Darla Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 Hey folks I'm wondering how long we should take to answer "Tell us about yourself" when the interviewers know nothing about us. Obviously we want to set the stage so they can ask us relevant questions but we don't want to bore the socks off them either. Any thoughts on this? Is 5 minutes too long? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpie* Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 My plan is to talk as long as it takes to outline all of the important things I want to talk about...However, I am not going to go into detail on everything...just touch on each experience; if they're interested, they'll ask about it. I would guess that in my case, it would take about 2-3 minutes. You can also try to read your interviewers... if they seem bored with the depth of your explanations, you can be a little less specific. However, I would tend to stay on safe side and not get into too much detail--they'll ask questions if they want to know more. I think it's especially important to highlight the specific experiences that were very formative for you... so they know that is an important topic to talk about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clkt Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 for the interviewers out there, if you know nothing about a person, no papers in front of you, how many details will you remember about someone's 2 minute life story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinknoodle Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Listen to someone ramble for 5 minutes straight and tell me how that feels as the listener. If you think it works with the material you have, go for it, but I would try to frame it in such a way that highlights the pertinent, not an exhaustive life history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 I think this is one of those questions that requires a bit of prep. You should try to think of what you want to tell them, how you want to emphasize the main things in your application while letting your personality shine through. This one is tough, because it could go in so many directions... and you want to make a good first impression when you start answering this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darla Posted March 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Thank you for all your thoughts and suggestions!! This is going to help me focus what I want to say. I was finding this question too intimidating and huge to begin. I'm grateful for having a place to start now. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedSchoolBound Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 I got this question several times. The hardest one was when the interviewer said "I don't want to hear anything about school or volunteering or grades." I didn't even know where to start, even though I had something planned in case I got asked this question. I started from the beginning, I gave him major highlights about my life. For example, I told him about the foreign country I lived in during my childhood, about interesting travel experiences I had had, about my interests, hobbies, my family, etc. I think overall it was the best I could do (leaving school out was HARD). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorbetty Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 When I answered this question, I actually only talked about one really significant event in my life that has shaped much of who I am today. I think it helped to have a focus because I was able to share more deeply about one thing rather than just skim the surface of many events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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