Worst/Funniest Interview Experiences

BU Medical Sciences
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Permavirgin said:
Is it a taboo to mention money?
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I hope not because I did in a recent interview. We were discussing the primary care shortage and ways to address it and I said something about the prohibitive debt load a lot of physicians come out of school with and how that can drive people away from the lower-paid primary care specialties. I've kinda been kicking myself for going there, but hopefully the fact that I'd just been talking about my strong interest in rural family medicine and the fact that my interviewer was a family practice doctor will save me :scared:
 
bluepotato said:
I hope not because I did in a recent interview. We were discussing the primary care shortage and ways to address it and I said something about the prohibitive debt load a lot of physicians come out of school with and how that can drive people away from the lower-paid primary care specialties. I've kinda been kicking myself for going there, but hopefully the fact that I'd just been talking about my strong interest in rural family medicine and the fact that my interviewer was a family practice doctor will save me :scared:
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Did you justify why, despite the point you made, you're still interested in FM?
 
Lysilegluleu said:
Did you justify why, despite the point you made, you're still interested in FM?
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Yeah, she asked me why I was still interested given all of that and I talked about how the need was there regardless and that it was personally important to me, etc. I'm sure I could've come up with a more compelling response but I was freaking out a little because I realized bringing up money probably wasn't the best move. Oh well.
 
I got one as well.

During my first interview:
I: How will the ACA affect healthcare once its implemented?
DFS: Hopefully the cost of healthcare would eventually be lowered as fewer people would be using the ED for primary care. People will have insurance and they will be able to access the system on the front end through PCP's instead of the back end....I go blank!!! seriously, I looked at both my interviewers and just smile and say please forgive me but I've lost my train of thought.
I: so whats that disease where you forget things?
DFS: (in my head I'm like I got this) Alzheimer's?!
I: correct he says smiling ear to ear. Do you have any more questions for us?
DFS: No I think you have answered everything ( I was so embarrassed I wanted to just go)

I get up to leave and shake their hands and forget my notes on the desk in front of me. I'm almost out the door to safety when one of my interviewers says, 'hey you for got your notes."
I shamefully grab my notes and the interviewer says again," what that disease where you forget things?"

I say ,"I'm not quite sure I cant remember", smile and walk out the door.


Accepted!
 
bluepotato said:
Yeah, she asked me why I was still interested given all of that and I talked about how the need was there regardless and that it was personally important to me, etc. I'm sure I could've come up with a more compelling response but I was freaking out a little because I realized bringing up money probably wasn't the best move. Oh well.
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Whether or not you've proven your words is another thing, but I think that's a good followup. I think you dug yourself out of the hole just fine. I wouldn't worry.
 
DO Fo Sho said:
I got one as well.

During my first interview:
I: How will the ACA affect healthcare once its implemented?
DFS: Hopefully the cost of healthcare would eventually be lowered as fewer people would be using the ED for primary care. People will have insurance and they will be able to access the system on the front end through PCP's instead of the back end....I go blank!!! seriously, I looked at both my interviewers and just smile and say please forgive me but I've lost my train of thought.
I: so whats that disease where you forget things?
DFS: (in my head I'm like I got this) Alzheimer's?!
I: correct he says smiling ear to ear. Do you have any more questions for us?
DFS: No I think you have answered everything ( I was so embarrassed I wanted to just go)

I get up to leave and shake their hands and forget my notes on the desk in front of me. I'm almost out the door to safety when one of my interviewers says, 'hey you for got your notes."
I shamefully grab my notes and the interviewer says again," what that disease where you forget things?"

I say ,"I'm not quite sure I cant remember", smile and walk out the door.


Accepted!
Click to expand...

That last bit made me lol. Very very similar situation during one of my first interviews (regarding ACA). I'm betting this isn't too uncommon. My interviewer gave me a stupid look for my response, which was virtually identical to yours. Result: on hold. =/
 
bluepotato said:
Yeah, she asked me why I was still interested given all of that and I talked about how the need was there regardless and that it was personally important to me, etc. I'm sure I could've come up with a more compelling response but I was freaking out a little because I realized bringing up money probably wasn't the best move. Oh well.
Click to expand...
Relax, I think what you said was fine. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging the very real financial burden of a medical education. This is why rural medicine loan forgiveness scholarship deals exist. If anything I think it shows you're going in with your eyes open and demonstrates even more motivation than some starry-eyed premed who thinks they're going to get rich by becoming a doctor. 😎

Bad ways to mention money would be to say you want to go into a high paying specialty for the money and the chicks. 😛
 
Lysilegluleu said:
Whether or not you've proven your words is another thing, but I think that's a good followup. I think you dug yourself out of the hole just fine. I wouldn't worry.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I hope you're right!


