interview prep

[gilch]

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I'm looking for some interview prep books before my Missouri interview/other interview offers that I am so sure are forthcoming . Does anyone know of any? The only ones I could find at my local bookstore were about job interviews, so whatever I buy, I'll be getting online. There seem to be a lot of books online about med school interviews, is there anyone that has read some/knows how useful they would be for vet admission interviews? Of course, I know that there is a tremendous difference in different interview styles and I plan on reading/rereading school specific questions, but I would really like an interview guide.

Any help?

 

[PrimalMU]

Maybe I'm the only person who feels this way, but I'm not planning on "preparing" for my interview at Mississippi, per se. Personally, I'd rather talk intelligently about why I can't answer a specific question than try to prepare an answer to a myriad of possible questions.

To answer your question, I don't know of any books that would help you, however I know there are a number of threads on these forums regarding interview preparation.

 

[KittyRex]

I used a book called "The Medical School Interview" by Jeremiah Fleenor, M.D. It's is written for premeds, but I though it was pretty applicable to the veterinary school application process as well.

Interview prep is not for everyone, but I found it very helpful to organize my thoughts ahead of time by outlining important points and topics I wanted to discuss during my interviews.

Good luck!

 

[sumstorm]

Skimming through job interview books can help as well. It is more about learning to frame your thoughts into succinct answers than about planning canned answers. I also did prepare in a bit more detail for some specific questions that I might be asked as a non-trad by bouncing my responses off of friends and associates. I think if you just skim a couple of interview books and take a look at the stuff on here, you will have an idea of topics/questions, and putting together responses. Mabye bounce any more challenging questions off of people you know (ie if there is anything you think you may have to explain, because you want to avoid some tones in those responses.) then relax and trust yourself! If you are worried about things like adding verbal noises (uh, hmmm, ah, like) or nervous tendencies (fidgeting, hair twirling) you might want to talk to your school's career development office, which may be able to set up mock interviews and help with that sort of thing.

 

[NittanyKitty]

For my prep I've written up about two dozen flash cards with common interview questions such as "Why do you want to be a vet?", "Why this school?", "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?", "What are your opinions on _________ ethical/industry issue?", "Tell me about your research.", etc. I then jotted down a few bullet points on the backs for me to touch on during my answer. I'm not going to memorize word-for-word answers for each of these questions, but I do want to focus on getting together coherent responses that accurately reflect my views and experiences. When I'm asked these types of questions in the interview I hope that having at least seriously thought about them will help me relax and give an answer that I'm happy with. I know that there will be plenty of screwball and left-field questions that I haven't "prepared" or anticipated, but I have confidence that with a few seconds of thought and some deep breaths that I'll do okay on those too.

 

[Pandacinny]

For me, the hardest part about interviewing was coming up with a good answer quickly without a lot of "Ummm..."'s and "Welll..."'s. I wrote down a whole bunch of potential interview questions on index cards using some lists from here that people posted last year. I then handed out the index cards to friends and coworkers to sort of surprise interview me throughout the day. It really helped a lot. Like Sumstorm said, it wasn't about memorizing responses to issues/questions. My prep was mostly just to make sure I was in the interview frame of mind.

 

[turnandburn]

I used a book called "The Medical School Interview" by Jeremiah Fleenor, M.D. It's is written for premeds, but I though it was pretty applicable to the veterinary school application process as well.

Interview prep is not for everyone, but I found it very helpful to organize my thoughts ahead of time by outlining important points and topics I wanted to discuss during my interviews.

Good luck!

I second this book as well. Very useful information! Helps give you an inside look at the application/interview process. 👍

 

[gilch]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I am planning on having lists/flash cards of questions and working on my "umms," ect. I also plan to look up some specific industry stuff and current events. I think that I'll look at that book too.

 

[that70sfan11]

This may be a dumb question, but since I'm practicing interviewing, I probably need to know...

When we are interviewing, I know they are sitting down behind a table, but are we sitting down or standing up??
Or does it change for each school?

 

[bruinvetman]

Sitting down. I imagine standing up for the interview would feel very, very ackward.

 

[Willowhand]

Sit. Stay. Good applicant!

