Bad Interview Moments Forum

[Anonymous User]

Interview for UChicago Law with the admission dean.

Things immediately started out badly. The dean seemed unenthusiastic and downright rude. I have received another T-14 offer and money at this point so I was disinclined to tolerate the rudeness.

Dean: "so what can I tell you about UChicago?"
Me: "I understand that Chicago can be a rough neighborhood. Do you have any recommendation for living there?"
Dean: (obv caught off-guard, took her 5 seconds to recover) "well, you know, any big city can be complicated and blah blah"
Me: "but I have heard Chicago is also very gentrified and I should stay away from some area?"
Dean: "again, ANY city can be blah blah"
Dinged in less than 24 hours.

Sadly I had no such moment during OCI.

To be fair, this was an absolute banana land line of questioning.

I can't tell from your preface whether you were intentionally torpedoing your own application, but for everyone else out there... don't ask that first question.

I mean, if you really want to ask about the city and crime, you can do that without being such a dick about it too. "There has been a lot of news lately about crime in Chicago. As someone not from there, could you tell me about how, if at all, crime affects campus life?"

Even so, I'd hope you'd have something actually about the school to ask.

guys.. he has said that the dean was being mean, and that he didn't really care about his UChicago interview, and therefore tried to be a dick.

[daedalus2309]

Interview for UChicago Law with the admission dean.

Things immediately started out badly. The dean seemed unenthusiastic and downright rude. I have received another T-14 offer and money at this point so I was disinclined to tolerate the rudeness.

Dean: "so what can I tell you about UChicago?"
Me: "I understand that Chicago can be a rough neighborhood. Do you have any recommendation for living there?"
Dean: (obv caught off-guard, took her 5 seconds to recover) "well, you know, any big city can be complicated and blah blah"
Me: "but I have heard Chicago is also very gentrified and I should stay away from some area?"
Dean: "again, ANY city can be blah blah"
Dinged in less than 24 hours.

Sadly I had no such moment during OCI.

To be fair, this was an absolute banana land line of questioning.

I can't tell from your preface whether you were intentionally torpedoing your own application, but for everyone else out there... don't ask that first question.

I mean, if you really want to ask about the city and crime, you can do that without being such a dick about it too. "There has been a lot of news lately about crime in Chicago. As someone not from there, could you tell me about how, if at all, crime affects campus life?"

Even so, I'd hope you'd have something actually about the school to ask.

guys.. he has said that the dean was being mean, and that he didn't really care about his UChicago interview, and therefore tried to be a dick.

Honestly with this level of social skills the interviewee was a perfect fit for UChicago

[Anonymous User]

Honestly with this level of social skills the interviewee was a perfect fit for UChicago

+1
LOL.

[Anonymous User]

I'm gonna get judged for this, but it happened.

I was being interviewed on a CB with a fifth or sixth year associate. I can only describe him as a quiet, serious, conservative-looking white guy. He never smiled once. The interview seemed to be going fine, but over the course of our conversation he told me that he grew up, went to law school, and clerked all in the same far away city on the other side of the country. So I asked him why he moved.

He said his boyfriend switched jobs, and I couldn't stop myself from cracking a smile. He did not appreciate it. I swear it was an involuntary act. I'm pro-/lgbt/. I just didn't expect that response from him. I feel like he set me up.

Did not get the offer.

[rpupkin]

I'm gonna get judged for this, but it happened.

I was being interviewed on a CB with a fifth or sixth year associate. I can only describe him as a quiet, serious, conservative-looking white guy. He never smiled once. The interview seemed to be going fine, but over the course of our conversation he told me that he grew up, went to law school, and clerked all in the same far away city on the other side of the country. So I asked him why he moved.

He said his boyfriend switched jobs, and I couldn't stop myself from cracking a smile. He did not appreciate it. I swear it was an involuntary act. I'm pro-/lgbt/. I just didn't expect that response from him. I feel like he set me up.

How can you tell that the interviewer did not appreciate your smile? There's nothing unusual about smiling when someone is telling you about a personal story. What made you think that the interviewer had a problem with your reaction--did he say something to you about it during the interview?

[moonman157]

I'm gonna get judged for this, but it happened.

