Interview Horror Stories

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So to take a break from bashing Optometry...I thought we'd have some fun, given all of the other forums on here do.

Any horror stories from interviews? I personally made it ON TIME to all of mine, but at each interview someone was like 2-3 hours late with some awful bad luck.

I think given that school tell you 3 weeks before that you can schedule an interview to plan a trip/fight is NOT enough time.

So here's mine:
Pacific in Oregon:
Stayed at the ****tiest hotel cause it was the closest to the school. The front desk LOCKED us in when we went to sleep and we didn't realize this so we had to bang on the door for them to open the lobby so I could go to my interview. It was pitch black outside cause Pacific makes you go extremely early like 7am to go into a classroom with students. I got there at 6:30am and it was really scary cause the campus was empty and creepy.

NOVA in florida:
i decided to do a "red eye" flight....I thought I would leave around 11pm, then sleep on the flight and get there at 6am for my interview...could NOT sleep on the flight. So I was basically extremely sleep-deprived during my interview. Not good. Also my flight cost $800...kind of insane that my friend spent that much for a flight to Thailand -___-

Western in CA:
All the buildings look EXACTLY the same, so during our lunch break on the tour I went to the bathroom...and got LOST!!! I seriously couldn't find my interview group. But I asked some random students and they helped me find my group. Actually 2 different Western students helped me and they were SO nice about it that it made me feel like I belonged there.

SCCO
Be really careful about which shuttle you take from the airport! The guy suggested I take "downtown Disney"...little did I know that the shuttle driver will wait around for 6 other people and then take them to their hotels IN THE MIDDLE OF FREAKING DISNEYLAND! So I basically got stuck in Dland traffic. I had to ask my shuttle driver to PLEASE take me before some other people to SCCO so that I would get there on time, ended up being early. Also, this girl showed up like 2 hours late cause of her shuttle driver and I bet the same thing happened to her.

Sooo anyone have any other stories to share?

You are a true bimbo and an inspiration to us all that getting into optometry school must not be that difficult.

Originally Posted by Chip Chipperson

You are a true bimbo and an inspiration to us all that getting into optometry school must not be that difficult.

wow, I was actually trying to HELP people by posting things to look out for!

And duh, there's like a billion new schools, I don't think anyone on here actually believes it's hard to get into Optometry school lol.

Originally Posted by Chip Chipperson

You are a true bimbo and an inspiration to us all that getting into optometry school must not be that difficult.

What was that old saying about not having anything nice to say...?

As for me, I don't have any horror stories, really. All my interviews went pretty smoothly.

Even though I was accepted to UHCO over the phone w/o an interview, I was invited to UHCO to tour the campus. When I got there, one of the admissions people actually went into the room full of interviewees and pulled one out to let them know they were already accepted and didn't have to interview. That was quite a shock for her! But at least a happy one.

Originally Posted by Superblyme

What was that old saying about not having anything nice to say...?

As for me, I don't have any horror stories, really. All my interviews went pretty smoothly.

Even though I was accepted to UHCO over the phone w/o an interview, I was invited to UHCO to tour the campus. When I got there, one of the admissions people actually went into the room full of interviewees and pulled one out to let them know they were already accepted and didn't have to interview. That was quite a shock for her! But at least a happy one.

nice- congrats!

I puked before my Western Interview and ended up rolling my sleeves during the interview because they told me to be comfortable. My SCCO interview I assumed lunch was provided, but it isn't on weekdays so my stomach was rumbling the entire interview.

Originally Posted by kokobeans

I puked before my Western Interview and ended up rolling my sleeves during the interview because they told me to be comfortable. My SCCO interview I assumed lunch was provided, but it isn't on weekdays so my stomach was rumbling the entire interview.

oh no! Ya during my NOVA interview I got really nervous and had a cough attack ><
I interviewed at SCCO on a saturday, the lunch was actually really delicious hehe

Did anyone have any bizarre questions asked?

One interviewer told me she liked my nails...I thought that was kind of odd XD

I wore one of the necklaces I have made to an interview, and actually ended up spending a good amount of time discussing it with the panel when they asked about it. I guess that's one way to make a good impression!

Originally Posted by Optomchick

Pacific in Oregon:
Stayed at the ****tiest hotel cause it was the closest to the school. The front desk LOCKED us in when we went to sleep and we didn't realize this so we had to bang on the door for them to open the lobby so I could go to my interview. It was pitch black outside cause Pacific makes you go extremely early like 7am to go into a classroom with students. I got there at 6:30am and it was really scary cause the campus was empty and creepy.

