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Your least favorite interview question?
Started by hungrybox
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There was a doctor in Sicko (I know I know...) from Spain and he was showing MM his house and talked about his awesome quality of life even though he didn't make as much as American doctors. He seemed pretty cool with it.
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"What would you like me to tell the adcom about you?"
The first time I literally panicked and rambled
The first time I literally panicked and rambled
"Tell me about yourself"
"What's your favorite book and why?"
"What's your favorite book and why?"
Aw man this was my favorite! I basically asked it to one interviewer early on and managed to divert most of the interview into talking about history.
My least favorite were probably the generic ones like strengths and weaknesses just because they're boring and not too deep.
What? I read probably a book a week when I'm not absolutely swamped at work. That question would be awesome. I could turn the whole interview into a conversation about literature.
I asked one faculty member what she would change about medical school admissions if she could. She said, "I don't know if I would change anything."
REALLY???
Nothing needs to be changed in a process that costs students thousands of dollars?
"Yeah I do. Why do you offer us a bunch of coffee and water and then sit us in a room for a half an hour and then interview us for an hour without expecting us to have to take at least one restroom break?"
"What is the best idea you've ever had"
I blanked. Couldn't really think of anything and had to spit out some lame idea I had about streamlining a process at work.
I wish I had told her about my crazy fiction story idea about a dude that is sent to another timeline every time he dies so that he never actually knows he dies and assumes it was just a dream when he wakes up in this new reality. So all these near-death experiences may have been actual deaths that he "escaped" by moving to a new reality. I hadn't gotten far enough to consider death at old age though...
I blanked. Couldn't really think of anything and had to spit out some lame idea I had about streamlining a process at work.
I wish I had told her about my crazy fiction story idea about a dude that is sent to another timeline every time he dies so that he never actually knows he dies and assumes it was just a dream when he wakes up in this new reality. So all these near-death experiences may have been actual deaths that he "escaped" by moving to a new reality. I hadn't gotten far enough to consider death at old age though...
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I wish I had taken a page out of the NSAs book and recorded all these brilliant ideas I've had over the years.
Plenty of people still read books.
Yeah, I do actually! Are you going to accept me?!
Q: Why this school?
A: some form of BS about curriculum, support, environment, blah, blah, research, blah, blah
Real answer: I know how the academic game works and your institution will help me win that game now let me in.
A: some form of BS about curriculum, support, environment, blah, blah, research, blah, blah
Real answer: I know how the academic game works and your institution will help me win that game now let me in.
I believe @Goro uses that as instant rejection criteria.
Hey, you spent possibly hundreds of dollars to apply to our school, fly out for the interview, and stay at a hotel.
But I'm going to reject you for asking a question.
I'm not saying I agree with it, but it does give some perspective.
The analogy I like to think of is that it's like a first date that you're on with the school; you can't seem too interested or you'll come across desperate.
I've got a couple up my sleeve just for that. They're mostly from having to kill 15 minutes at my old job when my students ran out of stuff to do, but we still wanted to look productive.
I got asked about the increasing physician suicide rates, and how I would avoid depression if I presented with symptoms haha
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I tried to teach the female physician about the difference between a cover 2/cover 4 defense in football.. she was not too impressed. I was waitlisted initially but then accepted so it couldn't have been too bad 😵
There are plenty I hate, but I got asked "Tell me something" as one of my questions. Not "tell me about yourself", literally just "tell me something".
I ended up mentioning part of my application that he hadn't brought up, but the question was so incredibly vague that it was pointless to even ask. I should have just given him the quote about Pacman originally being called Puckman from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World lol.
I also got asked a really annoying question about my opinion on the pay differences between different specialties. He clarified by asking if I think it's ethical for a neurosurgeon to make such a significantly higher salary than a pediatrician.
I ended up mentioning part of my application that he hadn't brought up, but the question was so incredibly vague that it was pointless to even ask. I should have just given him the quote about Pacman originally being called Puckman from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World lol.
I also got asked a really annoying question about my opinion on the pay differences between different specialties. He clarified by asking if I think it's ethical for a neurosurgeon to make such a significantly higher salary than a pediatrician.
"What's your greatest weakness?"
I hate this question. I know why people ask this question, and I guess it's justified - but I still hate it. Answering it makes me feel like a politician, and there is a reason I decided not to go into politics.
I hate this question. I know why people ask this question, and I guess it's justified - but I still hate it. Answering it makes me feel like a politician, and there is a reason I decided not to go into politics.
I read about 15 books a year... In one of my interviews we talked about a book for 30 minutes, needless to say I got accepted to that school
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I'll play. I never use this, but sometimes my colleagues do, and it's "If you were accepted into our state MD school, would you choose them over us?"
I hate this because it sets up the interviewee to lie. Most interviewees would gladly go to our MD school, and for good reason; it's opens more doors. The school has an actual hospital, their students don't have to rotate all over the state, and there are really decent research opportunities. BUT the interviewer wants to hear "Oh, I'll come here". It's a worthless question.
