Kendall333 Posted October 16, 2021 Share Posted October 16, 2021 Hello everyone! I was wondering if anyone had a list of mock interview questions to go over, good websites to research PA school interview questions or personal experience's they could share to help prepare me for my interviews. I would appreciate any and all advice. I will include my email below if you would rather reach out personally. Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it! Kmeeker333@gmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 When I was preparing for interviews I watched a lot of PA interview based videos on youtube. It was a huge help. Its important to not come off as being rehearsed while also sounding very genuine and personable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trazodone Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 If you'd like to do a mock interview, let me know! (5 year practicing PA) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alysd Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 I used this book and found it super helpful! Went through and practiced responses to a couple of questions per day, recorded myself and listened back, wrote down some bullet points for answer ideas and personal examples that I liked. Then shortly before interviews, practiced answering questions out loud to a mentor. https://www.amazon.com/How-Physician-Assistant-School-Interview/dp/0615480721 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varda Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) Links https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/blog/pa-school-interview-questions Video and questions with explanations https://doseofpa.blogspot.com/2014/03/physician-assistant-school-interview.html Overview, how to practice, and questions https://www.mockquestions.com/position/Physician+Assistant/ Questions with detailed and extensive answers/examples https://multipleminiinterview.com/ Prep for MMI and questions https://www.thepalife.com/the-top-46-physician-assistant-applicant-interview-questions/ Questions with article links for some answers https://www.thepalife.com/best-interview/ Written by PA Life Mock Interview Coach Books: Physician Assistant School Interview Guide MMI: Winning Strategies from Admissions Faculty Bemo's Ultimate Guide to Multiple Mini Interview : How to Increase Your MMI Score by 27% Without Memorizing Any Sample Questions Edited December 10, 2021 by Varda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varda Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) Questions for the Interviewer Are there on-campus living options? How close do most students live? Do you do roommate matching? Are there reviews for clinical rotation sites from previous students? Are there rotations available in pediatrics or ob-gyn? What is your attrition rate like? Why have students left the program? Are all professors practicing PAs? What is the student:teacher ratio? How available are staff and faculty for questions or help during the day? Is there a free clinic or student run clinic where students can practice their newly learned skills prior to graduation? Do students have access to cadaver labs 24/7? Where can students study on campus? Why do you think your PANCE rates are so high? Why is this program so successful? What can be improved about this program? What has been improved and implemented in previous years? What is the highlight of this program? What does your school do to prepare students for the PANCE? When is the next ARC-PA visit? Why did you choose to teach? How long have you practiced before teaching? Where did you go to PA school? What made you choose your specialty? What do students do for fun? What is your favorite part of teaching (whatever they teach)? What qualities do you look for in PA students? Edited December 10, 2021 by Varda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varda Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) Traditional Questions Tell me a little bit about yourself. What is the difference between the nursing model and medical model for teaching? What does a PA do? What makes you a good candidate for our program? What qualities or skills do you have that you think would make you a valuable student and classmate? What would you bring to the class? How have you prepared to be an effective PA? What do you think is the biggest challenge facing PAs? Why do you think you would be successful in PA school? How do you study best? How are your time management skills? What was your most challenging course of undergrad and why? Why do you want to go to this specific school? What is appealing about the “location” of our school? What are you looking for in a PA program? Have you applied elsewhere? What is your biggest weakness? What is your biggest strength? Do you work better by yourself or with others? Is there a specific specialty or ideal job that you see yourself in as a PA? What qualities make a successful PA? How do you feel Obamacare will influence PAs? How do you see the role of PAs changing in the future? What are some difficulties that you feel like PAs are facing? Do you feel like you would be limited by any of the regulations on PAs either nationally or in the state you plan to work in? Are there any laws that you feel like limit the PA profession unfairly? Are there any laws that you feel should be passed to further the progression of the PA profession? How would having a family/children affect your performance in PA school? (This is a valid question if you mentioned anything about this in your personal statement, or if you bring it up.) How do you think being a younger/older applicant may affect your performance in the program? Tell me about your support system? What are your plans if you are not accepted to a PA program this year. What are your thoughts on the newer online PA programs? What are your thoughts on the new bridge programs from PA to MD? What are your thoughts on the name “physician assistant,” and the name change to "physician associate." Reassure me that you are not going to fail out What do you know about the history of the PA profession? