Worst/Funniest Interview Experiences

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bamtuba said:
Wow. Just wow.

The advice here is sound. Avoid sounding flipant about things that ANYONE considers "sacred."
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I mean, I think it's good to be able to laugh at yourself every now and then. But yeah, not everyone sees it that way; gotta play the game sometimes and hold back what you're really thinking.
 
Interviewer: There are lots of uninsured people. Why not just ignore them? Let them suffer. It doesn't bother me, I don't care.

Me: 😱..... because from a humanistic perspective that would be unforgivable blah blah blah blah *rant for about five minutes*

Interviewer: No but really, why not just ignore them?

Me: Clearly it's very hard for you to understand why we must not ignore them, which is surprising because you're a physician yourself.

Interviewer: Do you think all physicians are on a moral highground? You think they all have a moral core?

Me: Evidently not.



.... Waitlist. Saw that one coming though.
 
Yeah...condescending to your interviewer isn't the best plan I've ever seen. I'm pretty surprised you weren't rejected, actually. That's still more evidence that the interview process doesn't work terribly well.
 
I know, but the interviewer was a douche. Very disrespectful and just generally irritating. I don't regret my answers at all.
 
eatsleeprepeat said:
You don't think he was playing devil's advocate at all...?
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I don't think so. He wasn't being hypothetical with the "It doesn't bother me. I don't care" bit. I think he genuinely doesn't care, and he's pretty shameless about it too.
 
skeptic29 said:
I don't think so. He wasn't being hypothetical with the "It doesn't bother me. I don't care" bit. I think he genuinely doesn't care, and he's pretty shameless about it too.
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... They've been interviewing for a long time. I'm pretty sure they've gotten pretty good at playing devil's advocate with a straight face.
 
So I had this one interview experience that started off horribly

Interviewer: I'm sorry for running late, I had to grab some tissues for my allergies.

Me: Oh, not a problem.

**awkard silence**

Me: So how has your day been?

Interviewer: It's only 9AM.
 
beautifulyou said:
So I had this one interview experience that started off horribly

Interviewer: I'm sorry for running late, I had to grab some tissues for my allergies.

Me: Oh, not a problem.

**awkard silence**

Me: So how has your day been?

Interviewer: It's only 9AM.
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Awww, that's not too bad!! I told my interviewer to, "Have a good rest of your morning!" when I had had an afternoon interview. Accepted. It doesn't matter. 🙂
 
Here's one I had from last year...which I am posting now because I don't want to study neck anatomy 😛

Female student interviewer: Do you have any questions for me?

Me: Do they have (insert random club type) here?

Interviewer: Nope.

Me: How easy is it to start clubs here?

Interviewer: It's actually pretty easy. We are pretty good at accomadating whatever turns you on.

Me: ::tries not to crack a smile::

Her: ::tries not to crack a smile::

Result: Waitlist --> Rejection
 
skeptic29 said:
I don't think so. He wasn't being hypothetical with the "It doesn't bother me. I don't care" bit. I think he genuinely doesn't care, and he's pretty shameless about it too.
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Perhaps he wanted to test your maturity and tolerance of opposing beliefs?

Doctors are bound to have patients who have drastically different views (ie: racists, drug addicts, republicans, etc.), and you have to treat them with respect just like everyone else.
 
I had two interviews that went almost exactly the same at different schools.

Interviewer: What brings you all the way east for medical school?

Me: I decided to apply around the country.

Interviewer: I also see you have an F on your transcript.

Me: Ya, after five years of college I think you can find everything except a D- on my transcript, that one somehow escaped me.

Both interviewers moved on quickly with a little smile on their face and asked about my hobbies and such. There were no more questions about school and none about medicine.

End result... accepted to both. (Makes me wonder what the people who didn't get in said.)
 
An doctor from Europe was my interviewer at this school:

Interviewer: So you're from (Southern state). I perceive there to be two types of (Southern State)-ians: Entrenched Southern Rednecks and Displaced Yankees. Which are you?

