What was your most difficult interview question?

[brianmcbride]

Self explanitory really. I thought i got asked some mean things at mine, I guess this is to try and throw people off?

[weeds are plants too]

I would say the worst were 'What are your weaknesses?'
I think that's a bad one because you have to say something that isn't really a weakness. It's not as if you can say 'I turn into a monster for 3 days every month.'
Also, 'How would you colleagues describe you?'
Oh and 'How will you manage the workload on a medicine course after doing a PhD?' That was low.

It wasn't at Brum though.

[Diya]

Mine was 'why not a nurse?' in Kings College. How to sound like u dont disrespect the wonderful contribution of the nurses.
As for the 'what are ur weaknesses?' I always say positive weaknesses...like being very independent and I said I should learn that sometimes its best to ask for help and maybe in future delegate Turn things into a positive

[dsn]

"How would your friends describe you?"

a) I don't have any.
b) If I did, it'd be better to ask them directly.

[Diya]

"How would your friends describe you?"

a) I don't have any.

I hope that's in the past. If its not, then I would like to suggest that the library is not necessarily the best place to make friends. I dont think people in the library are generally in a sociable frame of mind.

[Spencer Wells]

The weaknesses one is difficult to answer. I messed it up back in 2002, and most applicants that I see still mess it up now (though it's a bit of an unfair question, most 17 years olds haven't the maturity to properly reflect on their weaknesses).

[dsn]

I hope that's in the past. If its not, then I would like to suggest that the library is not necessarily the best place to make friends. I dont think people in the library are generally in a sociable frame of mind.

You're all so serious.

I have 206 "friends" on the Birmingham UK Facebook network... if only I knew just half of them.

P.S. I hate all the reflection they make us do. It's so pointless. Someone somewhere dreamt it up as an effective way to waste time with SSA mentor reports and the like.

[Diya]

lol it's a joke darling. u dont like subtlety in humour?

[dsn]

I prefer the things Prof Farndon dreams up...

www.penisland.net
www.powergenitalia.com

And how do you tell the sex of a chromosome?

You take the genes off!

P.S. I'm just reading a paper by my good friend J Reinarz...
http://shm.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/18/3/419

[Diya]

Oh, I'm hesitant on looking at those links but my curiosity is too strong to resist. I hope I dont regret this. lol