Interview invites are going out. Time to stop winging it.

This is the audio from my June interview prep webinar, questions from the live audience included. If you have an interview coming up, this is the fastest way to get oriented on what the day actually looks like and what they're trying to figure out about you.

The format varies a lot. Traditional panel, MMI, group activities, one-on-ones with faculty and students. Some programs do all of it in one long day. Knowing which format you're walking into changes how you prepare, so ask.

And the thing I'll say until I'm blue in the face: practice out loud. Not in your head. Out loud, to another human, until you stop sounding like you're reciting.

What I cover:

• What to expect on interview day, format by format
• The questions that come up over and over
• What programs are really assessing when they ask them
• Dos and don'ts, including what to wear and when to arrive
• How to answer questions about weaknesses and low stats
• Live questions from the webinar audience

Resources:

PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide

PA School Interview Course: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pa-school-interview-course

Mock Interview: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/mock-interview

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Mentioned in this episode:

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Its interview season, guys, and that means it's time to prepare.

This week's episode is a flashback to our June webinar which was all about interviews.

We get into the details of what to expect at an interview, interview questions, as well as some participation and practice from the audience.

If you are in that waiting phase and hoping to have an interview this cycle, then this episode is exactly what you need to jumpstart your preparations.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club Podcast.

If you want to learn how to.

Become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey there.

Welcome to the Prepa Club Podcast.

Thank you so much for joining me.

And hopping on today's episode to learn more about PA School interviews.

We're going to talk techniques, things to do, not to do, expectations, and hopefully this episode will be very helpful for you as we move into this season of interviews for PA School.

It's going to be great.

And this was a free webinar back from from a month ago where if you follow along with the PA platform on social media, pretty much every month we do a free webinar on some.

Topic relating to PA school.

So this month's topic is actually Financial Success with some tips from two students who have really tried to take control of their finances during PA school instead of waiting until after and they've created this really cool spreadsheet that they're going to walk you through to creating a budget and handling student loans.

It's going to be really great.

They call themselves PA MoneySense.

The link to register for that is in the bio or description of this and then we'll be sharing on social media as well.

So make sure to sign up for.

That and check it out.

That will be this month's webinar and then next month.

Who knows yet, but stay tuned.

I'm Savannah by the way.

I am a dermatology, Pennsylvania and I've been doing this now for seven years, which is wild and so exciting.

I've only worked in Derm, but I've been a Pre PA coach now through my website, the PA Platform for six years and it's been really cool just to get to interact with so many students and help so many students and applicants and seeing so many people become my colleagues who are now practicing as PAs.

If you ever have a question, check out the PA platform.com and if you're needing help with interviews, we have tons of Resources, videos, other podcast episodes.

The PA School Interview Guide which you can find on the PA platform.com book or on Amazon tip if you need it quicker, order on Amazon.

Their shipping is quicker than mine, but there's also the PA School Interview course.

All of the information for this is in the description of this episode and then mock interviews.

At this point we have so much many amazing coaches.

So you can choose someone who is either, you know, going to make you feel more comfortable or someone that you think may challenge you if it's somebody that may intimidate you.

To get a feel for how interview day will be with our mock interviews, we only use practicing PAs to do those and we've been doing it for so long that I think you'll get some great feedback on things that you need to work on and things you do well so that you can [email protected] and make sure you use the code futurepa for a discount on the mock interviews or any product or service.

All right, let's jump into today's episode and I hope you enjoy this webinar.

If you want to make sure you don't miss out on any further ones, follow on social media and get on our newsletter list.

The mid month newsletter went out today and that's where you'll get all of the kind of updates and info to make sure you're kind of on track with everything for the month.

All right, thanks y' all for joining.

I hope this will be a helpful session about interviews.

So interviews are what I enjoy talking.

About when it comes to PA school stuff.

I enjoy everything.

But I really love interviews.

I think it is something that you are understandably nervous for, but it's such a big deal and it's actually kind of fun.

Like it's fun to go to the programs, even if it's virtual and interact with the faculty and students who could be your classmates.

So that's something you know throughout this process I want to keep want you to keep in mind is really work on your mindset around some of these things.

Just instead of being terrified, try to bring some excitement into it also.

All right, so if you have any questions throughout this session, any questions relating to interviews, we're going to stay on topic.

I have some that we've taken from Instagram.

There is a story question box on My Stories.

If you just go to the PA platform on Instagram, you'll find that and you can enter any questions you want us to answer there and then also you can put them in the Chat we have.

You'll see Emily and Michelle in there.

They are pulling questions, answering questions.

They'll be adding links, trying to help y' all out if I can't get to everything.

So put them in the chat.

This will be recorded.

You should get a replay link in the next six to 12 hours where it'll email you and you can watch that replay whenever you want.

We will, of course, have some specials and deals on interview help if you need it or want it.

And so I will go ahead and put one of those up.

And, you know, these will only be good for the next 24 hours.

So the very first one is of course, my favorite thing.

And I would say this is my first baby, the PA School Interview Guide.

So this is just a book with lots of interview stuff.

It has over 300 questions.

If you are somebody who likes to read and take notes and really, you know, get stuff in that format, this may be a good option for you.

I'm not going to say it's going to be the best book you've ever read, but it will be a helpful one.

And these will all be in the email that comes out also.

So thank you, Tyler.

I'm glad it wasn't awful.

I appreciate those kind words.

Okay, so be on the lookout for those.

I'll tell y' all when a new offer is coming.

We're going to keep this to about an hour to respect your time.

Respect my time.

If we just have so many burning interview questions, we can schedule another interview webinar.

The next webinar I have scheduled is on July 25th.

That's a Sunday night at 8pm.

And.

That inter that webinar will be about finances.

