Reflections on the Med school interview process

I wanted to reflect on the last month leading up until my first interview for medical school, with the UW school of medicine. I have come to quite a few new realizations about myself, and the quality of my character in the process.

I have never prepared this much for an interview in my life! The most important factor was a seminar course I took called Presentation Dynamics. The course was about developing the skills of a 'natural' presenter. The end goal is to train me in what it means to present myself authentically in front of a room, whether in an interview setting or giving a formal presentation. The course lasted a whole weekend back in September, and reconvened just this past weekend. Fortunately for me, the course ended today, right BEFORE my med school interview this thursday!

I'm feeling so happy right now! I came out of the program sitting in an aura of clarity and positive feeling about my qualities that make me an effective presenter. I know what it is I have to do to portray myself accurately to my interviewers. The course encouraged me to do a lot of work on knowing myself as a presenter and how I create a relationship with my audience based on trust and mutual understanding.

I want to help people! I want to serve people because I love the process of healing through the development of a better understanding of our emotions. I am interested in medicine because I enjoy scientific research but need to have the healing element and human connection every day as well. In medicine, I will have the opportunity to use the skills I developed in a research environment to directly effect the outcomes of patients to heal. Being born and raised in a doctor household this is how I know to serve others. I know I will be a good doctor!

I can't wait to stand behind this in the interview.

The strengths I have as a presenter are mainly bravado, humor, confidence. From a practice interview I had in the program, I got the feedback that I frequently look down at the ground when answering questions instead of directly at people's eyes. From the same interview, they also told me I did not really seem 'grounded' in my answers, or coming at a conclusion from a place that is deeply true to me. This is most likely because I was not permitting myself to have bravado, humor, and confidence in a setting that seemed so formal and... touchy, I guess.

What I hope to do in the interview is get into the mindset that the best candidate I could be is exactly who I am as a person. I need to embrace that it is okay for me to be myself. If stop myself from 'going big' like what is so central to my personality, I will not come off as believable or trustworthy.

I'm feeling so clear right now. The mental state I have is what I hope I have at the time of interview. The state is 'unreasonable,' as in 'without reason,' as in, without making up any reasons to behave a specific way. This state is where I am grounded fully, there are no excuses for the ways that I react to people, and that's exactly where I want to be.