In 2 days: Dr. Nancy Sherwood and Dr. Bakul Dalal. Pls help!

[Guest MDhopeful]

I just found out I'm interviewing with them in 2 days!!! I know some ppl have already posted questions/answers regarding those interviewers, but can someone pls give some more details? :eek Like what kind of questions they asked? Tips? Etc? Thanks in advance!

 

And to those applying, GOOD LUCK!

[Guest monksters]

Hi There

 

I have Dr Dalal too but on March 10th.. hoping for insight on his background too! Thanks

[Guest canstowski]

I had Dr. Dalal a few days ago....one word "yikes".....

 

let just say it was an interview to forget.....it was very short (30 mins) and i feel tension during the whole interview

 

Anyhow, in the middle of the interview, he was talking about his patient and he said "well u'll learn about it next year in my class" :rolleyes

 

does that mean anything? Other than that comment i say it was diasterous! |I

[Guest ssup]

canstowski,

 

this is definitely not the first time I'm hearing about Dr. Dalad horror stories...friends of mine who have interviewed with him in the past have also found him to be extremely aggressive, abrupt and unreceptive. So I don't think your "disastrous" interview is a reflection on you at all...don't consider yourself out of the running either, some of those very friends went on to be accepted at UBC! THERE'S STILL HOPE!!!

[Guest k2yf]

I just had Dr. Dalal. He was very thorough and careful in examining your file. But he asked me only one question, well, one main question and everything else was some sort of lead on. My interview was over an hour. He was very interested in you as a person, yeah a real person.

[Guest kooty]

Oh my God! I'm so terrified now!! I also have both within the next few days. Is Dr. Dala very argumentative regarding ethical questions? Oh man oh man oh man.

 

But thanks to those who offered input. At least I know what i'm up against!

[Guest Pucca81]

Hi, kooty

My friend had Dr. Dalal as an interviewer and although, I am not sure what kind of questions were asked, she had a very good interview last year. If the interview gets tougher, I heard that maintaining your "cool" and sticking to your point is the most important (not being wishy washy). Best Wishes

[Guest shrimp]

so k2yf had the interview for over an hour but cantowski's interview was 30 minutes for the same interviewer. From my person point of view, I guess it's a little bit unfair because, for example, if both of your interview went ok, the longer the conservation, the more the interviewer had memory on you and had more information to evaluate you. I know it's quite hard to predict whether we can get in because it really depends on the interviewers. I heard from a friend that she thought she had a very bad interview but she got in!

 

By the way, I just had an interview yesterday (not Dr. Dalal) and it was only 30 minutes. But he told me in advance that he interviewed all ppl in 30 min to a maximum of 40 minutes.

[Guest k2yf]

I don't think length matter. They have to present you during the committee. If you are a strong applicant, what else do they need to know from you to present you in a favourable light? On the other hand, if the interviewer don't think you are a good candidate, he will want to probe deeper into your weaknesses, to back up his stance in case the other interviewer think you are a good candidate. I personally think the shorter the better.

[Guest canstowski]

Kooty, he didn't ask me any ethical questions nor any questions related to health care, politics and current events. In fact he didn't even ask why i wanna be a doctor or anything related to that.

 

All he asked was my CV.....

 

k2yf, same can be said the other way...if he feels i'm a sucky candidate, he doesnt' need to waste more time to interview.....so shorter doesn't mean better....i kinda agree with what shrimp's theory..

 

sigh~ either way, i'm doomed! i can see "re-application" knocking on my front door now! |I

[Guest kooty]

Hi Canstowski....

 

Don't worry about the short interview....maybe he was just pressed for time... Why do you think your interview was disastrous? If all he asked about was your CV, then was it just his personality that stressed you out?

[Guest Phil667]

I just had my interview with him this weekend. I thought the interview went very well! It was just a friendly chat. He asked me 2 ethical questions at the end of the interview though. Just relax... (I don't think that he is out to "get you").

 

Ps, My interview was 30 min on the button, but he told me before hand that it would only take 30 min exactly.

 

Phil

[Guest canstowski]

I dunno, but i just felt the interview is kinda weird....

 

He didn't ask me why i wanna be a doctor or anything close....as well he cut my answer short most of the time....i just think he is not very interested in me or hearing any of my stories...

 

another thing to prove my point, he was cleaning his desk during part of my interview....

 

maybe its my answers that were bad...i dunno, i just didn't like my interview at all! i expect either friendly chat or a tough decision making interview...i got neither...a rather flowless inteview at best...

 

sigh~

[Guest MayFlower1]

canstowski,

 

As I've said in other forums...I don't think your perceptions of how you did during the interview are correlated that well, if at all, with the eventual outcome.

 

I do sympathize with you, however, in the middle of my interview at UofO last year, the oldest interviewer (assistant dean of admissions) stood up...ripped a compression bandage off his hand (he had obviously injured it somehow)...walked over to the garbage can at the other side of the room and somewhat "aggressively" (that's probably too strong a word)threw the bandage in the garbage. It sort of made me feel like what I was saying wasn't of interest or, at least, on the top of his mind. Anyway, to say the least, it was somewhat akward...in my case, however, it was good forshadowing of a "bad waitlist" letter

 

Anyway...I don't think your experience is that unique...many people who have been accepted in to Canadian med schools have reported the same types of things during their interviews.

 

I'm sure you did great...relax...wait for the letter before you start beating yourself up! Although, I fully realize this is much easier said than done... :rolleyes

 

Peter

[Guest kooty]

What kinds of ethical questions did Dr. Dalal ask you? He asked me some stuff about abortion and transplants. I wonder if everyone got the same.......

[Guest canstowski]

Man, kooty, you are lucky....he didn't ask me any ethical questions....actually, he spent almost 20 of my 30 minute interview asking questions about my research paper....

[Guest Phil667]

kooty, he asked me different ethical questions than you. I bet he has a lot of them.

 

canstowski, I think that YOU are lucky to not get any ethical questions. I like it when interviewers ask about my research, previous jobs, or other personal stuff. It is so much easier to talk about. I think that you are being too pesimistic about your interview. I'm sure that it went OK

 

Phil

[Guest oogachukka]

I had both of them last week too! I wish I'd found this forum earlier. But it's alright.

 

My experience with them?

 

Dr. Sherwood was nice, maybe a little on the serious side. Although most of her questions came from my extracurriculars, I think I botched up some of my answers...

 

Dr. Dalal was very friendly and we got talking about things that had nothing to do with medicine (in my mind at least). For example, he made a comment about how my last name was the name of some computer/typewriters back in the 80's...about his daughter who went to U of Manitoba instead of UBC...about the politics between Taiwan and China...he did go back to my extracurricular sheet however. I wonder if the fact that our conversation kept straying was any indication of him not being interested in knowing more about me. Anyway, he did give a couple of scenarios and ask what I would have done in each case. He was very persistent about opposing everything you said...I tried to remain calm but in the end was still rather flustered...:\

 

Oh well. Now all I can do is await...the big package hopefully...

 

Good luck to those who are interviewing in the near future!

[Guest kooty]

Hi guys,

 

Dr. Dalal was a real character. Canstowski, he told me that he hoped to see me in his class next year, so I bet he says that to everyone Too bad for us. He was pretty persistent regarding the ethical questions....I'd tell him what I thought should be done, then he'd add some sort of circumstance which made things more difficult to answer. He grilled me like hell on my research, really made sure I knew what I was doing. Nice guy, I liked him.....

[Guest canstowski]

Yea, what with him and research? i guess the tip is if you have a research project, be prepare to memorize it well :rolleyes

 

But am i the only one that he didn't ask ethical question to?