Interview season is here, and the time to start preparing is the day you hit submit on your application.

I hear from people all the time who get an invite and then panic because they have two weeks and nothing ready. Don't be that person. Buy the suit now. Start setting money aside for flights and hotels now. Talk to your boss about time off now, before you're scrambling.

Then do the actual work. Know the program you're interviewing at inside and out. Know your own application well enough to talk about any line on it. Most of interview prep is just being able to explain who you are and why you want this, out loud, without rambling.

What we cover:

• Why prep starts the day you submit, not the day you're invited
• What to wear and what to bring
• Budgeting for travel and getting time off work
• Researching each program before you go
• Getting comfortable talking about your own application
• Answering "why PA" without sounding rehearsed

Resources:

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

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

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

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Welcome to episode 46 of the Pre Pa Club podcast where we're talking about how to prepare for PA school interviews.

It's that season.

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 guys, my name is Savannah.

I am the host of the Prepa Club Podcast.

Thank you so much for joining me on episode 40.

So we made it this far.

And if you aren't already subscribed to the podcast, if you want to get episodes downloaded straight to your phone, you can subscribe on itunes.

They also upload each week to the.

PA platform,.

So make sure you don't miss that.

And if you've enjoyed the podcast, go ahead, give us a review on itunes.

It helps more people find it, but I'm really excited for what we have coming up for the next few weeks.

If you're just tuning in, then I should inform you that I am very pregnant.

If you've been following me on Instagram, you have probably seen that.

But in the next few weeks, I.

I will be having a baby girl.

And going on maternity leave.

But I don't want to leave you guys hanging because you guys need information and luckily I have some really cool stuff for you.

Alright, so for the next few weeks, as I am preparing for this baby, I am going to share some content with you that I've actually created over the last year.

I did some webinars on YouTube and they're still there.

The links will be in the descriptions for each of these, but.

And if you've listened to other ones, you can probably jump ahead a little bit.

But I've done different topics ranging from pre PA stuff, talking about PA school, talking about being a dermatology pa and there's some really good Q and A's at the end and just great information.

So I wanted to integrate that into the podcast.

So for these next few weeks, you're going to hear those webinars and if you'd rather watch them on YouTube, you can do that.

Like I said, it's in the description.

But they're a little bit long, they're longer than normal episodes.

They're about an hour.

I say that, but a lot of my interviews are an hour or two.

But anyway, I try to keep it at 30 minutes.

I know that doesn't really happen.

If y' all need me to do.

Better, let me know.

But if you need to break it.

Up, just know they are a little Bit longer.

And yeah.

So I just wanted to share these with you and I felt like it was a good time to introduce them since I'm going to be a little preoccupied.

But I hope you enjoy and we'll just jump right in and then I'll still hopefully be around on social media and reachable by email and those types of things.

So if you need me, I'm there.

And I hope that y' all get a lot out of these webinar episodes and then we'll be back with interviews and all kinds of stuff.

Really actually fun stuff this summer.

So I'm excited, but let's jump in.

Hey, guys, I think I'm live.

So I'm really excited about this webinar tonight.

And I'm excited to see that everyone is from all over the place.

Some fellow people from the south and people in California, all over.

I hope that y' all took some time to celebrate your dads today on Father's Day.

I know my parents are watching.

Hey, guys.

And we went out to lunch to celebrate.

It was a lot of fun.

Tonight we will be going over interview preparation.

And if we haven't met before, I'm Savannah.

I founded a website called the PA Platform.

You may have seen me there.

You may have found me on social media.

I don't really know how you found this webinar.

I'd love to know.

But I love helping people get into PA school.

And then I really love connecting with pre PA students, PA students, people who will eventually be my colleagues as a pa.

So I'm a dermatology PA and in my free time, I help people getting to PA school.

So I have a lot of stuff tonight.

We're gonna be mainly talking about the preparation part of interviews and what that looks like and what you should be doing, what you can be doing to make sure that you make the best impression possible.

Somebody found me on Pinterest.

That's interesting.

I do have a lot of stuff on there.

I guess if you have questions throughout the presentation, just go ahead and put them in the chat box and I'll go back through afterwards.

We'll spend a good amount of time answering your questions and just I really want you to get the most out of this and I appreciate you for taking the time out to watch and I really hope you get some value out of it.

I'm going to get everything pulled up here.

Give me just a second and then we'll get started.

And I've heard there's a little bit of a lag sometimes in my voice and what's going on.

So if that gets to be an issue, let me know in the chat.

All right, here we go.

So I've been doing these webinars for a couple months now, and I've been really excited about this one.

Interview season is in full swing at this point.

I've had some mock interviews.

I'm getting emails from people who are getting interviews.

I'm seeing it all over.

Interview invitations are going out at this point.

If you have not submitted your application yet, don't freak out.

There's plenty of time.

Interviews happen year round, but it's definitely in your best advantage to be in that first group after the application portion and after you've completed your personal statement, which in my opinion is the most important part of your application.

At that point, the interview is the next most important thing.

It is what will get you accepted into PA school after everything has been said and done.

What's on paper is important, but what you're able to portray in person is even more important.

So a question that I get asked a lot is, when should I start preparing?

Should I prepare before I've even applied?

Should I apply?

Should I prepare after I've applied?

Right When I get the interview invite, when should I begin these preparations?

And my answer is to begin preparing as soon as you submit your application.

Because you don't want to take your time away from the application or away from your personal statement to start preparing for your interview before you've even submitted.

But as soon as you hit submit, you can go ahead and start thinking about the interview process.

You don't know for sure whether or not you'll get interviews, but you don't want to be caught off guard with getting an interview invitation and not being ready for it.

