Hi I'm wondering who has experienced these school interviews can give me tips, especially what each school is focusing on. I've been looking through some of the previous threads about each school, but a fresh post doesn't hurt
😀. I've also looked at the SDN feedback for those schools.
I only got a good idea of the interview from NECO from this post of OptomHope
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10430698&postcount=12
As I'm applying from Canada, if anyone knows if any of the schools have certain specifics they are looking for from students not from the states?
Thought some background info would be appropriate: 3.0-3.1 cGPA 360 TS 350 AA since I hear suny focuses on weaknesses.
Thanks
First off, use this instead of just forum posts to prioritize your interview prep:
http://www.studentdoctor.net/schools/?view=optometry
With this site I made a Word document with my potential responses so that they were fresh in my mind come interview day. I highly suggest this.
I only interviewed at these three schools (and declined all 4 other interview invitations) so I felt compelled to respond to you and see if my experiences with these particular interviews could help. The whole process seemed daunting and now that I'm through it I'm happy to share my two cents.
NECO:
- NECO's website states that they are looking to accept caring and compassionate Optometrists, so maybe focus on showing how you will be one through your shadowing experiences, etc. I personally talked a lot about my VOSH experiences and hoe they changed me as an individual.
- You are interviewed by a student as well as a faculty member. Hope that you get the student first because I felt having the student first was a good 'warmup' for when you were talking with the faculty member and anything you forget to mention with the student you can focus on with the faculty member. Both of these are
closed-file.
- You are asked questions from a sheet of paper and some of them were more generic than the questions from the other schools; such as "What do you think is something you'd like to highlight about yourself". I mentioned being Captain of a division one sports team and leadership, but I'm sure anything you personally tailor towards yourself will work. Also, since it's closed-file you will have an opportunity to "explain" any "poor marks" or other things as well. Again, use sample questions from the site I linked to above.
- Something to note also: You are Canadian and I think that's helpful for NECO. 75% of the interview group that I interviewed with was from Canada! The admissions director used to actually live there as well and you will definitely be able to use that to your advantage.
SUNY:
- SUNY
will focus on your weak points more than your strengths, this is just how their interview works. They give off a different vibe than the other two schools who try to show what they can offer to you, but SUNY was more geared towards seeing what
you can offer
them. It is definitely a fantastic program and the in-state tuition is a
total selling-point, not to mention being directly in NYC!
- First thing you do is write a one-page essay about a specific prompt for twenty minutes. Mine was: "If you had no limit on resources or time, what would you do
tomorrow...?". I wrote about a potential future VOSH trip and I thought it was pretty creative.
- I had two interviewers and I'll be honest that most of the interview I spent answering their questions which I thought was good. Only a fifth of the time I spent in there was more or less them trying to point out weaknesses. This interview is
open-file, meaning they have all of your materials right at their disposal the entire interview. One thing I wish I had done was ask more questions at the end, but I asked a bunch
during the interview. In other words I wish I had saved them for when the woman looked at me as if she wanted me to ask more questions even though I'd used them up!
- In
your specific case I am definitely going to say they'll pick at your GPA, but not your OAT. I had a slightly higher GPA but I attend a very competitive private liberal arts college and they noted that they knew it was very competitive and could see that strong %'ile scores on the OAT in subjects I didn't do as well in on my transcript was an indication of that. I had
one poor score on an OAT section and the response of mine that I was not going to spend another $400 to take the OAT again for one section I made a mistake in the computer testing program for and ran out of time was a big turn-off for them, as one could see from the interviewer's body language. Just have a good response to their questions about potential weaknesses and gear it towards how you'll succeed
at SUNY and you'll do great!
- The students here were very welcoming, other than my tour-guide who was a very quiet young girl. People in the elevator (which you'll realize you'll use a
lot if you attend there!) were saying "come here! it's great!". The professors we walked into a classroom to see "in action" were also very positive about the school.
PCO:
- I had my interview at PCO with the director of admissions who I connected with immediately and got along with greatly. This interview is a
closed-file interview, which in my mind alleviates the stress and allows
you to highlight your personal positives and explain negatives coming from
your perspective with them being un-biased going into the interview. He was very charismatic and the whole interview felt more like an enjoyable conversation between two people who shared a passion for something.
- In this interview you will basically be asked the questions on the link I provided. Since it's closed-file you will also have an opportunity to "explain" any "poor marks" or other things as well. Once you finish the main interview you are sent in to see an admissions counselor who goes over your file to ensure that everything is complete, and will possibly ask you questions about scores/gpa/classes.
- The students at this school looked very motivated and could not stop talking about positive points of the school. My two tourguides were very well put-together individuals and were very impressive. I did see my fair share of exhausted first-year students at the cafeteria, students who must be dealing with the front-loaded coursework that exists in order to obtain 3 months of extra externships (worth it in my mind).
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All in all, best of luck with them and if you have any more specific questions please feel free to send me a PM!
