 Hello, hello. So today we're going to talk about your tell me about yourself interview question. I have students knee deep in interview season right now. And so I wanted to kind of share this information because whether this is your first interview or your eighth interview, for some weird reason, this question hits differently. Hi, I'm Dr. Josie. This is Write Your Acceptance. Thank you so much for joining me. If you want more information on how to write your most compelling medical school personal statement, activity section, application, definitely hit that subscribe button. I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of students now who are successfully in medical school in residency. And I know what they're looking for. I know how to elevate your specific message. So stick around. So how is your tell me about yourself question going? I know. So make sure you go fishing, put three to four lines in the water, see what catches you want to make sure that you're sharing personal information about who you are, not regurgitating a resume, that information they have, the information in your personal statement, if it's an open file interview, they have. So they probably know a lot about you. You want to make sure that your tell me about yourself is catchy, engaging, almost narrative like, and that you are sharing different aspects of who you are, your hobbies, your passions, even potential quirks. And I'll give you a couple of examples to see what catches, because what you want to do is kind of give them something and see what thread they pull to forge that connection. You want a conversation, you want a light engaging back and forth. And so with a kind of very tell me about yourself, you are maximizing those chances. So it's easy to say, be yourself, relax, have a conversation. I know I'm kind of, you know, I hear you, I get it, but you want to prepare a thoughtful kind of, you know, tight response so that when you're there and you're nervous and you're in the moment, you're still going to have kind of muscle memory about the information that you had. So you may forget a phrase or a line here and there, but that's okay because you'll have other information that is thoughtful in nature, and that will either jog your memory to bring that back, or you will just continue and it'll work just fine. So remember, preparation is key. We want to prepare as much as possible a thoughtful response. So is delivered in a kind of cohesive, engaging manner. So your response should be thoughtful and kind of inviting engagement versus kind of spitting out bullet points of your CV. Why don't we want this? Basically, because one, they already know your qualifications and two, if you are interviewing, it's because your qualifications mean you're strong enough for this program, right? You are quote unquote good enough to get into this program. And this is just in my opinion, right? But the interview, when you are sitting for an interview, you are basically almost already accepted in the sense of like, now you just need to kind of, they said yes to you on paper. Now you need to just convince them that their yes is right, right? Just kind of reassure them that you are the right fit. So you want to make sure that you come in in a very kind of, you know, conversational and open manner to kind of just share of yourself. For me, the acceptance is yours to lose in an interview when one, they don't have a clear sense of your why medicine and two, that you leave the room without them knowing who you truly are. So it's sharing your values, sharing who you are personally, and then also your why medicine. So every question, no matter how you want to answer them specifically, and we can go into some student examples, but you want to make sure that each answer that you're delivering each kind of like, you know, wrap around or like wrap up line that it's coming back to those ideas for you. That doesn't mean you have to say your why medicine after every question. I'm just saying you want to make sure that the interview as a whole that you're leaving the room with them one truly knowing who you are, and that you have crystallized and conveyed your why medicine. It's okay to be nervous. That means you care, right? That's why you prepare. So you want to make sure that your answer is thoughtful and engaging and inviting conversation and not just kind of spitballing and regurgitating your resume. So you want to make sure that that you are sharing you, how do you share you as a person? A couple of tips. But first, you want to make sure that when you are preparing especially and when you are in an interview that you are doing two things, you are making sure that no matter what happens in the interview, we can stumble, we can do arms and Oz and that's okay. That happens in conversation. But that, you know, in my opinion, that that's your bar. So you don't have to memorize all of your answers, your prepared answers of your, you know, potential questions, but you want to make sure that you are leaving the room having shared who you are and your why medicine. So that there's no question of those two. So how do you share you? First of all, when you're sharing kind of, you know, personal information about who you are, cultural background lived experience, you want to first be respectful. I know this can sound completely obvious, but when we're nervous, sometimes we kind of like, you know, forget different kind of details, right? So don't interrupt the interviewer when they're speaking. Listen to everything that they're saying and exactly how they're asking you the question. So really, really listen to them, not just wait until someone stops talking and what you're doing while you're waiting is kind of rehearsing your answer of what you're going to say. So don't practice what you're going to say in your head while someone else is talking because you don't want to miss a specific part of their question. You want to sound like you are engaged and really kind of tune in to exactly what they're asking you. So if you wait until the interviewer stops talking, then you start talking, make sure that you don't miss one of the, a smaller point in their question, let's say, for MMI's and small group interviews, you can, you know, acknowledge one another and be a connector. I have a student right now who is interviewing and they recently