Interview with a Doctorate

21Jul12

After 4 weeks of waiting… I finally got my interview schedule. Yay! When? Today!

Two days ago I received an SMS:

Hi! This is Ms. She from The University. There would be two interview dates for your MM application; on July 21 & July 28. On what day is your availability? Also I’m reminding those whose requirements aren’t yet complete kindly pass it. Please reply with your name to confirm.

I immediately forwarded the message to Mom. She replied with a Yay! and suggested I take the first sched. Yale, my best friend, always say that when you are faced with a decision you have only two choices, “It’s now or never!” With that I instantly confirmed my attendance for the first sched.

In preparation I searched for the common interview questions for graduate school admission. Majority are like the questions asked for job interview which I am very much familiar with, like describing yourself, your reason for application, strengths and weaknesses, latest scholarly publication read, your qualifications, and how can you contribute to the field of study. Funny how an HR for recruitment who is so familiar with the twists of application interviews is the one being interviewed now. Hot seat.

So how did the interview went? I arrived 30 minutes early trying my best to relax as I walk in the lobby where 3 applicants were already lined up. I have butterflies in my tummy not because of the interview per-se but because of who will be doing the interview. I am aware that he/she/they may be part of the faculty which probably also be holding a doctor’s degree and my mind goes “what will they be like?”. The butterflies suddenly stopped when Ms. She came in and gave us the schedule for our proficiency test.

We were like, “what?” because that means another torture for our ever relaxed brain. When i was called, I was fortunate to have a one-on-one interview by a doctorate miss whose name I was not able to capture. Now I realize what must it be like for my candidates each time I present three panelist for their interview. She was very warm and objective about her questions and she resembles my ex-boss whom I admire and inspired me to pursue higher level study. Calm, classy, and professional. She asked me to describe myself which I answered with few words only because I assumed she doesn’t like to hear answers already written in my application because that’s how I like it my way (later during the interview I saw her browse through them which I assumed she haven’t read! Am afraid she wasn’t able the see the whole me 😦 )She asked what impression do I have with The University, if I have friends, and if I have idea on how the students should be taking the program. She asked several times if I will be able to meet the 15-Saturdays per sem requirements, in different manner of questioning of course; why the sudden shift from my bachelor’s degree (I hold a BS Psych) to a business related program; if i prefer working alone or with a group; what would be the probable factor that would make me not push through with the course; and a last question which requires two answers which I don’t remember and know I don’t have a ready answer but still did my best for a close-to-sensible-answer. We shook hands and wished me luck hoping to see me in the uni. Phew! 20 minutes. I wonder if she was disappointed. When i do application interviews I dismiss the applicant early if the conversation gets boring.

So for the next few days I’ll take a rest from my Hunger Games trilogy (i just finished book 1 and managed to read around 40++ pages of Catching Fire) and read basic of Accounting and Economics instead. Whut?! May the odds ever be in my favor! Haha

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