By Jordyn Zoul
Now that you’ve finally finished tailoring yourself into the perfect candidate, deciding where to apply, organizing all your application materials, writing your essays, submitting your VMCAS application and all of your supplemental applications, you can finally sit back, relax, and replace all of that stress with the new stress that comes with… vet school interviews!
Interviews are bittersweet: when you get that first invite, there’s the initial moment of joy and happiness, quickly replaced by the dreaded nerves and panic. Here at Galin Education, our veterinary school admissions team wants to help alleviate that nervousness and panic so you can focus on feeling proud, prepared, and ready to ace any interview. To help, we’ve put together a quick how-to guide: Veterinary School Interviews 101.
- Know your interview type: each school conducts interviews differently. Some choose to do situational, some do behavioral, and some go with the Multiple Mini-Interviews (MMI) format. Let’s break it down:
- Situational – hypothetical situation questions, “What would you do if a team member wasn’t contributing?” etc., etc.
- Behavioral – questions about your own personal experiences and history, “Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult team member,” etc., etc.
- MMI – a series of multiple stations (usually anywhere from 6-10) that you’ll rotate through (usually about 5-10 minutes per station). These stations might simply be interview questions, they could be ethics related, they could put you in a group to see how you work in a team.
Once you know the type of interview you can expect, you can prepare accordingly. Look up typical questions seen in each interview type and make sure you have a solid answer to each.
- Know the school: there’s really nothing worse than an interviewer asking you, “So, why do you want to attend our School of Veterinary Medicine?” and you having nothing to say to that expect (what I suspect is at least half the truth), “Uh…because I want to be a vet and I’ll go wherever will take me.” Before each interview, please do at least a 10-minute-deep dive on the school’s. Have at least one or two reasons for applying, such as:
- Curriculum – does this school integrate clinics early on?
- Facilities – do they have an incredibly large animal hospital with all the gadgets?
- Geographical region – is it near family? Near a big city that you plan to move to?
- Know and do not disregard all the clichés
- Practice – have someone you don’t mind being cheesy with do a mock interview with you. Prepare questions for them to ask you. If you’re still a student, look into your current school’s career office and see if they offer interview prep.
- Eye contact – it’s weirder if you don’t do it!
- Smile, smile, smile – seriously, a smile goes a long way because they want to see that you’re pumped and excited about the possibility of attending their program.
- Breathe and slow down – if it’s a 30-minute interview, it won’t look great if you finish in 15 minutes because you were talking 100 miles a minute!
- Have at least two questions prepared for the interviewers – gauge how much time you have left and considering adding or leaving out a question.
Lastly, if you’re someone (like me) who’s just a naturally nervous person, please reach out to us at Galin Education. Fill out an inquiry form at www.galined.com, or email us at info@galined.com
Happy Interviewing!