I was being interviewed on a CB with a fifth or sixth year associate. I can only describe him as a quiet, serious, conservative-looking white guy. He never smiled once. The interview seemed to be going fine, but over the course of our conversation he told me that he grew up, went to law school, and clerked all in the same far away city on the other side of the country. So I asked him why he moved.

He said his boyfriend switched jobs, and I couldn't stop myself from cracking a smile. He did not appreciate it. I swear it was an involuntary act. I'm pro-/lgbt/. I just didn't expect that response from him. I feel like he set me up.

How can you tell that the interviewer did not appreciate your smile? There's nothing unusual about smiling when someone is telling you about a personal story. What made you think that the interviewer had a problem with your reaction--did he say something to you about it during the interview?

Yeah, if you reacted to finding out that someone was LGBT in a way that would be off-putting to them, it was probably an inappropriate reaction to finding out. Given the fact that you feel like he "set you up" (aka his existence as a gay person is entirely designed to make you feel uncomfortable as a straight person) this isn't hard to believe, and you might not be quite as pro-LGBT as you think you are.

[Anonymous User]

I'm gonna get judged for this, but it happened.

I was being interviewed on a CB with a fifth or sixth year associate. I can only describe him as a quiet, serious, conservative-looking white guy. He never smiled once. The interview seemed to be going fine, but over the course of our conversation he told me that he grew up, went to law school, and clerked all in the same far away city on the other side of the country. So I asked him why he moved.

He said his boyfriend switched jobs, and I couldn't stop myself from cracking a smile. He did not appreciate it. I swear it was an involuntary act. I'm pro-/lgbt/. I just didn't expect that response from him. I feel like he set me up.

Did not get the offer.

Very similar interviewer with me as well.. was this for curtis mallet?

[Anonymous User]

I was waiting for my turn at an OCI screener interview, standing there in the hallway outside the door after knocking, and when it opened the student from before me came out and said I should just go in. I did, and the room was empty, and right then I hear the toilet flush, the bathroom door opens, and the partner walks out, talking on his phone, saying "well I was in an interview... Well did you call him back?.. If client f***ing calls, you f***ing call him back!" Or words to that effect, angry voice and swearing included. Then he just said "sorry," and we did the interview. I was too pumped on interview adrenaline to care at all about the behavior, but in retrospect it wasn't very classy.

[masque du pantsu]

I was waiting for my turn at an OCI screener interview, standing there in the hallway outside the door after knocking, and when it opened the student from before me came out and said I should just go in. I did, and the room was empty, and right then I hear the toilet flush, the bathroom door opens, and the partner walks out, talking on his phone, saying "well I was in an interview... Well did you call him back?.. If client f***ing calls, you f***ing call him back!" Or words to that effect, angry voice and swearing included. Then he just said "sorry," and we did the interview. I was too pumped on interview adrenaline to care at all about the behavior, but in retrospect it wasn't very classy.

haha, i mean sure, maybe not classy, but you better get used to this. It can be muuuuuuch worse than that.

[HonestAdvice]

Interview for UChicago Law with the admission dean.

Things immediately started out badly. The dean seemed unenthusiastic and downright rude. I have received another T-14 offer and money at this point so I was disinclined to tolerate the rudeness.

Dean: "so what can I tell you about UChicago?"
Me: "I understand that Chicago can be a rough neighborhood. Do you have any recommendation for living there?"
Dean: (obv caught off-guard, took her 5 seconds to recover) "well, you know, any big city can be complicated and blah blah"
Me: "but I have heard Chicago is also very gentrified and I should stay away from some area?"
Dean: "again, ANY city can be blah blah"
Dinged in less than 24 hours.

Sadly I had no such moment during OCI.

To be fair, this was an absolute banana land line of questioning.

I can't tell from your preface whether you were intentionally torpedoing your own application, but for everyone else out there... don't ask that first question.

I mean, if you really want to ask about the city and crime, you can do that without being such a dick about it too. "There has been a lot of news lately about crime in Chicago. As someone not from there, could you tell me about how, if at all, crime affects campus life?"

Even so, I'd hope you'd have something actually about the school to ask.

guys.. he has said that the dean was being mean, and that he didn't really care about his UChicago interview, and therefore tried to be a dick.