So these are just some practical tips, things that you may have thought about, you may not.

First things first.

Get a suit.

I believe personally that for a PA school interview you need to wear a suit.

Some people go with more of a business casual, but in my experience, I think it's such a formal process and such an important professional interview that you need to look very, very nice.

And I think a suit is the best way to do that.

So go ahead and look into that.

I got mine at Banana Republic Outlet, I believe, and that was a little bit more affordable.

But it's something that you'll use for a while, so go ahead and invest in that.

Save money for travels.

PA school interviews can get very, very expensive.

You have to take into account any flights you may have to take, hotels Travel time off work.

Go ahead and think about that.

You don't want to miss an opportunity to interview because you weren't financially prepared.

So just take that into account.

Give your work a heads up.

So you may have to take some time off work to interview.

A lot of times these interviews are during the week.

You may not be given much notice.

So I know sometimes the program I went to, they want to have a full interview session with however many students they're looking for.

So if someone cancels on a Friday, they're going to call the next person on the list, even if the interview's on Monday, and see if they can make it.

So you may just want to let your boss know that you may be having to take some last minute time off.

But it's so important for your future that you don't need that to be an issue that would hold you back from going to an interview.

Start checking the news.

Just get yourself up to date with what's going on in medicine, what's going on in the field of the PA world.

There's been a lot lately with just changes and responsibility and kind of legislation.

That came after the most recent AAPA conference, which is the big PA Society.

And so their website is a great resource.

I have a slide with resources later on, but just make sure you're familiar because that is one of the things that you'll want to be prepared for going into an interview is having some knowledge of what's going on in healthcare and what's going on with PAs.

And then be patient.

Check your email regularly, check your spam mail, but don't feel like you have to contact programs constantly trying to see if they're going to give you an interview.

My kind of rule of thumb is if you haven't heard anything from a program, good or bad, and it's been two to three months after you submitted, go ahead and contact them.

It is possible for your interview invite to be lost.

One of my good friends in PA school that happened to her, she contacted the school towards the end of the interview cycle knowing that she hadn't heard from them and they informed her that she had missed her interview.

That was supposed to be a month earlier.

So it can happen, but just don't be an annoyance to the programs and contacting them constantly.

Let's talk about preparing for specific programs and how to do that.

So when you go to an interview for a PA program, you need to be familiar with their school, you need to have done your research.

That means that you need to know what they have to offer and you need to know what you can offer them.

So make sure that you are using this time to make sure that you're as well informed as possible.

Review your application.

So it's very common for schools, some schools to pull questions directly from your application.

They may ask you about a specific volunteer opportunity.

They may ask you something from your personal statement.

Ask about a particular grade.

It's not uncommon for that to happen, so you need to be familiar with that and know what you could expect.

If there's something on there that's a red flag or something interesting, just know they could ask you more about that.

So you want to review it.

It may have been a while since you actually looked at your application and you can download a PDF of your CASPA from the CASPA site and I definitely recommend having that on hand just for future reference as well.

So my website, the PA platform, obviously I think it's a great place to prepare.

I have a list of questions, I have some worksheets, and I'll show you those a little bit later.

Use the program's websites.

You should know basically everything on a program's website, and I don't mean to memorize it, but be familiar going into it.

You shouldn't go into the tour that's offered on the interview day not knowing anything about the program.

And I feel like this is common sense.

But just be familiar with with the program.

Read the faculty bios, see if there's anyone you have a connection with in some way and just show that you have done your research.

When you're asked about the program, see if you can find any current students or alumni.

There's a lot of great places to look for these people.

Reddit, the physician assistant forum, which we'll talk about.

I had a mock interview recently and someone told me they heard a PA student on a podcast and contacted them and was able to get more information about the school that they were going to be interviewing at.

So use your resources.

It never hurts to ask someone.

I know that I personally reached out to a PA that had gone to the program I was interviewing at on Facebook and she graciously offered to talk to me on the phone, which I appreciated.

She didn't like tell me what to do or anything, but she definitely gave me some tips and really just calmed my nerves about the interview that I was going to and just kind of gave me a heads up.

So see if you know anyone or you can reach out to anyone who may be able to help you out.

And then the physician Assistant Forum is just a great resource altogether.

People will post when they're getting interview invites, they'll post their stats post, they'll post when they're getting accepted.

Current students will go on there and answer questions.

That's usually where I start whenever I'm trying to do research about how a program conducts their interviews.

So I've been getting a lot of questions about how to prepare for different types of interviews.

I think this was one of your questions, Andrew.

And then Julia just sent me a question about this as well.

So we'll talk a little bit about this and then if you have more specific questions afterwards, let me know.

So a traditional interview is going to be basically you sitting down with one person, a couple people, and they just ask you questions.

This can be a little bit more conversational at times or they may be straight faced and not giving you any feedback.

But this is going to be your typical questions which I am going to go over some of those in a little bit.

So we'll talk more about that.

But ethical, situational, behavioral questions.

I kind of group these all together and I've gotten a lot of questions about these.

So this type of question will usually be phrased a little bit differently.

So instead of saying how do you study?

They'll say tell me about a time that you had to study to do well or tell me about a time that you were successful academically.

So it's just phrased a little bit differently, same kind of thing.

How do you handle stress?

Tell me about a time you were in a stressful situation.

The reason they ask it like that is to elicit a response that is more of a story and more of an example because that's going to tell more about you.

I can sit here all day and tell you, oh, I read the chapter twice and I make notes and then I make flashcards and then I use my flashcards.

Then I get in a group and study.

But it's a lot more effective if I tell you this.

One time in organic chemistry I wasn't doing very well so I had to figure out how to study.

I had to go to a tutor and they taught me this method where I wrote everything out and I reviewed the chapter and then I used this resource online to do practice questions and I was able to be successful.

It just shows so much more about you if you use a specific example.

So that's why those questions are asked like that.

In more of the ethical or scenario type questions, these are things like they'll say you saw a fellow student cheating what do you do?

There's not necessarily a right answer to these questions, but there is absolutely a wrong answer.

So in an ethical scenario, they just want to see that you're an ethical person and that you know right from wrong.

And it can be a tough situation.

I've heard some crazy scenarios, but you just want to show that in a situation you would do the right thing.

So in a cheating situation, you're going to talk to the person probably, but you're also probably going to tell someone about it, whether that's a faculty member or an advisor.

You need to show that you're willing to do what is right, even if it's difficult.

So that's kind of the way to think about those multiple mini interviews.

I honestly hate these type and I.

They're just not very fun.

So if you never heard of an nmi, it's basically stations where you're given a scenario or a question, you have two minutes to look over it and prepare and think about it.

You go into a room and you have five to seven minutes to respond.

Or sometimes you're acting out a scenario.

It can just be really random.

And that's a very traditional mmi.

Some places will just do stations and call it that, but it's not a true mmi.

But the best way to prepare for this type of interview is to practice thinking out loud.

So in this type of interview they're looking for different things, they're looking at your communication skills, trying to find out all these different characteristics about you.

And so they want to see you thinking through a situation.

So if you're given a scenario, you just want to show that you can think about all the different options and you want to talk about all those options.

But ultimately you need to decide on one of them and back up why you've decided on that choice or that path and then be able to explain that and validate it with your thoughts and opinions and experiences.

Group interviews, just to mention these quickly.

This can be either a panel interview or sometimes you'll have like a group activity.

And this is just to make sure that you're a team player and to show that you are able to function with other people without being over demanding or condescending.

You just want to be very kind and collaborative because a big part of being a PA is being a great teammate.

Essays.

This just can be a little part of the interview.

These usually aren't a big deal.

They just want to see that you can form an opinion and write it out.

The best way to prepare for this is Just write out some of your.

When you're practicing questions, write out some of your answers.

Just get that on paper.

To just practice.

Give yourself maybe a time limit of 15 to 30 minutes.

Usually it's no longer than a page.

So not.

Try not to stress about the essays.

They're not the most important part.

Okay, so how can you prepare for specific questions?

And this is tough because you don't know what they're going to ask you, so.

And no one knows what they're going to ask you.

That would be kind of weird.

So basically, you want to be able to go into the interview and know what you want them to know about you and know what you want to say before you leave the room.

This advice was given to me by an advisor when I was an undergrad, and I think it was extremely helpful for me.

He told me, make a list of everything you want them to know about you.

And I did that.

And what that does is when you go into the room, instead of getting nervous and freaking out and not knowing what to say, you have these thoughts and stories and things in your mind that you want to tell them.

So I've made some interview preparation worksheets.

There's a link in the description where you can download those.

And basically they kind of walk you through this process and try to get you to think about skills and strengths that you have that would be important to mention in an interview.

Then practice.

Practice as much as possible.

Friends, family can be helpful.

Make videos of yourself.

I know everyone hates to do that.

Everyone hates the sound of their voice, me included.

But it helps because I think videoing yourself is the most helpful out of practicing with other people, because you know what you want to say and you know what's in your head, and you may watch it back and go, oh, that's not what I meant at all.

So I think it's worth doing that, at least to practice for a little bit.

And then mock interviews.

And this is a service I offer on my website because I feel like it was very helpful to me.

I had a PA that I shadowed a good bit in undergrad, and she offered to do kind of a mock interview with me, which we did at Chick Fil?

A.

Not the best, most relaxed, quiet setting, but we did our mock interview there, and I think it helped me so much.

I'll talk why in a minute.

But I think doing a mock interview specifically with a PA is helpful because they know what they're looking for.

It's fine to practice with friends and family, but they love you.

And they aren't necessarily going to tell you what you need to hear.

And so I think it's worth trying to get someone to practice with who knows what the PA programs are looking for.

So why is practice important?

And I feel like this is also kind of a given, but I'm going to go through some common mistakes or things that people do that can be distracting during an interview.

So do you repeat yourself?

And this is something I found lot of people do at the beginning is they don't necessarily know when to stop their answer.

And so they just keep saying the same story or the same thing over, and it just keeps going on and on and on.

So you need to know when to stop.

And you need someone to be able to tell you if you're doing that so that you can work on knowing when to just stop your answer.

If you stop your answer, they're going to ask you another question.

And at some point you have to stop.

Do you say any weird or repetitive phrases?

So this is where I had a little tick, I guess, and I didn't even know.

So when I was doing my mock interview, it turns out after every single answer, I would end it by saying, and stuff like that, and stuff like that, and stuff like that.

And so eventually the girl I was working with, the pa, asked me, she goes, why do you keep saying that?

And I just wasn't even thinking about it.

I didn't know I was saying, saying it.

So it's nice to have someone to be able to point that out to you.

If you're saying anything strange, do you freeze?

If you get thrown off, do you just shut down?

Are you unable to move on?

Are you unable to gather your thoughts and get it together?

That's something to work on before you get to the interview.

You don't want to, like, freak out and not be able to answer that.

You got to stay composed.

Do you stumble over your words?

I've found that a lot of people feel like they have to say the right thing almost.

If they.

If they say the right words, if they say the right phrase, if they word it correctly, that will be the golden ticket to gain accepted.

And that's not true.

You just really need to talk like a person and like a normal person and like you're having a conversation and be able to show your personality.

So if you're thinking too much about the wording and how you're saying things, it's just going to prevent you from being able to show who you are.

