Interview Workshop Fall 2016

1. Health Professional School
Interview Workshop
MSU Preprofessional Advising Team
Janae Currington, M.Ed.
Mo Gerhardt, M.S.
Kate Thome, M.Ed.

2. Purpose of the Interview
 To get to know you beyond the numbers
 To assess your ability to interact with people
 To evaluate your maturity and motivation
 To set you apart from the rest
 To assess your fit with the program
 To answer your questions about the program
 Remember: YOU are interviewing the
schools as well!

3. Interviewing Styles
 1:1
 Panel
 Multiple Mini Interview (MSU College of Human Medicine,
MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, CMU College of Medicine & U of
Michigan Dental School)
 Behavior-Based
 Blind
 Partial Blind
 Open

4. “Typical” Interview Questions
 Tell me about yourself.
 Why do you want to be a _______?
 Why is our school a good fit for you?
 What are some concerns you have about this
program?
 Name three strengths and three weaknesses.

5. Healthcare Interview Questions
 What are some of the issues presently
confronting the field?
 Choose any ethical topic (abortion, genetics,
etc) and tell me what you think about it?
 What do you hope to gain from your
education?
 What are some disadvantages to becoming a
_________?
 If you had a patient addicted to narcotics
what would you do?
 What about this profession does not agree
with your personality?

6. Specific Questions to Application
 Why this school, when you live in _____?
 You don’t have a significant science background, how do you
think you’ll handle pharmacy school?
 How did you become interested in culinary arts/food and wine?
 You have a busy life, what do you do to relax?
 You’ve done a lot of volunteering, can you explain a difficult
situation you encountered while volunteering at _____ hospital?
 You were a restaurant manager, describe a particularly difficult
customer encounter?
 Do you see a connection between restaurant management and
being an occupational therapist?
 In your personal statement, you mentioned ________. Could you
tell me more about that?

7. Non-Traditional Applicant Questions
 You’ve been out of school for awhile, why
physical therapy school now? How do you
know?
 How do you know you won’t grow bored with
optometry as you have with other jobs?
 What triggered the change of careers?

8. “Random” Interview Questions
 If someone came in to the ER with ______
condition, what would be the first steps you would
consider taking?
 What interests do you have outside of school?
 How do you handle disappointment?
 Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
 If you could invite three people to dinner, (living or
dead) who would they be?
 If you don’t get in to your chosen field, what else
would you do?
 What does integrity mean to you?
 What is the last non-academic book you read?

9. Behavior-Based Interview Questions
 Give an example of a situation in which you have
developed and maintained a relationship with
someone else in spite of a differing point of view.
 Tell me about a time when you set your sights too
high, or too low.
 Tell me about a time when you were creative in
solving a problem.
 Tell me about at time when you had to balance
competing priorities and did so successfully.
 Describe a time in which you were forced to make
an unpopular decision.

10. Behavior-Based Interview Questions
 Give an example of a time when you were unable to
complete a project on time.
 Describe a time when you may have been
disappointed in your behavior.
 Tell me about a goal that you set that took a long
time to achieve, or one that you are still working
towards.
 Give an example of a time you anticipated potential
problems and developed preventative measures.
 Tell me about a situation where you had to be
persuasive and sell your ideas to someone else.

11. Topics to Know “Something” About
 Healthcare System (HMO, PPO, Single Payer,
etc)
 Current events related to healthcare
 Government efforts/reforms of healthcare
 Euthanasia
 Abortion
 AIDS
 Stem cell transplants/research
 Universal Healthcare
 Current Healthcare Legislation
 Current Events

12. Your Evaluation Criteria
 Curriculum
 Facilities
 Student Body
 Interdisciplinary/Extracurricular Activities
 Financial Aid
 Support & Administrative Services

13. Their Evaluation Criteria
 Motivation
 Professionalism
 Knowledge of health care field
 Adaptability
 Maturity
 Communication skills
 Consistency
Your interview begins when you drive on
campus & ends when you drive off!!

