Gemini Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Then prior to the interview, they should caution the students that some of the interviewers may talk back to you. But isn't that real world medicine/life? To not know what to expect and to have to deal with it accordingly? They want to see the true character, when one is unprepared. If one knows what to potentially expect in every situation it might be a little unrealistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ace of Spades Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 This is why there are ten stations, guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloh Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 But isn't that real world medicine/life? To not know what to expect and to have to deal with it accordingly? They want to see the true character, when one is unprepared. If one knows what to potentially expect in every situation it might be a little unrealistic. Real life also does not come with an instruction clearly stating that "People are not supposed to talk to you". MMI interviews are prefaced with such an instruction. I already addressed this counterpoint in previous posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hking03 Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Then prior to the interview, they should caution the students that some of the interviewers may talk back to you. This is almost the same situation as a woman going to a dentist and instead of getting her teeth cleaned, she gets a pap smear instead. It's not that the woman is incapable of going through a pap smear, but she's not expecting it and thus the reactions would not be representative of that persons true personality. hahaha i like the analogy. i don't think it's the same though. we know going into the mmi that we are going to be interviewed... we are still being interviewed, the only change is the interviewers personality... which would elicit certain responses from the interviewee and give the adcom's a look into how we deal with stressful situations... which is a cornerstone of medicine (or maybe i'm wrong). anyways, if the dude was belligerent and rude... that's not fair and should be addressed. we weren't in the room with the interviewer so we don't know for sure what happened. unfortunately, without knowing the instructions the interviewer was given we can't say that this wasn't a key part of the station. is it fair for an interviewer to act this way... well, no- i guess not. but life isn't fair guys... that's how it works in the real world. people are jerks, people are nice... nice people can be mean... i don't see what the big deal is. the mmi is trying to be an evaluation of future performance and success in medicine. not everybody is nice in medicine, therefore it might be key to see how we deal with people that aren't nice. perhaps i am missing something here. like i said before (if i didn't i apologize, i meant too) i do empathize with the OP and think it sucks to have that feeling that you were treated unfairly... if it's a serious problem for you- talk to the school. submit it through the survey... be specific and the worst that will happen is... i dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Real life also does not come with an instruction clearly stating that "People are not supposed to talk to you". MMI interviews are prefaced with such an instruction. I already addressed this counterpoint in previous posts. from what I read about the MMI, interviewers are allowed to talk back to you at any point as long as its about the question (I wasn't aware that they are not allowed to talk to us...). There can be no discussion on any other topic, but the whole thing can be conversational (ie: they can ask you questions if they are not sure about some of your ideas or if they don't understand - sort of like a debate). I am sure that it must have been distracting if you weren't prepared for it though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted March 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 stop whining and grow up. Whoah. This isn`t the sort of comment that is too helpful. If an interviewer didn`t give you the chance to talk at all, I think you may be worried about your score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted March 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Whoah. This isn`t the sort of comment that is too helpful. If an interviewer didn`t give you the chance to talk at all, I think you may be worried about your score. Thanks to all your feedback, I`ve decided not to say anything at all, because I think more harm than good could come out of it. If I don`t get in, well, then I might have something to say about it. I think what`s most interesting though is everyone`s impressions of what they understand the role of the interviewer is. I think UBC might have changed their instructions for the interviewers this year and us applicants reeled a little bit from it. Last year they were SILENT and waiting for a monologue. When the monologue stopped, out came one or two prompts. That is the one downside of preparing - you only prepare for the things that you are sure will be happening, which wasn`t obviously the case for me. However... this guy was quite rude and didn`t let me even get one thought in there so the case was extreme... But since I`ve had so many friends with rude interviewers in previous years, I guess I`ll just put it behind me, as all kinds of stations, interviewers and scenarios make up EVERY person`s score. The standard deviation on these things has got to be interesting... All in all, it`s hard not to wonder and speculate when you don`t get any feedback til May 13th which is where the original burnig desire to complain came from. For me and thousands of other Canadian applicants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloh Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 from what I read about the MMI, interviewers are allowed to talk back