UCBSO interviews

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the 2nd round of invites i think came today jan. 12 at 11:30am. i got an interview!!! 🙂 see you all on the 27th.
 
diirooz said:
Hey princess, I was wondering, do you have any pre-req's that berkeley requires still left to complete?
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yes i still need the last ochem (which ive been putting off forever) and mammalian physiology lab since our school's labs and lectures are offered independently
 
I'll be there with you guys as well...I'm so excited I can't wait!
 
Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum too. Just wanted to say I will be joining you at Berkeley on the 27th. I am coming from Toronto, Canada and have never been to Cali. From reading other posts on the forum I understand that there are going to be 80 + people at the interview. If anyone know what interesting sights there are to see let me know because I am coming a day early to check it out!
 
Where did you see that 80 people were selected for interviews? If so, this is good news considering there are 60 spots. The odds seem pretty good, if so. I expected there would be at least 120 being interviewed. Can someone confirm?
 
j-dawg said:
Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum too. Just wanted to say I will be joining you at Berkeley on the 27th. I am coming from Toronto, Canada and have never been to Cali. From reading other posts on the forum I understand that there are going to be 80 + people at the interview. If anyone know what interesting sights there are to see let me know because I am coming a day early to check it out!
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j-dawg..if this is the first time you're coming to the Bay area, you almost have to check out the touristy hot spots..like the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf in SF!! =)
 
just wondering how many other canadians are going to be down there?
my vancouver self is looking forward to the california sunshine 🙂
 
i heard from a friend of a friend that goes to berke optometry that berke gives automatic acceptances to some students whom don't even need to interview. is this true?? i don't know how it'll work this year, but he said that typically about 60 people are interviewed for the how many spots left after those automatic acceptances... i guess the odds are still good?? 🙄
 
yes berkeley does give automatic acceptances
 
Berkeley admissions said that they are not doing early acceptance or automatic admission this year. They have one interview day, and will accept from that pool of applicants.
 
Are you apart of the Pre-Optometry Club on campus? It's been really helpful for me.
 
I'm pretty sure they don't give automatic acceptances without an interview anymore. They no longer have any part of the process under rolling admissions. Before, they would pre-accept about 30 students and then interview 70 students. This what I was told by a current 2nd year opt student at Berkeley.
 
Thanks to all of you for this discussion! I will be there the 27th (representing SDSU) with my game face on! Princess, thanks for starting this discussion, and good luck to all of you!
 
Good luck everyone! There will be over 100 people interviewing for 60 spots according to the admissions director, and there are no early acceptances. It will be pretty crowded because over 100 students are volunteering for the event. I won't be there this year because I'll be spending time with my husband.

Rosanna

P.S. I wrote a small "what to do in the East Bay" for a underclassman a few years ago - if anyone is interested at looking at it to get some ideas what to do after/before the interview day, e-mail me since it's too long for me to post here.
 
Rosanna said:
Good luck everyone! There will be over 100 people interviewing for 60 spots according to the admissions director, and there are no early acceptances. It will be pretty crowded because over 100 students are volunteering for the event. I won't be there this year because I'll be spending time with my husband.

Rosanna

P.S. I wrote a small "what to do in the East Bay" for a underclassman a few years ago - if anyone is interested at looking at it to get some ideas what to do after/before the interview day, e-mail me since it's too long for me to post here.
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SOOOO how did it go everyone????? =)
 
Squint said:
how was it for you ??
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i thought it went ok..it was pretty chill so it's quite unexpected how it actually went. i'm just glad it's over. now i have one more to conquer and i think it's the hardest of all...
as far as questions..they asked me why optom (of course)..what about me stands out (which i totally boffed my answer)..what i like to do for fun..& i think that's about it....
like i said, it was sooo chill; nice yes, but muy unpredictable.
 
I was in group yellow... and I thought the interview process was great. Very laid back.
 
Hi everyone

So the interview is all over! Yay!

Just wondering, did anyone here have a full 45 minute interview? Mine lasted for a short time only, and I am a little concerned that they are unable to judge my character from that short period of time.
 
GO yellow...My interview was only 30 min. I was not sure how the interviewers felt about me. They were very hard to read.

I hate the waiting game.
 
My interview was about 40-45 minutes. I think it also depends on which faculty was your interviewer and if they spoke a lot. So no worries, I am sure you did just fine. aahhhh i hope we can all see eachother in april. 😀
 
Looking back on it, I think I rambled on and on with my answers.
 
Optomoman said:
Looking back on it, I think I rambled on and on with my answers.
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hey optomoman, i so feel ya!!! (we met, i'm .. princess's friend who toured the campus in the same group as you.. and sadly i wasn't in the "blue" group with you guys) but yeah, i rambled on and on to the point where i wasn't sure if i even made sense! my interview lasted ~ 40-45 minutes. i think i was TOO myself during the interview that by the end, the interviewer was like.... thank you for making our first interview VERY interesting..... whooppeee 😎
 
Hey guys! I'm just glad the interview is over with because I've been pretty nervous about it for weeks. Some of my questions were: Contribution to UCB? Challenges faced? Why UCB? How much optometry experience? so yea, not too bad.

