When the tour is over, you will be assigned a sequence of interviews. Most interviews last about thirty minutes, are typically with a subset of the admissions committee, and can include clinical faculty, research faculty, and upper-level students. A few schools use a panel interview, in which you’ll sit in front of three or four interviewers at the same time. After your interviews, some schools will ask you to complete a brief writing exercise. This is often a brief ethics case, where you will be expected to handwrite a single-page response. This is an opportunity for the school to evaluate how you think on your feet and compose and organize your thoughts on paper. There may be some closing remarks from the admissions director, and then you’ll be on your way, mentally and physically exhausted, back to the hotel to pack up and hopefully do it all again somewhere else in a day or two.
So how do you go about preparing for this experience?
The first step in your preparation, as usual, is research. Start with the school’s Web site. Garner all the information you can about the current first-year class, curricular structure, clinical rotations, and extracurricular activities. Look for information on school news, current projects, or future plans. Look up the local newspaper on the Internet and do a quick search to see if the school has been in the news lately.
Many schools also offer on-campus admissions sessions prior to interview season. If it’s a local school, or a school that is high on your list, try to attend one of these sessions. If you know someone at the school, buy them a cup of coffee and solicit an insider’s view of the advantages and the shortcomings of the program.
Gathering this information needn’t be an exhaustive, timeconsuming project. You’re just looking to collect some good basic information. Summarize your findings in a list of topics to be discussed during your interview. Consider categorizing your list into aspects of the school that you especially like, areas you would like clarification about, and areas that concern you. Finally, make a list of three or four questions that you can draw on in a pinch if there’s a lag or an awkward pause in any of your conversations. These might include questions like “What’s on the horizon for the school that you’re excited about?” or “If you could change two things about your program, what would they be?”
“Do your homework on the school you are applying to by reading their brochures and handouts,” Pete suggests. “If you get a list of interviewers, do a quick Internet search on them just so you know what their basic interests are.”
While you must remember that you’re presenting yourself to the school, interviewers are people, too, and they’ll often note your knowledge of their program with interest.
Practicing your interview
Once you’ve completed your research, it’s time to perfect your interviewing skills. For some, interviewing is a natural, comfortable task. For others it is a white-knuckled, anxiety-provoking terror session. If you fall into the latter group, interviewing may never be fun for you, but a little practice will help you to reduce your anxiety and project yourself more competently and more effectively.
The questions you encounter in an interview will vary widely. There are, however, some common questions that seem to pop up again and again. It’s worth rehearsing these subjects to gain comfort in discussing them, or versions of them, at the drop of a hat. Reread your application again and try to tie specifics to the basic themes. Here are some of the most common questions to stimulate your thinking:
Why do you want to go to medical school? Why our medical school?
What are your particular strengths and weaknesses?
What adjectives would you use to describe yourself?
When did you decide you wanted to become a doctor?
What experiences were especially formative in your decision to become a doctor?
What unique skills or attributes do you believe you would bring to the school?
In your personal statement you mentioned . . . Tell me more about that.
If you’ve already experienced a professional job interview at some point in your life, the experience should be familiar. The interview will begin with some standard pleasantries, followed by some comments about your application. Resist the urge to apologize for or react defensively about any areas of weakness, even if they are pointed out to you. Instead, offer a matter-of-fact explanation, and then explain how the experience surrounding that weakness helped you grow, or what you gained from it. Endeavor to demonstrate a passion for your subject and your experiences. A little self-deprecating humor, if well chosen, can help break the ice, project confidence, and make everyone more comfortable with each other. Try to be responsive to the questions asked of you, but don’t do so by merely regurgitating the material in your application. Try to add detail or to summarize your experiences in a new way. Attempt to tie the questions you’re asked to your fitness as a med-student candidate or your hopes for your career as a physician. Have confidence in yourself, and try to be as relaxed and as natural as possible.
In the next phase of the interview, your interviewer will typically ask if you have any questions. This is your opportunity to do two things. First, by asking some questions specific to the school and to their educational program, you can demonstrate a sincere interest in the particular program and that you are an informed consumer who has done your homework. Second, it’s an opportunity for you to gauge their responses and use those responses to better assess how attractive the program and the school are to you. Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions, but do so in a way that invites explanation and avoids confrontation or an overt display of skepticism on your part. Open-ended questions like, “What do you feel is the greatest strength and greatest weakness in your program?” are always good to get the conversation going. Be sure to follow up on your interviewer’s response, though, to avoid the appearance of asking canned questions. Your goal should be an engaging conversation, not a rote exchange of lists.
