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Becareful of writing about your interview experience

Guest Maury1274

By Guest Maury1274
in University of Ottawa Medical School

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Guest Kirsteen

Guest Kirsteen

Posted
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Hi there,

 

I had my Ottawa interview and they really came at me with the most bizarre questions (one after the other) and they wouldn't stop until they could find something that I just didn't know.
If this is the case then it sounds like there was a good deal that you did know. :)

 

They may have been simply trying to see how you react under pressure. If you maintained a pleasant and positive outlook and didn't react too wildly to being placed in the hotseat then you probably did just fine. After all, you're not the first interviewee to whom this has happened over the years. :)

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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Guest byjude

Guest byjude

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Don't forget, if they did it to you, they probably did it to all of the other applicants they interviewed. As long as you maintained your confidence in the interview, they may have been more impressed by you than they let on. Maybe they just want to see if you need positive feedback to succeed, or whether you are more internally-driven than that. If you played the game as well as it sounds, then you needn't be worried. Everyone else interviewed by that panel was likely treated the same way, so in the end, some of you will be accepted - regardless of how well your individual interview seemed to go.

 

So who knows - maybe you actually performed quite well. You got a laugh out of them - maybe that's a great success!

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Guest Bleepo

Guest Bleepo

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hey, i had the EXACT same experience last year at u of o, so i really feel for you. I had interviewers who were very serious and very stern...very hard to tell what they really wanted from my answers. i also had trouble understanding one of the interviewers; there were a couple of times where i had to ask him to repeat his questions. i kept on reading in this forum that the ppl at u of o were so friendly and pleasant, so when my interview came along, i was quite shocked. i guess it just goes to show that all interviewers will approach the interviewing process differently. just be prepared for the worse at all times. as for me, unfortunately, my bad vibes were accurate, as i didn't get accepted. i also felt that some of my answers were quite poorly done, so if u still felt your answers were good and they just didn't like you, then i think you still have a good chance. don't give up hope! and if bad news does come in may, definitely reapply. i know they don't give you the same interviewers twice! ...just out of curiosity, what kinda "bizarre" questions did they ask?

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Guest Nikhila

Guest Nikhila

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Hey all,

 

I had my interview just this past tuesday and was met with much the same demeanour. All 3 were bad cops, no laughing, it was awful. Asked very sneaky questions, seemed utterly disinterested in me and what I had to say, most of my answers were good but I guffed up on one majorly. Extremely frustrating experience indeed. But as one of my good friends who is in U of O med right now was saying, a good interview means nothing and a bad interview means nothing. Even if you think your interview went splendid, lots of laughing, very laid back, it isn't an accurate representation of THEIR impression of you and your merits as a potential medical student. Try not to think about it, its over and while it sucks that you had an unpleasant experience, don't put yourself into a depression over it, you never really know what their impression of you was. Hope that was of some comfort,

 

Nikhila

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Guest Nightriders19

Guest Nightriders19

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Hi folks,

 

Just wanted to add that I also had a very poor interview at Ottawa. My interviewers did not even introduce themselves to me. My interview felt like 45 minutes of being interrogated!

 

Good luck to all who had bad interview experiences :P

 

Nightrider

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Guest g22g

Guest g22g

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Dean Walker and the admissions office didn't really like last year on how this board was turned into a tell all on the admissions interview process both in content (what are the questions) and style (this interviewer with the blue hat that had this accent, etc.). They thought it was a little idiotic because earlier applicants are basically giving away quiz questions to an exam that others can use to competing against you and take your spot, unfair because not all the early people were voluntary idiotic, and RUDE because blue hat people can't defend themselves from slander. Therefore this doesn't demonstrate a level of professionalism and integrity of a future physician. Consequently, they instigated a confidentiality policy this year which each interviewee accepted (if reluctantly) that jeopardizes a potential offer by disclosing the content and style of the interview.

 

If you add unique information Like when your interview was , what your WGPA is, what questions were asked, what sex you are, and who interviewed you!!! There is a huge incenitive by the admissions office to shave you from the acceptance pool now because it is incredilble difficult to shave you off of the medical graduate pool for shotty ethics.

