Status Post: Nailed

I think the interview went better than I could have hoped. The first thing they had us do was give our responses to a variety of different scenarios. I feel I did a good job at handling them. I went over my answers with my co-worker PA and she said that at her school (which is one of the top PA programs) I would have gotten high marks for my answers. Thank God that I actually have real medical experience behind me because that's exactly where I got my answers from. Most of the situations have actually happened to me, so I think the answers sound realistic.

After we filled out the scenarios we had our interviews. I had mine with two faculty members. They asked the typical questions: why do you want to be a P.A., do you think you'll work while in school, what's your support system going to be? They laughed when I responded that working during school was a crazy thought. They agreed, and I think they were happy that I knew how intense PA school is.

One question that was a kick in the gut was, "So, what do you think about your academic performance in college?" AKA, why did your grades suck? Ugh, that was a fun question to field. I told them how I wasn't too happy with my grades in school, but that I don't think it was from a lack of effort. I don't know whether it's good to say, "I worked my butt off and still got lower grades than others in my study group." But it's the truth. I told them that my first year of college I really wasn't a science major and then sophomore and junior year I thought studying by myself was best, and didn't realize until senior year that group studying is the best for me. I pointed that that even though my grades looked the same senior year as other years, the classes were actually much, much hard. So in reality I did do better once I figured out how to study.

During the interview they also asked me about one of my letters of recommendation. Evidently the letter I got from my Derm-PA, whom I've known for years, guest lectures at that school. I had actually mentioned her earlier in the interview as being the spark that got me into medicine. I'm kind of happy that they actually read my letters of recommendation, and I'm kind of shocked that they even recognized her name. I didn't think they paid such close attention. They also willingly took my updated resume and letter of recommendation from my boss. They were reading it as I was walking out. Mission Accomplished.

I think they liked my answer for what my "support group" was going to be. I told them how in college my support group was my study group. That getting together with other students was therapy in itself. They seemed to agree with me that working with other students is an effective study method and that it's a good way to keep your sanity. My co-worker later told me that the school really pushes group study, so I guess I have good answers for that.

The last part of the interview they had us do a short critical thinking exercise, which I thought was a lot of fun. After we gave our own answers we then had to work in groups of 4 and do the exercise as a team. There was an admissions person present also taking notes as we worked together. I'm fairly sure they didn't care what our answers were and were more interested in seeing how we did in a group. They then compared our answers to see whether we did better individually or as a group and everyone did better as a group. I think I successfully stood out during it, as oppose to letting everyone else in the group do all the work. But at the same time I don't think I was at all confrontational, which I feel some of the people in the group were.

They said that they give their answers within 4 weeks. I've heard they actually give it within 3 weeks. Either way it looks like I'm not going to find out the results before my other interview. I would really prefer not to go to that interview because I don't want to go to that program, but at the same time I need to nail that interview in case I don't get into this school. Ugh