Finally, a few schools may throw you a real curveball question. These questions are highly variable and are meant to assess your ability to think on your feet and be creative. Some questions are just odd (“If you were an animal, what animal would you be and why?” or, “What’s the most dastardly thing you’ve ever done?”). You simply can’t prepare for these questions, and you shouldn’t get too anxious over them. A polite chuckle, a moment or two of reflection, and the best response that comes to mind is usually appropriate . . . and a bit of well-chosen humor is always welcome. Don’t fear a moment or two of silence in an interview—these moments are okay, and your ability to allow them to occur projects confidence and maturity.
Don’t make yourself crazy preparing for or scripting your interview responses. Just try to get to a place where you are comfortable with a range of topics and potential questions, and where you are intimately familiar with your application materials and can discuss any aspect of them with ease. In the end, interviewing is simply a skill some people excel at and others find extremely challenging. If you’re in the former category, the interview can be your chance to shine and to really make your application come alive. If you’re in the latter category, your job in the interview is to simply assert yourself professionally and let your strengths shine elsewhere.
Conquering your nerves
Let’s face it. It is almost impossible not to be nervous on interview day. You’ve done a tremendous amount of work to get to this point, and it’s hard not to feel like your entire future may be riding on the next few hours. Your strongest weapon against the encroachment of anxiety is a sense of confidence tempered with humility.
“I tried to prepare answers to questions I was fairly certain I would be asked and then practiced my delivery,” Chris recalls. “I found the hardest part of interviewing was not coming up with the answers but controlling my nervous energy.”
“My advice is to be extremely confident in yourself as a person and an applicant, while at the same time being respectful and humble in the face of requesting admittance to the world of medicine
,” Pete suggests. “It sounds trite, but to find that balance is to come across as the perfect candidate.”
TOP TEN INTERVIEW DOS AND DON’TS
Do dress professionally and conservatively. Yes, that means a suit.
Don’t use profane language, and avoid being bigoted or biased.
Do show up fifteen minutes early on interview day. Never, never, ever be late.
Don’t respond angrily or provoke confrontation, no matter what the question.
Do look people in the eye, speak clearly and with confidence, and shake hands firmly. Politely but unapologetically thank people for their time and their consideration of your candidacy.
Don’t slouch, appear overly casual or disinterested, or name drop.
Do ask open-ended questions and attempt to get your interviewer to talk about his or her experiences as well.
Don’t wear heavy perfume or colognes, excessive or gaudy jewelry, or potentially controversial things like noserings or unconventional piercings. Don’t show up smelling like cigarette smoke, or chewing gum.
Do think positively about yourself and your candidacy.
Remember to catch your breath and smile.
INTERVIEW FOLLOW-UPS
Another of the more critical components of your interview is the follow-up. This is your opportunity to remind the interviewer of your conversation, and, hopefully, to reinforce your interviewer’s impression so that it will carry over to the admissions committee meeting when your candidacy is discussed. Many applicants will overlook or forget this strategic display of manners.
You should not.
In general, you should address a letter of thanks to the admissions director and specific, less formal handwritten notes to some or all of your interviewers. They do get a lot of these notes, so be concise and polite but try to reference the most memorable aspect of the conversation to jog their memory about you. Express enthusiasm for the program one more time, and close. You want to stand out from the masses, and every little well-executed gesture like this can help you to distinguish yourself.
CHAPTER 9
Handling Acceptance, Rejection, and Everything in Between
It’s in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
—ANTHONY ROBBINS
WITH YOUR PRIMARY and secondary applications filed and your interviews completed, the waiting game begins again. The wait will seem interminable. Eventually, though, the answers will start to come. This chapter addresses the joy of acceptance, the agony of rejection, and dealing with both to forge a plan that works for you.
HOW TO MANAGE OFFERS OF ACCEPTANCE
Your first acceptance will, no doubt, provide you with one of the peak moments of your life to date. As you read those happy words, a realization will slowly come over you. You are going to medical school, and you are going to be a doctor.
Congratulations!
If this acceptance is from your top-choice school, or if it is the only acceptance you get, your decision will be an easy one. Say yes and be done with it.
On the other hand, you may be forced to weigh the relative merits of competing offers, none of which are from your top-choice school. This scenario can seriously muddy the waters and provoke significant anxiety.
Let’s explore the implications of the various possible acceptance scenarios.
Single or top-choice acceptance
If you got only a single acceptance, or better still, if you got into your top-choice school, your task is easy. Immediately contact the school and accept.