And so try not to do that.

Did you talk too much or not enough.

I found most people talk not enough because they think they are talking too much.

There's not necessarily a limit you need to place on yourself or a timer you need to have in your head.

As long as you're providing additional information that's important, important, and shows something else about you, you're fine to continue, and I would encourage you to do so.

Do you get off topic?

Do you just not even address the question or understand the question?

That's something that needs to be addressed before you get to the interview.

And then something that I feel is very important that I didn't necessarily put on here, but something I try to get everyone when I do mock interviews to realize is you have to think about what the question is really asking and what it's trying to find out.

Because questions can be worded differently.

But essentially, PA programs want to know all the same thing, which is just more about who you are and what type of PA student and classmate and future PA you're going to be.

So try to think beyond how the questions are worded and not get hung up on that.

Let me see if I can think of a good example.

So if they ask you, how do you study?

They don't really want to know how you study.

I mean, they do, but really what they want to know is that you've developed the study skills and techniques that are going to be helpful and help you to be a great PA student.

So that is where your answer needs to go and what you need to be able to illustrate.

So, yeah, and there's a lot of examples of that.

So, moving on, four big questions.

So there are some interviews that will literally only ask you four questions, and usually it's these.

You need to be able to have solid answers to these questions.

I think they're the most important questions and the ones that you should initially focus on.

So that's why I wanted to go through them and give you my techniques and thoughts for these main questions.

Okay, here we go.

So the first one, tell me about yourself.

So this question, for all of you, need to have solid answers, but for this question in particular, they really want you to tell them about yourself.

They're going to ask you why you want to be a pa, and they're going to want to get to that.

But at this point, if you are at an interview, they want to know who you are and how you are going to contribute to their class and be an interesting PA in the future.

Everyone who has had an interview wants to be a PA and has at least a somewhat similar story.

And everyone is qualified.

You wouldn't have been invited for an interview if you weren't qualified.

So for this question, I like to think of it like speed dating.

So if you've never heard of speed dating, it's where you're in a room and there are little tables set up.

I mean, I've never really done this.

I've just seen it on tv.

But you are paired up with somebody, and you have, like, two minutes to talk about whatever you want to talk about.

Tell about yourself, and see if you want to get to know each other more.

So that's how I envision this is you have a couple minutes just to tell them about yourself.

What are your hobbies?

What do you like to do?

Do you have a dog?

Where are you from?

Tell me about your family.

Give me some little things about you that are interesting so that I feel like I'm getting to know you.

And maybe, just maybe, you'll make a great connection with your interviewer, and y' all will end up talking about your love of poodles and golf or something.

That was really random.

But you never know what the person interviewing you is interested in.

And so you just want to tell them all about yourself.

There are some books out there that disagree with this, and that's fine.

But I think the more personal you are in an interview, the better.

And the quicker that you're able to be personal again, the better.

Sometimes I think it's hard for people to, like I say it, breaking the shell.

Almost like you come in in a shell, and the sooner that you can break that off and just tell them about you, the better, and just be candid in that way.

So moving on, why do you want to be a PA?

This should be your number one most solid, most passionate answer.

100%.

You can talk about this all day long.

And I really like for this question to kind of be your journey to becoming a pa. What has gotten you here?

How did you find out about the PA profession?

What's appealing to you?

What have you seen Shadowing?

How does it fit your personality and your goals?

Really help me as an interviewer to envision you as a PA and see how you'll fit into that role.

Well, okay, why do you want to go here?

Why did you apply here?

Why are you a good fit?

This question can be worded a million ways, and it's asking to see what research you've done about the program, but it's also asking, why should we pick you up and you should be able to relate your experiences to why you would be a good fit.

So if you went to a college that had small classes and similar to the class size of the PA program, maybe that's a connection for you.

Location is huge.

If you have a connection geographically to an area, you need to let them know because that's a huge plus for keeping students enrolled and happy there, especially if you've already been there and you're familiar with the area.

But really think about also what you have to offer to the class if you have experience in a certain area, if you're bilingual, if you have a different cultural opinion that you can share a different experience.

The cool thing about PA programs is that the classes are so diverse and everyone's coming in with all this different experience, experience in all these different fields.

And so they want that.

They want a class that's well rounded and has a lot of different experiences and skills that they can share with each other.

Okay, what does a PA do?

So when you are at a PA school interview and also in your personal statement, you need to show that you have a strong understanding of the PA profession and that you know what you're getting yourself into.

You need to understand the daily roles and responsibilities.

You need to understand the relationship with the supervising physician and other healthcare providers and staff.

You really need to be able to back this up with shadowing or work experience to just make sure that they know that you know what you're getting into and that you're not going to quit later on just because it wasn't what you expected.

Did.

Okay, here's some tips and tricks, and I feel like we've gone through some of these, but be confident.

So they want to get to know you.

They would not have invited you for an interview if they didn't try.

You'll be nervous no matter what I say, but try to take a little bit of relief in that and just know that everyone else there is nervous too.

So y' all can kind of commiserate together.

Be positive.

Always.

Do not shine a negative light on any other profession.

Doctor, nurses, whatever.

Just keep everything really positive in your interview and never make it seem like you're making excuses in any way.

Just really the more happy and you can be, the better.

And always smile.

Be honest.

And this is so important.

Do not lie.

Do not talk about anything you don't understand or don't know about.

It is better to say I don't know than to dig a hole that you can't get yourself out of.

I know in My interview group, there was one girl and she was so upset, she went in and they asked her about something about health care reform.

And she said something about Obamacare.

And then the interviewer asked her, well, what is Obamacare?

Tell me more about that.

