Guest Parii Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Hi there, I had my interview yesterday. I know that I am not allowed to share info, however, just wanted to let you (whoever still doing the interviews this weekend) that I found my panel quite pleasant. They are not there to trick you or put you in a stressful situation; in fact they help you out! It is often the interviewee who can act as his/her own enemy by getting nervous or trying to be someone else to impress the panel. I think I went a little bit over with my answers; but, most of people do that, especially when they are nervous. I know that we can not share questions/material, but we can provide each other with some geneal feed back (as above). So, good luck to you all. Just be yourself; really! pari Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paulchemguy Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 1 of my interviewer (Academic) was nice. The community person was just staring at me. And man, I answered something wrong a clinician asked me and then I paused for 10s realizing my mistake.... It was sooo embarssing! arghhhhhhh The clinician helped me with understanding the term before I answered. Now it feels like he was leading the discussion rather than me. Argh. ..and the clinican wasn't even looking at me all the time. looked like he was thinking about something else.. is that a bad sign? arghhhhhhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheEleventhFinger Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 i felt my panel was very friendly and pleasant as well!! not intimidating at all. and the med students volunteering in the hall were very nice too! just be urself and relax. at the end, i asked a question and they ended up talking about it for 5 mins..haha, very nice ppl =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TKP 123 Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Glad that you enjoy the help from the students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest canuck1 Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Paulchemguy, I feel your pain. One of my panel members asked one or two questions the whole time and didn't say a whole lot. The clinician seemed totally disinterested, bored and like he wanted to be somewhere else. I pretty much think I'm screwed and feel like in a matter of about 30 minutes, I just pissed away all my efforts from the last several years.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GundamDX Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 dont feel discouraged! i think the best attitude is a neutral one, ie. shouldn't feel good nor bad, coz you never know! lots of people felt they did bad and got in, and vice versa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paulchemguy Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Yeh canuk1, same here. I tried to sell myself, and the clinican just doenst seem interested. But then some of my answers, now that I think about it, were pretty lame. Ah screw it, can't do anything until next application cycle. BLAH. *bashes head against wall* :rolleyes .... and I got a cold because of the interview lol. I changed my clothes in the car cuz I was too lazy to bring them back to the building to change... LOL :b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MKxox Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Hi Don't worry about how your interviewers seemed. They have been going through a lot of interviews and depending when yours was, they might have really been tired and nothing else. Also keep in mind that even sometimes when they do look happy and nice, they can write pretty mean comments!! Just ask the poeple who got the feedback after they were rejected!! For the rest of you: I guess the best thing would be to be yourself and be more aware of your answers and posture rather than the impression on the interviewers' faces. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest potential md Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 I think I maybe had the same panel as Paulchemguy & canuck! My panel wasn't as cheerful as I'd hoped but they weren't nasty either. My clinician was totally disinterested (I saw him dozing at one point) and then he threw me a total curve ball question at the end by interupting my answer to a question and then asking me a completely different one. Ack! I too got a cold after - but I think it's just part of the stress detox I'm going through. All I know is that I did the best I could do, and that's what's important. I had some great encouragement from a friend afterwards who said, " If nothing else, it's good practice. Do you really think it's going to be easy the first time you save a life? or lose a life?" Kinda puts things in perspective. Good luck everyone. Chill out. If we're lucky, this is a very minor stressful event in a career full of difficult conversations & decisions. And amazingly rewarding moments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TBell Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 good advice potential md Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Parii Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Hi there, sorry to hear about the 'unhappy' clinicians. Upon reflection on my interview, I think my panel were quite friendly and helpful. But, yes, it was the clinician who was more ‘inhibited’ (though not ‘unhappy’), but looked a little bit less enthusiastic in comparison to the other two. Could it be that all clinician were instructed to display a little scepticism? The clinician in my panel wasn’t unfriendly, but I had to sent more effort in order to make him ‘nod’ or smile… Perhaps, I am being only paranoid… But, let us all wait and see what happens. Last year after my interview, I could jump up and down and was extremely happy and couldn’t believe how quick and thoughtful I was in answering questions. I thought really that it will be interview that will get me in!! What actually happened was just the opposite! I scored 6/10! So, don’t lose hope this soon! This interview is really one of things that you don’t know how it is going to be. Good luck, pari. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Hey there, It's interesting. On reflection, when I interviewed at UBC, my clinician-interviewer was also a bit stand-off-ish. The other two panelists certainly made up for her "hesitancy" and, in the end, it could have been some sort of a ruse in that a UBC acceptance floated my way. In short, try not to do too much post-interview analysis of your performance. You'll probably be a lot more critical than the interviewers were, this might only increase the longer you think about it and both will only serve to increase your chances of developing an ulcer. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest grobz Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 I had the opposite. The doc on my panel was the warmest,the community member was stone-faced, and the academic was throwing some seemingly ambiguous questions at me. I felt good right after, but since them I have been analysing every answer and am afraid i came across as either 1) too prepared, because I had prepared for almost every question that came my way, 2) much too talkative, b/c I babbled a bit, and/or 3) Unclear b/c some of my answers were not as concrete or easy to follow as they seemed when they were just ideas in my head. Why don't the words ever sound as good as the thoughts? G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kupo Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 i might as well give you the heads up. I believe the interviewers may have been encouraged not to provide positive reinforcement if possible, in whatever manner. But this is tough to do, as many interviewers cannot help but be impressed by your answers (or vice versa) or some take the neutral expression thing a little too far. Who knows, don't read into it too much. If you did what you had to do at the interview, then that's the best you can do. it's now in the hands of the committee. I hope the majority of you have had an enjoyable and informative weekend. good luck to those on monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FastEddy Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Hi there, I hope everyone had the opporunity to express themselves fully during their interviews. Mine was pleasant... the doctor was a friendly fellow and came out to get me, he was warm and receptive for most of the interview but seemed to switch off a bit towards the end. The community member on my panel was a bit hard to read, she seemed a bit withdrawn apart from when she was asking the questions. The academic was very good natured, he seemed to kind of chuckle through his questions and was smiling all the time. A few questions had me doing some mental stumbling around. In retrospect, I think I managed to get my footing back sufficiently. Of course, as soon as I left the room I wanted to run back in there and get some more things across. Anyway, I'm sure it will all turn out well. Its been a great experience that will definitely help out with the next app. cycle if this year doesn't turn out as planned. I was the first interview on friday. Does anyone know what kind of process they're going to implement to ensure its fairly scored from the first person through to their last? I'm just wondering how they could come up with a score out of ten for me without having any standard set yet. Good Luck to those who have yet to be grilled... j/k.. you'll all be fine, its a very comfortable encounter. -E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hi there, If I'm not mistaken, UBC normalizes the interview scores once all interviews are complete. I believe the normalization takes place within each set of interviewees who have had the same panel. They used to do this before the panel-style interviews and have continued this. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FastEddy Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Thanks Kirsteen, That makes sense. I sure hope they took good notes then! -E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GundamDX Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 does this mean if you do better than others in the group of interviewees for the same panel, you will get a better score? how exactly does the normalization work ? not that I want to work out the details, but just curious about this whole matter... since there's so many of us !! 600+ ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest paulistadf Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 i assume normalization means they would scale all the scores of a certain interview panel such that every panel has the same average score. although i guess to do this each panel would have to interview enough applicants such that this kind of statistical analysis can be done.... so i'm not 100% sure. but i'm sure they somehow make it so that no matter what panel you had, you have the same opportunities. so a really tough panel won't ruin your score and neither will a really easy panel boost your score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paulchemguy Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 eventhough there's 600 people being interviewed, look at it this way: for in-province spots, there's actually ~40% chance of getting admitted. but of cuz the % is only true when you assume all interviewed applicatns being very similar in all aspects :b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pharmgurl Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 OMG Fast Eddy, sounds like we had the same panel and my experience was very similar to yours. Some of the questions had me doing some mental gymnastics to understand what they wanted but I found that the panel helped me along. I wish they had asked me if I had anything further to add because like you said, as soon as I left I was kicking myself for not having said this or that. However, I was glad that the panel was friendly, I felt no hostility and they laughed at my jokes even!! Now the agonizing wait begins.....good luck to all! Pharmgurl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest leviathan Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Do the interviewers ever pimp you guys? For example, do the academics ever ask you academic questions about a topic in your major (assuming they knew something about it or were in the same field)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hey there, Regarding the normalization of interview scores, the process that was described above, re: not being penalized or receiving bonus marks for a tough or easy interview panel, respectively, is correct. How UBC approaches normalization with a panel of three people would be interesting. They could tackle it either by individual interviewer scores, or via the total panel score. In any case, in a previous application year, when I had a look at my UBC interview score it was interesting to note that one interviewer score remained about the same whereas the other ended up being adjusted (normalized) up. The latter score was from an interviewer who was notoriously tough. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lurkergonepublic Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Fast Eddy and pharmgurl - sounds a lot like mine too. Who knows, maybe we had the same panel. I interviewed on Saturday, and I don't know if a panel does more than one day though. So my experience was good. It was a very relaxed setting (although that often makes you think it went better than it really did). I was happy with most of my answers, but they did make me have to take long pauses and drinks from time to time. Maybe a bit of discomfort is good so you don't have too high expectations - I also don't let myself think about it much because you rarely think back and come up with more reasons why it was good than you do why it was horrible. BTW - Pharmgurl - I presume your in BC and in pharmacy. Did you and a friend by any chance meet a guy from Calgary on the bus on the way to the wine and cheese Friday night? I have no idea how many pharm applicants there are in med, so it may be a silly question with nothing else to go on, but thought I'd check and see if I actually met you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pharmgurl Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 Hey, sorry I didn't go to the wine/cheese so it wasn't me but you'd be surprised how many pharm students/pharmacists apply to med school! Good luck with your application! PG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.