UCSD Interview #2

I had about an hour of free time between my first and second interviews. I used that time to do some research on Dr. YYY - to find out what his specialty is, what kind of research he does. A quick PubMed search in the library gave me a whole list of his publications on alcohol and opioid abuse. It occurred to me that I was able to do this so easily because I have the home court advantage here at UCSD.

Finding Dr. YYY's office was frustrating, but I arrived on time in spite of the rat's maze that is the VA Medical Center. Dr. YYY asked me to wait for a few minutes. This gave me some time to take some meditative deep breaths and contemplate a tropical scenery painting hanging on the wall. Dr. YYY greeted me warmly and apologized for keeping me waiting. Like Dr. XXX, he began the interview in a conversational tone, though not quite as carefree.

Soon, he did start asking me real questions, ones that I have already faced and answered satisfactorily in previous interviews.

• How did you end up at a small liberal arts college on the East Coast?
• What attracted you to that school?
• Since you took all my pre-med courses in undergraduate, did you go into college intending to become a doctor?
• Is this the first time you have applied to medical school?
• Why did you decide to go to graduate school instead of medical school?
• Why did you go to graduate school straight out of college?
• Why did you leave graduate school with a terminal Master's?
• What was your plan when you left your program?
• What made you decide to go back to medicine?

This sounds like a lot of very direct questioning, but Dr. YYY had a way of asking them in a friendly manner, as if it were idle curiosity and not evaluative. These questions were peppered in between mostly unrelated topics. We spent a good deal of time talking about running, not because he is a runner himself, rather because his son ran track & field in high school. I could tell that he was very proud of his son's accomplishments. "Is that your son?" I asked in the middle of a sentence, pointing to a screen saver picture that popped up on his computer. He smiled and said yes, and we continued talking about personal bests and different track events.

At the end of the interview, Dr. YYY asked me if I had any questions for him. I asked him about the impact of the California state budget on the educational experience at UCSD, and he was very good at answering this concern. I also asked him about his own personal experience with UCSD. Dr. YYY wrapped up the interview by giving me his e-mail address and saying "Please contact me if you have any more questions. I'd be happy to help."

That was definitely a good sign, a good way to end the interview. I was impressed that he made himself so accessible. I left the interview feeling good about the intangibles, e.g. rapport and ease of conversation, but feeling less good about the quantifiable aspects of the interview. I felt like I didn't answer his direct questions as well as I had answered them in my Colorado interviews. I am far from objective in this matter, though. It is possible that Dr. YYY had an entirely different perspective of my interview performance.