Tell me about yourself...

[Guest Turquoise678]

Hi. If one gets asked in an interview, "Tell me about yourself" would it be presumptuous to talk about awards you have won, or academic/leadership achievements you have been recognized for? It would be nice for the interviewers to know about these things, especially in a closed interview, considering they don't look at our autobiographical sketches, but we don't want to sound like we're bragging or full of ourselves, either... any tips for how to answer a question like this would be greatly appreciated!

[Guest Unknown </username> <dateline>1118446380</dateline> <title>Unknown</title> <pagetext>(This]

(This post is missing and can not be restored)</pagetext>

</post>

<post>

<thread>N</thread>

<threadtitle>Tell me about yourself...</threadtitle>

<threadviews>0</threadviews>

<threadsticky>0</threadsticky>

<poll></poll>

<username>

 

Unknown

 

 

</username>

<dateline>1118446380</dateline>

<title>Unknown</title>

<pagetext>(This post is missing and can not be restored)

[Guest Unknown </username> <dateline>1118446380</dateline> <title>Unknown</title> <pagetext>(This]

(This post is missing and can not be restored)</pagetext>

</post>

<post>

<thread>N</thread>

<threadtitle>Tell me about yourself...</threadtitle>

<threadviews>0</threadviews>

<threadsticky>0</threadsticky>

<poll></poll>

<username>TyShams</username>

<dateline>1118706660</dateline>

<title>tell me...</title>

<pagetext>Before I went to my interviews this year, I knew I had to prepare for such open ended questions, especially the famous "tell me about yourself". I did a couple of "med mock" interviews at McGill's career planning center, and both mock interviewers asked me that particular question. They both told me that if you are asked this question, focus on your CV, focus on your accomplishments and how those accomplishments have contributed towards your character/personality and should relate that (directly or indirectly) to your suitability as a physician. They also specifically stated that it is a MISTAKE to talk about your family, your brothers and sisters, etc etc. Well, I took their advice and kept it in mind when I went to my interviews. The very fist question I was asked at my interview was "so... TyShams, tell me about yourself" So I proceeded to talk about my accomplishments/experiences, and within 3 sentences of my response, my interviewer interrupted me and said, "no.. I know all that, tell me about your family, where your from, where your parents are from, what do your brothers and sisters do, etc.". My advice is to take whatever advice is given to you with a grain of salt. If your asked that question, answer what you feel is the most appropriate answer, be genuine. If you think talking about your family will shed more light upon you, then go ahead, if you feel that talking about your friends, or your love of travel or whatever, will shed more light on you, then that is better than answering like some automaton with a prerecorded message. That's the best advice I can give you. I went into my interviews with an honost and genuine desire to show the commitee who I really am, and not who I think that the commitee wants me to be... and now I'll be starting McGill med in the fall.

 

Cheers

TyShams

[Guest coastalslacker]

A cautionary tale. Before going to any interviews, based on info mostly gathered from this message board, I had decided that if I got the question "tell me about yourself" I would take the opportunity to REALLY tell them-I had a bloody long (several minute) monologue. Did that at the first interview and it was NOT a good thing to have done. I saw their eyes glazing over despite the details of my fabulously interesting life, saw the boat sailing away, and didn't see anyone throwing a life preserver back. I was fyucked. When I finished, one of them said something to the extent of "well, you obviously prepared for this interview" in a snooty tone of voice (which is hilarious, because if you don't prepare for the interview at all, you have to wonder how seriously you take the whole process). Went downhill from there as I argued with them about euthanasia, questioned whehter the med student on the panel had had many life experiences (she hadn't), and basically bombed the interview.

 

The rest of my interviews I gave a very short couple of sentence answer to the big opening q, and they went much, much, much better. Figure out what is really important to who you are, and focus on that to open. There is usually time at the end to add on anything else, when they ask you "is there anything else you would like us to know?" In two of my interviews, I took that opportunity to tell them more and ran with it, prolonging the interview by 5, and in one case, 10 minutes (both those interviews worked out). Don't make those add-ons anticlimactic though-if you've just told them about how you held up the burning support beam while the rest of your family escaped from the buildling after an attack by extraterrestrials, don't go on to tell them about how traumatic it was when Gordon, you pet salamander, died in the 3rd grade, and how that made you empathetic enough to be a doctor.

 

hope this rambling is somewhat useful

[Guest kaymcee]

Not only was it useful, it was extremely entertaining– thanks!