"I want to help people." That sentence has never gotten anyone into PA school.

Peter Alfano is a family medicine PA and one of our coaches, and he's back to talk about the two places applicants lose the most ground: the personal statement and the interview.

The pattern he sees over and over is vagueness. Vague reasons for choosing PA. Vague descriptions of experiences. Vague answers in interviews that could apply to literally anyone. Specificity is the fix for all of it - one real moment, described in detail, beats three paragraphs of general enthusiasm.

In interviews, the same rule holds. Don't tell them you're a hard worker. Tell them about the shift where you stayed late and what you did.

Peter reads a lot of these and sits on the other side of a lot of practice interviews, so this is what he's actually seeing go wrong.

What we cover:

• The most common personal statement mistakes
• Why "I want to help people" isn't a reason
• Turning an experience into a story with a point
• Being specific under pressure in an interview
• Answers that sound rehearsed versus answers that land
• How coaching changes what you can see in your own writing

Resources:

Free Personal Statement Worksheet: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-personal-statement-worksheet-download

Pre-PA Essay Review: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-essay-review

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

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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I am honored today to have our guest on the Pre PA Club as one of our very own PA platform coaches.

His name is Peter.

We see so much praise for Peter all the time in the Facebook group on social media.

He's just a really, really great Pre PA coach.

So we're talking about how we feel about personal statements and interviews, and it's a really great conversation.

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.

What's up, guys?

We are getting back into the swing of things with some new podcast episodes.

I have some really great interviews coming up and including today's, we're interviewing some of the PA platform coaches.

So today we're talking to Peter and y'.

All.

I can't even explain to you how much of a rock star Peter is.

Like, he's been with us for a while now, a couple years, and he just helps so many students and it's just awesome.

So we're going to talk a little.

Bit about his job.

He had a previous podcast episode a while back that you can listen to if you want more about, like, his story story.

But today we're really getting into, like, what do we see when we're editing statements?

What do we see in mock interviews?

What mistakes are people making, what stands out and talking all through that.

So I hope you enjoy hearing from Peter and I appreciate him taking the time to talk to us.

We are almost a month out from the next CASPA cycle opening, and that is wild.

That means it is time to get your ducks in a row.

If you are wanting help with your personal statement, now is a great time to submit for editing so that you have time to work on it before it's time to actually turn it in.

If you are a re applicant and want to go over your application, we have our prepay counseling options for that.

But just remember, you can use the code Future PA for a discount on any of the services.

The books can be found on Amazon.

So that's the personal statement guide, the interview guide, and then our Pre PA workbook.

So check all that out if you need more help.

And then of course, our free resources, everything that's on the podcast, the videos on YouTube.

This video also is already on YouTube.

If you'd like to watch the interview instead of listening and then Tons of blog posts, tons of information and things to just help you out.

So yeah, we're here to help you.

Hopefully make this process a little bit easier.

Prep Academy also has been going great.

If you are interested in a group coaching setting, you can still join Pre PA Academy and that is where we meet four times a week with different sessions, teaching group work, Q and A office hours to help make sure your application is ready to go.

Everything's recorded if you can't attend live, but we did not close registration for that.

It's still available.

We just are already in the program since it started in February.

So yeah, let's get into hearing from Peter and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

You can find me on social media, feel free to email, check out our Facebook group and you know, we want to try to make this as stress free as possible.

We're just now getting into essay season.

I thought it would be fun if we just talked about some of the things good and bad that we see.

Do you have a favorite between essays and interviews or do you flip flop?

I flip flop.

I definitely prefer interviews only because there's the face to face component.

And then with the essays, I just find myself getting distracted sometimes.

Versus in an interview you can't get distracted.

It's going to be an hour no matter what.

Versus an essay can take 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on what I'm doing on the side.

But I do enjoy doing both and it's.

They're different but very good, both of them.

Yeah, I feel like I'll like do a bunch of essays and then get burned out.