Me: .... well, my mom is from New England and my dad is from a rural town in the Deep South. So, I guess my answer would have to depend on how thick my thick my accent sounds at the time. *smiles*

Interviewer: *quirks eyebrow* ...ok. Actually, I was driving through (Southern State) returning from vacation right before the election in 08. I drove through a predominantly African American town and saw Obama signs everywhere. A few miles down the road, I saw a predominantly White town, and they had McCain signs everywhere. Can you explain that?

Me: *pauses*...well, I guess folks wanted to show support for their particular candidate.


I am a moderate, Northeast-educated redneck. Ambiguous answers FTW 🙄
 
o Farside o said:
Interviewer: "What would you rather be the baseball or the glove?"
Me: *wtf?!* Umm The ball.
Interviewer: "Why."
Me: "The game is called baseBALL?"

Waitlist FML
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Got this same question last year at University of Mississippi...

Caught me off guard also:

Interviewer: "What would you rather be, the baseball or the glove?"
Me: "Umm...the ball"
Interviewer: "Why?"
Me: "Because a big rule in baseball is to never take your eye off the ball..."
Interviewer: "Yeah, but the ball gets beat up by the bat..."
Me: *without thinking my smartass response blurts out* -"Not if you have a good pitcher".

Interviewer: *poker face shows a slight smirk*

Rejected...
 
Limvostov said:
I had two interviews that went almost exactly the same at different schools.

Interviewer: What brings you all the way east for medical school?

Me: I decided to apply around the country.

Interviewer: I also see you have an F on your transcript.

Me: Ya, after five years of college I think you can find everything except a D- on my transcript, that one somehow escaped me.

Both interviewers moved on quickly with a little smile on their face and asked about my hobbies and such. There were no more questions about school and none about medicine.

End result... accepted to both. (Makes me wonder what the people who didn't get in said.)
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awesome haha
 
Vulcan said:
Hmm...maybe I would've been accepted then...
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Are you kidding me? She'd probably have been so embarrassed to have made out with a candidate that she'd reject you so as to never have to see you again...

=P

Still, regardless of accept/reject, that would have been the best interview ever...
 
Interviewer- "I see you wrote 'Ceramics' as a hobby, tell me a little about that"

Me- "Well I'm taking a class for a fine arts credit, and I'm really enjoying it. It's really given me a new apprecia-"

Interviewer, cutting me off - "Hmm, well maybe if this doesn't work out for you, you could try a career in professional pottery"

Me- "Oh...Yea I guess...sounds good"

End of the day: Accepted 🙂.
 
JediZero said:
Are you kidding me? She'd probably have been so embarrassed to have made out with a candidate that she'd reject you so as to never have to see you again...

=P

Still, regardless of accept/reject, that would have been the best interview ever...
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I find your lack of faith disturbing.
 
So I am going to fess up to one really dumb one I did:

Intro:
My name is predominantly associated with a particular country in Europe...so most of the time if anyone asks me where I am from...they mention that country. However, it is also popular in Spanish speaking countries...every once in a blue moon I get asked if I have some hispanic heritage because of that.

Here is what happened:
It was a student interviewer who also had a name that is problematic to pronounce so on the way into the office he joked about how were perfectly suited to be doing the interview.

Then as he sits down he asks: Hablas espanol?
Me, thinking he is referring to origin of my name and trying to correct his assumption: Poquito, pero yo soy _______.
he replies: I actually ask because you wrote on your application that you are fluent in Spanish
Me (smiling to prevent him from seeing that I just realized that I am an idiot) : oh yes I am fluent in Spanish as well.

Such an ughhhhh moment. But the rest of the interview went extraordinarily well I think. :xf: We shall see!
 
All right, here's mine.

My interviewer was discussing one of my AMCAS activities, and after rambling on for a couple of minutes about the difficult aspects of leading groups of people she came out with "has there ever been a time where you have tried to create a particular outcome and not been able to?"

Me: "er..." Realizing that my mind has gone completely blank and frantically trying to come up with a specific example, "Do you mean while engaged in this particular activity?"

