I was just wondering for those of you that got accepted to optometry school how did the interviews go? What type of questions were asked and what was it like? Thanks!
I was just wondering for those of you that got accepted to optometry school how did the interviews go? What type of questions were asked and what was it like? Thanks!
Haha; this is a pretty broad question; what schools did you apply to? I have had interviews at NECO, PCO and SCOO so far (accepted to all 🙂 woo hoo!) and they were each different. Neco was really laid back; just sort of a conversation between me and the guy... we talked about his research and why i hate research and why i think i would be a good optometrist and why i decided to pursue it. He had all my information in front of him; so he was able to ask about my F my first year of undergrad... and look at my lors and oat scores and what not.... at PCO i had a lady (pretty young) who basically ran down a list of questions she had to ask; it was closed file.. and they were all the same types; whats your definition of an optometrist; what do you see an optometrists role as being (she happened to agree with me on the no laser/primary eye care doc situation) ... pretty straightforward... at scco it was a professor and a student... they had essays i wrote but no grades/oat scores... and they also seemed to have a list of questions to ask; why do you want to be an opto... what is an opto.. what do you like about this school.. hobbies... stuff like that
i would say the one on one interviews are easier; just cause you can have a flow of conversation going on; and also you can kinda get a vibe for what they think of you (both my one on one people said they were pretty sure i would be getting in and i had nothing to worry about ) whereas the small panel makes it feel more formal; harder to joke and have a real conversation... good luck!
Thanks for the info! I am not applying till next year and was just curious on what to expect. I will probably be applying to pacific, SCCO and Berk. Thanks.
I also used that list of questions to prepare and I did great at all my interviews except SCO (Memphis). I also had pre-health committee interviews at my undergrad which helped prepare me. I was accepted to IU, SUNY, PCO, and UAB. SCO was the worst interview I had; it may have been b/c I did not want to go there. The hardest question I had was "have you considered any other health care professions? if so what are they? if not, why not?" I stumbled because I had not considered the question and I was trying to figure out their reason for asking it instead of just answering. I heard others complaining about the interviewers firing questions at them but my interviews seemed more like conversations even at SUNY. I guess that is the difference in being prepared and not being prepared. In order to prepare you should start by knowing how to answer all the questions at the link above and by practicing with your prehealth advisor. Oh yeah consider studying alot for the OAT. I bought the TopScore CD, which I did not like, and I bought the KAPLAN study materials. I did everything in the Kaplan study plan and I scored very well.