Worst/Funniest Interview Experiences

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Members don't see this ad.
TallPreMed said:
Most people applying to med school are nerds. Awkward is like a second language to these people.
Click to expand...

nwts said:
It kind of depends. If you are a little nervous and awkward, I think they understand. Additionally, there are probably a lot of people who are a little nervous and awkward, so you wouldn't really stand out a ton if it was only a little bit of nerves. However, if you are nervous and awkward to a degree that makes you stand out as being significantly more so than the majority of applicants, I think it can be a definite negative.
Click to expand...
Then what could cause you to be rejected post interview? Just giving answers that the interviewer doesn't like?
 
Last edited:
I am included in that as well. Awkward as they come. Despite being more of a "jock" by playing sports... I'm a straight up nerd. Awkward as I can possible be. And proud of it.
 
baratheonfire said:
Then what could cause you to be rejected post interview? Just giving answers that the interviewer doesn't like?
Click to expand...
Being a sociopath.

But seriously, there's a difference in being awkward but welcoming and standoffish. Or being an egotistical bastard.
 
TallPreMed said:
I live in the hipster neighborhood of my city. They are the worst kinds of people. I've newer encountered more self-absorbed, puffy jacket- beanie wearing cranks with full Paul Bunyan beards at the trader joes down the road from me who drink locally brewed draft coffee on Saturday mornings as they browse the local farmers market in search of the best tasting oils for their gluten free bread and dairy free cheese plates they have at their hipster houses that run on biodiesel fuel.
Click to expand...
Wow, people who are conscious of their energy consumption and support local farmers and small businesses?? The horror...
 
osckey said:
At another interview their was a girl who was so ridiculously nervous and bad at conversation (which she would initiate) that I eventually looked up and asked her if she felt nervous. After replying "yes", I said, "Yea, it's showing a little. Take a breath and take it easy". She tried her best but the awkwardness persisted to the point that she began equating the number of questions asked during our tour of the school with the measure of her charisma and charm. The questions got so numerous and bad that the other candidates and myself got to the point of rolling our eyes at each other every time she asked a question.
Click to expand...
Wow dude you're kinda mean
 
I came here for the self deprecating lulz not the hipster opinion polls.

In honor of such:
Interviewer: I see you graduated last December, what have you been up to for the last year?
Me: It hasn't been a year! *Thinks for a second* Oh wait it's already December - shoot time sure does fly by 😛
Both: *awkward laugh*
Result - waitlisted haha
 
baratheonfire said:
Wow dude you're kinda mean
Click to expand...
I know it sounds like I said it in a mean tone but I really didn't. I tried to calm her nerves a bit and didn't speak to her in a condescending tone. Poor girl was so nervous.
 
Reckoner said:
You mean like calling a group of people "the worst" because they enjoy different things than you? 😉
Click to expand...

I smell a hipster.

Been to any good kombucha bars lately?
 
TallPreMed said:
I smell a hipster.

Been to any good kombucha bars lately?
Click to expand...
And here I thought I was just an entitled millennial. I'll have to update my CV

Never tried kombucha, not a big tea fan. Oddly enough my grandpa (who lives somewhere that has never once been labelled "hip") loves it. Maybe he's the original hipster. I don't know. He did serve in the Korean War - way more obscure than 'Nam or WWII
 
Reckoner said:
And here I thought I was just an entitled millennial. I'll have to update my CV

Never tried kombucha, not a big tea fan. Oddly enough my grandpa (who lives somewhere that has never once been labelled "hip") loves it. Maybe he's the original hipster. I don't know. He did serve in the Korean War - way more obscure than 'Nam or WWII
Click to expand...
It sounds like it, he didn't want to get too mainstream
 
I have been told that Interviewers hate hearing the words "I needed to concentrate of my classes so I didn't volunteer/(insert other activity) much that semester." and that only time that is acceptable is if you are referring to your freshman year.

Can someone confirm if they've heard this before?
 
LoveBeingHuman:) said:
I have been told that Interviewers hate hearing the words "I needed to concentrate of my classes so I didn't volunteer/(insert other activity) much that semester." and that only time that is acceptable is if you are referring to your freshman year.

Can someone confirm if they've heard this before?
Click to expand...
I would say that excuses aren't acceptable anytime. It's different if you have a legit reason, ie medical, family, etc. But in general people don't like excuses for anything. Just my 2 cents
 
Is it better to give half-hearted standard excuses or just to say that that no excuse could relieve responsibility for a drop in performance, and that you learned from the mistake later on?
Because I really have no excuse for why I had a low gpa last semester (other than becoming overconfident from my performance in the previous semester and not trying as hard as I should have).
 
You should be honest instead of trying to guess what they want to hear.

If you don't know why you sucked last year, sit down and figure it out. If you were overconfident and didn't put in enough work, then that's your answer if someone asks why your GPA tanked.
 
