1st week interview, nobody is talking

[chewb83]

i don't mean to pry, but i'm surprised nobody has offered to share their experience from the 1st weekend of interviews.

[Dante]

interviewers are quite friendly (moreso than at Queens... but i think it just depends on who you get) Students are also friendly and helpful. Social event (I only went on friday) was not as well attended as the Queens one i don't think (but that's probably because many people didn't come to London on friday). Very funny interview video.... oh and CONFIDENTIALITY papers to sign about the actual interview itself... so maybe that's why no shared experiences?

[lucy98]

Yeah, I was kind of wondering why no one was talking as well, but I guess the confidentiality agreement might have something to do with it. Without giving anything away, it was a fairly comfortable experience - interviewers were friendly, but as usual, I found it tough to read what they were thinking. Because it is closed-file and they have a predetermined list of questions, they didn't really seem to respond or follow up on what I was saying, so I felt like I was talking too much at times, trying to get everything in that I wanted them to know. I guess that's better than holding things back and regretting it later. On the other hand, they were attentive, and didn't seem too bored or disinterested. The students were quite friendly and helpful and the video was hilarious (even though I missed the first half of it). I wish I had more opportunities to see the school/facilities, but from what I did see, it seemed quite nice.

 

Anyway, that's all I can really say. It was a pretty standard interview experience, no real surprises.

 

Best of Luck to those interviewing this weekend!

 

Lucy

[Smurfette]

I found the atmosphere similar to the Queen's interview. The set up was pretty much the same. If anything, my Queen's interview might have been very slightly more friendly. (But I think that has more to do with the individual interviewers than anything). There were no questions that I felt were unfair or unexpected. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that I answered the questions very well, but that has to do with me and not to do with the interview itself.

 

The video was pretty funny and the students were great. They led us around everywhere so you didn't have to worry about getting lost or about not making it to the right place for your interview. Things were pretty well organized. And I felt like I had a good chance to ask lots of questions about Western and about living in London. There were snacks/drinks in the waiting room and sandwiches during lunch.

[papazow]

so someone mentioned it's closed-file..

so does that mean they have access to NOTHING?

i know queens' had the ABS infront of them..

thanks

[DrBeer]

They have that short statement/essay or whatever it was that we had to write for the application with them, although they only kind of touched on it...other than that they have NOTHING! Prepare accordingly;)

[Blah09]

seeing interviewers score me gives me a sense of reassurance. My interviewers at Western seemed to be listening more than scoring. They were friendly though, a huge contrast from my last ones.

[Dante]

lol i only noticed the community member score me on one answer... and right when i did notice, i think my eyes went kind of crazy and i started glancing at the other sheets to see if i could see what they had been writing, but i don't think anyone else had scored me on anything... i hope that doesn't mean a zero! LOL!

[blinknoodle]

Hey there,

 

I wouldn't worry too much about interviewers checking their watches. I agree that it may seem awfully discourteous from an applicant's point of view, but it is important to make sure you are on track wrt timing and scheduling. Some interviews seem to zoom by whereas others are more like pulling teeth. Time gets distorted, both from an applicant's and interviewer's point of view and we wouldn't want to run late.

 

I hope everyone enjoyed their interview and their visit to UWO. Let us know if you have any further questions.

[Darkfalz]

i had a great time.

 

i felt like the interviewers focused a lot on my non-academic qualifications and because of that i didn't get the chance to bring up a lot of ECs that I thought might have helped. Guess they were not very interested in that stuff for me.

 

Also, i got to meet superking. By total accident.

 

It just so happened we sat down beside each other at TJ Baxters. WEIRD.

[Superking25]

I met some jerks at the dinner, ruined the WHOLE experience for me.

 

Forget UWO.

 

I'm going to get a liberal arts degree.

[Jochi1543]

I met some jerks at the dinner, ruined the WHOLE experience for me.

 

Forget UWO.

 

I'm going to get a liberal arts degree.

AHAHAH! *dies*

[DeeDoc]

I met some jerks at the dinner, ruined the WHOLE experience for me.

 

Forget UWO.

 

I'm going to get a liberal arts degree.

 

May I recommend McGill, Northwestern or Lake Forest in Chicago.

GREAT LIBERAL ARTS SCHOOLS.

Plus Northwestern has the Feinberg School of Medicine. Their colours are also purple and white. It's like a UWO copycat.

[temp_degoo]

Interview was really fun and I feel like I communicated all that I wanted to (minus one thing I realized i didn't mention with I left).

 

The people at Western I felt were more outgoing and kind than Queens (small slice of the student body I know, but my impression nonetheless). The campus and community seemed great as well. Definitely at the top of the list (tied with others though, so decisions, if lucky enough to be able to make em, are going to be tough).

[citrinez]

kinda weird question but what does an actual interview set-up look like? Are you sitting across the table from them, in a chair a bit away from them etc. I know, very random, but I'm visually curious.

[bioboy2007]

kinda weird question but what does an actual interview set-up look like? Are you sitting across the table from them, in a chair a bit away from them etc. I know, very random, but I'm visually curious.

 

At my interview, I sat at the head of the table and had my three interviewers sitting on either side of the table. The table was large and quite spacious for all of us to sit comfortably (UofA had a very small table to sit around).

[citrinez]

okay cool, thanks for the visual.

[Kyle]

Hey, Just wondering if anyone else had the retired surgeon who asked almost no questions and interjected with jokes every few minutes! Made the whole experience very laid back... and pretty funny!

[Dante]

Hey, Just wondering if anyone else had the retired surgeon who asked almost no questions and interjected with jokes every few minutes! Made the whole experience very laid back... and pretty funny!

 

when did you interview? I had a retired doctor (quite possibly a surgeon) who did add a lot of humor to the whole situation. Did he say he was interested in politics as well? If so then BINGO! I think the three took turns asking questions though... i remember getting a two part, really long winded question from him and i was freaking out as he read it, thinking "how the hell am i gonna remember ALL of this info while trying to answer these questions!"