 

You might think that U of O's policy sucks because instead of everyone knowing what happens during the interview it will only be those (or the impression of those) that keep it hush-hush to their buddies. It might also suck because it vacuums up the support and reassurance that this forum can provide for each other. It further sucks because interview feedback and the application process is a reflection of what your future classmates are going to be like and how the administration treats you with respect (or without in this case).

 

Last year was an anomaly too because the site called interviewfeedback.com was down. This site anonymously allowed students to indicate if they thought their process was fair, the students were friendly, and generalities about the format and the questions. This year it has been taken up by the American student doctor network (www.studentdoctor.net/int...index.asp) and they have sections for all the medical schools in Canada. Note that 2 brave souls from this year’s pool have filled out the questionnaire.

 

You signed a code, follow the code, and note well that more (voluntary) codes will follow. As a person who has carelessly opened my mouth more times than I should have as autonomic free speech (e.g. regularly with women, with an unintentional bomb threat when I was fourteen, often at the expense of a cheap laugh-GO SENS!, etc) then I beg you to appreciate the nuances between gossip, confidentiality, and comradery, both in this interview process and your future medical career.

 

Best of luck no matter how the interview felt,

g22g

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Guest noncestvrai

Guest noncestvrai

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I am surprised by this policy. What? They are too lazy to come up with innovative ways of interviewing applicants?

 

noncestvrai

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Guest wassabi101

Guest wassabi101

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Although I completely disagree with the University's non-disclosure policy (I thought they were letting 'people' in and not memorized answers), I agree with g22g's point about professionalism. Whether an online board exempts you from acting out your professionalism is a highly debatable topic for many. All in all, feel free to express how you feel, but descriptions of interviewers really don't help your cause.

 

With that said, I wanted to share with all of you who feel they had a bad interview that as others have said, it is really relative. The interviewer's could have been trying to test you out under pressure, they could have all been having a bad day, you could be an extra sensitive person, or they could have thought you sucked big time, you'll never really know. I think the best thing to do is to hope for the best & congratulate yourself on trying your hardest.

 

I thought my interview had gone badly last year (read last year's post for a recap- similar to what others have said) and I was positive I hadn't gotten in. When I ended up on the waiting list, I still thought I was at the bottom, and perhaps only my graduate productivity had put me there, but in the end, I got that call the first day they were calling people off the list, and I'll never really know what happened.

 

Hope that helps somewhat, and good luck!

 

Smiles,

wassabi

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Guest 15Sacha

Guest 15Sacha

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I don't feel that the first guys post was bad at all. He never said anything wrong and shouldn't have deleted it. All he said is that he had a bad experience and needed comfort. This is a board for support and I feel that he got scared off. Maury 1274 hang in there and hope for the best. My prayers are with you.:)

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Guest blinknoodle

Guest blinknoodle

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You signed a code, follow the code, and note well that more (voluntary) codes will follow.

I had an interview at Ottawa and although a confidentially form was eluded to in the interview invite package, I never was asked to signed anything.... I know my friends signed things during earlier weekends, but nothing was laid out for me. Wait- I had to sign in - next to my name on a list with all the other applicants - was I signing away my life there??

 

Unlike the interviews described in this thread and by students from previous years, my interview was pleasant. Even though they had a list of questions to choose from (and they told me I could tell them if I didn't want to answer it), they even fed off from my responses. One interviewer picked up on an activity I had done in a hospital from a previous question, and asked subsequent ethical questions from that scenario. I could tell this wasn't a scripted or planned question because we talked about it at quite some length and then nearly everyone checked their watches to see how much time was left! It wasn't confrontational at all and they were rather nice - asking clarification questions when I went on a different tangent. This was the first interview, though, where everyone was blatantly writing down whatever I said which was quite distracting. Other spots have done it more discretely, to the point where I have no idea whether they took notes at all!

