Day 9: Nonstop talk

"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." - Yoda

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Hank looks as unsure as I did about mock interviews

Even though the mock interviews on Tuesday had left me tired they weren't as horrible as I thought they could have been. So, on the second day I entered it with a bit more confidence thinking that the days would be very similar.

I was wrong. So very wrong.

The second day of mock interviews was much harder than the first and the M2's conducting the interviews knew exactly what they were doing. With a new group the day started with the Ethical Questions session which I found to be much harder than those asked on Tuesday. There definitely isn't one right answer for most of these, especially the scenarios we were given but the takeaway is to stick to your guns and be careful of your wording; appearing narrow minded or too flippant isn't the right way to go. Being an expert in any topic doesn't seem whats important for the interviews being able to work through any situation given to you is.

Health is usually determined by three categories: mental, physical, and spiritual (not necessarily religious). Trying to hit these categories when dealing with a patient / character in a scenario were definitely important in the MMIs and other group questions but going by this guide for personal questions about myself and my application were no help. To me, the hardest session to gather my thoughts was the group interview where we were all answered one question at the same time but were not supposed to repeat anyone's answers. That definitely stressed me out a little bit as I was worried my answer would be taken by someone else so I jumped the gun more than once. Looking back I think that was a time when I should have waited a little to make sure I had every part of my answer thought out before responding to the question.

Katie rocking it during the panel interview!

The day stopped short of two sessions, however, as Mr. Squire pulled us back to one of the larger rooms for a much needed pep talk. Luckily for my group this meant that we got to skip the (supposedly) hardest room: Defense. It would have been nice to do this "trial by fire" interview but at the same time I was relieved when I didn't have to go through it.

By the end of the day I could certainly see an improvement in everyone in my group but no one was bouncing off the walls with energy. I know I need to keep working on incorporating details about myself and linking my answers back to medicine but that will take much more practice practice practice. It was a long day but a necessary day.