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I understand stubble and facial hair in general tend to be less preferred in professional settings such as medical school interviews, but I was wondering if any successful male candidates sported some light stubble during their interviews? Although I plan on going clean shaven just to be safe, I look a lot more mature/less baby faced with some stubble. It's also a more comfortable look for me and I feel a lot more confident than when I'm clean shaven - which could potentially have a positive effect on my interview performance if I'm not as self-conscious about how I look. 
 

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I really don't think that you're putting much faith in the admissions committee if you think that's going to influence their decision.

Professionalism is definitely an attribute that is assessed for some schools so I feel that it's at least somewhat reasonable to worry about such a thing. Regardless, thanks for your input. 

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I know a lady who interviews specifically for McMaster and she said one year a young man came wearing the beige dockers pants instead of formal wear, she said he really stuck out in a bad way and it was really frowned upon. I know it doesn't really answer your question but it shows your appearance really is important!

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I usually have a beard and I actually thought about posting last year to ask about this. Honestly, I just got rid of it just incase. Beards grow back, I didn't think it was worth the risk of having an interview who might judge me or have some sort of bias against me for looking "sloppier"

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Stubble wouldn't influence (my) decision on interviews, as long as the overall presentation of the candidate is professional! It's not about suiting up and being clean shaven etc for a magazine photo shoot, but making it obvious that you care to put yourself together for what one would expect to be an important interview in life. Anecdotally when I interviewed there was someone who clearly stood out in their dress (think bright knit sweater), but they got in just the same :)

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I had the same problem last year. I had actually planned to go into the interview with a little bit of stubble (2 days ish) mostly because I was a 2nd year applicant and wanted to look a bit older. 

 

In the process I did some research. A lot of scientific studies have actually looked at this question and after reading them I basically got the feeling that it made you appear wiser, more mature, and older. That being said... the interview day dawned on me and I decided to shave that morning. 

 

One cool study actually found that in rating situations people who had stubble when everyone else was clean shaven were selected and vice versa. Here's the link:

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/4/20130958

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I've gone to every interview I've ever had (including MUN's interview this year) with a slight stubble. I clean shave my neck and upper cheeks and set my trimmer to leave the shortest amount of hair possible everywhere else. In my opinion, it still looks quite clean and really helps with my confidence. I'll be sticking with that for the rest of my med interviews, I believe.

 

I can say that people had all sorts of different levels of facial hair at the MUN interview. I think as long as you show that you take some level of care in your appearance, you'll be fine. 

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I understand stubble and facial hair in general tend to be less preferred in professional settings such as medical school interviews, but I was wondering if any successful male candidates sported some light stubble during their interviews? Although I plan on going clean shaven just to be safe, I look a lot more mature/less baby faced with some stubble. It's also a more comfortable look for me and I feel a lot more confident than when I'm clean shaven - which could potentially have a positive effect on my interview performance if I'm not as self-conscious about how I look. 

 

 

That says it all, keep it! 

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