Interview Question

[AnotherLawyer]

This is very basic but are interviewees expected to show up with anything, e.g. pen, notepad, briefcase, etc., or just ourselves?

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[Goro]

This is very basic but are interviewees expected to show up with anything, e.g. pen, notepad, briefcase, etc., or just ourselves?

Just you. A note pad might be OK for taking notes outside of the interview room proper.

And as an aside for SDNers, interviews are NOT for show and tell.

 

[PatchA]

I brought a folder with my app and secondary for that school, in case I wanted to review parts of it. It also had a notebook and pen. Honestly didn't need any of it and, at one school, they made us leave all of our stuff at the front.

So, if having a place to take notes makes you feel more comfortable, bring it, but really you won't need it. MMI's will even provide you with paper to take notes with if you need it.

 

[aldol16]

You really don't need anything. Some people will show up with a padfolio to take notes and keep the various folders/papers you're given throughout the day in. Some pretentious mother****ers will show up with padfolios that have their school shield/logo emblazoned across the front. I've found that these are usually students from elite schools who want everyone to know where they went. Don't be that guy.

 

[djtallahassee]

@Goro is looked down upon to bring a padfolio to the interview? I have mine every interview I've done (non-Med) to take notes. Usually towards the end with questions I take notes of the answers. Not a good thing to do in a Med school interview?


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[YayPudding]

You, your brain and professional attire.

 

[md-2020]

@Goro is looked down upon to bring a padfolio to the interview? I have mine every interview I've done (non-Med) to take notes. Usually towards the end with questions I take notes of the answers. Not a good thing to do in a Med school interview?

I brought a nice leather padfolio to all of mine, with some updated resumes and stuff and a pen. I'd say ~3-4/10 people at each day did something similar. Didn't seem to be an issue.

Didn't take notes during the interview though. That might be not necessary, since they're basically just conversations.

 

[Goro]

@Goro is looked down upon to bring a padfolio to the interview? I have mine every interview I've done (non-Med) to take notes. Usually towards the end with questions I take notes of the answers. Not a good thing to do in a Med school interview?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I don't have a problem with it.

My only problem is with the people who want to do show and tell.

 

[premeds_r_dumb_123]

I don't have a problem with it.

My only problem is with the people who want to do show and tell.

Story time?

 

[Dr. Souk]

You, your brain and professional attire.

Oh and clothes! But other than that your list is comprehensive - lol

 

[fouracle]

@Goro A current student at my first interview said she liked handing out complete resumes to her interviewers so that they had "something tangible" to remember her by when they wrote up evaluations or discussed applicants (esp. closed-file interviews), although she did say some of them declined to take the resume.

Do you tend to agree that a gesture like this couldn't hurt, or is it too much?

 

[CloverBale]

@Goro A current student at my first interview said she liked handing out complete resumes to her interviewers so that they had "something tangible" to remember her by when they wrote up evaluations or discussed applicants (esp. closed-file interviews), although she did say some of them declined to take the resume.

Do you tend to agree that a gesture like this couldn't hurt, or is it too much?

That made me cringe.

 

[Goro]

@Goro A current student at my first interview said she liked handing out complete resumes to her interviewers so that they had "something tangible" to remember her by when they wrote up evaluations or discussed applicants (esp. closed-file interviews), although she did say some of them declined to take the resume.

Do you tend to agree that a gesture like this couldn't hurt, or is it too much?

I would have low wait listed her and trashed her at our Adcom meeting. She was extremely lucky

 

[esob]

And as an aside for SDNers, interviews are NOT for show and tell.

Can you elaborate on this? Does this pertain to something like a watch (aka, leave the Rolex and opt for the fitbit?)

 

[Goro]

Can you elaborate on this? Does this pertain to something like a watch (aka, leave the Rolex and opt for the fitbit?)

Meaning, don't drag things out of your briefcase or knapsack to show us. I'm not interested in a portfolio or a CV.

 

[PatchA]

@Goro A current student at my first interview said she liked handing out complete resumes to her interviewers so that they had "something tangible" to remember her by when they wrote up evaluations or discussed applicants (esp. closed-file interviews), although she did say some of them declined to take the resume.

Do you tend to agree that a gesture like this couldn't hurt, or is it too much?

Do not do this.

 

[fouracle]

Do not do this.

Yeah at the time I briefly considered it but felt uncomfortable as this sort of thing doesn't fit my personality. Now I'm sure, so thanks!

 

[hurtem&healem]

I would have low wait listed her and trashed her at our Adcom meeting. She was extremely lucky

All you guys love talking about how interviewees should be acting like professional adults, because this is an interview for a professional position. Bringing copies of your resume/cv for your interviewers is standard practice in the professional world. Rejecting someone for doing what would be expected of them in a professional setting seems pretty ****ing petty.

 

[fouracle]

Bringing copies of your resume/cv for your interviewers is standard practice in the professional world.

Yeah that's what both the current student and my SO (they work in business) said as well that made me think twice about it.

 

[aaronrodgers]

All you guys love talking about how interviewees should be acting like professional adults, because this is an interview for a professional position. Bringing copies of your resume/cv for your interviewers is standard practice in the professional world. Rejecting someone for doing what would be expected of them in a professional setting seems pretty ****ing petty.

