The best PA school interview answers aren't the most rehearsed—they're the most natural & confident!

And is it Ricky or is your application going to say Richard? >> Um, my application says Richard, but I go by Ricky. >> Okay. So, I'm going to pretend I'm the real interviewer who's going to get that wrong so you can correct me in a professional manner. >> Perfect. >> And that's what we'll do. All right. Richard, welcome to your mock interview. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here. >> Hi. Thank you very much for allowing me to be here. Um, I'm very appreciative of the opportunity and I'm honored to be sitting with you. Also, um, just to let you know, I do go by Ricky, not Richard. So, as we go, that would be preferred. >> All right. Thank you for that correction. Uh, so my first question to you is just regarding your transcript. >> Mhm. >> It looks like I mean, overall, not concerning 3.6 undergrad and then you did very well in your M's program. In the undergrad, however, there were a few small areas of inconsistency. uh like there was a withdrawal from bio1 which then when you repeated it uh you didn't do very very well. Uh same with um organic chem there was a C then there was a withdraw on organic chem 2 then it was a class you took in the summer organic chem 2 which was a C. So just a few small inconsistencies early in your career and then senior year biochemistry was a C++. >> Yeah I'm happy to address that. Um, I started school in the fall of 2020. So, that is when COVID was at its peak. And I'm sure you've talked to many students that have had this bit of an issue. But, um, going online for a year and then trying to transition back when I had just started college, it was a little bit difficult to establish some strong study habits and interact with my professors one-on-one and even work with other students. So my academic habits were not as strong just because I kind of started at what I believe to be a little bit of a disadvantage. And so from my freshman year, I have that withdrawal in foundations of biology 1. I ended up taking that again in the summer and I received an A in the class when I took it over the summer. And then sophomore year, the school decided that we're going to transition back to in-person by doing hybrid slowly. And at that point, I still had not established very strong study habits, unfortunately, or strong study methods, I will say, strong study methods. And so that carried into my sophomore year unfortunately, which is where we see the um struggle with organic chemistry, me retaking it. And so that's kind of where I was at with that. I believe in junior year, I had some time to really sit down and be in person. I started the emergency medicine program at Pitt and I was able to form very strong study methods and that was very helpful over time. and the biochemistry. That one was a very specific instance where I took a six-eek course and also decided to take my paramedic exam at the same time and it just did not work out. So, um they ended up doing very bad on one exam and because it was such a short class, that's kind of what happened. I was trying to do too much at once. That would be my Yeah. So, >> okay. And sometimes after your response, I am going to take a second to type down some notes. >> Okay. >> Don't mind the silence. >> Uh, all right. Does your academic record reflect any other changes or is that mainly it? >> Um, if we're talking about inconsistencies, that's it. I believe that I have taken the time to make up for those inconsistencies. I did do a master's I got my masters in biomedical science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and that is what I did attemp attempt to tailor those inconsistencies in the beginning. >> But would you say your study methods have improved? Yes, and I would definitely say they've improved. And I've also found better ways that I myself study, especially in my master's program. And I think that was very important by taking that time to do it. I found that I study very well in short increments of about 90 minutes taking a break. Um, study methods that I enjoy is, um, I use a lot of, this sounds silly, but I just like to use printer paper and I like to just write all of my notes down and take the time to do that. those weren't I felt in undergrad I was bouncing around with a lot of methods and while I did my masters I was able to establish some very strong study study techniques and which I think will be very helpful in PA school for myself. Okay. And also as a grad student in in undergrad, what skills have you learned to help manage your time and relieve stress? >> To manage my time, it's definitely been to form those study techniques. I know how long I can study, how long I want to study. So then I can plan it out much easier throughout the day. I'm not often sitting around trying to take wake up and say, "Let's see how long I can study for 5 hours and see if I can get through it." I know I can wake up, get myself together, do about an hour and a half of studying, and then take a break, go eat, come back, do the same thing. It's very easier to plan out my day. And in terms of relieving stress, um, I do exercise a lot. I like to go to the gym. I found in my junior year of undergrad while I was in paramedic school that taking the time to go to the gym and truthfully not always sitting down with the book 24/7 um actually improved my grades. I saw I saw a little bit of an increase in my academics as I decided to take my physical and mental health seriously. So that that is one way I relieve stress. I also really like to listen to music. I'm really into um pop, like dance, EDM music. Um how else? I exercise. I like to listen to podcasts. I'm really into standup comedy. So, I listen to a lot of standup comedians podcasts as well. So, those are a couple ways that I manage my stress. >> And so, why do you think you would be a good fit for this program? >> So, program. >> Yeah. So, I'll go with Ruckers cuz I've been looking at them for a little bit. Um, I know Recker's mission is humanistic care through dynamic education through scholarship and through service. I feel throughout my undergraduate career and even my graduate career, I match those. When I was in when I was in the emergency medicine program at Pitt, our our education was incredibly dynamic. I was in the classroom two days a week and the other days I was at clinical. Um, I was on the ambulance. I was in the emergency room. I was at family I was at the family delivery room during the family birthing shift. I have done IV shifts. I've had burn shifts. So on top of just the academics that I was doing and learning how to be a paramedic, I was also actively a part of the um medical experience that I was getting. And in terms of service, I was the philanthropy chair of my fraternity. And so I was able to acrewue my own different types of service hours, whether it would be picking like going out and cleaning up the streets of Oakland or we worked at did a volunteering event at the local Jewish center and we made halal bread. So anything like that. I also in my graduate um program I volunteered at the food bank. So couple different things and scholarship I say I match that because I went to get my masters in biomedical science and I wanted to increase the or strengthened my knowledge of anatomy physiology and I also it was very beneficial to improve on my study habits as well before I went to PA school and I believe that my work does match Ruter's mission very Well, >> do you feel you possess any qualities that set you apart from other PA school applicants? >> Yeah, I think that I have a great understanding of patient responsibility and also leadership as well as um in terms of leadership also being a very collaborative individual. Um being a paramedic, I learned a lot about what it means to be responsible for a patient. I am on scene. I am in charge while also working with my team. So in my head being a leader is not only telling people what to do but also