Good Interview vs. Great Interview

[Guest RedPotato]

Hello everyone,

 

I recently had my first interview... and I think I'm pretty traumatized by it! I now understand what others have said on the board about analyzing and overthinking everything that you said in the interview... BUT it was definitely a good learning experience for me to better prepare for my upcoming interviews! So here were a few questions I had after my first interview experience:

 

(1) What distinguishes a good interview from a great interview? I was talking to a medical student at the school (very helpful!) who told me that the interview is a screening process - to basically weed out any applicants who are clearly not suited for medicine (but very very rare), to decide who are people that they definitely want in the med school (also rare), and everyone else is quite similar - and thus receives similar marks in their interviews... which I pretty much agree with him... I mean, 99.5% of us are pleasant, warm individuals who are strong academically and are also well-rounded... then what happens when you are interviewing at a schoool where the interview plays a huge factor in your acceptance (e.g. 50%)? How do you "distinguish" yourself from other applicants? I guess I want to improve my chances from having a good interview to having a stellar interview... but I don't know how to do that !! Any advices? Insights?

 

(2) How much can they "know" about us from a 30-45 min. interview? I went into the interview prepared to answer a diversity of questions on myself, my application, health care, ethics, etc. etc... but when I came out of the interview, I felt there were so many questions that weren't asked, but would provide insight into my knowledge, thought process, etc. etc... I guess I just felt so frustrated! I felt that I had so much to tell them, so that they can REALLY get to know me, and that the interview provided only a tiny little glimpse into the person I am... do you guys feel this way too? And when they asked at the end, "Is there anything else you would like to tell us?", I didn't know where to start because there was still so much left to say... so I just said no.. haha... so sad .. how would you guys approach this?

 

(3) "Selling yourself"... is this really necessary? Before I went into the interview, I thought I didn't really have to do this, because I thought the purpose of the interview was to show my "human" side, and bragging about my academic accomplishments, leadership roles, seem to contradict that... but after I came out of the interview, I realized that one of the interviewers only read the first page of my personal essay and of my resume (he only asked questions from those)... and because I didn't sell myself, perhaps my interviewer didn't realize my "potential"? Is the interview a chance to show them you as a human being, or is it a chance to impress/wow them with all your accomplishments?

 

(4) Is it bad to be "mushy"? I was very honest with my answers, but I am also a mushy person... and I honestly don't think my interviewers understood where I'm coming from (they were all males and I'm a female!) when I was trying to explain my desire to help others... haha... so I guess my question is: is it better to show your true emotions (even if they may be mushy) or to take a step back and be more professional/reserved?

 

Thanks for any answers/advices/comments! I am really glad to have the feedback from this extremely helpful website

 

RP

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Having interviewed some applicants to medical schools, I can tell you that there can be large differences between the performances of interviewees. Also, although the content of interviewee's responses are important, e.g., to demonstrate thoughtfulness, knowledge of the field, etc., an interview is also a decent tool for allowing interviewers to see different facets of the interviewee's personality and behaviour. For one the interview generally adds stress (to different degrees) to a situation and it is clear that individuals cope with this differently. Also, interviews can contain some pretty tough questions that attempt to assess personal values. Some folks have a better idea than others of who they are as people and what drives them and some can more clearly communicate these points. Also, the interview is a good setting for assessment of rapport--can an individual build a rapport with someone else within a few minutes. You might be surprised at the numbers who don't do this effectively. I suppose some of these factors are the reason for the long-held piece of advice is to just, "be yourself" during an interview.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest cedar05]

Hello Kirsteen,

 

I am wondering if you can explain how people do not effectively build rapport in interviews you have seen. Could you give an example of good vs. bad rapport building?

 

Thanks.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi again,

 

There are a number of different examples that contribute to a less than comfortable experience when communicating with someone either during a medical school interview or otherwise. Some examples: folks who can't seem to make effective eye contact; those who express nervousness via giggling or shuffling; those who don't engage in the conversation, e.g., don't answer the question asked. These are just a few.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest GundamDX]

wow

 

so kirsteen do these people usually have good CVs? I always thought if you have been a student leader/ volunteer for many different things then you probably will do a good job re: the things that you have listed because if you can't even establish good rapport you probably couldn't be an effective leader/ volunteer?

[Guest cedar05]

Thanks Kirsteen. That makes sense. I guess I was thinking of less obvious things you might have picked up on from other students that I never noticed about myself.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there Gundam,

 

In response to your question, it is possible to have a good-looking CV without necessarily having been placed in too many situations that require good communication skills under a large amount of stress, i.e., the skills required to do well in a medical school interview are not necessarily those reflected in a CV. That being said, some CVs do contain components that do reflect skills tested in a medical school interview. Overall, I would think that most medical schools conduct interviews to gather information about an applicant that is otherwise not assessed by the other components of the medical school application, e.g., the CV, essay, marks, etc.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen