All right. Getting an interview is among the most exciting feelings in the world, I will admit. Nonetheless, I would like to put out there to anyone who has yet to have one, it's can be really hard to anticipate what's to come.
I went to an interview last year and the entire process of interviewing was kept very under wraps until we arrived: rotating group interviews. Woop.
I interviewed in the first time slot of the morning with my number one profressor of interest at that school. I sat with two strange girls who were terribly underprepared (one was socially very awkward and had a very messy sneeze in front of all the candidates during a presentation earlier in the morning, and the other has just moved to the U.S. and didn't understand most of the questions being asked of her). The professor clearly had no prepared questions. He made stuff up as he went and it became clear to me that he had some odd orientations regarding clincial training and some pointed opinions in terms of the work he has done. His previous research was not representative of his current leanings- in fact, I'm still not all that sure what he was reasearching.
He asked us what kind of work we'd been doing, and I supplied information about the children's mental health clinic that works in multidisciplinary teams, including a child psychiatrist and a behavioral pediatrician, and he said coldly, while rifling through papers that I could only assume were my resume and statement,
"Hon, it's not your fault that you work with the people you do. You just work with them..."
I was disgustingly insulted by his tone and insinuation, and can only imagine that he was directing his comments at my work with professionals who prescribe medication. I calmly acknowledged his skepticism, but defended my work rather intelligently. At that moment, however, my heart sank knowing that I'd traveled across the country to interview with some bozo, who I could never really have anticpated was such a bozo until I met him in person.
Some of his questions were:
"You have two parents who deal with a difficult child for many years, and then when the problems get better, the parents divorce. Why do you think this happens?"
"You have a little boy who isn't getting along with the kids in his class, what do you do?
I mean, I'm all for creativity in interviewing, but I just felt like I'd walked into a trap. He was looking for specific answers, but gave really no indication what they were.
Oh, and my favorite question he asked was,
"Who do you like more, Dr. Phil or the Super Nanny?"
I said Super Nanny. He agreed, but at that point in the interview, I wasn't really feeling like impressing him because I knew it was an awful fit that never would have worked.
I hope everyone has better interview experiences this year than I did with this guy!
Show up at a soup kitchen and serve food, be creative - call your local YMCA or local hospitals to see if they need help. You could help distribute toys or read books to children. You could spend time at nursing homes. This is important. For humanities sake, they want to see your dedication to the field because once you are in a program, it becomes encompassing.
