Guest nicolekavita Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 Ian, I understand what you are thinking, but my intention was not to "cross the line." I did not expect the moderators to breach confidentiality and tell me everything. I would hope that they would use their discretion and disclose what they are able to about interviewing. I apologise if I appeared invasive. I know that a few Moderators met some individuals on this site and gave them mock interviews in person. It is more than likely that the moderators who met the individuals gave advice/ feedback based on some degree of their "inside" knowledge. At a minimum, it is likely that their inside knowledge of the system leaked into the advice they gave. I am just curious to know if you think meeting with the moderators to conduct mock interviews also constitute "crossing the line?" Nicole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest G8M8T Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 Even if people were to answer all of Nikol's questions from the locked thread, I am sure we would not have learned anything shockingly different from any of the other helpful interview threads. I too think that Ian was unnecessarily prudent in closing the thread. Love and appreciate all of your other work Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tappety tap Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 nicolekavita: I participated in a mock interview with some Ottawa U med students. Just to reassure you...there really are no inside secrets to having a successful interview. Just picture yourself as an interviewer trying to judge the candidacy of people for medicine. They look for all the same things that you or anyone else woud look for. I really didn't learn any inside secrets, it was just a chance to practice my answers and see where I need work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 I don't think Ian meant anything personal by locking down the thread. But I have to admit myself and some of the other moderators have been a little weary about questions about interviewing and our roles. . . as some of the moderators have/will/may in the future interviewed applicants for medical school, this is a slightly touchy subject (for obvious reasons.) I think asking how our interviews went is fine - some/many of us are comfortable sharing that information, and some not. But asking details about our own possible involvement in selection procedures can make us a bit uncomfortable. BTW - I think I've done a fair job of sharing as much "inside" information as I can. . . I'm not really privy to any sort of "conspiracy," but having been through the process and hung around the school I've learned a thing or two I didn't know as an applicant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sally2001 Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 hello, take it easy everybody. i vote for ian on this one because there is a difference between 1st year (or non-interviewers) volunteering their time to help out friends, as i'm sure we'd all volunteer to help out friends in need. but posing a question directly to a member of an interview team member who gives direct input on deciding on the status of the candidate, is indeed a little risky. sure the ppl answering could just say "no, they don't tell us anything" but it's possible for confidential info to leak out. anyway, no hard feelings as i'm sure it was just genuine curiosity but i think it's fair for every one to be on the same footing (sort of like insider trading, if you think about it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 I agree...it is very difficult for us (especially those of us on admissions committees...) to draw a line between helping applicants and outright providing unfair advantages...To ask about our own personal experiences "as applicants" is more then fair - that is the point of these boards. (ie what was your interview like, how did you prepare, what did you take in undergrad, any advice on who to get as references, etc) I am more then happy to answer questions about things that I did in the process of applying, my own experiences as a pre-med or applicant, etc. But, to ask for answers to questions that we would have learned AFTER we became part of the admissions process from the other side is not. (ie how exactly are the essays scored, what are you looking for in this question, what personal qualities are you looking for, are you interviewing, what are the interview questions, etc) These are highly classified admissions secrets....things that I certainly didn't have access to as an applicant and nor do I think applicants *should* have access this information. If other moderators want to meet and give 'mock' interviews, that is up to them...I doubt that they will give you that kind of information during them either. This may be borderline, but I don't think that it necessarily is. Lots of undergrads have friends, friends of friends, etc that are in med school and are prepared to do mock interviews, give feedback etc. These boards provide the rest of you with that opportunity. Feel free to ask whatever, and we will answer it if we can. There are also 'online' mocks going that the moderators are participating in. Check those out too. I know that you all have tonnes of questions...we did too when we applied and you are probably feeling pretty stressed about upcoming interviews....we know, we've been there. But, there is a point where getting info does become 'insider trading'. Answers to the questions posed on the now locked thread are confidential...any med student that has been told those answers either through their own personal experience in the process or otherwise, is not able to communicate them with