Interview Experiences (In lieu of interviewfeedback.com)

[Guest MayFlower1]

ooops...flawed vision...when that happens...the second half is ALWAYS true! You'd have to agree, though, if you did get accepted to Mac it would be amazing, wouldn't it? :b

 

Peter

 

P.S. I must be getting old...I thought I remembered you saying you interviewed at Mac as well....hmmm :\

[Guest tappety tap]

Truly...after thinking about it for awhile now...I am pretty sure that Ottawa U would suit me better. This is not just a consequence of not getting an interview at Mac (although I'm sure it contributes!) but honestly, I like the PBL self-directed learning LINKED with corresponding lectures at Ottawa.

[Guest JS28]

Hi,

I had my interview several days ago, and I needed a day or two to recuperate! Anyway, I got the typical why medicine question, a question about my qualities, and some questions about my sketch. I also got scenario questions, and was asked how I would respond. I was pressed to elaborate on all my answers. e.g. no no...what if you can't do that? what would you do?

 

It was a very formal interview, not the casual conversation that some students who had interviewed earlier that day told us to expect. The interviewers were jotting down everything I said. At the end, I was given a chance to ask a question. We started the interview as soon as I sat down, and we ended exactly on the 40 minute mark.

 

But talking to some students afterwards, it seems like everyone had a different interview experience. Some people weren't asked a single ethical/scenario question, and everything came from their sketch and their experiences, and it was really relaxed. Others were given really tricky issues to tackle and had felt a lot of pressure, and interviewers only touched upon their sketch a bit.

 

Well. That's about it!

[Guest rs81]

I had my interview last week (sorry for the late response) and it didn’t go well. From the students I meet at Ottawa in the day, it seemed like my interview would be “typical” (like most of the experiences shared on this site).

 

Although my interviewers were friendly, the interview seemed to heavily favor health care issues. They really seemed to test my stance on health care issues, as well. Overall, they seemed to generate most of their questions from my responses or make certain twists to their questions to ask related questions eg. What do you think about Canadian health care?……. “Who should fund fertility treatments?”……What if that doesn’t work?

 

The questions were fair, but I wished they focused more on me. I only received a few personal questions (a question about a volunteer experience off my sketch, what do you do for fun?, why med’s).

 

I think some of my answers were confusing, which definitely will not help. Hopefully I’m wrong, but I’m not too optimistic. Good luck to everyone!

[Guest Bleepo]

Hey rs81,

 

My interview was a lot like yours. I wish they asked me more about my experiences, but oh well. It wasn't that they were mean or harsh, just not the conversational type of interview I was expecting. Guess we'll just have to sit tight and hope for the best :rolleyes ... hopefully a lot of the people interviewed had interviews elsewhere and ottawa's not their first choice :b !

[Guest rs81]

Hey Bleepo,

 

I hope your right! Maybe a large proportion of students will turn down Ottawa. I doubt that will happen, but it is better than thinking about my interview:lol

[Guest GordUW]

Hi everyone

I just finished ottawa interivew yesterday afternoon. I have to say this interview is the best out of 3 i had, (although that may not have to do with the outcome). They asked lots of questions posted here, no voluneer questions, 1 ethical issue about a young guy who has terminal cancer, but has good treatment options, he won't accept the treatment, some on team work, and what i do for fun, 1 news outside of Iraq and SARS, and that was about it.

Overall I think i did really well, but i also did well at U of T, which is my first choice. So there may be a diliema:\

Another thing, the interviewees yesterday were almost entirely graduate students and many PHD holders, I, as a undergrad there was kinda intimidated, :eek

 

Now the wait time starts for me as well :hat

 

only over a month away!

 

Gord

[Guest wassabi101]

Hey there,

 

My interview had to be the worst I've ever had - I got the usual:

 

-why do you want to be a doctor?

-what will you do if you don't get in?

-why did you apply to the French program?

-what do I do for fun?

- who is my role model?

-what field of medicine interests me?

-have I ever worked in a group experience?

-did I ever have a conflict in this group experience?

-what qualities do I think I have that would make me a good doctor?

-what is the number one quality I think is important for a doctor to have?

