PA schools love to use one or two writing stations for candidates interviewing for admission into their program because the brief essays allow the admissions team to quickly rate their writing and critical thinking skills. You'll only have up to ten minutes to write a short essay, so be sure to get some practice in responding to questions/scenarios in written format. If your PA school MMI interview is virtual, your typing skills should also be up to par.

Before your PA school MMI, read up on current topics and issues that PAs are faced with daily and come to your interview prepared to discuss one or two of these issues in detail. Feel free to get a bit creative with your answer, as long as you support your answer with facts and data. At the end of your essay, briefly describe how you would manage the issues you discuss with the program you are interviewing with.

"I know from talking to a few PAs in practice and from some research I've been doing that administrative burdens are one of the top dissatisfiers of working as a physician assistant. I understand that it's easy to get stuck in old habits, but patient documentation in EHRs and other non-clinical tasks are a part of everyday life for a healthcare provider now. As a student in your program, I hope to build documentation skills and learn how to manage online inboxes from patients. Of course, I'm coming into this profession to help people, and these non-clinical tasks are for the benefit of the patient."