Interview Tips for Nursing Students: How to Answer the Tough Questions
You’ve done it. You’ve gotten an interview at a nursing school. Now, you need to sharpen up your interview skills and prepare for what is in front of you. Here are some tips, ideas, and examples on how to answer some of these tough questions.
“Why Do You Want to be a Nurse?”
You might say: “I want to help people and my mom is a nurse.”
While this seems like a perfectly reasonable response, it has several weaknesses. First, it’s very short and doesn’t go into detail or show your passion for the nursing profession. Also, wanting to help people is what every single student who wants to be a nurse would say. Tell them something they haven’t heard. Finally, while you might have relatives who are nurses, you don’t want to spend your interview talking about them. You want the interviewers to get to know you.
Here are some tips for a better answer:
- Think back if there was a crystallizing moment where you knew you wanted to become a nurse. Talk about that moment.
- Think about what interests you about the profession. Do you love the science of medicine? The care it takes to nurse individuals back to health? Do you have the bedside manner needed to deal with even the most difficult patients?
- If someone did inspire you, what aspect of their work did so? Did you watch a relative put in long hours but still come home with stories of helping others? Did you see a friend studying hard for nursing school and instead of complaining about the workload, always have a new fact about medicine or the human body?
“What is Your Biggest Weakness?”
You might say: “I don’t really have a lot of weaknesses. I’m an all-around competent person.”
Sure, you don’t want to portray yourself as someone so inept no nursing school would be interested in you. But everyone has weaknesses. It’s all part of being human. It takes a lot of reflection to find a weakness and a lot of strength at admit it and work towards improving it. The nursing interviewers aren’t looking for infallibility, they want to know if you can learn from your mistakes and strive to do better in the future.
For a stronger answer:
- Think about a time you failed. What led to this failure? How have you changed your behavior from then on to eliminate or control the causes of the failure?
- Think about a bad habit you have and things you do to overcome it. For example, if you are prone to procrastinating, talk about how you lay out your week and write down everything you need to accomplish and on what day. Then you stick to your plan.
- Be honest and candid while remaining professional.
“Why Should We Admit You to Nursing School?”
This is one of the most difficult questions to answer and in order to give a good response; you will have to do a lot of thinking. You want to sell yourself without coming across as brash. Think about why you would be a good nurse. What experiences have had you had so far that have molded you into someone who is ready for the responsibility of nursing school?
For a great answer think about:
- What are your strengths? How can they help you in nursing school?
- Why should a nursing school invent their time and attention in you? What do you bring to the table?
- Why is nursing school important for you? Why are you at that interview and not applying for schools or jobs elsewhere?
There are no shortcuts to good answers to these tough questions and because of that, it’s imperative that you have good answers to them. Nursing school can teach you how to be a nurse, it can’t tell you who you are, how to stay motivated, or why you should pursue this career field.
Do you have answers for these questions? You might be ready to apply for your Associate of Applied Science Degree in Nursing. ECPI University offers this program at an accelerated rate. For more information, connect with a friendly admissions representative today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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