Introduction

You can hear your heart pounding in your chest knowing that this is a very important moment of your life, so how to make this as easy as possible?  The competition is tough and there is no denying it. Interviews are extremely scary but unfortunately, we all have to go through it.

Generally, the interviewers are very friendly and they try to keep the conversation going because they know you are anxious which is a normal emotion. Interviewers are trained to get the best answers out of you so you can get your best chance but that depends on which medical school you go to. For example, Aberdeen medical school interviews were very enjoyable, and the interviewers did a fantastic job of keeping the conversation going.

This is a general guide on past experience that I had with medical schools, bear in mind that many medical schools do things differently and I suggest you read up on them and prepare yourself. I had experience with Scottish and Australian interviews and through Skype, I had experience with American and British interviews.

How it goes on the day

As I mentioned this changes between medical schools, so again make sure to read up on them. The medical school interviews that I had was from England and America (through Skype), Scotland and Australia. They all were similar to this:

• One interview only or mini multiple interviews of 7 minutes each

• About 30 to 45 minutes long or 8 mini 7 minutes interviews

• 3 interviewers will be involved throughout the session or 1 to 2 per mini-interview

• These most likely compromise of: lecturers or academics, a health practitioner (can be nurse, pharmacist, et cetera) and a person from the community

• They are volunteers, so do thank them for their time as they had to shift and move work around to interview and see you

• There is the pre-room where the introduction is made with your group (about 10-12). There are sweets and water and some very friendly volunteering students

• Then off you go one by one to your allocated interviewing room (there are about 12 rooms), the students are chosen completely randomly so if you are the last one to go in it does not mean anything. If it is the mini-interviews style, then everyone goes to each station so that every 7 minutes you rotate a station

• When it is done there is a post-room where you can ask questions to some very friendly students, this is the only time you can ask questions (not before your interview)

• They might call you back for additional questions just to clarify on some things (nothing to worry about - it does not mean you have done anything bad). With Aberdeen medical school we had a tour of the University afterwards which was very enjoyable

• They are very friendly and they try to keep the conversation going because they know you are anxious which is a normal emotion. Interviewers are trained to get the best answers out of you so you can get your best chance!

Presentation of yourself

Aim: to look professional, neat, relaxed and your clothes must give you no mishaps on the day.

• You need to be super comfortable but smart (school uniform is okay but not recommended)

• You need to look relaxed

• You need to look professional

• Wear-in your clothes a little so that it does not look too new and out of the box

• Shower in the morning with a subtle deodorant and perfume

• Subtle makeup, nothing bright just something to look normal for the ladies

• Shave, clean-cut for the men with a nice haircut

• Ladies: no excessive jewellery or makeup, and no open-toe shoes or sandals. Wear an appropriate outfit and keep your hair tidy

• A good and simple rule is: look like how you want a doctor to look like when he is treating you

Before the day of the interview

• You need to know where the location of your interviews

• You don’t want to look for the place on the day, my god that’s terrifying to think about it

• People have missed their interviews (planes were late and other crazy things happened such as fires and droughts)

• Arrive an hour or 30 minutes before the pre-room meeting starts. You most likely will have an identification card and a letter of acceptation for the interview

On the day of the interview

• Smile, greet them and be happy!

• Introduce yourself clearly

• Be confident

• Body language – are you fidgeting, how you sit, your posture, the way you stand or walk in, do you smile, do you make eye contact, too much movement or hand gesture?

• There will be water on the table and tissues

• It is a little awkward to talk to three people sitting at a 4 side-table as when I spoke to past students they mentioned: “there is always one person that does not get a lot of attention when speaking and it feels awkward”. If it is a mini-interview style then it is generally 1 on 1 (hence face to face)

• The interviewers really want to know you as an individual so talk about yourself but do not waffle on and waste time!