Honestly with this level of social skills the interviewee was a perfect fit for UChicago

What the dean was really thinking:

"The closest thing I've witnessed to a crime since 1993 was what the dry cleaner did to one of my cashmere sweaters. My advice is to become rich, live in the rich part of town and don't send cashmere to the dry cleaner. This easy 3 step plan is all you need. If these gangs wanted to be rich, and would stop dry cleaning their cashmere, all the violence would end tomorrow."

[Wipfelder]

Interview for UChicago Law with the admission dean.

Things immediately started out badly. The dean seemed unenthusiastic and downright rude. I have received another T-14 offer and money at this point so I was disinclined to tolerate the rudeness.

Dean: "so what can I tell you about UChicago?"
Me: "I understand that Chicago can be a rough neighborhood. Do you have any recommendation for living there?"
Dean: (obv caught off-guard, took her 5 seconds to recover) "well, you know, any big city can be complicated and blah blah"
Me: "but I have heard Chicago is also very gentrified and I should stay away from some area?"
Dean: "again, ANY city can be blah blah"
Dinged in less than 24 hours.

Sadly I had no such moment during OCI.

To be fair, this was an absolute banana land line of questioning.

I can't tell from your preface whether you were intentionally torpedoing your own application, but for everyone else out there... don't ask that first question.

I mean, if you really want to ask about the city and crime, you can do that without being such a dick about it too. "There has been a lot of news lately about crime in Chicago. As someone not from there, could you tell me about how, if at all, crime affects campus life?"

Even so, I'd hope you'd have something actually about the school to ask.

guys.. he has said that the dean was being mean, and that he didn't really care about his UChicago interview, and therefore tried to be a dick.

Honestly with this level of social skills the interviewee was a perfect fit for UChicago

What the dean was really thinking:

"The closest thing I've witnessed to a crime since 1993 was what the dry cleaner did to one of my cashmere sweaters. My advice is to become rich, live in the rich part of town and don't send cashmere to the dry cleaner. This easy 3 step plan is all you need. If these gangs wanted to be rich, and would stop dry cleaning their cashmere, all the violence would end tomorrow."

Handwash or Die.

[Wipfelder]

Interview for UChicago Law with the admission dean.

Things immediately started out badly. The dean seemed unenthusiastic and downright rude. I have received another T-14 offer and money at this point so I was disinclined to tolerate the rudeness.

Dean: "so what can I tell you about UChicago?"
Me: "I understand that Chicago can be a rough neighborhood. Do you have any recommendation for living there?"
Dean: (obv caught off-guard, took her 5 seconds to recover) "well, you know, any big city can be complicated and blah blah"
Me: "but I have heard Chicago is also very gentrified and I should stay away from some area?"
Dean: "again, ANY city can be blah blah"
Dinged in less than 24 hours.

Sadly I had no such moment during OCI.

To be fair, this was an absolute banana land line of questioning.

I can't tell from your preface whether you were intentionally torpedoing your own application, but for everyone else out there... don't ask that first question.

I mean, if you really want to ask about the city and crime, you can do that without being such a dick about it too. "There has been a lot of news lately about crime in Chicago. As someone not from there, could you tell me about how, if at all, crime affects campus life?"

Even so, I'd hope you'd have something actually about the school to ask.

guys.. he has said that the dean was being mean, and that he didn't really care about his UChicago interview, and therefore tried to be a dick.

Honestly with this level of social skills the interviewee was a perfect fit for UChicago

What the dean was really thinking:

"The closest thing I've witnessed to a crime since 1993 was what the dry cleaner did to one of my cashmere sweaters. My advice is to become rich, live in the rich part of town and don't send cashmere to the dry cleaner. This easy 3 step plan is all you need. If these gangs wanted to be rich, and would stop dry cleaning their cashmere, all the violence would end tomorrow."

TBH, Cashmere is pretty bougie.

I have my sweaters custom made to really fit. Luckily, our family estate produces enough wool for pretty much every wool-item I need. Sending help to go purchase some off-the-rack item of dubious origin at a 300% markup seems silly.

[GoneSouth]

Honestly with this level of social skills the interviewee was a perfect fit for UChicago

+1
LOL.

