Interviews....this is the doorway to the rest of your life!! Do not take it for granted!! Make sure you prepare, not only mentally but physically too. The importance of knowing the program that you are interviewing at and the mission of that particular program are paramount. But so it the way you present yourself. Professionalism and confidence can mean the difference between a successful interview leading to acceptance and reapplying the next cycle.
Dress appropriately!! Ladies, wear a suit!! It does not have to be an expensive chanel suit but look put together. It could even be a modified "suit" with a sweater in place of a jacket, or a nice skirt and blouse or the classic pantsuit, as long as you look the part that you intend to display. Do not wear anything to tight or short or revealing. That will not score points! Regardless of what you decide to wear for your interview apparel, keep in mind that the small investment of a decent suit will pay itself off over time, especially if you have more than one interview to go to. Also remember that you will use it many times for such things as professional meetings, day to day wear (get some mix and match pieces) while in school, graduation, job interviews etc...you can't go wrong with classics so avoid the trendy suits that will look all wrong next season! Guys, same thing for you! Go classic! You will also use your new wardrobe over and over again. I am a firm believer that if you dress professionally, and you feel good about how you look and how looking good makes you feel more confident, then you portray that image to others and they tend to look at you in that same light, as a professional. And this is definitely what you want! Show confidence in yourself so the interviewers can feel your confidence without feeling you are being cocky, check that at the door! I don't think I need to mention it but clean underwear! :) Didn't your momma tell you this??? You just never know, so be prepared!
Personal appearance, Don't try new things! Don't change your hairstyle the day before the interview, you may find it hard to style, or you may find that you are pushing it back off your face or fiddling with it during the interview. Stay with the tried and true, or if you feel the need to change it up...give it a week to get used to it, in other words, do it way ahead of time rather than right before the interview. Same with your make-up. Do not try out that new blush or eyeliner on the day of...you don't know if it smears or runs etc. Go with what you know!
For the guys, here is something I always found funny! If you decide you need to shave off that facial hair before the interview, then do it wayyy before the actual day. Have you noticed the difference in skin color when you shave, you have the nice tanned areas that are always exposed and then you have the pasty chalky looking skin where there was recently facial fuzz! Please do it before the interview, at least a week ahead of time to avoid the "Look! I just shaved" look. This is also helpful if you are one of those that tends to get irritation and rash from shaving after having not done so for a while.
It's just these little things that you should think about beforehand.
Remember that you are playing to the adcomm people. Even though we all love to think that others will embrace our individuality and our uniqueness, the committee really has their own idea of who they feel will make up a good class and they think in those terms. "Will this guy fit into the class and become a good team player?" "Will this girl fill the slot that we have open and make the class complete?" "Will this guy's distracting hair distract the class during lectures?" I know it is not exactly the idealistic reasoning that we like to think with regard to our own individuality, but it is reality. You need to "fit" the program just as much as you want the program to go to a school that "fits" you.
So while you are there at the school interviewing, make sure you also interview the school by asking questions, being very observant and exploring the grounds and surrounding areas. If you get the chance to talk to current students, take advantage of it! use all the resources you have to research everything about the program and the school it is attached to.
Hope these little words of wisdom helps you get through the interview successfully!!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The waiting nearly killed me!!
The whole process of applying to PA school and then waiting to see the note in CASPA that your application is mailed is tough!! Then once it is mailed, the wait continues! and then continues even more hoping to hear that you have an interview. And it doesn't stop there...more waiting to find out the results of that interview, accepted, provisionally accepted, wait-listed, alternate, or rejected. Grrrr!!!! (that's a growl!)
But the time spent between the mailing to the long awaited call or email for an interview can be excruciating! I submitted my CASPA application on the 1 of Oct, which in reality is quite late in the process. Had I applied to more than one program, this would have been past the deadline for some schools. Luckily, for the Nova program, I was still in time. As I mentioned in a previous post I did get a call from the program!! It was about a month after they received my completed app. I remember the day...I had taken off work early to pick up my niece for an appointment. We had just returned to the car and were pulling out of the parking lot when I looked at my ringing phone. I had saved the main number for Nova in my phone months before so I knew it was the school calling. Yes, I was that neurotic! I saved the number so I was sure not to miss it! I turned to my niece who is 17 and knew of my stress and desire to get into this program. "OMG!!! Its the school for the PA program!!!" She said "Answer it!!!" I did, but the news was that I was missing the appropriate LOR and could not move forward without it. And so, I was scrambling to get that done. Again...once completed I waited some more.
Christmas came and went. I had finished my EMT-B class and took my National Registry exam, passed with flying colors. The exam was incredibly easy. And with it I was able to volunteer in the ER where I could not before. I briefly looked into getting a paid job but soon found that the county fire dept. would not hire unless you continued on into fire standards etc...and I was not interested in running into any burning buildings! For me that is a one way street...OUT!