Like, oh man, I miss interviews.

And then I do interviews and yeah, I'm like, oh man, I miss essays.

I need a little bit of both.

Let's talk essays first.

We're doing Pre PA Academy and part of that is where we do live editing.

And so we've been going through a lot of different essays, which is fun because it's just paragraphs from each one.

So in one of the sessions the other day, it was cool because I got to see different types of essays.

So we had one that was just jump in, really straightforward, tell us why they want to be a pa.

They just started with that.

And then there was another one that started with a very intense EMT story about delivering a baby and all that jazz, being in the ambulance and sirens and all that.

And then there was another one that was super personal and talked about growing up with some of their household dynamics and how that led them to exposure to medicine and then how that led them to meeting and learning more about the profession.

So I was thinking about, like, those are three different styles of essays, and none of them are wrong.

I'm interested to know if you have a preference of when you read an essay, which type.

You're just like, oh, I love that type of essay.

This is so good.

I find it's good to have all those elements.

But sometimes what will happen is a student will spend too much time talking about a story or too much time talking about their healthcare experience, and it'll take away from some of the other aspects you want.

But I think what like would be a perfect essay to me would be start off with, like, a compelling story about a patient contact experience, then maybe drift into, like, how you discovered pa, what got you going on that PA school journey, then transitioning to patient contact hours, and then having a good amount of the specific reasons why you chose pa, and then wrapping it up with a conclusion.

It's hard to do that in 5,000 characters, but I have seen students do it really effectively.

And usually at the end of those essays, I'll write, this is make these little changes and you're all set.

Basically.

I've had a few of those, too, and they're almost harder to edit when they're really.

When they're really good because you're kind of like, oh, man, you're doing everything right.

I've had a few students email back, like, is this.

Are you sure?

Are you sure this is good?

I'll have somebody take a second look and stuff.

And was like, yeah.

I mean, we wouldn't tell you it was ready to go if it wasn't.

I think I like the third option when they're just, like, very personal and telling their story without trying to be too dramatic.

There's just a fine line there between too much detail, too much description, and telling your story.

It's so hard when you don't have a lot of characters to work with, unfortunately, to keep it under that kind of limit that we're looking for.

As far as essays you've edited, what are some mistakes you see?

Often, depending on the students, sometimes there'll be a lot of spelling, grammar, punctuation.

Sometimes not at all.

I was an English tutor in college, so I, like, jump at that stuff.

I can't skip over a grammar error if I know it's there.

It's distracting.

It is distracting.

Yeah.

And then I feel like I'm missing stuff on purpose, so I always, like, have to mention those.

But Then sometimes you won't have any of those, depending on how well it's been edited before.

But I think the most common thing that I find myself writing at the end of an essay is that a student didn't talk enough about actually why they want to pa.

They don't give enough specifics sometimes, unfortunately, they'll talk a lot about how they discover PA or their experiences, even working alongside PAs and their own patient contact.

But then I'll get to the end of the essay and I'm like, I still don't know why they actually chose pa. What are the specific reasons things unique about the profession?

So that's the most common thing that I'll write at the end is just you have to literally say why you want to be a PA in the essay.

I agree that it's easy to talk about the PA profession because it is such a great profession, but a lot of what I find students say could be a applied to a lot of other professions too.

So if you could say the same thing about nursing or going to med school or dental school, then that doesn't tell me why you chose PA versus those things Our previous episode, which I'll link to from a while back when we spoke.

But I would like to know again why you chose PA and then why family medicine.

I had always known for a while I was interested in healthcare just because I had interest in science and just enjoyed that.

Had good experiences as a patient too.

Originally was thinking optometry.

I don't know why that was just an interest in mine.

I thought it would be good.

And then in a health occupations class which I took in high school on my journey to become an optometrist, I learned about PA and at that point just became a lot more interested because obviously as a PA you have a much more broad scope than what you do in one particular.