I was referring more along the lines of the idea that they don't like the idea of someone ignoring activities in order to increase their GPA
 
LoveBeingHuman:) said:
I was referring more along the lines of the idea that they don't like the idea of someone ignoring activities in order to increase their GPA
Click to expand...
I think it depends on the situation and what exactly you say. If you hardly have any volunteering, jobs, extracurriculars, etc. at all and you say that you were trying to focus on academics, that doesn't come off well because there are literally thousands of other applicants who have very good grades and managed to get those grades while volunteering, working, and participating in extracurriculars. If you did a little less in your freshman year than you did in the subsequent years, I don't think it would be bad to say: "When I started college, I didn't want to overcommit myself and end up either getting poor grades or failing to fulfill my obligations. As I got further into my freshman year, I realized that I was able to accommodate more activities, so I added more things to my schedule."
 
From an interview I had this past Monday - my interviewer was a PhD who went on talking about his research for so long and my brain completely shut down after the first couple minutes.

Interviewer: ...I'm sorry, am I boring you?

Me: What? No, of course not!

Interviewer: Well you look like you really don't want to be here.

Me *panic*: Oh um, I'm sorry... I um... I was having trouble following what you were saying, I don't have much of a background in biochemistry.

Interviewer *looking insulted*: Well if it bores you so much when I talk about it now, how are you going to do when you're in my class?

Me: I'd probably skip it and learn independently.

Interviewer *definitely insulted*: I see, well it was nice meeting you.


Can't wait to hear back from this one, pretty sure I'm in!!
 
whatever5 said:
From an interview I had this past Monday - my interviewer was a PhD who went on talking about his research for so long and my brain completely shut down after the first couple minutes.

Interviewer: ...I'm sorry, am I boring you?

Me: What? No, of course not!

Interviewer: Well you look like you really don't want to be here.

Me *panic*: Oh um, I'm sorry... I um... I was having trouble following what you were saying, I don't have much of a background in biochemistry.

Interviewer *looking insulted*: Well if it bores you so much when I talk about it now, how are you going to do when you're in my class?

Me: I'd probably skip it and learn independently.

Interviewer *definitely insulted*: I see, well it was nice meeting you.


Can't wait to hear back from this one, pretty sure I'm in!!
Click to expand...

Ouch! I'm sorry, that's just rough, mate! I feel like you were screwed right when he/she noticed you were bored and called you out on it...what a jerk move! Does not common courtesy dictate that if you're boring someone, you change the subject instead of getting all insulted and vindictive?
 
whatever5 said:
From an interview I had this past Monday - my interviewer was a PhD who went on talking about his research for so long and my brain completely shut down after the first couple minutes.

Interviewer: ...I'm sorry, am I boring you?

Me: What? No, of course not!

Interviewer: Well you look like you really don't want to be here.

Me *panic*: Oh um, I'm sorry... I um... I was having trouble following what you were saying, I don't have much of a background in biochemistry.

Interviewer *looking insulted*: Well if it bores you so much when I talk about it now, how are you going to do when you're in my class?

Me: I'd probably skip it and learn independently.

Interviewer *definitely insulted*: I see, well it was nice meeting you.


Can't wait to hear back from this one, pretty sure I'm in!!
Click to expand...
Oh my goodness. Mine wasn't rude like that, but my first interviewer did go on and on about his research. It was interesting, but it made me 15 minutes late for my second 30 minute interview. There was no clock in his office and I didn't have the nerve to look at my phone for the time.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using SDN mobile
 
Talked to my advisor today he said during a PA school interview they gave a candidate a scenario: "A nurse confronts you with something that you did being incorrect, and wrong. What do you do?"
Kids answer: "Well she is a nurse so it doesn't matter what she thinks"

WRONG ANSWER
 
I said: "I really improved my communication skills with family of patients while doing X volunteering experience"
Interviewer: "That's great. Give me an example of how you improved, or how you approach family members who look to be upset"
Me: "Uhhhhhh"
Moral of the story: Don' give broad answers in your interview that you don't have an example for!🙂
 
While at my first interview of the day at XYZ, after the conversation had been winding down for a couple of minutes:

Interviewer: Well I very much enjoyed the opportunity to speak with you.

Me: *starts to stand up to shake his hand* Me too! *stops abruptly and sits down when I see he hasn't moved*

Interviewer: I wish you luck in your future endeavors, and with your next interview!

Me: *starts to stand up again* Thank you very much! *sits down again when I see he still hasn't moved*

Interviewer: *says something else that normally would end a conversation and stays seated*

Me: *completely confused and scared to stand up again*

Interviewer: Good luck! *finally stands up*

Me: *finally gets up and gets the chance to shake his hand and leave the office* Thank you!