Finally just after the new year, on January 7th I got the call for an interview! YAY!!! When asked what day was good for me, I asked "when is the first day you have available?" I was local so I did not have to make arraignments. So I was sent up to be there on January 12th, just five days later. Well at least with just five days, the wait here was not to bad!!
I arrived early to the interview and chatted with the other two people there. It seemed odd to me that neither was particularly excited. I was thrilled and I know that the energy was completely surrounding me. After a bit of conversation, I found out the other two were not really interested in the program but decided to come to the interview for "practice." This is an interesting concept but not one that I would have done! One girl said this was her 10th interview...that is a lot of practice! I wonder if it paid off! :)
I thought the interview went well...but you really never know in these situations. I was quite confidant that the interviewers liked me but I wasn't sure they they liked me any more than all the others who had interviewed. And so the waiting began again. I will go into the interview in another post.
The admission coordinator assured me that I would hear back either way in about 2 weeks. The committee was scheduled to meet and review the latest round of interviews in that two week time frame. I was also asked at this time to send in any new transcripts which would show my previously listed in-progress classes as complete with grades. I did this immediately!!
Right around the two week mark I got a call!! But it was not an acceptance. My file was pulled from the committee meeting; they would not be reviewing it this time around. Mercy! Could anything else hinder the process???? There was a question about some classes taken a long long time ago in Europe. Frantic phone calls and emails ensued! The calls to Europe had to be done very earlier in the morning due to the time difference and finally I had the course descriptions from the early 80s...20 years ago! Done! Signed sealed and delivered! And I was in review!
Finally, on February 4th, almost a month later, I received the call!! Yay! I was in! The Director said, Hello Maria, I hope I am about to make your day!" to which I responded, "I hope you are about to make my year!!" And he did!!
Dont think that the waiting stops...You still have to receive the "official" acceptance latter and further instructions and sooo many more things need to happen before everything is official!! But that is for another day, another post!
But the time spent between the mailing to the long awaited call or email for an interview can be excruciating! I submitted my CASPA application on the 1 of Oct, which in reality is quite late in the process. Had I applied to more than one program, this would have been past the deadline for some schools. Luckily, for the Nova program, I was still in time. As I mentioned in a previous post I did get a call from the program!! It was about a month after they received my completed app. I remember the day...I had taken off work early to pick up my niece for an appointment. We had just returned to the car and were pulling out of the parking lot when I looked at my ringing phone. I had saved the main number for Nova in my phone months before so I knew it was the school calling. Yes, I was that neurotic! I saved the number so I was sure not to miss it! I turned to my niece who is 17 and knew of my stress and desire to get into this program. "OMG!!! Its the school for the PA program!!!" She said "Answer it!!!" I did, but the news was that I was missing the appropriate LOR and could not move forward without it. And so, I was scrambling to get that done. Again...once completed I waited some more.
Christmas came and went. I had finished my EMT-B class and took my National Registry exam, passed with flying colors. The exam was incredibly easy. And with it I was able to volunteer in the ER where I could not before. I briefly looked into getting a paid job but soon found that the county fire dept. would not hire unless you continued on into fire standards etc...and I was not interested in running into any burning buildings! For me that is a one way street...OUT!
Finally just after the new year, on January 7th I got the call for an interview! YAY!!! When asked what day was good for me, I asked "when is the first day you have available?" I was local so I did not have to make arraignments. So I was sent up to be there on January 12th, just five days later. Well at least with just five days, the wait here was not to bad!!
I arrived early to the interview and chatted with the other two people there. It seemed odd to me that neither was particularly excited. I was thrilled and I know that the energy was completely surrounding me. After a bit of conversation, I found out the other two were not really interested in the program but decided to come to the interview for "practice." This is an interesting concept but not one that I would have done! One girl said this was her 10th interview...that is a lot of practice! I wonder if it paid off! :)
I thought the interview went well...but you really never know in these situations. I was quite confidant that the interviewers liked me but I wasn't sure they they liked me any more than all the others who had interviewed. And so the waiting began again. I will go into the interview in another post.
The admission coordinator assured me that I would hear back either way in about 2 weeks. The committee was scheduled to meet and review the latest round of interviews in that two week time frame. I was also asked at this time to send in any new transcripts which would show my previously listed in-progress classes as complete with grades. I did this immediately!!
Right around the two week mark I got a call!! But it was not an acceptance. My file was pulled from the committee meeting; they would not be reviewing it this time around. Mercy! Could anything else hinder the process???? There was a question about some classes taken a long long time ago in Europe. Frantic phone calls and emails ensued! The calls to Europe had to be done very earlier in the morning due to the time difference and finally I had the course descriptions from the early 80s...20 years ago! Done! Signed sealed and delivered! And I was in review!
Finally, on February 4th, almost a month later, I received the call!! Yay! I was in! The Director said, Hello Maria, I hope I am about to make your day!" to which I responded, "I hope you are about to make my year!!" And he did!!
Dont think that the waiting stops...You still have to receive the "official" acceptance latter and further instructions and sooo many more things need to happen before everything is official!! But that is for another day, another post!
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