It was kinda cool bumping into some of you, like Mai, Christina, and Holly (go blue group!)..you guys are super sweet.. take care and keep me updated with your plans!
 
i dont know which is worst..rambling on for 45 mins or finishing 25 mins sooner than the time given...the interview went well and i felt good coming out until i got to the student lounge and saw that my interview only took 20 mins! that could either be really good or really bad so im keeping my fingers crossed.
 
KHJ said:
Hi everyone

So the interview is all over! Yay!

Just wondering, did anyone here have a full 45 minute interview? Mine lasted for a short time only, and I am a little concerned that they are unable to judge my character from that short period of time.
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I was in yellow! Really sucked having the interview last, but I think they empathized with us and I had a very conversational interview. My friend in the blue group (2nd interviewed) said he just got grilled question after question, all the standard questions. I didn't have any of those standard questions except for "Why Berkeley? What makes you a good candidate for Berkeley? Why not ophthalmology?" Everything else was just, "Tell me more about _____" (something in the essay or extracurrics).

But my interview was 50 minutes!! My interviewers talked a lot though, even with each other. I even got in a bit late since they talked a lot with the previous interviewee too. Like, the optometry student would say to the professor, "Oh, Dr. ____ does that too" and then they'd talk about this guy for half a minute and I'm just sitting there like, "Umm...ok..." That was kinda funny haha.

I felt like it wasn't too bad overall though. I got tripped up on 2-3 questions at SCCO, but I only tripped on one question for Berkeley.

The day was so long though. I was almost falling asleep during the student panel and mock class, even though both of them were really interesting. I was just tired already...
 
princesspinknes said:
ahhh no one got a request for updated grades?? i'm so stressing over this!!! =(
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they told us to bring the most recent unofficial transcripts which we turned in at the interview, right? so basically we all had to turn in updated grades...so nothing to worry about?
 
I wish I could give everyone feedback on my interview questions, but my mind is blacking out that whole block of time.. I can tell you that it lasted exactly 42 minutes though.

Hey Yvipine and Princess, thanks for hanging out with me at the beginning of the interview day (I was very awkward and nervous until we all started chatting).

I'll keep you posted... Keep me posted too!🙄
 
lucky112 said:
Hey guys! I'm just glad the interview is over with because I've been pretty nervous about it for weeks. Some of my questions were: Contribution to UCB? Challenges faced? Why UCB? How much optometry experience? so yea, not too bad.

It was kinda cool bumping into some of you, like Mai, Christina, and Holly (go blue group!)..you guys are super sweet.. take care and keep me updated with your plans!
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Wow I was not asked any of those questions! Did anyone else find this or am I the only one!?!
 
well my questions were all specific toward my file. they just asked me to elaborate on my experiences, researches, extracurriculars, and future optometric interests. and of course, why berkeley? pretty basic and expectable.
 
eye candy said:
Wow I was not asked any of those questions! Did anyone else find this or am I the only one!?!
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hmmm, eye candy, sounds like you're surprised at how easy my questions were? I dunno, I guess i got kinda lucky. Maybe that's why I call myself lucky112?? =P

I think the wierdest question I got asked was why I wore glasses to my interview..but she explained her reasons for asking that.
 
lucky112 said:
hmmm, eye candy, sounds like you're surprised at how easy my questions were? I dunno, I guess i got kinda lucky. Maybe that's why I call myself lucky112?? =P

I think the wierdest question I got asked was why I wore glasses to my interview..but she explained her reasons for asking that.
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i was barely asked anything..why optometry..& what about u stands out..i think those are the only ones that come to mind lol... iono if this is good or bad but we'll see...
 
eye candy said:
Wow I was not asked any of those questions! Did anyone else find this or am I the only one!?!
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I wasn't either, but I was in the last interview group (yellow) so I was thinking maybe they felt bad for us (or they were just tired of asking those questions). =P Mine was based mostly on my essays too, and when there was about to be an awkward silence, the student would ask me a couple of the standard canned questions ("how are you a good candidate for Berkeley?" etc).

My friend in the 2nd group (blue) got ALL those standard questions, everything you'd see on those list of possible interview questions all over the web. He was totally grilled...question after question...he had to talk so much that he needed to drink water 3 times during the interview. Haha...my mouth was dry by the end of the interview but I don't think it was nearly as bad as he had it.
 
Yes, I was asked a good number of general questions about extracurriculars and whatnot as well. I was also asked which science course I liked the least. I wanted to be honest and said Physics...DOH!.... :scared: I should have clarified and said First Semester Physics..where you learn about Pendulums and concepts that aren't as interesting as lens' and optics. I think that was the only interview mishap. other than that it lasted ~40 mins
 
Ma1 said:
Yes, I was asked a good number of general questions about extracurriculars and whatnot as well. I was also asked which science course I liked the least. I wanted to be honest and said Physics...DOH!.... :scared: I should have clarified and said First Semester Physics..where you learn about Pendulums and concepts that aren't as interesting as lens' and optics. I think that was the only interview mishap. other than that it lasted ~40 mins
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so it's hitting midway through february and still no responses

...waiting... ;P
 
I could not agree more! Let's hope they come out friday.
 
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