Like in optometry for example, and the ability to move between specialties of course.

So then after that I started looking into what did I do to need to be a pa. What were the prerequisites, those types of things.

Got my EMT certification in high school.

Fortunately that health occupations class gave me that opportunity so I could get started with patient contact pretty early on and then went to University of New England for Medical biology pre pa.

They actually it's a pretty medical based school so they have a specific pre PA major which I took and then got into MCPHS for PA school.

At the time I didn't really know what specialty I wanted to do.

So to have that option Open to me was something it was definitely drawn to.

The collaboration with the physicians was something I was drawn to, something I still enjoy.

I don't ever feel bad going up to the physician and be like, this is what I see.

This is what I think we should do.

Do you approve?

Do you agree?

So that was something I was definitely drawn to.

Even in high school, I did.

And I always tell students, I don't recommend talking about this in interviews, but me personally, the fact that it was two years, as opposed to four years of medical school and residency, then fellowships, it was honestly something that I was drawn to.

Although I usually tell students not to talk about that in an interview.

But in all honesty, that was something too.

Yeah.

I mean, it's part of it.

I explained those as, that's a perk.

But is it, like, a reason?

It's fine that it's like, a great part of it, but it shouldn't be your main reason that you're wanting to do this.

For me, it was the teamwork, the collaboration, and, like, seeing that while you still got to work with patients and make decisions and be really involved with their care, I just found that so appealing.

Shadowing is how I saw it and said, oh, yeah, like, I think I fit what this person's doing.

They're doing what I want to do.

Let's do it.

Did you always think family medicine, or did that come later?

You're gonna feel like you're in a mock interview right now.

No, that's okay.

No, I did not think family medicine initially at all.

At the time, I was almost.

And it, like, sounds silly now because I love it so much.

But at the time, I was almost a little overwhelmed by it, by having to know every single spot someone could walk in with anything, and you could have any degree of complexity in any of your patients.

And at the time, I was a little.

Almost turned off by that.

I thought that I would be better finding something that I really liked and getting really good at it.

So I was originally thinking orthopedics.

I thought I was going to specialize.

And then I did a family medicine rotation.

I did an orthopedic rotation.

I just preferred.

It's just one of those things.

Sometimes you learn something's just not a good fit for you.

And I found the family medicine, like, I knew at the end of that rotation.

Okay, this is definitely what I want to do just based on the relationships with patients over the years.

I have some patients at my practice that have been coming there for almost 40 years with the same owner who retired a few years ago that I was drawn to.

I learned that I actually did like the diversity of it.

As much as I thought I wanted to specialize, I actually enjoyed getting to learn a little bit of everything and then having the specialists as a second line.

If there was a situation I needed more help or more support.

And then it's a cushy lifestyle too.

And I know with dermatology, it's probably similar.

Nice hours, no overnights or holidays for us.

So it's very nice.

That was part of the job.

Dermatology and I like similar things at this point.

I have patients I've been seeing for.

For almost the 10 years I've been in practice.

People that I started seeing when they were nine and now they're in college.

And it's just.

It's wild.

Like, it's so cool when I see them on my schedule.

It just is mind blowing.

I'm like, I can't believe I've been doing this long and that you're now like a full adult.

That part's really cool.

And part of why I like dermatology, I think one thing that's helpful is hearing, and that's part of why we do the podcast from PAs and people who have been through it about what they do and what they like.

Because it is easy to read about the profession and it sounds cool, it sounds good, but you can only get so much from reading about it.

Any other big mistakes, big things that you look for in an essay?

I like when they go in chronological order.

That's like a personal thing that I just want it to flow where it's like, I can follow it easily.

I definitely like that too.

If they're not jumping around or going out of order or those types of things.

I think other mistakes is sometimes students will have.

The paragraphs will almost be too long.

Sometimes they'll have a whole paragraph to talk about one idea and you're almost halfway done the essay.

