Medical School Interview Tips

How to prepare for and succeed at a medical school interview

Perspectives from Mariya Dimitrova ’18

(accepted to SUNY Upstate Medical School via Early Assurance Program)

What to do ahead of the interview

PRACTICE

• Know why! Why you want to go to medical school in general, and this school in particular.
• It’s not enough to simply practice, you need to actually believe what you are saying… so it may be helpful to have an actual discussion with family, friends, or professors to make sure that this is the right path for you. Interviewers will see if you believe what you say.
• If you’re applying early, why are you applying early, what will you do with that time (remaining in undergrad), and why specifically this school as opposed to any other medical school that offers early admissions?

Use SLU Career Services center- they are VERY helpful and will edit your notes or essay and practice interviews with you

• Utilize both staff members and student mentors
• Have several people look at your personal statement, not just one. Everyone has a different perspective. I worked on one of my essays for over two years and I find something off every time.
• It’s ok to re-use essays to different schools as long as you are answering the question… you don’t have to re-invent the wheel every time. I have used one of my essays for several scholarship applications and school applications.
• You want to make sure the content is okay, the grammar is correct, words are not repeating, and you aren’t using too many big or too many small words. Look at the overall visual of the essay (paragraphs, justifications, titles, etc). You need to re-read your essay for every one of these things, concentrating on grammar one time, content on another time, word content the next etc.

Types of Interviews and how to handle them

Traditional one-on-one interview: 30 minutes each

What to expect:

• Know your application well, including your personal statement. The interviewer will read it beforehand and will quiz you on it basically.
• Write thank you notes to each interviewer.

Multiple Mini Interviews: 9 stations; 6 minutes each

What to expect:

Scenarios: Give detailed answers; sometimes saying obvious and redundant things is okay. Example: if you are faced with a scenario where you have a distressed patient, it may be obvious that you should first calm Pt down, show compassion, and figure out where the problem stems from. But say those things anyway. Some students didn’t have anything to say, so they just stared at the interviewer and exited the room early. Try not to do that.

• Writing
• Regular/traditional questions
• Survey
• Role-play with an actor: don’t giggle or treat it like a fake thing. Be serious and compassionate.

Interacting with Interviewers

• For MMIs, interviewers will likely not have read your application, but tell them about your application. Weave your experience into the answers to questions.
• Try to ask and remember the interviewer’s name. Not the most important thing, but I noticed that when I remembered their name and ended the interview with “It was so nice to meet you Josh, have a great day!”, it sounded more personal and caring than leaving out their name.
• Some interviewers will not look at you on purpose to create tension or make you feel uncomfortable. I had an interviewer who stared at my feet and back at the door the whole time. He looked rather bored, tired, and disinterested. But I kept going and engaged him anyway. The interview ended very well and he was very friendly at the end. He was in scrubs so he may have been tired, it may have been a tactic to see how you respond to different people, or it may have been his personality. Regardless, don’t let that affect you or your answer.
• Medical students will interview you: treat them seriously too. They are interviewers and will have a say in your admission. They are not your buddy. You may talk to them outside of the interview throughout your day, so be natural but don’t say or treat anyone in a way that you wouldn’t treat an actual admissions officer. (Note: I talked to a student for 30 minutes and at the end realized he was my interviewer)
• Write one thank you note to the admissions committee (unless an interviewer specifically gives you his/her card or contact info, but that’s very unlikely because each interview is 6 minutes for MMIs)
• Look at sample letters online but don’t copy them because admissions committees have probably read online sample letters too!
• Some schools don’t want thank you notes. If they don’t say anything about it, you could ask the secretary politely if they are ok with thank you letters. I did that and they were very friendly and even told me where to mail it. Keep in mind those notes go directly into your application file.