working with others in for the best interest of the patient. I often consult my other team members. I often will ask them what they think. It's not all about what I can do myself. It's about how I can lead the team to the best um lead the team to the best conclusion for the patients best interest. And I think that my responsibility and understanding of patient care being at the top of the food chain of prehosp medicine, I believe I have a greater understanding of what it means to be responsible for a patient. So that would set me apart. >> Okay. And why are you choosing this program to apply to? I'm apply I chose to apply to this program again because I feel I very much match the mission and vision of the school. I also was really interested in the hope clinic, the free clinic that Ruters has put together back in 2021 and these students are able to go and work in the free clinic. I understand they work with more or acute or chronic diseases and I find that to be incredibly important because I myself um took advantage of the clinics here in Pittsburgh. Um I'm a member of the LGBTQ community myself and when I was seeking out um a like prep for my own sexual health, I used the free clinic um central outreach in order to do that. So I understand the importance of clinics like this and places where people need to feel comfortable going even if they don't have the the an abundance of resources to use in order to get their care. Also with hope clinic I am a very firm believer in healthcare for all and this is a very fantastic start to that and being able to get everybody the basics and necessities of health of healthcare. All right. Uh moving on to ask just a couple of ethical questions. >> Okay. >> Uh so would you ever treat a patient differently if you were concerned they might be addicted to pain medication? >> No, I would not treat a patient any differently. What we're meant to do is break down our biases when we're working with patients in terms of their care. Um I understand it's a very unfortunate situation where people are um addicted to opioids, addicted to pain medication. However, we are there to treat their pain. Um if I would think of an example, it would be a patient who might have had a traumatic injury or somebody who simply just look and they're addicted to pain medication. So some people would believe, oh well, they're addicted to pain medication, so I'm not going to give them anything. I I don't believe in that. I believe that you need to treat the patient as they need to be with the pain with the concerns that they're expressing at that time. Um, I think like I said, we need to break down our biases. I've definitely got a very good understanding of that. In my master's program, we took a health equity and diversity awareness pro uh class and it was used to break down the our own stigmas that we might use when we're looking at a patient and whether it's race, skin color, um there like we just talked about in an addiction, we're there to treat the patient for the concerns that they have and we need to treat them in that moment and what we're with what we're doing. You cannot let your own biases get in the way. >> All right. And then similar question uh as far as biases go. How would you feel about treating a patient who tested positive for HIV? >> Um treating a patient for HIV. >> Treating no just in general treating a patient who has tested positive for HIV or has a history. >> Um I would have no problem doing so. I mean as we I discussed before um I'm member of the LGBTQ community. I've also sought out um things for my own sexual health by going to place like going to clinics like central outreach, getting my own prep medication. Um it's not something that I very fortunately want to be aware of, but it is or fortunately want to be so aware of, but it is such a problem that I believe that in the medical community, especially being gay, I am very aware of it. So, it's not something that scares me. Um I see ads for it on television programs that I watch. I just go to the clinic and I see people being treated for it and it's it's not really something that gets is very intimidating to me. I think just through my own understanding of culture and experiences and I would just want to provide them with the best care possible. I mean form formulate a plan that they they can use for their illness and treat them based on that. I guess I could add to that is >> one one thing I could use is just make sure I use the proper like techniques, proper PPE, proper everything. If I'm doing blood draws or being aware of that, being very conscious, but also aware and understanding and comforting to the patient. All right, next question is going to be, if you find out that a fellow PA student in your class is cheating, what would you do? So, if I found out that they were cheating, excuse me. The first thing I would do is I would confront them first and I would say, um, I I saw that you were looking at XYZ's paper or you were using your phone in class. I saw you were cheating. Um, I think it would be best for you to go and talk to the professor in charge because we do have a duty here to follow the academic honor code or whatever they may use and say, I'm going to give you the opportunity to go and talk to the professor. However, if you don't, I feel a responsibility that I need to go to the professor myself and let them know what is going on because you are cheating and you are breaking the academic code. And so first I would give them the opportunity to tell the professor and if not if they failed to do so I would then go do it myself. >> Okay. >> Can you describe a time when you disagreed with a colleague or supervisor and how you resolved the situation? >> Can I have one second to think about that? Of >> course. Yeah, I can think of one. So, not a super severe case, but I was working with a colleague of mine and we had a patient that was complaining of back pain. And as a medic, you learn a lot of different diagnostic um what's the right word? Diagnostic techniques. like we learn to do EKGs, we do things like that. And I had a um a colleague that wanted to run EKGs, wanted to think of like pain medications to do for this patient and or run EKGs for chest pain. She was kind of on the wrong um going down the wrong path of where she was kind of getting tunnel vision and going down the wrong path of how to treat this patient. And there were a couple times when she would say, "Oh, like what if it's chest pain, so we should do a 12 lead." and I'd be like, "No, I don't really think that we need to do that. Maybe let's move on to the next move on to the next thing." So, um, I have worked with people where they start to get tunnel vision and they go down the wrong route and then I have to or I will say and speak up and say, "Maybe we don't need to do that right now or maybe let's like look towards something else." And she would think, "Oh, well, this is traumatic back pain." And I go, "No, this is chronic back pain cuz we're going down the wrong way." How I handle it is very simple and I just try to be as a a how do I say this very not passive but comfortable like saying no I don't think that this is correct I think we need to move on or I think we need can do this or maybe something doesn't even need to be done right now and this is not this does not call for the diagnostics that you're doing so I just do comfortable I just try to educate and go to the next thing because I mean that's our job we're working as a All right. And can you tell me about a time when you had to deal with a very frustrating patient? So, I can think of one right off the bat because I've been to her house probably four times in the summer, but that doesn't mean that she's a difficult patient. She's she's an older woman. She has a lot of health issues. She's up there in age, and we all know how our health deteriorates as we get up there in age. It could be anything. And um I show up to the house, I see the address come up on my phone, hear it over the