Yes definitely keep it positive but don’t come across as if you are in la-la land thinking it will be easy. I would always mention that I had an incredibly strong support system in place, with specific examples. (“My husband works from home and his hours are very flexible; my mother lives nearby and helps out a lot; I have other extended family close by as well; and we have good childcare lined up.”) Basically, you end up coming across as very organized, which is KEY to success in medical school. One thing NOT to bring up: any emotional ambivalence you may have about leaving the kids for long hours.
I actually had one interviewer at Einstein (where I was accepted) tell me that he thought people with children did better than students without families, because they were more organized, more disciplined, and didn’t waste time.
Fabulous Starmoon, you turned what could have been a liability into an asset! So my question to you is, how did you turn your change in career into an asset as well?
Some thoughts:
- Don’t ever demean another person; an age group; another program; anything. In other words, do not promote yourself at the expense of others - not in essays, not in interviews.
- Don’t assume that you are “unique” in any way. You probably aren’t, no matter what your background. Admissions committees have nearly seen it all.
- Don’t suggest that you “are an excellent fit for their program.” Only THEY know who is an excellent fit for their program. You may think that they are a good fit for you, but not visa versa.
There are more, but these are what spring to mind quickly.
Cheers,
Judy
I’ve always found the idea of the interview preparation, practice, rehersahl, etc. a little awkward. I understand it is important to iron out verbally what you want to communicate, but the idea of strategizing over what to say or not say seems a bit disingenuous and likely to be seen through unless you have a pathological ability to believe your own BS or are simply a great actor – like a politician!
Why cant it be as simple as just telling the truth? unless you don’t know the truth, or you feel the truth would not enhance your chances of being admitted.
Having said that I realize it is not that easy. Effective verbal communication is a skill. You could be a genius, but if you come across like an idiot, you ARE an idiot. So reluctantly I’ve decided to “practice†my interviewing. I guess I figure it would be better to seem polished and rehearsed, as long as the content of what I’m saying is honest and original, than to go in there with no plan and then get tripped up somehow and fail to communicate who I am and why I want to do this.
I appreciate all the good advice here!
I enjoyed my interviews and I liked speaking with both the admissions people and my fellow applicants. I guess I’m a bit of an anthropologist at heart. I cracked jokes now and then but mainly stayed serious and answered the questions thoughtfully and honestly.
The interviewers seemed to appreciate my relaxed manner, which was somewhat in contrast to the stiff and nervous demeanor of many of my younger colleagues.
Words to the wise–you should harbor no illusions that you the nontrad are superior in any way to the young’uns.
Many of my classmates in their early twenties are easily as mature as anyone I’ve ever met, quite a few of them married and with young children of their own. I wish I had my act that much together when I was 23. And they make damned good students, too, with nearly photographic memories. Young whippersnappers 
To the extent that you bring certain advantages to the table, it’s all about you, not your age cohort. There are plenty of 30- and 40-somethings out there who would make terrible medical students and hence doctors. We don’t have some kind of lock on goodness. It’s up to you the individual, not you the “older” applicant.
Age is definitely a factor in these interviews, but I turn it to my advantage because I can relate to the physicians and scientists in their 40s and up who are interviewing me. I cracked jokes, talked easily about my daughter and my wife, and poked fun at myself at times. And I got 5/6 acceptances from the places that I interviewed (turned down 2 other interviews) so I must have been doing something right! Be yourself, trust in your abilities and potential, and it will come across.
I have done a board style interview before. It was intense, but, nothing medical. I have been able to witness first hand the strange things people say in an interview. Or even act. I have seen women in their 40’s get all flirty. Or sit with their legs crossed and they don’t realize that their thighs are showing and in some skirts the person across may be able to see right up their skirt. That is another weird thing women don’t realize.
As far as children and family. It’s hard to know the best way of addressing that. Honestly, they shouldn’t be the focus of the interview. However, they are there and should be acknowledged as a possible “liability”. At the same time, none of us will be taking a year off to raise them. So, IMHO it should be a moot issue. Any of the other females that are childless, probably won’t be for long. I have been there done that and persevered with a record to show that my education is at the forefront of my priorities. How’s that?
