Worst/Funniest Interview Experiences

[Conky]

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Once we were both alone in his office, he went straight to the very FIRST question...


Interviewer: So why do you want to become a doctor?
Me: Who? Me?



hahaha. That's great... I really hate that as a first question.

 

[Conky]

Interviewer- What would you bring if you came to UC Davis?
Me- My basketball shoes and my snowboard.
Interviewer- (Gives me a weird look)
Me- O shoot, you meant intangibles huh?

Ah, he has no sense of humor. That is funny, I would give you serious style points if I were the interviewer.

 

[bigdig91]

Student Interviewer- If you had an unlimited amount of money and one month what would you do?
Me- Well first I think I would give an "unlimited amount"(with finger quotes) to some charities (pause) then I think I would give some to friends and family, lets make it an unlimited amount (pause) and then I think I would give an unlimited amount to every person in the world...

i was hoping not to get this question but the interviewer ended up laughing hysterically

Result: Accepted

 

[lackli]

Had a faculty interview with a really old doctor; I think he was at least 90 or something and really famous. I wish I had known before hand who he was! At the end of the interview I was kind of struggling to find something to say.

Me: So I hear Dr. Soandso recently passed away (He was a really famous doctor and there were memorials everywhere during my interview..still, why did I even bring this up?!)

Interviewer: Yes we were best friends, he actually brought me to this university. He had a stroke seven years ago and it's good that passed away.

Me: Oh I'm really sorry to hear that...

Awkward silence....

Interviewer: Alright I think we're done here...

I'm not holding my breath to hear back from this place.

 

[DrBeks]

wow...this thread has taken me something like three days to read...now i can get back to homework. so worth it! 🙂

 

[Druzie]

and for books, i would say "Twilight," although no interviewers have asked me that one yet. i did end up explaining twilight to one of my professors though...that was interesting...

At my last interview, I had a group interview: two older gentlemen, one male M4, and two male interviewees, plus me. We were each asked different questions, but as usual I got the book question.
Me: "Well, right now I have James Joyce's 'Dubliners' in my bag, which is a beautiful collection of short stories."
I1: "Oh, so you enjoy classics?"
Me: "Yeah, I've been trying to read a lot of classics this year, but" (getting really overeager and excited) "I did recently finish the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer."
I1,2,3: *blank stares*
Me: "You know? There's a movie coming out soon."
I2: "Oh? So what's it about?"
Me: "Oh well, it's a teenage vampire love story!"

I must've had the biggest (albeit sheepish) smile on my face while saying this. The M4 laughed and the older interviewers kind of smiled like they would at a child... like they thought I was either cute or silly (or both) and there was no help for me.

Later on at work, I had moved on to reading Persuasion (Jane Austen) and my coworker had started reading Twilight. One of the doctors in the office told me to tell interviewers I was reading the former, not the latter. D'oh!

 

[abz7]

I had just finishing telling my interviewer about my experience working in a community hospital and how I felt that community health was a critical part of my motivation for being a doctor.
Interviewer: So what kind of specialty are you looking into to?
Me: Radiology or Neurology.
Interviewer looks really confused
Me: Well I know that I may change my mind as I get experienced and may want primary care or something like that.
Basically I just contradicted my motivation for being a doctor.

 

[Conky]

This one is awful.

I had this total d'bag MS2 interviewing me, he was literally reading down a list of the most awful generalized interview questions you could think of. He was in his 30's, if that makes a difference, and extremely dull.

"What is your greatest achievement?" "Greatest failure" "name 2 weaknesses," etc., etc. There was no conversational style like in all my previous interviews. I was pretty on edge...

Now, I want to preface this by assuring you that I have generally been pretty good in interviews... cracked jokes, maintained a light mood, never been inappropriate in anyway.

Ok, so he asks "Is there a physician that you would try to emulate? Or, a physician that you try to avoid emulating?"

So the second part of the question caught me off guard and I say

me: " well there was this one pediatric specialist I went to once when I was like 16 that..... (Oh no, stop what you're saying, that's not funny). errrrrrm, that I wouldn't want to emulate"

interviewer: Why?

me: Well he's in prison.

interviewer: (looks confused) Really, what for?

me: (don't say molesting patients) Uh, molesting patients (wince).

