Interview Practice

Now that we are officially immersed in the interview phase of application season, I thought I would devote some time to discussing how you can best prepare for your interviews.

My first piece of advice is to practice. By practice I do not mean writing a script and rehearsing until you have everything memorized. But I also do not mean quickly scanning a list of questions and thinking about what you would say. I suggest that you practice – out loud and frequently. Ideally, you have a friend who is also applying to school. The two of you can alternate doing mock interviews and providing feedback. You can even practice in front of a mirror. The key here is to practice out loud.

Knowing what your goals are, and what you would say if asked, is very different from actually forcing yourself to say it out loud. When you say it out loud for the first time, you will find that you ramble, lose your train of thought or simply do not effectively articulate yourself. Make sure that this first time is a practice run, and not the real thing.