I thought for sure he would dock me for looking like I was trying to escape nearly three times in a row, but in most of my other interviews the interviewer usually ushers you out fairly quickly once they're done asking questions to keep to the schedule. Shockingly it didn't seem to hurt, as I ended up being accepted a week later, even after what I would consider my weakest interview performance of the cycle.

😵
 
whatever5 said:
From an interview I had this past Monday - my interviewer was a PhD who went on talking about his research for so long and my brain completely shut down after the first couple minutes.

Interviewer: ...I'm sorry, am I boring you?

Me: What? No, of course not!

Interviewer: Well you look like you really don't want to be here.

Me *panic*: Oh um, I'm sorry... I um... I was having trouble following what you were saying, I don't have much of a background in biochemistry.

Interviewer *looking insulted*: Well if it bores you so much when I talk about it now, how are you going to do when you're in my class?

Me: I'd probably skip it and learn independently.

Interviewer *definitely insulted*: I see, well it was nice meeting you.


Can't wait to hear back from this one, pretty sure I'm in!!
Click to expand...
please update us when you have the chance!
 
whatever5 said:
From an interview I had this past Monday - my interviewer was a PhD who went on talking about his research for so long and my brain completely shut down after the first couple minutes.

Interviewer: ...I'm sorry, am I boring you?

Me: What? No, of course not!

Interviewer: Well you look like you really don't want to be here.

Me *panic*: Oh um, I'm sorry... I um... I was having trouble following what you were saying, I don't have much of a background in biochemistry.

Interviewer *looking insulted*: Well if it bores you so much when I talk about it now, how are you going to do when you're in my class?

Me: I'd probably skip it and learn independently.

Interviewer *definitely insulted*: I see, well it was nice meeting you.


Can't wait to hear back from this one, pretty sure I'm in!!
Click to expand...

You're joking.....right? You didn't actually say to an interviewer that did you?
 
Im76at711 said:
please update us when you have the chance!
Click to expand...
Still haven't heard back, but I'll update when I do.

JustAPhD said:
You're joking.....right? You didn't actually say to an interviewer that did you?
Click to expand...
You do know what thread this is, right?
Though if you're looking to understand my thought process, I didn't think the professor would have such a big ego about that considering the first year's told me only about 15-20 out of a class of 200+ actually go to lecture.
 
Admissions Dean, to all the applicants: These are closed-file interviews. We want to have a normal conversation with you. Please, PLEASE do not just rattle off your whole life story like a robot. Don't make your interviewer's eyes glaze over. It's so sad when an applicant does this, because it's almost like knocking 5 points off of your MCAT. Don't laugh! Some of you are nodding but you're going to do it anyway.

... later, at the start of the interview ...

Interviewer: So, tell me about yourself.
Me: (I start to nervously rattle off my whole life story, thinking to myself: What am I doing? Why won't my mouth shut up? Quick, think of a good way to stop that isn't so abrupt that it seems weird and ...)
Interviewer: (interrupting) Uh, you REALLY do not need to go into so much detail. Just give me the highlights, ok?
Me: :scared::smack:😳

Result: Accepted!
 
Chasing Never Land said:
My friend just got back from an interview. She says the head of admissions, after asking them to share a fun fact about themselves, asked them not to do anything too weird. Apparently, last year a candidate's fun fact was that they could lick their elbows. Which they proceeded to demonstrate in front of everyone.

Lol laughed really hard when I heard this.
Click to expand...
I got this and lied by saying "my family has like 6 cats". We dont have any pets.
 
How can you bring diversity to this school?

"Well, I can only bring myself to the table so I guess you could I represent..blah...blah...blah...*at this point I realized I was talking in circles and had gone way off the premise of the question which led to me completely forgetting the original question*... and ok, this is embarrassing but in all honesty I have to say that I cannot remember at all what your question was"

Result: Accepted

She laughed and thanked me for being honest instead of continuing down the rabbit hole I was sprinting down.
 
Interviewer: if I gave you a lot of money to throw an end of Med school graduation party for all of your classmates, what would you do to make it memorable?

Me: ... (Event planning?! What?) Uh, a photographer so people can look at the photos later if they forget. (Thinking NO! That is the worst answer ever!)

Interviewer: ... Ok.

Result: Silence
 
JMMTB said:
Interviewer: if I gave you a lot of money to throw an end of Med school graduation party for all of your classmates, what would you do to make it memorable?

Me: ... (Event planning?! What?) Uh, a photographer so people can look at the photos later if they forget. (Thinking NO! That is the worst answer ever!)

Interviewer: ... Ok.

Result: Silence
Click to expand...

What a ridiculous question lol
 
neurotroph said:
What a ridiculous question lol
Click to expand...
Yeah it was by far my worst interview. Chalked full of ethical questions. They took a phone call half way through... Really changed my opinion of the school sadly.
 
this isn't a worst answer, just a pathetic situation...

