- Joined
- Aug 2, 2007
- Messages
- 2,760
- Reaction score
- 4
but not dick cheney
but not dick cheney
Interviewer: So, whats going on in the news right now?
Me: .... um... george bush had a shoe thrown at him?
one interviewer laughs, the other stares at me blankly.
Here goes...
Interviewer: I had colleagues that worked in Haiti, and they asked me to come volunteer with them. I said, no, let them die, what do you say?
Me: *roll my eyes*
Interviewer: Did you just dismiss me?? Wow, I have been dismissed.
Me: It's an unfair question.
Interviewer: So now I'm an unfair interviewer?
Me: It's a loaded question. I think that if you were given the opportunity to help, and you could, that you are implicated in their deaths if you don't.
Interviewer: But then how do you balance the need for you at home with that need? Aren't you going to let people down?
Me: Don't you do the same thing when you go home from work here?
Interviewer: It's completely different. Would you go to Darfur if you had children.
Me: Well, maybe not to Darfur...
Interviewer: Oh! So suddenly the people in Darfur don't matter anymore.
... and on and on... it was a hilarious interview. i think we both came out laughing. but it got heated sometimes.
Interviewer: "What do you like to do for fun?"
Me: Usual answer about performing and spending time with friends/family...
Interviewer: "What else do you like to do for fun?"
Me: Well I also like watching TV and movies, I like to be lazy...
I was just like - I can't believe I told my interviewer I am LAZY!It totally slipped out, and I'm really not lazy - but it's nice if I ever have free time to just lounge around the house and not do much of anything.
im from chicago and i had an interview in philadelphia right after the phillies had won the world series and the cubs had been swept in the playoffs
the first question i was asked by my faculty interviewer after the basic, tell me about yourself, was:
'so why do you want to go to ___'
me (trying to make a joke expecting at least a smile out of the interviewer): 'well your baseball team is a lot better, it would be nice to live in a city where a team could win the world series sometime in the last 1oo years'
interviewer (looking blankly at me like she had no idea what i was talking about): 'how about something besides a baseball team'
...that was the last joke i attempted to make throughout the interview
Mayo med school, at least when I applied, had the most ridiculous method of interviewing people (a ******ed phone interview, followed by an on-campus interview if you made the initial cut).
My Mayo phone interview 3 years ago:
Woman on the phone, following ridiculous, prescribed list of questions requiring answers limited to 30 seconds: "Have you ever done anything to help a discouraged friend or associate who was about to just 'give up' on what they were pursuing?"
Me: "Well yea, actually, once I had a friend who was trying to... uh... it worked out that this guy I knew had already tried three times to...hmm...actually, yea, yea I've definitely done that. I've encouraged people."
I was outside of work on my awfully unreliable cell phone, since I didn't care enough about Mayo to skip work and stay at a land line. My cell phone HUNG UP 3 whole times during the "interview," and she called back all three times, each time reading through the ridiculous "terms of interview" and restarting the "recorder."
I got the rejection letter two weeks later. True story...
Sorry... I should say that, in general, most males enjoy shooting the breeze about sports. However, a substantive number of females I know seem to have a physical aversion to talking about sports- to the point that any talk about them immediately turns them off to a conversation. Obviously, there are a lot of girls that like to talk sports too-and some guys who hate them-but the number of females who might be turned off is sufficiently high enough that I wouldn't risk bringing them up in a joke to a person who potentially held my med school fate in her hands unless she brought it up first.
Sorry to anyone who took offense or saw it as a sweeping statement that reflected ALL females... it clearly wasn't intended to be.
Mayo med school, at least when I applied, had the most ridiculous method of interviewing people (a ******ed phone interview, followed by an on-campus interview if you made the initial cut).
My Mayo phone interview 3 years ago:
Woman on the phone, following ridiculous, prescribed list of questions requiring answers limited to 30 seconds: "Have you ever done anything to help a discouraged friend or associate who was about to just 'give up' on what they were pursuing?"
Me: "Well yea, actually, once I had a friend who was trying to... uh... it worked out that this guy I knew had already tried three times to...hmm...actually, yea, yea I've definitely done that. I've encouraged people."
I was outside of work on my awfully unreliable cell phone, since I didn't care enough about Mayo to skip work and stay at a land line. My cell phone HUNG UP 3 whole times during the "interview," and she called back all three times, each time reading through the ridiculous "terms of interview" and restarting the "recorder."
I got the rejection letter two weeks later. True story...
