It's hard to say. She hasn't gotten a taste of being rejected yet. First job she worked at vancouver general hospital and second job was at bayer healthcare in berkeley. Those were like the only two major interviews she had and she passed both. What worries her the most is the out of place questions that she has to face and she's afraid she'll absolutely have no idea how to answer those "weird" questions.

 

I think there is something about different peoples' personalities that dictate how we look upon this kind of stuff.

I find myself excited for different kinds of tests and interviews just because I'm interested in how they'll query me, and how seemingly obscure they get. If there's a way to get her excited about the process and pique her curiosity for the unknown that she'll be facing then I would think she'll calm down.

 

i used to be a student interviewer.

a few questions i would ask:

why this medical school?
do you know what a physician's day is like?
have you shadowed a doctor?
what are you going to do if you don't get accepted?
are there any qualities in a physician you wish you had?
is health care a right or privilege?

be prepared to answer questions regarding the personal statement.

does she really want to be a doctor?
there's certainly a lot more professions that make more money with a lot less effort.

 

These sample questions are what I've been looking for. What kind of answers are the best?

She wants to be a doctor not to make money. She has always had a passion to help others... She has no interest in money at all and I mean it... extra necessary money she earns she plans to donate away. She's just like that....

 

Cmon, does she really feel that way? I think a lot of interviewers are going to see through that charade...

No one takes their "extra" income and just gives it away. And when you realize how low the average physician's salary is, I doubt you are going to be as philanthropic. What if you are barely struggling to keep your practice alive?

The only good part about that answer was that she is not going into medicine for the money. That is fine. But to say you are giving the rest away is just nonsense, and its going to trigger the BS flags in the interviewers.

Ahhh, to be a naive premed, not concerned with money at all...

That'll end by your 3rd year of med school.

 

^I did expect a reply like that. But it's not that all you think. She's not trying to be philanthropic. She won't put any of those things I said into her interview. The thing is, most people do it for the image, but for her it's just something within her value. I will have to live with it. Anyways... SB2007, thanks for that forum! I just spent like over an hour looking through and it was very helpful. Again thanks for everyone!

 

Tell her not to bring up pay unless it is brought up by the interviewer.

If they bring it up, tell them why yo uare interested in a specific aspect of medicine. Get specific, and be able to back it up with her personal experiences:

"I am interested not so much in the money, but the thrill of infectious disease research. Working in the laboratory of John Smith, PhD, has shown me just how vital researchers are to healthcare. I plan to go into infectious disease research myself, and am particularly interested in working with Jon Doe, PhD, at your school. His paper on [insert infectious disease] was really quite revolutionary. I think further work in this field will force a paradigm shift in healthcare and medical research." [/end bullshit; start thinking about how to pay off 4+ years of student loans]

 

Why do you keep talking about the money? This is an application to Med School. I've never heard of a single case where MEDICAL SCHOOL will ask her about the pay. Students who are accepted, will continue study for many more years. They will even have to face internship where they earn NO MONEY at all. There's no employer played in here, it's a school of medicine in a particular university. You seem to have completely misunderstood. And no, it is not only 4 years. Trust me, she is not the type of person you're thinking.

 

I'd agree with ricosuave, I was asked pretty much all of those questions.

 

I'd be inclined to think that part of filtering people out of med school would be to remove the candidates who are just in it for the dollars and don't care about the contribution they can make to health care.

I don't know if they'll ask about money, but it wouldn't strike me as odd if they did.