So I have two PA students slash new grad PAs who have really done a great job of putting a focus in this really cool Excel document together for managing finances when it comes to PA schools.

So we're just going to talk about that.

So if you're somebody who's applying this year, I think that would be really helpful to you.

So be on the lookout for a link for that session.

If at any time during this session you lose connectivity, there should be a little button at the top where you can refresh and it should come back.

If we're having tons of issues, let me know.

But usually it'll come back in if you refresh it.

All right, I think that's all of our housekeeping.

Let's Move on.

So, questions.

I'm going to start with these kind of general interview questions that we got on Instagram.

And then of course, the ones that you are adding in the chat or on Instagram.

Now, one thing that we may try to do.

If you were at the pre PA Conference, virtual conference in April, I was able to bring people up on the stage to answer questions.

So if you.

Okay, the promo code is not working for the interview guide.

I'm gonna let Emily kind of troubleshoot that and see if we can figure out what's going on.

My bad.

We'll get it fixed.

But if you raise your hand to speak, just know that that will bring you up in video format so everyone can see you so that you're prepared.

If you don't feel comfortable or ready for that, don't raise your hand.

So, yeah.

Okay, let's do some of these questions.

Okay.

Start with tips for clothing, nail, hair, jewelry, shoes, etc.

Colored shirts under white, under suit, or white only for a male.

Specifically.

These are some of the questions we had in regards to outfits.

I will always say wear a suit.

It is important to you.

You really want to stand out for your interview skills and not for your outfit.

Okay?

So if you have questions about whether you know something is appropriate or something that you should wear something and you're asking yourself a question about it, you probably want to pass.

Because if you're questioning it before the interview, you'll be questioning it on interview day two.

And that might mess with your confidence.

You want to wear something that you feel confident.

You are positive that it is professional, that it is going to make you feel good about yourself, and you're going to kind of walk in, not worried about what you're wearing.

So in general, you want to look kind of clean cut, you know, hair needs to be trimmed, pull out of your face.

I would not go to an interview with this going on.

I haven't washed my hair in a couple of days.

Like, I would wash it that day.

And for my interview specifically, I did pull my hair out of my face because I. I tend to mess with it, which you probably have already seen me go like that.

Jewelry, I would not wear an Apple watch because if that thing goes off, I don't know about y', all, but my mini likes to start talking.

If you're Minnie or Mickey starts talking in the middle of your interview, that's going to throw you off if you're fidgeting and hit it or whatever.

So I would either take it off, turn it off, do not disturb, just, you know, take that distraction away.

Jewelry, keep its simple.

Not anything too flashy or big that could be distracting.

And then shoes, something comfortable.

If you're going to an in person interview, because these are things that you are often going to be walking around a lot and so you want to make sure that you are not rubbing blisters and you know, going to be measurable all day.

Clothing again, suits.

So someone said, should I wear slacks or pencil skirt with my blazer?

As a female, I will tell you what a program director told me, which was I called and this program director, it was actually the school I ended up going with.

But they were extremely, she was extremely nice to talk to me.

I don't know if I like caught her at a good time or she wasn't busy.

I don't know what happened.

But anyway, I called and was able to speak with the program director.

She actually called me back and I asked her, you know, how can I stand out?

That was the question I had for her.

You know, I am a junior in college, I'm applying to PA school.

I really want to get in.

How can I stand out?

And so her advice to me was wear a pantsuit.

Because that's something that, you know, makes you the same as everyone else.

It doesn't separate you.

If you do wear a skirt suit or a skirt, you want to make sure you're wearing pantyhose.

You've got to be professional, even if most people don't do that now.

And so I wore a pantsuit.

It doesn't necessarily have to be like boring colors.

Like so I don't think your shirt under your suit has to be specifically white.

You can definitely use colors to personalize your outfit a little bit.

And so, you know, you can can have some freedom there.

I talk about this a little bit more on Instagram.

I've been doing every single day like an interview tip or question.

And so in my highlights it's saying gave there.

And I talked in this about this in a little bit more depth because I could probably talk about it for a long time.

Okay, let's see how this one I got twice.

How long should your answers be?

There is not necessarily an appropriate time frame or length for questions.

What you'll find if you start practicing is that if you time yourself or video yourself and watch it back, the amount of time you're taking to answer a question will likely not be as long as you think it is.

So if you were to guess like, oh my gosh, I just talked for four Minutes, probably it was around a minute and a half.

People really struggle to have longer answers.

Actually, in most cases there are a few exceptions where people can just go and go and go, but for the most part, people tend to be brief.

And so it feels like you're talking forever.

Like right now I'm talking to essentially no one.

Like y' all are there, but I'm in my kitchen talking to myself and it feels like.

It feels like I'm rambling and talking forever, which I probably am.

But in interview setting, when you have that stress on you and all that pressure, it feels a lot different.

So my advice on that is to record yourself and check your timing.

Usually you should be able to answer a question appropriately and thoroughly within a couple minutes.

Sometimes it'll be shorter, sometimes it'll be longer.

I don't think you should cut yourself off if you're supplying new information that is relevant.

But if you do find that you're rambling, which is easy to do because with these questions it's not exactly a conversation.

And so at some point you've got to cut yourself off and just stop talking.

And then they're going to ask you another question.

But that feels weird.

So that's where practicing out loud and actually doing this comes into play to make sure that you're not, you know, just going on and on or repeating yourself or bringing up things that are irrelevant.

The other thing with this is you kind of got to read the room, read the situation.

In a group interview, your responses should be a little shorter because you want to respect everyone else's time, especially if you find you are a more long winded answer.

In a mock an mmi, your answers can be longer because you have a longer time.

You have five minutes and it is yours to just go.