Her: "Well, in general - how do you deal with failure?"

Me: "Oh, well, I reflect on what happened, review my missteps, and think about how I could improve in the future... for example, after this interview..." Whoops.

Yup, I answered a question about failure with a reference to my own interview. Awesome. 🙄
 
This isn't really a bad answer story but when I was interviewing at a school the interviewer was asking a TON of questions - like every possible pre-med interview question ever. We get to the end of the interview and she asks if I have any questions, we talk about that for a few minutes and as we're getting up to walk out the door she asks "One more question. If you don't get in to any med school, what would you do next year?"
That was her LAST question to me.:scared: I already didn't feel like I had done that well with the interview and then that was her last question? I nearly died.

Result: Accepted a week later
 
Had my first interview blooper yesterday at the end of an interview that was going well.

Him: Who else did you interview with today.
Me: umm...I can't actually remember his name but he was a gastroenterologist.
Him: That's alright. I don't know most of the other interviewers anyway... Do you remember my name?
Me: umm.

We both start to laugh and I see it written on a piece of paper in front of me and read it off. I blamed it on interview nerves, but I think he mostly thought it was funny anyway. We'll see in a few weeks.
 
SunnyBlues said:
All right, here's mine.

My interviewer was discussing one of my AMCAS activities, and after rambling on for a couple of minutes about the difficult aspects of leading groups of people she came out with "has there ever been a time where you have tried to create a particular outcome and not been able to?"

Me: "er..." Realizing that my mind has gone completely blank and frantically trying to come up with a specific example, "Do you mean while engaged in this particular activity?"

Her: "Well, in general - how do you deal with failure?"

Me: "Oh, well, I reflect on what happened, review my missteps, and think about how I could improve in the future... for example, after this interview..." Whoops.

Yup, I answered a question about failure with a reference to my own interview. Awesome. 🙄
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She probably understands that it was just nervous attempt at sarcasm. Especially if she's an experienced interviewer.

red10 said:
This isn't really a bad answer story but when I was interviewing at a school the interviewer was asking a TON of questions - like every possible pre-med interview question ever. We get to the end of the interview and she asks if I have any questions, we talk about that for a few minutes and as we're getting up to walk out the door she asks "One more question. If you don't get in to any med school, what would you do next year?"
That was her LAST question to me.:scared: I already didn't feel like I had done that well with the interview and then that was her last question? I nearly died.

Result: Accepted a week later
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:laugh: She probably figured she'll add some spice to the acceptance.
 
Nomemory said:
go_mountaineers said:
Stupidity is not a choice, it's a condition. Take it a step further and you get, "I hate ******s". I mean, come on dude. 😡 🙄
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Good point. The interviewer probably just felt the same way but it prob could have easily gone another way. My family and I joke that we hate WILLFULLY stupid people, but I have an instructor who put it very pc that I thought might fly: He hate's things, not people
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4goneconclusion said:
"If you could bring some people from the past, dead or alive, to dinner, who would you bring?"

Answer: Alive
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I almost fell out of my chair laughing at this one! thanks for sharing, I hope i remember this one of they ever ask it, classic!
 
So I'm at an out of state interview sitting with a 4th year male med student (I am male). We sit down and make brief introductions then he says:

Interviewer: So basically I'm here to get you into __ medical school. You just need to relay to me how to present your file in the best way possible to the admissions board. Now I've never done an interview before, so I think it would be good to start off with a joke. Do you have one?

Me: Well I'm not one to really tell jokes, but here's my favorite one. It's a story, so I'll try to tell it quickly.