You can argue that it is also a standard practice of professionalism to know the etiquette/culture of specific industries (in this case, med school admission). AKA, just play along with it since this is standard practice, however odd it came out to be since the Flexner report. Not doing so minimally helps and might even hurt so it's best to play it safe.

 

[Goro]

All you guys love talking about how interviewees should be acting like professional adults, because this is an interview for a professional position. Bringing copies of your resume/cv for your interviewers is standard practice in the professional world. Rejecting someone for doing what would be expected of them in a professional setting seems pretty ****ing petty.

This isn't a job at GM or Ford, it's an interview for medical school, and people should have enough brains to NOT pull stuff like this in front of their pre-med committees or career counseling services, much less at medical school.

 

[hurtem&healem]

You can argue that it is also a standard practice of professionalism to know the etiquette/culture of specific industries (in this case, med school admission).

This thread is literally the only place one would find such information. How could you possibly expect people to know about it?

This isn't a job at GM or Ford, it's an interview for medical school, and people should have enough brains to NOT pull stuff like this in front of their pre-med committees or career counseling services, much less at medical school.

When someone walks into their career counseling services, the first thing out of the counselors mouth is going to be, "Let me see your resume." And you know as well as anybody how terrible premed advisors are. The only consistent advise any applicant gets is to be professional. Bringing copies of your resume is the professional thing to do and you penalizing applicants for it is absolutely asinine.

 

[aaronrodgers]

This thread is literally the only place one would find such information. How could you possibly expect people to know about it?


When someone walks into their career counseling services, the first thing out of the counselors mouth is going to be, "Let me see your resume." And you know as well as anybody how terrible premed advisors are. The only consistent advise any applicant gets is to be professional. Bringing copies of your resume is the professional thing to do and you penalizing applicants for it is absolutely asinine.

None of my friends who applied before me brought their CV with them. I learned from them alongside also from the numerous professional networking events with med students and doctors on campus throughout my four years.

if you don't trust SDN, which is understandable and I support skepticism, go to your school's many med student panels, meet with physicians affiliated with a med school, etc and consult them. I suspect they will echo the advice here as this is what I have learned both online and IRL. Good luck to you!

 

[lpp06]

Although it may seem petty to dictate an applicant's decision based on whether he or she presents a resume/CV, the desire to use one during an interview has negative indications.

First you must understand how the medical school application process differs from most professional industries. There are very few industries whose application process is so in depth and personal. When your reviewer sees your application, they get to read at least a paragraph about up to 15 of the experiences you see as most pertinent to a life in medicine. Still, there are further essays that allow applicants to express themselves as individuals and tell a story. In my experience, I have never come across a job that went into this level of detail.

If you are granted an interview based on this information, it means that the school is moved by your experiences and wants to get to know you as a person. At this point if you feel they don't know enough about your experiences, so much that you have to give them an outline of them, then you haven't done a good job of integrating them into your application. The alternative is that you don't trust the school's review process enough to have properly read and understand your application.

An interview is also an opportunity to show how well you can communicate with another, get this, live human being. Needless to say, this is a critical trait for a doctor. If you rely on written word in this setting your displaying either an inability to engage in dialogue or an unwillingness to do so. Not to mention, the second you hand an interviewer your resume you are eating into time that could be better spent. In other professional settings, your resume has been viewed multiple times during your candidacy, but for a med school application at most schools, this is a brand new document. Your interviewer will have to take a few moments to review and formulate a brand new set of questions and potentially could derail their train of though.

At the end of the day, what value are you adding by bringing and presenting a resume? You bring minimal value, with greater risk. Med school applications are a game of mitigating risk with the occasional calculated risk being taken.

 

[Goro]

This thread is literally the only place one would find such information. How could you possibly expect people to know about it?


When someone walks into their career counseling services, the first thing out of the counselors mouth is going to be, "Let me see your resume." And you know as well as anybody how terrible premed advisors are. The only consistent advise any applicant gets is to be professional. Bringing copies of your resume is the professional thing to do and you penalizing applicants for it is absolutely asinine.

In the nearly 20 years that's I've been involved in Admissions, I've seen maybe three people do the show and tell business.

So clearly, pre-meds know what to do when they're interviewing, bad or lack of advising or not. This is a negatively selective process, and outliers get noted immediately, and not in a good way.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

It just seems weird to me that you'd bring it with you specifically to hand out. The primary and secondary are designed to be an extremely personal CV. They have that already. If the school chooses to do a closed-file interview, I assume they did that for a reason. The committee will still have your app when they vote. Respect their process.

Edited for grammar.

 

[fouracle]

It just seems weird to me that you'd bring it with you specifically to hand out. The primary and secondary are designed to be an extremely personal CV. They have that already. If the school chooses to do a closed-file interview, I assume they did that for a reason. The committee will still have your app when they vote. Respect their process.

Edited for grammar.

That makes sense, but I don't blame people for asking questions when there are so many hidden expectations ("is optional REALLY optional?!?") both in this profession and other fields. It's good that we've got it straightened out though.