<p>Hello guys, I am just wondering about the above question. Cause for Canadian medical schools, most explicitly stressed on the importance of interviews. They give me the impression that interview weigh about 40% of the admission decision. And Queen's med school even stated that interview weigh 50%, and the applicants' academic and essays accounts for the other 50%. The emphasis on interviews just seem rather non-nonsensical to me, cause interview is only 1 hr, but everything else takes 4 entire years to achieve. So I am just wondering if US med schools have a similar emphasis on interviews or not. Thanks!</p>
<p>Very similar. Putting a number on it is absurd, but yes, very important.</p>
<p>Important enough that a great candidate can totally sink their chances at a school and a marginal candidate can seal an acceptance.</p>
<p>You may not like it but that's the way things are.</p>
<p>Some schools value the interview more than others. Tufts, for example, doesn't seem value it a whole lot. I talked w/ an interviewee (from MA) who said she was given the highest recommendation by her interviewer on her evaluation form before the interview even started. There have been numerous reports on SDN's interview feedback of Tufts interviews lasting literally 5 minutes. I had 2 full 30 minute interviews myself but I think you should stop worrying about the injustice of the whole process and focus on how to do the best within what you are given.</p>
<p>The interview is the med school's chance to pick up on things that don't come across on paper, especially your ability to interact with others. Do you struggle to hold a conversation in person and don't make eye contact? That's really bad. On the other hand, are you easy to get along with? That's good. If you can communicate well in person, that's a big plus. Communicating with others is going to be a huge part of your career for the rest of your life. If you can show off your skill in one hour, that makes the medical school feel better about your ability to be a good physician and team player. (Not to mention avoiding lawsuits.)</p>
<p>Sounds like shades just had the "patients sue you because you don't talk to them" lecture...LOL</p>
<p>Not at all. :D I learned that from reading. I expect we'll get the "Talk to patient = no lawsuit" lecture later on in the year.</p>
<p>Just to keep this post on topic, one of my acquiantances at UPitt has a classmate who did some of the student interviews for admissions during the 2006-2007 season. This classmate actually had one interviewee flat-out make anti-Semitic comments - he complained about Jewish people being some giant conspiracy to take over the world or something. Needless to say, the classmate took great pains to let the UPitt adcom know that she would not be willing to work with the interviewee in the future. I assume he didn't get in. :)</p>
<p>Does depend on the school. At Osteopathic schools (D.O.), where a lot of CDNs go, your pretty much in if you get an interview, but can be nixed if you go ahead and bomb the interview day.</p>
<p>NCG is right; some schools value interviews more than others. I know one which explicitly told us they were just a "psycho screen": as long as you weren't a psycho, they didn't care about the interview. Some schools are reputed to rely completely on the interview: the rest of the application was only meant to determine who got interviews. After that, your MCAT score goes out the window.</p>
<p>o geez, thanks a lot guys for your help. I don't have that much against interviews, but just felt basing very much on a purely subjective assessment is a little problematic. But oh wells if that's how it is.</p>
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The interview is the med school's chance to pick up on things that don't come across on paper, especially your ability to interact with others. Do you struggle to hold a conversation in person and don't make eye contact? That's really bad.
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<p>:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:mad:
I hate interviews...... How happy I would be if interview were eliminated from the application process!
I have the ability to interact with others ONLY IF they are familiar to me. I struggle to hold a conversation in person and don't make eye contact ONLY WITH people I'm not comfortable with. Isn't it unfair to think that, if you do such things, then you'll do those with any other people?</p>
<p>But these are all very important skills for a physician to have. You don't have six months to get to know your patients. You have to earn their trust and you have to do it immediately.</p>
<p>:( Then the only solution for me is to................. find another career? :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:( But what job can offer you similar things as what being a doctor could? (money, respect, comfort, etc.)</p>
<p>"You have to earn their trust and you have to do it immediately"</p>
<p>Lol! I know a surgeon who earns my trust by asking for my credit card # for a shadowing experience!!</p>
<p>Or develop these skills. Or blow the adcom away with other factors so that they have to overlook a poor interview.</p>
<p>Developing those skills is probably easiest. Be friendly with the waitress next time you and your friends go to a restaurant. It will be ridiculous. Comically bad. And you'll learn a little bit. Chat up the guy who meets you at the door the next time you go to Best Buy. It will be embarassing and awkward. And you'll learn a little bit. When you're on the phone with Dell tech support, talk to the person on the other end of the line. And you'll realize it wasn't quite so embarassing or awkward, and you didn't put your foot in your mouth.</p>
<p>EDIT: Yes, or you could somehow manage to slip through the cracks and be a horrible example for America's future physicians. I still can't believe he did that to you, Dub-See.</p>
<p>"But what job can offer you similar things as what being a doctor could? (money, respect, comfort, etc.)"</p>
<p>Wrong reasons. You should look for a career that you'd, I don't know, enjoy.</p>
<p>A ton of jobs offer you money and respect. Comfort I suppose you'll have to define on your own terms.</p>
<p>Many jobs -- including plumbing -- offer you more money than some types of medicine.</p>
<p>
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I hate interviews...... How happy I would be if interview were eliminated from the application process!
I have the ability to interact with others ONLY IF they are familiar to me. I struggle to hold a conversation in person and don't make eye contact ONLY WITH people I'm not comfortable with. Isn't it unfair to think that, if you do such things, then you'll do those with any other people?
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<p>Do you have any idea of what practicing medicine is about? How the heck would you take a patient history or conduct a physical examination? How would you get along with all the staff members in your team? Is it really so unfair for a medical school to test your interpersonal skills?</p>
<p>
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But what job can offer you similar things as what being a doctor could? (money, respect, comfort, etc.)
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<p>How about being President of the US, a Supreme Court Justice, a plumber (no one respects a plumber more or is willing to pay more than when their dirty toilet backups and overflows), a successful fashion designer, a supermodel, an astronaut, a college professor... there are a LOT of careers. I'm surprised you couldn't think of any.</p>
<p>Of course, how achievable any of them are depends on your interests and aptitudes. </p>
<p>Take BDM's advice for working on your people skills. I'm a lot like you, and I worked on it by doing things that were challenging - taking internship positions where I had to work with disabled kids and their parents, working in a soup kitchen serving the homeless, volunteering in an ER waiting room, etc. I'm still not Chatty McChatty, but my interpersonal skills have improved a great deal since entering college. It makes a big difference, so spend the time to improve yourself.</p>
<p>Astronauts, by the way, are AWESOME. I like to think that being in med school is pretty high achieving. But those guys are all like MD/PhD/fighter pilot/decathletes. It's INSANE.</p>
<p>That's true, BDM. I remember reading the biographies of the Columbia 7, and it was really nuts. </p>
<p>Astronauts are gunners, for sure. :) Especially when they wear diapers and drive hundreds of miles to kidnap their rivals in romance.</p>