So in those cases, that's something also to practice for because a lot of people struggle with filling that time with meaningful information.

So there are some ways to practice timing and really get a feel for that.

Okay, Are there any annoying habits that interviewers hate?

I encourage you.

I did a interview with Yale Online, Jim Van Re.

I, I want to say that it is like on.

I want to say it's on YouTube.

I don't remember exactly, but I think it may be on the podcast, actually.

But anyway, he was funny because they have done so many virtual interviews and it's just, you know, he would say people would like have their pets run in or people walk past an open door without clothes on, coming out of the shower, like things like that.

A virtual interview you want to be a little bit more aware of.

In a real interview, I think it is.

I'll just say things I found annoying.

Usually hand gestures are okay within reason.

Habits would be like playing with hair, adjusting glasses, playing with jewelry.

Those are things you want to look out for.

I had a habit that I did not know until I did a mock interview with a PA That I had shadowed, where after every single response to a question she asked me, I would say, and stuff like that, which made me sound like an idiot.

Why did I say that?

If there's extra stuff, I should have talked about it.

But after a few questions, she asked me why I kept saying that, and I didn't even know I was doing it.

So practice, because that helps me realize that you're gonna have filler words.

I use them even though I try not to, like, whatever.

So you can work on those things, but you're never going to completely get rid of them.

And so if you get in your head and get hung up on that, it's just going to make you come off as weird and not genuine.

So do your best there.

All right, let's see here.

How do you.

Okay, okay, I like this one.

How do you answer a question that you have to sit and think about for a second without sounding like you're rambling or don't know what you're talking about?

Number one, it is fine to sit there for a second and think.

That second to you will feel like forever.

It will feel like you're taking forever to answer, but you're not.

You know, just take a couple breaths, take a couple seconds, and it's fine.

Then you can answer and gather your thoughts.

One technique I encourage for this type of thing, and we'll talk a little bit more, maybe about something else, but have some words in your mind that you want to incorporate into your interviewer, your interview.

Sorry, that air gun is distracting me.

I know it's distracting y', all, too, but some.

Some just words.

So positivity, optimism, teamwork.

And so, you know, if you have maybe five words in your head, this word bank that you want to pull from, if you are struggling with a question, if you can kind of cling on to one of those words, you can start to guide your response.

And that's where, again, preparation comes in.

So this builds on one of my favorite techniques, which is to make a list of everything you want the program to know about you before you start.

And there's worksheets in the book that help with this.

There's also they're also on the website.

If you just go to the PA platform.com downloads, they're free.

You can download the PDF and go through it.

Because if you have this bank of experiences and information that'll keep you from focusing on one thing, because it's like a mental checklist that you can say, okay, I talked about that volunteer experience.

I talked about this work experience.

I used the word teamwork and I expanded on that.

I talked about the shadowing experience and build on it that way.

Okay.

Our schools doing in person interviews, I've still heard mostly virtual.

When I was talking to schools before the cycle opened, they were hoping to do some of them like a hybrid type approach.

But the majority that I've heard of interviews happening so far are virtual.

If y' all have gotten invites that are either virtual or in person, I'd love for you to share in the chat how those are looking now.

But so far, that's what I'm kind of seeing.

Okay.

While these are getting into a little bit more specifics, which is good.

Okay.

As a PA student, did you help your school with interviews?

What was that like?

What were you looking for?

So.

So I did get to help as a PA student.

I was in an interesting position because I was in a. I was in a program that is in the place where I live.

So, like, over.

They would do a lot of interviews over breaks like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And because I lived there, other people who went home weren't able to help, but I was able to stick around and help.

So my role as a student was really kind of just to help the.

The candidates.

So we would basically, like, our candidates would come early in the morning and be in a room most of the day, and I would kind of sit in them in that, with them in that room, answer questions.

We were the ones who took them on the tour of the campus answering questions, and then came back and kind of directed them to their interview.

So it's kind of like a tour guide.

But I will say the one thing that was kind of funny was they like, every part of your interview is an interview.

I remember one of the faculty telling them, like, you can talk to the students about anything.

They are, you know, not involved.

They, you know, open book, whatever.

Like, don't worry about them, their opinion.

And then literally, like, as the applicants left, they're like, okay, tell us everything.

And so every part of the day is an interview.

You want to be professional in every situation, which I think should be common sense and a given, but maybe it's not so which, based on my experience helping, it was not.

Yeah, but it was fun.

I really enjoyed it.

And then it was really cool when those people were accepted to have them come in.

In the next class.

Because with PA school, I mean, you.

You know, the people ahead of you and underneath you.

So that was fun.

Okay, let's see.

Okay, we'll do these for a little bit longer before we get into some specifics.

What is.

Okay, there are a few questions about group interviews, so let's address some of those.

So what is your advice?

If we're in a group interview and feel like we can't get a word in because someone else is talking the majority of the time, most of the time, that won't be an issue because you have a moderator.

It's not like you're, you know, left out to dry to do it all on your own.

You.

You have people there who are either going to kind of prompt you to speak or make that.

Everyone's able to kind of get a word in.

So I don't.

I wouldn't worry about that as much.

Someone had one.

I got an interview, and they're doing a group zoom interview.

I wanted to see if you talk about tips for that.

So for a group zoom interview, it's going to feel a little weird, but from what I've heard with most people doing zoom interviews is it doesn't feel that strange.

And I think over the past year, we've all gotten a little bit more comfortable with zoom and virtual formats.

So just treat it like the real thing.

Just really, you know, think about it like a normal group interview.

What is your advice to someone that is nervous about the group aspect of the interviews?

Prepare normally and be.

Be ready to brag on yourself in front of other people.

It's already hard enough to do that to your interviewers, but it's a little bit more difficult when you have other applicants sitting there, too.

