Activities etc.

[Guest D]

My first interview was last weekend at Queen's. Since it was a short interview (35 min.), I didn't get a chance to go into and expand on as many of my activities as I wanted to. However, I did feel that I did say as much as I could without disrupting the "flow" of the interview. For my next interviews, let's say we've reached the end of the interview and there were still a couple of points I wanted to get in, but was unable to find a good time to do so.

 

When they ask me "so do you have any questions for us?", would asking the following be OK: "There are a few things about myself I wanted to discuss earlier, but couldn't find an appropriate opportunity to do so. Could I talk about them now?" Or should I not bring up new information unless they specifically ask me "Is there anything else you would like to add"?

[Guest strider2004]

The interviewers typically ask if there's anything that you'd like to add. If you don't feel that the interview is providing an accurate portrayal of yourself, then it's fully in your rights to make sure they know why you would be a good candidate. Don't hold back.

[Guest Ian Wong]

If you think there's something else in your background that you'd like to share with the interviewers, I'd definitely use that time to bring them up. They're there to know the real you after all.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Don't forget that at Queen's the interviewers should have had a copy of your autobiographical sketch and as a result have a good idea of what you've done. And you don't have to go into detail about every little thing you've done - basically, the interviewers are probably just trying to get a sense of whether you're someone who's been actively involved with stuff outside the community.

 

I had the fortunate experience to interview people myself two years ago. It wasn't for medical school (I was interviewing potential Frosh Leaders - same principle though.) I was amazed by how much most of the interviewees had done and by how few of the details I could remember. It wasn't like I could evaluate the applicants on every single detail (ie wow - applicant A has participated in 15 extracurricular activities, whereas applicant B has participated in only 14. . . guess Applicant A gets the position!) rather I had to rely on getting a general sense of how active the applicants were in student life at the University.

 

In other words - don't sweat it. As long as you presented yourself as someone with a solid background of activities, I'm sure you did fine.