loudspeaker, and I know exactly what we're doing. could be anything. And the way that I deal with it is I just go in there and I walk in and do the exact same thing I do every single time. I already have the extrication plan in my head. I know whatever I'm going to go for might be it might be knee pain, might be I have a stomach ache. I go and I run all the same tests that I'm able to within my scope of practice. I run through all of those. I ask her all the same questions and I treat what she what I can based on her complaint. So there's really she I would not say that she's difficult in any manner. I would just say she calls a lot and she has a lot of problems but nothing I can't do anything nothing that I can't do to attempt to help. So yeah. All right. And next question is, can you discuss your decision to pursue medicine? When did you decide to become a PA and why? So, I would say towards the end of high school when I was kind of deciding what I wanted to do, I knew that I wanted to be in an environment where I would be able to in the simplest terms, I wanted a professional career where I could communicate with people and I I wanted to come like work one-on-one or like in a small group or if I'm able to work in a team of some sorts. I knew that's what I wanted to do. So I looked into medicine and that is kind of the field of medicine. And so I found myself intrigued by this field. And as I worked on the ambulance throughout right before my junior year, I started as an EMT then worked to be a medic. I found that being so in close proximity and working with patients, I really enjoyed that time. um working with them. My service does a lot of nets, so they do a lot of trans non-emergency transports. So, I've got a lot of time to just sit down one-on-one with patients and it could we could discuss anything. They want to tell me about their life or they want to talk about the treatment that they they want to get and I really really enjoy just working one-on-one. So, when I looked into careers in medicine and as time went on, I realized I wanted to um go to become a physician assistant because they spend the most time with their patients. And I can think of a great time that definitely made me realize I want to work one-on-one with them because there was a woman that um we did a transport for. She fell in her home and I talked to the nurse beforehand and the nurse said that we're thinking about getting her some more assisted care and assisted living and I then said okay and I went and sat with the patient and I talked to her just oneonone and I asked her said are you feeling safe in your home? Are you feeling um do you feel you need a little bit more help? And she told me like I do not feel safe in my home anymore. I really would like to see I like where I live but this just isn't the I don't know if this is the situation for me now that this has happened I am a little scared. So I worked with her like heard her thoughts what she wanted to do. I then communicated them to the nurse at the next hospital and where I'm at now. I hope she got the care that she did. But I was able to work collaboratively with all these medical professionals. And unfortunately now I don't really know where she ended up. But that's kind of why I wanted to be a PA is cuz I want to work in the work in longer term care with patients. It's one the downside of working on the ambulance is you only have about sometimes 15 20 minutes with a patient and I want to see their care and I want to work with them for a longer period of time. Right. And then for the individual portion, this is our last question for now. >> Okay. >> Uh second to last, actually, and that's going to be just tell me about yourself. >> Yeah. Um well, I'm from Pittsburgh. I grew up in Pittsburgh my entire life. I went to University of Pittsburgh, got my bachelor's in emergency medicine. I decided to go back to um Pitt and get my mers in biomedical science through the school of medicine. I have been in EMS. This is my fourth year now. I was an EMT for about a year and a half. I've been a medic since September of 2023, so two years now. Um then I also was recently published in the prehosp emergency care journal. Um it's I did worked on a research project with the um applied physiology lab under Dr. Daniel Patterson. I got to ser the purpose of the survey or the purpose of the study was to survey EMS employees and EMS employers based on a set of fatigue based guidelines and how certain stations across the country manage fatigue fatigue and also fatigue education. So, I went in and we surveyed um the surveyed the subjects over Zoom or the participants over Zoom. And then I went in and coded all of these surveys and got to see some of the barriers of implementing fatigue risk mitigations in the field of prehosp medicine. And I found that to be very interesting because I am an active participant in this field and it applied directly to me which I found very interesting which is something that I wanted to do. Um in terms of my hobbies, I really enjoy exercising. I really enjoy you talked about I enjoy podcasts. I enjoy standup comedy. I enjoy music. I enjoy going to concerts. Um anything I can be active but I also like to sit down and read a book. I I love to read. And so yeah, that's a little bit about me. >> All right. And then this is me as the interviewer from let's say Ruters. Uh not me as myself. And the question is going to be do you have any questions for us? >> Yes, I do. So my first question about the program specifically is we talked about the hope clinic and I noticed as I was reading it about it on the website that from your first semester that you're there you're going to be in the clinic working. I was just interested in how that would be implemented into the schedule and how you kind of manage students being in the clinic and being in the dactic portion at the same time because it seems pretty unique to me. Not all the students are working right on one-on-one with clinic in the clinic right away. So that would be one question that I have. >> The next question I had was um I see that the program is three years. typically feel the program is I've talked to students that typically it's between two years two and a half years um what goes on in that time that is very beneficial for the um the longer time period I would assume maybe longer longer clinical time more experience I was just curious as to what is being implemented there to make the program a little bit longer and how patient and how students benefit from that My other question was in the goals section on your um on your website for the program since the program indicates a thread line of humanities curriculum and including opportunities for self-reflection. I was just interested on how you could elaborate on that how we implement the humanities and the opportunities to self-reflect. I think that self-reflection as we grow older and also just not even in healthcare but as a person what we can do to self-reflect and how we can be better um is really interesting to me and that is caught my eye. So, I'd love for if somebody would be able to elaborate on that. And then the one general question I had was what opportunities or job did you take advantage of before you were a PA? And then um what brought you here? And then followup would be how did you get into PA education from that point? Those are just five questions that I came up with really quick. >> Got it. I couldn't type those last two because you sped through those like crazy. >> Oh, sorry. I just was like going through the list. Um the last one was >> It's fine. You're fine. I don't need to type them. >> Okay, perfect. >> Uh let's do our scenario. >> Okay, >> you're uh slow down. >> It's not a race. In fact, going faster is going to um make things worse, not better. >> Yeah. >> You know what pressured speech is? >> I assume that comes from talking too fast. >> No, no. Like it's usually with psych patients. It's uh like have you ever taken care of a psych patient? >> Um very quickly, yes. But like not for a long period of time. >> You ever seen anyone in like a manic or hypomomanic state? >> Mhm. >> Where there is literally no oxygen in between their words. >> Oh yeah. I have seen that before. >> Does it kind of raise your anxiety as someone working with them? >> Yes. >> That's what students do when they get nervous. >> Okay. Yeah. interviewers are used to it, but it's a breath of fresh air, literally when you can just slow the f down, >> okay, >> and talk to them like a normal human. >> Yeah. >> Talking fast. >> It's it's the most common nervous habit that I see and it's the biggest one I want to break. >> Okay? >> You know, so yeah, for the scenario, let's try to try to pretend you're talking to a stressed out old lady. >> Okay? >> She's there on the gurnie. She's in pain. She's probably in tears. You're not going to pressure and speech her. She'll freak out. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Just we'll have that vibe for the for the next question. >> Okay. >> Uh so I have a long list of scenarios. I'm just trying to pick one that I haven't used. And I've used all of them, but I'm trying to pick one I haven't used for a while. Uh let me see. Let's do this one. This is a good one. Pretty typical scenario question. >> Okay. >> Okay. And so this could be done in a group setting. This could be done in an individual setting, could be done in an MMI. Uh so these are always very beneficial to try to practice, you know, just how you would do a scenario question. >> So scenario question goes, a 9-year-old boy presents to your emergency department for the sixth time this month for seizures. Upon questioning, you find out his mother has been neglecting to give him his anti-epileptic medications. What do you do? So I do you tell me to like start talking to you as if you're the mother or like >> Oh no it's not acting it's just these are the facts. What would you do? >> Okay so what I would do is I would first discuss this situation with the mother. As we know she hasn't been giving him the medication. However there are a lot of outstanding circumstances that people might have. Can is she not able to afford the medication? Um, I would not immediately just assume that she is neglecting her child in terms of abuse could be a possibility, but maybe she can't afford the medication. Maybe she is working long hours and she's not home all the time and there's not really anybody reliable in the house to give him the medication. um I would sit down and I would talk with her and see what really is going on first and why she is failing to do so. And if we do run into a case where she is simply just not able to is just simply neglecting to take to give the patient the medication. It would then be my job to report this to CPS as we are mandated reporters and especially with child. Um but first I would try to understand and give the patient like the opportunity to explain herself why she why this is happening and then figure out what I can do in order to help her. Maybe form a schedule. maybe give her advice on like how we could get more care or why she maybe figure out a plan where we can afford like she can get the medication at some point or afford the medication. But if it does send up to be a scenario where she is simply just neglecting her child, we would have to then report it to CPS. >> Good. All right. How'd you feel? >> I felt okay. I felt not bad. I feel like maybe I talked too fast. when we were talking about other stuff, you weren't talking that fast. >> Okay. >> So, when you're practicing, because you still have, you said it's been it's going to be like another couple weeks, right? 25th. >> The 28th. Yeah. So, I gave myself a little bit of time. >> Yeah. You got plenty of time. So, when you're practicing, and I want you to practice, if you got two weeks, you don't have to practice every day, but like I'd say the week leading up to the actual interview, then practice every day. >> Okay? >> When you're practicing what if you're going to do it with other people, that would be best. Uh if you're just doing it by yourself, then film yourself and just objectively try to see how quickly you're talking, >> right? Just try to gradually slow it down. It's something um not necessarily a professional thing, but like when my friends are at the bars and they're nervous to talk to somebody and I overhear them like freaking people out because they're like so nervous, that's the first thing I tell them is like I think you feel like cuz like when you when the adrenaline kicks in, >> you know, fight or flight, everything slows down. >> Yeah. to you, but to everybody else, you're going a million miles a minute. >> Yeah. >> You know, and it's actually like it causes anxiety to listen to. >> So, as slow as you think you're going, >> go slower. >> Okay. >> Go even slower. >> Yeah. I tend to like get a good like thought going and then I just like run with it. So, that's I I understand. >> But you don't do that at work. >> No, it's just here because I'm like, you know, you want to get everything right. So, I'm like talk too fast. >> Yeah. So, one big reframe I'm going to go back to my desk because now it's dark. U one big reframe is this isn't a test. >> There's nothing get right. >> Right. You're answering these like they're test questions and they're not. >> Yeah. >> More of a conversation. >> Okay. >> And in the case of of an MMI, it's still not a test. It's more of a presentation. Either way, you want to be calm, comforting, personable, easy to listen to. >> Yeah. >> So, that's the main thing I would work on. The the content of your answers is okay. Uh it's mainly going to be the vibe and just the presentation. >> Okay. >> You know, so that's one. Two. You're allowed to smile. >> Okay. >> See, I thought I would be fine with that, but I guess not. >> Yep. Uh and I'm going to give you feedback that some people probably won't because they're just I don't know. Maybe he's just a little serious. Well, he's not. He's probably not that serious of a person. He's a normal person. >> When he gets nervous, he goes too fast. He gets too serious. Doesn't smile. Almost seems a little bit like depressed. >> Yeah. >> Like, and it's it's all the defense mechanisms. >> Mhm. >> Right. So, work on the vibe. Work on smiling a little bit. Work on pausing. It's okay. In fact, it's preferable. >> Okay. >> Varying your just kind of like you're talking to again a friend, a patient who's in distress. like be comforting and soothing, right? >> So, I would do that. You know, pretend the interviewer is like a little old lady. >> Okay. >> That's on your journey, right? >> Yes. >> That would be the first thing I would do. The second thing is I would elaborate much more because all of these except for maybe one were super short. >> Okay. I was worried that I would be talking too much, but I don't know how that would cuz I tend to talk in circles >> and so I'm trying to like not talk in circles. I was told that we should only talk for like 60 seconds and then I think maybe I wasn't even talking for that long because I think I'm too hyper aware of it. >> I'd say you were probably going for 60 seconds or more. But what who told you to only talk for 60 seconds? Um, one of the persons that or one of my professors from school, he was said that try not to talk in circles too much or like try not to say like it try to just fit in what would how do you want to say this? He basically said don't talk too long because then it becomes convoluted but I probably could go a lot longer. So I was >> kind of hyper aware of that maybe. >> Yeah. So you're trying to cut it off briefly to avoid talking in circles. Um, it is possible to have a lengthy, welldetailed response and still not talk in circles, >> right? I did find you kind of like repeating yourself towards the end of a lot of these. Uh, and what you're trying to ideally go for is when you hear a question, you don't immediately like go to answer it and try to like just