I was interviewing with one of the deans at my state school. I was sitting with my legs crossed. We were having a really great, easy conversation, so I wasn't really paying attention to anything else, including the fact that my right leg had fallen totally asleep. After about 40 minutes, he indicated that the interview was over, so I started to stand up to shake his hand. As I stuck my hand out, though, I began falling, rolled my ankle because of my high heels and crashed into the bookcase next to me. I managed to stay upright by clinging to the bookcase and hauling myself back up.

The dean looked utterly horrified. I tried to laugh and told him I was fine, that my foot had just fallen asleep. He said "Thank goodness, because I'm not in orthopaedics!" We chuckled awkwardly, and then he watched as I limped as casually as possible down the long hallway out of his office.

Result: Accepted, most likely out of pity
 
I was asked what I do to relax and I said I read the news. I seriously couldn't think of anything normal to say, and that was probably the most honest answer I could give. I followed it with up some nonsense about how getting a better understanding of my place in today's world is relaxing to me........................the interviewer laughed, I don't blame her
 
WedgeAntilles said:
I was asked what I do to relax and I said I read the news. I seriously couldn't think of anything normal to say, and that was probably the most honest answer I could give. I followed it with up some nonsense about how getting a better understanding of my place in today's world is relaxing to me........................the interviewer laughed, I don't blame her
Click to expand...

My response of "I watch TV" probably didn't come off well, especially when they asked what I watched and I answered with, "The Walking Dead"
:dead:
 
Interviewer: "What is the biggest mistake you have made?"
Me: "I once broke my hand while...(drifting off as I realize there's now way I can tell my interviewer about the time I broke my hand while showboating on a pair of heely's two years ago)...haha I mean I got a concussion from...(drifting off again as I realize that I can't tell the story of the time I decided to take a dare to ski under a 'slow down' sign and completely knocked myself unconscious last year)...well I, uh, uh, there's so many of them I don't know which one to pick 🙂bang:internally smacking myself in the face as I realize this was worse than my previous two answers):slap:"
Interviewer: :uhno:

Result: Waitlisted (This was actually stop 1 during an MMI so I was very psyched out for the rest). Oh well.
 
Nothing dramatically funny or bizarre but..
So I have this habit of laughing out (I just can't stop) whenever I am in a nervous/embarrassing situation. My interviewer was a psychologist.

Interviewer: So what kind of a doctor do you want to be?
Me: I have given a much thought of this Dr.X. In fact, I want to become a psychologist like you because I have a sister who struggled with depression for very long.. ( and I started to chuckle.. WTH am I doing?)
Interviewer: You know depression is nothing to laugh about right?
Me: (realized what I have done) .. Oh No, no way do I think it is funny.. It is just an habit of mine ..blahblah
Interviewer: .. (not pleased)

Result : waitlisted
 
tantacles said:
One of my personal favorites (a residency interview gem):

Attending: If you were stuck on a desert island and could have just one drug, what would you bring?

Residency Applicant: Marijuana.
Click to expand...

You know, if one is genuinely stuck on a desert island, is that really so unreasonable? The increased appetite it confers will help with getting used to whatever diet you will be able to scavenge. I'd want really low grade, seedy shake, though. So I could plant the seeds and grow hemp for fiber and nutrition.

Personally, I would want a big stash of benadryl. I'm going to be allergic to something there. I'd say loratidine, except that the sedative side effect of diphenhydramine would actually be a mercy.

I know there is no "right" answer to these questions, but I'd be interested to hear better answers than the original.
 
Promethean said:
You know, if one is genuinely stuck on a desert island, is that really so unreasonable? The increased appetite it confers will help with getting used to whatever diet you will be able to scavenge. I'd want really low grade, seedy shake, though. So I could plant the seeds and grow hemp for fiber and nutrition.

Personally, I would want a big stash of benadryl. I'm going to be allergic to something there. I'd say loratidine, except that the sedative side effect of diphenhydramine would actually be a mercy.

I know there is no "right" answer to these questions, but I'd be interested to hear better answers than the original.
Click to expand...
Advil. Because I don't know what cold, stomach bug, allergy, or other sickness I may come down with, and I usually avoid taking meds for those anyway...but I sure as hell take at least 400mg of ibuprofen monthly. And hey, it'll at least make me feel marginally better after I fall out of the coconut palm or find myself with a temp of 102F and [insert symptom].
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Most Meaningful Experiences
Replies
2
Views
550
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
M
Other Impactful Experiences?
Replies
4
Views
1K
maybefuturedoctor7
M
R
Types of Clinical Experiences
Replies
6
Views
397
LizzyM
LizzyM
S
Other Impactful Experiences
Replies
1
Views
604
LunaOri
LunaOri
T
Length of Nonclinical Volunteering Experiences
Replies
2
Views
275
candbgirl
C
Top