Three men are lost in the jungle and are trying to return to civilization. During their journey they come across a tribe of cannibals. The cannibal king, feeling quite gracious that day, says to the men, "We will only let you live if you pass a series of tests... the first phase is to go your separate ways in the jungle and collect ten pieces of the same kind of fruit." The three men feel obliged to cooperate as they see no other way to survive, so they go their separate ways. The first man comes back with ten apples and presents them to the cannibal king to which he says, "the second phase of the test is that you must shove all ten pieces of fruit up your rectum without wincing in pain or else we will eat you." So the first man attempts to do so, but he shows pain on the second apple and subsequently they eat him. The second man comes back with ten grapes and presents them to the king. After telling the man what to do he begins: 1, 2, 3...7, 8, and on the ninth grape he bursts into laughter so the tribe kills him. Now the first and the second man meet in heaven, and the first guy is really confused and enraged. He says to the second man, "Why did you laugh? You could have gotten away with it so easily?" The second man replies, "I couldn't help myself, I saw the third guy coming with pineapples."

Reflection: I can't believe this really happened. I look back upon it and I'm just like - this is the most important day of my life and I'm telling a stupid joke about people shoving fruit up their butts. At the time it was hilarious (or so I perceived), and we both laughed and just went on with the interview. At the end of the day I felt that I did quite well, but seriously wtf what I thinking!?
 
gmreed2 said:
Three men are lost in the jungle and are trying to return to civilization. During their journey they come across a tribe of cannibals. The cannibal king, feeling quite gracious that day, says to the men, "We will only let you live if you pass a series of tests... the first phase is to go your separate ways in the jungle and collect ten pieces of the same kind of fruit." The three men feel obliged to cooperate as they see no other way to survive, so they go their separate ways. The first man comes back with ten apples and presents them to the cannibal king to which he says, "the second phase of the test is that you must shove all ten pieces of fruit up your rectum without wincing in pain or else we will eat you." So the first man attempts to do so, but he shows pain on the second apple and subsequently they eat him. The second man comes back with ten grapes and presents them to the king. After telling the man what to do he begins: 1, 2, 3...7, 8, and on the ninth grape he bursts into laughter so the tribe kills him. Now the first and the second man meet in heaven, and the first guy is really confused and enraged. He says to the second man, "Why did you laugh? You could have gotten away with it so easily?" The second man replies, "I couldn't help myself, I saw the third guy coming with pineapples."
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
gmreed2 said:
Three men are lost in the jungle and are trying to return to civilization. During their journey they come across a tribe of cannibals. The cannibal king, feeling quite gracious that day, says to the men, "We will only let you live if you pass a series of tests... the first phase is to go your separate ways in the jungle and collect ten pieces of the same kind of fruit." The three men feel obliged to cooperate as they see no other way to survive, so they go their separate ways. The first man comes back with ten apples and presents them to the cannibal king to which he says, "the second phase of the test is that you must shove all ten pieces of fruit up your rectum without wincing in pain or else we will eat you." So the first man attempts to do so, but he shows pain on the second apple and subsequently they eat him. The second man comes back with ten grapes and presents them to the king. After telling the man what to do he begins: 1, 2, 3...7, 8, and on the ninth grape he bursts into laughter so the tribe kills him. Now the first and the second man meet in heaven, and the first guy is really confused and enraged. He says to the second man, "Why did you laugh? You could have gotten away with it so easily?" The second man replies, "I couldn't help myself, I saw the third guy coming with pineapples."
Click to expand...

:laugh: That's classic. I doubt it'll hurt you, since your interviewer laughed (which is good, unless it was a nervous what-was-he-thinking sort of laugh, which would be less good). I don't know that I'd recommend it as a general strategy, but at least you won't easily be forgotten! 😛
 
gmreed2 said:
So I'm at an out of state interview sitting with a 4th year male med student (I am male). We sit down and make brief introductions then he says:

Interviewer: So basically I'm here to get you into __ medical school. You just need to relay to me how to present your file in the best way possible to the admissions board. Now I've never done an interview before, so I think it would be good to start off with a joke. Do you have one?

Me: Well I'm not one to really tell jokes, but here's my favorite one. It's a story, so I'll try to tell it quickly.