-an ethical Q about an alzheimer's patient and euthanasia

 

It all went down hill (at the beginning of the interview) when the very serious doc asked me to discuss a current *international event* that I was paying attention to besides SARS and WAR :rolleyes ....and I froze.... :rolleyes ya I read the paper, but the paper for the last year has been about WAR and yes I read books, but unfortunately they happen to be about issues of the past and about the WAR. At least all the ones I feel comfortable about testing my knowledge on. I'm also deeply immersed into my Master's thesis for the last six months, given it's due in one month and a half---anyhow enough complaining |I , I just wasn't a good candidate to answer that question....the nice lady brought it down to a provincial event, of which I spoke about the Quebec Elections...and although I felt comfortable speaking about why I voted for who and what was the *key* elements about each party, the serious doc also stumped me when he asked me to outline each party's proposed activities...so I majorly made a fool of myself on that question...it would have been OK but I just felt like he was drilling me so much on it and spending so much time at making me feel like the biggest loser (does that make any sense?:rolleyes )

 

By the time the same doc got around to asking me about specifics on historical events of Vietnam (I was working there for two months this summer), I was lacking so much confidence in giving him factual knowledge that I don't quite remember what I told him.......but it surely didn't reflect my learning experience there....

 

and by the time we got to the "is there anything you'd like to tell us about yourself that we haven't covered", I wish I could have said: I now feel like the biggest loser on earth!

 

But instead I smiled and imagined my interview had gone really well and summarized what I had *wanted* to say....

 

And now that's over and I know just how badly it went, I just don't know what to do with myself.....

 

this was my first med interview ever, and I just feel like it was *so* close and I goofed it all up because I wasn't the candidate this serious-faced doc wanted! And that's a horrible feeling.....

 

And there's my rant!

 

I wonder if anyone else had this straight-faced doc and so many factual questions.....did anyone else feel like they were being drilled??

 

Hope everyone else's experience thursday was better than mine!

 

-wassabi

[Guest Sil]

Hey wassabi101:

 

I felt my interview went the same way that you feel about yours. I felt terrible, for the entire 2 months before hearing back, I felt like I had made such a fool out of myself.... I know you can't stop feeling the way you do right now. But don't call it over until you hear from the University in May. Good luck,

 

Sil

[Guest GordUW]

Hi everyone

Just want to ask a question, does Ottawa put grad and undergrad applicants in different pools? It seems like they have different interivew focus on undergrad and grad people, and maybe different selection criteria as well?

It sounds to me that lots of grad applicants here got drilled with hard questions.

well, just a thought.

I just started to rethink about many of my answers, im not sure if i was clear on some of them... :rolleyes

I remember i said i didn't read the wholoe Romanow Report, just sections of it, which is the truth and reasonable, considering my heavy school work. But i dont know if it will work against me. The main reason why i felt it went well was that I remain relaxed and truthful through the interview and they appeared to enjoy the interview just like i did, you know, all that great vibe thing.

 

I think im thinking too much of it, it's time to go out and have fun! :smokin

Gord

[Guest tappety tap]

Hi Wassabi..

 

I know someone who had a VERY similar interview to yours last year. She came out feeling horrible and had written off the whole thing. They spent alsmot the entire time grilling her like crazy on everything they could think of.

 

She got a FIRST ROUND offer.

 

I know it's hard but try not to take it personally. I am sure you didn't come across as a loser...they were doing what they did for a reason and ANYBODY would feel like @#%$ after something like that. But you don't know what they were looking for....for all you know the whole thing could have been to see how you handle being challenged/stressed and the accuracy and content of your answers may have not even been of #1 importance. As long as you kept your cool (which is sounds like u did...on the outside) then I bet you got a high score!!

 

I heard it;'s gonna be 20 degrees today in Montreal...sssooooooooo sweet

[Guest Dannyboy]

Dearest Wassabi:

I feel for you. My interview was at Mac but I swear, I think I got that same serious faced fella! There's always one, ya know? It's so tough when you hear the stories of other people who had these wonderfully friendly, attentive interviewers and your interviewer had that "when is she going to shut that cake-hole of hers" look on his/her face for the entire interview. Oh well!

 

I made an even bigger goofy mistake (I made quite a number of them actually). I could NOT define something I've been passionately researching (and have written a 100+ page thesis on) for the past FOUR YEARS. I am usually very articulate about the above stated topic and I've been told my research in the area has been very innovative but still, DUH, bombed the questioning. Ha, ha. You've really just gotta let it go. What else can you do? To make mattes worse, I was laughing at myself! So professional....

 

Now people keep on asking me what I am going to do next year---they are just assuming that I am 100% not getting in but IT ISN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER. Of course I've ALWAYS had back-up plans but they are still on the back burner until the results come in.

