My interviews were very conversational. The first one we barely touched on "traditional" questions or my file at all. However, it is quite a mixed bag depending on the interviewer. Jill Porter gave us the low-down on some of our interviewers so you may want to ask her before yours. She was really down to earth during the intro session in the morning. The SDN interview question bank was helpful, bc its helped think about random questions you may get depending on your interviewers style. For example, I know one girl in my group who got "grilled" per say. For the most part though, I think they are conversational.
During my first job as a consultant, I did over 100 client interviews, and then started and led our campus recruitment efforts (it was a small new company). At my current job, I interview candidates to work on my team pretty much every week so I have some experience being on the other side of the interview process. Don't get me wrong. I was a little freaked before my Rush interview. Especially since I didn't know how close it would be in comparison to the interview environment I was used to. Afterwards, I saw how similar they are. The best advice I can give is smile, be friendly, enthusiastic, and as genuine as possible. Interviews are definitely used more to determine personality and fit into the culture. I can't tell you how many times I have seen well qualified people lose a position just over a frown or negative vibe they put out. Interviewers know you will be nervous. So they will not doc points if your answers are a little rambling, but don't translate your nerves into negativity. Most importantly, ask good questions!! Definitely think of 2-3 good questions that show your researched the school and have a genuine interest. Engaging questions can totally save you. That is the number one thing I look for, and I find is the easiest way to set people apart.
So after all of my own rambling 🙂 :
1.) Smile
2.) Ask good questions
3.) Have a general sense of what you can talk about in regards to some current heathcare issues. They don't expect you to present a thesis, so don't stress too much on this.
4.) Also, everyone asked "Why do you want to come to Rush" so if you want to think over one answer that would be my suggestion.
Hardest question I got: "Why do you think so many woman are becoming doctors nowadays?"