Hey, could you please tell me the name of that hotel in Oregon so I can make sure NOT to go there?

Originally Posted by pudgie84

Hey, could you please tell me the name of that hotel in Oregon so I can make sure NOT to go there?

Ya it was called "America's Best Value Inn Forest Grove"...it honestly wasn't that bad because I took a shuttle from the airport so it was nice to have a Mcdonalds and grocery store RIGHT next door for dinner. Then I just took the bus for 2 minutes to get to the school, I probably could have even walked. If you have a car then you should go for the hotel that Pacific suggests on their website, there's even a student discount. I would highly suggest bringing someone with you to Pacific, there are no streetlights, it's an hour away from the airport and even my shuttle driver got a little lost and he's lived his whole life in Oregon.

Originally Posted by Superblyme

I wore one of the necklaces I have made to an interview, and actually ended up spending a good amount of time discussing it with the panel when they asked about it. I guess that's one way to make a good impression!

hahaha that's awesome! what school was this at?

Originally Posted by Optomchick

hahaha that's awesome! what school was this at?

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you spent on all the flights together + the hotel?

Originally Posted by eyeluveyez

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you spent on all the flights together + the hotel?

Well keep in mind that my flights were really last minute because I wanted the earliest interview dates possible...I think I was even the first interview group at Pacific...

Pacific- 2 adults flight $1000 + $50 hotel
NOVA - 1 adult $800 red-eye flight
Western $500 2 adults flight + $70 hotel
SCCO- $0, I used my frequent flier miles and flew in the morning of my interview.

$300 on shuttles to go from the airport to the school (Pacific shuttle cost me about $140 for both ways)

So about $3000- I only stayed over one night in hotels to save money, but most people spent the entire weekend and rented a car which would add up to A LOT more!

Good grief!

When you add my:
1) OPTOMCAS application
2) OAT test fee and study expenses
3) secondary application
4) travel to 3 interviews and associated fees

the total was around $1000.

BIG piece of advice, ask the school if there are any students willing to host you during interviews. I stayed with students at SCO and PUCO (all were alumni of my alma mater) and one of them even picked me up from the airport when I went to SCO.

Originally Posted by thecgrblue

Good grief!

When you add my:
1) OPTOMCAS application
2) OAT test fee and study expenses
3) secondary application
4) travel to 3 interviews and associated fees

the total was around $1000.

BIG piece of advice, ask the school if there are any students willing to host you during interviews. I stayed with students at SCO and PUCO (all were alumni of my alma mater) and one of them even picked me up from the airport when I went to SCO.

eh, the hotels weren't expensive, more like the flights, and now I have a ton of flier miles haha. but that's some good advice for future students!

For me, I had two interviews, roughly one month apart. Looking back on them, I can’t believe just how differently they went haha.

The first one was at NOVA and it went amazingly well! My flight got there on time, the hotel was very nice + I got a student discount, and my stay in Florida was great overall. As for the interview; the staff, students, and fellow interviewees were really friendly, and the interview went smoothly

The second one was at PCO (Salus) and it went…..not as well lol. My flight was scheduled at 4 PM the day before the interview, but due to the weather, the flight was delayed until about 10 PM. I rented a car after I landed, and started to head down to the hotel. I had been to PCO for a tour once before, so I didn’t think I would get lost…bad mistake! I ended up taking an extra hour to find my way to the hotel, so it was 2 AM by the time I got there and went to sleep. My interview was at 8 or 8:30 AM, so needless to say I didn’t have the best sleep. Once I arrived at PCO, they had a short finance session before the actual interview started. Knowing my luck, I wind up getting a very snobbish interviewer, who you could tell did not want to be there. After the interview portion, the interviewees got a tour of the school. I was under the impression that the tour would be done by students, but unfortunately none of them were free to do it. Instead, one of the academic counsellors gave the tour….the exact same one who gave me the tour a year prior! The tour was sooo boring….I could pretty much predict what she was going to say throughout the tour lol. I thought I was home free after I left PCO, but no…..not yet. I was driving to the airport to leave, when I eventually hit Philly rush hour traffic! If I didn’t end up taking some alternate routes, I would have missed my flight for sure.

There’s my story! In the end, I got accepted to both NOVA and PCO haha. You can probably guess which school I chose based on my experience with both of them….

