Can anyone shed some light on the interview and give some tips for the interview? this is my number 1 choice of school so i really want to make sure i do well on the interview
The interviewers will go through your secondary application thoroughly, and ask questions based on that. They may also have secondary/follow up questions to the questions they ask you. You should definitely know your secondary application backwards and forwards, and also you should know what it means to be an osteopathic physician, what the osteopathic philosophy states, what it means to you, and why you want to be an osteopathic physician.
Some general interviewing tips I can give are as follows: (these are things I have learned from a half a dozen interviews and from various advisors)
– Most if not all of your answers should be 30 to 40 seconds long. So be concise!
– If they ask you a specific question such as, "tell me about yourself?", your response should be a minute and a half to a minute and 40 seconds.
– You don't want to be thinking as you talk or ramble. So knowing your secondary application and knowing why you want to practice osteopathic medicine is crucial.
– Do not say words like "cool" and do not use slang or informal speech.
– Medical school and choosing a career in medicine is a very serious decision, your answers, demeanor and the way you carry yourself should reflect this seriousness.
– Be able to give out comes to everything in your secondary application; always and with what you learned from each experience.
– Make sure to make eye contact with everyone, while responding to a question. Spend a few seconds looking into the eyes of not only your interviewers, but also your fellow interviewees.
– Be enthusiastic, but don't fake it, your enthusiasm for attending medical school, an osteopathic medical school, and being a physician for the rest of your life should be evident.
– Be honest; if you don't know the answer to a question, tell them so. Do not make things up, your interviewers will be able to tell, and it will take away from the validity of everything else you say.
– Have four or five or more questions to ask your interviewers. Make sure that the questions the answers to the questions you ask cannot be found on the schools website.
– Always make sure you have the names and email addresses of everyone you meet on campus, especially your interviewers and your tour guides, so you can send them thank you letters no later then five days after your interview.
– Do not dress flashy, this is not the time to express yourself or make yourself stand out. The way you carry yourself and what you say during the interview should be enough to make yourself stand out.
– Ladies, do not wear noisy jewelry. It is distracting and sometimes it's annoying to some people.
– Do not be negative, do not compare yourself with other students, do you not come off as competitive.
– Do not say anything negative! Do not blame others!
– Do not let yourself get flustered, some interviewers will try to startle you or stress you just to see how you will react (I did not experience this at Touro, but I did experience this at a couple other schools).
– This is not a time for jokes, save your favorite joke for your friends. Humor can be good, but it can also be seen as not serious or even worse not funny.
Pay attention to your interviewers body language, it will let you know if your answer is going too long.
– Relax! Your grades and extracurriculars got you the interview, now is not the time to stress about that C you had in chemistry sophomore year, though you should be able to explain why you got a C, also without being negative or blaming others.
– Be yourself, interviewers will be able to know when you are "faking it".
– Always thank your interviewers, tour guides, and anyone else that takes the time out of their busy schedule to speak to you on your interview today.
– Do not send boilerplate thank you emails. Try to personalize them and make them sincere.
I know this is a lot to read and to think about, but the stress of an interview may make you forget things, say things you may not usually say, or cloud your judgement and stop you from being cognizant of what you say or do or forget to do.
Good luck to you and everyone else who is interviewing this year or who have yet to be accepted.
Keep your hopes up and stay positive! From someone who applied last year and completely blew their interviews, due to naivety, there is always next year. If the worst happens and you don't get in, keep trying and do everything you can to strengthen your application and learn from your mistakes; you will end up where you are supposed to be.
