Worst/Funniest Interview Experiences

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Me: (upon realizing this interviewer has a HARD copy of my file vs. having it up on his laptop/computer/etc) Oh! I have a FILE!
Interviewer: ..........:eyebrow:.............yes.

And....

Interviewer: Sooo was your PI at the NIH supportive of your switch to medicine from research?
Me: Blah blah blah oh he's great! He's about 80, and been around the block and been at the NIH forever, so--
Interviewer: He wasn't at the NIH while I was there.
Me: :ninja:
(Interviewer apparently spent 10 years at the NIH. He left around the time my PI joined.......)
 
Interviewer asking me about my degree in neuroscience (he is a neuroscientist)

Interviewer: "so what is neuroscience?"

Me: "the study of the brain and the processing that is involved."

Interviewer: "what could you do with that degree if you didn't get into medical school?"

Me: "well I could go into research"

Interviewer: "what kind of research"

Me: "brain research"

Facepalm
 
sunflower18 said:
I live in the Pacific Northwest and I don't think our niceness and politeness are facades in the slightest! I genuinely feel compelled to be kind to strangers, no lying involved. I'm sorry your experience has indicated an insincerity with this type of behaviour!

On my interview trail, I haven't experienced overt rudeness in any location, though there are some places where people tend to go out of their way to be nice (i.e. The Midwest) and some places where this behaviour is absent. The former locations feel a bit more familiar to me, since that type of attitude is what I'm used to. But it certainly takes all kinds! And I can see the merits of both perspectives.
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We in the Midwest may go out of our way to help others, but it is by no means a fallacy 😛
 
SynapticDoctah said:
Interviewer asking me about my degree in neuroscience (he is a neuroscientist)

Interviewer: "so what is neuroscience?"

Me: "the study of the brain and the processing that is involved."

Interviewer: "what could you do with that degree if you didn't get into medical school?"

Me: "well I could go into research"

Interviewer: "what kind of research"

Me: "brain research"

Facepalm
Click to expand...

Not only the brain; the entire nervous system.
 
How is that a great question? It's like "what's your name"?

"Name one person in history you'd like to have dinner with and why?"...now THAT'S a great question!

JackieChanFan said:
Here's one:

Enter Room.
Interviewer: Hi! Welcome! Great to meet you, my name is blah blah..
Me: Hi, Dr. X, very nice to meet you, I am blah blah blah...
[After some friendly small chat...]
Interviewer: So tell me about yourself.
Me: That's a great question! I went to college in --
Interviewer: Of course it's a great question, I'm the interviewer. Why wouldn't I ask good questions...
Me: ... 🙁

I've had quite a number of interviews at different schools at this point, and was pretty excited to be asked such a simple question to start off my last interview of the day. I think the rest of this interview went quite well though, although he wasn't the most pleasant interviewer.
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Goro said:
How is that a great question? It's like "what's your name"?

"Name one person in history you'd like to have dinner with and why?"...now THAT'S a great question!
Click to expand...
why so many schools like to ask that question? I've had it twice. Weird.
 
Goro said:
Because we never get the same answer!
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I doubt it...one of my interviewers told me that her husband would have said the same thing...although her husband probably won't be interviewing...
 
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Not about me, but I came across this from the Dean on the Johns Hopkins Admissions FB page:

"This week has been super busy, but it also seems to have passed by quickly. Just a few thoughts:
Please remember to not swear in your interview. This doesn't go over very well with the interviewers"

https://www.facebook.com/JohnsHopkinsSchoolOfMedicineAdmissions
 
This may have been my best or worst interview answer. I am not really sure.

Interviewer: what is one of your biggest weaknesses?

Me: Oreos. (Right after I said this I'm thinking to myself WTF did I just say)
I tried to laugh it off and give a serious answer, but I'm not sure if the interviewer found it funny or not.
 
ShabbaRanks said:
This may have been my best or worst interview answer. I am not really sure.

Interviewer: what is one of your biggest weaknesses?

Me: Oreos. (Right after I said this I'm thinking to myself WTF did I just say)
I tried to laugh it off and give a serious answer, but I'm not sure if the interviewer found it funny or not.
Click to expand...

At least you didn't say "hookers."
 