Three men are lost in the jungle and are trying to return to civilization. During their journey they come across a tribe of cannibals. The cannibal king, feeling quite gracious that day, says to the men, "We will only let you live if you pass a series of tests... the first phase is to go your separate ways in the jungle and collect ten pieces of the same kind of fruit." The three men feel obliged to cooperate as they see no other way to survive, so they go their separate ways. The first man comes back with ten apples and presents them to the cannibal king to which he says, "the second phase of the test is that you must shove all ten pieces of fruit up your rectum without wincing in pain or else we will eat you." So the first man attempts to do so, but he shows pain on the second apple and subsequently they eat him. The second man comes back with ten grapes and presents them to the king. After telling the man what to do he begins: 1, 2, 3...7, 8, and on the ninth grape he bursts into laughter so the tribe kills him. Now the first and the second man meet in heaven, and the first guy is really confused and enraged. He says to the second man, "Why did you laugh? You could have gotten away with it so easily?" The second man replies, "I couldn't help myself, I saw the third guy coming with pineapples."

Reflection: I can't believe this really happened. I look back upon it and I'm just like - this is the most important day of my life and I'm telling a stupid joke about people shoving fruit up their butts. At the time it was hilarious (or so I perceived), and we both laughed and just went on with the interview. At the end of the day I felt that I did quite well, but seriously wtf what I thinking!?
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:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: This is one of my new favorites.
 
bannie22 said:
haha. what about durians?
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😆 You mean this stuff?

IMG_1207.JPG
 
This was at my first interview:

We started talking about healthcare reform and I lean left on this issue.
Interviewer: So if was a rich person, what benefit would i gain from paying for the poor and uninsured?
Me: *crap, think of something to say* Well monetary wise there wouldn't be any benefit for you, but you'll feel good about it. *gives a sheepish smile*
Interviewer: Right, monetary wise there wouldn't be any benefit. But not only would I feel good about it, but I would also help keep the community healthy as a whole. This would mean less spreading of infectious disease i.e. swine flu and I would in the end be safe.
Me: *:bang: epic fail. Proceed to lame comeback answer* O yea, and there would be less people waiting in the emergency room.

same interview,
Interviewer: Have you traveled around?
Me: I've been to china. I was really shocked by the bathrooms there.
Both interviewers laugh out loud. (both were asian)

In retrospect, of all the things I could of said about china, I picked the bathrooms. :bang:

Result: Waitlisted

My next interview:

Interviewer: So how's your biochem background?
Me: Eh it's kind weak.
Interviewer: Have you taken it before?
Me: yes
Interviewer: Good. Because some people come in with no biochem background. It's essential you understand biochem bc it's really important for understanding how the human body works.
Me: yea, it wasn't one of my favorite class as an undergrad. It was ok in the beginning, but when i hit metabolism i.e. kreb cycle I really didn't like it.
Interviewer: It's probably because they didn't teach it to you correctly.

I later looked up the name of my interviewer on the website. Dr. X, Phd. Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry. :bang:

After interview is over, same interviewer starts describing the school's location to me because he knows i'm from california and the location is very different from california.
Interviewer: There's a lot to do here. For example, since it snows a lot here you can ski here if you want.
Me: Oh, i don't know if i want to try that. *Gives example of my classmate who went skiing, fell down, and cracked her spinal cord...*
Interviewer gives this look 😱 as i described the story

Result: accepted 😀

I guess I tend to say stupid things when I'm nervous lol.
 
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upandaway said:
Interviewer: Have you traveled around?
Me: I've been to china. I was really shocked by the bathrooms there.
Click to expand...
Having also traveled in a developing country, I can relate. Hilarious.
 
to resurrect this. its not really a bad answer imo, because it was honest.

and heres what it was.

at a university in boston:

interviewer: so wahts your fav city so far amongst all those uve been to?
me: chicago

*oh ****!*


but at that time, i hadnt seen much of boston and really liked chicago.. soo yeah
 
tdsbird2 said:
yesterday, I interviewed at a religious school and when asked about how religion could be used in medicine I rambled for a bit and compared religion to the placebo effect...real smart
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WOW LOL ThATS hilarious!!
 
