have been an instance that I am unaware."

Interviewer: "Well, just keep thinking about it. We'll come back to that question later".

45 min later-
Interviewer: "Back to our question about you being [garbled] sexist"
Me: "I'm still thinking [blank stare until interview ended]"


----I seriously was about to just blurt out for his satisfaction, "I pointed at a little girl and told her, 'You'll never be good at math! Stick to beauty pageants.' What did he realistically expect me to answer. Next question, "In the past three months, what have you stolen".

Decision: Accepted + scholly.
Click to expand...

This was hilarious! :laugh: :claps:
 
I had to add this one. I was speaking to a faculty member at my school who interviewed a student this cycle. He teaches a few lectures in our Cardio/Pulmonary module.

This interviewer loves to ask scenario questions to test the depth of the student’s scientific knowledge as well as their critical thinking skills.

Interviewer: What would you do if someone had an MI
Student: Call 911
Interviewer: Long Pause...Are you being serious?
Student: Yes, I'm CPR Certified, That's the correct protocol.
Interviewer: Ok, so do have any questions for me? -End of Interview-

You can guess what the decision was... :laugh:
 
Swiss Medical said:
I am really getting confused to some of these responses. Sure, they are witty, butDoes the interviewer like that....and what if they don't? I say you guys have had a lot of good luck concerning your interviews...
Click to expand...

Everything on the internet is real...NEVER fake.
 
PlacentaSac said:
I had to add this one. I was speaking to a faculty member at my school who interviewed a student this cycle. He teaches a few lectures in our Cardio/Pulmonary module.

This interviewer loves to ask scenario questions to test the depth of the student’s scientific knowledge as well as their critical thinking skills.

Interviewer: What would you do if someone had an MI
Student: Call 911
Interviewer: Long Pause...Are you being serious?
Student: Yes, I'm CPR Certified, That's the correct protocol.
Interviewer: Ok, so do have any questions for me? -End of Interview-

You can guess what the decision was... :laugh:
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I don't understand. How should a pre-med be expected to know how to respond to an MI? 😕
 
Procyon said:
I don't understand. How should a pre-med be expected to know how to respond to an MI? 😕
Click to expand...

👍👍

Really ****ty question. "Attempt to resuscitate the patient myself"
 
Myuu said:
You call 911 and then follow their instructions. 😛
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LOL i just had the mental picture of the interviewee calling 911 and then not doing ANYTHING else. like just dropping the phone and walking away without saying anything.
 
Procyon said:
I don't understand. How should a pre-med be expected to know how to respond to an MI? 😕
Click to expand...

His goal is to see if the student can think on their feet and say something reasonable. It is a very important quality for students to do this especially come clerkship time. In this situation the interviewer wants to see if the student understands what an MI is and what can be done after the fact. Many students that have clinical experience in the ER, ICU, telemetry PACU etc. or have EMT training should have some idea of what to do.

However, the point of these questions is to see how a student handles themselves during a difficult question. It's not so much about getting the question perfect, but just answer something reasonable with the knowledge you have and keep your composure. Stay professional. After the interview send a follow-up email thanking the interviewer for their time and the correct answer to their question. It works wonders.
 
PlacentaSac said:
His goal is to see if the student can think on their feet and say something reasonable. It is a very important quality for students to do this especially come clerkship time. In this situation the interviewer wants to see if the student understands what an MI is and what can be done after the fact. Many students that have clinical experience in the ER, ICU, telemetry PACU etc. or have EMT training should have some idea of what to do.

However, the point of these questions is to see how a student handles themselves during a difficult question. It's not so much about getting the question perfect, but just answer something reasonable with the knowledge you have and keep your composure. Stay professional. After the interview send a follow-up email thanking the interviewer for their time and the correct answer to their question. It works wonders.
Click to expand...

the answer that the kid gave was perfectly fine. maybe also give an aspirin, but what are the odds of aspirin being around at the time. the interviewer pretty much rejected the kid for not already having the knowledge of a fully licensed doctor. (edit: actually im pretty sure calling 911 is doctors would also do in the same scenario...)

also, you cannt expect every interviewee to have ER/ICU experiences. my volunteering was in a pysch ward, does that disqualify me?
 
donttazemebro said:
the answer that the kid gave was perfectly fine. maybe also give an aspirin, but what are the odds of aspirin being around at the time. the interviewer pretty much rejected the kid for not already having the knowledge of a fully licensed doctor. (edit: actually im pretty sure calling 911 is doctors would also do in the same scenario...)

also, you cannt expect every interviewee to have ER/ICU experiences. my volunteering was in a pysch ward, does that disqualify me?
Click to expand...

This is classic SDN. Isn't the point of applying to medical school to get into medical school? When you are at an interview, your job is to impress the admissions committee member. If they don't like you, or your answers then it's not going to go good for you. Hence why people get rejected post interview. When you are asked scenario questions you are supposed to think like a physician. Many times you will get asked an ethical question; the expectation is to answer as a physician. When I applied, I was asked if I would prescribe birth control to a 15 year old female. Should I have had the attitude "I'm not licensed so how can I know," or "Of course Not, that's crazy!" NO! I did my research and I knew that this is very State specific and depends on State law. I didn't have to have experience or a license to know that.

The question was posed: as a physician what would you do if someone had an MI. Calling 911 is ridiculous, YOU'RE supposed to be the doctor! I would love to see someone on their ER clerkship have someone coding and the med. student say, "Hey Someone Call 911!" Do you see how stupid this sounds? Besides, the MCAT covers the cardiovascular system, including common pathologies like atherosclerosis and MI. So some knowledge can be expected.