Sometimes it'll be the opposite thing.

A paragraph will be too short.

It's two sentences and you're already jumping to the right idea.

Like, can we work this into another paragraph?

And then other just silly things like using contractions, using slang, using second person pronouns like you like.

None of that stuff should be in a formal essay.

Those are very common mistakes that I'll see.

Not putting a conclusion.

They'll just like end the essay abruptly.

Please put it.

It doesn't have to be long, but I want a conclusion like I want.

Yeah, that kind of wrap up.

Have you Ever had.

I think this happened last season of essays.

I had two very memorable ones.

One decided to use the F word.

It was in a quote from a patient.

But I was like, ah, let's not do that.

And then the other one was talking about a patient encounter and kept using the phrase butt crack in referring to the station encounter.

And I was like, I just think we could find something different to use.

And those just stick out.

I don't know if I've ever had anything that fragrant.

Yeah, I've had nothing like butt crack, but I've definitely had some where I was like, this is like how I would talk to my friends, not how I would talk to.

Yes.

Little too casual.

Yeah, a little too casual.

Yeah.

We also had last year two poems submitted.

They took some liberties of writing and did it in the style of a poem, which I did not get those.

But both the editors emailed me and were like, are you sure this is what they meant to submit?

And then, yeah, we had to talk about that a little bit too.

I feel like there's an element of risk with that you might get someone reading it from our program.

Oh, this is so creative.

Let's give them more points.

But to me, that the risk outweighs the benefit.

I agree.

And that's what some people are like, should I use huge humor?

And I'm like, it's hard to do.

I've only seen it done well a couple of times when you can really tell it fits that person's personality.

But I would say usually it doesn't really translate that well.

Yeah, my essay wasn't very humorous.

No, not at all.

Not at all.

One other thing that comes up a lot, and I'm just interested on your take, is sharing personal things.

Personal medical issues, personal life events.

And to me, it's a.

A gray area there.

Like, yes, we want to be personal, but also, how much is too much?

Do you see that at all?

That's the thing is, yes, personal is good because it shows your different experiences and what you've been through.

But there have been a couple essays where I've looked at it and, like, it's almost like you're trying to play too much on tugging their heartstrings.

And that usually doesn't work.

They read hundreds of essays a year that.

I don't think you want to overdo it.

There was one essay.

I don't know if you remember this, but there was one I did last year that was.

It was so personal that I sent it to you, and I'm like, yeah, I don't even know if I was being, like, insensitive with how I edited it, but it was just a very dark thing that this student had experienced that I personally didn't think was the right strategy for an essay, which is why I asked you to look at it.

Yeah, no, I do remember that.

And I think my thing that I always go back to with the student is, does what you're talking about, does the situation, whatever it is, does it relate to your ypa?

Are you just sharing it to share it, or does it relate to this situation?

Has it impacted your decisions somehow, your journey somehow?

There are other places you can share some of that stuff, like supplementals if appropriate and if given an opportunity.

But, yeah, the personal statement's not always where that needs to be.

In the interview, too, is another spot.

There'll be times I'll write this paragraph, wait till your interview.

That's gonna be the time.

Okay.

Is it different in an interview to you?

It just depends on if the question comes up.

Because a lot of students, they'll come in and they're like, no matter what happens, I really want to talk about this during my interview.

If the question comes up, certain students might have a really good answer prepared.

The question and answer style of an interview will allow you that range, that topic, and an interview, there's a lot more opportunity to branch out.

So some of that stuff that students will force into an essay, I do tell them, just wait till the interview list.

You're probably going to get a chance to talk about it, and it'll just fit a lot better there.

Whereas the personal statement is just ypa, and you have to stay within that.

Yeah, I agree.

You can wait for an opportunity and then make it fit in there.

Depending on how they ask may determine how you talk about it.

Yeah, I use the phrase sneak it in when I'm talking to students.

Yeah, sneak it into this question.