The school will typically follow up their letter of acceptance with a packet that includes an acceptance form and a request for a deposit. Note well, the school must actually receive this letter of intent and your deposit check in order to hold your spot. Don’t forget to send it in! Make sure it is mailed in a timely and verifiable fashion, and follow up with a call to the school admissions office to confirm that they received it. Once you get that confirmation, you can uncork the bubbly and start celebrating.
As a courtesy to other applicants, if you get into your top-choice school and are certain of your decision to matriculate there, you should immediately contact all other schools that have accepted you or where you still have pending applications and alert them that you have accepted another offer. Do not let your application to other schools hang out there once you have signed a letter of intent just to “see how you would have done” at the other schools on your list. Remember, other applicants are waiting for those spots.
Offers out of synch
There’s nothing more exciting than an acceptance. But what if you find yourself looking at an acceptance from a school that isn’t your top choice?
Unfortunately, med schools manage their admissions processes differently. Some schools conduct rolling admissions, in which they offer positions to a given number of candidates as they interview throughout the year. Others wait to complete the entire interview season before making any offers. So what happens when a med school using a rolling-admissions process offers you a seat while you have yet to hear from one or more of your top-choice schools that make only end-of-season offers?
First of all, you should never turn down an offer of admission without an assurance that you have an acceptance elsewhere. Although the school offering you admission may not represent your top-choice school, you should closely reexamine why you have misgivings about it. Recall what drove your initial ranking of this school, and remember that almost all medical schools provide a first-class education. If you followed our advice, you didn’t apply to any schools you wouldn’t attend if accepted, so it is worth giving any school that accepts you serious consideration.
Respond immediately to any offer of acceptance in order to maintain an open line of communication. You may politely defer your decision by saying, in writing, “I am honored by your offer of admission, and am carefully weighing my options.” The school will then more than likely give you a drop-dead date by which you must give them a definitive answer. Stall as best you can, and use the intervening time to contact the remaining schools ranked higher on your list, alert them of your situation, and ask them to make a decision on your candidacy.
It is perfectly acceptable to contact any schools that you are still waiting to hear from and alert them that you have an offer in hand. This puts some pressure on their admissions committees to review your application and consider accelerating your interview date or to offer you a decision. Your letter should be polite and direct. You should note that you have an offer in hand, and list the reasons you are particularly excited by their school and feel your educational goals would be best met there. At the same time, you should enumerate the unique qualities you would bring to their first-year class.
As you begin to near the drop-dead date on your acceptance offer from the first school, you may even elect to contact some of your most desirable schools directly by phone. Check first to make sure the school does not have a no-call policy. In the absence of such a policy, call and ask to speak with the director of admissions. Relate your quandary and ask for their advice on how to proceed. Again, you are applying subtle but direct and polite pressure to force their hand. It doesn’t always work, but it works often enough to make the attempt worthwhile.
If, in the end, you are unable to shake loose any additional offers, get excited about the offer you do have. Hopefully your previous research about this school has yielded a growing excitement and eagerness to attend. Remember your broader goals, accept your offer, and know that many opportunities in the world of medicine await you.
Multiple offers
For a lucky few, multiple offers of admission may come streaming in. This is an honor to be handled with humility and integrity.
If you’ve been accepted at multiple schools, and are confident that you will be declining one or more of those offers, do so promptly. Think of it this way: if you’re on the wait list at your top-choice school, you’re hoping someone else is going to decline their offer in order to give you a c
hance. You’re that someone at somebody else’s top-choice school. Have the courtesy to free up the seat so that someone else can share in the joy of acceptance.
Next, consider the merits of your remaining choices. Review your research notes from when you were selecting schools and recall the attributes that attracted you to the different schools. Make a list of pros and cons, then try to determine which program excites you the most. Consider revisiting the campuses of your top two or three choices in order to get a better sense of what life will be like there as a student.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE WAIT-LISTED
In many ways, being wait-listed can be more painful than getting an outright rejection. The med-school application process is so fraught with anxiety to begin with that living in limbo even a little longer seems almost insufferable. On the other hand, many students do, in fact, get accepted off the wait list at nearly every medical school in the country, so there is reason for hope. Being wait-listed means you are a competitive candidate, and this gives you an opportunity to state your case more emphatically and demonstrate why your application should be the first one moved off the wait list when the opportunity arises.
Do not react to this situation passively. Spring into action!
First, review your application and the school’s attributes. Try to make a compelling case for why you’re a particularly good match, and make a list of the unique talents and attributes you offer. State your case in a well-crafted, friendly, one-page letter to the admissions director. Follow up your letter with a phone call and ask if there’s any additional information you can provide. Consider asking references or other potentially influential people to make a polite call on your behalf. Some schools have a strict no-call policy, so check first.
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