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Can you explain your lower grade? If you could do anything differently in undergrad, what would it be? Who is the most important member on a healthcare team? What are your goals in medicine? Tell me about the last physician you worked for. What are some possible negative parts of being a PA? When did you decide to pursue PA school? Was there anything unique you observed while shadowing? Define professionalism. Edited December 10, 2021 by Varda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varda Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Behavioral Questions What is the most selfless thing you have done? Describe a time when you have had to overcome adversity. If a student fails a test, is it the student’s fault or the teacher’s fault? Describe a situation you have had with a difficult patient. Describe a situation with a patient that had a significant impact on you. How do you deal with high stress situations? Give an example. Describe a time that you have struggled academically, and how you dealt with it. Your supervising MD asks you to go administer a medication to a patient. You do not agree with his decision and feel it could harm the patient. What do you do? You see a co-worker taking medication from the dispense cart and putting it in their bag. What do you do? You are at a baseball game and the woman in front of you has a very suspicious mole that you suspect could be melanoma. What do you do? You are in a surgery and the anesthesiologist starts making inappropriate comments about the patient once they are asleep. What do you do in this situation? A patient you are seeing insists on seeing an MD. How do you handle this? Describe a situation you have had with a patient who made an impact on you. You have a patient who is not proficient in English, and you do not know their language. What can you do to assist with their difficulties? Describe a time you had to make an ethical decision. You’re in an OR and have suspicions that the surgeon may be intoxicated. What do you do? You are about to leave for the day and realize that you gave a patient medicine they are allergic to. What do you do? You are seeing a Jehovah’s Witness patient that does not accept blood transfusions due to religious reasons, but it would be life saving. What do you do? Your patient is diagnosed with HIV, but doesn’t want to tell their partner. What do you do? A classmate offers you an old exam they have before the test. What do you do? Tell me about a time you’ve had to use teamwork to solve a problem. Do you think it’s more important to get patients seen or spend time with patients? You prescribed a 13 year old birth control, and the pt’s mother calls and is angry. What do you say? Sometimes you may disagree with others in instances that you think they may be making a mistake. Talk about a time when you had to disagree with someone else to get a positive outcome. Give an example of a situation in which you did more than was expected of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varda Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) If you were a tree, what kind would you be and why? If you were a color, what color would you be and why? If you were dressing up to go to a Halloween party for kids, what would you dress up as and why? Who, living or dead, would you invite to dinner and what would you serve them? What kind of car would you be? What would you do if you hit your neighbor’s dog? Give directions to someone for how to put on gloves Help this student complete the following task… Interpret the graph shown in the room. You discover that one of your classmates has become romantically involved and moved into a house with her community-based clinical preceptor in your health professions training program. What should be done, if anything? Enter the room and discuss your position with the interviewer. A friend in your class tells you his mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. He is overwhelmed by his studies and may drop out of the program to spend time with his mother. How do you counsel your friend? Joe is a pizza delivery worker. The pizza shop he works for has a 30 minutes or less delivery guarantee or else the customer does not have to pay. On Joe’s most recent delivery, he spots a woman bleeding on the street. There is no one else around and the woman seems to be unable to move by herself. However, Joe knows that if he returns empty handed again, he will be fired from this job which he most desperately needs. What do you think Joe should do? Justify your solution in terms of practical and ethical considerations. “Liberation Therapy” (LT), a vascular operation developed to potentially cure multiple sclerosis (MS) in certain patients, has recently come under very serious criticism - delaying its widespread use. Among other experimental flaws, critics cite a small sample size in the original evidence used to support LT. As a healthcare policy maker, your job is to weigh the pros and cons in approving novel drugs and therapies. Please discuss the issues you would consider during an approval process for LT. Because of federal and provincial subsidy policies and return-of-service agreements, international medical graduates (IMGs) now make up an increasingly large proportion of rural doctors. As a consequence, the shortage of doctors in rural areas has prompted many family medicine residencies to increase their quotas for IMGs in their programs. Effectively, this development is leading to a relative reduction in spots available for Canadian medical graduates. Please discuss the pros and cons of such a development. Discuss one of your pastimes outside of school and how the skills you acquired from this activity will help you in your career. You are a family physician seeing Jane, a 67 year old woman with a recent history of multiple fragility fractures. You diagnose her with osteoporosis and prescribe some bisphosphonate drugs and other pharmacological treatments. Jane tells you that she has heard some good things over the internet about alternative medicine treatments such as Chinese medicine, and she is adamant on trying these as well. You are concerned about the use of these alternative medicine treatments and the possible negative effects they could have on Jane’s health. How would you handle the situation and what would you recommend Jane do? Discuss any ethical considerations that are present. You are on the committee for selecting a new Dean of Science. What characteristics and/or qualities would you look for when selecting an effective dean? In June 2011, the infamous Vancouver riots took place after their hockey team lost in the Stanley Cup Finals. Stores were ransacked and cars were burned. Hundreds of people were injured and sent to overcrowded hospitals. As the police chief in Vancouver, what measures or policies would you put in place to make sure this does not happen again? Clostridium Difficile (C. difficile) is a type of bacteria that increases its activity with most antibiotic use, and is therefore very difficult to treat. Research shows that the most effective way to prevent the spread of infection is frequent hand washing. However, many people have flat-out refused to wash their hands in hospitals. The government is contemplating passing a policy to make it mandatory for people entering hospitals to wash their hands or else risk not being seen by doctors and being escorted out of the building against their will. Do you think the government should go ahead with this plan? Consider and discuss the legal, ethical or practical problems that exist for each action option and conclude with a persuasive argument supporting your decision. Discuss an experience that allowed you to learn something important about yourself. How will this lesson help you succeed in your career? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varda Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 What is a PA? Are you familiar with any national or state level regulations for PAs? How many hours a week do you plan on studying? Tell me what your typical day looks like? How many tests and quizzes do you expect to take a week and what can you handle? Do you have a car, where do you live, what is your social support, and are they close? How do you plan to pay for your education? What kind of stress do you see associated with the PA profession? Have you applied to other programs? What have you done to prepare yourself for this profession? Have you done anything to increase your chances of being accepted to the PA program? What makes you stand out from the person sitting next to you this morning? What is your understanding of what PAs do? Tell us about the role you see the PA playing in the healthcare system. How do you feel about taking call or working 60 or more hours per week as a second-year student? Describe an interaction you have had with a patient that made an impact on you. What do you think is the most difficult situation described in the interview scenarios that you completed earlier today? Why? What kind of personal stress do you see associated with our PA program? Please discuss your answer to question #__ on the interview questionnaire. Or, What did you mean by __ in your essay? Your file indicates that you have had difficulty with __(e.g., time management or science coursework). Would you like to explain this? What accommodations, if any, do you need to successfully complete this program? So, tell us a little about yourself. In other words: Why are you here? You have had several jobs in the past; how do we know you will finish the program if we accept you? Why do you think _______ (ex. Duke) turned you down? What would be your ideal job as a PA? Have you ever seen anyone die? How are you today? Did you have any trouble finding us? What was the last movie you saw? What was the most difficult question they asked you at ________(another program)? Describe the most stressful work or academic situation you have been in. How do we know you will finish the program if we accept you? Your supervisor tells you to do something that you know is wrong, what do you do? Where do you see the future of medicine heading? If you could pass a law to help PAs, what would it be? What are your hobbies? If we only have one position left, why should we pick you? How would you define a PA Why don't you want to be a nurse? How does a PA fit into the healthcare model? What is managed care and how has it affected physicians and PAs? What is the most important factor between a PA and their physician supervisor? Describe the day of a surgical PA compared with a medical PA. What parts of becoming a PA do you most look forward to? How has your background prepared you for the physical and mental training to become a PA? How will you contribute to our program? Have you applied to other schools? If so, how did you choose them? What are the three most important aspects of evaluating a PA program? What is a dependent practitioner? What was the name of the interviewers you met already today? When did your interest in this profession first arise? What experiences have confirmed this interest? What makes for a good PA? Did you take time off after college, if so, why? What was the best experience of your life? What is the biggest adversity you have overcome? What are two non-school books you have read? What do you do to relax? What will make you a memorable candidate? What experiences have helped shape you as a person? How do you interact with difficult people? Who has been the most influential person in your life? What is your preferred way of learning? Have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone? What have you done to test and affirm your choice to become a PA? What are your thoughts about improving access to healthcare for disadvantaged populations? What will you do if you don't get admitted? What is your favorite class and why? To what extent have you challenged yourself as a student? What types of volunteer work have you done? Would you be a good fit here? How will you handle the stress of this profession? What will you like the least about practicing as a PA? Why should our PA school choose you? What qualities do you possess that will make you a good PA? What is something interesting about yourself that I wouldn't know from reading your application? Why are you drawn to medicine? Are you a leader or a follower? What are you afraid of seeing in medicine? What is your shadowing experience? Describe a situation where you disagreed with the person who had authority over you. If you had to go back and change your study habits, how would you change them? Give an example of a time you acted ethically. Give an example of a time you worked with a team. What does integrity mean to you? What is your favorite trip you've ever taken? How do you handle failure? How do you want to be viewed by your coworkers? Have you had to deal with people unlike you? What do you think about the PA profession potentially moving to doctoral degree, what effect will it have? Tell me about a time you made a promise and had a hard time keeping it. What is something interesting about yourself? Can you talk about a time you experienced conflict with a coworker? What are the 3 worst things about you? What would you bring to a potluck? A patient thought they were seeing a doctor but now they are seeing you as the doctor is away. How do you handle this situation? What is the biggest misconception people have about you? What do your parents do? Tell me about a time you were rejected, what did you do? Who has impacted you the most? How would you handle a noncompliant patient? How do you deal with not doing so well at something? What changes should be made to the current healthcare system? What is your proudest moment? If you could have any superpower, what would it be? What are your short and long term goals? When did your initial interest in becoming a PA develop? How will PAs roles and responsibilities evolve in the future? How do you manage your time? What aspect of diversity can you bring to the entering class? Where do you hope to be 10 years from now? What is your ultimate life goal? What motivates you? Describe a time where you disappointed yourself. What makes you angry? If you could have any other job, besides being a PA, what would you do? If you were to win the lottery for 100 million dollars. What would you do? Would you still want to be a PA? What is your life saying? What are your hobbies outside of school? Is there anything else I need to know about you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeuroNate24 Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Hi everyone, I tried posting up in the direct thread for students interviewing at Concordia University PA program in Ann Arbor Michigan in regards to the format/type of questions that will be asked but still haven't heard back. If anybody here has been or knows someone that has interviewed for that program or may know someone who has, can you please provide some feedback as to what types of questions to prepare with? I would appreciate it very much! I'm going to review and prepare with some of the ones listed here but would definitely love to have a more targeted approach. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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