He stared at me then put both hands over his face and winced like he was thinking "What is this kid doing?"

interviewer: Yeah, well, you wouldn't want to emulate him.


At that point, I gave up. I answered the rest of his stupid questions as fast as I could and got out of there. I think he was pretty happy to get out of there too.

Result: REJECTED

 

[lainey234]

This one is awful.

I had this total d'bag MS2 interviewing me, he was literally reading down a list of the most awful generalized interview questions you could think of. He was in his 30's, if that makes a difference, and extremely dull.

"What is your greatest achievement?" "Greatest failure" "name 2 weaknesses," etc., etc. There was no conversational style like in all my previous interviews. I was pretty on edge...

Now, I want to preface this by assuring you that I have generally been pretty good in interviews... cracked jokes, maintained a light mood, never been inappropriate in anyway.

Ok, so he asks "Is there a physician that you would try to emulate? Or, a physician that you try to avoid emulating?"

So the second part of the question caught me off guard and I say

me: " well there was this one pediatric specialist I went to once when I was like 16 that..... (Oh no, stop what you're saying, that's not funny). errrrrrm, that I wouldn't want to emulate"

interviewer: Why?

me: Well he's in prison.

interviewer: (looks confused) Really, what for?

me: (don't say molesting patients) Uh, molesting patients (wince).

He stared at me then put both hands over his face and winced like he was thinking "What is this kid doing?"

interviewer: Yeah, well, you wouldn't want to emulate him.


At that point, I gave up. I answered the rest of his stupid questions as fast as I could and got out of there. I think he was pretty happy to get out of there too.

Result: REJECTED

OMG. Thank you for a much needed laugh. Hopefully you got in someplace and can look back on this and just laugh.

 

[GoSpursGo]

This one is awful.

I had this total d'bag MS2 interviewing me, he was literally reading down a list of the most awful generalized interview questions you could think of. He was in his 30's, if that makes a difference, and extremely dull.

"What is your greatest achievement?" "Greatest failure" "name 2 weaknesses," etc., etc. There was no conversational style like in all my previous interviews. I was pretty on edge...

Now, I want to preface this by assuring you that I have generally been pretty good in interviews... cracked jokes, maintained a light mood, never been inappropriate in anyway.

Ok, so he asks "Is there a physician that you would try to emulate? Or, a physician that you try to avoid emulating?"

So the second part of the question caught me off guard and I say

me: " well there was this one pediatric specialist I went to once when I was like 16 that..... (Oh no, stop what you're saying, that's not funny). errrrrrm, that I wouldn't want to emulate"

interviewer: Why?

me: Well he's in prison.

interviewer: (looks confused) Really, what for?

me: (don't say molesting patients) Uh, molesting patients (wince).

He stared at me then put both hands over his face and winced like he was thinking "What is this kid doing?"

interviewer: Yeah, well, you wouldn't want to emulate him.


At that point, I gave up. I answered the rest of his stupid questions as fast as I could and got out of there. I think he was pretty happy to get out of there too.

Result: REJECTED

Wow... that was awesome

 

[muggle911]

At my last interview, I had a group interview: two older gentlemen, one male M4, and two male interviewees, plus me. We were each asked different questions, but as usual I got the book question.
Me: "Well, right now I have James Joyce's 'Dubliners' in my bag, which is a beautiful collection of short stories."
I1: "Oh, so you enjoy classics?"
Me: "Yeah, I've been trying to read a lot of classics this year, but" (getting really overeager and excited) "I did recently finish the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer."
I1,2,3: *blank stares*
Me: "You know? There's a movie coming out soon."
I2: "Oh? So what's it about?"
Me: "Oh well, it's a teenage vampire love story!"

I must've had the biggest (albeit sheepish) smile on my face while saying this. The M4 laughed and the older interviewers kind of smiled like they would at a child... like they thought I was either cute or silly (or both) and there was no help for me.