Great use of anon here

[Anonymous User]

I'm gonna get judged for this, but it happened.

I was being interviewed on a CB with a fifth or sixth year associate. I can only describe him as a quiet, serious, conservative-looking white guy. He never smiled once. The interview seemed to be going fine, but over the course of our conversation he told me that he grew up, went to law school, and clerked all in the same far away city on the other side of the country. So I asked him why he moved.

He said his boyfriend switched jobs, and I couldn't stop myself from cracking a smile. He did not appreciate it. I swear it was an involuntary act. I'm pro-/lgbt/. I just didn't expect that response from him. I feel like he set me up.

How can you tell that the interviewer did not appreciate your smile? There's nothing unusual about smiling when someone is telling you about a personal story. What made you think that the interviewer had a problem with your reaction--did he say something to you about it during the interview?

Ok, if I have to be honest, I got caught suppressing a laugh.

Yeah, if you reacted to finding out that someone was LGBT in a way that would be off-putting to them, it was probably an inappropriate reaction to finding out. Given the fact that you feel like he "set you up" (aka his existence as a gay person is entirely designed to make you feel uncomfortable as a straight person) this isn't hard to believe, and you might not be quite as pro-LGBT as you think you are.

You're probably right. But I have a preconceived notion of gay men as easy-to-spot and feminine from television and personal experience. I thought this guy was straight, so when he suddenly said his boyfriend made him change cities, I reacted as if it was a joke, before I realized he was actually gay. I'm not justifying my behavior, but that's how I blew the interview. I blame the fact that I have friends who make immature gay jokes like "Ever go on Tinder? You can meet some really cute guys!"

Very similar interviewer with me as well.. was this for curtis mallet?

Nah, different firm.

[cavalier1138]

I blame the fact that I have friends who make immature gay jokes like "Ever go on Tinder? You can meet some really cute guys!"

I would also blame you for that.

[zhenders]

Interview for UChicago Law with the admission dean.

Things immediately started out badly. The dean seemed unenthusiastic and downright rude. I have received another T-14 offer and money at this point so I was disinclined to tolerate the rudeness.

Dean: "so what can I tell you about UChicago?"
Me: "I understand that Chicago can be a rough neighborhood. Do you have any recommendation for living there?"
Dean: (obv caught off-guard, took her 5 seconds to recover) "well, you know, any big city can be complicated and blah blah"
Me: "but I have heard Chicago is also very gentrified and I should stay away from some area?"
Dean: "again, ANY city can be blah blah"
Dinged in less than 24 hours.

Sadly I had no such moment during OCI.

To be fair, this was an absolute banana land line of questioning.

I can't tell from your preface whether you were intentionally torpedoing your own application, but for everyone else out there... don't ask that first question.

I mean, if you really want to ask about the city and crime, you can do that without being such a dick about it too. "There has been a lot of news lately about crime in Chicago. As someone not from there, could you tell me about how, if at all, crime affects campus life?"

Even so, I'd hope you'd have something actually about the school to ask.

guys.. he has said that the dean was being mean, and that he didn't really care about his UChicago interview, and therefore tried to be a dick.

Honestly with this level of social skills the interviewee was a perfect fit for UChicago

What the dean was really thinking:

"The closest thing I've witnessed to a crime since 1993 was what the dry cleaner did to one of my cashmere sweaters. My advice is to become rich, live in the rich part of town and don't send cashmere to the dry cleaner. This easy 3 step plan is all you need. If these gangs wanted to be rich, and would stop dry cleaning their cashmere, all the violence would end tomorrow."

Just wanted to chime in that as a current student who knows the Dean referred to here, this is all silly. She's actually pretty damned cool, not at all uptight, and definitely not stuck in the clouds of her own privilege (we've had deans/deans of students like that; they're now gone). The above interview is totally the above applicant just being a bad interviewer, and sour grapesing all over this thread. Can confirm UofC undergrad = social skills deficit. It's just not the case at the law school; different world entirely. I hear it used to be -- but then we started interviewing. This person proves it's working.