It relates just enough.

I talk about, like, having a mental library of what you want to talk about and then pulling from it some visual, like, then crossing it off the list.

I've talked about that volunteer experience.

I've talked about this life experience and then pick something else to work in there.

Do you have a favorite question to ask in mock interviews?

Oh.

Oh, man, I have a lot of favorite questions.

You don't have to weigh all your secrets.

One of my favorite ones isn't very common to be asked in the real interview, but I will ask students because it will teach me a lot about what their strategy is.

I Will ask them if I have time.

If you could choose any other job besides pa, what would it be?

Are they going to be asked that exact question?

Maybe not.

But the take home point is, like, if they ask you a personal question, they're probably just trying to get to know you.

And when the student says, I'm gonna go to medical school, maybe it's true.

I mean, it's a personal question.

But when I get an answer like that, that gives me a lot about what their strategy was during the interview, which is basically, tell me what they thought I wanted to hear.

Ooh, I like that.

And that would turn into a teaching point at that point.

I've never thought about it like that.

But I think you're, I think you're completely right.

I tell them, I wait for the moment where I feel confident that they're being genuine.

Like, I can teach you confidence.

I can teach you to look confident and act confident.

I can't teach you to be genuine if you're not being yourself.

Like, I can't fix that.

So that's what I'm looking for is like, feel like you are being yourself.

You're really like the bachelor.

Like being here for the right reasons.

Like, you are passionate.

That's what I'm kind of looking for.

And so I kind of look for that moment where I feel like they're like, egg has cracked and they're like just being themselves.

That's interesting because I do get those answers.

I would say the most common answer I get for that one teacher.

Oh, I would be really kid teacher.

And I'm like, would you though?

Like, okay, yeah, if you would.

That's cool.

Yeah, that's what I tell them too.

If that's really the truth, then you should answer the question that way.

But my favorite answer to that is when they just choose like the most random thing ever.

That teaches me a lot about like their hobbies and interests.

Like, I'll get like travel blogger or baker or like those types of answers.

What would you say?

I think I'd be a genius of the Apple store.

I'm one of those people I like to like, if my phone's not working, I'll take it apart and replace the battery myself and put it back together.

So I would love to do that, but I like healthcare better.

They asked me that in an interview.

Let's remember, I was 21 at the time when I interviewed.

And it was like the last question.

And I've talked about this before because I felt so dumb.

I was like, why did I.

And they asked me that, and I was like, oh, I'd own a wedding dress store.

Like, what?

I don't know where that came from.

I think I had been watching a TV show about weddings on TLC or something.

Yeah.

I don't know.

And they're like, oh, okay.

I think that would be fun.

And then I asked them, and One of the PAs who was interviewing me said she would own a bookstore, and the other one said she would be a singer.

So we got to have, like, a fun little conversation about it.

And I guess you're right.

Like, they knew I was not, like, making up an answer clearly.

But I remember being so embarrassed of that answer I got in, so I guess it was okay.

Maybe you're right.

Maybe it's more of a strategy question, because, like you said, you get to learn something about the person.

I like to ask, biggest weakness.

I do that one, too.

I like to ask it differently, though.

Like, I like to say, what would your, like, family say is your biggest weakness?

What would your classmates say?

Your co workers?

That throws them off a little bit.

That's one, too.

I guess I do the same thing where I can tell if they are being honest or if they're just, like, saying something that they think isn't really a weakness, that they can, like, twist or something.

If you go on Google and Google what to answer for that question, they'll tell you something that you can turn into a strength, which is yes.

But there have been times where students will answer the question, and I'll.

When I'm going through it at the end, I'm like, so this would have been a really good answer if I'd asked you, what is your biggest strength?

Like, they'll say, I like helping people.

And then I'm like, that's not a weakness.

That's a strength.

So maybe use that as your biggest strength answer.

Definitely see some of that, depending on how genuine they're being or those types of things.