 

Compared to other universities, I didn't find Ottawa rather formulaic - and I think that's when you get the problem of people post their interview questions. Gee, I log onto Western's SDN interview feedback website and all 3 posts I see had the exact same questions as me.. a little predictable? geeze, someone even mentions to ask those who interviewed before you since it'll be the same. I wonder what kind of applicants are indirectly being selected for..... And if Ottawa's strategy (not in my interview, I might add) is to see how you perform under pressure, I think they should make it clear either before or after that that was what they were being evaluated on and not indicative of the views of the faculty. I remember a current Ottawa med student saying she thought everyone on her panel were homophobics and racists - which would've certainly turned me off. In fact, I judge the school by their responses to *my* questions to see whether they have the same values as mine in certain areas of curriculum, learning, etc. Some do a much poorer job than others, I might add!!

 

Food for thought..

 

-blinknoodle

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Guest g22g

Guest g22g

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I agree that nothing in the first post directly necessitated a warning. But the poster did ask for others to detail their bad interview experiences as future posters did.

 

g22g

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Guest westerngirl2004

Guest westerngirl2004

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wasn't the confidentality form included in the sign in form? I only remember signing one sheet and the guy at the register table was saying something about that. (I was pretty nervous at the time, so I might not be recalling this correctly)

 

westerngirl2004

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Guest UOMeds06

Guest UOMeds06

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Noncestvrai,

I don't think the fact that some questions may reoccur in several interviews is a sign of laziness on the part of the interviewers at all. Let's just say that the average interviewer will ask 10 questions during an interview (which in my opinion is a gross underestimation), and at 500 interviews....that makes 5000 UNIQUE questions. I would challenge ANY ONE to think of even 1500 unique questions to ask an interviewee. Keep in mind, there are only so many ways to extract the information you want from an interviewee so apart from asking questions like "what's your favorite colour?" "what your favorite drink?" "What's the derivative of 4XY^2/(4-X^3Y)?" and any other random question that gives you no insight to the quality of the interviewee....questions will ALWAYS be recycled....ALWAYS!

 

Best of luck all, less than 2 months to go to the big day!

UOMeds06

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Guest noncestvrai

Guest noncestvrai

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Hey there,

 

You raise a good point, so this is why you should get very similar questions from school to school. How do you justify their policy then?

 

noncestvrai

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Guest UOMeds06

Guest UOMeds06

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Well, that in itself justifies the policy. With a limited question bank, sharing questions would effectively give advantages for those with access to them. The point of the interview is to get to know the interviewee...not the author of whomever published their answer on the web. It's pretty unethical to be plagiarize answers. I'm not saying that it's done during interviews but just this year THREE people were denied interviews after their applications were found to contain either false information or plagiarized writings of some sort. In fact, as a result, this past week the faculty council passed a motion to give a committee the right to decide whether or not to ban these people from applying to the med school in the future. The other med schools have also expressed interest in sharing this type of information should it be collected. With competition increasing in admission, it seems like more and more people are attempting to pull off drastic measures to get into med school.

 

The bottom line is that the interviews should be fair for every one. With this policy, the adcom is just trying to eliminate any advantage some one has by interviewing after some body else. Who really would be proud of getting into med school knowing that they had to break policy in order to gain an advantage. Is that the type of doctor we want practicing in such a noble profession?

 

Two cents,

UOMeds06

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  • 2 years later...
Guest g22g

Guest g22g

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I wanted to bring this post backup from the previous board. In your acceptance blurbs and elsewhere on the forum remember that the interview process/format/questions are confidential. (I appreciate that it seems there is less merit to keep it confidential now that everyone went through the same process).

 

I changed the original title of the post to clarify.

 

Take care,

g22g

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Guest Kirsteen

Guest Kirsteen

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Hi there,

 

Just to highlight this, the original posts in this thread dated back from a couple of years ago when the confidentiality statement had not yet been issued. :)

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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Guest g22g

Guest g22g

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Dear Kirsteen,

To the best of my knowledge, the 2004 posts (for the incoming class of 2008) was from the first year of the confidentiality program that still remains in effect. This was where by accepting an invitation to interview meant you agreed to the confidentiality agreement on the interview process. As you have read above I think it is a counterproductive way for U of O's to conduct their process. Nevertheless, if you/we agreed to it then you/we are to abide by our word.

 

Respectfully,

g22g

p.s. perhaps I shouldn't have revived this post...

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