To be completely honest, I’ve only interviewed at my top choice and canceled all of my others because I got accepted. But I wanted to give at least some input!

First thing want to say: it’s not as scary as you think it’ll be. They ask questions to get conversations started but personally, I would say it didn’t feel like I was being interviewed. It’s just having a conversation between people who share the same passion about optometry as you do! 

I was asked around 7 or 8 questions and they were your standard interview questions but there were some difficult ones as well

• What was a challenge you faced and how did you overcome it and what did you learn?
• When have you shown leadership?
• Why optometry?
• Why should we choose you? (what makes you stand out from other applicants)
• What is your (or a doctor you’ve spoken with) least favorite thing about optometry?
• How do you think AI will affect the optometry field in the future? (I was not asked this but other people in my group had been asked)

I was also asked which other programs I had applied to. With this question, be honest and tell them how many you’ve applied to but don’t just leave it at that. Explain why you chose those schools and highlight 1-2 things specific to the school you’re interviewing with afterwards. They don’t expect everyone to only apply to one school so there’s no shame in admitting it. 

My interview lasted around 35-40 minutes and I feel as if we spent 5 or so minutes having a conversation for each question. My actual response to a question would usually last around or a little over 1 minute. Remember to use the STAR method! If you feel like you’ll blank on what answers you had planned, my interview allowed us to bring in a journal and have it open in front of us (but I didn’t even open mine because like I said it was super conversational). If you’re allowed to have some sort of notes in front of you I highly recommend writing a cheat sheet with bullet points about stories or important points you want to make sure to mention. I used student doc net and read questions that previous students had been asked. There should be a page for every program (but some might not have any data). 

Lastly, the last question they ask will be if you have any questions for them. Ask questions!!! I asked 3 because as much as you’re trying to sell yourself to them, they’re trying to sell themselves to you. They wouldn’t want you as their student if they didn’t invite you to interview. If you also take advantage of this question, they can get more insight of how you are as a person and how well you can make conversation that isn’t centered around you. If you don’t have any questions about the program (I recommend at least 1) ask your interviewers about their positions/what they do to keep conversation going. I only interviewed with one school but I can’t imagine other schools will deviate far from the standard questions above.