You gotta brush that aside.

You've gotta sit still, be able to let your strengths shine and really show what you bring to the table, even if you feel kind of uncomfortable doing so.

So with group interviews, and I'm going to probably talk about this on my Instagram stories tomorrow, I was actually going to do it today, but I didn't have time between putting my child to sleep and starting this webinar.

And so I would say, you know, for a group session, the goal is to still show things about you, but also to see how you interact with other applicants.

So I would try to know people's names, remember some things, They've said build off of what they've said.

You don't want to just ignore them and act like they're not there.

Because that would be a little awkward when clearly there are other people involved in the situation.

When they have something that's more of a group activity, usually that's going to be something to show teamwork or collaboration, either solving a problem or discussing a current event or something coming up.

I think y' all all need to be aware of the PA name change.

Read the AAPA website, but for now, continue to use physician assistant.

That is the title of our profession logistically and legally.

So unless your program goes by physician associate, continue.

Physician assistant.

All right, I see a couple of questions popping up here.

Is it acceptable to take pen and paper for notes when you ask questions at the end?

The only time I would take notes during the interview is during like an info session or group session, like group information session or Q A. I wouldn't do it during your personal interview.

That would be a little awkward.

And same thing like during, like your one on one interview or panel or group.

I would not be taking notes.

Like that is something.

You're engaged, you're talking.

You're not taking notes.

You're not talking off of notes.

All right.

My interview does have a writing portion at the end, and I'm not sure how to prepare for that.

Okay, so take some.

Take some interview questions, just normal questions that you would answer.

Set a timer for 30 minutes and write a response out, usually for an essay portion of the interview.

Number one, they're not expecting anything crazy.

They're not expecting the same exact quality as your personal statement.

But they do want to see something similar so they can make sure that you wrote it.

And it's usually something along the lines of forming an opinion.

Sometimes they'll give you an article to read for you to respond to, or just answering kind of a typical interview question.

So you can practice that.

You can sit down with pen and paper and write out an essay and kind of see how you do.

But I would not put a ton of weight in that.

I don't think that's going to be the make it or break it between you getting accepted, unless you have some major red flags.

So don't have red flags, but I think you can kind of incorporate that easily.

Okay, let's see here.

I think I've gotten to most of those.

Okay,.

Let's get into.

Okay, so we've talked about groups pretty well.

How are y' all doing?

Anyone feeling more stressed out?

Feeling Good.

Hopefully.

Okay, let's talk about this a little bit.

Do you have any say on when your interview is.

That is a tough one.

Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.

I will say for both of my PA school interviews, I did not have any say.

It was this is the day, this is the time, that's it.

One of them I had two weeks notice.

The other one I had a month's notice.

Some of them will, you know, give you options if you have a conflict.

You can definitely ask if there are any other options.

But be, I would say prepare yourself for that to be a no response because there are plenty of people to take your spot.

So it's a little tough.

I mean, definitely.

Really, you know, a tough, A tough situation to kind of be on call all the time.

But for these next few months, you kind of have to be in that situation.

Virtual interviews might make that easier if you can do them from anywhere.

So I mean that, that could be a little more helpful.

I had to miss a biochem midterm for an interview that had to make up, which was not fun.

So.

All right, let me see if there are any others I want to answer before we get into some specifics.

How long did it take you to prepare for interviews?

How long would you spend in a day to practice and what do you recommend?

So I wouldn't practice every single day.

If you do that, you're going to get burnt out and get tired of it.

I'm trying to remember how.

So I submitted my applications like mid June, I think.

And then as soon as I submitted, I started studying for my interview.

So reading books, reading blogs, talking to PAs.

I looked up some alumni from the schools I was applying, applying to and actually reached out to them and just said like, hey, can you tell me about your program?

Can you tell me about what I need to expect, what I can be doing to prepare?

Which was really helpful.

They were very nice and gracious to talk to me.

I would just encourage all, you know, reach out, ask like if you, there's someone you can connect with or you know, talk with.

The worst thing that happens is they say no and they don't respond.

But most people are going to be very happy and passionate to talk about whatever you want to talk about.

So time's hard.

I mean, we're all busy, but you get like a five minute phone conversation while somebody's in the car.

Like you can make that happen.

So just don't be afraid to ask.

But yeah, so I started preparing, started reading, and then when I Got my invite.

I went to my pre, like our pre health advisor at the pro at uga.

And he did mostly med school stuff, so he didn't really know much about PA stuff.

But I was still able to take his techniques and suggestions and apply them to what I was doing.

So that was helpful.

And then I had a PA that I had shadowed for about a year.

And she did a mock, mock interview with me.

It was really just her asking me questions at Chick Fil A.

And it was lots of distractions, but it was still really great practice, so that was helpful.

I had my family asking me questions, my friends asking me questions.

Up until my interviews.

I found alumni.

One I just found on Facebook.

One was like somebody had shadowed friend.

Like just asking people and looking them up.

Honestly, so nothing.

I didn't have many, like, connections or know that many people.

Water break.

Y' all drink your water.

I got this to work on my way out.

Okay.

All right.

Is anyone feeling confident to come up on the stage?

If you do, raise your speak hand.

I would not drink water during your interview.

Usually they'll probably have waters for you.

Like I remember in our little conference room, we always had drinks available or like a water fountain.

If you had a bag or something with, you could have a small water in there.

But I wouldn't like during your one on one interview.

I wouldn't be drinking water.

Okay, before we get into asking all questions, let's some.

There are questions about types of mmi, questions, how to prepare for mmi.

For mmi, you would prepare the same way.

But you really have to practice things.

Thinking out loud and talking through your answers and responses and thoughts.