Later on at work, I had moved on to reading Persuasion (Jane Austen) and my coworker had started reading Twilight. One of the doctors in the office told me to tell interviewers I was reading the former, not the latter. D'oh!

haha my #1 goal for interviews was to avoid mentioning the Twilight series (which I had been reading at the time). I made sure to think of a reasonable book that I had read earlier 🙂

 

[spellie11]

I had seen this question in tons of the interview prep sites but I still f'ed it up bad.
Interview (first question)- So how did you get here?
Me- uhh... (thinking oh gosh what does he mean).... well... umm do you mean how did i get to this point in my life or how did i get to the interview today (stuttering and stumbling the entire answer)
Interviewer- (chuckling at me) well i just meant how did you get to the interview this morning. did you drive in or fly?

haha wow i felt like such a jerk but laughed it off and did ok the rest of the interview i think.

 

[MILK07]

haha my #1 goal for interviews was to avoid mentioning the Twilight series (which I had been reading at the time). I made sure to think of a reasonable book that I had read earlier 🙂

Ditto. It was hard, especially since I read them all right before my interview and could not stop thinking about them! I had another book in mind, too, just in case. My dream interview would involve seeing a copy of Twilight on the interviewers desk and getting to talk about Edward the entire time! 😳 /acting like a 16 year old girl

 

[Raryn]

Have you guys seen Stephen King's quote regarding Stephanie Meyer versus J.K. Rowling? Its quite true.

I attempted to read that book and got about as much pleasure from it as if I had been hitting myself in the head with it.

Edit:

Stephen King's quote:

'This is the way to do it. He's showing the way.' I think that I serve that purpose for some writers, and that's a good thing. Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."

 

[majahops]

Question: "What do you plan to do with this last summer before starting medical school?"

Answer: "Mostly have sex with your youngest daughter."

 

[GoSpursGo]

Ditto. It was hard, especially since I read them all right before my interview and could not stop thinking about them! I had another book in mind, too, just in case. My dream interview would involve seeing a copy of Twilight on the interviewers desk and getting to talk about Edward the entire time! 😳 /acting like a 16 year old girl

Boo, Ms. Spurs keeps sending me facebook bumper stickers of twilight stuff 😡

 

[Druzie]

Ditto. It was hard, especially since I read them all right before my interview and could not stop thinking about them! I had another book in mind, too, just in case. My dream interview would involve seeing a copy of Twilight on the interviewers desk and getting to talk about Edward the entire time! 😳 /acting like a 16 year old girl

Actually, that same day, I'd had a one-on-one interview earlier with a physician who participates in a reading group. She *had* in fact read Twilight, which is probably part of the reason I was so excited to bring it up again in my second/group interview.

Honestly, I don't get why it should be a big deal. I was just being myself, and isn't the interview my opportunity to show them who I really am? Are we expected to be serious and mature all the time? That would make for a dull class.

Have you guys seen Stephen King's quote regarding Stephanie Meyer versus J.K. Rowling? Its quite true.

I attempted to read that book and got about as much pleasure from it as if I had been hitting myself in the head with it.

I totally agree that Stephenie Meyer is not a good writer. I don't think you *can* compare her to J.K. Rowling... or Philip Pullman! They are leagues above her. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading her books. 🙂

 

[AlbaMD]

Ditto. It was hard, especially since I read them all right before my interview and could not stop thinking about them! I had another book in mind, too, just in case. My dream interview would involve seeing a copy of Twilight on the interviewers desk and getting to talk about Edward the entire time! 😳 /acting like a 16 year old girl

2 students that I interviewed talked about Twilight. I applauded their honesty. I rather see someone who is honest and unafraid of telling me about their reading choices than talking to someone who is bs-ing about some classic that they just can't live without.

It does help that I am familiar with Twilight series. Read all 4 books - they are the literary equivalent of stale muffins. But someone's bound to like them. Again, I rather see a gutsy interviewee than a boring "standard" one. Even it it involves a Twilight conversation 🙂

Have you guys seen Stephen King's quote regarding Stephanie Meyer versus J.K. Rowling? Its quite true.

