In order to get into a medical school you must attend an interview first. While on the interview trail you will likely encounter two distinct types of interviews: some medical schools still have traditional interviews while others have adapted the MMI.
Interview Prep in General:
Before each interview you should absolutely:
1. Research the school and write down some bullet points that answer "Why this school"
2. Write out bullet points that answer "Why medicine"
3. Re-read both your primary and secondary application for the school
4. PRACTICE your answers out loud — seriously it must be out loud (and ideally to another human)
Traditional Interviews: This is a normal, straight-forward interview
- This will usually be a one-on-one conversation with an MD, PhD or med student! Some schools will do a one hour interview (usually with a professor) while others will do two half hour interviews.
- I think some schools do a panel-type interview but I never experienced this
- To prep for these interviews you should:
1. Follow all four steps above
2. Write out bullet point answers to "What are your strengths/weaknesses" and "What do you like to do outside of school/What are your hobbies"
3. Review any research you did in undergrad so that you can talk about it in detail
- I truly believe the key to these interviews is to be yourself and be confident!
Multiple Mini-Interviews:
I was SOOO nervous about my first MMI and thought I would truly hate every second of it but it actually can be easier than a traditional interview. I even had fun with this style interview at one school!
- The set up of an MMI will vary between schools: Typically there are 7-12 stations that last 5-10 minutes each
-You will always have a couple minutes between stations (usually 2-4 minutes)
- Each station will be a different prompt/setup with a different interviewer
- You are NOT expected to know any medicine even though the scenarios may be medical in nature
Common stations include:
- Traditional stations: these are the "Why this school", "Why Medicine", "Tell me about a personal callenge", etc stations - very similar to traditional interviews but are much quicker (usually only 10-12 minutes)
- Actor Stations: at these stations you can expect to have a grader in the room with the actor
- You should introduce yourself to the grader and then start the scenario
- Scenarios that may use an actor include:
- Telling a patient difficult news
- Discussing an illness with a family member
- Giving a classmate advice/helping them through a hard time
- At these stations you should:
1. Introduce yourself (unless you're acting as a family member/friend)
2. Collect information (aka ask questions)
3. Restate the question/challenge
4. List possible options
5. Discuss a solution/decide on a plan
6. ASK if the plan is acceptable
- Hypothetical Stations: these are basically actor stations but with no actor
- You will just discuss what you would do in the situation (rather than acting it out)
- Super similar to CASPer questions (Check out the CASPer blog post under the Applications tab)
- You will just discuss what you would do in the situation (rather than acting it out)
- Super similar to CASPer questions (Check out the CASPer blog post under the Applications tab)
- Teamwork Stations: Usually there will be two of these and you will be paired with a different person each time
- In some of these you will instruct your partner on how to do a task the first time and then you will be given instructions the second time
- In some you will simply work together on a puzzle-like task
- At the end of these stations you will be given 2-3 minutes to discuss what you and your partner did well and what you both could have improved on
- It is so important to be patient, kind and receptive during these tasks
- Do NOT worry if you do not complete the task (I don't think they are designed to be completed within the allotted time)
Good luck on interviews friends!
xoxo
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