So if you're given a scenario or an ethical situation, you want to be able to talk about why you would choose a certain answer, why you would not choose one.

Pros and cons and really go through a good, thorough thought process versus just being like, I would choose choice A because blah, blah, and that being it.

So that's an mmi.

You have to be ready for anything.

They could throw a weird scenario at you.

They could throw role playing at you.

You just don't know.

So somebody said, is it similar to the Casper test?

From what I've seen of the Casper test, some of the questions might be, but some of them may not be.

The other problem is, some schools say they do mmi that was the chair.

But they don't do true mmi.

It's just stations with traditional questions.

So you never really know what you're gonna get until you get there.

So you've just gotta be ready for anything.

And then if you go to a station and you feel like you bombed it, you gotta brush it off, go to the next one and do better, and just know that other people feel the same way.

What is mmi?

I should go over that.

So that's multiple mini interviews.

And this is a type of interview that is.

A lot of med schools do it.

So a lot of PA schools have kind of adopted it now, but it's designed to try to show more qualities of your personality.

So it's designed to kind of show empathy and communication and skills and things that would be important when you're working in healthcare.

And so usually you're gonna have five to 10 stations.

And at these stations, you'll have two minutes or some interval of time, two minutes to prepare by looking at the prompt or kind of knowing what you're walking into.

And then usually you have about five minutes.

Sometimes it's seven, sometimes it's 10.

To respond to that prompt.

Yeah.

So what I'm talking about, there's a blog post now in the chat, which is help.

And so then.

And in a traditional mmi, your interviewers are blinded, so they don't know anything about you or your application.

And in a true mmi, they will not respond to you.

Like, you would just sit there and let's say, like, some.

I've even heard that you.

Let's say you finished a question in two minutes.

They would literally just sit there and look at you for the next three minutes until it was time to move on, which is awkward.

So.

Yeah, but it can be the same types of questions or different ones.

When you say think out loud, do you literally mean to walk the interviewer through your thinking process?

Yeah, I do.

So, like.

Okay, I mean, I'm gonna use a really stupid example because that's what my.

I saw a bunch of patients today.

I did not even have a chance to sit down.

And so let's say, like, if you're at the grocery store, would you choose an apple or a banana?

Like, I don't know.

So in this situation, like, you would explain, like, if I was the grocery store, you know, I think both of those would be great choices, but I would have to look at what was the best choice for me in that moment.

I would.

You know, if I was thinking if I wanted an apple, I'd have to see what kind of apples were available.

My favorite kind of apple is a green apple.

And so if they had one of those, it would be very tempting that I may want to pick up a green apple, but if they were out of the green apples and all they had were gala, I'm not sure if I would go for that or if they were all bruised.

That may not be the best option.

But if I.

But I really enjoy eating apples, the problem would be I would have the apple core that I would have to figure out what to do with if I didn't have a trash can available.

Like, I mean, it sounds stupid, but you're just talking through it.

And so same thing with a banana.

Like, for a banana, I do really enjoy eating bananas, but I really like them to be, you know, not bruised at all.

And so I'd have to look and see what type of banana was there.

And then I, you know, I had an apple for breakfast this morning, so in this case, I would probably go with the banana.

I mean, you can just, you're just talking about how you think about things.

Usually they're going to be a little more meaningful.

Someone I. I saw another question here.

So let's see.

Do schools intentionally try to make you nervous during your interviews?

How do we approach this?

And then someone else said, do you know if some interviewers play mind games?

I had an MMI interview where the interviewer stared at my hands and the other interviewer responded to my answer with a really?

Yes.

So in cases they will do that.

I actually had somebody comment on a post on Instagram the other day that said during their virtual interview, they, the interviewer actually produce, pretended they, like, couldn't hear or, like, had some type of technical difficulty when really they didn't, like, it was a test to see how that person handled it, handled a stressful situation.

So that happens if you put that you speak a different language on your application, be ready for them to start speaking to you in that language.

I mean, there's, there's like, expect anything for real.

Okay.

All right.

I'm taking down the interview guide offer, but it is still there if you want it.

And I'm going to start.

So the courses are also 50 off the PA school interview course specifically, but the conferences and everything are in there.

So hopefully this code works.

It doesn't tell me.

So we'll see how that goes.

What does it mean if a school says that you have strong academic potential but your app is being held for further review?

I think that's kind of like, we got your app, but we.

You're not like, we're not inviting you for an interview yet.

In that case, I would ask them, like, hey, is There anything I can be working on and see if they have any suggestions.

All right.

All right.

We're gonna go to some of these that people had specific questions about how to answer, and I'm gonna let some of y' all answer them and then go from there.

So.

All right, raise your hand.

So go to the Speak tab, and if you feel brave, raise your hand and I will randomly pick someone to bring up to the stage to answer some questions.

If technology is on my side tonight, if it's not, we'll give up and I'll just do them.

All right,.

Kristen, you're up.

I think you just have to accept.

We'll see.

We'll give it a second.

When I did it before, it always, like, took a second for it to happen, so be brave.

You can come up.

We'll give it a couple of minutes, and I'll see if I need some more questions.

Okay.

What do you do if you have no clue how to answer at all?

What if your mind goes blank?

Laugh it off.

What advice do you have if we lose our train of thought while speaking and can't answer?

So those are great situations to take a second and, you know, just say, you know, I. I've never thought about that before.

Or let me think about that for a second.

You can do that.

You're a human.

They know that.

And so.

And they know you're nerv, too.

So just take a second.

Totally fine.

And.

And try to gather your thoughts.

If it's something you just really don't know about.

If they ask you about something you have no clue, instead of trying to answer and kind of digging a hole for yourself, just, you know, tell them, you know, that's not something I've researched.