Right.

And it's like, I can't say no or I work too hard.

Yeah.

Okay.

I think asking it a little bit differently makes them think about it in a different way.

What are some common mistakes in interviews?

Definitely not relating it to PA enough.

Yeah.

And I always tell students at the beginning, even before I start, make sure you relate your answers to Paul.

I also find more often than not, I'll have students where their answers are too short.

I always tell students at the end, they'll say, oh, were my answers too long?

And I'll tell them that for every Maybe one student that gives me answers that are too long.

I'll have five or six whose answers are too short.

So, like, when in doubt, just go longer because you always feel like you're talking less than what you are.

Definitely answers that are too short.

And then of course, you'll see just students that are just generally unprepared, which is the worst thing you like to see.

Because I can't do as much to help them.

I can do a lot more to help someone who's almost there, because then I can start pointing out the little things that you can only get through practice versus you'll get those students that haven't practiced at all, haven't studied at all, and they just kind of want to see how they do.

And then we're talking, like, really basic, basic things that they could have found on any website or from listening to, like a single episode of your podcast, they could have probably gotten more out of it than from that hour.

Sometimes they're trying to tell a story to supplement the answer.

The story will be way too long and it'll almost over or distract from the question.

If I'm asking you why you want to go to the school, sure, you can tell a little story about a patient care experience that relates to the value of the school, but if it's taking up 2/3 of your answer, then maybe we need to cut that out.

Yeah, and that's something that people can practice, because I think people worry about sounding too rehearsed or if they should practice too much.

But I think you can practice getting to the point quickly and figuring out from a context standpoint what needs to be there and what doesn't.

Like, my thing is always set the stage, make sure your role is clear, explain kind of what happened as quickly as possible, but really focus on why you're sharing that.

Sometimes they'll answer with a story or something and just tell me the story, but they don't really relate it to why they're telling me.

I think that happens a lot where they're like, oh, they're going to assume I was a cna or they're going to assume I was an emt, but they don't necessarily know that.

I'll have students that think that if something's in their application, it's 100% off limits in their interview.

So now they're not talking at all about their patient contacts.

And then.

And it's no, Just because it's in your application doesn't mean it's off limits.

You should can still Find ways to incorporate it and still add things and be creative.

Yes, 100%.

When I showed up in my interview, they had lost my application, so they didn't know anything about me.

Like, nothing, I guess.

Guess I'm supposed to be here.

Yeah.

They're like, we'll find it.

Okay.

That's a very blind interview.

It was very blind.

Yeah.

And they told me.

They're like, we truly.

We just can't find your application right now.

Okay, cool.

And they couldn't pull it, like, online at that point, so whatever.

But, yeah, just went for it.

What stands out to you in an interview of somebody that you're just like, oh, man, that person.

I never give prompts.

I'm never like, oh, yeah, you're definitely getting in.

But sometimes I'm like, you did a great job.

Like, you should feel very confident.

I feel good about this.

There will be times when you can just.

Between the application and between the interview skills, when you can pretty much tell.

And it's true.

I don't tell them either.

You're definitely getting in, but you can pretty much tell.

And it's usually a combination.

You have to have a lot of things, and some of the stuff is just, like, personality, like, charisma.

You can teach, but sometimes it's just a skill or a talent.

But, yeah, it's being able to, of course, articulate your ideas effectively.

Trying to seem confident but not arrogant.

Right.

And trying to seem prepared but not memorized is a difficult balance.

And then just, of course, like, the.

The preparation.

Having had enough patient contact where you can incorporate into your interview.

Sometimes in the younger applicants with not as much experience, it can be more challenging relating it back to PA Giving.

I always tell students, if it's a question where it's.

We're looking for examples, like, why do you want to go to our school?

Somewhere between three or four examples, just having that combination, when you have all that together and it's someone that seems confident and relaxed, just.

It leads to a really good, quality interview.

Yeah, I agree.

