Last Friday was the official interview day for the Occupational Therapy program at the University of Utah. Let me tell you how it went down.
Step One - Herd all 70+ awkward interviewees into a conference room and spend an hour talking about the program and the field (Great information during this part!!).
Step Two - Break awkward interviewees into groups of 6-7 (The schedule varied by group here...but since I was only in my group, the rest of the steps are in order of what we did).
Step Three - Second year grad student takes group on building tour (Our tour guide was adorable. And the work load of the program hadn't killed her yet ... that's always a good sign).
Step Four - Group activity (i.e. 'You have 12 minutes to take these tinker toys and make something functional that is not a car or a truck. Ready...set...go.' Of course, as soon as they said 'not a car or truck' - the only thing I could think of was a car or truck. Thankfully there were smarter people in our group than me. Sadly...they were also my competition. Dang.).
Step Five - 50 minutes to write a 3 page personal statement (Boo Ya for the English degree - specifically the B.S. degree. This was the one part I was totally not worried about - note that: the ONE part).
Step Six - Awkwardly make conversation with other interviewees while waiting for personal interviews to start. And realize all of them deserve this just as much as you do. That realization is a killer - I really hope they all get in. The bad news? If they all get in...I don't.
Step Seven - Ten minute personal interview with two faculty members (10 minutes? Seriously! 10 minutes = not enough time to adequately convince you I'm cool enough for grad school but just enough time to sound like a complete idiot. Face palm!).
Step Eight - Spend the next month agonizing over the ten painful minutes of personal interview and hoping that somehow 70 applicants divided by 30 spots = everyone gets in. I've never been very good at math...those odds can work out, right?
Step One - Herd all 70+ awkward interviewees into a conference room and spend an hour talking about the program and the field (Great information during this part!!).
Step Two - Break awkward interviewees into groups of 6-7 (The schedule varied by group here...but since I was only in my group, the rest of the steps are in order of what we did).
Step Three - Second year grad student takes group on building tour (Our tour guide was adorable. And the work load of the program hadn't killed her yet ... that's always a good sign).
Step Four - Group activity (i.e. 'You have 12 minutes to take these tinker toys and make something functional that is not a car or a truck. Ready...set...go.' Of course, as soon as they said 'not a car or truck' - the only thing I could think of was a car or truck. Thankfully there were smarter people in our group than me. Sadly...they were also my competition. Dang.).
Step Five - 50 minutes to write a 3 page personal statement (Boo Ya for the English degree - specifically the B.S. degree. This was the one part I was totally not worried about - note that: the ONE part).
Step Six - Awkwardly make conversation with other interviewees while waiting for personal interviews to start. And realize all of them deserve this just as much as you do. That realization is a killer - I really hope they all get in. The bad news? If they all get in...I don't.
Step Seven - Ten minute personal interview with two faculty members (10 minutes? Seriously! 10 minutes = not enough time to adequately convince you I'm cool enough for grad school but just enough time to sound like a complete idiot. Face palm!).
Step Eight - Spend the next month agonizing over the ten painful minutes of personal interview and hoping that somehow 70 applicants divided by 30 spots = everyone gets in. I've never been very good at math...those odds can work out, right?
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