How to get ready for the PT school interview?

I had a simple interview. The interviewers even said in the beginning that they try to run a low-stress interview. They asked me 3 questions and they were just checking to make sure that I was the same person that submitted the application.

Here were my 3 questions:

1) Why PT? (kinda like the tell me about yourself question)

2) Why (name of school here)?

3) Scenario question: If you were doing group work and one of your teammates plagiarized his portion and you have 1 month before the due date, what do you do? Since there was another interviewee in the room, they tacked on the statement before I answered"...and the teammate is not willing to redo his portion. What do you do?

A few pointers about interviewing...

1) All answers (no matter the question) should give the interview a reason why you would be the BEST CANDIDATE FOR THEIR DPT PROGRAM. For instance, they ask "why pt?" Your answer should complement or pull from your essay. Be consistent. And it should also be positioned in the way that answers the question but again explains why you are perfect for the program.

Your real reason for being a PT is because I was an athlete. I got therapy and I love what my PT does for a living. Its a fair reason but it doesn't say why you would be perfect for their program. Lay it out there for the interviewer.

Better answer: "I have experience with the PT profession as an athlete so I pursued volunteer work to see if it was for me. It was through my volunteer work that my experience played a critical role in sympathizing with the patient and talking with them through treatment. It was then that I realized that I could make an impact in this profession."

Its a good answer because it's telling the truth while backing up the statement with a story to support while you are the BEST CANDIDATE FOR THEIR DPT PROGRAM. In interviewing, nothing is the best predictor of future performance than past performance. The real life scenario gives the interviewer a sense of whether you would be good for their program based on what you did in the past.

To Be Continued...

Picture from SQLAuthority.com