Re-Living The Interview Anxiety

[cotedeazur]

It has been a week but keep reliving the interview anxiety here.

 

Out of 10 stations, bombed one of them, basically was rambling; didn't do very well in about 2 other stations. Did ok in 2 stations and got positive feedback from interviewers. Can't remember other 5 stations, probably average performance.

 

Fingers crossed for May...

 

Trying to write down all mistakes I made in the interview so that I won't make the same mistake next year if not admitted.

 

 

Btw, If we see a quote in the interview and not sure about the literal meaning of the quote, is it acceptable to ask the interviewer if our understanding is correct or not?

 

 

[nick]

I think it's totally normal to ruminate about the interview during "the long 3 months." Personally, I always go through a process where at first I feel good about the interview, then a few hours later I start realizing all the mistakes I made and things I could have said, ways I could have presented myself better, etc., then a couple days later I level out again. There is no way to know what impression you left on the evaluators -- that depends too much on them, and on the other candidates. I'm not sure rambling is actually all that bad -- they aren't expecting you to delivery the gettysburg address, they're trying to understand your thought process, and something that's a bit like a stream of consciousness -- as long as it's coherent and relevant -- might well come across as genuine, spontaneous, and honest. Part of it is luck. We have no way to know -- year to year performance can vary by an extremely substantial amount for the same candidate (take it from me) -- all we can do is wait.

[Bambi]

The interviewer is there to evaluate, not to confirm whether or not your interpretation is correct or not.

[a7x]

It has been a week but keep reliving the interview anxiety here.

 

Out of 10 stations, bombed one of them, basically was rambling; didn't do very well in about 2 other stations. Did ok in 2 stations and got positive feedback from interviewers. Can't remember other 5 stations, probably average performance.

 

Fingers crossed for May...

 

Trying to write down all mistakes I made in the interview so that I won't make the same mistake next year if not admitted.

 

 

Btw, If we see a quote in the interview and not sure about the literal meaning of the quote, is it acceptable to ask the interviewer if our understanding is correct or not?

As hard as it is it's best not to think about it. There's no way of knowing what each station was evaluating so gauging performance is quite impossible. So long as you answered the questions posed in a manner that was true to yourself then you gave it the best effort you can.

 

[RedLily]

It has been a week but keep reliving the interview anxiety here.

 

Out of 10 stations, bombed one of them, basically was rambling; didn't do very well in about 2 other stations. Did ok in 2 stations and got positive feedback from interviewers. Can't remember other 5 stations, probably average performance.

 

Fingers crossed for May...

 

Trying to write down all mistakes I made in the interview so that I won't make the same mistake next year if not admitted.

 

 

Btw, If we see a quote in the interview and not sure about the literal meaning of the quote, is it acceptable to ask the interviewer if our understanding is correct or not?

 

As above posters have said (and admins at my own interviews have said), you could feel like you bombed a station and yet that station could be one where you actually shined because of what the evaluators were looking for. These stations test you, put you under pressure, etc., so it's natural in retrospect to be like "OMG WHAT DID I DO?!" and feel like we now 'know' what we should have done, but really we can't really be sure. It's best in these situations to be yourself, rather than trying to guess what they want.

 

So your best bet is to try and think about other things, and try and table your worries till May- any worrying you do now won't change anything except make you feel anxious. Plus this worrying might all be for nothing! 

 

But yeah I'm a huge hypocrite too, because some days I'm doing exactly what you're saying LOL 

[rmorelan]

As above posters have said (and admins at my own interviews have said), you could feel like you bombed a station and yet that station could be one where you actually shined because of what the evaluators were looking for. These stations test you, put you under pressure, etc., so it's natural in retrospect to be like "OMG WHAT DID I DO?!" and feel like we now 'know' what we should have done, but really we can't really be sure. It's best in these situations to be yourself, rather than trying to guess what they want.

 

So your best bet is to try and think about other things, and try and table your worries till May- any worrying you do now won't change anything except make you feel anxious. Plus this worrying might all be for nothing! 

 

But yeah I'm a huge hypocrite too, because some days I'm doing exactly what you're saying LOL 

 

ha, yeah - people yo yo in their opinions of how they did, and have endless panics - yet still often have no real idea of how well they did

 

I once post interview has trying to help some one that was extremely stressed about how it went (way back when I was a medical student). Total convinced they bombed the interview - was desperate to somehow make it up. Afraid everything was over. Took me 30 minutes to calm them down.

 

First round pick at Western that year. Recently matched to an extremely high end surgical specialty. Doing well.

 

Try not to think about it too much

[Cerena]

I thought I bombed an MMI station too but somehow things worked out. Just like how the OSCEs always work out (the fear of bombing. Though crappy... It persists lol)

Good luck, it's out of your hands!