Comments on: Grades?! Part 2 (Interview Advice Column)

By: Hope

Hope — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Very helpful article. Reading the responses makes it complete. Thank you!!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:40:16 +0000

This was very helpful…Thanks alot!

By: David McMurray

David McMurray — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:40:53 +0000

I’m sorry, but in readying the example I just couldn’t stop thinking of selling out… telling them what they want to hear. Plus, to me, the “working 40+ hours and family member becoming ill” seems like a pretty good excuse, exactly what Dr. Fleenor advises against!

By: DrRahwa

DrRahwa — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:21:59 +0000

Great insight! I took alot of great advice from this. I will be sure to make use of the information that was provided! Thank you so much Dr.Fleenor

By: Tyler Barley

Tyler Barley — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:42:18 +0000

I was very impressed with what I read. I thought the responses you gave were excellent and will help me a lot. Thank you for the good advice.

By: DrNick2006

DrNick2006 — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 06:06:15 +0000

I interviewed medical school applicants for my medical school. If an applicant responded to “tell me about a challenging time in your life” with – well, physics class was tough, I would want to slap them. A tough class is NOT a challenging time in the life of anyone interviewing for medical school. Dealing with a siblings addition, or the death of a close family member, or the isolation of being poor at making friends, or a million other things the average person has to deal with during the course of growing up, that REALLY define who we are and how we got that way are much more insightful and self reflective than a hard class.

By: another aspiring med

another aspiring med — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:24:39 +0000

I wouldn’t consider his approach to be abasement. Based on the criteria in the study you cited I imagine his approach addresses endurance. Rothstein and colleagues define abasement in their study to be,”meek, self-critical, humble, apologizing, deferential”. Fleenor wasn’t suggesting this behavior.

By: Adam Meyers

Adam Meyers — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 04:01:50 +0000

Studies from the social sciences show that this philosophy is not true. Studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between abasement in interviews, low scores, and acceptance rates. Check it out if you’re curious: http://med-ed-online.org/res00038.htm

By: aspiring med

aspiring med — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:11:34 +0000

Valuable, appreciated advice, only posted too late into the interview season!

At my interviews, I instinctively wanted to talk about my weak first two years of school and point out the improvement, and I did at some of them… just not as confidently and consistently because I thought it was a topic I was “supposed” to avoid.