Dianyla said:
Relax, I think what you said was fine. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging the very real financial burden of a medical education. This is why rural medicine loan forgiveness scholarship deals exist. If anything I think it shows you're going in with your eyes open and demonstrates even more motivation than some starry-eyed premed who thinks they're going to get rich by becoming a doctor. 😎

Bad ways to mention money would be to say you want to go into a high paying specialty for the money and the chicks. 😛
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Thanks for the reassurance. I somehow managed not to bring up all of the cars and jewelry I'm planning on buying as soon as I get my first paycheck as a rural family practitioner :laugh:
 
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At my last interview in El Paso...
Interviewer: How do you contribute to our diversity?
Me: I would be a white male med student in El Paso....I am the diversity.

May have been a poor choice of words.
 
CjOz said:
At my last interview in El Paso...
Interviewer: How do you contribute to our diversity?
Me: I would be a white male med student in El Paso....I am the diversity.

May have been a poor choice of words.
Click to expand...

😱 but 😀

I wouldn't have advised it, but appropriate post for this thread.

I tried to cite my extensive clinical exp as the special characteristic if be bringing worth me to the entering class, and the interviewer basically said "Okay, your answer sucks, so now try again." (creative liberty and very base summary applied)
 
Lysilegluleu said:
😱 but 😀

I wouldn't have advised it, but appropriate post for this thread.

I tried to cite my extensive clinical exp as the special characteristic if be bringing worth me to the entering class, and the interviewer basically said "Okay, your answer sucks, so now try again." (creative liberty and very base summary applied)
Click to expand...

The one benefit of being a minority was having no trouble answering this question.

Sent from my Galaxy S2, I think. But I don't really know, I'm just a lowly premed.
 
CjOz said:
At my last interview in El Paso...
Interviewer: How do you contribute to our diversity?
Me: I would be a white male med student in El Paso....I am the diversity.

May have been a poor choice of words.
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
Lysilegluleu said:
😱 but 😀

I wouldn't have advised it, but appropriate post for this thread.

I tried to cite my extensive clinical exp as the special characteristic if be bringing worth me to the entering class, and the interviewer basically said "Okay, your answer sucks, so now try again." (creative liberty and very base summary applied)
Click to expand...

If I had to do it all over again, I'd respond with "why on god's green earth would that matter?"

It's as if the adcom members get an extra $1000 bonus for every left-handed eskimo theater major they reel in. Ridiculous.
 
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Lysilegluleu said:
😱 but 😀

I wouldn't have advised it, but appropriate post for this thread.

I tried to cite my extensive clinical exp as the special characteristic if be bringing worth me to the entering class, and the interviewer basically said "Okay, your answer sucks, so now try again." (creative liberty and very base summary applied)
Click to expand...

Hahaha cant believe your interviewer told you to try again. Hope you made it in somewhere.
 
DO Fo Sho said:
I got one as well.

During my first interview:
I: How will the ACA affect healthcare once its implemented?
DFS: Hopefully the cost of healthcare would eventually be lowered as fewer people would be using the ED for primary care. People will have insurance and they will be able to access the system on the front end through PCP's instead of the back end....I go blank!!! seriously, I looked at both my interviewers and just smile and say please forgive me but I've lost my train of thought.
I: so whats that disease where you forget things?
DFS: (in my head I'm like I got this) Alzheimer's?!
I: correct he says smiling ear to ear. Do you have any more questions for us?
DFS: No I think you have answered everything ( I was so embarrassed I wanted to just go)

I get up to leave and shake their hands and forget my notes on the desk in front of me. I'm almost out the door to safety when one of my interviewers says, 'hey you for got your notes."
I shamefully grab my notes and the interviewer says again," what that disease where you forget things?"

I say ,"I'm not quite sure I cant remember", smile and walk out the door.


Accepted!
Click to expand...

This is so funny! Excellent touch of comedy at the end for the win! 👍
 
Yea. It's a bit of a stretch to expect that everybody is a unique snowflake with their own superpower. I am on hold at that school, but I've received two acceptances otherwise.
 
Interviewer: So tell me, what area do you think you have to work on ? [gives me a list of attributes].
Me: I need to be more humble.
Interviewer: 😕
Me: Well, since we started this interview, I have just been talking about myself and I feel that I've been highlighting all of my strengths and letting you know how awesome I am. I think that this medical school application process has made me less humble.
Interviewer: :lame:
Me: Haha....I'm just kidding...ummm... 🙁
Interviewer: :lame: time is up

RESULT= Acceptance !!!
 
