At the interview, you are a salesman. You are
trying to sell yourself to the school. You need
to let the buyer know about your strengths! Why
should he choose you? How are you different from
the other 500 applicants that they are
interviewing? Make sure that you bring up the
subject of your strengths even if the interviewer
does not specifically ask for them. You can
augment many questions to include your strengths.
For example, you may be asked "What
qualities do you look for in a physician? You can
reply --"hard working, intelligent,
compassionate, etc. Without sounding too
arrogant, I feel that I possess these qualities
and would make an excellent physician." The
exact wording I used in answering these questions
is irrelevant. Its important, however, to somehow
show your strengths with every opportunity.
Don't forget that at the same time, you need
to be humble. The balance between being humble
but selling your good points is what you need to
work on!
Although a great deal of success at the
interview game is based on how you say things
rather than what you say, some questions have a
definite "correct" and
"incorrect" answers. In general,
ethical questions have correct vs. wrong answers.
Keep in mind that the answer to ethical questions
is usually simply doing the "right"
thing rather than doing what would politically be
correct. For example, if you see your best friend
cheating on an exam, you "should"
ensure that it does not happen again; how you
decide to do so will depend on you (ex:
discussing it with him and the medical school).
Stating that you will pretend like you did not
see him cheat will not win any brownie points for
you.
Finally, you should know every detail that you
have stated on your application. Review relevant
material to research that you have discussed. Be
prepared to give details on the part you played
in doing the research. You should be honest with
all your statements (both in the interview as
well as in the application); good interviewers
will pick up on any dishonesty and
inconsistencies in your responses!
