Well, I have my first interview tomorrow. It’s at my first choice school, so this is good and bad. Good, because if I get in, I’ll find out quickly and be done with the rest. Bad because I don’t have any experience with interviews before I do this one.
Anyway, I’ve checked the usual sites (my school’s pre-med office, studentdoctor.net) and I’ve been working my way through the sample questions. Some things I couldn’t find though:
Is it okay for me to bring notes? I mean of questions I’d like to ask. I don’t think I’d want to bring prepared responses.
Should I bring anything with me? I can’t imagine what, other than the above, but is there stuff I should have? I’m not published (yet) so I don’t have any papers or anything to bring. But I don’t want to look stupid when everybody else has a briefcase or something.
The reviews of interviews at this particular school all make it seem quite informal and relaxed, which is a definite plus to me, but I still have no idea what to really expect. The person at the admissions office said there would be two 45 minute interviews. One with a committee member, and one with a faculty member. Do they typically ask a lot of questions, or just a few with lengthy discussions? Will they be impressed if I look up their research and ask questions about it, or will they just shrug it off as not pertaining to the actual focus of the interview?
Thanks for any help you guys can give. I’m nervous, but at the same time, I’m excited because at last I won’t be some numbers and a name on a piece of paper. I just hope they like what they see!
audiobottle, good luck tomorrow at your interview. Where are you going to be?
I graduated from medical school last spring and was a member of the admissions committee at my school during my forth year. My advice is to be yourself (lame) and be very familiar with your application (you don’t say if both interviews are open app or not). I usually used some aspect of the application as a starting point for interviews. Also be prepared to explain why that school is your number one choice; know what makes it unique from other schools, know what it’s strong points are (eg, Duke=research/teriary care/large classes; ECU/Brody=primary care/small class size).
During the interview, don’t feel like you have to answer every question immediately. Take a few seconds to consider your response. And be sure to answer the question asked concisly but completely without wandering all over the place. Nothing worse than listening to a 5 minute response and then having to ask the same question again because you didn’t get an answer.
Be somewhat familiar with problems facing the field of medicine these days - Medicare/Medicaid, insurance reform, universal health care, over crowding, stem-cell research, pharmaceutical companies advertising etc.
By all means bring notes for questions you’d like to ask. Take notes of things said during the presentation parts of the day. If you want to look slick have one of those leather bound notepads.
I graduated from med school a few years back, but my advice would be as above as well. It’s certainly okay to bring notes and take them, it’s certainly okay to be familiar with the school and know why you want to be there. You don’t need anything with you but some kind of folder/leather note pad thing is usually helpful; often programs will give you more material and it gives you a place to put them. Of course, bring a pen. :smack:
Also, I’d reiterate that the interview is the least high stress part of the entire process. If a medical school has offered you an interview, then they’re certainly interested in you. The interview is a way for them to weed out complete nut jobs, so just do your best to be a normal human being and try to have a relaxed conversation with your interviewers. (If you’re an abnormal human being already…well, try to blend in with your peers. Maybe they won’t notice.)
The interviewers may ask some specific questions about your application, so be prepared to expound on it. Otherwise they typically want to find out about you as a person–do you spend your life studying or do you have other interests that round you out? I’d imaging interviewrs would be impressed if you knew about their research, but it’s going to be hard to predict who will be talking with you in some cases. It can’t hurt, though.
I’d usually look up some basic info about the school and the chair of the program. That kind of thing.
Anyway, good luck to you tomorrow. Let us know how it goes, huh?
Thanks for the responses and encouragement. It’s at UNC Chapel Hill actually. I’m trying to find their greatest strengths, but going through their website hasn’t helped too much. I used to have a book that broke it all down school by school, but I can’t seem to find it now. Any ideas on where to look?
Oh, and they already told me who my interviewers are. So I’m going to research their work now too.
Just to make sure, everybody wears suits, right?
I’m male, and I’ll be wearing a suit. I figure it can’t hurt to look more professional, right?