Originally Posted by Optomchick

Ya it was called "America's Best Value Inn Forest Grove"...it honestly wasn't that bad because I took a shuttle from the airport so it was nice to have a Mcdonalds and grocery store RIGHT next door for dinner. Then I just took the bus for 2 minutes to get to the school, I probably could have even walked. If you have a car then you should go for the hotel that Pacific suggests on their website, there's even a student discount. I would highly suggest bringing someone with you to Pacific, there are no streetlights, it's an hour away from the airport and even my shuttle driver got a little lost and he's lived his whole life in Oregon.

I went with Best Western instead, much better than America's Best Value. Me and my cousin drove from Vancouver, Canada to Forest Grove. I went for my interview and told him to pack so we can head out straight from pacific. Idiot actually left our passports in the hotel, in the drawer of our room inside the bible. We reach the border and realize that we have no passport, there was no way we were driving back. Had to beg border officer that we were Canadian citizens, luckily he checked our licences and somehow verified that. Called the hotel manager next day and asked them to ship our passports back to Canada. Paid like $100 for shipping. That was the last time I took him anywhere with me. I bet if it was the Mexican/US border things might have turned out much different.

I scheduled four of my US school interviews one after the other and flew from city to city after each one. It was less expensive for me that way since I was flying in from Canada, but for whatever reason, every single one of my flights were delayed by 2-4 hours either due to weather conditions or computer failure. I would make my connecting flights by mere minutes. It was very stressful and tiring.

The interviews themselves, though, went smoothly.

I only interviewed at 2 schools, after I got accepted to both I couldn't justify flying cross country to visit schools I wasn't really that interested in. But anyway, I interviewed first at PCO and then at Nova, exactly one week apart. I live in Maryland so I drove to PCO and flew to Nova. Here's my stories.

PCO:
My dad was actually on a business trip in philly that same week, so it lucked out for me that after I drove the 3 hours or so, I got to stay in a Regency Hyatt on the government's dollar I got in around 9 pm since my boss was an ass and made me work late even knowing I had a 3 hour drive for a very important day. Anyway, I slept well and programmed my GPS and arrived at PCO on time, and the interview day itself was fine, aside from it being 95% humidity in late september and me in a full skirt suit and pantyhose. I don't mind skirts and heels but the hose kill me. Where it gets hairy is when I was leaving. I couldn't find my car keys. I had been carrying a purse and a tote bag (which was moderately heavy) all day on tours and now I had to backtrack all over the 2-3 buildings to try to find them. I asked the receptionist, had them call the clinic, car service, and everyone involved in the 6 hour day before realizing they were IN MY IGNITION OF MY LOCKED CAR. I was 3 hours away from home and a locksmith was going to cost me $200 I didn't have. Luckily the maintenance man was standing behind me and offered to break into my car, assuring me he had done it hundreds of times. I remember being weirded out but jumping at the chance. Fast forward 20 minutes to my delight!! I ended up tipping him with the lone $10 I had in my purse which I had to beg him to take. I ended up getting accepted though, so I guess it was worth it!

Nova:
I went to Nova literally one week later. I flew out on a Tuesday for my wednesday morning interview. I had my dad drop me off at the DC airport after hanging out at his office for a bit. As I was going to security I remembered I was supposed to text my mom when I realized I left my phone on his desk. Finding a pay phone was next to impossible, and I never use cash, so I had no change. I had to make a collect call to my mom after my dad didn't pick up his cell. I had to tell her to call my dads blackberry number (which I don't have memorized) and have him bring me my phone before I missed my flight. The pay phone rings back (they DO actually do that) and my mom tells me that my dad is on his way. He meets me at kiss and ride and gives me A FACE and wishes me a safe flight. I run through security and make my flight.
When I actually got to Fort Laud, I stayed at the Hyatt Place in Plantation. I'm weird with hotels and only stay at Marriotts or Hyatts, but here I got a student special, $89 and free shuttle service the morning of the interview. What I loved about Nova was that when I originally booked my interview, the phone receptionist told me "plan to be with us from 10:30-12:30", so I booked a 2:10 flight. I got an itinerary later saying that "afternoon interviews begin at 1:30" which clearly was contradictory. I called US Air to move my flight, and soon my $199 flight was looking more like $430. I called nova to ask to be moved to the morning session in light of the news, and they were BEYOND accommodating. When I got to the interview, the assistant dean even came up to me and said that all that was required was the INTERVIEW and the rest was to make us feel more at home, and when I needed to leave, to just excu myself without question. This made me know instantly (in addition to the amazing campus, program, etc) that I wanted to go there. The people were soooo accommodating and warm. Nova really wasnt a horror story for me!