 

So, no great advice here other than you need to take a step back and see the humour in the situation and fully realise that med schools give you as many shots at gaining entrance as you can manage ---there's always next year, and the year after, and....

 

A friend of mine was grilled brutally during his interview; screwed up continuously and was even asked if he was on drugs! He got in. He later asked one of his interviewers why they did what they did and why on earth he got in. The reply was: don't even remember why they gave him a hard time BUT he thought, yes, I would want that kid do be my dr. What a great guy (and he is). Go figure?

 

I am sure they thought the same of you. Good luck!

[Guest wassabi101]

Hey guys,

 

Thanks for cheering me up :\

 

All of you are right....I will never know until June 1st and even then, if I get a rejection letter, I'll never really know what were the deciding factors....I do have many years left to apply....and only fate will tell...Until then, humour seems like the best way to go! The 22 C also did wonders to my humour today

 

I've actually heard of a straight-faced fellow at Mac who falls asleep in the interviews and interrogates the students then uses their answers to argue a random point- the person who told me about him also got in, so I think you're right dannyboy in just seeing the humour in all of it!

 

If I get in though, I will go up to my interviewer and ask him why he was such an a$$! Nicely of course :lol

 

Thanks again

 

Cheers,

 

-wassabi

[Guest uwoheather]

hi everyone,

 

i had my interview on the 4th of march, pretty much the first day. my interviewers were dr. doyle, dr. hryeco (may have spelled that wrong) and the 4th year student was stephen amberg. they were super nice and joked around with me, and all of the questions stemmed from my experiences. i found that you could make the interview flow how you wanted. for instance, when they asked what i do in my spare time besides sports, i mentioned karate, movies and books, and that gave rise to their next question of "what have you read lately and what did you learn from it?" the student was the one who pushed and sometimes challenged me on answers, or he constructed different scenarios to the one i had just answered to, but he was very pleasant about it. we got into a conversation about extracurricular activities at ottawa when it was my turn to ask questions. i also asked about the web based program, and i made a joke about the cd burner being a pretty great bonus to the computer you have to buy, and they all started laughing-the lady doctor started talking about how much she loved to burn cds. they asked me a lot about living on my own and my involvement in sports, and what role i play on my teams. they also asked who my role models were, and what fields of medicine i was interested in. i said that although i had an interest in research and family medicine, i didn't want to enter med school with a bias which may prevent me from finding something i really loved.

 

they also were very interested in my work in the service industry as a waitress, and asked me about my experiences and ability to deal with conflict. i told some stories about pretty difficult customers that i have had to deal with at my jobs and how i handled them. overall, i felt really good after, but now that i think back i overanalyze and think that i could have put things better, i should have said this too....etc which i'm sure everyone does. i can't get my hopes up, because i know that people who think they did great sometimes don't get in. i feel that i couldn't have done any better when faced with all those questions on the spot, and i am really proud of myself for the way i handled it. i can say for certain that i was 100% myself and didn't try to be someone i wasn't. i hope for the best, but if it's not my turn this year, then i'll just try again.

 

i just wanted to say good luck to everyone here and i hope everyone gets good news come early june...this discussion forum has helped me a lot with preparing for the interview process!!!!

have a great summer everyone!

[Guest MayFlower1]

hey wassabi,

 

Check out the "sushi" thread for my response to your interview...

 

Peter

[Guest multifish]

Wassabi,

 

I totally hear you, especially about the current events question. I'm also knee-deep in my thesis and was sick for a week before my interview, and I admit, I'm not fascinated by current events at any time, particularly when so many are overblown or poorly reported on-- so when they asked for news outside of health care and Iraq I was struck dumb. My answer was MUCH more pathetic than yours -- the only thing that came to mind was a few cases of arson I had heard reported on City TV's Breakfast Television. Bleah. Thankfully they changed the subject and I was able to recover my brain from la-la-land, but I felt the interview was OK overall..I really believe, and I think many med students would agree, that one bad answer does not destroy your chances. If you came off as a warm person who is (otherwise) articulate and accomplished in other areas, and who has carefully considered why you want to become a doctor, then it was still a good interview.

[Guest Namgalsip]

Nina, you asked about our interview impressions so I thought I would bring this thread back up. Mine is somewhere on the 1st page.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Nams

 

P.s. The school where I thought I had the best interview (Calgary) was the school that waitlisted me.