the applicants...for obvious reasons...most notably that it is an unfair advantage to some but also due to the fact that it would be VERY easy to trace and identify any of one us within our schools and adminstration (read DEAN) would hunt us down and kill us for jeporadizing the integrity of their admissions process. Not something that any of us are willing to do...we need to deal with these people at least until we graduate!!! I know that your intentions may not have been malicious...but it came across as somebody looking for a way to 'cheat' on the interview by getting confidential information that others who were not reading this board would not have access to. I am glad that this subject has come up at this point because I think that it needed to be addressed. If you are interested, maybe somebody could start another mock on this topic (the ethics and implications of getting and acting on 'helpful' information from what could potentially be viewed as an 'inside' source) Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest faqir9 Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 Well I for one think it borders on absurd. People are free to ask questions. People are free to answer or not answer as they see fit. Locking a thread because you are worried where a discussion will go? Pullease. The only admission committee "secrets" are those which an admission committee specifically and expressly tells a person are to remain confidential, and I have no doubt there is utterly no chance of such a instruction being violated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 Heya, I hope you didn't take my actions as being something personal against you; they weren't. The trouble is that there is definitely a spectrum on admissions information. On one end is stuff that ANY med school applicant should have access to (ie. what's the med school curriculum like), and on the other end is stuff that NO med school applicant should have access to (ie. how exactly will my interview be scored and on what exact criteria). This means that somewhere in between these two distinct areas, a line is going to have to be drawn, and I decided that your question crossed that boundary. I'm sure not everyone is going to agree with where I placed that line. But, as I stated earlier, I'm ambivalent as to what your intentions were when you asked the question; either way, I don't think any of the moderators here can answer that question. It's nothing personal against you, just that I don't think that's a fair question to ask us. As far as the face-to-face mock interviews go, I have no influence over what the moderators do outside of this forum, nor would I want to. I think each moderator has a good sense of what is discussable and what is not, and on the forums I trust they'll use their own discretion. With the mock interviews on the Interview forum, I see those as sparking discussion between all the applicants. The Interview forum wasn't designed to give out rote answers to common interview questions. On the other hand, if someone poses a good question, and it causes lots of participation and debate, then you all gain the benefits of seeing how other people would approach the same problem. That co-operative spirit is what these forums are all about. My two cents, Ian UBC, Med 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mtws Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Interesting. It seems to me that the funny part of all this is that locking the thread does sort of lend credence to a 'conspiracy' theory... the unspoken implication that answers to that question actually exist. (Wouldn't it be great if interviewers were told... "If the person says X and looks like X give them extra points!" Then all we'd have to do is X!! That in and of itself is ridiculous.) My two cents. Matt Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Lol! I think it's fair to say that each school has a list of criteria that they're looking for. Maybe those are secret at some schools. I know that at U of T they are quite open about what they are looking for (adaptability to change, ethical awareness, problem-solving skills, and a couple others I don't remember offhand...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest G8M8T Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Amen to mtws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Secrets of the interview: We don't know...ask us what the magic thing was that got us in....guess what...I still don't know. I don't really know any more now then I did last year at this time... And no, there is no conspiracy...there are no published lists of qualities that are being screened for.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nicolekavita Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Let's move on! There are so many great things about this site let us not spend any more time on this! Nicole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest faqir9 Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Well nicole, though it was your question that precipitated this, I don't agree with you. Aneliz' point is precisely the point. Locking a thread to avoid even the discussion of this topic because you are worried what the infants "might" do dad is just plain weird. Its even weirder when you consider there probably ARE NO SECRETS (I don't know, I am speculating). Confidential information is something the admissions committee tells a student/community member is not to be revealed. Not something a moderator thinks should not be discussed. There is certainly virtually no chance a student would violate such instructions by publically posting on this site. Its just ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nicolekavita Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Faqir9, I