• Answer the question they have asked and do not answer something you have learned off by heart as they will know

• Lastly, enjoy yourself, relax and before you know it… the interview is over and you wish you had more time to speak! You will not even remember the interview

• Do thank them for their time as they are volunteers

What it is about

The questions have a wide range of topics and the interviewer asses your critical thinking, communication skills, analytical thinking, advocacy and ethnic reasoning, leadership, empathy, professionalism, interdisciplinary professions, teamwork and your motivation to do medicine as well as the understanding of the profession.

Some medical schools may be relaxed and have an enjoyable mentality of doing interviews compared to other medical school interviews but it does not mean that it is below-par or have a lower standard compared to other medical schools. These medical school interviews are very competitive and statistically, when you sit with your group at the pre-room, you need to beat all of the other students plus some more from another group (ratio of 1:20 gets in).

You are extremely disadvantaging yourself if you do not prepare for your interviews and I can guarantee that some potential students (and you can be sure they have excellent marks) arrived completely unprepared. Those students most likely do not make it through.

Some questions to think about

Graham B. and Matt G. in the book Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM)[1] made a very nice list about types of questions they will most likely be based on. These questions are more orientated for the United Kingdom type of questions but it is still good to take a peek at these questions. I think knowing how to answer these can help you groom into the thinking of a medical student and then later as a health practitioner - it has definitely helped me a lot.

• Personal qualities and characteristics – such as what are your qualities and what are bad qualities about yourself. They love that one. Remember, please don’t say you are perfect

• Why do you want to become a doctor? Really reflect on this one, you cannot say “I want to be a doctor to help people” because then anybody can help people such as a weekly volunteer (nothing wrong being a weekly volunteer, the point is an answer like that is very poor with no critical thinking).

• Why medicine at X (X = your medical school you applying to)?

• What do you know about X course?

• Understand what medicine is all about and its important aspect

• What qualities should a doctor have?

• What leadership characteristics do you have?

• What is interprofessional teamwork?

• How do you cope with stress? – talk about good and bad stress. It is okay to be stressed but base your answer how you can cope with stress

• What did you learn from your work experience?

• Ethic questions – autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice

• Difficult topics such as abortion, euthanasia, CRISPR, religion and others

• Learn the latest news around the world on Health, that is very important. You don’t have to read papers but know about diabetes epidemic, HIV, poverty, lack to the access of medicines, new cancer medication, tuberculosis or the latest Gonorrhoea resistant antibiotics

They might finish with “do you have any questions?”, do not say “No.” This is an opportunity to impress them and ask them questions as it shows you have been researching on X medical school. Ask and prepare some obscure questions, questions about research or maybe how X is involved in certain areas.

Case scenarios

This depends on the medical school you have applied to. I have experienced where I was given a small sheet of white paper that had a story on it. You may have a minute to three minutes to read it. These have the case scenarios, so read slowly and carefully. A lot of students panic and wiz through the scenario and miss crucial information and hence miss the whole point. Do not panic and read slowly, take a breather, think and answer the question. Other medical schools did not give me a sheet of paper but a leaflet or a pamphlet. I remember at Aberdeen medical interviews I was given a case study on a patient that had a stroke. I had to talk about how he would be living and his impact after the incident. That was a very interesting conversation, the best part was that they even brought-in a fake patient to act out the role.

Topics that could be useful

• The rise of obesity and diabetes mellitus type 2 in young people

• Mental health in marginalised people especially suicide is a worrying concern

• Scenarios on access to medicine that are affordable and safe, especially in rural communities

• Scenarios on inequalities in communities where disease, incidents, morbidities and health or disproportionately distributed

• Rheumatic Fever in Australia is a big problem especially in Indigenous communities - discuss

• How the healthcare system is structured and the different pathways one can take after graduating

Work experience and what you can gain

During your work experience, you should see these aspects that are being demonstrated in the health care profession. Pay particular attention and make notes.