I attempted to read that book and got about as much pleasure from it as if I had been hitting myself in the head with it.

Yeah. 🙂

 

[soxfan87]

I haven't read "Twilight," but the first time I tried Phillip Pullman I couldn't stand him. I quit about 40 pages into Golden Compass and decided it was a load of rubbish with confusing gibberish words that I didn't care to keep straight. I decided to pick it up and try again this past summer and couldn't put it down. I had to run out to Borders the next day and buy the boxed set, since my brother (during the period when he liked fantasy novels) only owned the first one. I don't know what changed, but I found the series absolutely riveting the second time around. And aside from Harry Potter, I normally hate the fantasy genre.

Sorry for the digression.

 

[time2go]

my first interview so nervous and it was late in the day about 2 oclock after getting there around 730 so i was kinda tired....

I: How could you raise your verbal score on the mcat (considerably lower than the other 2)
Me: (So nervous) i guess throw myself in tough situations and try to work myself out of it because it involves crtitical and quick thinking
I: Hoe about just read a book?

Waitlisted to top choice= bummer

 

[pianola]

my first interview so nervous and it was late in the day about 2 oclock after getting there around 730 so i was kinda tired....

I: How could you raise your verbal score on the mcat (considerably lower than the other 2)
Me: (So nervous) i guess throw myself in tough situations and try to work myself out of it because it involves crtitical and quick thinking
I: Hoe about just read a book?

Waitlisted to top choice= bummer

Why on earth is your interviewer asking how you could raise your verbal score on the MCAT?? 😱

Geez. I'm so glad that none of my schools mentioned my scores at all.

 

[time2go]

i have no idea, he didnt even teach the med students at the university, he taught one of the post-bac classes and was just volunteering....sucks i got matched with him

 

[Myuu]

my first interview so nervous and it was late in the day about 2 oclock after getting there around 730 so i was kinda tired....

I: How could you raise your verbal score on the mcat (considerably lower than the other 2)
Me: (So nervous) i guess throw myself in tough situations and try to work myself out of it because it involves crtitical and quick thinking
I: Hoe about just read a book?

Waitlisted to top choice= bummer

Cold! You'd have to have a 2 in verbal to be at the point where just reading a book would change anything.🙁👎 What a jerk!

 

[MILK07]

Have you guys seen Stephen King's quote regarding Stephanie Meyer versus J.K. Rowling? Its quite true.

I completely agree with these. I noticed tons of spelling and grammatical errors while reading. It is very simple writing. I just liked her new take on vampires and I am a hopeless romantic, so I was all about Edward.

Boo, Ms. Spurs keeps sending me facebook bumper stickers of twilight stuff 😡

Yes, Mr. MILK didn't seem to like that either! 😛

2 students that I interviewed talked about Twilight. I applauded their honesty. I rather see someone who is honest and unafraid of telling me about their reading choices than talking to someone who is bs-ing about some classic that they just can't live without.

It does help that I am familiar with Twilight series. Read all 4 books - they are the literary equivalent of stale muffins. But someone's bound to like them. Again, I rather see a gutsy interviewee than a boring "standard" one. Even it it involves a Twilight conversation 🙂

I agree they're not for everyone. I'm glad you wouldn't be too quick to judge. With someone my own age I might have owned up to reading them, but not with the 50 year old medicine doc I was interviewing with!

I haven't read "Twilight," but the first time I tried Phillip Pullman I couldn't stand him. I quit about 40 pages into Golden Compass and decided it was a load of rubbish with confusing gibberish words that I didn't care to keep straight. I decided to pick it up and try again this past summer and couldn't put it down. I had to run out to Borders the next day and buy the boxed set, since my brother (during the period when he liked fantasy novels) only owned the first one. I don't know what changed, but I found the series absolutely riveting the second time around. And aside from Harry Potter, I normally hate the fantasy genre.

Sorry for the digression.

Loved those books, too!

Sorry for taking over the thread with Twilight!