And she had no idea and just shut down.

So don't throw something out like that if you can't back it up with knowledge.

Be yourself.

Don't try to be anyone else.

Don't try to be what you think they want.

Just really go in and show them who you are.

Be prepared for anything.

So I've heard of interviews, having quizzes, and that can throw people off, little pop test and things like that.

There may be some really random questions.

I don't know, if you could be any color, what color would you be?

And why?

What kind of a question is that?

So just be prepared for anything.

Take it in stride.

I know, they asked me what they asked me, if you could have any other job besides being a PA or working in medicine, what would you do?

And sometimes I ask this in mock interviews.

And I just said the first thing that came to my mind.

And granted, I was 21 years old.

I said I would own a wedding dress store.

I still think that would be fun to do.

But afterwards, I thought that was such a dumb answer.

I was like, oh, my gosh, it should have said I would be a volunteer.

I joined the Peace Corps.

That wasn't anything that cool.

I've been watching too much say yes to the Dress.

And it was actually really cool because it started a really cool conversation with my interviewers.

So one of them was like, oh, that's interesting.

I'd have a bookstore.

And then I was like, yeah, I think I'd be a singer.

And so just being kind of random and candid and saying the first thing that came to my mind paid off and kind of made the interview a little bit more relaxed.

Other things, be prepared for any type of leading questions or feeling like they're pushing you in one direction or questioning your answers.

That is very common in all types of interviews, but specifically PA school interviews, they need to see that you are able to form an opinion and stick to it and back it up, because that's so important.

As a pa, you're responsible for your decisions, and you need to be able to make independent decisions and not be swayed easily by anyone else.

So that doesn't mean you're doing a bad job.

That doesn't mean they don't like you.

It's just kind of A technique to see how you react.

Maybe in a more stressed state situation, do you get defensive?

Do you shut down?

Or are you able to just respond and explain yourself?

And then I always recommend make everything a story.

Use an example whenever you're able to try to relate your experiences and your stories back to how they will help you or what you've learned that will help you to be a better PA student or a better page.

Okay, we're gonna go through some questions that I've already received and then I will get out of this and we can answer some of Yalls questions and I'll show you my interview worksheets.

And I went over some of these a little bit while I was talking.

How much notice will I get before my interview?

It could be one to two months.

It could be as little as a few days.

So you really just need to be ready to go as much as possible.

And that's why it's so good to prepare ahead of time.

Has the interviewer read my application?

Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

And sometimes you may not know either way.

So if an interviewer has not looked over your application, it's called a blind interview.

And that just means that they're going in not knowing anything about you and getting everything from the interview, which is interesting because that really does show that it's an even playing field.

At that point.

There will be people there who have a higher GPA than you, and there will be people there who have more hours than you.

But you have things that they don't have either.

And so try not to compare yourself.

Just go into it thinking we're all on the same level at this point.

And it's.

I don't think there's an advantage really either way.

If they've reviewed your application, if they have, they're more likely to ask you questions straight from.

It would be the only difference.

How do I address a bad grade or a withdrawal or any other red flag?

So it is my personal opinion that if there's anything on your application that could be seen as a discrepancy, it is better for you to bring it up than to get asked about it.

So you always want it to be positive.

You want to have a learning experience from that.

You don't want to make an excuse.

For me, I made a C in organic chemistry 2.

I would never take that class again if I had to.

And for me, it was very difficult.

I think I took from that situation or that class that chemistry is difficult for me.

I had to learn how to study differently I had to put more time in.

I had to prioritize my other classes and my other commitments to make sure I could put the time in that I needed to do well.

I had to seek out help from classmates and from other like teachers and TAs.

And I feel good because I passed and I wasn't necessarily proud of that seed, but I do feel like the work I put in helped me to be a better student overall.

And then I feel like having that experience kind of opened my eyes to how important it is for time management, which then translated to PA school.

When you're taking multiple classes all at once and you really have to manage your time well.

So that may be different for you, but if anything you just don't want to make an excuse and you want to show what you've learned from it and how it's going to translate.

Is it okay to say I don't know or to pause?

Absolutely.

It is better to say I don't know than to make something up.

And it's better.

It's okay to take a second to gather your thoughts.

I think having doing the list thing I talked about earlier will help you to prepare and have some stories ready to go.

But if you need to take a second, it's okay.

Interviews are a very interesting environment where it feels like time is moving both very slowly and very quickly.

You may feel like you're taking forever trying to think, but in actuality it's probably probably only a few seconds that you're actually pausing.

How much do we need to know about health care systems and insurance?

And this was a question I had sent to me.

I think today this is tough.

You want to be familiar with it, but don't feel like you have to be expected to be an expert.

No one is an expert.

Even insurance companies aren't an expert about this.

And I know I'm certainly not and I've been practicing for three years.

So be familiar with what's going on in the world as far as healthcare and in the United States.

Be somewhat familiar with the different insurances and what that looks like.

What's going on with healthcare reform.

I would just read some articles.

There's a lot of debate and just things that aren't clear about insurance.

That makes it very, very confusing.

And the same goes for like state laws and regulations about PAs.

Be familiar, but don't feel like you should be expected to memorize that or understand it fully because you really shouldn't at this point.

You may be questioned about it and talk to about to the Best of your ability, just to show your familiarity, but don't feel like you have to be like, know everything about it.

This was an interesting question.

If interviewing at a Christian school, are religious questions fair game?

Absolutely.

I know particularly there's a school in California that is religious based.

And I mean, they shouldn't ask you anything too intense.

But one thing that they require is while you're at the school, you do not partake in alcohol or drugs and you have to attend or you're expected to attend like weekly services, I believe.

So they ask you if that's something that you'll be okay with and if you are able to commit to that.