Ivacuk said:
Not about me, but I came across this from the Dean on the Johns Hopkins Admissions FB page:

"This week has been super busy, but it also seems to have passed by quickly. Just a few thoughts:
Please remember to not swear in your interview. This doesn't go over very well with the interviewers"

https://www.facebook.com/JohnsHopkinsSchoolOfMedicineAdmissions
Click to expand...
Haha, I swore in an interview. The interview mentioned my past, went into all the reasons why I shouldn't be in front of her and my response, "Well f***. I guess I did get dealt a s***ty hand."

Silence....

I regretted those two words for a solid two months awaiting October 15th. There are just so many different ways to reply than using swear words! But the good news was I ended up being accepted to that school and was offered a scholarship. My experience was probably not what you would expect to happen and I definitely don't recommend swearing.
 
ShabbaRanks said:
This may have been my best or worst interview answer. I am not really sure.

Interviewer: what is one of your biggest weaknesses?

Me: Oreos. (Right after I said this I'm thinking to myself WTF did I just say)
I tried to laugh it off and give a serious answer, but I'm not sure if the interviewer found it funny or not.
Click to expand...

haha! That is fantastic. If I was interviewing you I would accept you. I love it.
 
This was during a tour on an interview for a PhD program in clinical psychology, but is relevant here:

Interviewer: And this is the clinic where you'll spend time seeing therapy clients, etc. Any questions?
Applicant: I have one. What's the difference between clinical psychology and psychiatry?

The interviewer answered with a straight face, but the look on everyone else's was priceless!
 
terpskins10 said:
This was during a tour on an interview for a PhD program in clinical psychology, but is relevant here:

Interviewer: And this is the clinic where you'll spend time seeing therapy clients, etc. Any questions?
Applicant: I have one. What's the difference between clinical psychology and psychiatry?

The interviewer answered with a straight face, but the look on everyone else's was priceless!
Click to expand...
This is like straight out of a sitcom or something. lol
 
FriendlyFH said:
I told the admission director, who was one of my interviewer at a school, that I went out drinking with the med students last night. <By drinking I mean 30cc of beer which is my limit after which I start to feel tipsy> The moment that I said it, I regret for having done so. I don't suppose it's a good thing to mention the word "drinking" in the interview.

I've been kicking myself in the foot for the slip of the tongue ever since. I just had 3 interviews in 3 different state in a week and this is after having spent the last 1.5 months on the road. So yeah, I should be easier on myself since I could have a worse interview moment I guess.
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Well at least you've demonstrated you probably have social skills. I would have loved to hangout with students the night before and get the real scoop before going in to the interviews!

For what it's worth, in one of my interviews i didn't quite hear the guy when he said "and there are a lot of theaters" what i heard "and there are a lot of beers" which i may have overly perked up and asked what specific breweries and beers he'd recommend. He kindly corrected me though i'm sure i came off as an alcoholic. Can't say he didn't perk up either so i'm not counting myself out of the running for that faux pas.
 
Interviewer: Why are you interested in being an oncologist?

Me: Well, I think that as a field oncology is really going to skyrocket in terms of technology and advances, so it will be very interesting. I also think that it's a field that could really use more sympathetic physicians, in my experience.

Interviewer: Well I'm an oncologist.

.......silence..........
 
Ivacuk said:
Not about me, but I came across this from the Dean on the Johns Hopkins Admissions FB page:

"This week has been super busy, but it also seems to have passed by quickly. Just a few thoughts:
Please remember to not swear in your interview. This doesn't go over very well with the interviewers"

https://www.facebook.com/JohnsHopkinsSchoolOfMedicineAdmissions
Click to expand...

I'm 90% sure I swore during my hofstra interview with this super super nice PhD that was interviewing me. I thought we had a great conversation, but I was quoting a surgeon and I'm so used to them swearing and swearing around them that I didn't notice until I was done.

I also rambled a bit about how my mom calls me an idiot sometimes. Then I was like wait, what did I say, well she curses at me sometimes. And then I was just like oh my god RTC STOP!

All while trying to talk about how I take criticism well if someone is being constructive with it and I'm pretty thick skinned about this stuff.

BABSstudent said:
Haha, I swore in an interview. The interview mentioned my past, went into all the reasons why I shouldn't be in front of her and my response, "Well f***. I guess I did get dealt a s***ty hand."

Silence....

I regretted those two words for a solid two months awaiting October 15th. There are just so many different ways to reply than using swear words! But the good news was I ended up being accepted to that school and was offered a scholarship. My experience was probably not what you would expect to happen and I definitely don't recommend swearing.
Click to expand...

Hah, crossing my fingers for the same result lol.

gracekelly530 said:
Interviewer: Why are you interested in being an oncologist?