I need to learn more about that.

I'm.

I'm definitely going to ask the PA at work about that and try to.

I guess that can be deflecting or, you know, say we.

Can we come back that later.

Versus.

Making something up that's going to make you look not great.

Okay.

I don't think Kristen's coming, so let me randomly see what happened.

I just, like, moved my ass like.

Cynthia, do you want to come up on stage?

Oh, Kristen says she's on her phone.

I don't know where it comes up, so.

But it's not showing up for me anymore.

So maybe try doing the Speak thing again, Kristen, and we'll try to get you for another one.

Yeah, Tanya, come on up.

You do not have to be dressed professionally for this at all.

Maybe it's not working tonight.

Cynthia has joined the room.

This is fun.

Okay, there should be, like, a little button, I think, in the lower left hand corner of your screen, or maybe at the top that will let you.

There we go.

Wait, we saw you for a second.

Okay, Y' all hype up.

Cynthia, Wait.

What happened?

We saw you for a second.

There we go.

Do you see it in the.

It's like the left hand corner.

And you get ready to take notes.

Okay, Kristen's back in, so we'll ask her back up in a second, too.

Cynthia, can we get an update?

I don't know if I can bring up multiple people at the same time.

Should I tell her what I'm gonna ask her?

Should it be a surprise?

This will be good.

Let's.

Probably.

This one.

Okay.

Cynthia, are you there?

Can you all hear.

Cynthia, we may bring you back up.

Maybe that was an accident.

Okay.

All right, I'm gonna take you down, but if you can come back, raise your hand again.

Okay, we'll try again.

Wait, no one has raised their hand now, so I don't know what's happening.

I apologize.

Nobody wants to speak now.

Y' all got sc.

Oh, hold on.

Now we have Kristen and.

Okay, hold on.

I'm gonna let Kristen stay up here since I don't know what's happening.

Okay.

Kristen, are you with us?

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Cannot see you.

Let me turn it on.

How about now?

Yeah.

Okay, perfect.

You ready?

I think so.

Yes.

Okay, awesome.

Okay, we'll do this, and then y' all keep raising your hands.

I don't really know what's happening.

I don't know why Cynthia's wasn't working and why.

I don't know what's going on.

So we'll just keep trying it and see what happens.

Okay, so what are some of the biggest challenges facing the PA profession?

I think the biggest challenge that the current PA profession is facing is a lack of awareness of what we're capable of.

And I think as time goes on, it's our job to educate our patients of what we're capable of, of what PAs can do.

You know, with the title, a lot of people who's never dealt with PAs or had PA as their care provider aren't aware of our full scope of practice.

And, you know, what PA is able to do, what PA is able to provide for them on a medical standpoint.

Okay, is that.

Are you.

What did you.

I forgot what we said during the other session.

Is that.

Are you.

Is your answer complete?

Is that your final answer?

Yes.

Okay.

Great job, y'.

All.

Let us know how you think Kristen did in the chat.

I don't know if we want to give.

You can give a grade or however you want to do it.

How do you feel about that answer?

I think my best answer, I need to do a little bit more research on what some obstacles the PA profession is currently facing and speak more on that and expand more on that.

Okay.

I agree with some of these in the chat.

Like, you definitely sounded very confident, which was awesome.

And that is a great answer because that is.

I mean, that is what I believe is the biggest challenge is the whole education standpoint with all that.

So, Tyler, you're right on point, so I think I agree with him.

If you could elaborate.

It's going to give your answer more of that personal approach.

So if you can pull in any.

Any situations you've had, whether it's somebody that you've told you wanted to be a PA and they didn't know what it was, or if there's any, like, work experiences you've had where you've worked with PAs and seen this happen or shadowed PAs and seen this happen and been able to kind of see how they handle it or how they educate, that's a good way to kind of pull it in and show that you're.

You have a good understanding of the scope of PAS and what PAS do.

And.

And like you said, so one thing that you did that was very, very good is you.

You told me the problem and you told me, like, what we needed to.

Do to fix it.

So some people will just say, like, oh, people don't know what PAS are, but part of this question is you showing us what you would do to fix that.

So being able to say, you know, we've got to educate, we've got to talk to people about this is really important.

The other thing I really like that you did is right from the beginning, you claimed the PA profession as your own.

And sometimes people don't do that, especially in essays and in interviews where they'll talk about, you know, PAs need to do this.

But you're like, you're already wanting to be part of this profession and part of this career so that, like, you want to help the program to see you as part of that.

So I really liked that you, you know, very confidently put that in there.

So, yeah, great job.

Everybody give a virtual round of applause and thanks for being willing to come up on our virtual stage even though we had technical difficulties.

Hopefully it'll do better now, Cynthia, I don't Know why people were getting kicked off Cynthia.

We couldn't, like, see or hear you, so I don't know what happens, so.

Awesome.

Okay, I'm gonna go back and answer some of these questions about this, and then we'll try to do another one.

Okay.

One thing about that that I will say is if you want to bring.

So I see some stuff talking about, like.

Like, restrictions and things, which is totally fine to bring up if you feel confident talking about it.

So, like, if there's something specific in your state that you feel confident talking about, but if, again, if it's something that you're kind of like, I don't know if I really understand.

It's, like, OTP type stuff, maybe don't bring it up, because they could ask you more about it, and then that could turn a little bit weird if you don't actually know what you're talking about.

Name change is definitely something that you could pull into that.

Again, make sure you understand it and also know that your interviewer may have.

The name change is something that's still kind of controversial, like, not everyone's on board, and so you don't know exactly where your interviewer falls with that.

So you kind of want to stay in that gray, safe area with that.

But, yes, like, overall, like, you jumped in.

Great job.