 

[DerrickRose]

MD Interviewer: Thanks for interviewing.
Me: Goodbye, Mrs. X
Me: *Wince

 

[majahops]

If ur referring to not calling her "Dr." X, that's really not a big deal AT ALL.

MD Interviewer: Thanks for interviewing.
Me: Goodbye, Mrs. X
Me: *Wince

 

[pianola]

If ur referring to not calling her "Dr." X, that's really not a big deal AT ALL.

Yeah but do you know if she's married?

I dunno, s/he wouldn't score any points in my book if s/he called me Mrs. So and So.

Ms. would be a perfectly acceptable error (if an error at all).

 

[pianola]

MD Interviewer: Thanks for interviewing.
Me: Goodbye, Mrs. X
Me: *Wince

To be fair though, the interviewer may very well not have noticed exactly what you said though.

Hope it comes out ok

 

[majahops]

Then you just follow it up with "I meant Mrs. <my last name>, cuz damn you fine girl. Once I get out of medical school, I'm gonna make you my wife."

Yeah but do you know if she's married?

I dunno, s/he wouldn't score any points in my book if s/he called me Mrs. So and So.

Ms. would be a perfectly acceptable error (if an error at all).

 

[time2go]

Then you just follow it up with "I meant Mrs. <my last name>, cuz damn you fine girl. Once I get out of medical school, I'm gonna make you my wife."

haha that would have been amazing

 

[pianola]

Then you just follow it up with "I meant Mrs. <my last name>, cuz damn you fine girl. Once I get out of medical school, I'm gonna make you my wife."

haha that would have been amazing

No kidding. You made my night, Mr. Hops.

Bonus points to any applicant using the phrase "damn you fine" with an interviewer, btw.

 

[halekulani]

Ok, so he asks "Is there a physician that you would try to emulate? Or, a physician that you try to avoid emulating?"

So the second part of the question caught me off guard and I say

me: " well there was this one pediatric specialist I went to once when I was like 16 that..... (Oh no, stop what you're saying, that's not funny). errrrrrm, that I wouldn't want to emulate"

interviewer: Why?

me: Well he's in prison.

interviewer: (looks confused) Really, what for?

me: (don't say molesting patients) Uh, molesting patients (wince).

He stared at me then put both hands over his face and winced like he was thinking "What is this kid doing?"

interviewer: Yeah, well, you wouldn't want to emulate him.


At that point, I gave up. I answered the rest of his stupid questions as fast as I could and got out of there. I think he was pretty happy to get out of there too.

Result: REJECTED

roflmao

 

[majahops]

You just made MY night by telling me I made yours. I love it.

No kidding. You made my night, Mr. Hops.

Bonus points to any applicant using the phrase "damn you fine" with an interviewer, btw.

 

[drizzt3117]

"so what do you like about our school?"

"oh I loved everything... ann arbor seems like such a cool city, and..."

interviewer interrupts, "you're not in ann arbor, you're in pittsburgh."

awkward pause...

"oh that's what i meant..."

...

REJECTED

 

[herbb]

lol😀

Me at a recent interview in december:

Student interviewer: So if you could have 8 million dollars to do anything you wanted what would you do?

Me: " oh well, you know I would buy a big house for two million dollars, you know I cant deny that I want fancy things," wait did I actually say that? " and also invest in a research lab..."

Student interviewer: If you could be any flavor of ice cream what would you be and why?

Me: Oh I would like to be strawberry ice cream because its red

Honestly, I cant believe I answered like that-my nerves definitley got the best of me.

Rejected one month later, nevertheless, i didnt like the school and I think we all agreed it wasnt for me 🙂

 

[catullus]

Interviewer: What is your greatest weakness?
Me: (I blurt out) My difficulty empathizing with patients. (????????????? What??????)

Result: Accepted (somehow)

 

[EMH]

Kumar's med school interview.

It's probably been linked in this thread already but it's good enough to watch again.

 

[jaydar]

"so what do you like about our school?"

"oh I loved everything... ann arbor seems like such a cool city, and..."

interviewer interrupts, "you're not in ann arbor, you're in pittsburgh."

awkward pause...

"oh that's what i meant..."

...