So I mean, they're not exactly asking you a religious question, but a school that is associated with any type of religion will have possibly different values, different expectations of you, and because of that they can ask you whether or not you'll be able to uphold their standards.

Are most interview questions based on life experiences or academic experiences?

Both.

A lot of questions are very open ended and give you room to interpret them the way that you want to.

One way.

One question that's a good example of that is tell me about an experience you've had with a difficult patient.

I've had people answer this so many different ways.

The majority talk about a patient who is actually difficult, like causing a scene or yelling or just not refusing treatment, just being difficult in that way.

But I've also had people respond to that question with a patient that got a bad diagnosis and it was just difficult to handle that scenario or they died and they had to handle that.

So just a lot of these questions are up to interpretation.

So it's up to you whether you want to pull from life experiences or academic experiences.

What are some good questions to ask them.

You need to have some questions prepared.

But I think if there's anything you want to know about the program, this is your chance to ask.

I wouldn't ask anything that's readily available on the website or that they've gone over in their tour, but if there's something you want more details on, go for it, ask about it.

It's a great time to ask some more personal questions from the faculty.

I mean, ask them what they like about the program, what they like about the area, and just get some more information about that.

And I wouldn't ask anything negative, but try to think of a couple good questions that you can ask them before you leave that day.

Oh, this is a good example.

And I liked this question when asked, tell us what a typical day looks like for a pa. Should you answer more specific or more general?

So this is what I was talking about with trying to figure out what a question is trying to ask you.

This question is trying to find out if you understand what a PA does.

So this is where you pull from your shadowing experiences.

And this should be a specific answer.

You should be able to go through everything a PA does, evaluate patients, treat patients, diagnose them, prescribe medications, order and interpret labs and imaging assistant procedures, assist in surgeries, work with a supervising physician.

You should be able to touch on every single part of that and back it up with your experience because they just want to know that you actually understand what a PA does.

And this is going to be different for PAs in different specialties.

So it's going to depend on what you've shadowed and what you've seen, what a typical day looks like.

So some good resources.

There are some books on Amazon.

Personally I feel like the ones that are on the there are a little bit outdated at this point.

So that's something that could use some help.

My website, I have some stuff on there and I'll show you some of that in a minute.

The physician assistant form that we talked about earlier, AAPA is a great resource.

And then of course Google.

I love Google and if I ever have a question, usually I just type it in.

However, I'm wondering about it on Google and can find somewhat of an answer.

All right, you made it to the end.

So some of you, if you follow me on Instagram, I did a little promotion last week for hitting 2, 000 followers.

Now I'm almost at 3, 000, so if you don't follow me there, you may want to.

But you can use this code YouTube and get a 10 discount.

So that'll make the mock interview guide $10.

And then you can use it on any other thing on there if you want to.

But I'm gonna get out of here.

There we go.

Okay, I'm back.

All right, thanks for hanging in there with me.

So now we will get to your questions and I'll can see what's already in there.

And then if anybody has any specific questions, go ahead and put them in the chat.

There's a little bit of a delay and so I want to make sure that I'm able to see them and get to them before we end.

And I'll show you my worksheets right now actually screen share one more time.

Okay, so if you go to my website and you click on pre page and then you go to first, I'll show you this.

So interview wise Preparing for interviews.

Here's some questions.

I'm gonna be doing some more posts about thank you notes here and then download free worksheets.

So if you go there it is the third one down right here.

And this is what this looks like.

So this is kind of my list of everything you want them to know about you.

Going through some skills you may have, trying to get you to think about your shadowing experiences, patience, any discrepancies, and then some things that may not be on your application.

So this is.

You can either print this out and write on it, which is my personal preference, or you can fill it in by clicking and typing.

That is there for you.

Get out of that.

Okay.

And then I just want to go ahead and say the next webinar will be, I believe it's on July 23rd.

It's on my website at 8pm and I'll be going over what it's like to be a derm pa.

I get asked constantly, how did I get here?

How did I get my job?

And so I want to kind of go over all of that and give some tips to other people who want to be in Durham and kind of show you what it's really like, because I think a lot of people are speaking surprised at what a day actually looks like for pas in derm.

So, okay, let me go back here.

Okay, so for the suit for women, do you mean pants or skirts?

So I was told at one point that women in a PA school interview, and this might come off wrong, but should wear a pantsuit because it's one less thing that differentiates you from the guys.

And personally, I agree with that.

I wore a pantsuit.

I think if you already have a skirt suit, it's fine.

You probably should wear pantyhose, which most of us don't really do now, but your faculty and interviewers will probably appreciate it.

But yeah, I recommend a pantsuit for everyone and it doesn't have to be boring.

Mine was kind of a light gray, and then I wore like a dark purple lacy top underneath.

And so that sounded kind of weird.

It was like a shell.

I don't know.

But yeah, there's a lot of really great options out there for suits.

But Phil, you want to be comfortable.

Make sure you have comfortable shoes.

You'll probably be walking around touring campus a lot.

Let's see.

Adriana.

Yeah, I agree.

That's my favorite advice.

Know what you want them to know about you before you go in.

Thanks, Rachel.

Thanks me.

And then.

Okay, Adriana.

I have a learning disability, and it's affected some of my grades, specifically two W's and two C's.

The withdrawals came back and got A's with.

Or the.

And then the.

I don't know.

Okay, looks like you got A's and B's after that.

How can I address this difficulty?

So if you're addressing any type of grade discrepancy, which, honestly, you only need to address it, I guess that's more of a personal statement.

And your personal statement, you really only need to address it if you feel like it would prevent you from getting an interview.

In an interview, you do want to address it.

