UCLA Interview or Americorps VISTA?

[John Durian]

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Hey all, I'm stuck in a sticky situation and would like your opinions.

So, I'm losing hope of getting accepted this cycle (4 pre-December interviews with no acceptances). I recently interviewed and was accepted for a 1-year Americorps position in the East Coast (I'm from California). In all honesty, I applied to this as a back up in case I didn't get in this cycle.

The problem is that the start date is mid-January. I was contacted for an interview at UCLA for late-January. There is no way to move/post-pone the Americorps start-date (I already asked) and it's very unlikely UCLA will allow me to reschedule the interview to an earlier date.

So it's choose one or the other. I would really like to go to the East Coast to help out for a year but I'm torn about the UCLA interview. TBH, I'm not sure I'm competitive enough for UCLA. I've been applying to tons of jobs here in Nor-Cal with no luck either. So it's kind of like.. should I take the slim chance of getting in at UCLA or going to a guaranteed full-time position helping the poor and reapplying next year?

Need your opinions! What would you do?

 

[UCLAzy]

ucla does not give out many interviews that they dont intend to follow up with acceptance [read: chances are kind of good you'll get in]

 

[bracedoc]

I Would definitely wait to hear from the schools And take your UCLA interview. You haven't been rejected yet from the other schools have you? It sounds like you are writing them off? The chances of you getting at least one acceptance out of four interviews is high... What happens if you get in and you have to tell them no? I'm not sure if they will even interview you next year.

Just be patient and wait to hear from the schools! Maybe practice on your interviewing skills before UCLA.

Good luck!

 

[gigawatt]

Exactly. An interview at UCLA is a golden opportunity that you absolutely should not turn down.

A career in dentistry is your primary goal here, while this Americorps deal is a nice fall-back but only a means to an end. It makes no sense whatsoever to turn down a more direct path to your goal.

Worse case scenario: you interview at UCLA but get rejected; the Americorps gig is lost. Big deal. You still have another year to get a job, improve your application, etc. Honestly, unless you interview incredibly badly, I would be surprised if UCLA rejects you after seeing you on paper and liking you enough to bring you in.

 

[gigawatt]

Actually, I just noticed that you've had some strong interview invitations at big schools like UCSF and Michigan. The fact that you haven't heard much good news back yet leads me to believe that you might not be the strongest interviewer. My advice would be to get a few mock interviews in before UCLA. Don't take any chances. Usually the people who interview poorly are embarrassed to go to a mock and would rather save themselves the awkwardness, but force yourself to do it. You WILL get better with even one or two of them.

 

[AtlantaBraves]

What exactly is Americorps? Also, are you on any waitlists?

 

[4thMolar]

As the others have mentioned, I would hands down take the interview at UCLA. While it is noble for you to serve at Americorps, dentistry is your primary goal, and opportunities for you to interview at dental schools is a lot less than you finding jobs, non-profit organizations, etc to work at. You never know what can happen, and if you don't take the opportunity to go to the UCLA interview, you'll always question your motives in the future and ask yourself "what if?".

 

[hoylematt]

Interview at UCLA.

What exactly is Americorps?

AmeriCorps members address critical needs in communities all across America. As an AmeriCorps member, you can:

• Tutor and mentor disadvantaged youth
• Fight illiteracy
• Improve health services
• Build affordable housing
• Teach computer skills
• Clean parks and streams
• Manage or operate after-school programs
• Help communities respond to disasters
• Build organizational capacity

It's a service organization that gives you an opportunity to provide community service, with the benefit of being able to apply some sort of stipend (round $5k) to future schooling, or student debt.

 

[John Durian]

Thanks guys and gals! I will interview at UCLA as suggested. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking "what if..." and it's just not something I want to look back and regret or wonder about...

As for the interviewing, I think I need a little more practice. Will get friends to help later this week. Thanks again, SDN'ers. Great feedback and help as always 🙂