Jochi1543 Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 I had my Queen's interview today, and although I enjoyed the tour and presentation very much, I have to say that I didn't get a good interview experience. The writing exercise was fine, but after walking into the interview room, I had a very one-sided conversation: my interviewers hardly said anything other than asking me the six standardized questions (which were typed up in a booklet they let you look at anyway). They didn't follow up on what I mentioned in my responses...when I stopped talking they just went on to the next question. Also, my faculty interviewer looked very tired and did not make eye contact with me while I was answering the questions - she just stared at the piece of paper in her hand the whole time and looked sleepy. She didn't seem interested at all. My student interviewer was really nice, but it would've been much less awkward if she had made a comment or two about what I said. After I finished answering the six standard interview questions, my faculty interviewer said a sentence or two about her experience working at Queen's...but from what she said I got the impression that she didn't even like being there... Mine didn't follow up, either. I don't think it's unusual. The faculty member also made less eye contact than the student. However, I would imagine they are told not to be too interactive; moreover, sometimes looking away or even closing your eyes helps you concentrate on what you're saying/hearing. I wouldn't read too much into that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 I think that it would be unfair to have some interviewers ask follow up questions if they are specifically not supposed to though. One thing worst than an unstandardized interview is an attempt at standardization which isn't adhered to strictly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
young_n_ambitious Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 I have to ask... what had you set the timer for? I have a 1 hour timer set on my watch, which I used for the writing section and then forgot to stop .... so it had to go off during the interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
young_n_ambitious Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 I think that it would be unfair to have some interviewers ask follow up questions if they are specifically not supposed to though. One thing worst than an unstandardized interview is an attempt at standardization which isn't adhered to strictly. I kinda agree...coz there was so much outside talk we did. It was good since it was relaxing and they told me a lot about what I was interested in, but I hope I was able to make the point I was there for :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skye Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Meh, the interview experience kind of sucked. I don't think it was unfair or anything, but I can't believe I spent money on travel and a hotel to answer 6 standardized questions; they might as well just have us send in essays instead. Compared to other schools I've been to, the Queen's interview process was really lame IMO. Unfortunately I have to agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhelp? Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 me too. I was disappointed with the whole interview day. I thought those questions were sooooooo boring, especially compared with MMI schools. I think it reflects poorly on queens as a medical school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homm_town11 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 mine went ok, i had to squeeze in every possible tidbit about me that i cood even if it was not relevant because they asked nothing about me, just those darn standardized questions until may 15 then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x-over Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 what are they evaluating on? solely the content of your answer? how much would demeanor etc be worth? tbh i don't think i said as much as i should have, i was done in 20 mins and gave really short answers so if they're marking on content it makes me a little nervous b/c i could've crammed more in there, so the lack of quality might be made up for by quantity ahahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retsage Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Who the hell knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x-over Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Who the hell knows? yeah, that's exactly my question, i guess you helped me rephrase it in a more aggressive manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retsage Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 I was answering your question! In an aggressive manner. Sorry, haven't been to the gym in a few days because of exams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennN Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Guess I have a mix of similar experiences to whats been mentioned above... I started chatting to the med student for a second or two beforehand, mentioning I was from Vancouver, and as it happened both him and the faculty member were from BC so I think it opened the whole thing up a bit. Asked the standard questions, but only referred to the last one in the booklet quickly. After that they asked me if I had anything to add or ask, so I used the last standardized question a jumping point and maybe added a few minutes of stuff I wanted to drill home before asking a couple questions of them. Both of them really took their time answering and were pretty friendly. I guess from what other people are saying being able to add what I wanted at the end was unusual, although I think it may have been because I went through the standard questions fairly quickly..? Total time maybe.. 20-25 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgsk Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I'm a week behind on posting this, but I guess I had a similar reaction to the booklet/time crunch...it seems like a strange way to try and differentiate between 700+ people. Although I thought the interviewers were great - the med student tried to keep things moving, but the faculty member asked follow-ups on things I mentioned. Both were friendly, so that helped. Similar to what other people said, my faculty member was making noticeably less eye contact, but it fit her personality pretty well lol...it's kinda difficult to explain. So no, I wasn't entirely impressed by the format, but my interviewers seemed to be trying to work within the guidelines that they were given. We went over time just a bit, but that was because of the faculty member telling a story at the end haha - still, just over 30 minutes. And it felt like 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 wow, it was kind of funny that some people were told they weren't allowed to ask followup questions and how some people got asked a lot of faculty questions. Now I just don't know what to make of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamnotafish Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I didn't enjoy the interview at all, but figured at the time that if everyone got the same 6 questions, then it would be fair. I mean, they can't do open interviews for all 700 people, so they have to have some yardstick for comparison, and as terrible as it is, 6 questions isn't a bad way of doing it. But if some people had the benefit of follow up questions, and some people didn't, then that points to a glaring problem in the instructions the Queen's medical school gave their interviewers and defeats the purpose of having a standardized format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 ^^ Great user name lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smore Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 yeah it worries me that some people were asked follow-up questions, because at times both my interviewers seemed interested in the experiences I was talking about, but I just figured that in keeping with protocol, they were not allowed to probe further.....hmmmm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I think that they might have strictly marked you based on your answers. For all we know the follow up questions were just to get you talking/to clarify your answers. Who knows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skye Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 well yes the follow-up questions help you clarify and add more detail. So here you have a group of students who were told when they were not being clear. And another group of students who were not told to be clear and therefore their answers remained unclear to the interviewer thus they are at a disadvatage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habman6 Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I have a theory that the actual answers don't mean too much at all. I think they are looking for other "factors"...confidence, composure, articulation, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjey Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I think Habman may be on to something. My interviewers wrote down 2-5 words max for each of my questions (but still seemed satisfied with my answers). I spoke to a few others after my interview and found that this was the case for them as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Or the grading rubric is so standardized that they only needed to see you hit certain points in your answer to earn marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamnotafish Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 I think Habman may be on to something. My interviewers wrote down 2-5 words max for each of my questions (but still seemed satisfied with my answers). I spoke to a few others after my interview and found that this was the case for them as well. Found from an interviewers sheet: Question 1: Grocery list: Milk Question 2: At the tone, the time will be 10:30. Question 3: I wish I had a cookie. I'm hungry. Question 4: Also need to buy bread. Question 5: (interviewer draws a smiley face) Question 6: TONE. /This was a joke and is not representative of the Queen's interviewers. Please do not hunt me down with pitchforks and/or flaming torches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Found from an interviewers sheet: Question 1: Grocery list: Milk Question 2: At the tone, the time will be 10:30. Question 3: I wish I had a cookie. I'm hungry. Question 4: Also need to buy bread. Question 5: (interviewer draws a smiley face) Question 6: TONE. /This was a joke and is not representative of the Queen's interviewers. Please do not hunt me down with pitchforks and/or flaming torches. Mmmm...I want S'mores, made on a flaming pitchfork... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellosc Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 ya...my interviewers wrote nothing...i hope it means they were really into my answers...or they didn't bother with me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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