If you feel like you can make it positive.

I would say even people who don't have ADHD may have some withdrawals and some Cs.

So I don't even know that you necessarily have to bring that up.

Not that it's a bad thing, but if you don't feel comfortable, I don't think you have to bring it up, but just say what you did better.

So the grades or the classes you got season, how did you come back and get good grades?

What did you do differently?

What did you change in your study techniques to make sure you understood it better?

What help did you seek?

What resources did you use?

And then why did you withdraw the first time from the two courses?

Just be able to explain that.

Well, because you don't want to make it seem like you're using ADHD as an excuse in any way or giving an excuse for why you would possibly not be able to succeed in PA school.

But just being able to say, this is what happened.

Just lay it out.

This is what happened.

This is what I did.

This is how I improved.

This is how it's going to help me.

And go at it from that angle.

Let's see.

Andrew, how many mock interviews did it take me to feel comfortable?

Okay, so I did one at my undergrad, and to be honest, it was with an advisor who mostly worked with med students.

And I just really didn't feel like it was helpful.

I think the only thing I took out of that was the whole make a list of everything you want them to know thing, which I think that part was helpful.

But as far as when we actually were practicing questions, I just.

I didn't really feel like he knew what I needed to be saying and.

Or knew how to give me the feedback I needed so that I feel like that was kind of not very helpful.

And then I did two mock interview sessions with the PA that I was.

I shouted her a lot, and I think that was good.

And then it was.

I used my first interview as kind of a mock interview.

And then the second one, I was a lot more relaxed just because at that point I kind of knew what to expect.

The nerves were a little bit better going into the second one.

But yeah, I think most people do well with one because at that point you can get some good feedback just to know how to help people who may be helping you or practicing with you and saying like, this is something that I need to work on and just giving you a little bit more direction.

But I have had.

I have had some people that.

We've done a few different ones or different ones for different schools, so you just have to see how you do.

But I think it does help to get that feedback from an outside source who knows what you need to be looking for.

Mary heels or flats, it's up to you, whatever you're comfortable in.

I am very short, so I'm about five one.

And one of the things I was told before my interview is that you want to look as mature and professional as possible.

Not necessarily that being taller makes you more mature looking, but I wore a pair of Clark's heels that were probably like two and a half inches, but they were still very comfortable.

And so I think whatever you're comfortable in, as long as it looks professional, you should be perfectly fine.

I wouldn't wear like 4 or 5 inch stilettos though.

Okay.

Stephanie from Atlanta.

Hey, another Georgia person.

Girls and interviewing.

Hair up, hair down.

How much makeup?

So very conservative makeup.

You don't want to look too done up or out of place.

But yeah, just very conservative.

Nothing too crazy.

I wouldn't wear like red lipstick probably, but I'm sure people have and have still gotten in.

Hair up, hair down.

Personally, I had my hair pulled back.

I have a tendency to like put it behind my ears and mess with it.

And that's just a habit that I have.

And so I pulled mine back in a ponytail and really just so beyond my face.

And I feel like that did make me look a little bit older and a little bit more mature.

I mean, I'm 27 now and I know that I. I've been told I don't look 27 by my patients every single day.

So when I was interviewing at 21, I definitely didn't look like I was 21.

So if you can make yourself look older, go for it.

Let's see.

Yeah, Great.

Okay.

Christine Baldwin, how large are the panels for interviews generally?

Are you asking more like how many people are asking you questions or how many people are there there?

I guess I can just.

I'll just address both.

So as far as the number of applicants, it ranges.

I mean, you may be in a group of 10 or 12.

You may be in a group of 20 or 25.

As far as the panels, this can look very different depending on the school.

So it may be one on one.

It may be two interviewers with one candidate.

It may three.

I've heard as many as five interviewers with one candidate, which sounds extreme.

Extremely intimidating to me.

And then on a group setting, I mean, it could be as many as three to five applicants with a panel of one person, one faculty member, or a few of them.

So it's just going to depend on the school.

But it can be probably an infinite amount of combinations of different numbers there.

So you really just need to be.

Be prepared for anything when it comes to that.

Any good specific questions to ask the staff or students?

I think anything personal or ask them what they like about the program.

Anytime that you can get someone's personal opinion is extremely valuable.

So just trying to find out what their experience has been, what they like about the program.

You can ask about what they dislike, but I would do it in a very considerate way.

You want to be thoughtful during your entire interview process to make sure that you're not coming off as, I don't know, like you're judging the program or anything.

But yeah, so I would just try to think of things about the area maybe especially if you're unfamiliar with it.

Ask them where they, especially students.

Where do you live?

What is the commute like?

What is traffic like?

Things that you're getting a better picture of what daily life will be like once you're a PA student.

What do you want to avoid saying when asked questions like why not become an MD or mp?

I don't.

Well, the only thing I'll say you should avoid is being negative about those professions.

So I wouldn't say, well, one time I saw this doctor and he was just so rude and terrible.

And so I don't want to be a doctor or something about a nurse practitioner or like this nurse practitioner just diagnosed me wrong and did it twice and they just didn't know what they were doing.

Like, don't be rude about any other profession, healthcare.

Even when someone.

Even if you do find out that someone did something wrong, you still have to Be kind and positive about it.

Like I would never put another provider down in front of a patient, even if I don't agree with what the other provider did.

And so you don't want to do that in a student setting either.

And so it's not necessarily avoiding, but being able to explain it.

So you probably did.

If you're considering pa, consider these other professions.

Maybe it was the timeline, maybe it was the type of training, but be able to justify your reasons clearly so that it's clear that you are fully committed to being a PA and know what you're getting yourself into.

Sorry, I feel like I'm losing my voice.

I've been talking so much.