 

[twelvetigers]

Haha. Always sitting. Standing would probably be a pass-out-and-hit-your-head liability, right?

OKSU has you in a room with a table, three interviewers, and you on the opposite side. You get five cards with random topics on them and you pick one... don't even worry about those, just practice not getting flustered by dumb crap... and then you'll talk about your ambitions, why you, current events. They can't see your grades or GRE, just your app and PS and eLORs. No one plays hard ball - everyone is usually pretty nice.

I dunno about the other schools you've applied to, but I'm guessing they're very similar except what they can/can't see, and the cards.

 

[Pouches Rock]

Other than going over practice questions, I read a few books that explored topics that I wasn't as comfortable speaking about. I felt that I could easily discuss my own experiences and abilities but I wanted to get some information about the veterinary community and it's perspective.

I read books about all of the different types of careers that are possible with a DVM, I read issues of veterinary magazines and I read some books on veterinary ethics. In particular I read An Introduction to Veterinary Medical Ethics: Theories and Cases by Bernard Rollins.

 

[that70sfan11]

yeah I don't know why I thought it might be standing.

I think because I'm used to auditioning for plays, where we always stand to deliver monologues (obviously)

My mom just said I watch too much American Idol 🙄

anyway thanks! sitting is a million times less awkward

 

[BlacKAT33]

VMCRVM is doing the multiple mini interviews this year (tests your "soft skills" like listening, leadership, communication, ethical views, critical thinking). I know there was a thread from about 9 months ago on this. But Im still freaking out about one thing.

So, you go into one room with a scenario and take part in the "scene". Lets say the scenario had to do with a problem (but you obviously have no clue what the interviewer is looking for in this room). My biggest fear is what if I cant tell if they are testing my leadership skills or listening/team player skills. Do you sit back and listen and answer as a team player? Or do you confront the problem and act like a leader??? I hope they have some way of working this out, because Im so afraid I'll try to do one or the other and not know which Im being tested on... and they are complete opposites!!

I know VMCRVM is underrepresented on SDN so I hope some other people actually know what Im talking about so I can get some feedback 😀

 

[sumstorm]

So, you go into one room with a scenario and take part in the "scene". Lets say the scenario had to do with a problem (but you obviously have no clue what the interviewer is looking for in this room). My biggest fear is what if I cant tell if they are testing my leadership skills or listening/team player skills. Do you sit back and listen and answer as a team player? Or do you confront the problem and act like a leader??? I hope they have some way of working this out, because Im so afraid I'll try to do one or the other and not know which Im being tested on... and they are complete opposites!!

I know VMCRVM is underrepresented on SDN so I hope some other people actually know what Im talking about so I can get some feedback 😀

I can't help with VMCRVM but most of these situations aren't mutually exclusive. IE great leaders are still team players and listen. The objective generally isn't to 'lead the team to a conclusion' but rather to 'utilize the skills of the team to formulate a plan.' I think it is more important to stay alert, play nicely, listen, draw the information together to make suggestions and guide the process, than to worry about 'who' is the leader vs. team member.

 

[lunajett]

One tip I've heard that makes a lot of sense is to spend some time researching that actual school. Obviously, we all did before we applied, but do more now. Your interviewers will likely be profs/researchers at that school, so investigate the website and see what research they have going on so you can comment intelligently if asked. What are the school's strengths, why would you want to go there? What's their policy on animal use and are you comfortable with it?

My first interview is the end of this month, and I don't know if they will tell us beforehand who we are meeting with - anybody know that? If they do, I will also do some quick research on them to see if I can get a feel for their interests, philosophies, what they might ask me.

Of course, review your VMCAS/supplemental thoroughly. This is what they will be going from, so I would expect a lot of questions from that. Be prepared to talk about what you did at each experience, what you learned, etc. I've heard they look for any areas that might be slightly fudged, so if you hem and haw when they ask you about your 200 hours exotics experience from four summers ago, that would be a bad thing.

There are lots of lists online and here that list questions people have been asked, so I don't think you need to buy a book. And most people seem to say they ended up way overpreparing, that it was very low-key, casual, no where near as hard as they expected.