<p>I have had a few interviews like that, and from talking to some other students, they have as well. It might have been a stress interview, where they see how you respond to adversity. I think there is a stereotype that 4.0, 40 MCAT students are studious bookworms who don’t know how to work in the real world. I realized that PhD interviewers tend to use stress more often than MDs, because stress is more common in grad school interviews. “Grilling” is very popular in academia, to test if you really know your stuff.</p>
<p>Maybe it was a stress interview or maybe the interviewer was a dickhead. But, that’s life and that’s what medicine is. Not every patient or attending is going to be happy go-lucky. </p>
<p>I certainly wouldn’t dwell too much on it. I got rejected at many places where I had a pleasant interview and I’m currently at the school where I thought I had my second to worst interview (out of 13+ interviews). Either the interview wasn’t as bad as I thought or it simply didn’t matter that much. One thing I’ve learned during rotations is that you can get along famously with a doctor, have them say nice things to you, and still get a subpar evaluation (and vice-versa).</p>
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During the last application cycle, one of the premeds (who happen to be an Indian) that DS knows said he ran into many interviewers with an preset attitude toward him. He did get into a couple of medical schools in the end. But this aspect of interview process (the interviewer had a prejudice toward an applicant even before he had interviewed the applicant) really leaves him scarred probably for life. (I vaguely remember mmmcdowe might have briefly mentioned related one.) The fact is many people have prejudice due to their personal background (even though they may not know it), and it is very challenging to “outgrow” the prejudice.</p>
<p>This reminds me of the two sad incidents that happened at YSM in the last year. (To be sure, they were not premed students: One was a PhD candidate, and the other was in residency.)</p>
<p>NCG: Wow…You had 13 interviews! DS appears to be quite fed up with the traveling with only about half of yours. He tries to balance the risk of not getting into any one and traveling too much. Somehow he intuitively thinks the one he just interviewed at might show him love. If this is the case, he would be happy to go there. – Do not know whether his intuition is right or not though. His attitude toward medical schools is probably similar to his attitude toward his future, non-existent-yet, girlfriend: If she loves me, I will love her :)</p>
<p>While it is easy to jump to conclusions and assume that biases are present, it is also quite absurd to think that an interviewer has a hostile attitude towards someone who he or she barely knows. My first reaction is my gut one, where I feel like I am being interviewed unfairly. But then the logical part of me goes “Wait a minute, I didn’t do anything to deserve to be treated this way. And there’s no way that this guy could be a **** and still be a tenured professor.” Then, it is fairly clear I am getting a stress interview, and it becomes much less personal.</p>
<p>However, if there is anything that is truly hostile and unacceptable (racism, sexism, cursing towards applicant) I would report it to the school.</p>
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<p>I sent all my update letters by snail-mail. It never occurred to me to do it via email, but it’s not necessarily a bad idea. I just feel that no one will fault you for sending via the post office, but some may feel that email is too casual.</p>
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<p>Indeed, you will run into such types in ALL aspects of life, whether its in business, school or the grocery store.</p>
<p>Status update. S is still waiting on any additional “completes”. He sent followup emails this week just to let them know that the missing LOR was now there so hopefully the completes will follow. He has 3 secondaries that he still plans to complete which will bring his total schools applied to 17.</p>
<p>hubbellsdad, of my kid’s interview , she had zero “stress interviews” or else she was too clueless to know it was a “stress interview”. I’d say if it bothers him that much , I might see about a re-interview (at least, I think I’ve heard of some students having some luck with that). Whatever the motivation of the interviewer that “I can keep you out of med school” crap is un-professional and IMO opinion designed to inflate the ego of the interviewer. Or else he’s just a prick. Pretty sure it’s one of those two. ;)</p>
<p>One of D’s interviewers was little “pushy” and somewhat confused by her application. She did not take it personally though and explain everything the best she could. She felt that she has little chance there anyway, but was happy to have an interview. She does not have many. At this point we practically consider 2 that are still “under review” as silent rejections. Oh, well. She seems to worry about her current classes more than application process.</p>
<p>I realized that I had not heard anything from Pritzker and when I checked my status it says “Held for Later Review”. Then, there is a little explanation asking me to keep them updated about anything that I do. Checking SDN, there were several people last year who were contacted for interviews in december and january, after having the same status for a while. I know that Chicago is obsessed with the “fit” thing and I have seen a lot of people with great stats get rejected right away after the secondary. We will see, (although I would rather get a Northwestern interview anyway!! I am crossing my fingers for that one)
But anyway, later in the afternoon I got an invite to Cornell, and I am really thrilled about that one! They are giving me a few dates for next week, but I am already committed and I do not want to miss too much of school in the same week. I am going to email them asking for a november date instead. Do you guys think that would hurt my chances?</p>
<p>Wow, congrats. I’d call and explain how jazzed you are about the invite and how , if at all possible you’d go to one of the 3 offered dates, “but, I do still have to pass my classes. Right? 