come up with something that first the first thing that comes to mind. >> You want to train yourself to take a pause >> and like kind of get your talking points down. >> Okay? then just go off that checklist. Uh because that way you're not going to talk in circles because once the checklist is done, that's it. Just end confidently. Uh and I feel like a few times you kind of like petered off. You didn't really end confidently. >> Yeah, I think it was just trying to not I like with that one note is just not talk for so long. >> But I I I don't I understand the importance of trying to get everything in and I think I was trying to cut it off a little bit. >> I think so. Mhm. >> Uh, have you seen any of our mock interviews that we posted? >> No, I was going to look at the I started looking at stuff last night because I found yours, but I wanted to do this just kind of like cold and then give myself some time to look at them. >> Sure. >> So, once you look at some like they're not all obviously exemplary. Some are really, really good. Some are really bad. >> Uh, but one that I want you to look at particularly is Justennia. She's actually one of our contractors that does this for me now cuz she's a current student. Uh her answers are long. Her answers are like five minutes sometimes. >> Okay. >> She got in. >> Okay. >> Oh, Grace's answers are pretty lengthy. She got in. Like most of the people who were in those mock interviews whose face is not hidden. Most of them got in. And you'll notice a lot of them talk for quite a long time. They give up examples. They allow themselves to laugh. Like they're they're just very engaging. Mhm. >> So whether you go on TikTok or YouTube, it's the same content. Uh look at some of those. >> Okay. >> And T- Rose, those are the three I'd love to for you to see. >> Cool. I wrote those down. >> Yeah. And it's going to be again like recorded for you. Uh but let's let's go through some of these. Not sure if we'll go through all of them because usually I ask like between four and six questions. I think I asked you like probably one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 questions we had time for. >> Yeah. So, I was talking not too much. >> Not too much and very quick. >> So, I mean, you deserve to be there. Like, own the space, own the room, like get to know them, have a conversation, let let them, you know, let them get, >> right? >> That makes sense. >> Yeah. So, okay, tell me about yourself. This one kind of gave a lot about your resume. I don't think I necessarily really know much about you from this. >> Okay. What are like the best things to talk about then with in terms of myself? >> More about >> more what? >> More about this last sentence that you just kind of threw in. >> Okay. >> You know, what I like to do. >> Yeah. like you kind of basically summarized your resume which we already know like I went to pit I did a master's I'm a medic um I did some research this was cool that you were actually talking about your research if this is like a passion of yours if it's not then I don't know why it's in the tell me about yourself section >> it's more this is more of like a resume kind of thing >> I mean if you want to talk about the research if you really loved it sure >> wise I'd probably say you know I'm Ricky I grew up in Pittsburgh maybe something about Pittsburgh like, you know, home of the famous Permani Brothers or, you know, the home of the best football team known to man or home of Sydney Crosby or something like some something that just like a normal person would say like, >> yeah, >> somebody you meet on a plane, you're not going to be like, hey, I did a research project. >> Yeah. >> You're gonna be like, "No, I'm from Pit." Like, "Oh, yeah. How about the Steelers?" >> That kind of thing. And then talk more about this. >> You know, like I've been a medic for four years. I've always been interested in medicine. Uh but you know just some things about me personally. I What are your hobbies? I love to >> Yeah. Exercise. I love to listen to music. I love like going to concerts. Um podcasts, stand up. >> I like to run. I'm actually training for a 10K or I like to lift weights. I finally, you know, hit up PR after working with a trainer. It's very very satisfying. Like more normal person stuff, not just a list. >> Yeah. >> The last concert I went to was X, Y, and Z. love country or I love freaking Latin music or you know like who are >> more detailed >> sharing >> listing more personal shoot the like examples what kind of exercise podcast I don't know about podcast if you get into politics that'll be bad so don't do that what else hobbies something you're excited about. >> Yeah. >> You know, >> Yeah, that makes sense. >> Personal. >> Okay. Um, let's see. And that kind of that feedback carries on to a lot of different things except it's not going to be like sharing your hobbies. It'll be like sharing how this experience made you feel. >> Yeah. >> Or what did the person feel like or what did things look like? Like make it memorable. >> So, >> discuss your discussion to pursue medicine. This is basically YPA, right? >> Yeah. Uh so towards let's see towards the end of high school I knew I wanted a professional career where I could communicate in small groups. Uh there looked into medicine started EMT. Okay. Went oh there we go. Okay. Stories. Stories are good. Enjoy working one-on-one. Realized Okay. Good. There was a woman uh sat with her, talked with her, made her feel safe. Good. Heard her out. Communicating. Good. uh was able to work with many professionals but wanted to work as a PA. Okay. Uh want care carried out over a long period of time. That's fair. Is that the only reason you want to just kind of work with patients one-on-one for a long time? >> No, it was just what kind of what flowed within my brain for the answer to that question. >> So this is a good start but expand much more on this. Maybe one other reason. So yeah, >> that's unique to the PA profession like lateral mobility. >> Okay. So you can like I think that was the fault of the trying not to go on for too long. >> So I guess the biggest thing that I'm gathering thus far is kind of where I go with answering the question. I can kind of keep running with it as I go. So, cuz I have all truthfully I have all this in my brain. Sometimes I just don't know if I want to like trail off so far. >> You know what I mean? >> Yeah, I know. She >> One sec. I'm sharing uh I just want to show you literally one of like Tiros or Justennia's responses. >> You'll kind of see her trail off a tiny tiny bit and it's okay. She It She doesn't like trail off and get totally off topic, but she gets There's Tros for instance. I don't know why she came up just now, but >> uh I can see >> like once I once I play it. Can you hear her? >> No, I can't hear her. >> You can't hear her? >> It's not coming through. >> No. >> Okay. I'm just going to put this in your document. I'm going to document now. I would I mean I don't think you're going to be as verbose or as bubbly as she is. She's literally a social worker for 20 years. >> Yeah. >> You're not That's just That's not you. That's okay. But a little bit more in that direction. >> Okay. >> See what I'm saying? >> Yeah. >> Uh you are Why isn't it sharing it with you? >> Thomas. >> Um what is it? R. Thomas PA21. Try that one. >> Like that >> atgmail.com. Yeah. >> It's not sharing it with this one right here. >> Yep. That's it. >> Okay. Yeah, let's do that. That's just all of your um all of your responses like transcribed. I'll try to put in notes for some, certainly not all. Uh and okay, there we go. Share anyway. Okay. So, I'm going to say for overall feedback, which could be right here. Um more detail >> and personal shares. >> Okay. So, basically, don't be afraid to just talk because I think that was my biggest thing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Be more like T- Rose. There's the link. Uh, if you're Oops. If you're discussing something personal, like a hobby, talk about what you're excited about, examples, what you're working on, struggles, triumphs, smile, all that. If you're talking about a patient story, for example, more details, right? imagery, feelings, um, what it meant, that kind of thing. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Less neutral, more memorable. >> Perfect. Sounds >> think I just needed somebody to tell me that I can talk more because I know I can. I don't know why I was not, but >> yeah, I lie you weren't either. I >> I I was told not to, and I guess it was to be more straightforward and I was trying to take the advice seriously, but I'm glad somebody was like, "Don't do that because I just want to talk." I mean, everybody I've seen that definitely gets in, they they don't talk in circles. They're not like annoying to listen to, but they will certainly tell you. >> Yeah. >> Allow yourself to follow the train of thought. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> I'm going to just put these links because just in your off time when you're not really preparing hard, you're just like on the treadmill or taking a walk or just like chilling, just watch these like some of these. >> Perfect. >> First 10 minutes are the actual interview. just see how they are and just give yourself permission to be just like them because they just will talk. >> Mhm. >> And both of these guys got in. So, uh, okay, let's see. So, we are here question like lateral mobility. Okay, good. So, yeah, the the YPA answer should probably be added to a little bit. >> You kind of put in a lot of very neutral logical background and not as much of like I felt this and I really wanted to do this. >> Okay. It was like I wanted to spend more time with the patient. How about like the patient I just like when we locked eyes she just really appreciated that someone actually like of all the chaos finally gave her a moment >> and you know her heart rate went down. She her breathing actually went down from like 22 to like you know 18 >> I just feel that like a lot of times patients just want reassurance not even necessarily treatment which they they sometimes need treatment 100%. Well, I just really want the reassurance, >> you know, knowing that I wanted to work one-on-one, kind of like I do as a medic, but for longer, not just during the ambulance ride, >> seeing them week after week, month after month, getting things down that take more time and effort and testing and, you know, being able to do more for my patients while still keeping that onetoone connection is, you know, the perfect job for me. >> Perfect. >> Uh, if you can carry in something that's more unique to the PA profession, that would be great. If not, no big deal, but it would be best if you could. Mhm. >> Usually the two unique things about the PA profession are um you know the lateral mobility which you want to not just mention by name but actually examples of it you know like I >> talk about like my own interests of like what I want to do. >> Yeah. like you can have that one-on-one connection while working in cardiology and then you know if you decide you really want to practice peds or you know you're working in the ER and then like somebody came in with I don't know an infected uh you know melanoma lesion or you just happen to diagnose melanoma there too like hey that solution doesn't look good it's not just an infection we'd really love to like find out more about that and maybe catch it earlier next time and doing skin checks you know like we could do all that >> so that kind of thing also just where we're utilized you know underserved communities So those are usually the big reasons. Uh so let's see this one here. Tell me about a time you dealt with a frustrating patient. Okay, I have a literal copy and paste for this one because it's such a common mistake. Uh and that is conflict. >> Interpersonal conflict. Uh as a provider, you no one really cares how you feel. You are the person responsible. So for these things where it's like frustrating patient, workplace dispute, anything like that, much less important to talk about the details of the situation and more important to just communicate a lot of empathy for the other person. >> Okay? >> Lead with that like maybe a little bit of context as needed and then lead with the empathy and then take all the responsibility. Be like, "All right, I could have done this better or here's what I did that did make the situation better." >> Those are the only two things. Everything else is extra but lots of empathy for any kind of conflict. >> Cool. >> Makes sense why they would say that. >> Yeah. No, it definitely does. I mean, you don't want to come up here. You don't want to be show that you get frustrated with patients cuz even if they're difficult, why would you want to be like, oh, because it just shows bad attitude. >> Would you would you say this line communicated that a little tiny bit? >> Pro. Yeah, >> probably. I guess it's just like it sounds like it. I was Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I was just like I know that this might be considered difficult, but I don't care. Like you know what I mean? Like it doesn't bother me. >> Yeah. Like I I know that that's probably true, but the way it came off was definitely >> like this lady again, right? >> Whereas if you just focus on okay, interpersonal conflict, boom, empathy, that's the first thing. Then it'll make the answer just go in the right direction, >> right? Like yeah, this poor lady, she calls us all the time. She's, you know, 79. She's got multiple coabilities of course as everybody nowadays can't get into her PCP and you know she's either in pain or legitimately thinks she's in trouble. So she calls us a lot >> know and yeah that kind of thing. >> Cool. That makes >> yeah lead with empathy all the time. Um time that same exact thing. >> Yeah this is I have a better example for that. I kind of took it as like oh I what was the question again? Can we look at that one? disagreed with colleague or supervisor and how did you okay I'm so used to that being like how did you when I've looked at things it's have you ever had like a situation where like a co-orker has been difficult >> it's ever been disagreed so I think when we said disagreed and not difficult I took it as like oh I don't know if I've ever like majorly dis I've disagreed with how somebody has gone about the situation but maybe not disagreed with their hair does that make sense So >> it does. >> Yeah. Okay. So what's the best way to go about it? >> At the end of the day, it's still interpersonal conflict. >> Okay. >> I'm going to share something that's going to make this all much more clear so you can see the theory that we're talking about as well as all these common examples. Um as well as literally step by step how to prepare. >> This is interpersonal conflict all day. >> Okay? >> You disagree with a colleague. A colleague pissed you off. A patient is difficult to work with. What kind of people can you not work with? What kind of patients do you not like working with? What's a behavior that makes somebody difficult to work with? It's all the exact same question. >> Tell me about a time there was conflict and tell me that you weren't a dealing with it. >> Yeah, >> that's it. By leading with empathy, >> the exact same thing. It's that simple. >> Uh so like here like lots and lots of details. Lots and lots of details. >> Yeah. like this this all could have been boiled down to maybe one sentence and then a couple minutes of talking about this, >> okay? >> Like, you know, yeah, of course, uh, you know, we're humans. We're not robots. We have disagreements. Uh, one thing that comes to mind is, you know, I I've been a medic for four years now. I was training a new medic who, you know, she has all the knowledge, but she still isn't experienced applying it. And to her, zebras are more common than horses. And sometimes she wants to work up a, you know, a chronic back pain as if it's a, you know, appendicitis or something. I