When I interviewed at LSU (unsuccessfully! although I did well on the interview), it was "closed"--meaning the 3 interviewers knew nothing about me and had never seen my app. So the first question was "Tell us about yourself", which I find difficult, but it gives you a chance to tell them about your experiences, what you've done to improve yourself as an applicant, etc. There was the inevitable "Why do you want to be a vet?"--I've heard "because I love animals" is the kiss-of-death answer! There were also quite a few ethics questions, one dealing with terminal surgery labs (at most schools--but check out the Tufts program on their website), "convenience euthanasia" ("The dog doesn't match the furniture, would you do it? But they're really good clients..."), cheating ("A classmate has a copy of the test...")
I think what it boils down to is that they want to know that you've thought about these things because you will face them in school and practice. Take a stand! There's not necessarily a right or wrong answer (okay maybe a few!). Think of it as a time to show off YOUR strengths--tie in your experiences, what you've LEARNED (I'm talking empathy, client communications, etc.--not clinical skills). And research the ethical stuff to be prepared. For my question about terminal surgery labs, I said that I knew some things can only be learned by doing, I work at a research facility so I'm quite familiar that we can only gain knowledge through sacrificing in some cases, BUT I thought the Tufts surgery courses were a very creative way to handle the situation (they do LOTS and LOTS of spays to get Sx practice--a non-terminal option). When I said that, I could tell my interviewers hadn't heard that one before. And I'm not bragging but I did get top scores on my interview, so it's "okay" to say something different!😀