Interviewer: So I see that you didn't perform very well in your first 3 semesters, especially compared to your performance after that. Can you tell me why?
Me (totally blanking out..): Well, I think I just wasn't interested in a lot of the material. I found it difficult to see any relevance in what I was being taught.
Interviewer: Medical is school is full of information like this. How are you going to perform well in medical school if you couldn't even do it in undergrad?
Me (frantically realizing I need to pull this together because I'm bombing it): Well it's like my mom always says (she has never said this or anything remotely like this) "you need to suffer through a little rain to get to the rainbow!" (WHAT?!?!?!?! DID I JUST USE THAT CLICHE?)
Interviewer: smiles, moves on to next question

Result: 'alternate list' and now accepted!
 
La Presse said:
That joke was in poor taste.
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Not even remotely. Funny, well placed, well executed. Should have been a 10/10 way to break up the awkward seriousness of interviews but it sounds like the interviewer had no discernible sense of humor.
 
as1212559 said:
Not even remotely. Funny, well placed, well executed. Should have been a 10/10 way to break up the awkward seriousness of interviews but it sounds like the interviewer had no discernible sense of humor.
Click to expand...

Haha thank you, thank you very much. I certainly thought I was funny. I think she was caught off guard because I laughed so hard at my own joke... happens.
 
GuyWhoDoesStuff said:
If I had to do it all over again, I'd respond with "why on god's green earth would that matter?"

It's as if the adcom members get an extra $1000 bonus for every left-handed eskimo theater major they reel in. Ridiculous
Click to expand...
We don't?
😕


😱 I need to call my financial planner.

:laugh:
 
BuddyTheElf said:
I just remembered an awful answer I gave at an interview. It was my very first interview at a school that I wasn't really interested in, so I wasn't too beat up about it... but I was very embarrassed!

We were talking about general surgeons for a good 10 minutes then right in the middle of it, she says:
Interviewer: If you were to become Surgeon General tomorrow, what is the first thing you would do?
Me: (Thinking she said general surgeon.. not surgeon general) ...*pause*... I guess I would work on my bedside manner? There are a lot of surgeons that I've encountered who have a pretty awful bedside manner, which is important to... blah blah blah (then I elaborated).

She gave me a puzzled look then moved on. I didn't even catch this mistake until I walked out the door. I really thought she said general surgeon and I thought that was such a bizarre question to ask. :smack: 🙄
Click to expand...

Lol it makes sense that you got confused. I would have had some ideas... but I work in the public health field.
 
LizzyM said:
We don't?
😕


😱 I need to call my financial planner.

:laugh:
Click to expand...

I don't wanna turn this into an "ask LizzyM..." thread, but what kinda answer do you expect there, or what is the goal by asking that question? Just curious, because despite how special I may think I am, I know there are plenty of people out there who have done the same sorts of things/have the same sorts of qualities and others who have qualities/achievements very far beyond mine in magnitude. How should one approach a "how are you special-ish?" type of question?

Thanks in advance if you choose to indulge me there, and please feel free to disregard if you think it might be a bad plan.
 
CjOz said:
At my last interview in El Paso...
Interviewer: How do you contribute to our diversity?
Me: I would be a white male med student in El Paso....I am the diversity.

May have been a poor choice of words.
Click to expand...

"Are you asking me about my ethnic background? I'm pretty sure that's not allowed."
 
MMI Interviewer: How would you deal with a disgruntled groupmate?
Me: I would use some humor.
MMI Int: Like what?
Me: ::to groupmate:: It's not that bad, it could be worse. We'll get through this. [More rambling]
MMI Int: <SILENCE>
Me: Yeah that wasn't funny. It's hard to be funny off the top of my head, I'm sure my humor would be spontaneous.
MMI: Anything else?
Me: can I think for a minute please?
MMI: Sure
Me: ::after about 30 seconds:: Yea, I got nothing
TIMES UP

I got rejected..
 
Bump! The interview season is coming.
 
I can't wait to see the revival of this thread!!! 😀
 
My interviewer was a doctor originally from England
He asks me about books I read. We talk about the book 1984. He condescendingly says something about the American people and Big Brother
I ask "don't you guys have cameras on every street corner in London?"
He gives me this look and moves on
800px-angry_tiger.jpg
 
LOL I can totally picture that cat face on your interviewer =D
 
Ginger Ale said:
MMI Interviewer: How would you deal with a disgruntled groupmate?
Me: I would use some humor.
MMI Int: Like what?
Me: ::to groupmate:: It's not that bad, it could be worse. We'll get through this. [More rambling]
MMI Int: <SILENCE>
Me: Yeah that wasn't funny. It's hard to be funny off the top of my head, I'm sure my humor would be spontaneous.
MMI: Anything else?
Me: can I think for a minute please?
MMI: Sure
Me: ::after about 30 seconds:: Yea, I got nothing
TIMES UP

I got rejected..
Click to expand...

