I always thought advice was cheap, until I started getting advice from current PA students on how to train for the marathon that is PA school. Below are some tips culled over the months from current PA students and students who have been accepted to their schools of choice, on how to prepare for the interview.
Different people need to prepare differently. Preparation, like many other things, is something that nobody can teach you how to do well, and so when you’re getting ready for your PA interviews, look back on your work and school history for clues. When do you feel the most prepared for an essay exam or oral presentation? Is it when you’ve memorized every line of the textbook, or when you know the material so well that you can explain it in your own words? I know myself, and I definitely fall in the latter camp. I knew that if I over-prepared, I would sound like I was at the Regional Spelling Bee, and nobody wants to hear canned answers that sound like you’ve been reciting them to your dog, mirror, and shower curtain for two months straight.
1. Before the interview, get excited about being a PA, and get excited about attending that school! Find as many current students at that program as you can (incidentally, this forum is an excellent resource for that line of inquiry) and ask them all your questions, from the silly to the practical. What do they do for fun? What’s a typical day like? What kinds of patients and illnesses do they encounter on their rotations in that region? Do they find they get a lot of hands-on experience? Are they prepared for the PANCE? Are the PowerPoints and lectures posted online? What surprised them about that program when they started? Are there cliques? Is it easy to make study groups? How accessible are the professors? Hopefully, the answers you get will make you really want to attend that program, and it will be clear to the interviewers if you really do see yourself as a good fit for their program.
2. Think of stories that genuinely excite you, things you’ve seen, interactions you’ve had and places you’ve visited that reveal the curious, caring, compassionate, thoughtful clinician in you. Find out what format the interview will be conducted in. If you know the admissions committee typically asks about ethical issues or health care reform, perhaps read about the types of ethical issues you’ll face as a clinician, the AMA’s official stance on these issues and its reasoning. Think about the problems you’ve seen patients encounter in the clinic, and how those revealed the larger problems of health care. Nobody expects you to be an expert policy maker, but at least consider how patients may benefit or not benefit from the Affordable Care Act.
3. If you do not know much about the Affordable Care Act, read up on the reforms and consider how these issues affect you personally. How will the reforms affect you as a clinician? How will they affect your patients? That will at least give your talking points a personal bent. If the interviewers ask your opinion of a policy or ethical dilemma, slow down, and keep in mind there are policies in place at every hospital you’ll ever work at, and they’re usually in place for a reason. For example, you may feel very strongly that a mother should be allowed to sleep in the same hospital bed as her hospitalized son. But consider why there is a no-bed-sharing policy. Perhaps the hospital is trying to curtail the spread of infections.
4. A typical question is, “Why PA?” or “What is a PA?” The strongest applicants I’ve seen in my group interviews have had stories from their own clinical experiences prepared. Rather than saying, “The PA and the supervising physician can have lots of face-to-face contact or not much at all,” you could instead say, “When I worked at X clinic, I saw that PA Joe had a lot of face-to-face contact with his supervising physician, but when I volunteered at Y clinic, I saw that PA Mary only spoke to her supervising physician by phone.” This sounds much more sincere – it is much more sincere – because it’s personal.
5. One last thing: if you don’t know the answer to something, tell them you do not know! Really. Do not be ashamed. Being able to admit to mistakes, and, more importantly, being able to admit that you don’t know something, is one of the most important traits a clinician can have. Wouldn’t you agree that it’s much better to tell a patient, “You know, I’m not an expert about this, let me get a second opinion,” than to make something up?
Great advice! I completely agree. Interviews can be really stressful, but if you’re prepared, it will make you appear more confident and maybe even bump you up from being an average applicant to a fantastic applicant!
Good article! As I approach my 4th interview, I am perfecting the art of interviewing while sick. It is a valuable skill! This will be my 2nd interview this month while under the weather. First one went well, so maybe it is a charm. I think the advice in this article about finding personal aspects to relate in your answers is excellent. Thanks for a great post!
It is not enough to perfect that art of interviewing. What is really important is if you are committed to being a PA and that is what the schools are looking for – I guess you might say “the heart value”. They want to see the spark – that something which will separate you from the rest. Best of luck to all the applicants.