Serious Harsh Interviews

[strifehart]

I've been running the circuit to get into medical school for the past few months and I'm currently going on interviews. For those of you not familiar, med school interviews are typically a whole day long. The interviews themselves are about 30-60 minutes long, and you usually have two during the day. The rest of the day is taken up by tours, Q&A sessions, etc.

Anyways, I had one interview day about a month ago, I just got through another and I've got a third scheduled next month.

So the interview I had today was really weird. The whole day was fantastic. Everyone at the university was super nice and helpful. They really sold/advertised their school really well (it went from being pretty low on my list of schools I want to go to, to being in the top three). But then I had my first actual interview of the day. And this guy couldn't have been a bigger jerk. It's like he was purposely trying to derail me. He was condescending and using my own responses to try and convince me that I wasn't ready to be a doctor or should be pursuing a different field. It was a serious WTF interview. Maybe I didn't have the right answers for his questions, but I still don't think that gave him license to be condescending. I think one of the biggest problems was that he asked me why I wanted to go into medicine...and I accidentally gave him the cliched response "to help people". Normally, I'm more specific and say that I want to help people in a more direct way, on a daily basis, in a significant way. Unlike something like chemical engineering (my undergrad degree) where you can help people, but it's very indirect.

UGH. So after he wouldn't let me be more specific, he started attacking me with questions to try and test me it seemed. He asked me what my opinion was about the health care system, so I referenced the health care reform bill. He said he was surprised that I knew anything about it, since he's thoroughly confused by it and nothing's been passes, so he doubted that I had read anything on it. First of all, any monkey with the internet can find out info on the health bill and the ideas presented. Just because it hasn't been passed and made public record doesn't mean that discussions in congress haven't been made public. It seemed like he was just trying to push me down everywhere he could.

The last question took the cake. He had the gall to ask me what my definition of professionalism is. I was tempted to say "well, unprofessionalism is basically everything about you. Everything you do. So I guess professionalism would be the opposite. The exact opposite of you". But of course I didn't. I gave some bullshit response. He didn't say a word back, and just ended the interview.

So, I guess I'm looking for two things.
1. Some reassurance a la "don't worry about it, this guy's obviously a jackass". (I know, its childish, but...you know)
2. Have you guys ever had an interview that was total bullshit? Or just kept getting worse and worse?

 

[Gabe]

Now, excuse me for being a teenager and having no idea about this kind of stuff... But it basically sounds close to having a high pressured one on one conversation in a principal's office.

Now, that guy sounds like an ass, but is probably really good at whatever he's doing, as the movies, media and life has always proven: Asses are always awesome at whatever job they have most of the time... Maybe the dude just had a bad day and was acting harsh to you because he was severely stressed out like a middle aged father of three children and a low paying job. Hopefully you didn't fail miserably from that guy's stupid time of the month, and you can get in and never see his punk-ass ever again.

 

[Bei Bei]

Well, I've had many interviews before and I've given interviews before so I'll try to cover my experiences with both.

I've had a couple of interviews that you've discussed. Mine went pretty much the same way as yours. Honestly some of them view interviewing as a waste of time. They'll have you picked out even before you walk through that door. There's really not too much you can do about it. I'd say try your best, like you don't notice what they're doing because it makes it harder for them to judge you. I'll be honest they can tell what you're thinking by the look on your face.

The main fact is you have to make yourself memorable. These people ask the same questions to a whole bunch of people and if you don't stand out, they don't remember who you are. But I wouldn't come to any conclusions yet. I've had interviews where I thought that they hated me and that I bombed every question and that I was not what they were looking for, and low and behold I get a phone call.

As for when I have to give interviews, let me tell you I am very picky. I've turned people away at the door because they're not dressed right. Jeans and a t-shirt does not show me professionalism. Anyone who's not prepared I'll send them on their way half way through the interview. I've had people come late, not have their resume and so on. Let me tell you, I get very irritated especially near the end of the day. Some days I have to do this all day long, 8-10 hours a day for 2 weeks straight and it feels like a big waste of time when someone comes unprepared, or is late, or just doesn't show up at all. So after about a couple hours of this I might be a little exasperated with people when they walk through my door. It's not directed at them though, but it's like I've had enough of all this.

Your interviewer might have been feeling that way I'm not sure, but my opinion is he is probably like that with everyone. He probably looks for very specific answers that people give who knows. But if I had attacked you like that, and you held your professionalism as you did, I probably would have kept you higher on the list.

 

[strifehart]

Thanks a lot for the input guys. I really appreciate it.

Here are a couple more details, in case you were interested.

There were about 18 potential candidates there that day. Each candidate was interviewed by a different faculty member, so my guy was only talking to me that day. Everyone dresses in full suits. No one dares to come late to med school interviews.