And a lot of these applicants, even just looking their application when we get to the interview, and I'm like, y' all are fantastic.

I would accept you.

I would love for you to be in my class.

I don't think I would get in these days.

Like, y' all are doing so much stuff, and it's hard for me when I feel like somebody does feel so scared from the interview, when I'm like, you've done what you're supposed to do, and you have all these great Experiences.

You just have to highlight them, which is hard.

It's hard for people to talk about themselves.

We don't want to do that.

I think that makes it a little bit tough.

I enjoyed the interviews.

I didn't think they were that scary, but that made me abnormal.

Yeah.

I didn't have.

It also depends on the interviewer too.

Yeah.

If they're scary, if they're going to be.

Yeah, exactly.

But I guess I was always lucky with that.

Yeah.

Are you stoic when you're doing mock interviews?

I am, yeah.

I tell students at the end, like to prepare them for worst case scenario.

So I don't show any facial expression.

I don't get any feedback at all.

And I do that because then at the end, if they talk about it, I'll tell them.

This is like the worst case that you're going to have.

Hopefully it's much more conversational.

You can tell by they're responding to you or they're smiling or those types of things.

But I don't do that because I want you to get ready for the absolute worst case scenario.

I do the same thing.

I like, we're like chatting like this and all of a sudden we're just.

Just not.

And yeah, okay, we're starting now.

Yeah.

And then I take my notes.

I don't really.

I don't comment.

I don't make any reaction at all.

And then afterwards I'm like, how'd it go?

Yes.

Take a big breath or sweating.

Yeah.

I'm not trying to scare them too bad.

But I definitely had some stoic interviewers.

I had some bad cop, good cop stuff.

They're pretty rough.

They like anything I said.

They would question, they would push back.

I think part of that was strategy just to kind of see my response, see if I, like held my answer, see if I was easily swayed.

So I heard one program, they do zoom interviews.

And in the middle of the interview, the interviewer acts like something's wrong.

There's a technical difficulty, even though there's not, and makes the person kind of sweat for a minute to try to figure it out.

And then I don't know what they do come back or something just to test them, which.

That's a little extreme.

I don't know about all that.

Yeah, that.

That might have caused me to have a mini panic if that happened in my interview.

Because if that happens during one of the mock interviews when a student drops out, the first thing I do is I'll do like an Internet speed test to figure out, is this on My end.

Or is that so narrative?

First thing I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, what if it's on my end?

So, yeah, that would.

That would stress me out.

I'd be, like, trying to call the school.

I don't know what to do.

I'm still here.

Do a little problem solving.

Shouldn't be that scary.

I do think people should prepare for their mock interview, if possible.

Do you prefer people to wear their suit or you don't care?

I don't really care.

I don't really care.

Just because depending on the time of day and if I was just working outside, I may or may not be as dressed up as the student.

Oh, I'm never wearing a suit.

But, yeah, I never am.

Yeah, it doesn't matter me.

So I guess maybe it helps the students because it makes them feel more.

Feel more real, more of a simulation.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I do tell them that they're doing a zoom interview to try to have, like, their setup just so they can see what that looks like on camera, and that makes it a little bit more real.

But as we go into interview season, any thoughts specifically for RE applicants for either essays or interviews?

I feel like for interviews, sometimes it can be a little bit harder for somebody, especially if they've interviewed at a lot of students.

Schools maybe feel a little bit jaded, and I think it can be a little tough.

What are your thoughts or anything you've seen for the reapplicants?

Yeah, just from an application standpoint alone, of course, you would want to retake any class that was like, a C or minor less and of course, more patient contact.

Try to get more shadowing.

But for the interview itself, I guess it depends on what the issue was, because I have had students that have 3.8, 3.9s, really good applications and not get in.

And then they finally, okay, I'll do a mock interview.

And I'm sitting there and I'm like, if this application didn't get in, it's probably the interview.

And then you'll learn.