I'm trying to see if there's anything else kind of about that.

Cool.

Okay.

All right, let's see.

Good.

We still have time.

Let me mark that off my list.

Okay, let's do this one.

Okay.

I think it landed on Tanya.

Tanya, do you want to come up?

I think Tanya's only said she had a baby or a child.

My child is very thankfully asleep.

I was putting her to bed, like, 10 minutes before this started.

All right.

Okay.

We can hear you.

We can't see you.

If you go down to the.

I think it's the bottom left.

Maybe Kristen can help me.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

I don't even know what's happening.

I think my computer, like, you were still talking, and then all of a sudden, like, everything changed.

Yeah.

It probably looks weird because I think you're in the, like, video part now, so.

Yeah, it should be near wherever you see a microphone.

I think there should be.

Oh, hi.

Oh, hello, sweet baby.

That's fun.

Hi.

I love it.

I hope he does your virtual interviews with you.

I. I have.

His dad's gonna help take care of him.

Okay, good.

Perfect.

Awesome.

All right, are you ready?

Yes.

Feeling good.

All right.

All right, y'.

All.

Hi, Tanya.

Up and here we go like, this should take pressure off of your real interview because never would you ever have to do this in front of 200 people.

So there you go.

Okay, so tell us why you want to be a PA.

I've been wanting to be a PA for 13 years now.

I went to medical assisting school when I was really, really young.

I think I started the MA profession when I was 17 years old.

And I realized very quickly how much I.

How I plateaued in that role.

And in working as a medical assistant, I was able to get exposed to the PA profession and worked.

Worked with a physician assistant named Mark.

And he's the one who.

It kind of encouraged me, taught me a lot about the PA profession.

And that's really when I started my journey.

And because I realized working with him, I saw how he was able to treat with patients with a collaborating physician, the other doctor I worked with at the same clinic, and how I just loved how they work together and being able to take care of people.

So.

All right.

Is that your final answer?

Yes.

Awesome.

Okay, perfect.

How to do y'?

All?

There's like a 10 second lag, but it'll come up.

Yeah, your baby is totally stealing this show.

Like, I think you should actually interview with a baby because.

Help.

But.

But smile.

Oh, no, he's mad at us.

He's like, why is this person talking to me?

Okay, overall, great.

I have a lot of really great things that you did.

You're confident.

It is clear that you.

Like you said, I've been trying to do this for 13 years.

Like, I realize this is something that you are really passionate about.

So I'm going to kind of go through what.

That you understood what PAs are and were able to show how you were involved in that.

Yeah.

You are picking up on all these great things.

Yes.

So good examples of PAs, very specific examples.

Using the term collaborating physician versus supervising physician.

That is the most appropriate term currently for the relationship between a PA and a doctor.

So great job there.

And yes, talking about plateauing in the MA position, telling me how you felt limited in that role, the one thing that I think you could do to make that just like, a little bit more thorough would be talking a little bit more, like, bring it back to you at the end.

Like, I felt like it ended on a note of, like, the other PA that you knew and bringing it back to how because of what you've seen, that's where you see yourself.

And showing me those things about the PA profession, the teamwork, the patient care, and really showing that that's the role that you want specifically just to kind of bring it back to you, bring that connection of what you're looking for and what you're bringing to the profession.

But really great.

Great job.

So good.

Good luck.

I think you'll be set.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I felt like I could have rambled.

So I'm.

And also, I'm sorry if this is lagging and I'm behind.

Oh, you're perfect.

No, you're fine.

Yeah.

So if you felt like you could have said more, say more.

If any answer should be your longest answer, it should be this one.

Okay.

And so, I mean, I could have asked you, like, why you didn't consider other professions, but I felt that you so clearly told me why PA was the route that you chose, that there wasn't really a need to do that so they could ask you something about that, but that's just not always part of the story or the reason, and that's okay, too.

So thank you.

You felt good, though.

Yeah, no.

After hearing you give me feedback.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right, well, thank you.

Bye.

Bye.

Sweet baby.

Hi.

He's like, not.

Not here for this.

Okay.

All right.

Okay, let's see what happens now.

Oh, I don't know what I did.

Hopefully, I don't kick myself out.

Okay, let's see.

Yeah, I. I think Tanya did a great job.

That is such an important question, and that's a question you should be able to answer to anyone.

And so I think her use of examples was.

Is great because you want to avoid being generic.

You want to avoid, you know, things that aren't applicable to you specifically, which would be just telling me about the profession and why it's great, which we all know it's a great profession.

That's why we're here.

Right.

And so, yeah, I think, overall, she really did a great job with that.

Okay, let's see what we've got here.

Hold on.

Let's see if there are any questions I have missed.

I know I look really weird staring at my screen like this, but I have a Google Doc of questions pulled up.

Do we want to try a weird MMI one?

Should we do it?

All right, Cynthia, let's see if this works.

You're the only one I'm seeing in my thingy right now.

I really don't know if this is working appropriately.

Okay.

Is it bad to compare PA to other professions in your answer?

Not necessarily.

As long as you're doing it in a positive way and not necessarily putting PA on a pedestal.

And so as long as you're just comparing, you know, very objectively, like, this is, you know, Myra's bins.

These are the different, you know, things about each profession that I like or don't like, that's totally fine.

The best way to end a question is just to stop talking.

Hi, Cynthia.

Hi, good afternoon.

Thank you for joining.

I don't know what happened before.

You were like, May.

It froze.

You were, like, there, but not there, but we couldn't see you or hear you.

I did switch browsers, so I think that might have helped.

Okay.

Yeah, usually Chrome works best, but.

All right, well, how are you feeling about interview prep?

Okay.

Are there any types of questions that you feel most nervous or worried about?