REJECTED

Oh, nooooo! I read that and immediately thought, "Awww!" Definitely been there. Were you all interviewed out?

 

[drizzt3117]

Oh, nooooo! I read that and immediately thought, "Awww!" Definitely been there. Were you all interviewed out?

yeah, last cycle was real long 😀 Oh well, it's over... can't wait to do it all again in... 2.5 years? 🙂

 

[Parveen]

Noooooooooooooo...I read through all of it...so sad 🙁

 

[Penguick]

First question he asked me, which was supposed to be an ice-breaker

I: So, tell me something interesting about yourself that I wouldn't be able to gather from your application.

Me: Long....long...silence. Um. Let me think about this. Well...even though I'm really, really bad at it, I love playing raquetball?

Said it with the question in tone and everything. I mean seriously? That's what's interesting about me? I just didn't expect that question as the first one, so it threw me off. Too bad I kept thinking about the question the whole interview and kept wanting to blurt out something better. Nope...went badly the rest of the time.

Result: Waitlisted.

 

[Asystole]

Interviewer: "So tell me something that you excel at."

Me: (inner monologue: "think of something medical, think of something medical...") "Art."

That was it, one word--no elaboration. At least we got around to talking about stress outlets later on and how I really enjoy art but wouldn't want to try to make a career out of it. Hope my other answers outshone that one.

Jury's still out (one of my top choices too). I think my other interviews went better though.

 

[Podalarius]

While talking with an orthopedic surgeon about why I want to be a doctor:

Interviewer: Have you thought about what you'd like to specialize in?

Me: I work with [a doctor at the school I was interviewing at] and I really enjoy what we're working on and can see myself in internal medicine/infectious diseases. I really enjoy diagnosis and talking to patients, I don't really see myself focusing on procedures.

Interviewer: Procedures like hip replacements?

Me (mental facepalm): ... Procedures... like hip replacements.

Somehow, I was admitted.

 

[87138]

While talking with an orthopedic surgeon about why I want to be a doctor:

Interviewer: Have you thought about what you'd like to specialize in?

Me: I work with [a doctor at the school I was interviewing at] and I really enjoy what we're working on and can see myself in internal medicine/infectious diseases. I really enjoy diagnosis and talking to patients, I don't really see myself focusing on procedures.

Interviewer: Procedures like hip replacements?

Me (mental facepalm): ... Procedures... like hip replacements.

Somehow, I was admitted.

That's not a bad answer. If I was a doc interviewing an applicant, the last thing I would want to hear is pandering to me and my specialty of choice.

 

[Lauren87]

this thread is so funny 🙂

 

[tig3r]

.

 

[Lukkie]

Interviewer: I see that you're a finance major.

Me: Yup. (Proud)

Interviewer: So are you in favor of increased or decreased government regulation to restore our economy?

Me: Uhhhh...increased.

Interviwer: Ok, well what are your thoughts on the Laffer curve?

Me: I've never even heard of that.

easy response - you're a FINANCE major, not an ECONOMICS major.

Last Interviewer of the day: Do you have any questions for me?

Me: I'm all questioned out. Everyone has been asking me if I have any questions and I already used all the good ones up.

im gonna use this one

 

[RedLemond]

Int: How do you respond to criticism? (gives me the stonewall face)
Me: (starts laughing)
Int: (no change in expression)

I was definitely laughing b/c the question was so canned and I immediately imagined all possible answers, which, no way around it, would also sound canned.

In the next nanosecond I realized that laughter can imply so many things.. not sure how I recovered from that one (if I actually did!).

 

[chief illiniwek]

Last Interviewer of the day: Do you have any questions for me?

Me: I'm all questioned out. Everyone has been asking me if I have any questions and I already used all the good ones up.

I said this too, and it's the one school i got into. To me, it seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to say.

 

[aggieallure]

Interviewer: "Tell me what you've been doing since you've graduated."

Me: "I am taking some classes because I don't like to work so much."


granted this was in Spanish. I was so nervous about how to explain myself that I didn't realize what came out. I was pretty shocked they accepted me 2 weeks later.