Andrew, for group interviews, do the students take turn answering the same questions or does each student get a different question?

Are these set up with traditional type questions so this can be again, like anything.

So it may be a panel where you all answer and they may pick someone to start and you just go down the line, everyone maybe get different questions.

They may still ask you questions off of your application.

So those would be personal to each person.

In that setting, you don't want to pretend like the other people aren't there.

Like you can build off of their answers.

If you feel, feel like someone stole your answer, just build off of it with your experiences, address it, say, oh yeah, that's what I was going to say too.

And blah blah, blah, like this is why I feel that way.

And so yeah, it can vary based on the one, I was in two different group scenarios and one was a scenario where we just talked about it and then once person had to like stand up and present to all of the interviewees and interviewers.

And then the other one was a panel where it was the director of the program and me and two other candidates and we were all asked the same three questions and just went down the line and said our answers.

So again, definitely be different.

And usually that is going to be more of a traditional type interview.

I mean you can still have ethical, behavioral, situational and traditional one, but a lot of times it's going to be more traditional.

Okay, Andrew, going off.

Adriana, any things we should avoid saying when answering the question, why do you want to be a pa?

Would it be wrong to say that one reason is because schooling is short compared to md?

I don't think it's wrong to say that.

I think again, you should be honest.

And to be honest, part of the reason I wanted to be a PA was the schooling.

I wasn't.

My, my husband is a resident, so he went to medical school while I was going to pa. School.

School.

And I just wasn't ready to commit that much time, honestly.

And I've seen the time that he's committed and I think he's a great doctor and I think it's worth it if.

If you know what you want to do and you know what goes into it and you're ready for it.

But for me, at 21, I would try to start working.

Like I just wanted to be out there working.

I wasn't ready to commit to a certain field.

I wasn't ready to commit to school.

And so I discussed those things and I said that.

And I just felt like for me personally too, seeing the teamwork aspect, I love that.

And I have a great supervising physician.

We have a great working relationship.

I feel comfortable going to her with questions.

She trusts my judgment and trust that I'm going to come to her with questions if I have them, even sometimes if I feel like it's a dumb question.

But that's where you can pull from your what you've seen of how a doctor operates versus how a PA operates.

I don't really love the answer to say what you shouldn't say of work, life balance or because PAs get to spend more time with patients or work less or whatever.

I just don't really believe that's true.

I know in my practice I see a lot of times, if not as much or just as much patients as the doctors do, and I work more than they do.

So I work four and a half days and they only work four days.

So I really think that's just a choice you make either as a PA or as a doctor.

And so I don't really think that's a valid reason to choose PA over doctor.

I think there are advantages.

I mean, I like that I don't have the responsibilities of owning a practice, but there are PAs who own practices.

Not in Georgia, because it's not allowed, but there are things that I don't have to do because I'm not a doctor.

And that's nice.

But when it comes down to it, that's the only thing that I don't really like people to say when it comes to that.

Okay, Adriana.

Oh, gosh.

What is the best way to get to shadow pa?

I have some blog posts about this on my site too, man, to check those out.

I so to find PSA shadow, first of all, use your connections and then call around.

Just call different offices, call hospitals.

Eventually someone will say yes.

So I have definitely more about that on my website.

But, yeah, it can be tough.

Okay, what accessories can be brought into the interview?

Are they frowned upon or don't bring it at all so you can bring things in.

So I brought.

Actually went out and bought.

I went to TJ Maxx and got a small purse.

It was probably like this big.

I don't know if you can tell.

Big, though.

It was just small and it was black to take in with me.

And I basically just took my phone, which was off.

It was not on.

I did not touch it all day long.

Do not take your phone out.

That is not good.

I took my phone and my keys because I drove.

And I don't think I took any paperwork in with me, but I had it in my car.

So this next question kind of goes along with this.

Do you recommend bringing extra resumes to give your interviews, even if the program doesn't specify it?

So I would recommend maybe having them or having a copy of your application.

It's nice.

Now, when I applied, CASPA wasn't online.

Well, I mean, you did online, but they physically mailed your application in.

So if the program lost your application, they couldn't get it again.

And so now if they lost your application, they can just go on and download it again.

And so it's not really that big of a deal.

So you don't necessarily have to have your application.

I know Brian from mypa Resource.

We did a talk earlier this year at uga and he said he brought extra letters of recommendation from other people and gave them to the program when he went to apply, which I thought was an interesting idea.

I don't see why it could help hurt anything.

I think that would be something you could do or could bring with you.

Oh, can I talk more about typical day in the life of a pa?

So I have.

I've done a guest post on this, and I'll see if I can find that and post the link.

And this is what my next month's webinar is gonna be all about.

Is my daily life what it looks like for me?

And yeah, I'll be going over all that.

Sorry, you don't have to.

To stay tuned for next month.

But yeah, we'll be talking about that a lot.

How many other interviewees were there the day I interviewed?

Oh, gosh.

So I would say at my first interview, we all sat around a round table, probably 15 of us.

And then the second one, I think there were a lot more.

It was.

And they were.

They were from further away, too.

I would say that one there may be 25 or so.

And so there were a good bit more at that one.

And it was a two day interview, so the whole first day was like a tour and orientation and the second day was the actual interview.

So yeah, they were set up very differently, but very the questions were all very similar too.

Thanks, Andrew.

Thanks, guys.

All right, I'm not seeing more questions and it's been an hour, which I don't want to take too much of yalls time.

So I'm going to go ahead and stop the webinar.

I'll stick around the chat for a little bit more and then you all can always email me and my emails on the website.

So if you have any questions, just email me and then good luck everybody.

And I'll be here if you have any questions.

Have a good night.