[daedalus2309]

Just wanted to chime in that as a current student who knows the Dean referred to here, this is all silly. She's actually pretty damned cool, not at all uptight, and definitely not stuck in the clouds of her own privilege (we've had deans/deans of students like that; they're now gone). The above interview is totally the above applicant just being a bad interviewer, and sour grapesing all over this thread. Can confirm UofC undergrad = social skills deficit. It's just not the case at the law school; different world entirely. I hear it used to be -- but then we started interviewing. This person proves it's working.

+1

for the record I was just joshing

[Anonymous User]

Had a screener with a firm that I conducted via video chat. I was doing fine, when all of a sudden, the connection went out on my laptop (I later realized it was because the guest network at the school was timed and I did not yet have access to the main network for the students). So I rushed and downloaded their video app on my cell phone and reconnected, all of which took 10 minutes. They were just about to leave - I apologized profusely through a tense smile, and they calmly conducted the rest of the screener. Not only was I invited for a callback, but also got an offer.

[Anonymous User]

Had a screener with a firm that I conducted via video chat. I was doing fine, when all of a sudden, the connection went out on my laptop (I later realized it was because the guest network at the school was timed and I did not yet have access to the main network for the students). So I rushed and downloaded their video app on my cell phone and reconnected, all of which took 10 minutes. They were just about to leave - I apologized profusely through a tense smile, and they calmly conducted the rest of the screener. Not only was I invited for a callback, but also got an offer.

Nice. I was doing a court-to-court video interview once and the sound cut out halfway through. I wrote my cell number in giant numerals on a piece of paper and held it up to the camera and we finished the interview via phone (with video feed still going). Offer.

[Anonymous User]

Had a screener with a firm that I conducted via video chat. I was doing fine, when all of a sudden, the connection went out on my laptop (I later realized it was because the guest network at the school was timed and I did not yet have access to the main network for the students). So I rushed and downloaded their video app on my cell phone and reconnected, all of which took 10 minutes. They were just about to leave - I apologized profusely through a tense smile, and they calmly conducted the rest of the screener. Not only was I invited for a callback, but also got an offer.

Nice. I was doing a court-to-court video interview once and the sound cut out halfway through. I wrote my cell number in giant numerals on a piece of paper and held it up to the camera and we finished the interview via phone (with video feed still going). Offer.

OP here. That is pretty impressive as far as improvisations go, I probably wouldn't have thought of that under the pressure.

[Anonymous User]

.

[misterjames]

This happened to me during a 1L summer job interview.

The career office asked us to list hobbies on our resume. I don't really have any, so I put down "memes" as one hobby. The interviewer surveyed me with a hard-to-read smile and asked me to show him one of the memes I made. I was horrified. I was trying to find a normal one on my phone when he accidentally saw a really imappropriate one and started to laugh. He laughed for at least a minute.

Then I got the summer job.

hm, and here I thought there were no 13 year olds in law school

[goodnitejon]

This happened to me during a 1L summer job interview.

The career office asked us to list hobbies on our resume. I don't really have any, so I put down "memes" as one hobby. The interviewer surveyed me with a hard-to-read smile and asked me to show him one of the memes I made. I was horrified. I was trying to find a normal one on my phone when he accidentally saw a really imappropriate one and started to laugh. He laughed for at least a minute.

Then I got the summer job.

hm, and here I thought there were no 13 year olds in law school

they let a few in to bring up the level of personality of the rest of the lawyers.

[glitched]

This happened to me during a 1L summer job interview.

The career office asked us to list hobbies on our resume. I don't really have any, so I put down "memes" as one hobby. The interviewer surveyed me with a hard-to-read smile and asked me to show him one of the memes I made. I was horrified. I was trying to find a normal one on my phone when he accidentally saw a really imappropriate one and started to laugh. He laughed for at least a minute.

Then I got the summer job.

This didn't happen.

[SplitMyPants]

This happened to me during a 1L summer job interview.

The career office asked us to list hobbies on our resume. I don't really have any, so I put down "memes" as one hobby. The interviewer surveyed me with a hard-to-read smile and asked me to show him one of the memes I made. I was horrified. I was trying to find a normal one on my phone when he accidentally saw a really imappropriate one and started to laugh. He laughed for at least a minute.

Then I got the summer job.

This didn't happen.

definitely not. if it had, his resume would have said "dank memes" obv