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2015-2016 Cycle (Class of 2018)


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Would you be willing to share some insight on the interview process for those of us who are going to be interviewing soon?

Of course! I had three people interview me and each lasted about 30-35 minutes. For us, the day started at 7am with check in and at 8am we gathered and they gave us an introduction and shared some information about the program. After that, interviews began at 9am and were every hour on the hour after that. Depending on your interview schedule you may have the first three of the day or they may be split up. For example, mine were at 9am, 10am, and 11am then my group had a tour of the simulation lab at 12pm and then I was done. Other people had one or two interviews in the morning, the tour of the sim lab and then their second or third interview in the afternoon at 1pm, 2pm, or 3pm. At the end of the day there was a campus tour! I was actually completely done at noon because the sim lab tour was fairly short. Others who had later interviews were done by 5pm I believe.

 

Overall, everyone was VERY friendly and kind. The interviews were pretty relaxed and just asked the basic interview questions. Be yourself and know why you want to be a PA and why you want to attend this program. My experience was great at USA and I was offered a seat a few days later! Good luck to everyone who has yet to interview and let me know if you have any questions, I'll do my best to help you out!

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Of course! I had three people interview me and each lasted about 30-35 minutes. For us, the day started at 7am with check in and at 8am we gathered and they gave us an introduction and shared some information about the program. After that, interviews began at 9am and were every hour on the hour after that. Depending on your interview schedule you may have the first three of the day or they may be split up. For example, mine were at 9am, 10am, and 11am then my group had a tour of the simulation lab at 12pm and then I was done. Other people had one or two interviews in the morning, the tour of the sim lab and then their second or third interview in the afternoon at 1pm, 2pm, or 3pm. At the end of the day there was a campus tour! I was actually completed done at noon because the sim lab tour was fairly short. Others who had later interviews were done by 5pm I believe.

 

Overall, everyone was VERY friendly and kind. The interviews were pretty relaxed and just asked the basic interview questions. Be yourself and know why you want to be a PA and why you want to attend this program. My experience was great at USA and I was offered a seat a few days later! Good luck to everyone who has yet to interview and let me know if you have any questions, I'll do my best to help you out!

Congratulations on your acceptance!! & thank you for sharing this helpful information! :)

 

Do they ask ethical questions or focus more on academics, experience, etc?

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Congratulations on your acceptance!! & thank you for sharing this helpful information! :)

 

Do they ask ethical questions or focus more on academics, experience, etc?

There was a little bit of everything! Make sure to know your application! Haha, they brought up several specific things from my application/experiences. Some ethical questions but not too many. I didn't have any strange or out of left field questions...but I can't speak for everyone who interviewed!

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For anyone who has not yet interviewed. A great book for you to check out would be, How to "Ace" the Physician Assistant School Interview. That should prepare you well for the interview. Jessskenzie's experience was similar to mine and the advice she gave is spot on. Very relaxed. Everyone was friendly. Talking to current students was great and gave me a really good overall impression of the school and program. I would recommend going to the dinner the night before to ask any questions you might have. The dinner is just with current students...no faculty or staff will be there.

 

I don't think there are set questions asked of every applicant, so everyone's experience will vary. I think just having a general idea of typical questions asked at PA school interviews should help you prepare.

 

Hope that helps. Good luck to everyone!

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Umm yeah sorry to burst yall's bubbles but not all of my interviews were relaxed and friendly. One of my interviewers actually said she was happy to be the hardest interviewer and was trying to trip me up. The other one asked me all about health stats of the US and about the ACA and felt less personable. The last one was really nice and I really liked her, but don't go in expecting that all of the interviews are relaxed and friendly. It is just luck of the draw. 

 

That being said- the program is amazing and even though I didn't have the best experience in all of my interviews I still love this program and think they are great. 

 

My advice: relax and be yourself. Basically I made this post so that if your interviews didn't go like Jess's you wouldn't be worried. 

 

Good Luck to all!

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Tncvol, anything specific about US health statistics? That seems like an incredibly broad topic to bring up or question someone about.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I have a Masters in Public Health, so she was probably just testing my knowledge from that. The interviewers seemed to have our CV's memorized and asked questions regarding our background.  So be prepared to discuss and defend your CV. 

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Hey everyone! I interviewed in the Nov. 20th group and received an acceptance call as well. To the people who have already been accepted and plan to attend USA's program, have you started looking at housing options?

 

I haven't yet! I know absolutely NOTHING about the area so I am hoping some of the in-state people can help with that! Haha. I would imagine Nancy or some of the other staff will be able to suggest some options for us!

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I just got an interview invitation for January 8!! I am super excited! Does anyone have any advice as far as flying in to Mobile, transportation, hotel, etc? I will be coming from the Virginia Beach area and it's a pretty far drive (13 hours). Also, what time should I be sure to be in the area on January 7, as I read above about a dinner the night before? Thanks in advance!

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I just got an interview invitation for January 8!! I am super excited! Does anyone have any advice as far as flying in to Mobile, transportation, hotel, etc? I will be coming from the Virginia Beach area and it's a pretty far drive (13 hours). Also, what time should I be sure to be in the area on January 7, as I read above about a dinner the night before? Thanks in advance!

Congrats on your interview! For the Nov 20 interviews the dinner was at 7 the night before, however, it was originally scheduled for 6. So I would plan to be there earlier, to be on the safe side (as the time could vary). I stayed at the Holiday Inn by the airport. It was really nice and about 10 minutes from the school. I got a rental car through Hotwire or Priceline (can't quite remember) for really cheap (around $30 for 2 days). Hope that helps!

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Hi all,

I am interviewing on January 8. I received an invitation email from Nancy on Wednesday, December 9 and replied back to her early Thursday, December 10. I have not heard a confirmation that she received my email and called to leave her a voicemail today to confirm that she received my email. Is anyone else in a similar position and received an invitation for interviewing on January 8? Thanks!

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Hi all,

I am interviewing on January 8. I received an invitation email from Nancy on Wednesday, December 9 and replied back to her early Thursday, December 10. I have not heard a confirmation that she received my email and called to leave her a voicemail today to confirm that she received my email. Is anyone else in a similar position and received an invitation for interviewing on January 8? Thanks!

I also sent an email confirming my interview and haven't heard back yet. I guess they are waiting to send the next email in bulk? 

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I haven't yet! I know absolutely NOTHING about the area so I am hoping some of the in-state people can help with that! Haha. I would imagine Nancy or some of the other staff will be able to suggest some options for us!

Haha, yeah! Fritz gave me some reasonable places to look at for now. 

 

 

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted! I am so excited to meet everyone!

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