Me: Well, I think that as a field oncology is really going to skyrocket in terms of technology and advances, so it will be very interesting. I also think that it's a field that could really use more sympathetic physicians, in my experience.

Interviewer: Well I'm an oncologist.

.......silence..........
Click to expand...

Hofstra?

"We could use more people like you!"
 
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OH! During the go around: Undergrad/what are you doing now/fun fact bit, my fun fact was:

"Well, you know how you take malaria prophylaxis? Well guess what happens when you stop. Oops.."

The dean just kind of looked at me, everyone else laughed, and I was like "welp, yup. I've had malaria."
 
Pre MMI prep talk

Director of admission
"So anybody ever did speed dating?"
(On retrospect, he said it in a way that wasn't really mean to be a question, rather like a prompt to go on talking about MMI, also I felt like he did not expect anybody to say yes)

Of course I was the only one who put her hand up, rather overly enthusiastically. Sigh. Not again.
 
(Towards wrapping up the end of a great interview)
Interviewer: "So, I know I'm not supposed to ask this, but where else have you interviewed?"
Me: "Actually, this has the only place I've been invited to interview so far..."
Interviewer: *blank face* "Oh ... well, I'm sure you'll get in somewhere. And if not, you can always apply again next year."

I then tried defending it by saying that I imagine schools interview candidates who they see potentially fulfilling their mission, and so this school perhaps saw I may/will fit in... but man, something tells me that change in expression planted some seed of doubt in the guy's head about "Maybe there's something wrong with this applicant, and we haven't realized it" ... but it could just be the neurotic in me speaking.
 
RedPhys said:
(Towards wrapping up the end of a great interview)
Interviewer: "So, I know I'm not supposed to ask this, but where else have you interviewed?"
Me: "Actually, this has the only place I've been invited to interview so far..."
Interviewer: *blank face* "Oh ... well, I'm sure you'll get in somewhere. And if not, you can always apply again next year."

I then tried defending it by saying that I imagine schools interview candidates who they see potentially fulfilling their mission, and so this school perhaps saw I may/will fit in... but man, something tells me that change in expression planted some seed of doubt in the guy's head about "Maybe there's something wrong with this applicant, and we haven't realized it" ... but it could just be the neurotic in me speaking.
Click to expand...

I would have probably responded by saying, "Great, then don't ask that."
 
Interviewer: (after I just went through a quick summary of a bunch of ECs) So when you wake up in the morning what is the one thing that pops in your mind, gets you out of bed, and has you constantly looking forward to it?

Me: Breakfast

Result: accepted
 
Norm0cephalic said:
Interviewer: (after I just went through a quick summary of a bunch of ECs) So when you wake up in the morning what is the one thing that pops in your mind, gets you out of bed, and has you constantly looking forward to it?

Me: Breakfast

Result: accepted
Click to expand...

Best story I've heard in years.
 
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Norm0cephalic said:
Interviewer: (after I just went through a quick summary of a bunch of ECs) So when you wake up in the morning what is the one thing that pops in your mind, gets you out of bed, and has you constantly looking forward to it?

Me: Breakfast

Result: accepted
Click to expand...

jonnythan said:
Best story I've heard in years.
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I would have said coffee to be honest.
 
ridethecliche said:
I would have probably responded by saying, "Great, then don't ask that."
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Well, the interview had been going great. He had even told me I had an "A+ interview" and that he would write me a good evaluation (he showed me the paper he fills out for the people he interviews). It was just pretty conversational, so I guess he got curious as to where else I might be interviewing (since he found me to be a really particular, unique applicant).

In any case, I can see now why it's the type of question that we interviewers, technically, shouldn't be answering.
 
RedPhys said:
Well, the interview had been going great. He had even told me I had an "A+ interview" and that he would write me a good evaluation (he showed me the paper he fills out for the people he interviews). It was just pretty conversational, so I guess he got curious as to where else I might be interviewing (since he found me to be a really particular, unique applicant).

In any case, I can see now why it's the type of question that we interviewers, technically, shouldn't be answering.
Click to expand...

Exactly, frankly it's none of their business. The only thing your answer can do is hurt you because they either think you're stupid, lying, or unlikely to come there if accepted. It's a really awkward question.
 
RedPhys said:
Well, the interview had been going great. He had even told me I had an "A+ interview" and that he would write me a good evaluation (he showed me the paper he fills out for the people he interviews). It was just pretty conversational, so I guess he got curious as to where else I might be interviewing (since he found me to be a really particular, unique applicant).

