Scranton and St.Raphael interviews

SuBLyME · Oct 22, 2008

Congratulations on your offer for interview with Scranton and St. Raphael's. Your probably nervous right now. I was in your shoes last year and I still remembered it like it was yesterday! Now i'm an SRNA (of a school that will remain unnamed), toiling away. I check on this website everynow and then in between my study breaks.

This is for Scranton. First off, focus on your personal statement. They want to match what's on your application to the actual person. Your personal statement has got a lot to do with your offer for an interview. You have to back up what you've written in there. They'll give you a chance to meet with their students. Then a little background of all the clinicals the school sends you to. Afterwards, you get interviewed by a panel of 9 or 10 inside this room TOGETHER with 3 other students!! It gets hard to focus on your own answer when you hear the other applicants answering the same questions. Keep focused. Keep your answers short. The interviewers have probably heard everything under the sun. Keep your calm and be confident but not arrogant. Keep the school's mission and goals in mind.... Did you do volunteer work? I didn't and was honest about it too! How do you handle stress? It probably didn't reflect that I was extremely nervous at the time because I got the acceptance letter. Why did you choose Scranton? Remember their mission? Again, keep your answers short and to the point.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you and your journey I know I am enjoying my own.

JKBrn · Nov 15, 2008

Hi - congrats on getting invited for interviews!

I actually didn't apply to Scranton, and I did interview with St Rays. However, I work in a facility's CVICU where many nurses go from to Scranton so I've heard a decent amount about the interview.

St Rays interview was great. Of course you will probably be nervous regardless, but it seemed as though they tried to make you feel comfortable. It also seemed like they truly wanted to know why you want to go to their school as opposed to any other and why you would be a good fit for them. They'll also give you a tour of they're ORs, PACU, pre-op holding and so on.

Scranton, I have heard, is quite selective (others are too, of course, but I think they have people already accepted for next year since they deferred) and seems it can be a little about who you know. The previous post it pretty much what I've heard - again, they want to know you're a good fit for they're mission. They also love community service / volunteer work. As previously said, stay honest, answer the questions directly, and if they want to know more they'll certainly ask.

There are a lot of big differences between the two programs as I'm sure you know. I think it's important for you to look at what is important to YOU in a school. St Rays is front-loaded, the cost between the two is much different, St Rays offers a stipend as well as partial tuition reimbursement if you make the good grades. That said, I do know first hand that Scranton turns out great anesthetists - we have many graduates from there working at our facility as well as people from our unit currently there.

Either way - good luck, and if you end up at St Rays 2009 I'll see you there.