What a week! The Northeast survived an earthquake, and now we’re facing a hurricane. As for personal triumphs, in addition to finishing my residency application, I took my final medical school clerkship “shelf” exam.
The balancing act of strengths versus weaknesses and preparing for interviews
I have mixed feelings about “preparing” for interviews. I think it’s healthy to have a balance between rehearsed answers and organic spontaneity. Interviewers will see right through trite or overly-rehearsed responses to their questions, so use some restraint as you prepare. That said, there are a few questions you simply must be ready to answer.
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- Do you have any updates you would like the Admissions Committee to know about? (briefly mentioned here; more details to come)
- Do you have any questions for me (the interviewer)?
The “strengths and weaknesses” question is a toughie. It’s easy to come up with glowing strengths but much harder to assess your own weaknesses. Moreover, you do not want your weaknesses to appear so weak that they case doubt of the quality of you as an applicant. A few things to consider:
- Be humble. Interviews are like a marketing campaign. Yes, you want to shed positive light on yourself. However, if your strengths are significantly stronger than your weaknesses are weak, it will appear as though you think very highly of yourself or are unable to self-assess and discover weaknesses (an important part of being a physician!).
- Use anecdotes. Actions speak louder than words, so be ready to support your strengths and weaknesses with an example. If a strength is “leadership,” have a **very brief** story prepared regarding a time when you demonstrated leadership.
- Put a positive spin on weakness. For example, if your weakness is that you find it challenging to delegate tasks to others, then be prepared to discuss how you’re working on this. You might say, “As I have taken on more leadership responsibility in ___ group, I have recognized how challenging it is to delegate tasks to others. I have been actively working with the group to assess individuals’ strengths as well as their interests in order to appropriately delegate the tasks we need to accomplish, and I feel like I have really grown this year in my ability to do so.” Ta-da! You practically demonstrated a strength.
Certainly, if a mock interview is available to you, go for it! And, if you have the luxury of scheduling a “safety school” interview first, that’s also nice, although most applicants won’t be so lucky.
