How Should I Prepare for my Postbac Interview?

Session 95

The postbac interview is very similar to the med school interview. They want to know your motivations behind the change. Check out how to prepare for it.

Meanwhile, check out all out our other podcasts on MedEd Media Network.

[01:20] OldPreMeds Question of the Week:

“I’m a nontraditional applicant applying for postbac programs. I was wondering if anybody could share interview questions they received during the postbac interview. Additionally, coming from a different industry, how should my resume be formatted? Should it be one page? Focused on health care? Medical related experience? How much space should my unrelated experiences take? I’ve been successful in my field which requires dedication and hard work. So I’m just wondering how people approach this.”

[01:55] Step 1 – The Premed Years Podcast

I recommend going and checking out an interview I did with Bryn Mawr’s postbac director. Bryn Mawr College is a well-known postbac program situated right outside of Philadelphia. Dr. Glenn Cummings came on The Premed Years Podcast Episode 253 where he shared about postbac programs and what students should be looking at and so much more.

[02:28] Step 2 – Interview Questions

Postbac interviews are going to be very similar to medical school interviews. They want to make sure you’re in this for the right motivations. They want students who are going to come in be successful postbac students and then go on to be successful medical students. It would hurt their stats that they can publicize and market to other students when a postbac graduate can’t get into medical school because they were going into medicine for the wrong intentions or wrong reasons. Maybe they were great students but went in for the wrong reasons.

Since postbac interview questions are very similar to medical school interview, I recommend the book called The Premed Playbook: Guide to Medical School Interview.

[03:50] Step 3: Resume

Don’t worry about the resume. You can do a standard resume. No need to be fancy. One page is hard when you’re trying to fit in all of your extracurricular activities and other things. But don’t worry about fitting it into one page. Just make it look nice. Nothing too fancy, nothing too crazy. And you’ll be fine.

[04:10] Final Thoughts

Again, go check out The Premed Playbook: Guide to Medical School Interview. I’m working on my second book right now. Hopefully, this gets released in the beginning of second quarter of 2018. It’s a book all about writing a personal statement.

If you want a question answered here on the podcast, ask away at our OldPreMeds.org forums.