Originally Posted by q1we3

I went with Best Western instead, much better than America's Best Value. Me and my cousin drove from Vancouver, Canada to Forest Grove. I went for my interview and told him to pack so we can head out straight from pacific. Idiot actually left our passports in the hotel, in the drawer of our room inside the bible. We reach the border and realize that we have no passport, there was no way we were driving back. Had to beg border officer that we were Canadian citizens, luckily he checked our licences and somehow verified that. Called the hotel manager next day and asked them to ship our passports back to Canada. Paid like $100 for shipping. That was the last time I took him anywhere with me. I bet if it was the Mexican/US border things might have turned out much different.

Ya I would have gone to the Best Western if I had a car. That's so lucky that no one ended up stealing your passports! Definitely would have been in big trouble if it was the Mexican border! lol maybe not the best person to bring with you -___-

Originally Posted by swtster

I scheduled four of my US school interviews one after the other and flew from city to city after each one. It was less expensive for me that way since I was flying in from Canada, but for whatever reason, every single one of my flights was delayed by 2-4 hours either due to weather conditions or computer failure. I would make my connecting flights by mere minutes. It was very stressful and tiring.

The interviews themselves, though, went smoothly.

How much did you end up spending?

Originally Posted by Banhands

For me, I had two interviews, roughly one month apart. Looking back on them, I can’t believe just how differently they went haha.

The first one was at NOVA and it went amazingly well! My flight got there on time, the hotel was very nice + I got a student discount, and my stay in Florida was great overall. As for the interview; the staff, students, and fellow interviewees were really friendly, and the interview went smoothly

The second one was at PCO (Salus) and it went…..not as well lol. My flight was scheduled at 4 PM the day before the interview, but due to the weather, the flight was delayed until about 10 PM. I rented a car after I landed, and started to head down to the hotel. I had been to PCO for a tour once before, so I didn’t think I would get lost…bad mistake! I ended up taking an extra hour to find my way to the hotel, so it was 2 AM by the time I got there and went to sleep. My interview was at 8 or 8:30 AM, so needless to say I didn’t have the best sleep. Once I arrived at PCO, they had a short finance session before the actual interview started. Knowing my luck, I wind up getting a very snobbish interviewer, who you could tell did not want to be there. After the interview portion, the interviewees got a tour of the school. I was under the impression that the tour would be done by students, but unfortunately none of them were free to do it. Instead, one of the academic counsellors gave the tour….the exact same one who gave me the tour a year prior! The tour was sooo boring….I could pretty much predict what she was going to say throughout the tour lol. I thought I was home free after I left PCO, but no…..not yet. I was driving to the airport to leave, when I eventually hit Philly rush hour traffic! If I didn’t end up taking some alternate routes, I would have missed my flight for sure.

There’s my story! In the end, I got accepted to both NOVA and PCO haha. You can probably guess which school I chose based on my experience with both of them….

That really sucks your interviewer was snobby, I mean didn't he/she volunteer? Most of my interviewers were like "good cop, bad cop" one would smile a lot and the other would ask tough questions haha.

Originally Posted by Optomchick

That really sucks your interviewer was snobby, I mean didn't he/she volunteer? Most of my interviewers were like "good cop, bad cop" one would smile a lot and the other would ask tough questions haha.

I had that at NOVA actually lol. There were two interviewers; one would smile and seem interested in asking me questions, while the other one would give me blank expressions and stare at me the entire time. To be honest, I don’t know why the interviewer at PCO acted that way. I like to believe it’s because he had a high ranking position at the college, and that apparently gave him permission to act that way haha.

Originally Posted by Banhands

I had that at NOVA actually lol. There were two interviewers; one would smile and seem interested in asking me questions, while the other one would give me blank expressions and stare at me the entire time. To be honest, I don’t know why the interviewer at PCO acted that way. I like to believe it’s because he had a high ranking position at the college, and that apparently gave him permission to act that way haha.

Maybe we had the same person lol, they should really pick better people to be interviewers!

I got a ridiculous cough attack towards the end of my interview at PCO and knew he would want to shake my hand so I busted out with some hand sanitizer which happened to be some fruit scent which stunk up the whole room...good times.

Originally Posted by melhope11

I got a ridiculous cough attack towards the end of my interview at PCO and knew he would want to shake my hand so I busted out with some hand sanitizer which happened to be some fruit scent which stunk up the whole room...good times.

lol dude i had a cough attack at NOVA...there must be something about getting nervous that closes up your throat--i would have never thought of putting on hand sanitizer! haha did you end up getting in?