What happens in the interview?

[Guest m]

Many of us are aware of the interview process from the applicant side, but less knowledgeable about what's going on on the other side of the fence.

 

What do interviewers do when in an interview? They write down comments during the interview but then what? I would think that most Canadian medical schools, with the exception, perhaps, of Mac, which still may be similar, must operate on very similar systems. When the applicant leaves the room, what happens? Do the interviewers talk amongst themselves and come up with a collective conclusion regarding the applicant? Do they tend to come to a yes/no/maybe conclusion, or do they not bother to make any extrapolations, and merely assign a numerical score? Do all of the interviewers try to assign the same score, or independent scores? I would assume that they discuss the interview with one another, to emphasize their opinions, and things they observed that others may not have.

 

And then what happens? This is probably the part with the most fluctuation between schools, but I imagine it's still quite similar. I've heard that most schools have some sort of committee that assembles, and reviews each evaluation. Is this composed of the faculty interviewers, or just anyone associated with the faculty? Is this a large group or a small one? Who evaluates the personal autobiographical sketches, and how are they evaluated (numerically or otherwise)? Does the admissions committee just have the evaluation information from the interview + the autobiography or any other information they consider, or do they actually have the autobiographical sketch in front of them as well?

 

Sorry my post is so long, but any light you could shed about the admissions process at your school, or any rumours/info you have heard would be gret information for those of us in the dark.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Not sure if I'm supposed to reveal this, but I will. . .

 

At Western, each interviewer is given an evaluation sheet. Don't know the details, but one of my interviewers last year kept theirs on the table and I couldn't help but notice that there were about 19-20 categories or questions on the thing.

 

I've also heard that the interviewers at Western are NOT allowed to discuss the interview afterwards. They have to fill in the eval right away and hand it in so that a dominant personality on the interviewing committee can't influence the other interviewers' opinions.

 

Also - just wanted to note that Western interview committees consist of a faculty member, a student (2nd, 3rd, or 4th year depending how clerkship rotations are that weekend) and a member of the community at large. Some of those people have interviewed before, for others it's the first time and sometimes the only prep they've had is the information session they're given before.

 

Good Luck - and don't stress about such things. Just relax, be open about yourself and you'll do fine.

[Guest gucio93]

Hi m!

I can tell you a little about what happens after the interview at Mac. Once the interviewee leaves (or rather is "escorted" out), the interviewers write up their evaluation forms. These forms consist of qualitative and quantitative comments in five different areas and an overall qualitative and quantitative comment summarizing the interview. The interviewers DO NOT discuss the interview among themselves while doing this and hand in the envelope with their evaluation immediately. Afterwards they are free to compare their impressions, but at that point that has no influence on anything.

Following all the interviews (two weekends at Mac) the collation committee meets. It includes community, faculty, and student representatives (I'm not sure about how many in total). These people go over the entire application of every student who interviewed and after considering "the whole picture" come up with a decision of yes, no, or maybe. Once all the applications have been assessed and the class is not full, the pile with the "maybes" is revisited to fill the class. Following this the "yeses" get the acceptance, some of the "maybes" get the waitinglist spot, and the rest of the applicants get a rejection.

Good luck and don't overanalyze your performance too much

[Guest MynameisSarah78]

Does anyone know what is done during/post the interview at University of Toronto?

[Guest MDCY]

At the Calgary, they also have 20 categories that they mark you on during the interview by asking a number of questions from a question bank. There are only two people interviewing you: a faculty/physician and a student (1st or 2nd year). These two people are not on the admissions committee. I'm not exactly sure what they did after I left my interview but I did turn around and catch a glance of them writing something on paper. Apparently, they present your case to the admissions board and it is ultimately up to the committee to decide your "fate". It's a good piece of advice that you be friendly and kind to everybody involved in the application/admission's process because it turns out that Adele who is in charge of setting up your interview sits on the admissions committee and if you give her a wrong impression, it would work against your favor in their final decision. At UC there is one or two student reps who sits on the admissions committee as well.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

A friend of a friend was in one of the UT interviewing teams a couple of years ago. At that time they had a sheet similar in content to some already mentioned: basically, a number of Likert-type scales which allowed the interviewer to rate ~12-15 different qualities of each interviewee.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen