Finished my first interview.

I thought it went great.

The biggest question mark going in (a question mark that you have no control over) is the personality of the person interviewing you. Will you be able to build a rhythm between you and the interviewer in a very short amount of time. My interviewer was named Lori, the senior associate director of admissions and she was great. After that it was just answering the questions as honestly, intelligently, and concisely as possible.

That was the easy part. This was the only thing I've been thinking about for the past 6 years and I think I was a little over prepared.

First of all, I've heard that interviews can last anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour in length. I got there 45 minutes early. The interview was at 4:00pm and I got there at 3:15. I know she came out to get me before 4:00 (while another potential medical student was leaving (a.k.a. my competition)) and we ended at 4:15. With her coming out before I got a chance to check the time means that I don't know exactly how long the interview lasted. It felt like less than 30 minutes.

One question that I was expected and didn't get was the most obvious ones of them all, "Why do you want to be a doctor?"

My parents, my friends, and my family have asked me this question. I've asked myself this question over and over again. I've practiced with myself on how exactly I would answer it... and it was never asked.

(She started off with, "Why does being a doctor interest you?" which is a similar question but is a little more directed and easier to answer.)

Also, in my essay written HERE, I mention all kinds of specific subjects such as: medical insurance, mal-practice lawsuits, and hospital politics. The words I wrote in that essay were completely true, but I was also aware that the act of writing those subjects into my essay opens me up to questions about them during the interview. Mentioning them makes them fair game and I should be prepared to answer on the spot.

Those subjects never came up during the interview.

The standard time to wait for a response (for this school) is 2 to 6 weeks and I should be awaiting a letter in the mail. But she also said that since I was applying for the January '09 class, things would probably move along much more quickly and I'd be getting a call from her soon.

It sounds very promising.

All-in-all it went very well. I'm going to be very surprised if I don't get accepted. (Keep in mind, I'm still applying to U.S. schools. But I can't wait. I feel like I'm ready. I'm anxious to start.)

(I have a lot more to share about the interview. I'll post more information about this in the next few days.)