Admissions interviews

idkmybffjill · Mar 22, 2018

If you search for nursing school interview questions here, you'll find several threads with of possible questions.

For most people, I don't think there's usually a way to be super unique in your reason for wanting to be a nurse, at least in a way that's true. But, you do want to make sure you are telling them truthfully why you want to be a nurse in a way that also shows them why you'll make a good one. If you found that you wanted to be in nursing after working at a healthcare job, then make sure you mention some of the impressive duties of your job (maybe as a list of things you enjoyed that made you want to get into nursing) and how well you did them. If it was a childhood illness or a family illness, then highlight how that has given you empathy and a shared experience with patients. Etc. Etc.

Also research the program's missions and values. They probably have a page with it plainly stated. Figure out what exactly the program cares about. What are the recent projects they've started/completed? Then determine what characteristics and traits you have that match to those ideals. For instance, the university I had my interview is very much into community and volunteering. Since that's something I'm interested in as well, that was something I planned to highlight. This will help you stand out in that you are fitting their ideal student.

Personally, while I looked up common interview questions and practiced answering them, I focused on coming up with a list of strengths (particularly ones that aligned with the program's values), weaknesses (ones that wouldn't really affect a nursing job), and various examples of things I did--a mistake I've made that I fixed, times I faced a difficult decision or some type of conflict, situations in which patients have complimented me on some aspect of my patient care, times I was under high pressure, etc. I tried to think of situations that could be used for multiple types of questions. That way, you already have a lot of situations in the forefront, and you will more readily think of them. Also, I made sure I addressed how I fixed something or how I changed my behavior moving forward after a mistake, conflict, or such. Rather than just say, "I fixed it by doing this," I would say, "I fixed this situation by doing this, and then I did this and that to change how I did the entire process in order to prevent it from occurring again."