to you at any point as long as its about the question (I wasn't aware that they are not allowed to talk to us...). There can be no discussion on any other topic, but the whole thing can be conversational (ie: they can ask you questions if they are not sure about some of your ideas or if they don't understand - sort of like a debate). I am sure that it must have been distracting if you weren't prepared for it though No I think that's incorrect. They aren't allowed to converse with you. They may ask you to elaborate on what you mean or to repeat if you happened to have mumbled it or have been incoherent. But they shouldn't confront you with questions that aren't on their paper or to rudely interrupt you with dissecting, tangential questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted March 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 No I think that's incorrect. They aren't allowed to converse with you. They may ask you to elaborate on what you mean or to repeat if you happened to have mumbled it or have been incoherent. But they shouldn't confront you with questions that aren't on their paper or to rudely interrupt you with dissecting, tangential questions. But they do rudely interrupt with issecting, tangential questions and every interviewee I have spoken to almost has had this unnerving experience. I wonder if they adcoms know it or if they are turning a blind eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studoc Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 honestly guys, complaining about a specific MMI station won't do anything for you or for any future applicants. Life in medicine will include situations that are much more difficult than trying to answer a question while being interupted. No matter how the interviewer acted it is still up to you to get your point across in a logical and professional manner, and if you cant do that then maybe you shouldnt be in med school. Complaining about an interview station is one of the worst ideas I have heard. With all due respect, suck it up and focus on something you can actually change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gb35 Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 every interviewee I have spoken to almost has had this unnerving experience. I find this so so hard to believe. And anyways, if an interviewer does this to you, that's their personality and maybe they do it to everyone. They may also mark you easier than the person who seemed like they were more interested in what you had to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GinaM Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 honestly guys, complaining about a specific MMI station won't do anything for you or for any future applicants. Life in medicine will include situations that are much more difficult than trying to answer a question while being interupted. No matter how the interviewer acted it is still up to you to get your point across in a logical and professional manner, and if you cant do that then maybe you shouldnt be in med school. Complaining about an interview station is one of the worst ideas I have heard. With all due respect, suck it up and focus on something you can actually change. Agree Completely with this post. I had an interviewer who seemed to interrupt as well and did exactly what you described ( maybe we were on the same track). However that's life. I'm sure all of us have been in situations at work or elsewhere where we have to work or deal with someone who frustrates us or who we feel prevents us from doing a good job at something because of their attitude. Getting this on 1 station/10 stations on 1 interview doesn't seem that big of a deal- I am pretty sure it won't affect your chances at all. There are adjustments I believe in place to account for difficult interviewers. I don't really agree with the posts about how the interviewer is made to interrupt and do things like this to test you. I think the interview is designed to assess your thought process and overall demeanor and is in place to determine if you are suitable for a career in medicine- simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted March 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 Agree Completely with this post. I had an interviewer who seemed to interrupt as well and did exactly what you described ( maybe we were on the same track). However that's life. I'm sure all of us have been in situations at work or elsewhere where we have to work or deal with someone who frustrates us or who we feel prevents us from doing a good job at something because of their attitude. Getting this on 1 station/10 stations on 1 interview doesn't seem that big of a deal- I am pretty sure it won't affect your chances at all. There are adjustments I believe in place to account for difficult interviewers. I don't really agree with the posts about how the interviewer is made to interrupt and do things like this to test you. I think the interview is designed to assess your thought process and overall demeanor and is in place to determine if you are suitable for a career in medicine- simple as that. Just a comment - I wasn't sure what they were trying to accomplish by preventing me from getting out a real answer by interrupting me many times and I wanted to know if anyone had any real insight into that. I am not saying I handled it badly (I dealt with it calmly and diplomatically) or that I'm going whine and complain 'it's not fair'. I'm trying to determine if it IS fair given the goals of this type of station or having this type of interviewer which is a totally different question in itself. Obviously I'm not going to whine about something that happens to everyone or if the system allows for this sort of thing. That would be really stupid and would portray me as some sort of whimp, which would be quite harmful to my overall assessment. OBVIOUSLY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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