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I wish you all the best of luck!
ArdentMedical
1 Post
First off, good luck to everyone in this thread. I've been following it for a couple weeks and got some good info and reassurances from it. I hope you all find your dreams!
I wanted to take the time to generally outline the interview (at least the one I went through on the 4th) for future ABSN applicants, because I couldn't find this information from previous years threads when trying to prepare. This is generally how my Florida Atlantic University accelerated nursing track interview went:
I arrived and signed in. I found the parking lot and building without a problem, but took some time to find the front door, so plan yourself some time to wander around if you have to. There are plenty of signs around the campus to point you where to go. Make sure to bring your Z# and FAU email address with you for the sign-in sheet (I didn't and had to go looking for them). Of course, dress appropriate for a professional interview.
After a few minutes of waiting in the lobby, they called my name with two other applicants, and we were all taken to a comfortable conference room. After introductions to the interviewers (my group had two, but I've heard that number may vary), we sat down and began.
The interview started with them reading an introductory statement and outlining how the interview intended to proceed. After the introduction they asked my group four questions and allowed us time to respond when we felt we had an answer. It was up to the individual to chime in when they were ready, as they didn't call on/expect a specific individual to answer first. All three of us were given an opportunity to answer the question before moving on to the next. Generally, we followed the same answering order for each question, but I did end up breaking that order for one of the questions :)
The first question was the quintessential "Why do you want to be a nurse," and "Why do you want to go to FAU," question, which you should have an answer prepared for beforehand for any nursing school interview. Only advice I can give here is to make sure you have solid answers for BOTH parts of this question. Other than that, be honest.
The next three questions asked, in basic, were to think of a time or situation in our lives that something happened, and what that experience meant to us. The questions were much more specific than that, but, as I'm sure the questions change from interview to interview, that is the basic format. An example question may be (and I'm making this up): Has there been any time in your life that a friendship was challenged for moral reasons? How did you handle such a situation and how did you grow from it? Again, this wasn't a specific question, but you get the idea.
My advice for these questions is this:
1) Think about your social life, work life, family life, and religious beliefs and pick some events from these aspects of you life. Try to find events that could cover a small spectrum of questions. For example, dealing positively with a combative patient/customer in a job setting could cover questions about a stressful situation, dealing with an argument, putting the needs of many over your own, being altruistic, or showing professionalism under pressure. Of course, you're not going to know what kind of questions they're going to ask you beforehand, but coming in with 6-7 (or even 2-3) significant life events will take a LOT of pressure off of you during the interview by allowing you to try and fit a predetermined situation to a question, instead of trying to wrack your nerve addled mind throughout your entire history to try and find an event that fits, or even kinda fits. Do make sure that you have at least some situations that have a professional (or medical if you have the background) theme, but don't limit yourself to just these! I answered one of my questions with an example of my spirituality, something that had nothing to do with medicine, my job, or nursing. The questions, in my opinion, were geared towards showing your character, and any situation/answer that will show them that is a good answer.
2) Make sure to actually ANSWER the question! I made this mistake. Note that my made up example question above not only asks you to tell a story about a situation, but asks you how you grew from it. Thinking back on it, all three of us taking the interview, at some point or another, were so nervous/focused on telling our great stories, that we never actually gave a significant answer to what was asked. I'm sure the interviewers are used to this, and it's probably not something that will kill you in an interview if you do it once, but if you can tell a great, relevant story AND give a meaningful answer to all of their questions, it will give you an edge.
After the four questions were asked, and all of us had a chance to answer, the interviewers read to us a closing statement, shook our hands, and sent us on our way. Entire process took ~30 minutes, front to back. Interview was taken in 2016 for the class starting in 2017.
My hope is that this will help future applicants to prepare and show their best during the FAU ABSN interview. Know that the interview format may change year to year, but these general strategies should apply well to any interview that has a "quality of character" component to them.
Sorry if I hijacked your thread, but I think this is information a lot of people could use, and i couldn't find a better place to post. Again, good luck and best of wishes for everyone here to get into FAU!