Fall 2018 Masters of Health Informatics

[Cloudbank]

Anyone with an offer to MHI for Waterloo received any information (either positive or negative) about the possibility of an extension to accept an offer? My offer states I need to decide by sometime next week but I am still waiting on a few job prospects and schools... I know we can technically accept now and then reject later but I want to avoid that

[Oliveah]

On 3/30/2018 at 8:34 PM, Cloudbank said:

Anyone with an offer to MHI for Waterloo received any information (either positive or negative) about the possibility of an extension to accept an offer? My offer states I need to decide by sometime next week but I am still waiting on a few job prospects and schools... I know we can technically accept now and then reject later but I want to avoid that

I have just realized I am in the same boat, can someone please confirm if we have to accept the offer within 2 weeks?

 

[dardalys098]

Has anyone had their interview at U of T yet? Just curious if the grad committee asks a lot of questions after the presentation? 

[Mish322]

As far as the presentation is concerned, do we have to present a topic based on our understanding of it or choose a topic and explore research that could be done on the topic? 

[NanBD]

Hey guys, so I had my interview earlier today. I know it's all incredibly nerve-wracking but don't worry too much, everyone was super super nice!

The first part involves a 20 minute writing task and afterwards they take you to meet with two faculty members separately. In one room you'll give your presentation and they ask you some follow-up questions, and in the second room they'll ask more behavioural-style questions. 

I hope that helps some of you who are anxious.

OH and Zoe mentioned afterwards that they wanted to get back to people about acceptances around the end of April. 

Edited April 4, 2018 by NanBD

[FadeMans]

7 hours ago, NanBD said:

Hey guys, so I had my interview earlier today. I know it's all incredibly nerve-wracking but don't worry too much, everyone was super super nice!

The first part involves a 20 minute writing task and afterwards they take you to meet with two faculty members separately. In one room you'll give your presentation and they ask you some follow-up questions, and in the second room they'll ask more behavioural-style questions. 

I hope that helps some of you who are anxious.

OH and Zoe mentioned afterwards that they wanted to get back to people about acceptances around the end of April. 

Hey, how was the writing task? Any Specific behaviour questions they ask? If you could please provide some additional insight that would be great! thanks

[JulesHir]

7 hours ago, NanBD said:

Hey guys, so I had my interview earlier today. I know it's all incredibly nerve-wracking but don't worry too much, everyone was super super nice!

The first part involves a 20 minute writing task and afterwards they take you to meet with two faculty members separately. In one room you'll give your presentation and they ask you some follow-up questions, and in the second room they'll ask more behavioural-style questions. 

I hope that helps some of you who are anxious.

OH and Zoe mentioned afterwards that they wanted to get back to people about acceptances around the end of April. 

Thank you so much for this! I have my interview on Friday and I'm so anxious I'm nauseous. This really helped me calm down. Just for curiosity's sake did your presentation follow the outline they gave us? Did you make a proposal to address a problem? 

[dardalys098]

14 hours ago, NanBD said:

Hey guys, so I had my interview earlier today. I know it's all incredibly nerve-wracking but don't worry too much, everyone was super super nice!

The first part involves a 20 minute writing task and afterwards they take you to meet with two faculty members separately. In one room you'll give your presentation and they ask you some follow-up questions, and in the second room they'll ask more behavioural-style questions. 

I hope that helps some of you who are anxious.

OH and Zoe mentioned afterwards that they wanted to get back to people about acceptances around the end of April. 

Hey when was your interview? I Had mine yesterday as well at 12:55. I wonder if we ran into each other? Congrats it's all over. Now to sit and wait

[dardalys098]

Hi Everyone,

I also had my interview yesterday here is what I remember. 

The first component is a writing assignment where you get 20 minutes. You might be writing in the same room with another person. The question is really straightforward and is checking your critical thinking on the implementation of a very common topic in health informatics (hint).  You will be told when you have 3 minutes left, it will help you plan your time. If you wear a watch even better! I don't remember seeing a clock in the room.

After the written component you are moved to the first room where you are interviewed 1:1 with one of the faculty (for 15 min). They basically asked behaviour style questions like describe a scenario where you showed leadership, how would you approach management with a challenging idea etc. Where do you see yourself in 5 years and how do you think this program will help. They really seemed to place a lot of emphasis on the last point. Make sure to have some type of clear vision.

Then you are moved to a second room where you'll do your presentation (5 min for presentation, 10 minutes of chat). If you are making a powerpoint you are literally going to be sitting beside the interviewer and showing it to them. You do not need to HDMI your comp to a big screen or anything. The only question I got asked in that room after the presentation was How does this impact your personal practice. My topic was Big Data and the Impacts on Canada's Health Care system. It might be a good idea to quickly read up on some of the profs and if you can use some of their papers to help support your topic. Also use the outline that Zoe sent when creating your presentation 

In hindsight I am happy I did a quick read up on the profs because they spoke to me a lot about their interests and I was able to ask my ending interview questions more appropriately. The prof sitting in on my presentation is actually one of the experts on Big Data and although some of my content may/ may not have been to their standards they don't drill you after. I think they'll try to engage you regarding your opinion on the topic.

Like NanBD mentioned, they'll let us know the results by the end of April.