I’m really glad that you started this post, it has been very informative. I am always super nervous in any interviews or 1 on 1 meetings even if they don’t determine my entire future so I literally start to have a panic attack at the mere thought of my med school interview process. I know I still have alot of undergraduate work before I get there so this is something I am making a focal point to work on.
I know you don’t have to answer questions regarding family and children in interviews but alot of interviewers are fairly skilled at getting the interviewee to open up about these things so if you find that you are going down that road and realize it how can you politely back up without offending the adcom? I could see that becoming a sticky situation rather quickly if not handled properly.
I’m not quite sure if you’re responding directly to me or putting out your thoughts for everyone in general. If you are directing your comments towards me, accept my thanks for offering your comments. I will take them under consideration.
Thanks for hosting this forum and offering your services of admission consulting. Hopefully in future I will be in need of some 
Consider the following: rehearsal is simply about overcoming our natural anxiety we will all naturally have when our day comes. I’m not sure why or how the leap of logic was made between practicing for speeches and interviews making someone into a liar, b.s’er or somehow lacking in integrity.
Personally, I practice all the time for lectures I have to give so that I can get my material out in a ‘consumable’ form for my students. I want to do my best for them and for myself. Rehearsal doesn’t make me an actor, politician or liar, it makes me an effective teacher.
Yes. I agree with you, Cocogoldsmith. I especially appreciate professors who have worked out their lectures in advance. That’s what they are getting paid for, and being prepared implies a respect for the students, and seriousness about what they are doing. I was not intending to compare a lecturer to a disingenuous politician. Interviewing is a different situation than that. It seems that one could become overly concerned with anticipating what adcoms want to hear, and as result miss the opportunity to communicate who they really are.
As I said, I have decide to practice my interviewing, because I realize my line of logic is faulty, but rehearsing something that I want to be natural and easy, feels awkward to me. I wonder: when I’m sitting there being interviewed will I get stuck trying to remember what I had planned to say, or will I be able to focus on the question at hand and just answer with what comes to mind. I feel like being over prepared could back fire, in my case. I would rather just walk in there and lay it all out on the table - I have nothing to hide - but I’m afraid I’m not a good enough communicator to do that.
And by the way, I’m sure there are a lot of applicants who simply shoot for what they think they are supposed to say; that may or may not be considered demogogery, I don’t know, maybe It’s actually the most prudent coarse. In any case, I wasn’t trying to bash the character of those who have posted here - there is certainly nothing wrong with considering the particular phrasing one might use to avoid misunderstanding – that is smart, and I need that kind of advice too.
I was saying damn, why does this interview stuff have to be hard?
- kangoroo Said:
I have to admit, BSing is getting harder and harder for me to do as I get older. But a certain amount of it is unfortunately required for just about any endeavor that involves other people that I can think of.
Pathdr2b, I bet you’ll be just fine, minimum bs required. I’ve read many of your posts - your very smart, indeed!
- kangoroo Said:
Hey thanks for the vote of confidence! I REALLY need that right now, LOL!!
And I'd like to add one more thing a nontrad should never say in an interview: YOUR AGE!!!!!
- pathdr2b Said:
I think it's a pretty serious consideration, and I'm starting to realize that as a nontrad issues that apply to "all applicants", exclude folks over 40. Just as issues that apply to female applicants (such as being asked when you plan to have children) don't apply to male applicants. Or maybe because not many people over 40 pursue med school there's little info on the "rules"?
PathDr2B,
Please relax. There is no harm nor foul in dealing with serious situations by mixing in a bit of humor. And, my subsequent comments were quite appropriate. My world is filled...OVERfilled by physicians who take themselves too seriously. Believe me, physicians really do need to step back, take gander at the 'big picture' and learn to lighten up & enjoy the life they have worked so damned hard to obtain.
It saddens me greatly to witness on a daily basis, smart professionals who have gotten so thoroughly caught up in the game of achievement that they have forgotten how to stop and actually enjoy the immense fruits of their intense labors.
Don't fall into that trap as well...
- kangoroo Said:
I’ve always found the idea of the interview preparation, practice, rehersahl, etc. a little awkward. I understand it is important to iron out verbally what you want to communicate, but the idea of strategizing over what to say or not say seems a bit disingenuous and likely to be seen through unless you have a pathological ability to believe your own BS or are simply a great actor – like a politician!
Why cant it be as simple as just telling the truth? unless you don’t know the truth, or you feel the truth would not enhance your chances of being admitted.
Having said that I realize it is not that easy. Effective verbal communication is a skill. You could be a genius, but if you come across like an idiot, you ARE an idiot. So reluctantly I’ve decided to “practice†my interviewing. I guess I figure it would be better to seem polished and rehearsed, as long as the content of what I’m saying is honest and original, than to go in there with no plan and then get tripped up somehow and fail to communicate who I am and why I want to do this.
I appreciate all the good advice here!
Kangaroo,
Excellent points. For many folks, "practicing" interviewing and answering questions and so forth tends to come off appearing plastic or scripted and hence, potentially interpretted as disengenuous. That has always been a problem for me and not just in interviews - it was sadly & readily apparent when I did public speaking the way you "are supposed to do it" - meaning the whole repetition/note cards/rehersal strategy.
For me, what works best is to know the salient points I want to make and then be myself while firing off-the-cuff. Once I quit trying to force myself into a paradigm that did not work well for me; not only did my interviewing and public speaking abilities improve; but the level of anxiety I felt diminished dramatically. The loss of anxiety in & of itself facilitated additional improvement.
- OldManDave Said:
Please relax. There is no harm nor foul in dealing with serious situations by mixing in a bit of humor. And, my subsequent comments were quite appropriate.
Are you post call because you're kinda late with this one aren't you, said the POT to the KETTLE, LOL? As a matter of fact, I think I'm gonna have to cite you for being so tardy, LOL!!
We can tie the humor and serious together. . .one of the things a nontrad should never do in an interview is crack jokes about one’s age.
I don’t know about med school interviews, but I sometimes have had such unimaginative, pointless questions asked to me that I almost could not help responding with a joke or the “honest” answer.
interviewer: “How do you think this position will help your long term career goals?”
OPM: “I don’t think it will, but it will sure be easier than what I was doing before while I take a buttload of premed classes.”
LOL!!! I love that answer! That’s how I feel about my job now. It’s certainly not helping my long term career goals except maybe that I’m learning to deal with all sorts of “personality types” and feel free to read between the “” with that one ALL that you want!!!
I was asked at a med school interview: “How would you solve the healthcare problem?”
My answer was “Ouch.” Everyone in the room chuckled. I then said that I felt there were several major problems with healthcare, and they said, OK, tell us about one of them. I went on to talk about improving high school education as regards health care, and educating the public in general as to better self-care and the limits of the health care system. I talked about how we need to communicate to people that health care is a limited resource and not a free-for-all, and that we as physicians need to be teacher-partners to our patients as they take charge of their own health issues. I spoke of advocating more money for research, limiting tort awards and lawyers’ shares while ensuring that quality care is the top priority. They liked my answers, I think.
It’s OK to joke. If you don’t joke you are in danger of coming across as Mr./Ms. Serious and who wants a person like that for their doctor?
Remember that they want to feel good about letting you into their school and into the profession in general. An admissions officer who spoke at the Oldpremeds conference one year likened it to choosing her own doctor. Would I feel comfortable with this person in an examination room, me sitting there naked in a hospital gown? Would I want this person touching my child? You want them to trust you touching their children. Slick clothes, slick memorized speeches, and a stiff and awkward attitude are not going to get you there. You’ve gotta be yourself, warts and all.
I mean, do take a shower before the interview, but you get my drift.
Just be yourself, I did many interviews at Mayo, and trust me where age has nothing to do, re: how well or not you interview. There were non-trads that did horribly and trads that did superb and viceversa. Just know your application COLD, to many folks did not remember ther freaking EC’s helloooo? do not come off as pompous which can be easy, if you have accomplished much in life. Be humble and be interested. I saw time and time again, folks not giving a rats ass bout the whole interview process, at least “act like you do”.