Interview Advice??

erin1205 · Mar 21, 2007

You can't expect me to believe that not one single person has a shred of advice on the topic!?!

Come on out there!

lc3 · Mar 21, 2007

Hi Erin,

So I do have some advice about the interview process.

I would prepare with a friend and anticipate questions. My questions were rough. One school made me do a group interview AND a seperate interview w/ a faculty member scary.

So, I went on five interviews and got into four of the schools and waitlisted for the one.

I would really suggest not to be nervous b/c for me that was my downfall for the school that I got waitlisted at. I wanted to go to that school so badly that I over analyzed it. So, DONT DO that!

Some of the common questions that all the schools asked:

What lead you to nursing?

How well do you handle stress? Describe a stressful Situation and how you handled it?

Describe a time that you were a patient advocate and what you learned from that experience.

Describe a time you had to take a leadership role and whether or not you could have improved the situation.

Describe a time where you had to function as part as a team and whether or not the team was successful or not. What you learned from it.

What kind of support do you have--financial, emotional, social and technological.

Why this particular program? (make sure you read up on the schools mission and vision) Relate your personal and professional goals to them.

Oh..also look out for 2-part questions. My interviews were loaded with them. Make sure you listen very carefully and answer the question directly. For example, answer the first question, then say..."and for the second part of the question..blah blah"

Another thing the school gave me was a healthcare senario question to test my critical thinking skills. How did you access the situation and what are your next steps?

Also ask tons of questions if given the opportunity. One of my questions that I asked is whether or not any of our clinical experiences would be in working in the community? Are there opportunties working in nursing research and contribiuting to nursing research? Are you matched with advisors with the same particular interest? etc.

My interviews were for direct-entry graduate nursing programs whuch are a bit more academic, so your questions for your questions might differ a bit.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any additional questions

LC3