COVID-19. Change to online interviews?

[bruh]

The interview will NOT be live. 
 

“We are writing to provide additional details regarding the interview scheduled to take place online on March 28, 2020:

 

-    The format of the online interview on March 28 will be a video recorded answer, not a live interview

-    You will video record your answers to 4 questions that we will pose to you, and then upload your recordings to UofT

-    The uploaded video recorded answers will be evaluated by 4 independent raters

-    We will provide all applicants with the opportunity to test the technology on March 20, 2020; we want to ensure that everyone is adequately prepared

-    All applicants need to plan for a total time of two and a half hours for the online interview cycle in the first half of the day, even if you were originally scheduled for the afternoon interview session

-    No action from you is required at this time; we simply ask that you monitor your email account, as further details will be sent out in the upcoming days”

 

I am still unsure about whether these questions will be released to us in advance allowing us to prepare or they will be similar to CASPer where you have a time limit and must respond on the spot. I am hoping it’s the latter

[ontariopremed]

i think they will be released on the spot - and you will just have to record your answer with a timer. 

[bruh]

3 minutes ago, ontariopremed said:

i think they will be released on the spot - and you will just have to record your answer with a timer. 

I suspect that will be the case. Either way, this is a vastly different method of evaluation from the in-person interviews. The March 28/29 cohort should not be compared with the in-person interviews. A proportionate number of offers to the online cohort would be fair. 

[MedHopefull144]

I understand that trying to virtually rotate interviewers & interviewees through 4 MPI stations would be a logistical nightmare, but I'm really disappointed that there will be absolutely no interaction between us and the interviewers. It takes out the "personal" in "MPI" ... now it's just a "modified interview" :/ 

[DD1]

They for sure will not compare in-person interviewees with the virtual ones. It just won't be fair. 

[redbeanbun]

I hope they can standardize the scores somehow... I feel like the standard deviation will be tiny compared to in-person interviews. A pre-recorded online interview is much harder to screw up, but it's also much much harder for candidates to stand out in a good way. 

[premed72]

You can make an argument both ways. Prepping and recording 4 answers can be super chill. If it's on the spot it's a different story. But in person interviewees obvs had to answer on the spot with 15+ questions. This format will also reduce the nerves of speaking in front of someone through Skype. Idk. Both interview formats are tough in their own way. Some people are probably celebrating it's an online recording LOL I dont think itll affect the final decisions that much tbh. The same proportion of people who get offered admission from each interview day will be the same as other years.

[ontariopremed]

12 minutes ago, MedHopefull144 said:

I understand that trying to virtually rotate interviewers & interviewees through 4 MPI stations would be a logistical nightmare, but I'm really disappointed that there will be absolutely no interaction between us and the interviewers. It takes out the "personal" in "MPI" ... now it's just a "modified interview" :/ 

i couldn't agree more - nothing about this is personal and they could've made it a panel interview. allowing them to actually get a sense of who you are as a person

[bruh]

3 minutes ago, ontariopremed said:

i couldn't agree more - nothing about this is personal and they could've made it a panel interview. allowing them to actually get a sense of who you are as a person

Exactly. It is in fact NOT an interview in anyway. It is almost identical to CASPer. 

 

[Borat Sagdiyev]

I’m just here to complain!  —> it is literally a video essay 

[ontariopremed]

Just now, RiderSx said:

Exactly. It is in fact NOT an interview in anyway. It is almost identical to CASPer. 

 

i'd rather them just take my casper score at this point - i did the u of T MPI last year and it was the best interview/best format bc it was super personal. i truly believe that they could've figured out a better solution for this - but maybe they don't have time bc of the current situation

[SnowmanTheSWOMEN]

By uploading to UofT after you answer them, how do we have a time limit? They said it is not live, so we get 2.5 hours to answer 4 questions?

[ontariopremed]

i think 2.5 hours will be extremely long to answer 4 questions - i believe they will also include some introductory presentations like they do in-person - and might include other aspects like the talks about financial literacy, academies, etc 

[SnowmanTheSWOMEN]

1 minute ago, ontariopremed said:

i think 2.5 hours will be extremely long to answer 4 questions - i believe they will also include some introductory presentations like they do in-person - and might include other aspects like the talks about financial literacy, academies, etc 

So we get prepare the quesrions?? LOL

[bluepopsicle]

My guess is that it's similar to how the U of T engineering interviews are (i.e. very similar to Casper). They'll play a video, you have 1-2 minutes to think, and then you're automatically recorded while you say your answer. While it's less personal, the logistics of online MPI would be crazy, especially when considering things like connectivity (things like a bad connection would ruin lots of interviews). I don't feel like it's a major disadvantage - it's just different. 

[SnowmanTheSWOMEN]

But it says you record them and then uploar them to UofT. I feel like this meahs you can take many tries lol

[bluepopsicle]

From what I remember, the engineering ones were also "uploaded" by the student, but they only had one try, could maybe skip a question and not upload, but I doubt anyone would do that. I can't imagine U of T letting us record it multiple times lol - then people would get it checked by others which is just crazy and not a true interview at all. 

[SnowmanTheSWOMEN]

1 minute ago, bluepopsicle said:

From what I remember, the engineering ones were also "uploaded" by the student, but they only had one try, could maybe skip a question and not upload, but I doubt anyone would do that. I can't imagine U of T letting us record it multiple times lol - then people would get it checked by others which is just crazy and not a true interview at all. 

Ohh so all questions are "scenario" based (aka video questions)?

[theevilsloth]

Yeah I seriously doubt they would allow multiple recording attempts.

[bluepopsicle]

2 minutes ago, premedontario said:

Ohh so all questions are "scenario" based (aka video questions)?

they were for engineering - med ones might be different but we'll just have to wait for more info from U of T since this is all just speculation lol

[Ontariomedschools]

how about the fact that there might not be any follow up questions? The in-person allows people to get to know you better, clarify details, ask follow up questions, ask more questions that allow you to share more of your life experiences and relevant takeaways. 

[Borat Sagdiyev]

1 hour ago, Ontariomedschools said:

how about the fact that there might not be any follow up questions? The in-person allows people to get to know you better, clarify details, ask follow up questions, ask more questions that allow you to share more of your life experiences and relevant takeaways. 

This + how will you establish a connection with the interviewer? Will we have the possibility of asking questions etc? Is anyone emailing to ask for clarification, if so can you please post updates!

[ontariopremed]

i emailed to ask for more information - but they said they will get back with more details. 

[ontariopremed]

4 hours ago, theevilsloth said:

Yeah I seriously doubt they would allow multiple recording attempts.

multiple recording defeats the point of an interview 

[itookaphoto]