November 2015 Blog Challenge Day 2

Day 2: Write something that someone told you about yourself that you never forgot.

Way back in the summer after my second year of undergrad, I volunteered at a hospital on weekends in the palliative care ward. I quite honestly didn't do a lot while I was there because we weren't given specific tasks, but one of the things we were told was to not let the patients out of the ward. Many of them were mentally handicapped or physically handicapped so they were not allowed to go out on their own, unless the nurses allowed.

There was a code to open the door from inside the ward, but people coming into the ward could just open the door and come in. This was problematic because patients would literally sit at the door and wait for it to open to make a run for it.

One day I was walking up and down the hallway and an old lady was at the door yanking on the handle to try to open it. I went up to her and politely told her that she couldn't open the door without the key code. 

"Can you tell me the code?"

"No, sorry, only the staff are allowed to know the code."

"Then can you open the door for me?"

I sighed and braced myself for a tantrum that I had seen thrown around by a couple of patients previously. "I'm sorry, I'd really like to but I'm not allowed to let you outside by yourself."

And, surprisingly enough, she just shrugged, turned around and let me lead her back to her room. Along the way, she turned to me and said, "You're very diplomatic."

"Oh really? What does that mean?"

"You know what to say to people and you're nice," was something along the lines of what she said. I went home and searched the definition of 'diplomatic' that afternoon but it never really stuck, so I had to look it up again today: "Having or showing an ability to deal with people in a sensitive and effective way."

I still remember this moment because it was positive affirmation for me and my interpersonal skills. I was really shy then, and still am; and sometimes, I sit back and wonder how on earth I'll be able to get along with patients the way the doctors I've shadowed are able to, or just, how I'll be able to get along with people in general - how to start conversations, how to effectively communicate, and most importantly, how to reject people (how to tell them 'no'). 

I'm sure the way I spoke to the old lady in the hospital won't be effective with everyone, but knowing that at least one person thinks I'm capable boosts my confidence. I won't be able to fully get the hang of being outgoing or sociable, but I'll find a way that works for me and everyone around me. 

November 2015 Blog Challenge Day 1

It's the first day of the month, so instead of studying for my next (and last!) midterm, I went searching for blog challenges. I've always wanted to do one, but never got around to creating my own prompts, which I'll try to do for another time; and I couldn't find one with prompts that I liked. The prompts I found came from this blog and they're pretty simple and not too tacky or cheesy, so I'm going with it. But I will also do my usual writing (my average of two posts per month, hah... I'm terrible) on top of it all. Wish me luck!

List 10 things that make you happy:

1. Good weather - sunshine, blue sky, and temperatures in the mid 20s. The kind of weather that makes being outside enjoyable without having to do anything else.
2. My piano. Well, not just my own, but any piano where I can sit down, clunk out and sing wail along to a few tunes to clear my mind of other things.
3. Good times with friends. Usually involving board games, dancing, goofiness and/or lots of laughs.
4. Dessert. Aaaaaaaalll the desserts. Every single sweet edible food item on this planet will probably make me happy.
5. When someone remembers something trivial about me - because most of the time, it's usually me who remembers stupid facts about someone, like how many siblings they have, or their favourite colour, or that time they did that thing the other people don't remember them doing (maybe you all should be creeped out by how much I remember about each of you because it's a bit unnatural to remember the haiku that some kid in your class wrote in grade 5); so when someone remembers my favourite colour or my favourite Pokemon or something (it's Kingdra, FYI), it makes me feel like they want to know me.
6. Reading. I especially like reading aloud, pretending to be the person reading (performing? presenting?) an audiobook. Oh yeah. I go all out with terrible accents and voices and everything.
7. Helping people. I like random acts of kindness done for me, but doing them from others and seeing how much they are grateful makes me happy. (It's a whole other story when they aren't grateful - like the time I offered an apple to a homeless man and he asked for money instead. That was awful). 
8. DIY projects... and successfully completed DIY projects, because, let's be honest, ending up on compilation of fails would kinda suck.
9. Making packing lists. And packing, in general. Not sure about this one. Probably because it implies plans are in the making.
10. Hugs. Meaningful hugs, random hugs, long hugs, quick hugs. Ironically, I'm not a hugger; I just like to be on the receiving end. P.S. To many friends reading this who have attempted to hug me in the past, yes, despite feigning disgust in direct contact, I do enjoy a good hug.