Interviewer: why this school
Me: Dr. Gina told me about it, and she is a nice lady. She wrote my LOR and I had met her only one time!!!!!
Interviewer: anything about the school
Me: you know I got accepted at another school but my husband doesn't like it there, you know redneck.... It would be better for us to live here
never heard of them since
Foot in the mouth moment:
Interviewer: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Me: (without missing a beat) Sleep.
At another interview, this one caught me completely off guard...
Interviewer: So, your mom raised all of you on her own. She must be a spectacular woman.
Me: I guess so. I never really thought about it. (meaning that it was normal for me to grow up in a one-parent household--I saved myself by explaining that answer)
And finally:
Interviewer: do you have any questions for us?
Me: Where's the restroom?![]()
At Tulane, we had interviews with students over lunch.
Worst idea ever. Food + interviews = bad.
Interviewer: What do you think is your greatest strength?
Me: Well I think my greatest strength is my compassion for others. I think I get that from my dad.
Interviewer: Oh yeah? and where does he get it from?
Me: Well, I don't know where he gets it from, but he's a CPA and he's done taxes for free for people who don't have much money. I remember he did a tax return for someone and I asked him "did you charge him?" and he said "how could I, he doesn't have a pot to piss in." and I imagine being like that myself as a doctor.
I didn't think too much of this answer at the time b/c the interviewer actually said "what the F" (he didn't say the actual F-word though) during the interview. But I told some other interviewees and one guy joked, "yeah I like to start off with a racial slur to ease the tension." Needless to say, I felt silly saying "a pot to piss in."
But I was accepted!
Worst idea ever. Food + interviews = bad.
I had almost the same experience with an Indian interviewer during one of my interviews.So at my 5th interview, I'm feeling real good... do the standard chatting up with the other interviewee's, then have my first interview with a Ph.D and that goes super well cause we just end up talking about research....
then the day goes on and I meet my second interviewer
she appears to look like a nice old lady, i assume she is a retire M.D. doing this interviewing thing for fun. But no, let me just say to NEVER ASSUME what your interviewer is like based on appearance. She takes me behind the admissions office, in a little room and sits me down.
She starts out asking nice easy questions, "tell me about yourself, oh you like sports, what did you do studying abroad... blah blah blah.."
then she hits me with "Ok now that we have that over with.... we will start the REAL interview"
meanwhile i was just thinking, come on... how hard can this be, I am a pro at interviewing now...
she asks me "You are the governor of the state, and I want you to draw up a detailed plan for a health care system, please keep things realistic... start now"
so i said "well... i endorse the idea of a universal health care system..."
"NO! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? BREAK IT DOWN FOR ME"
(a little shocked by her tone... and facial expressions...)
"ok, well I guess you would start with implementing a policy where everyone can get screened by health professionals.."
"NO THAT IS NOT RIGHT"
(awkward pause)
(sweat drips down armpit)
(thinking about the rejection coming now...)
(omg... this day was going so well too... guess i won't be coming here)
(ok ok ok ,just keep it together...)
"well, I think it is necessary to emphasize preventative medicine in order to cut down on costs...
(interrupts) "NO THAT IS NOT RIGHT EITHER. I WANT YOU TO BREAK IT DOWNNNN FOR ME"
So basically it goes on like that for 40 minutes of her interrupting me and preaching the ideas of healthcare she has. I have to admit she was right about everything, but HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO CREATE A HEALTHCARE SYSTEM FOR AMERICA!?? I AM ONLY PRE-MED!! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME!???
She even goes to say, I bet you assume I was a nice old lady eh!? I was shocked and appalled. This was probably the 2nd worst interview experience I had (the first I talked about in a previous post), and I left having a headache...
waitlisted... thank god. hope the other interviewees don't get her.
wow.. brutal is definitely the word.. and to the one above too! magikdoc, congrats to surviving lolSo at my very first interview, I was really self conscious because my eyes were really bloodshot due to a weird reaction to my contacts. Like blood red. 😡 <--- imagine that ball right there is my eyeball, and you get the picture. But what can you do, you know? Anyway, so this is how my first interview went:
Interviewer: So I see you went to such and such school..
Me: Yes, I have really enjoyed it.
Him: Well my son goes there and he hates it.
Me: Oh...well that's too bad...um.. what is he studying?
Him: Biology. He wants to go to medical school but I told him that if you want to get in to med school, then that's not the place to go.
Me: Um... ha... well I disagree..?
Him: Why is your eye so red?