Is there anyway to change dates, or am I just hosed? I am so excited and don’t want to mess up my chance. Can ya help me out just a little ?”</p>
<p>I think asking to put it off too far is asking for your intentions to be mis-interpreted. Show how excited you are and ask for their help. I think you’ll be fine. JMO.</p>
<p>Thanks curm. The email invite states that the only “remaining dates for interview in october” are three days next week (I already have an interview right in the middle, and it would be really tough for me). For that reason, I will ask for the first week in november…They do give a phone contact and an email address. I will make sure to let them know how excited I am! :)</p>
<p>I’m sure you understood me just fine…but for the un-initiated lurkers out there…my point was “no med school wants to be looked at as a safety/lesser choice”. A ho-hum “Can’t make those dates. Ya got anything in November?” e-mail might send a different message than an excited phone call asking for scheduling help. </p>
<p>Again, I’ll bet you can pull this off with no problems. Piece of cake.</p>
<p>Congrats, MyOpinion!
D. is also pretty stresed about her classes and going to interviews. She is also waiting for NW, but it does not look promissing at this point, it has been awhile.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is worth attempting so early in the interview cycle but my daughter was at school overseas as she applied and pushed a number of interviews until she was home on break in early December. A couple of interviews were in NYC and at the time she booked her flight she still had not heard from one school where she had applied. When she knew her schedule she emailed them basically saying that she was going to be in the area and would love to meet with them. Long story short, they offered her an interview. </p>
<p>How she handled her application process was not the standard (she finished up her secondaries later than most of you and she pushed her interviews to the point that she could well have been wait-listed at a number of schools because of interviewing so late in the cycle) so I would not offer it in any way as a model but the old “letting the school know that you are going to be in the area” approach might be worth trying if you are already flying in for an interview with another school.</p>
<p>Well, I got the email sound of my smart phone in class this AM because of two more interviews in NYC! NYU is giving me dates in october and I am debating whether I should try to put it around my Cornell date (first week of november). I need to figure that out today. Einstein is now giving interviews in mid january because all their slots are filled for the remainder of the year. They started interviewing pretty early. I think this school is a good example of the importance of not only applying early but of being complete early. I was complete there about a month ago and they were already interviewing in july. I am thrilled with the january date though! It frees november and december for any unexpected invites!</p>
<p>MyOpinion, congrats on all your interview invites.</p>
<p>thanks, sharonohio! I am keeping my fingers crossed hoping at least one of them turns eventually into an acceptance!</p>
<p>UPDATE: colleague’s son got called today from UTSW-they apologized for the interview and invited him back on Oct. 9. Apparently, the son mentioned the incident to a friend who lives in Dallas-that person’s mother is a UTSW staff member-and she knew someone who knew someone and…So, it likely was not a ‘stress interview’ as someone was ‘appalled’ about the interview. Will see if he gets an eventual acceptance.</p>
<p>^^^ way to go! I think that really shows that UTSW cares about its applicants and wants to be as fair as possible–it probably would have been just as easy for them to ignore the whole situration. Perhaps it’s a positive reflection on your friend’s son–that he’s a strong candidate and didn’t make a huge stink about a frustrating interview. Seems like UTSW will be lucky to have them, should they accept him. Hope round 2 goes better!</p>