ShinyDome19 said:
Got this same question last year at University of Mississippi...

Caught me off guard also:

Interviewer: "What would you rather be, the baseball or the glove?"
Me: "Umm...the ball"
Interviewer: "Why?"
Me: "Because a big rule in baseball is to never take your eye off the ball..."
Interviewer: "Yeah, but the ball gets beat up by the bat..."
Me: *without thinking my smartass response blurts out* -"Not if you have a good pitcher".
Click to expand...

I would've said something about the interviewer not giving you the option of being the bat 😛 I'd also choose to be the ball. There is only one ball in play at a time, but many gloves... if I'm going to be playing a game as boring as baseball I at least want to be active the entire time 😉
 
upandaway said:
This was at my first interview:

We started talking about healthcare reform and I lean left on this issue.
Interviewer: So if was a rich person, what benefit would i gain from paying for the poor and uninsured?
Me: *crap, think of something to say* Well monetary wise there wouldn't be any benefit for you, but you'll feel good about it. *gives a sheepish smile*
Interviewer: Right, monetary wise there wouldn't be any benefit. But not only would I feel good about it, but I would also help keep the community healthy as a whole. This would mean less spreading of infectious disease i.e. swine flu and I would in the end be safe.
Me: *:bang: epic fail. Proceed to lame comeback answer* O yea, and there would be less people waiting in the emergency room.

same interview,
Interviewer: Have you traveled around?
Me: I've been to china. I was really shocked by the bathrooms there.
Both interviewers laugh out loud. (both were asian)

In retrospect, of all the things I could of said about china, I picked the bathrooms. :bang:

Result: Waitlisted

My next interview:

Interviewer: So how's your biochem background?
Me: Eh it's kind weak.
Interviewer: Have you taken it before?
Me: yes
Interviewer: Good. Because some people come in with no biochem background. It's essential you understand biochem bc it's really important for understanding how the human body works.
Me: yea, it wasn't one of my favorite class as an undergrad. It was ok in the beginning, but when i hit metabolism i.e. kreb cycle I really didn't like it.
Interviewer: It's probably because they didn't teach it to you correctly.

I later looked up the name of my interviewer on the website. Dr. X, Phd. Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry. :bang:

After interview is over, same interviewer starts describing the school's location to me because he knows i'm from california and the location is very different from california.
Interviewer: There's a lot to do here. For example, since it snows a lot here you can ski here if you want.
Me: Oh, i don't know if i want to try that. *Gives example of my classmate who went skiing, fell down, and cracked her spinal cord...*
Interviewer gives this look 😱 as i described the story

Result: accepted 😀

I guess I tend to say stupid things when I'm nervous lol.
Click to expand...

LOL the whole bathroom thing, several parts of India are like that so I can relate.
 
Disinence2 said:
Not sure how horrible this is, or how i was "Supposed" to handle it

Interviewer: So August comes around and poor Disinence doesn't have an acceptance, what do you do?
Me: Actually I recently recieved an acceptance
Interviewer: What if they made a mistake?
Me: Well, Ide do my best to take my first year of med school at my local college, anatomy, histology for example, while i work on my patient care experience, and volunteering
Interviewer: What if you didn't have money to go to college or volunteer, what would you do to make money to re-apply with
Me: I guess ide work as an EMT and try to get my paramedic
Interviewer: Thank you
Click to expand...


how the hell did you get interviews for medical school with spelling like "ide"? is that a joke?
 
i keep getting surgeons as my interviewers and they're so hard to read which makes me even more nervous during the interview..and when im nervous i start to ramble on and on...


Interviewer: "So what happens if you do not get accepted to medical school this year?

Me (blurt out with a bit too much excitement): "Actually I think it would be a blessing in disguise!! (wait wtf am I saying)...wait I know that sounds bad but....(he gives me this blank stare...and then I continue to ramble about how it would not be the end of the world and that life is filled with unexpected setbacks)...but yeah I would reapply next year....."
 
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