Such as:

• Teamwork: doctors work with other people in an interdisciplinary environment

• Leadership

• Empathy: empathy leads to trust between patients and the healthcare professional. Trust leads to patients using the prescribed course better (not missing medication and taking them all), using the medication means less time in the hospitals and less likelihood of relapsing (having the disease again) and increasing the prognosis (the outcome of the health for the patient). Hence by showing some empathy in the long term, you have created another place/space at the hospital which means less wastage of medication which is important as the hospitals run on very strict budgets. All of this because you have shown empathy. Try and link other attributes to each other.

• Understanding the role of a doctor

• Professionalism: is very broad and has a huge scope, such as being on time, communication, confidentiality, hierarchy, the scope of practice and so much more!

Some cool tips

It’s okay to say I don’t know! This shows you don’t lie or make up stuff on the spot and instead it shows you are honest. Please and please, read everything about that medical school you are about to attend for the interview. I promise you, they will ask what do you know about our school? Why would a school take you if you can’t even be bothered to look up at what the university, school and campus offer? It is a simple trick and brownie points, here you beat everybody who didn’t read up on the school. I purposely learn so much about the school that it leaves them impressed and it also shows you are keen, interested and determined.

Learn and think of the possibilities of answers if something goes wrong, but do not reply like a parrot or robot as they will know. Repeat, repeat and repeat. I made my girlfriend, mother and others listen to me and make sure they ask questions differently. Sometimes they may even surprise you. If you can’t answer in front of family and friends imagine in front of a panel of health care practitioners, staff and volunteers.

Skype interview

Same as above! Imagine you will meet them in real life. Wear a suit, smile at the camera and be early. When I did my medical interviews from Australia (I was in South Africa) the first comment I got was that I looked ‘nice and ready’ meaning during the first 3 seconds they already liked me just because of my smile and appearance. Remember on Skype, they can see your surrounding so get a nice plain room, quiet and interview ready. Put some books under your laptop so that the interviewers see you from the front/above and not from underneath. It may be weird but try to look at the black lens of the camera so that it seems to interviewers that you are speaking to them directly (levelling your laptop to eye level is very useful)

Here are some tips that I found on Forde magazine and 13 tips for nailing a Skype interview.

How my Skype interviews went

• Mine went over Skype and I did it with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), an Australian medical school and an American medical school

• They all ranged from 1 to 3 staff

• We talked about why do medicine and not keep going with pharmacy instead (I am a pharmacy graduate)

• We talked about diabetes mellitus type 2 in South Africa such as access to Coca Cola is cheaper than water, what do you think of that?

• I had a very interesting and challenging talk with QMUL about CRISPR which got heated and plenty of ideas and thoughts were discussed. I had an amazing time with QMUL, however, I declined their offer

• The American medical interview was a bit strange and asked about extra curricular activities, projects I have done and what I want to do later as a doctor. It was vague and did not feel like a real interview but more of an introduction, I also declined their offer

I wish I could remember more but that is as much as I can remember. It went really fast and smooth. I had a technical problem where my screen went grey so I could not see the interviewers but they could still see me, I did mention it and they asked me to call back but I decided to move on. The silver lining is that now I could just stare at the camera and not being distracted by my screen. This shows no matter how prepared you are things can always go wrong.

My final say

Good luck!

I hope I have cleared a few things and that I have not made you more stressed and if I did then you may have underestimated X medical school interviews. Prepare hard such as do the questions and learn about X medical school, be confident, be professional and enjoy yourself.

Published 30th May 2019. Last reviewed 25th November 2022.

Reference

1. Graham, B. and Matt, G. (2011). Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM). 1st ed. London: BPP Learning Media Ltd.

2. Debbie Swanson. 7 Tips To Nail A Skype Interview. Forbes Magazine. https://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/04/09/7-tips-to-nail-a-skype-interview/#20cbbfe46835. Published April 4, 2013. Accessed May 2, 2019.

3. Alexandra Whittaker. 13 tips for nailing a Skype interview. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/08/01/13-tips-for-a-great-skype-interview/2608915/. Published August 1, 2013. Accessed May 2, 2019.