Good luck everyone!

[NanBD]

Ahhh, so many questions lol, but dardalys098 basically covered everything the same as I experienced it. 

When I did my writing portion, the only difference is that they notified us when we had 5 minutes left, but bringing a watch is definitley a great idea. They don't ask you to write too much, just 3/4ths to 1 page if I remember correctly, but the time does go by really fast.

@FadeMans In terms of specific behavioural questions, it's very typical interview questions like dardalys098 said. They're not really trying to trip you up or anything like that. Just getting to know you and your background a bit. 

@JulesHir [I can't tag you for whatever reason], I used the outline that Zoe gave me. I presented on mHealth initiatives and they asked me questions about how I would get funding for various projects and how I would market to different audiences. I have basically 0 marketing background so that was a bit tricky, but I did my best considering. The prof I had was super nice and we just chatted afterwards until the time was up. 

@dardalys098, ohh I was right after you I think! My interview was at 1:35. I believe I saw you guys leaving. 

 

Good luck to everyone still prepping for interviews! I hope we all get in and eventually meet each other in person during orientation  

[chekz]

19 hours ago, NanBD said:

Hey guys, so I had my interview earlier today. I know it's all incredibly nerve-wracking but don't worry too much, everyone was super super nice!

The first part involves a 20 minute writing task and afterwards they take you to meet with two faculty members separately. In one room you'll give your presentation and they ask you some follow-up questions, and in the second room they'll ask more behavioural-style questions. 

I hope that helps some of you who are anxious.

OH and Zoe mentioned afterwards that they wanted to get back to people about acceptances around the end of April. 

Hi @NanBD

Was the writing task topic about Health Informatics? Or was the Case Study a random topic?

thanks

Good Luck!

[NanBD]

It was about a topic in Health Informatics. Trust me when I say it was very straight forward, don't worry about that part too much 

[chekz]

28 minutes ago, NanBD said:

It was about a topic in Health Informatics. Trust me when I say it was very straight forward, don't worry about that part too much 

Thanks!

A lot of people here mentioned that Zoe sent them an outline for the presentation, I did not receive one. I am applying the Executive stream, are the people that received the outline applying to the regular stream?

[dardalys098]

6 hours ago, chekz said:

Thanks!

A lot of people here mentioned that Zoe sent them an outline for the presentation, I did not receive one. I am applying the Executive stream, are the people that received the outline applying to the regular stream?

I applied for the regular stream. This was an email attachment I got two days before the interview. Not sure if your requirements are different but the outline is pretty helpful! 

 

[yggy]

Hey guys, do you know if they are super strict on time for the presentation?

[JulesHir]

46 minutes ago, yggy said:

Hey guys, do you know if they are super strict on time for the presentation?

I hope not I'm at 6 minutes. Are you interviewing tomorrow?

[yggy]

22 minutes ago, JulesHir said:

I hope not I'm at 6 minutes. Are you interviewing tomorrow?

lol i am in the same boat. Yes, I am interviewing tomorrow. How about you? 

[JulesHir]

1 hour ago, yggy said:

lol i am in the same boat. Yes, I am interviewing tomorrow. How about you? 

Same, I have one at 8:40. Good luck!

[yggy]

10 hours ago, JulesHir said:

Same, I have one at 8:40. Good luck!

Thank you! I hope your interview went well! 

[dardalys098]

On 4/5/2018 at 9:56 PM, yggy said:

Hey guys, do you know if they are super strict on time for the presentation?

Hello,

 

They don't seem to be very strict on the time! How was everyone's interviews? 

[Coffee_Addict7860]

On 2018-04-05 at 9:56 PM, yggy said:

Hey guys, do you know if they are super strict on time for the presentation?

Nope! mine was around 7 ish minutes and then the interviewer followed with some questions and that led into us have a conversation until the 15 minutes were up. 

Good Luck!!

[chekz]

On 4/5/2018 at 9:56 PM, yggy said:

Hey guys, do you know if they are super strict on time for the presentation?

No, not at all. They are fairly lenient overall. However, written portion is strict on time.

[NanBD]

Anyone know what the last date is for interviews? I know there were some today and I think some people have theirs on the 12th. Are there are after that?

[Cloudbank]

6 hours ago, NanBD said:

Anyone know what the last date is for interviews? I know there were some today and I think some people have theirs on the 12th. Are there are after that?

I can't imagine it will go past that (almost certainly done by the 13th...). It sounds like interviews started on the 4th, and apparently they were doing somewhere in the ballpark of 15 applicants per day for interviews. Maybe I'm just doing some wishful thinking because the sooner they finish the sooner (hopefully)  they decide!

Anyway, had my interview earlier this week and I will echo the sentiments that they're flexible on the presentation timeline (I am 100% sure I pushed it by accident, but it seemed fine). I don't think the written task was difficult at all. In fact, I did it in the same room with someone else in the same timeslot (we got different questions) and we both finished before the time limit. Everyone was very nice, I was a nervous wreck going in but left feeling O.K. Best of luck to everyone yet to go!

Edited April 11, 2018 by Cloudbank

[JulesHir]

I don't think they interviewed 100 people for 40 spots. Where are we getting 15 people per day from?