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!

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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!

Anxiety

I have suffered from anxiety since I was a little kid. The first time I got overly anxious was in kindergarden - I puked right before our class left for a field trip.

It isn't clinical or anything, but it's there. And while I've tamed it a bit, there are still triggers - feeling helpless, physical pain, adults arguing, tension (whether it's obvious or imagined by me)...

It's the first day of October tomorrow. And you know what that means? Hockey season starts Midterm mania starts. Our first midterm is next Thursday, and it's for a class I feel like I know NOTHING about, and I honestly don't know how I'm going to learn everything for then (yeah, yeah, I probably should be studying for it instead of writing this but I can't). And on top of that I have a tutorial assignment to prepare for which, again, I don't know how to approach; and then there are all the other classes that I have to keep up with AND I have a sprained ankle and I can't go anywhere on my own and - gosh, thinking about this is making my head feel like it's being squished into a small helmet.

Okay, so enough thinking about it. Breathe. That's one way I deal with my anxiety. A trick I learned from the handy folks on Tumblr - inhale, but then exhale for longer than you inhaled (I forget the exact times).

I deal with my anxiety in several other ways, and they kind of depend on the situation I'm in. One thing I tell myself is that I'm not actually nervous, and that the situation isn't terrible - it's a challenge, and it's exciting. When faced with a threatening situation, our bodies kick into fight or flight mode - we start sweating, our hearts beat faster, our extremities get cold (at least mine do anyway) from redirection of blood from our limbs to our internal organs... anyway. A lot of people, myself included, tend to associate these physiologic reactions with nervousness and anxiety, but I've started trying to re-associate them with excitement instead; and for some reason, this settles my anxiety a little.

I don't know if anyone else does this, but another psychological thing I do is think of something that will calm me down and make me feel less sick (which I often feel when I get anxious) - for me, this 'something' is water. Back in elementary school when my anxiety problem was more of an issue than it is today, I used to walk to school in the morning and visualize clean oceans, pristine streams, tap water, and drinking water (yes, going to school was enough of a trigger to induce anxiety for me!). I still resort to this sometimes.

And lastly, there's music, which I currently have blasting through my headphones into my ears to keep me from breaking down. I have a playlist of songs that are - for some unknown reason - very comforting to me (musicology experts, wanna jump in? I think it has something to do with key and chord progression). But for extreme situations (or when I'm not on Spotify), my go-to comfort song is Fireproof by One Direction. My play count has reset since I transported my iTunes to my new computer, but last I checked, it had been played close to a thousand times. Belting out a few tunes is also very therapeutic...

Oh yeah, and then there's sleeping it off, which is sometimes hard when you have a million thoughts buzzing around in your head. But you have to tell yourself that your health is more important than anything else, and getting a good night's rest is important for your health. That usually works for me, anyway.

How do you deal with anxiety or being nervous/stressed?

Epuris: Four (months)

Yes, that was a One Direction reference. Hey, how did no one see that Zayn was going to leave the group? Look at him! That clearly says "Nope, I'm outta here!"

Kinda looks like Harry knew it was coming too.

Anyway.

I went to see my dermatologist last week - I had just started on the last blister pack of my fourth round - and she gave me some good news: I'm done! Each course of treatment is around 12-16 months, now that I'm researching it a bit, so if I knew that, I wouldn't have been so pleasantly surprised.

However, I'm still going to do another four weeks because I had a tiny break-out a couple of weeks ago (a zit on each cheek, nothing too horrendous); so hopefully, this will be the final wave of sebacceous gland extermination that I need to go through for a long time.

My symptoms have not changed or worsened too much. My back/trunk pain is still there. It's the worst in the morning - never in my entire life have I had so much trouble physically getting out of bed. It improves throughout the day as I start moving around and going about my day. The worst pain is at my hips - when I get up after sitting for a while, it feels like the upper half of my body is tearing away from the lower half. Gruesome, I know, but that's the only way to describe it! My dermatologist hasn't ever said anything about it though - just to take some Tylenol or Aspirin if it gets bad (and for the record, it hasn't, so phew!).

My lips are still chapped af. I don't know if this was updated, but I switched over my lip balm since I wrote out the list of items I've been using to Nivea's Soothing Care lip balm. 

If you're not a fan of the smell of menthol, this isn't for you, because that's what it smells like! Menthol isn't an ingredient in it, but it does contain something (obviously, based on what it's called) to soothe your lips, which is great for when your lips get painfully chapped (and mine have definitely been at that point!). It also has SPF 15 so you can also avoid having your lips get sunburnt and subsequently, more chapped. 

I don't know if I mentioned this last time, but my eyes have also been affected by Epuris. They, like my lips, are also dry af, and I also find that I'm more light-sensitive than usual (the evidence is in how I was barely able to keep my eyes open during my walks to the bus stop in the morning before work; my eyes also teared up pretty badly so I always looked like I had been crying once I got on the bus, eyeliner smudged and mascara running and all). One of the perks of working at an optometrist's office - free samples! I've tried both the Refresh Optive Advance and the Systane Ultra drops. I prefer the Refresh, but both are great lubricating drops to keep your eyes hydrated.

My nose has also be very, very dry as well; and being allergic to nearly everything in the air doesn't help either (my allergies also contribute to my dry eyes), so I've been having nosebleeds and blowing out bloody snot all day err'day (again, sorry for being descriptive). For that, I just put a little bit of Vaseline inside my nostrils with a Q-tip at night. And it probably doesn't need to be said that I load up on allergy meds as well...

As for my skin itself, it hasn't been too dry. My only problem areas really have been the skin around the corners of my lips. I attribute that to my use of hydrocortisone cream once in a while for when the corners of my lips are cracked.

Otherwise, it's looking pretty good! I haven't worn concealer and/or foundation for a while now because there's not a lot to cover up anymore! I'll go forth with the fifth round of meds, and hopefully, the acne chapter of my life will finally finish! And then I can move on to the scars...

Stay cool!