In any case, I can see now why it's the type of question that we interviewers, technically, shouldn't be answering.
Click to expand...
I so agree with RTC. I've been asked this question at interviews as well and it's always awkward. For the future, I'd phrase it very carefully with a tone that suggests your answer is the end of that discussion and don't give away all your secrets. Maybe go with: Well...you are my first interview how did i do? End with something that changes the subject from other schools back to you or anything else you can think of. Technically you are not lying by saying they are your first while at the same time (if your tone is right) implying there may be more which you won't be elaborating on and bonus...not telling them they are your only. If they press for more make a joke along the lines that you can't give away all your secrets. That's been my strategy.
 
RedPhys said:
Well, the interview had been going great. He had even told me I had an "A+ interview" and that he would write me a good evaluation (he showed me the paper he fills out for the people he interviews). It was just pretty conversational, so I guess he got curious as to where else I might be interviewing (since he found me to be a really particular, unique applicant).

In any case, I can see now why it's the type of question that we interviewers, technically, shouldn't be answering.
Click to expand...

I had someone ask me at the second school I interviewed at (at that point I had only two II).

Interviewer: "So where else are you interviewing?"
Me: "I had one last week at **other TX school** so I'm a lot less nervous now."
Interviewer: "Well I'm sure you'll be very busy with interviews this semester!"
Me: "I hope so."

Said this a little too enthusiastically to an adcom at one of my lower schools. Totally though I came off as hoping to get more interviews than at her school.

Result: accepted
 
I think I'd phrase it as:

"While this cycle is far from over and I've applied to other institutions in order to achieve my goal of becoming a physician, I especially love your program because..."

Take it back to why you like their school. If someone can help me tighten up the first part of that statement, I'd love it. I actually wasn't selected for a job once because the PI thought I was applying to med school that cycle even though I told him I wasn't. I had a friend that worked in the department and told me about it. I'm so much happier now than I ever would have been at that position, but it was still frustrating.
 
This was a undergraduate research position, and I was meeting with the prof who is a distinguished research professor and badass:

"Tell me about yourself"
*ah easy question here we go*
*defaults to same line I sent in the email*

Me: "I am a junior, biology major, third year, and pre-dental..... And uh, I like to rock climb"
*oh wow, that was redundant on multiple levels*

Prof: "You have a death wish or something?"

Me: "I am adventurous"

Could have mentioned so many other things or explained how climbing teaches you to be precise and successful (ie pick self up fall down repeat) but nope, had to sound like donkey from shrek


Result: Accepted and starting in the spring!
 
Goro said:
How is that a great question? It's like "what's your name"?

"Name one person in history you'd like to have dinner with and why?"...now THAT'S a great question!
Click to expand...

I would have to choose two because I can't pick one.

At still and hela!
 
Goro said:
"Name one person in history you'd like to have dinner with and why?"...now THAT'S a great question!
Click to expand...
Would it be selfish to say a family member? I thought about that question some time back and thought I would really have liked to get to have dinner (to get to know and just have conversation with) either one (or both!) of my father's parents (they both died long before I was born).
 
RedPhys said:
Would it be selfish to say a family member? I thought about that question some time back and thought I would really have liked to get to have dinner (to get to know and just have conversation with) either one (or both!) of my father's parents (they both died long before I was born).
Click to expand...
I bet it's fine... nothing wrong with being family-oriented.
 
Original and fine.

RedPhys said:
Would it be selfish to say a family member? I thought about that question some time back and thought I would really have liked to get to have dinner (to get to know and just have conversation with) either one (or both!) of my father's parents (they both died long before I was born).
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
How is that a great question? It's like "what's your name"?

"Name one person in history you'd like to have dinner with and why?"...now THAT'S a great question!
Click to expand...

Is there a bad answer to that? Maybe too cliché? My friend said a famous scientist and her interviewer responded with "You just don't want to pay for dinner" ...uhhhh lol
 
Mentos9 said:
Is there a bad answer to that? Maybe too cliché? My friend said a famous scientist and her interviewer responded with "You just don't want to pay for dinner" ...uhhhh lol
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Any time I hear that question, I think of something I heard Daniel Handler say a few years ago (not that he's a great person to quote at the moment): "I don't want to have dinner with anyone dead. It would be awful. They'd be like, 'What's going on? What happened? Why am I here? Who are you?' and you'd just be like, 'C'mon, let's just do dinner!'"
 
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