Hmm… I have to find that book it seems. I hope I didn’t give it to anybody. But why would I do something that dumb? It must be around here somewhere.
Is it safe to assume that I won’t be asked any technical questions regarding classes I took?
You mean something along the lines of “explain the back-side attack mechanism” from organic chemistry? Probably not, although if you’ve taken a class that’s in the basic science interviewer’s area of expertise, s/he may question you on this but IMHO that’s an asshole thing to do unless you’ve also expressed some specific interest in that field (ie research, interest group, etc.) I used to ask applicants about unconventional classes they’d taken, “Tell me about this History of Blues class you took” or “what was your favorite non-science class you’ve taken?” So that might not be unexpected.
I was known for my favorite throw-away question which was “If you could be any kind of cell in the human body what would it be?” In fact, it was all over the interview feedback responses for my school at studentdoctor.net. The committee used to ask what the response had been from each applicant during discussion. I had some good, some bad and some ugly answers throughout the year.
Oh my favorite general interview advise of all time, and this applies to interviewing in any field. When asked what your weaknesses are, don’t list character flaws (procrastinator, wife-beater, etc) list things that can be improved (lack of knowledge about biochemistry, unfamiliar with the Canadian healthcare system, etc).
Oh, I’m sure they’ll see wife-beater just by the fact that I’ll naturally be wearing one to my interview. That’s good advice on the greatest weakness. Were your interviews with the students one on one?
I’m a medicine resident in Greensboro, and while I don’t know any of their faculty (except for our attendings, who are officially UNC-CH professors) or anyone on their admissions committee, I work with a lot of their students.
One of the things I think they do well is that they get students out into community hospitals like ours and in other settings outside the academic bubble fairly often. This helps students get a handle on how medicine is practiced in the “real world”.
It is more than OK to be unsure as to exactly what you want to do with your life at this point. The majority of people who think they know now will eventually change their minds. Most of the third-year students I work with aren’t sure yet.
Otherwise, not much to add to the excellent advice above.
Sorry if the above post by me came off as snarky. I meant it as a joke but forgot the smiley. Really, thanks so much for the valuable advice. Thanks for the heads up on a strength of UNC DoctorJ.
Off to watch Simpsons and take a break from my preparations!
I was told by someone on the admissions committee of the med school here (I’m in the PhD program, with a different interview process) that those who don’t wear a suit or equivalently formal clothing are automatically rejected. So wear a suit.
You can always tell the medical applicant groups from the grad applicants because the med students are looking incredibly nervous and wearing black suits. Only the very daring make a different fashion choice, like (gasp!) a grey suit.
GilaB, when you said “here” did you mean at UNC or a different school?
I almost went for a grey, but decided on the black at the last minute. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one :). Anyway, I better finish getting ready for the day. Thanks again!
Meh, that would be a red flag to me as an applicant if the school made decisions based on choice of dress and not the merits of the application. Granted if you are borderline and the committee is looking for something to put you on one side of the fence or the other, dressing unprofessionally could impact your status. But an automatic rejection for a perfectly acceptible grey suit it ridiculous
Well, the interview went great (I think)! I took all of the advice here and dressed nicely, brought a nice black portfolio (came in very handy), answered honestly, asked questions, and really it was a very enjoyable experience on the whole. Thanks again for all your help! Hopefully I’ll be posting in 6-8 weeks with happy news.
My recollection was that they already know you’re smart, but they want some indication you’re not an amoral, moneygrubbing loser with no interpersonal skills, or the kind of person likely to have a nervous breakdown during your final exams. Which means you’ll be fine.
If you enjoyed the experience, they probably did too, here’s hoping I’m right. Good Luck!
Thanks for the support everybody. But I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have worn the wifebeater, shouldn’t have talked about the good ol’ days when women were barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen (both interviewers were female after all - how can I respect a school with female doctors?), and possibly shouldn’t have asked where to spit my tobaccy.