I think, I think, like, the whole, like, tell me a little bit about yourself.

I've read and listened to your podcast and kind of tapped into, like, other resources to really highlight the most important attributes about myself and, like, my context, my history.

But it's really difficult for me to summarize everything, you know, all my experiences into just a couple of minutes.

So I think that's most daunting.

Okay, well, that is a great one.

So how about we do that?

Okay, hold on.

I'm.

Let me get one thing going.

Okay, perfect.

All right, so welcome.

Tell me about yourself.

My name is Cynthia Partida Yera.

I am currently a research infrastructure clinical manager.

I've been working in clinical research for about five years now.

And I have developed a passion for helping individuals and, you know, really bringing my organizational skills as well as my problem solving skills into healthcare, which has translated into management.

Due to this, I've, based on my history and everything that I've done, I've really learned and become passionate about medicine.

And so in doing this, I've kind of chosen this as my career path and have really delved into it and learned so much.

And so that's just a little bit.

Of who I am.

Okay.

Is that your final answer?

Yes.

Okay.

Do you have any guesses on how long your answer was?

Probably about 45 seconds.

Okay.

Yeah, it was around.

Around 50 seconds.

So you're right there.

All right, so this is a tough question just because, number one, you're going to get differing opinions, depends on how you should answer it, which you've probably found.

And there's no one perfect way.

But it's also a question that you're probably going to get asked a lot in different interviews and places.

So with this tell me about yourself question, I'll tell you kind of my approach.

I love that you started with your name, that is so important.

Even though we had just talked about your name and even in an interview where you walk in and they know your name or that you have it there from or they've seen it, reiterating that will help them to remember you and help you to put your face with your name versus seeing it on paper.

And so I see some people in the comments let us know how things are going and what y' all thought.

I agree, Tyler.

You get a little bit more personal, but we'll get to that.

So your role and interest sounds extremely interesting.

Like, that's definitely something that I would ask you more about.

Um, and just what you do, how that, you know, translates to PA stuff.

Um, I think you did a good job of incorporating and emphasizing your strengths.

So being able to talk about your organization skills, problem solving and incorporating, those things were great.

Like, those are things that you.

That are.

They're just important to know about you and you may not have another chance to incorporate them.

So that's a great time to do it.

Um, so I do want to know some personal stuff about you.

So I want to know about your family and I want to know about where you're from and what's important to you and what makes you you and what your friends love about you and what your family loves about you, your hobbies, your interests, anything that you feel, I guess makes you kind of like a well rounded individual, which.

This is hard.

Like, do you find this hard?

I find this hard for me.

Yeah, definitely.

It's just weird to talk about yourself and we all feel like we're not.

We should feel like we're awesome, but we all feel like we're like boring.

Like there's nothing unique.

But even, you know, like my favorite hobby right now is reading and listening to audiobooks.

Like, that's lame to me.

But that, I mean, that's just what it is.

Like, that's.

I love it.

And so, you know, whatever it is that brings you joy and fulfillment, like, make sure you're sharing that.

Because they want to know what interests you outside of medicine too, because they already know you're interested in medicine.

Clear.

Like you're at a PA school interview.

You want, like, clearly you like medicine, right?

And so I would incorporate some of that and even bring in some of your educational background too.

Could be helpful there.

So you.

One thing also good that you did was you did not get into why you want to be a pa. That's a huge mistake.

Sometimes I ask that and feel like, well, I want to be a PA because.

But let's jump in the gun.

I don't know anything about you yet, so I recommend kind of introducing yourself and then giving some of that background where you're from, where you live, stuff about your family or whoever, what you like to do, and then going into a little bit, take it chronological, A little bit about your education, a little bit about your roles, your career, to bring it back to kind of where you're at now.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, absolutely.

Do you feel like there was anything you like, wanted to incorporate but weren't sure about or what were your kind of reservations and sharing more?

I was a little off guard, obviously.

I didn't expect to like get called on.

Yeah, I certainly felt like I didn't have a personal touch there at all.

And maybe explaining a bit more about like my short term and long term goals would have been good to include as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Just anything important to you that you want them to know would be worth incorporating.

So.

But great job.

Great start.

And again, like, you just learned from a lot of people, so great job.

All right, thanks guys.

Okay, I'm gonna answer some of these questions in the chat and then we'll go from there.

Okay.

Okay.

Awesome.

Okay.

Education, professional, personal, hobbies.

That's fine.

Whatever order you like is fine.

I like to end like kind of bringing it back to PA or medicine a little bit because usually that kind of leads in to the other stuff.

So, yeah, great job, everyone.

I love how friendly everyone is.

Okay, is it okay to repeat hobbies or interests if they're already in your app or essay?

Yes, 100%.

If yes.

Ann, what I'm saying what you said.

Sometimes the person interviewing you is not the person who read your application or your essay.

And it's just different hearing it from you versus reading it.

So totally fine.

And then as far as talking about PAs versus not wanting to be a doctor, how do you feel about incorporating ego?

Getting credit, as in not feeling the need to get those things?

I probably wouldn't.

Just anything that could be seen as like a negative or putting another profession down you'd want to kind of stray away from and try to avoid.

Okay.

All right, we have hit our hour.

I put another offer up in the chat.

So we already in our hundred dollar mock interviews for the next 24 hours.

And again, that'll go out in your replay email.

No code needed, just you have to use the specific link that's there.

It's kind of like a hidden link link.

If it works, let me know if it doesn't.

But y' all are awesome.

Thanks for sticking around with me.

If you have any questions, send them on Instagram.

And I will be doing more of the Instagram tips and stories every single day.

And yeah, we can connect there on Facebook, all kinds of places.

And good luck, everybody.

Thanks for joining.

Bye.

It.