had a small group interview. And so she was telling me about it and she was saying how, you know, they went around kind of the zoom little tiles and everyone gave their kind of tell me about yourself, very prepared response. And then boom, it went to the next person, boom to the next person. And then when it got to her, she kind of acknowledged everyone, all the students that were in the room. And she even praised something cool about the tell me about yourself from the student prior to her, and then went into her answer. And that launched into one of the interviewers asking her specific questions about her response and how she was able to kind of acknowledge everyone. And so when in doubt, when there's kind of some, you know, MMI or a group, you want to make sure that you are serving as a connector, that you are making others look good, that you're praising, that you show that you have a collaborative spirit. I think that's kind of somewhat of a tangent from the tell me about yourself, but it had to do with the question. And I thought it was good intel from my student when they shared that. So step two, how do you prep your tell me about yourself? You want to start kind of listing out qualifications that are personal to you and your lived experience. What is home? How did you grow up? Did you grow up with an aunt and uncle? Where did you go to high school? What were your hobbies? What are your hobbies now? What are personal kind of traits and quirks and qualifications that that are really meaningful to you? What has been the most meaningful experience of your entire life? Do you speak multiple languages? Where are you from geographically kind of start just like listing out personal experiences? If you had the opportunity to brainstorm broadly for your personal statement and activities and secondaries, you may have some good information there that you would want to kind of like, you know, bring together. So here are a couple examples I'm going to share on the screen. So the first example, they wanted to connect from a family perspective. If the tell me about yourself is the first question that you're getting, you can thank them for, you know, the opportunity to interview with them and kind of go from there. And so the student said something like first and foremost, I'm the middle child, which means I am always negotiating as a child. I negotiated with older siblings to gain a fraction of the independence they had wanted to see a late night movie with them or go driving for ice cream. I would negotiate with my parents so they didn't force me into back to school hand me downs yet again. And I would negotiate with my youngest sibling because I was too cool to play Barbies anymore. Something that is characteristic to who you are is then something you can kind of link where you grew up in, right? The only time I felt completely independent and free from siblings and parents was when I was dancing. I danced ballet for 13 years growing up, loved every minute. I would break in a new pair of light pink Pavlova pointe shoes. I also love nature walks and sweaty soccer tournaments. So I'm a bit of a contradiction in a good way. I'm a collaborator at heart and therefore always seek the positive and think about what I will gain in any new experience. So a great kind of fishing expedition, right? We have the middle child. We have negotiating and kind of like really learning how to into what others think is important and kind of like playing off of that. We have dancing, nature walks, soccer tournaments. So they have a few different aspects of their identity, their kind of values and characteristics. And there's definitely a thread in there that could be kind of serving as a connector for a launching off that serving as a connector. Are you interviewing now and are lost about how to start this question or you are thinking ahead and will be applying soon? Comment below and let's start chatting. So here's another example. Thank you so much for having me. You want to kind of share in that nice beginning humility. This is just bullet points from a student, but they want to talk about how they identify as first gen as a student shortly after the revolution in Iran. His parents immigrated. Then he goes into as we adapted to American culture. My parents instilled a strong work ethic. I was always in action, which brought me to competitive swimming. I was a student athlete, competitive swimmer, all state and all American in high school. Finding myself within movement and between spaces culturally is what has sparked a great interest to learn more about myself, to learn more about others, which brought me to pursuing sociology and volunteering in a hospice center where I help patients volunteering at a hospice center where I help patients feel at home within their at times difficult reality. Recently, I also have found quiet and stillness to be enlightening and started teaching myself meditation through a YouTube course sequence. So I wanted to share this specific example because it does delve into a little bit of their resume, but it does so in such a way that it offers a refreshing perspective into your kind of tell me about yourself. So this is not a biology major, their sociology, they kind of bring that weave that into their kind of first generation student immigrant experience and how they've kind of like taken that their lived experience and their parents and taken that as interest academic and kind of within their volunteering experiences. So they do so in such a way that is brief and still personal. And that's what's important. You want to kind of go fishing in your answer in a very personal way. So stick to a minute and a half, two minutes for your responses as you're practicing. So you have a good kind of like timestamp and you're not rambling on too much. You want to make sure that you're not giving them so much information in any one answer that then they don't know kind of like, you know, or you answered an answer that they're going to kind of ask you a little later. So that's a good barometer one and a half, two minutes. I wish you happy interviewing. And if you want to learn more about how I work with students to elevate your writing and really stand out as a candidate schedule a call, the Calendly link is below or comment and we will start chatting there. I'll see you soon. Take care. Bye.