For those of you interested in some tid-bits for preparing for your interviews. If you have the option through your school do a mock interview. I'm not sure how many of you have this opportunity, but it's highly advised to take advantage of it if possible.
Create a formula for how you are going to answer every question. One of the biggest things to keep in mind is to actually answer the questions they ask. It sounds simple, but often people start getting long winded in their responses and down't end up answering what was actually asked. You need to keep your answers short and to the point. No answer should be longer than 2 minutes: The formula I used was; Intro, Answer the question, expand on answer, follow up/conclusion.
Exp: Tell me a time you had to deal with stress?
Intro: That's a great question. We've all had to deal with stress at some point and it's very important to know how you respond in these situations.
Answer: I had to deal with stress during XYZ situation. (extrapolate briefly on the experience)
Expanded answer/details: During this time I relied on my support network, my time management, organization, and stress relief techniques. (talk about specifics and what you did)
Relate the question/Follow up: This really helped me stay grounded and deal with the stressful situation. I learned a lot about myself through this time and I know during my time at XYZ school I'll have to deal with similar situations. I now have experience successfully overcoming stress and will rely on the same techniques that have helped me in the past etc...(relate it to your time in podiatry school)
This is just a generic response, I was never asked this question, but this helps illustrate the process. I suggest finding a list of medical school interview questions on-line and print it out. Have your friends, family, significant other, whoever, drill you on the questions in random order. Stick to the formula for every question. It might seem weird at first, and really the specific questions don't matter too much. The important aspect is to get VERY comfortable answering random questions applying the response formula. This will pay huge dividends when you actually get to your interview and your nervous.
Also, practice to first question and last question you will get until they are memorized and you can rattle them off in your sleep.
Question #1 is almost always some variation of "tell us about yourself" it might not be phrased exactly like this. If they don't ask you this right off the bat, you can address it like this "First off, thank you for giving me this opportunity to be here today. A little about myself...." give them a brief back story, why podiatry, and why that school. Remember keep it simple, to the point, and not long winded.
The last question is usually some variation of "do you have any questions for us/is there anything else you want to share" this is an opportunity to 1) Reiterate your strengths and what you bring to the table, 2) Why podiatry, aka your commitment to the profession, and 3) Why that school and why that's the place you want to be.
I hope this helps. I did great during my interviews applying these techniques. If you have any specific questions please don't hesitate to ask and I'll help if I can.