Me: (Thinking he did NOT just ask me that!!!) Ha well its just allergies...I have some drops now so it should clear up.
Him: It's not because you were out drinking last night?
Me: Haha, no...
Him: Are you sure?
Me: yes 🙁
Later on...
Him: so do you have any questions for me?
Me: Sure, can you tell me a little more about such and such research program?
Him: I've never heard of it.
Me: well they talked ab out it during the orientation...
Him: Oh well I really don't know anything about most of the medical school programs for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and most of the 4th year. I don't really care about these bullsh**t programs they keep coming up with.
Me: Oh well ok (thinking WHY ARE YOU AN INTERVIEWER THEN??)
I almost cried afterwards. It was pretty brutal.
2 weeks later I was accepted.![]()
Student interviewer: If you could be any flavor of ice cream what would you be and why?
Okay, I'll post my most recent foot-in-the-mouth moment... Let this be a lesson: don't get complacent and DO YOUR HOMEWORK before your interviews!!!
(Closed file interview)
Interviewer: So, what's your learning style?
Me: Oh, well, I'm an independent learner (bla bla bla)...
Interviewer: I mean, what type of curriculum suits you best?
Me: (Realizing, oh crap, I forget what this school's format is!) Oh well, you know, some lecture, some PBL, a mix is good... (Thinking phew, I dodged a bullet here...)
Interviewer: Well, how do you know that you'll be able to learn what you need to in medical school? Are you really sure that our format will work for you?
Me: (Feeling backed in a corner, and with no specific ideas about the curriculum, my mind goes blank and out comes) ... Well, to be honest, I think that the material covered in the pre-clinical curriculum at most med schools is basically the same, it's just how it's packaged. The boards are the boards and you just have to learn a certain body of material. So it doesn't really matter to me how it's delivered, because I'll learn what I need to learn and repackage it into a format that will work for me ... (thinking, oh crap, did I really just say that I think all the curriculum is the SAME?!)
😱 Jury is still out, but I'm not expecting good news 😱
julia...that wasn't so bad!
Aww thanks berken... it was just that, as I later learned, the school had just gone through a whole curriculum reform. And here I was saying it didn't matter! 😳
Was this at Pitt? My student interviewer there asked me the same thing! (I said, rainbow sherbet, haha)
Okay, I'll post my most recent foot-in-the-mouth moment... Let this be a lesson: don't get complacent and DO YOUR HOMEWORK before your interviews!!!
(Closed file interview)
Interviewer: So, what's your learning style?
Me: Oh, well, I'm an independent learner (bla bla bla)...
Interviewer: I mean, what type of curriculum suits you best?
Me: (Realizing, oh crap, I forget what this school's format is!) Oh well, you know, some lecture, some PBL, a mix is good... (Thinking phew, I dodged a bullet here...)
Interviewer: Well, how do you know that you'll be able to learn what you need to in medical school? Are you really sure that our format will work for you?
Me: (Feeling backed in a corner, and with no specific ideas about the curriculum, my mind goes blank and out comes) ... Well, to be honest, I think that the material covered in the pre-clinical curriculum at most med schools is basically the same, it's just how it's packaged. The boards are the boards and you just have to learn a certain body of material. So it doesn't really matter to me how it's delivered, because I'll learn what I need to learn and repackage it into a format that will work for me ... (thinking, oh crap, did I really just say that I think all the curriculum is the SAME?!)
😱 Jury is still out, but I'm not expecting good news 😱
so these aren't terrible, but since i only had 2 interviews, there weren't that many interviews i could screw up..
My first interview, at my top choice school, i get asked "where do you see yourself in 10 years"
Me: "well, i see myself working in an urban hospital.. as a physician.. yeah.. so.. yeah.. wait, can i start over? i just like, TOTALLY lost my train of thought." (said in what i remember as a valleygirl like speech)
i kind of laughed it off. then later, during that same interview, i was talking to my interviewer about his specialty which happened to be geriatrics.
me: "yeah, geriatrics seems like it would be a really interesting field, especially with the baby boomers and all.."
interviewer: "oh really? would you be interested in it?"
me: "yeah definitely ! i mean, i haven't really had a ton of experience with the elderly population, but i have spent a lot of time with my grandma and my great aunts."
uhhh, are you kidding me? i have spent a lot of time with my GRANDMA is now clinical experience??
needless to say i got accepted. WOOOOOOOOOOT
I was interviewing at Loyola in Chicago and my interviewer asked what school was the farthest west I had applied to. I answered Georgetown 🙁