Postbacc Interview and Resume

Hi,



I’m non-traditional student applying for postbacc programs. I was wondering if anybody could share interview questions they received during the postbacc interview.



Additionally, coming from a different industry, how should my resume be formatted? Should it be one page, focused on healthcare / medical related experiences? How much space should my unrelated experiences take? I’ve been successful in my field which requires dedication and hard work. So just wondering how people approach this.



Thanks!!

I am also a non-traditional student/career changer. I went on post-bacc interviews a few months ago. Being honest, I do not remember the exact questions that were asked. What I do remember is that most of the questions asked felt like standard questions you know they would want to know from every candidate. For instance, interviewers do want to know why you chose their school and that specific program. What about it stood out to you? Since you are a career-changer, this will feel like some of the same questions you were asked at job interviews just rephrased for academic institutions. If you haven’t done so already, look at the schools mission statement and the program’s objectives. You can search for job interview or graduate school interview questions online. Not all of them but some of them like “tell me about yourself” will be applicable here. If questions appeared on both the job interview question list and the graduate school interview question list, you will probably be asked it on interview day. Because they are geared toward pre-medicine or pre-health, depending on the program, they will be gauging your level of dedication and assurance that this is the right career path for you. You can use some of the medical school admission interview questions to help prepare your response to questions related to that last part.



The resume is really difficult to provide advice without seeing it. Certainly talk to someone who is knowledgeable about resume writing like someone at a career center on campus. In the meantime, this is what you can do to get the resume ready for that meeting with a qualified resume writer. I would not focus on length, instead focus on quality and content. Medical schools are more transparent about the competences they are looking for. Make sure your resume shows you have the transferable skills, like leadership and teamwork, they are looking for. You will be surprised, many of those transferable skills were probably obtained from non-medical/healthcare related experiences. So don’t discount what you have to offer. This week the AAMC just posted that they rolled out a website called “Anatomy of an Applicant” which offers links that talk about some of these competencies and how some of your seemingly unrelated experiences do reflect the competences they are looking for. The link is: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/preparing-med-school/anatomy-applicant/



I hope this helps and good luck on your interview!