And it's okay.

Their answers were too short or their answers were too long or they didn't.

For every applicant, I would say, go back to the fundamentals.

Like, make sure that you know what a PA is and make sure that you know why you want to be one, what experiences you have.

Letter led you up to it.

Make sure you research the school.

Make sure you know the history of the PA profession.

These are things that everybody can do.

But what I find when it's a RE applicant that had a Great application that didn't get in.

It's usually because of those types of things or just because they don't have enough confidence.

They are smart and they'd be a great PA student but they can't get over that interview hump.

And for those students I just tell them keep practicing out loud, hopefully with another person.

But worst case scenario, record yourself and watch it back later because there's no replacement for out loud practice.

100%.

Yeah.

I had a message today from someone who had four interviews this cycle and all rejections and asking me what they should do different.

And I was like that four interviews is amazing.

That's impressive.

So that tells me it was most likely something in the interview that maybe that was a red flag.

Too general is something I see a good bit like you're saying that you need specifics.

A couple years ago I had someone who, no pressure came to me and she had had seven interview, two wait lists, five rejections and she had one more interview.

She said this is my last chance, it's in two days.

Like what do I do?

And so we did a mock interview and her thing, she was just way too general.

I was like, I don't feel like I'm learning anything about you.

I just feel like you're giving me this like very surface level answer.

Not even necessarily like what she thinks I want to hear, but just not going a little bit deeper or more personal.

So we worked on that some and she did end up getting in but that was very intimidating to me.

Yeah, I was like, oh no, why didn't you come to me months ago?

But we were able to help her out.

Yeah.

Whenever the interview is the next day and the student's not where they need to be, it's very hard because I want to help them, but I also don't want to overwhelm them.

So they're like trying to pull an all nighter.

That's when I'll maybe tone it back just a little bit on the feedback and try to give them the big picture points to help them for the next morning.

The bottom line is don't schedule the night before the interview unless it's like a last minute rehearsal when you're already where you need to be but usually not try.

Yeah, I, I very much encourage not doing that.

And if people ask me or like email last minute, I really don't recommend you do that.

I recommend the day before, don't do anything for the interview.

Just make sure you have your ducks in a row logistically.

But that's it.

I've had people want to do them the morning of their interview.

Want to do one at 5am the morning.

I'm like, we are not doing this.

You should not do this.

That is, you're gonna be exhausted by the end of the day.

That's like trying to take the sats twice in a row on the same day.

There comes a point that's just too much.

Yeah.

Last minute ones don't recommend, I think the sweet spot.

It's probably three weeks before that gives you enough time to practice.

And most people don't do a second one.

But if somebody decided they needed more practice, they could.

I feel like we give enough feedback that then they can work on stuff themselves and like you said, record themselves.

Go work with family and friends and share that feedback with stuff that they can keep working on.

It's the goal.

Yeah.

Like sometimes students will ask me at the end, they'll say, do you think I should do another one?

Sometimes the answer, yeah, you need more practice.

But a lot of time I'll tell the student, take the next few days practice and then see how you feel.

If you look at my notes, practice out loud, make these changes and you'll have a much better idea.

And sometimes those students I don't hear from again, then some of them, yeah, they do want that extra practice and that's why it's good to do it enough in advance where you can do that.

Yeah.

It's helpful, but not always realistic.

So.

Right.

Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful insights.

And everybody will know where to find you if they want to get with you for a mock interview.

I'm actually surprised by how many we've had still in February.

I think with virtual interviews now, the cycles are just very different.

Yeah.

There's one or two schools I can think of that.

It seems like they just started interviewing now because I'm getting so many from the same one or two schools.

Interesting.

They probably did.

They probably just.

And then some of the newer programs, they don't always get notice of being able to start, so they'll sometimes have later interviews too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The cycle's different every year.

Yep.

And then we'll get into essays and all that.

Thank you so much for joining me,.

Sam.