Some of the standard questions mentioned above at least ask you to display some degree of introspection, a quality highly desired in medical students and doctors. I don't ask them because they'fre so standard that all we hear are canned answers.
Some questions allow us peer right into your soul, and we don't like what we see.
I hate this because it sets up the interviewee to lie. Most interviewees would gladly go to our MD school, and for good reason; it's opens more doors. The school has an actual hospital, their students don't have to rotate all over the state, and there are really decent research opportunities. BUT the interviewer wants to hear "Oh, I'll come here". It's a worthless question.
Some of the standard questions mentioned above at least ask you to display some degree of introspection, a quality highly desired in medical students and doctors. I don't ask them because they'fre so standard that all we hear are canned answers.
Some questions allow us peer right into your soul, and we don't like what we see.
I flat out hate the "Tell me about a time" questions. I can never think of anything quick enough without creating a really awkward pause so I just regurgitate the canned answers I have for four or five variations of this question.
"Tell me about yourself."
Yes I know how to answer it, but still cringe every time it is asked, especially in open file interviews.
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Yes I know how to answer it, but still cringe every time it is asked, especially in open file interviews.
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A couple of mine:
"Do you have any questions for me?" being asked throughout the ENTIRE F***ING INTERVIEW. And I hate that we're basically expected to ask questions from our interviewer, else risk looking like we're ignorant or not very thoughtful. Because by the time I get to that point they've all been asked and answered by the thousands of med students who tour with us and what not. Plus the things I'm really curious about can come off wrong (are the people here crazy, uncooperative, condescending, or is it collegial? Do you have AOA for me to have to worry about and if so what are my chances of getting in? Is it reasonable to get honors in clinicals or does it involve schmoozing or other subjective measures? Things of this nature)
Also I hate "tell me about yourself." Um I'm awesome and you should accept me. Any questions? But seriously it's a broad question and hard to answer well without also sounding rehearsed.
"Do you have any questions for me?" being asked throughout the ENTIRE F***ING INTERVIEW. And I hate that we're basically expected to ask questions from our interviewer, else risk looking like we're ignorant or not very thoughtful. Because by the time I get to that point they've all been asked and answered by the thousands of med students who tour with us and what not. Plus the things I'm really curious about can come off wrong (are the people here crazy, uncooperative, condescending, or is it collegial? Do you have AOA for me to have to worry about and if so what are my chances of getting in? Is it reasonable to get honors in clinicals or does it involve schmoozing or other subjective measures? Things of this nature)
Also I hate "tell me about yourself." Um I'm awesome and you should accept me. Any questions? But seriously it's a broad question and hard to answer well without also sounding rehearsed.
"Is there anything we have not discussed?"
"Is there anything you would like to add?"
"The mitochondria is ____________?"
"Is there anything you would like to add?"
"The mitochondria is ____________?"
I've been asked at DO interviews if I've applied to MD schools as well. I didn't lie but I definitely narrowed the list of schools that I applied and said I only applied to a few of my state MD schools. Do you think the interviewer was genuinely asking or seeing if I would lie about it? Do faculty at your school care if interviewees say they've applied to both or does it show one isn't necessarily "committed" to DO?
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What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Man I had one where the interviewer told me to list FIVE strengths and FIVE weaknesses. Brutal.
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Weakness #1: I am dishonest about my weaknesses. (Follow with blank stare)
I have a somewhat-related question that I've been burning to ask for a while: if we get a "teach me something" from an interviewer, would it be appropriate to teach them how to do something in a way that required them to stand up and move a little bit (literally walk 3-4 steps back and forth a couple of times). I have something up my sleeve that I think would be an interesting, unique response and that's also something I really enjoy and ties into one of my long-standing hobbies, but the best way to teach it is to have someone physically do it!
Selective truth telling..
Anyway I always hate the "tell me a bit about yourself" questions. I'm kinda a big subject, especially in my own mind.
Asking follow ups about being homeless for a while (it was in my PS) usually got a bit awkward too.
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It's a ****ty question. It puts the applicant in a super awkward position for no reason. There's no legitimate reason they need to know that info.
I have a few I can use if asked. Some more PC than others lol.
"Tell me something negative a friend or colleague would say about you."
This is an impossible question because I am awesome.
This is an impossible question because I am awesome.
They don't ask to see if you'll lie, to I honestly beleive that want to hear you say that you'd turn down an MD school for us. The True Believers think that way, and they're the ones who tend to ask these types of questions.
I am always in favor of being honest, and the best way to deal with these types of questions is to be able to articulate the plusses and minuses of each place you're interviewing at.
I am always in favor of being honest, and the best way to deal with these types of questions is to be able to articulate the plusses and minuses of each place you're interviewing at.