I wouldn't expect every student to have ER/ICU experience, but I would expect them to think on their toes and give a reasonable answer. Even if they just saw it on a medical TV show or remember from their MCAT review books, say something relevant. In the end, it ONLY matters what admissions committee members think, "They are the gatekeepers!" Make no mistake about it; the Interview is still a FILTERING Process!
 
PlacentaSac said:
This is classic SDN. Isn't the point of applying to medical school to get into medical school? When you are at an interview, your job is to impress the admissions committee member. If they don't like you, or your answers then it's not going to go good for you. Hence why people get rejected post interview. When you are asked scenario questions you are supposed to think like a physician. Many times you will get asked an ethical question; the expectation is to answer as a physician. When I applied, I was asked if I would prescribe birth control to a 15 year old female. Should I have had the attitude "I'm not licensed so how can I know," or "Of course Not, that's crazy!" NO! I did my research and I knew that this is very State specific and depends on State law. I didn't have to have experience or a license to know that.

The question was posed: as a physician what would you do if someone had an MI. Calling 911 is ridiculous, YOU’RE supposed to be the doctor! I would love to see someone on their ER clerkship have someone coding and the med. student say, "Hey Someone Call 911!" Do you see how stupid this sounds? Besides, the MCAT covers the cardiovascular system, including common pathologies like atherosclerosis and MI. So some knowledge can be expected.

I wouldn't expect every student to have ER/ICU experience, but I would expect them to think on their toes and give a reasonable answer. Even if they just saw it on a medical TV show or remember from their MCAT review books, say something relevant. In the end, it ONLY matters what admissions committee members think, “They are the gatekeepers!” Make no mistake about it; the Interview is still a FILTERING Process!
Click to expand...

If they were CPR certified you'd think they'd have at least some knowledge of what to do in certain kinds of situations. So I have to agree with you.
 
Plus, that is totally not actual CPR protocol! Supposed to call 911, and then begin CPR 😀
 
PlacentaSac said:
This is classic SDN. Isn't the point of applying to medical school to get into medical school? When you are at an interview, your job is to impress the admissions committee member. If they don't like you, or your answers then it's not going to go good for you. Hence why people get rejected post interview. When you are asked scenario questions you are supposed to think like a physician. Many times you will get asked an ethical question; the expectation is to answer as a physician. When I applied, I was asked if I would prescribe birth control to a 15 year old female. Should I have had the attitude "I'm not licensed so how can I know," or "Of course Not, that's crazy!" NO! I did my research and I knew that this is very State specific and depends on State law. I didn't have to have experience or a license to know that.

The question was posed: as a physician what would you do if someone had an MI. Calling 911 is ridiculous, YOU’RE supposed to be the doctor! I would love to see someone on their ER clerkship have someone coding and the med. student say, "Hey Someone Call 911!" Do you see how stupid this sounds? Besides, the MCAT covers the cardiovascular system, including common pathologies like atherosclerosis and MI. So some knowledge can be expected.

I wouldn't expect every student to have ER/ICU experience, but I would expect them to think on their toes and give a reasonable answer. Even if they just saw it on a medical TV show or remember from their MCAT review books, say something relevant. In the end, it ONLY matters what admissions committee members think, “They are the gatekeepers!” Make no mistake about it; the Interview is still a FILTERING Process!
Click to expand...

I kind of disagree with this. I think its possible to answer ethical questions as if you are already a physician but that it is harder to answer procedure or protocol questions. The way I read the question was if at this moment someone was having a heart attack in front of me what would I do? The first thing that popped into my mind was give them some aspirin but this is probably because of Bayer commercials 🙄 I do agree with you though that the point of these types of questions is to show you can think and to give a reasonable response so that person probably could have come up with a better answer especially since they were CPR certified.
 
PlacentaSac said:
This is classic SDN. Isn't the point of applying to medical school to get into medical school? When you are at an interview, your job is to impress the admissions committee member. If they don't like you, or your answers then it's not going to go good for you. Hence why people get rejected post interview. When you are asked scenario questions you are supposed to think like a physician. Many times you will get asked an ethical question; the expectation is to answer as a physician. When I applied, I was asked if I would prescribe birth control to a 15 year old female. Should I have had the attitude "I'm not licensed so how can I know," or "Of course Not, that's crazy!" NO! I did my research and I knew that this is very State specific and depends on State law. I didn't have to have experience or a license to know that.

The question was posed: as a physician what would you do if someone had an MI. Calling 911 is ridiculous, YOU’RE supposed to be the doctor! I would love to see someone on their ER clerkship have someone coding and the med. student say, "Hey Someone Call 911!" Do you see how stupid this sounds? Besides, the MCAT covers the cardiovascular system, including common pathologies like atherosclerosis and MI. So some knowledge can be expected.

I wouldn't expect every student to have ER/ICU experience, but I would expect them to think on their toes and give a reasonable answer. Even if they just saw it on a medical TV show or remember from their MCAT review books, say something relevant. In the end, it ONLY matters what admissions committee members think, “They are the gatekeepers!” Make no mistake about it; the Interview is still a FILTERING Process!
Click to expand...

ethical questions and technical medical questions are not the same.. the purpose of an interview is to choose committed and ethical students, not test medical knowledge.

but humour me, and say what you think would be the proper answer to the question.
 
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