current events questions?

[Guest madison2001]

I've been reading over some past interview posts and it seems to me that many people have been asked questions regarding current or past world events (ie Iraq, Palestine-Israel conflict, etc). Now I do try to generally keep up to date on current events but there are obviously going to be many areas in world events that I might be deficient in.

 

My question is: how much detail to they expect you to know about current events and how do you salvage the situation if you honestly don't know much about the topic?

 

Thanks!

maddy

[Guest Jochi1543]

It will be a hard one for me. After Bush got re-elected, I stopped watching TV (I don't even have a TV in the house anymore). I now read news selectively online - I don't read anything about Iraq, etc. I personally felt distressed by watching news, and I feel that I don't need another source of stress in my life right now. I'm convinced that this really helped me during Hurricane Katrina, given that it took place where I used to live. I chose to severely limit all the news about it I read, because I knew I would get too emotional. It didn't prevent me from doing what I could to help the victims - I went on a trip down South to help rebuild the areas, so I don't think that I'm "sheltered" from current events and am ignorant. It's not like I can DO something about a terrorist act somewhere. Also, I feel like modern newscasts play the emotional card too much. To continue with the Katrina example, I remember my friends who own TVs were extremely emotional during hurricane Katrina - people were crying while watching news, etc. And guess what? Maybe they've seen more newscasts, but they aren't donating any money to relief efforts and they aren't participating in them either. That said, following current events is overrated in my opinion. I know Iraq is messed up without reading daily reports on how many markets and mosques there have been bombed and how many people killed, and I can write a letter condemning the war to my Congressman without some TV channel trying to make me lose sleep with gory images and tear-jerker stories. So, that's my approach to current events. I've taken several classes where following current events very closely was mandatory (International Politics in politics and Capital Markets in economics), and I don't miss the hyper-awareness one bit.

[Guest circusgirl]

from what I've experienced firsthand and what I've heard from others, most world events questions tend to be more general. Something like, what current/world events have piqued your interest lately?, instead of tell me about the war in Iraq. At least that's how I'm hoping the trend will continue *knock on wood*

 

In terms of specific current events though, in my experience they have centred around medical/ healthcare related events, since this IS something that you want to be a part of in the future, and it's more important to know specifics. I'd be way more likely to bet that a specific question about Alberta's proposed third way will be asked over anything Middle East... unless you bring it up first.

[Guest RoseSmurfette]

Hey Madison 2001,

 

As circusgirl mentionned, the questions will probably be very general unless there is something in your application/essay that is relevant. For example, if you spent the last three summers working to prevent seal hunting in Canada, then they might expect you to know what's going on with seal hunting in Canada =)

 

I think an interview committee is looking to see that you're somewhat worldly - that you know beyond what you're taught in your organic chem class, but they don't expect you to be an expert on everything.

 

You might be expected to know something about Canadian health care though.

 

Check out http://www.cbc.ca for news stories and you can read their indepth section for background information and for more details on particular news items you're interested in.

 

Cheers,

RoseSmurfette