Interview Day!

Ok so while my friend is studying with her friend, I get the liberty of typing out how well this day really went:)

We woke up, got ready, and then my friend dropped me off at the library around 9:30, because she had class and my interviews were at 1. So I spent the time reviewing my questions and totally overpreparing myself, but the odd thing was that I was completely relaxed. I wasn't fidgety or nervous, and it actually went by really fast. As a side note, I got sooooo excited walking onto the campus because it's all health sciences...there's a medical school, PT, OT, Public Health programs, so basically it's filled with people who are studying what I am passionate about. The library was awesome just because of the sheer amount of medical related books that were there.

At 12:15 I headed to lunch and actually got to sit with a bunch of first year students, and it was fun to see what a fun and close bunch they were. The good news is that I made it through lunch without spilling on my suit. Now only if I could go through a normal day without spilling on myself I would be golden.

When 12:45 rolled around I headed upstairs to where our interviews were, and there were a bunch of us (18 people maybe) sitting in the lobby. We all looked super professional, haha. They brought us into a conference room where we had a brief lecture on financial aid. The school is actually a wicked cheap program which is nice. Then they split us in half. My group sat on a presentation about the program by the chair of the department, while the other half went and had interviews. At the presentation I learned that the chair of the department loves diversity and having people from other states, but the program's website says that preference is given to residents, so that was a little curious.

After our presentation we headed off to our interview. We each had two interviews with either a member of the faculty or a local PA. My first interview was with the program's librarian/research coordinator and she was so easygoing and made things really comfortable. I basically gave a brief intro about myself, then she asked me a set list of questions. After that I moved on to my next interview with a prof who teaches clinical medicine, but is also a Sports Medicine PA. He was very let's get to business but not unexpected (and he was very pleasant as well).

As far as the questions I was asked, there weren't any that I hadn't prepared for. They were very straightforward. My only complaint (but not really a complaint...maybe concern is a better word?) I felt like I was rushed through the interview, like we didn't have enough time. For example, I had about two minutes to explain a problem with the health care system today and how I would fix it. That's not a lot of time to go into detail. And then only having maybe 2 or 3 minutes to talk about my experiences working with patients, when that was something I wanted to focus on because that is my weakest area in my application. The other concern I have is that the questions I was asked didn't really allow me to shine or talk about why I would be a good PA and the qualities I have. I mentioned a few things to maybe help me stick out of the crowd a little (such as growing up in Maine and raising my own food), but I feel like my competency as a PA student will be determined from my application, as opposed to what was said in my interview. The questions I was asked were more geared towards does the applicant know what they are getting into (Why this school? What is a PA?) So we'll see.

After the individual interviews we had a group interview, where I split off with four other people and we were given two ethical questions. This is probably where I had points taken off (if they do that). I was with a great group of people and I didn't feel like anyone of us dominated the conversation, but I definitely didn't talk as much as the other members of my group. I made sure though that I was showing that I was actively listening, but there were just so many ideas thrown out and we only had ten minutes to discuss and present. The interviewers were actually pretty apologetic, because we were in the middle of brainstorming and they had to cut us off.

After the group interview we went on a tour of the school. The school has tunnels so you never have to go outside in the middle of the winter and walk through the snow. The facilities are pretty nice, and basically we have most of the exact same classes as the med students but with a much much better prof-student ratio.

Then after the tour we had a short question and answer session, and by that time it was 4:45 and that was it!

Overall I am really pleased with how the day went. I was surprisingly personable with the other people and relaxed and confident. The thing is, despite the fact that I did very well, everyone whom I interviewed with I would consider real quality applicants. If I am not accepted I am completely ok with it because of how great everyone else was. I also heard from the first years that there is no rhyme or reason to how they picked that class--they weren't consistent with GPA or experience or whatever. Basically I have no idea how things are going to end up. And the kicked is I won't find out until March or April (or later if I'm weightlisted), so I have a while to wait. I just can't believe it's over though. In a way I am thankful that it was such a short process, between being contacted about the interview and actually having it. So we'll see what happens! I am leaving here at 4:30am tomorrow morning I think because my flight leaves Detroit at 7:15.

PS, Ohio is no different than Mass right now, except it doesn't get light out until late--it was still pitch dark out at 7am this morning (but I guess that means it stays lighter later too).