how did you prepare for your interview?

[rachmoninov3]

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Since many have already interviewed and some received acceptances, I was curious how people got ready for their interviews.
So far I have: googled 'medical school interview', reviewed my application, checked snd for my particular school, and have been reading both text books on hospital med and JAMAs and public health journals. I've gone to the school's website, and I've reviewed their curriculum. I'm also going to try and ask one of our hospitalists to help me prep.

is their anything else I should think about doing?

 

[macadamianut]

Since many have already interviewed and some received acceptances, I was curious how people got ready for their interviews.
So far I have: googled 'medical school interview', reviewed my application, checked snd for my particular school, and have been reading both text books on hospital med and JAMAs and public health journals. I've gone to the school's website, and I've reviewed their curriculum. I'm also going to try and ask one of our hospitalists to help me prep.

is their anything else I should think about doing?

I'm against over-preparing. I just try to think of one or two things I like about the school and then just relax.

 

[minnie2240]

Since many have already interviewed and some received acceptances, I was curious how people got ready for their interviews.
So far I have: googled 'medical school interview', reviewed my application, checked snd for my particular school, and have been reading both text books on hospital med and JAMAs and public health journals. I've gone to the school's website, and I've reviewed their curriculum. I'm also going to try and ask one of our hospitalists to help me prep.

is their anything else I should think about doing?

That is all great stuff so far! Its actually more than I did to prepare for my 7 interviews so far!....What helped me the most was thinking about responses to common interview questions beforehand and practicing them aloud?
Common Questions include:
Why medicine?
Why do you want to go to X school specifically?
What are important qualities of the physician?
What makes you unique?

 

[gluon999]

I'm against over-preparing. I just try to think of one or two things I like about the school and then just relax.

With stats like yours, you don't need much preparation! Congrats on all those acceptances. Whats your top choice?

 

[macadamianut]

With stats like yours, you don't need much preparation! Congrats on all those acceptances. Whats your top choice?

Thank you very much for your congratulations. I've just been fortunate throughout this whole process. I don't have a top choice as of yet.

But other than the Northwestern interview, the rest of my interviews have been conversations, and I think the best way to approach them is by being relaxed and answering naturally.

 

[risnwb]

i just read over my amcas, secondary questions, and reviewed what i liked about the school... then i just tried to relax... sounds like your very prepared already.

 

[drmota]

I'm against over-preparing. I just try to think of one or two things I like about the school and then just relax.

your mdapp profile made me bust a nut just so you know. a macadian nut. truly a work of art.
-mota

 

[silas2642]

your mdapp profile made me bust a nut just so you know. a macadian nut. truly a work of art.
-mota

Mota: what the hell is a macadian nut? Oh well, from what I've heard you're nuts aren't too much to talk about anyway. Anyway, I agree with Mota; you're mdapplicants page made me shed a tear; it was a beautiful thing.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

Since many have already interviewed and some received acceptances, I was curious how people got ready for their interviews.
So far I have: googled 'medical school interview', reviewed my application, checked snd for my particular school, and have been reading both text books on hospital med and JAMAs and public health journals. I've gone to the school's website, and I've reviewed their curriculum. I'm also going to try and ask one of our hospitalists to help me prep.

is their anything else I should think about doing?

Actually you've done plenty! Sounds like you'll be well prepared. I reviewed my AMCAS, my 2ndaries, and reviewed the schools' web materials. I also prepared a short list of questions, if I had any. Mock interviews are okay, but don't put too much faith in them; there's no way you can anticipate the sort of questions that might come up. Just be aware of any strange nervous ticks you might have (e.g. fidgety hands, poor eye contact, etc.) and learn to control that during the actual interview. Also, the clothes make the man (or woman for you PC people) so dress nicely.

 

[jbone]

remember the movie "something about mary"?

 

[thegenius]

Since many have already interviewed and some received acceptances, I was curious how people got ready for their interviews.
So far I have: googled 'medical school interview', reviewed my application, checked snd for my particular school, and have been reading both text books on hospital med and JAMAs and public health journals. I've gone to the school's website, and I've reviewed their curriculum. I'm also going to try and ask one of our hospitalists to help me prep.

is their anything else I should think about doing?

All of that is good. To prepare for my interviews I bought some 3x5 notecards and wrote down 40 of the most common questions that I expected to receive, and my answers on the other side.

First, I practiced reciting each answer to myself.

Second, I had my wife randomly select 6-8 questions from that stack and I practiced again.

Third, I had an *excellent* mock interview from a PGY-2 resident, she mimicked real test conditions. I even dressed up in a suit and met her at a bar at 9:00 PM. It was funny. I'm glad I did this because the very first question she asked me (a random one) I screwed up. I'm glad I got that out of my system.

Overall, out of the 40 questions I wrote up, I've been asked about 3-5 at all of my interviews thus far. So I probably over-prepared. Heh...talking about over-preparing, I copied down about 100 questions asked of previous NU candidates for my panel interview there, and I practiced each one of them. Funny, I was prepared for all questions asked of ALL the candidates, not just myself. And they asked a total of about 25 questions.

I do agree with the poster who said don't prepare too much...the answers I wrote down on the back of my 3x5 notecards were just bullet points and not complete sentences. Because when someone asks a question, all you want to ensure if you say, for instance, the three most important things. You want to remember the seque points, not the filler.

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

I just made sure that i was familiar with whether the school was pass/fail, the way the curriculum worked, and certain things about the school that were unique that made me want to go there (curriculum, location, research opportunity) other than that i didn't prepare. I figured, they're asking questions about me, how can i prepare about... me? I know me. For my first interview i tried preparing and my answers were really weird and sounded like bs even though they weren't. I was much better when i just went in with some school knowledge and that was it. Most of the time they'll ask you why this school and then the rest is about you. and since you're you, you're already the expert. 😀

 

[Dr.Pdizzle]

you guys are crazy, seriously, be yourself and don't sweat it. All this preparing stuff and you're going to psyche yourself into saying and doing some silly things. Just relax, be cool, and say to yourself before you go in goooooooosfraabaaaaaaaa (from anger management )

 

[thegenius]

you guys are crazy, seriously, be yourself and don't sweat it. All this preparing stuff and you're going to psyche yourself into saying and doing some silly things. Just relax, be cool, and say to yourself before you go in goooooooosfraabaaaaaaaa (from anger management )

I think one can prepare and be cool. Just because I went over a bunch of questions doesn't imply I was all crazy in the interview process. Quite the contrary, I was a calm cookie during all of mine.

Practice does make perfect in many ways. But I do think it's possible to become robotic and impersonal if you don't practice the correct way.

 

[zero2hero]

Def. just prepare to answer the main questions every interviewer asks.

Why medicine? Why X school? What makes you unique? Questions like those always appear.

I personally never did any mock interviews, just read over my app and secondaries, interview feedback and stuff about the school. Essentially everything you've done already.

Funny thing is I have an interview at AECOM in about 9 hours and here I am posting on SDN, so let me give another piece of advice. GET SOME SLEEP AND REST BEFORE AN INTERVIEW. With that I bid you all good night.