Advice for UCSF interview please!

[euphaire]

Hey everyone!

It's me again. I'm going for my last (for now?) U.S. interview with UCSF some time this month. I went to 5 or 6 interviews in the past months (I stopped counting), and I never had much luck with acceptances. At some point I felt like giving up...but not yet, I'm still going to fight for this one. I REALLY want this one to count!

Okay fine, I know that there are only 3 international students in their previous class..and it's not a pre-Dec interview. I pretty much assume I have abysmal chance, but still...I will regret it deeply if I didn't give my best this time.

From research, I know that UCSF interview is closed-book. It's important that I be proactive in "selling" myself to my interviewers because they don't know anything about me (and I'm terrible at this). They are really research-oriented. A faculty member and a student will interview me. I should smile a lot. Is there anything else I should know? Should I tie my topics to a central theme they like - eg. ethics, dental news?

For those of you who interviewed at UCSF, or happen to be knowledgeable about the process, I'd love to hear ALL about your experience there - as detailed as you want to share it. I recognize myself as a nervous interviewee (generally, I have no problem with presentations, etc. just uncomfortable with interviews...), so I have to make up for this by preparing very hard. I would be very grateful if you are willing to share your day at UCSF with me!

Any other general advice/tips in the form of reply or pm is greatly appreciated as well!😍

Thank you very much!

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[Teeth12345]

I interviewed with UCSF in November and haven't heard anything from them yet. But I will share a few things. For me, UCSF was a more challenging interview because it was closed-file. Instead of them asking you "Tell me about when you did THIS activity", it's more like "Tell me about when you did ANY activity" Closed-file isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean you should know yourself really well and really know your application so you can take examples from it. The stress was mostly from the faculty interview. The student one was super relaxed and nice. And the essay wasn't bad at all. UCSF is a beautiful campus so just try to enjoy your day there. Good luck!!

 

[Baker2010]

Hey everyone!

It's me again. I'm going for my last (for now?) U.S. interview with UCSF some time this month. I went to 5 or 6 interviews in the past months (I stopped counting), and I never had much luck with acceptances. At some point I felt like giving up...but not yet, I'm still going to fight for this one. I REALLY want this one to count!

Okay fine, I know that there are only 3 international students in their previous class..and it's not a pre-Dec interview. I pretty much assume I have abysmal chance, but still...I will regret it deeply if I didn't give my best this time.

From research, I know that UCSF interview is closed-book. It's important that I be proactive in "selling" myself to my interviewers because they don't know anything about me (and I'm terrible at this). They are really research-oriented. A faculty member and a student will interview me. I should smile a lot. Is there anything else I should know? Should I tie my topics to a central theme they like - eg. ethics, dental news?

For those of you who interviewed at UCSF, or happen to be knowledgeable about the process, I'd love to hear ALL about your experience there - as detailed as you want to share it. I recognize myself as a nervous interviewee (generally, I have no problem with presentations, etc. just uncomfortable with interviews...), so I have to make up for this by preparing very hard. I would be very grateful if you are willing to share your day at UCSF with me!

Any other general advice/tips in the form of reply or pm is greatly appreciated as well!😍

Thank you very much!

For my UCSF interview, It was actually one of the tougher ones.
I got asked several ethical questions from the faculty interviewer. The student interview was closed file and pretty common dentistry questions.
In terms of doing well on the interview. Just be happy, smile a lot, and practice questions to make sure they come off the way you want them to (but be sure not to make them sound rehearsed) Just have general bullet points in your head about specific aspects of yourself that you want to get across when asked certain questions. It would be a loss if you leave the interview feeling as though you didn't get to bring out your best characteristics and strengths (which unfortunately, happens to many interviewees).
Just practice out loud answering as many questions you can get your hands on. I think this will help in reducing anxiety in the actual interview and help you stay on track with the most important aspects of yourself that you want to portray.

Goodluck

 

[euphaire]

Thanks guys! As I imagined...the interview is tough. Does the interviewer take notes on you while you answer his/her questions?
When I was at Pitts, I was also interviewed closed-book. Most of the time the interviewer asked me to initiate topics. He even asked me "What do you want me to ask you?" Is UCSF similar? Or is it the traditional Q and A style?
For the essay, I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me whether it will test your knowledge (ie. discuss some news or problems in dentistry) or your ability to write only (ie. discuss about some personal experience). If it's the former, I'll make sure I read some dental headlines as well before the interview.

I interviewed with UCSF in November and haven't heard anything from them yet. But I will share a few things. For me, UCSF was a more challenging interview because it was closed-file. Instead of them asking you "Tell me about when you did THIS activity", it's more like "Tell me about when you did ANY activity" Closed-file isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean you should know yourself really well and really know your application so you can take examples from it. The stress was mostly from the faculty interview. The student one was super relaxed and nice. And the essay wasn't bad at all. UCSF is a beautiful campus so just try to enjoy your day there. Good luck!!

Teeth12345. I hope you get in 🙂 Can you tell me more about why you feel stressed from the faculty interview? Was your interviewer the serious type? Or was it because the questions asked were tough?

Thank you for sharing everyone!

 

[Teeth12345]

"It would be a loss if you leave the interview feeling as though you didn't get to bring out your best characteristics and strengths (which unfortunately, happens to many interviewees)."

This is pretty much how I felt. I was expecting the closed-file to be more the interviewer asking questions about my life and maybe some ethical questions. He was really nice but he basically showed me what he had to fill out and said ok, let's fill this out. It was a very structured interview and I just felt that it was hard for me to come up with things about myself that quickly because I hadn't prepared. If you read through your application well though you should have no problem! Relaxing is the best thing you can do!

 

[mahfouz]

Hey everyone!

It's me again. I'm going for my last (for now?) U.S. interview with UCSF some time this month. I went to 5 or 6 interviews in the past months (I stopped counting), and I never had much luck with acceptances. At some point I felt like giving up...but not yet, I'm still going to fight for this one. I REALLY want this one to count!

Okay fine, I know that there are only 3 international students in their previous class..and it's not a pre-Dec interview. I pretty much assume I have abysmal chance, but still...I will regret it deeply if I didn't give my best this time.

From research, I know that UCSF interview is closed-book. It's important that I be proactive in "selling" myself to my interviewers because they don't know anything about me (and I'm terrible at this). They are really research-oriented. A faculty member and a student will interview me. I should smile a lot. Is there anything else I should know? Should I tie my topics to a central theme they like - eg. ethics, dental news?

For those of you who interviewed at UCSF, or happen to be knowledgeable about the process, I'd love to hear ALL about your experience there - as detailed as you want to share it. I recognize myself as a nervous interviewee (generally, I have no problem with presentations, etc. just uncomfortable with interviews...), so I have to make up for this by preparing very hard. I would be very grateful if you are willing to share your day at UCSF with me!

Any other general advice/tips in the form of reply or pm is greatly appreciated as well!😍

Thank you very much!

I also had an interview in November, but mine was very laid back. I think how your interview goes depends partly on who you interview with and to a greater extent on how comfortable you are talking to people you don't know about yourself. I had one student and one faculty member, and both of the interviewers were interesting to talk to. The fact that they didn't have access to my file did mean that I had to repeat everything that I thought was important in it. But I think that gave me an opportunity to put a new spin on my activities, work, research, etc.
I really liked the essay- it wasn't difficult, they probably just wanted to see how well we write without a spell check. The tour was probably the best part of the morning, and you should make sure to ask plenty of questions when you have lunch with students.

The bottom line is, be yourself and try not to be nervous!🙂