Woohoo! One day down, 29 more to go. I give you all permission to bug me if I miss a day. 

Happy November!

Optometry school - Interview preparation tips

Maybe it's too early to write about this; maybe it's too late. But I'm going to write about it anyway, because if you were like me and got your American school applications in later than all the other keeners who submitted theirs back in August, then you're probably not going to hear back from them until November or December anyway. And if you're applying to Waterloo, you are definitely not going to hear back from them until December (interviews are in January).

Let's first start by saying the interview is not a huge thing to be worried about. Unless you're going to Waterloo, but I'll get to that later. But, a little preparation wouldn't hurt. You don't want to be surprised on an already stressful day!

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1. Find out what the interview process for your schools are; this way, you'll know how to prepare. The schools will probably tell you the format of your interviews, but you could also ask around or do some research online. I applied to three schools, got interviews to all three, and each school's interview process was different. NECO, for example, was the most simplest interview in my opinion - an interview with a faculty member with pretty straight-forward questions about who you are, your interests, why NECO, why optometry. ICO's is a bit more complicated (so I've heard - I never ended up going to that interview) with an impromptu essay component as well. And Waterloo has the MMI...

(Please keep in mind that what I've mentioned could be different! The schools could always change their interview formats.)

2. Prepare answers for potential questions. I Googled "optometry interview questions", copy & pasted the common questions into Word, and answered them in point form. This was crucial for me because I know that I always get rattled when asked about certain things (ex. my interests. ALWAYS) on the spot and my answers come out as me blubbering and talking in circles. This helped me organize my answers and lay out what I wanted to mention.

As for Waterloo's MMI, it's a little bit harder to prepare for because you can't really predict the questions that you'll be asked. What I did to prepare as much as I could was Google "sample MMI questions" to see what types of questions are asked in a typical MMI.

3. Mock interviews! Practice orally answering your questions. Get a friend to ask you some questions and practice answering them. Remember to ask for feedback in the end - especially about any habits they've noticed (ex. excessive use of 'like', 'umm', or any other words/phrases/noises, hand gestures, eye contact, posture); and accept the criticism gracefully. Sometimes it's hard to hear about your weaknesses or what people don't like about what you do, but do not be discouraged!

Alternatively if you're on your own (or prefer to be on your own, like me), practice in front of a mirror, or better yet, a camera so you can review and see what you'd need to improve.

You'll want to practice for the MMI by replicating it as closely as you can. I don't remember exactly, but for Waterloo's MMI, you have two or three minutes to read a question and prepare your answer, then six or seven minutes to answer. So in preparation, select a couple of the questions you Googled, and sit down with a timer. Train yourself to mentally organize your thoughts and prepare your answer (because you aren't given scrap paper and a pen to do so!) and then practice answering your question aloud.

*** With number 2 and 3 being said, interviews will know when you've rehearsed and/or memorized your answers; so don't do that. Your prepared answers from step 2 should just give you a bare minimum to work with - this is why I suggest writing out your answers in point form; when you have your interview, these points should just be a "map" of how you're going to answer the questions.

4. Prepare your interview outfit! Or maybe you already have something in your closet, but it took me a while to find a suit I a) liked and b) was comfortable in. You'll want to wear something you can move around or sit in as you'll be sitting around for some time, and walking around on school tours. And of course, you'll want to wear something you like and look good in, just to give yourself an extra boost of confidence.

I hope this was helpful. Leave a comment if you have any questions, or want to see a blog post about something else optometry school-related.

Good luck; have fun!

via GIPHY

P.S. here are two links to resources that helped me prepare for the MMI:
University of Toronto Scarborough - they have tips at the end too.
University of British Columbia - this is a resource for medical school MMIs. Please trust me when I say that the questions for the Waterloo MMI are not this intense!