don't know, whatever, >> you know, myocarditis. And, you know, I do certainly appreciate that that she thinks worst case scenario that is safe. But sometimes I have had to redirect this particular medic. Uh, but of course from her side, we've all been there and I was grateful for the leadership that I've had that redirected me. That kind of thing. You know what I mean? >> That makes sense. >> Empathy. Uh, all right. Where are we going? Doesn't this thing want to scroll? There we go. All right. So, this one, this is definitely the right answer, >> but last uh last two that we just did. What do you think it's missing? >> The Oh, there could be something going on at home or like they missed a week or it's giving the empathy for the offender. >> That's it. You still do the same thing. The decision is correct, but >> yeah. >> Well, this is my classmate. I care about them, not I'm just gonna be a good cop, bad cop. Like I care about this person. >> I see. Yes, that makes sense. >> So, I'm gonna say definitely the right answer, but should demonstrate some empathy for the other person. Uh some people have said they would make a study group with them with them, help them plan their studies, uh go to office hours with them, that kind of thing. >> Cool. >> So yeah, right answer, but I would add that too. And you see how short it was? This was like 10 seconds. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Uh, what would you feel about treating a patient with HIV? Very, this is basically a scenario question, right? >> Um, so for scenario questions, use interview guide to review how to answer scenario questions. And I'm going to share the interview guide with you for free. >> Okay, perfect. >> Um, yeah, because it shows you like step by step how to do scenario questions. Do you have to do every single part of the four steps? No. But you want to keep them in mind because that'll like make your answer more comprehensive. >> Okay. >> So, anything that sounds like a scenario, even if it's not like, you know, what would you do in this case, it kind of is. Like, would you agree this is kind of a scenario question? >> Yeah. Now that you say that it is, I see what you're saying, you know, like if that makes sense. >> Yeah. Exactly. >> Because like it's not a typical scenario. A typical scenario is like, okay, here's your scenario. You know, nine-year-old boy, seizures, blah blah blah, right? >> Yeah. >> Whereas this is like, oh, how did you feel about this? It's like, well, he tested positive for HIV. Okay. Does this person have a history? Uh, is this person be being treated? What's their CD4 and their their white count, you know, are they controlled? Are they on medications? Are they, you know, exhibiting high risk activities? Or are they like very well educated about their condition? Like, I just want to know who I'm dealing with. Uh, but either way, of course, I'd have empathy for them like any other patient. If they needed education, I would certainly connect them with that. if they're not on treatment, I would absolutely get them to the health department and get them right. You know, that kind of thing. It becomes a scenario. >> Okay. >> Is much more important than just, oh, I'd feel okay about it. It's like, well, you're thinking like a provider. >> So, yeah, I would treat this a little bit more as a scenario question. >> Okay. >> Um, but otherwise, very good. Uh, let's see. Same thing here, right? I like this a lot. Good discussion about biases. Maybe an example. >> Um maybe treat it like a scenario. >> Okay. >> Right. Because it kind of is like what do you mean an addict? >> Yeah. >> Right. Are are they on methadone? Are they actually being treated for addiction? Did they just smoke weed once and now they're labeled an addict? Did they have oxycodone once and now they're labeled an addict? What are we talking about here? >> Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. >> Yeah. Um, inconsistencies. So, this uh let's see. During co blah blah blah. I don't I don't feel like you really took a whole lot of responsibility here. >> Well, I mean that makes sense. >> Kind of blamed it on CO kind of blamed it on EMT training. >> I I know. I'm kind of on a to I was wondering how to tow the line there between like oh like I not that I didn't I was like apathetic but I wasn't as focused as I should have been because >> and I didn't really know I like don't know how to tell the everything is like we talked about in my program was be positive and like don't talk down about yourself. >> Oh my god down about yourself. >> Okay. >> And then bring it up. Mhm. >> I mean, you like if you screwed up or you had a challenge, talk about that and be kind of somber about it. Like, yeah, honestly, that was definitely not my best performance. I, you know, I was young. I definitely didn't know how to study yet. Plus, co threw everything for a wrench. So, like, I didn't really know the professor's expectations. I wasn't working with groups. It was just me at home and in front of a computer. And I was young and inexperienced. I didn't understand how important it was to like, you know, uh, actually have high academic performance. I didn't have good study skills or organization. I was just kind of winging it >> in high school. And I realized after a couple of those low grades that that just doesn't work. >> Yeah. >> If you ever want to get into a competitive program. So, junior year I did this. Senior year I did this. And then in my master's program, I really dialed it in. >> What that looked like. I used my calendar. I used this. I did that. I had dedicated pomodoro time in the morning and in the evening. I you know anything like whatever you actually did. >> What does that look like? >> Okay, >> cool. >> Yes. >> Again, this basic question is going to be in your interview guide. Uh let's see. Academic record. This is the same question basically. >> Mhm. >> And you kept saying like my study methods improved. So I was like how? >> Oh, okay. Yeah. >> So same feedback as previous. Uh let's see. What skills have you learned to help manage stress? This is good. Wake up. Study 90 minutes. I like that. See, this is like it's I actually understand what you're doing here, right? >> Mhm. >> Wake up 90 minutes instead of just going for five hours. >> Yeah. >> Good, good, good, good, good. Um, this is good. You looked up the hope clinic. A lot of people talk about it, but that's okay as long as you like have a reason for it. >> Uh, service good. Wanted to strengthen my knowledge of it. Good. Yeah, that's fair. >> And then I guess my question um here that I was thinking about I literally talked directly about like three things that they put in their mission statement. Is it okay to be so direct with that or do they want it to be like more of an undertone? I said this is your mission. Is that okay? >> I think it's great. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Because what you're proving is that you did some research. You actually care about this program. >> It's not like an answer that can be applied to any interview. And this is just a number to you. You actually like this program. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So whether you're direct or indirect, whatever you want to do, as long as you like prove it, you know, quite reasonably that you do care about this program, you did your research, you see yourself here, it's all that matters. >> Mhm. >> Uh so this was good. This Okay, good. But more elaboration on the collaboration. >> Yeah. I'm sure a story would go well here. Yeah, >> absolutely. Like see how short this is? >> Yeah, >> got plenty of space. >> I totally elaborated on most of this. >> Uh why are you choosing this program? Good. Hope Clinic. Good, good, good, good. Health clinic for a believer in healthcare for all. >> Uh good reasoning, but certainly have time for more. >> Uh maybe another topic or maybe just expand more on this like what do you mean healthcare for all? Why would that be a good thing? What what have you seen like people suffering where they don't have healthcare? How is being part of the whole clinic going to be good for that? >> Yeah. And then thinking about my personal statement, I did talk about an issue where people were waiting to get treatment because they did not have insurance. Is that like another place where I could even though I wrote about it, can I still mention it? Like is that still okay to mention? >> Yeah. So, assume that your interviewer either didn't see your application or didn't get to review it in detail because they probably didn't. >> Okay. >> Um, like they're not they're not studying for a test with every single interviewe. That's impossible. >> Yeah. >> They may have skimmed it for 30 seconds to five minutes and that's it. So, anything that was mentioned in your application, still give some brief context. >> Gotcha. >> Don't assume they know because they probably don't. >> Okay. >> Um, let's see. Wanted to see. So, this is really, really good. This was a great question. Um, program is three years most I mean you can find their curriculum online. I'm not sure why you would ask that. >> Okay. It was just one that I thought of. >> It's a good question. Um, but you can definitely find out exactly what they do online. >> Mhm. >> So like if you have a specific question about that, fine. Um, was not really great because you can find their schedule curriculum online. >> Okay. A specific question about that would have been great. That would have been good. Like, oh, I see that we take 18 months to do basic sciences. You know, have you found that new grads from Ruters are more wellprepared than, you know, new grads from 24-month programs or something? >> That could be a good question. Uh, yeah. Otherwise, good. So, this one, uh, very good response overall. Maybe a little more empathy for the child and mother. Like you mentioned all the right things, but like showing a little bit more that you're human and this is a human being you're dealing with, not a test question would have been good. >> Okay. >> Like man, that poor kid. Like because I know a lot of seizures, especially in young age at the same time, could like cause permanent disability. >> Very serious uh very serious situation. Plus, the kid is probably terrified every time it happens. So, he's getting PTSD multiple times a month. >> You know, we I understand that there's nuance here, but like we got to solve this problem for this poor kid. >> Yeah. >> Also, the mother, I'm sure she's scared when this happens. I don't know if there's linguistic cultural barriers. >> Like, you obviously aren't expected to know this, but in the le Oceanian community, they actually think that epilepsy is like a god-given gift or something. So, they like encourage epilepsy, which is crazy, but I read a book about this. But like anything like just anything thinking outside the box, lots of empathy for the kid and for the mother. But otherwise, you did all the four steps without even knowing my process. >> Perfect. >> Otherwise, excellent. You ended up doing all four steps of my four-step uh what do you call it? Um scenario question process just from your experience as a medic. Yeah. So, that's my feedback for all these. Overall, quite good. Like I said, just more detail, a little bit more human, a lot more. >> But what I'm sharing with you besides this, I just want to copy your email is my interview guide. So, since you have so much time, I'd love for you to just do it step by step. >> Okay. Yeah. That's why I wanted to give myself some time, too. I figured it would be good to I know there was a lot of stuff Sam told me that was given and I wanted to have enough time to reflect on that. >> Yeah. And Sam did a great job implementing all that stuff and he ended up getting into >> um Yeah, that's you right. >> Yep. That's it. >> Cool. So this I made it, you know, behind a payw wall $20 product on my website, but this is just like it's the same thing. It's just the Google doc version. So this is free for you uh because I want you to go through this step by step. you're basically ready with a lot of this stuff already. I just want you to kind of spend a little time thinking about the six basic questions that we just talked about >> and then like the elements that I tell you in this guide that I want you to include in those essentially what I told you a second ago but in more detail. >> Yeah. >> And then just practice those. And then um I mean there's a lot in here. There's that fourstep method. There's a ton of examples of like how I would answer something like this. So, I think this is really useful, especially if you have time. >> Perfect. Oh, yeah. >> But yeah, if you just go through the step by step here, uh, you know, listen to the feedback, I think you're going to be golden. >> Cool. You know, >> yeah, there questions. >> Um, I mean, I think I cleared it up, I guess. Like, this is going to be my first like in-person interview. I mean, do you have any like advice for being in person rather than like virtual? what to do or I mean this is a pretty high ranked school. I mean I don't know what the difference between those and any other school would be. If you have any advice for that >> um I mean I wouldn't treat it like any other school like uh I wouldn't treat it anything special compared to any other school. It's just a school. >> Um I will say like the kids that I've seen get into the IV PA schools like Cornell and whatnot, they're about as perfect as you can imagine. >> Like their GPA are 4.0, know 3.9. They are very professional, very polished. They're like you could they're just ooze confidence, you know, you could just tell they've been like a great student and they have like they're top of the like they're the top medical assistant at their practice. They're like they're just great at everything. >> I know you are uh on your resume, you know, you're a paramedic and she's a medical assistant. Like you're you're higher ranked, >> making better decisions. You just don't present quite as polished as some of these kids. Okay? >> You know, and that comes with practice. >> Okay? So, continue to practice like over the next two weeks. >> Practice the step by-step process in the guide that will literally take you step by simple step. >> Okay? >> Do that. I would definitely get lots of feedback. So, you know, go through the guide, practice for half an hour, you know, every day for a couple days, then get someone's help. See what Sam thinks. >> Practice in front of him on Zoom or in person. If he has any tweaks, maybe tweak that a little bit, then go back again. >> Okay? Lots and lots of practice. So, by the time you get to your interview, like not only are you confident in your abilities and your resume, then you're confident in the fact that you just practiced for like 12 hours. >> Yeah. >> Like, you already know how to answer these questions. Like, it's easy. You hear a question and you just kind of smile. You're like, "Okay, I've done this 100 times." >> Yeah. >> I got this. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Well, that was kind of the main questions that I had. I mean, you answer like I guess as we went, I asked the questions that I had in my head. So, >> I think I'm okay for right now. I appreciate it. >> Yeah, I think so. Let's end the recording real quick. Was this helpful? >> Oh, absolutely. Yeah, definitely relieved a little bit of the stress of not wanting to talk too much. >> Mhm. >> Because like I said, I was told not to do that and then be more conc. I mean, there's like you said, there's between talking in circles and like being concise, but I think my fear of talking in circles and caused me to cut it off. But I mean, if I can just talk and run with it, then I'm happy to do that. >> Yeah. Yeah, if that's your biggest fear, do me a favor and just watch at least a few minutes of each of those mock interviews. >> Mhm. And you'll just literally get permission right there to talk like they do because they got in and they did it