personally think that locking a site is a surreptitious disrespect to devoted users. I believe that if any of the moderators thought that my questions bordered on what they consider "classified information", then they should have clearly stated this on the thread. I would not continue to pursue a line of questioning if any of the moderators expressed to me that they were not comfortable with my original question regarding what the admission interview panel is looking for. If individuals are now claiming that there are "no secrets" then this is even more reason why shutting down the thread was was a premature and unnecessary undertaking. I also think that by locking the site, an assumption is made that Mac moderators are incapable of recognising an inapproiate question and adressing it on thier own. I did not want this discussion to drag on to the point of being unfruitful, hence my last post. Nicole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 You guys are all reading WAY too much into my closing of the thread. Basically, there's a grey zone between confidential and non-confidential information. The line of questioning that you guys were getting towards was steadily advancing towards things that *I* personally think are inappropriate for discussion on this forum. I know nothing about the admissions process at Mac; didn't apply there for med school, haven't applied there for residency, so my committment level to them is absolutely zero. I ain't trying to hide anything, although you may think so. With that said, I do NOT think asking the moderators whether they will be interviewers, and if so "do they tell you to look for certain qualities/ask certain types of questions" is a fair question. It puts the moderators in a difficult position, and it certainly places me in an awkward position as far as the potential to skew interviews unfairly. The bottom line is: if you ask these sorts of intrusive questions which you would never ask a member of the admissions committee face to face, then expect the thread to be closed. The moderators and I are volunteering this time to help you folks, not to potentially undermine the admissions process. My apologies if you don't like that policy, but that's the way it's going to be. Ian UBC, Med 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MACbetty Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Ian, It's challenging being a moderator and i think you usually do a good job, but i think YOU'VE crossed the line on this one. I’ve been reading this thread all afternoon, and I can't help putting my two bits in. Ian, you openly admit that you've never had anything to do with Mac, from med school to residency, so why not let a moderator from Mac answer nicolekavita's original question from the thread that you hastily locked? I understand that YOU think asking the moderators whether they will be interviewers, and if so "do they tell you to look for certain qualities/ask certain types of questions" is NOT a fair question. But is it fair for you to impose what you believe to be unfair on the rest of the people who use this forum? By shutting down the thread you presumed to know what a Mac moderator might say in his or her answer to nicolekavita's question. And from that presumption, you decided that it was NOT a fair question. I think that your presumptions are NOT fair. Personally, I'm not concerned about getting an answer to nicolekavita's question--i've read enough in other threads to know what Mac is looking for in a candidate. I'm not sure what the right thing to do here is, but I don't believe shutting down threads is appropriate, especially when it's based on a single individual's beliefs. That kind of action devalues the forum and makes everyone who uses it feel like a child that needs monitoring. Give me a break! Macbetty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Actually, this is pretty much a case of Ian getting to the punchline first. There's were actually a number of us moderators who were uncomfortable for one reason or another for the questions in this thread, and it just happened to be Ian who decided to lock down the thread itself. There was no offence meant by it and this is being blown a little out of proportion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gucio93 Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 O.K. I believe it is time to end this discussion. I really do not see any potentially useful information that can be gleaned from continued comments that border on disrespect. I am a Mac moderator, and a Mac med student. I happen to agree with Ian and I am fairly sure that other moderators of this forum do, too. Perhaps we have different thresholds for what we consider to be "crossing the line" but in reality we have similar views on the overall picture. Please do not forget that Ian is the person who started this board from scratch and that he puts a lot of time into making sure that it is a helpful resource and that it does not deteriorate. As a result there are certain calls he is entitled to make and certain liberties he is entitled to take. Please take a minute and think about how many hours of personal time it takes to make a board (especially as busy as this one) run smoothly. . . Also, please take into consideration that Ian has no personal gain from this and deserves respect. I believe that this thread has been taken as far as it can go without deteriorating into childish attacks and therefore I will lock it down with a request to turn your interests to a new topic. Thanks for everyone's cooperation. Good luck to all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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