14. Proper Interview Attire
People who wear men’s clothes
 Suit and tie
 Dress shoes
 Conservative colors
 Well-groomed
 Minimal or no cologne
People who wear women’s clothes
 Suit (skirt or pants)
 Pantyhose/stockings
 Button-down shirt
 Conservative dress shoes (not open-toed)
 Appropriate Makeup/ Jewelry
 Minimal or no cologne/perfume
 Professional bag/coat

15. Reminders
 Ask questions
 Re-read your personal statement and supplemental
application
 Make eye contact
 Turn your cell phone off
 Take a minute to think about your answer
 Answer the question that was asked
 Be honest and upfront about your knowledge (or
lack of knowledge)
 Be yourself
 Be on time, if not early
 Write thank-you notes

16. Preparing for the Interview
 Have “real” conversations with others
 List your strengths & weaknesses on paper.
 Get familiar with the school
 Prepare a list of questions that are not blatantly
obvious on the website

17. Day of Interview
 Eat breakfast
 Plan extra time to get to the school, have a
campus map to be sure you get to the correct
building
 Aspects of the Day typically include:
 Actual Interview
 Financial Aid information
 Campus Tour by current students

18. Day of Interview – MI Medical School
Specifics
 MSU COM
*Welcome to MSUCOM
*MMI Interview – 6 domains (stations) 10
minutes each
*1:1 verbal station– 10 minutes

19. Day of Interview – MI Medical School
Specifics - continued
 MSU CHM
*1:1 with a med student – 30 minutes
*Multiple Mini Interviews – 8 minutes at each of
8 stations
*Partial blind – Have access to personal
statement, AMCAS experiences, and secondary
essays but NO numbers.

20. Day of Interview – MI Medical School
Specifics - continued
 OU – William Beaumont
*2 interviews – 25-30 minutes each
*1:1 with faculty/staff member & a physician
*Partial blind – Have access to personal
statement, AMCAS experiences, and
secondary essays but NO numbers.

21. Day of Interview – MI Medical School
Specifics - continued
 U of M
*24 Hours in Blue
*6 MMI – 1 hour total
*2 long form interviews – 30 minutes each
*1:1 with faculty members and med students
*Open – have access to entire file

22. Day of Interview – MI Medical School
Specifics - continued
 WSU
*1:1 with admission committee member, but may
also have med student participate – 30-60
minutes
*MMI – 5 minutes at 5 stations
*Open – have access to entire file

23. Day of Interview – MI Medical School
Specifics - continued
 CMU -
*Multiple Mini Interviews – 8-10 stations
10 minutes each, one station is an
expanded 30 minute interview
*Blind – Have NO access to personal
statement, AMCAS experiences, secondary
essays or numbers.

24. Day of Interview – MI Medical School
Specifics - continued
 WMU-
*One Day
*2 “MMI-ish” Interviews – 14 minutes each with 2
questions per station, with a 1 minute rest in
between
*1:1 Interview with faculty member
*Open – have access to entire file

25. Day of Interview – MI Dental School
Specifics
 U of M
*Multiple Mini Interviews – 5 minutes at each of
10 stations
*Blind – no prior info available to interviewer
 U of Detroit Mercy
*1 interview – 60 minutes
*1:1 – notified in advance who interviewer will be
*Open – have access to entire file

26. Interview Tips for the Future
 Budgeting, start saving now
 Clothes, travel expenses
 Schedule enough travel time
 Be aware you might be missing classes to attend
interviews, communicate with professors
 Take advantage of orientation programs at
schools

27. Other Considerations
 Letter Writers – Keep them updated on your
progress --- they WANT to know!
 Oct 15th
– earliest acceptance date for MD
schools
 May 15th
– last date to hold multiple
acceptances
 Deposits – typically refundable but check
deadline dates

28. Questions? Seek us out!
CNS Preprofessional Advisors
 Janae Currington, M.Ed., curringt@msu.edu
 Mo Gerhardt, M.S., gerhard4@msu.edu
 Kate Thome, M.Ed., thomekat@msu.edu
Compliments to Candice Eisenhauer, University of Illinois –Chicago, for sharing
the framework for this presentation at CAAHP Conference, April 2009.