Guest summerfuntimes Posted January 11, 2004 Report Share Posted January 11, 2004 Hey all - What are your thoughts regarding women who wear long (i.e. past shoulder length) hair DOWN for med interviews, if the hair is neat, tidy, not a totally bizarre style, and not colored crazily? Do you think it varies from East to West Coast? (West being perceived as more laid back, East as less-laid-back) Thanks - ps. how bout spiked up guys hair? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jackiedirks Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 If this is in response to my "bun-hair" comment... Back when I interviewed, my hair was really long and didn't look professional down (it was a bit hippy). I also have a tendancy to play with my hair when I'm nervous, and I really needed it to be out of my way. The best advice I heard about dressing for the interview, is that the panel wants to look at you as a collegue. If you are too "little-girl- aka flowered dress" or too "hipster- cool" its not the impression you want to give as an equal. Of course, as soon as you open your mouth, talking-the-talk is a much better indication of your qualifications than your clothes. I've never heard of anyone being turned down because of their clothes, although most people are smart enough not to have green hair, to shave, to remove all weird piercings,not to wear jeans, etc. Good luck on the interviews! I remember last year how nervous I was and how glad i was when they were over!! Jackie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest summerfuntimes Posted January 14, 2004 Report Share Posted January 14, 2004 hi jackiedirks, thnx for the reply. makes sense. i think i'll tidy up/cut it a bit and then do whatever i feel like when the time comes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mydream88 Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 hey jackiedirks, do you have any advice (or anyone) regarding the interviews that you wish you had been given yourself? mydream88:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jackiedirks Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 I interviewed at U of Manitoba twice: the first time was horrible and I didn't get in (no wait list or anything), the second time was fantastic and I got accepted early. The panel I had was completely different both times:the first go-around, I found them to be kind of hostile and unforgiving (although this may have been because I was giving a @#%$ interview) and the second panel was warm, tried really hard to make me comfortable, and seemed receptive to my answers (this may have been because I was giving a good interview and was very well prepared). The best advice I can give is RELAX!! THis was mostly why I didn't do well the first time- I was so nervous that it was hard for me to be myself. I think I was thinking too much about the big picture at that moment- "oh my god this interview determines my entire life and my entire career may be determined in the next 45 minutes AHHH!" This is not productive thinking. The second thing I would advise is to sit down with a friend, give them a list of questions that may be asked, and practice talking through your answers. The first time around, I had good ideas about what I wanted to say, I just wasn't able to articulate them in a concise way, and ended up rambling. SO while you may know exactly what you think about the state of health care or Iraq in your head, it tends to come out different when you say it out loud. Something that everyone tells the prospective interview, but which has become kind of a cliche is BE YOURSELF. People will tell you this over and over again and I think mostly what this means is don't be pretentious. I tried hard the first time to say what I thought the interviewers wanted me to say- believe me they saw right through it. I also talked a lot more about myself the second time- the kind of things i liked to do, what my experiences were like volunteering in a big hospital and a small regional one, stories about travelling in Asia, etc. I think i came across as far more accesible in the second interview and I also think the panel knew a lot more about me and my life (not just my reasons for getting into med school). THere are some questions that you absolutely know that they will ask: 1) Why do you want to be a doctor? 2) WHat do you think of health care? 3) What do you think of (some local health care problem)? 4) What do you make of (this current political problem)? 5) What are your weaknesses? (they always ask this one) 6) Why do you want to attend our school in particular? 7) What will you do if you don't get into medicine? These questions are HARD to answer in one go. THink about them a lot before you go in and practice talking about them. I'm sure there is more I could tell you- if you have any more questions you can email me at umdirksj@cc.umanitoba.ca This whole long process to get in to medicine sucks- but its TOTALLY WORTH IT!! Good luck! Jackie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fox Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Just to add to the above comments, it is probably a good idea to come up with unique answers for some of the questions. For example, when they ask why do you want to be a doctor, saying you want to help people is a very standard answer. If you have other reasons, you may want to think about talking about those reasons. Another question that is typically asked is why do you want to go to our school and study in our program? I gave many reasons, including returning to Ontario to be close to my family (when I interviewed in Ontario), or talking about how valuable my job in the hospital at U of A was and how I would like to continue to work there and felt it was a great place to go to med school because I had met so many of the residents and doctors. Talking to people in the program at the school you are interviewing at is a really good idea. People who are in the program often have opinions about what is good and what isn't. I really thought that early clinical experience (e.g. Calgary, Mac) would be better than waiting (essentially) until third year to get on the wards. However, there is time to do shadowing if I wish at U of A, and I actually much prefer the way our program is structured compared to that of some other schools. From my experience thus far, it is really difficult to interact with patients (or pretend ones) when you have absolutely no idea what is wrong with them or what tests you can do, etc, etc. So, when I chose U of A over the other schools, the one drawback I saw is actually now something I consider to be better for myself. Basically, what I am saying is try to really think about answers to the predictable questions beforehand. You really don't want to sound rehearsed, but also don't want to come out and kick yourself for the next three months because you really didn't say what you had wanted to say. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coastal79 Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Thanks for the above advice, especially Jackie. Just a thought for fox: I agree that "wanting to help people" is a pretty standard answer for "why do you want to be a doctor", but aren't standard answers often simply an indication that something is genuinely important? I don't plan on just saying that I want to help people, there are a number of other, equally important, reasons for me. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that my desire to help people is a major part of my motivation. On another note, what you say about not having early clinical experience being a good thing is interesting. I'm often frusterated, voluteering in the ER, because I really can't tell people anything about what is wrong with them,or, what is going to be done to help them. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Hey, Just thought that I'd jump in here. First off, it's okay to say that you want to help people in response to the question of why you want to be a doctor- we all do, otherwise we'd be doing something else. The problem is that there are 400 other people interviewing who want to help people as well, so I think that the best approach is to make your answer stand out versus the other 400 or so answers that the interviewers will be hearing from the other candidates. There is no really good way to do this- you can't really judge whether someone's answer is better than someone else's (within reason, of course- saying you want to be in medicine for the money, power and attractive members of the opposite gender is probably not the best answer), so my advice is to be honest and forthcoming in your response. You do have something that the others do not and that is your individuality and your life's experiences, so try to incorporate those into your answer if you can. If you cannot, try to think of genuine reasons why you want to be in this field- not an easy task, but I'd challenge you to take some time to think about it and try to discover what it is you really want out of a career in medicine. Once you've discovered that, your answer will be more likely to come across as sincere and well-thought-out, which works to your benefit. So in closing, it's okay to say that you want to help people in response to the why medicine question, but make sure that you are able to elaborate on other reasons as well. Best of luck! Timmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.