Jan 07 2008
MEPN interview tips
Winter quarter started last week right after New Year’s Day. I was still a little hungover in class after a raucous time at a house in the woods with friends. (I highly recommend getting out of town for New Year’s Eve, getting a space with your friends, and not spinning in circles asking each other: ‘So what are you doing for NYE?’)
I have a lot of juicy news about this quarter (Family & Child Nursing and Sociocultural Issues), but I know a few readers have MEPN interviews coming up really soon, so on the off chance that you read this before your interview, I want to answer a burning question: “For MEPN interviews, what do you think they like to see in students?”
I alluded to this issue in a post under Things I wish I knew:
- Don’t overthink the admissions process or your application. It seems like there’s no one tie that binds all of us. Sometimes we seem totally random. Everyone is different. For example, some people had hardly a clue about the nursing profession, while others did a lot of work in public health or health care. Some people dreamed of being a nurse and advanced practice nurse for years, while others decided to try nursing two months before the application deadline.
How do you like my non-answer? “Totally random.” Well, all right, despite the randomness, if I had to pick out some threads, I’d say that my classmates have had enriching life and/or work experiences, a desire to help people, and confidence (and I don’t mean in a Russell Crowe kind of way. Many classmates have a quiet confidence that comes through if you take time to talk and listen to them).
Some classmates at the interview stage had little volunteer experience and no clue about what a nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist does. I admit, I was a little surprised by this because a) isn’t community service important? and b) shouldn’t one have a good idea what nurses and advanced practice nurses do before going into the profession?
More concrete insight into the interview process:
- Wear what makes you feel comfortable and confident. No need to wear a suit if you dread that type of thing. One-third of my classmates during my interview day wore suits, but the rest were dressy casual (if not way too casual).
- Read this guy’s summary about the process in 2005. Nothing changed for me, except the number of applicants, interviewees, and available spots.
When I had my interview with a nursing supervisor, I thought I bombed it. She hardly smiled and kept hitting me with the same type of question and comment over and over again:
- Nursing is hard.
- We need nurses who want to be professionals.
- Nurses need to be able to speak up and stand up for themselves and their patients. Can you do that?
- There are two types of nurses: those who are there to punch the clock and those who are leaders.
- Nursing is hard.
I felt like she was trying to ‘break’ me. Needless to say, I wasn’t too optimistic after this interview. But in retrospect, I believe she was simply trying to be upfront and honest about the profession, so that I could be upfront and honest with myself about whether I really wanted to stick my neck into it. I’m now more than halfway done with MEPN, and I don’t have any regrets. Good luck! Please share your interview experiences at this blog if you can.
I fly to San Francisco to interview January 25th. I thank you for the honest insight.
I enjoy your blogs…I applied to UCSF MEPN but was not selected to interview for the program this year. Is there a appeal process that you know of??
Your blogs have been quite helpful for me…I was selected to interview for the MSN-E program at Western University of Health Sciences. You have been a tremendous encouragement and helpful resource. Thanks for posting!!!
In response to blkbeauty’s post, I’m not aware of any appeal process, but I was wait-listed when I first applied. Over the next year, I found ways to strengthen my application and gain more relevant experience, then I applied again and was accepted. I also know that staff is generally willing to look at your application with you and help you strategize for how to improve it for next year, if you are interested in reapplying. The questions interviewers ask re-applicants are slightly different than those applying for the first time and mostly relate to how and why you’re more prepared now than you were before.
I asked the program director recently how many applications they received and he said it was 600-something and they will be admitting 84.