How close if interviewed?

[Agent007]

Does someone know what are your chances of getting in if you are invited to an interview?
And I know its an old question, but any super important things to say at the interview? Dress in a business professional?

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[slow_twitch]

The schools I interviewed at invited roughly 3x the class size they were looking to fill. If they were bringing in 40 students, they invited 120 to interview give or take some. But normally if it differed from that it was on the higher end.

Wear nice business attire, be yourself and express why you are applying to the PT field and their school. They will read right through you if you are trying to say all the right things and are not genuine in your answers. Most questions I got were your typical questions so just practice smoothness and think of good examples from your past that will highlight your skills and why they should take you.

 

[hopefulpt1]

Agreed with Wakid. Nice suit, shoes and conservative.

Be outgoing at the interview and connect with current students.

PRACTICE answering basic questions with friends and family.

 

[DSPDPT]

Definitely dress professionally. Be prepared for any and all types of questions; they can range from why did you choose the field of physical therapy, why did you choose to apply to this particular school, to current issues in the physical therapy profession. Like Wakid said, you need to be genuine about your answers, because they will see if you aren't. Also, make sure you have questions to ask them. Ask them why their program differs from others, what makes them stand out compared to the others. At my interview, I asked the interviewers how they came into physical therapy, and they seemed to really like that question.

 

[low5059]

One interesting question I got... say 2 candidates were the same in hours, letters, etc but one had a less stellar gpa why shouldn't get go with the candidate with the better gpa?

Also depending on the time of year also changes your chances. I went for an interview and was told once I'd wasted all of the travel money that there were 2 spaces in the class left. Don't hesitate to ask about these things as the year goes on and you are possibly making choices to do the travel. If I had thought to, no way would I even have bothered to give that program a chance at that point.

 

[Agent007]

One interesting question I got... say 2 candidates were the same in hours, letters, etc but one had a less stellar gpa why shouldn't get go with the candidate with the better gpa?

Also depending on the time of year also changes your chances. I went for an interview and was told once I'd wasted all of the travel money that there were 2 spaces in the class left. Don't hesitate to ask about these things as the year goes on and you are possibly making choices to do the travel. If I had thought to, no way would I even have bothered to give that program a chance at that point.

Well, thats what interviews for I suppose- if you have high GPA, but horrible communication skills, than being a PT wouldn't be easy for you.
As for travel- I am married, so I applied to schools within like 2 hr driving radius and I am pretty sure I will be on the first wave, since I submitted very early. I have Drexel interview in September. Its a solid school, so I want to be the best prepared I can =)

 

[Dregaus]

One interesting question I got... say 2 candidates were the same in hours, letters, etc but one had a less stellar gpa why shouldn't get go with the candidate with the better gpa?

Also depending on the time of year also changes your chances. I went for an interview and was told once I'd wasted all of the travel money that there were 2 spaces in the class left. Don't hesitate to ask about these things as the year goes on and you are possibly making choices to do the travel. If I had thought to, no way would I even have bothered to give that program a chance at that point.

Who would you ask? I can't imagine calling up admissions going "hey, should I even bother?"

 

[low5059]

Who would you ask? I can't imagine calling up admissions going "hey, should I even bother?"

Personally, depending on the time of year you're offered an interview & where you're at with other schools, I wouldn't hesitate to call admissions & ask how many spaces remain in the current class (or even something like how many interview sessions remain). At worst, it's a chance to judge how honest/forthcoming they are with you. It may also give you a chance to ask if there's usually movement from their waitlist. This program I ran into was very honest about it & made it clear from the start of the session, although I never even pictured it to be an issue before they mentioned it. While I did appreciate the honesty, it's just something I wish I'd thought about before spending all the money on travel arrangements.