:laugh: sorry about the rejection
 
This wasn't mine but a person I know

Interviewer: Do you have any final questions?
Student: So.... did I get in?
Interviewer: I meant questions about the school. (annoyed)

yikes =/

I guess the rest of the interview went well, he got accepted
 
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La Presse said:
Go to hell. 🙂

That's simply not the type of joke I'd say at an interview. Personal pref.
Click to expand...

that's cool man, i'm sure that me and many other people/patients would rather not work with someone without a sense of humor. you keep doing what you're doing though, i'm sure you'll go far. 🙂
 
zippyziggy said:
that's cool man, i'm sure that me and many other people/patients would rather not work with someone without a sense of humor. you keep doing what you're doing though, i'm sure you'll go far. 🙂
Click to expand...

I'm sure I will. Thanks for the faith.
 
DrSis16 said:
This wasn't mine but a person I know

Interviewer: Do you have any final questions?
Student: So.... did I get in?
Interviewer: I meant questions about the school. (annoyed)

yikes =/

I guess the rest of the interview went well, he got accepted
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Yeah I can see why that response is annoying.
 
Doctor246853 said:
Interview: Hi, Have a seat.
Me: No thank you. (inner facepalm not thinking)
Interview:OK??? So I see you got a _ gpa?
Me: Well..*nose starts to run*
Interview: Uh. Are you OK? Do you need tissue?
Me: No thank you. (inner facepalm Im confused and nervous now)
Interview: Why do you want to attend this school?
Me: Because (wrong school name) is my top choice school!
Interview: Stare at each other like is this fool for real?
Me: *back,chest,face and ass sweating at an unbelieveable rate*
Interview:Ok thank you do you have any questions?
Me: Yes thank you..(and walk out without thinking)
I walked straight to car, cried on the way home, then smiled and told family I totally rocked the interview. Then went in the restroom, turned on the shower and sat on toliet crying...🙁 It was pretty bad.
Click to expand...

^ Best one on this thread :laugh:
 
Ooo I remember another one. The question was "What are you passionate about (other than medicine)"? I'm pretty boring so I said cooking

Me: I really like to cook
Interviewer: What do you like to cook?
Me: I love to cook a good steak
Interviewer: What's your favorite cut of steak?
Me: .... uhhhh (I don't know any)
 
Interviewer: "Tell me, why did your grades drop during your X semester of your X year?"
Not Me: *Gulp* "My dog ate all my homework."
Interviewer: ________

Help me fill in the blank y'all.
 
Geebeejay said:
ISo, what are you're reading?
me Well, the book I'm currently in the middle of is a sort of biography about Al Pacino. It's interesting because it attempts to justify the events in his latter life, and his violent nature - and I like literature that empathizes with the bad guy.
i(Kinda confused) well what exactly does the Author believe?
me Well I'm only a hundred pages into it, but the author argues that not only were Pacino's initial intentions designed at the greater good, blah blah blah blah. And apparently, he contracted syphilis as a kid, so the author also tries to blame his often irrational and violent behavior on neurosyphilis, and blah blah blah.
i (Still giving me a sorta weird look) So what do you think?
me Well, I think it's impossible to judge another person based only on their alleged actions, and there will always be a legitimate argument based on the "good" of one's intentions, but on the flip side, he DID kill lots of people blah blah blah.

Right after the interview, I realized Al Pacino is an actor. I was talking about Al Capone.
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Oh my gosh, this is so great! Definitely something I would have done.

Not in an interview but I was telling one of the docs I work with about the GED prep class I teach and I kept accidentally calling it the GRE. It didn't hit me until later why he looked really confused when I was talking about my students' poor experiences with education and teachers, criminal backgrounds, etc...
 
Sassafrass23 said:
Oh my gosh, this is so great! Definitely something I would have done.

Not in an interview but I was telling one of the docs I work with about the GED prep class I teach and I kept accidentally calling it the GRE. It didn't hit me until later why he looked really confused when I was talking about my students' poor experiences with education and teachers, criminal backgrounds, etc...
Click to expand...

LOL Hahaha
 
Interviewer: Any more questions for me?
Me: No... but I think it's cool that you guys have a monorail by your school.

This was like 10 years ago.... the previous month I had just seen the Simpsons episode about the monorail... dammit!! That was a terrible response, I thought I was being funny but once it left my mouth, I realized that unless she watches the Simpsons, she probably thought I was a *****.

Waitlisted.
 
chillaxbro said:
Ooo I remember another one. The question was "What are you passionate about (other than medicine)"? I'm pretty boring so I said cooking

Me: I really like to cook
Interviewer: What do you like to cook?
Me: I love to cook a good steak
Interviewer: What's your favorite cut of steak?
Me: .... uhhhh (I don't know any)
Click to expand...

:smack:
 
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