If you’ve landed a PA school interview then you’ve cleared a MAJOR obstacle to reaching your dream of becoming a physician assistant! Congrats!!

Many schools receive thousands of applications and only interview a small number of candidates. 

This is probably the most important interview of your life, so you need to spend some time preparing and prepping so you can grab that seat in PA school.

When prepping for an interview it’s important to understand how you will react under pressure. Some students clam-up when they are nervous and don’t take a chance to highlight their strengths, while others talk so fast and furiously they often say things they don’t mean.

Knowing which (nervous) “type” of interviewee you are can really help you plan and prepare for what happens when your nerves are high. You need to be able to recognize when you’re nervous and be able to redirect your thoughts and words when this happens. The key to preparing correctly for an interview is to know yourself.  Participating in a mock interview or similar type of service can help you understand what might happen during your real interview and gain insight into what type of questions you may struggle with. 

You also want to make sure to gain as much knowledge about the interview process as possible. Knowing what to expect can help calm your anxiety and allow you to role play or visualize what happens on the big day. Understanding what type of interview you will have (MMI, traditional, or combination type PA school interview), how long you are expected to speak, activities to anticipate (group work, essay, quiz), etc. can help you prepare for your specific interview situation.

You also need to practice. Practice answering common PA school interview questions to make sure you’re highlighting yourself appropriately and sound confident and passionate. It’s important to practice concepts or ideas but to not actually “rehearse” your answers. Practicing EXACTLY what you are going to say word-for-word can make you sound rehearsed and insincere. You want to have an idea or some bullet points but don’t drill yourself to the point where every word sounds like it’s memorized. 

It’s important to prepare well for your PA school interview so you can achieve your dream of getting accepted to PA school and becoming a PA. Prepping the right way can enhance your ability to handle different types of interview scenarios and give you a blueprint for success!

If you want to be as prepared as possible for your PA school interview, to know exactly how to answer common and difficulty questions or scenarios, definitely do a Mock Interview! You can sign up for it here. Keep up the amazing work and you are SO CLOSE to finally starting your dream career – all you have to do is rock out your interview!