How to Pass a Medical School Interview

[Alexis Ma]

I'm quite surprised that there's no thread actually dedicated to passing a medical school interview.

Whether you're someone who has actually passed a medicine interview or a newbie like me who's desperate for tips on being interviewed for medicine :laugh!, I think there's some fun and information here for all of us.

Get the ball rolling now... I just read a tip recently, when the interview question is a tough "ethics" question, it's good to state both sides of the argument and then only establish your stand. This way, you wont get fatally cornered by the interviewers. What say you?

[Young]

Ahhh, medical school interviews... Good times. XD I've been through my fair share of med interviews as well and admittedly, it CAN and WILL be a daunting process for the uninitiated.

Here are a few general tips I've learned along my way.
Note: They may not be the best tips available but the feedback I received from my interviewers was very positive so yea, whatever goes. :)

1. For ethical questions, as you said, it would be useful to put both sides of the argument into it. However, try not to present yourself as a fence-sitter. The interviewers are looking for fluent, articulate and well-spoken candidates so obviously , they will grill you a fair bit when required to do so.

Hence, try to be firm on a stand that you believe in and make sure you have solid reasons to back them up. The wonderful thing about ethics is that as long as you base your arguments around ethical principles, you can never be proven wrong (or right).

2. Rehearsing answers to common and expected questions would be a good way to prepare for the interviews. Questions like "Why do you want to be a doctor?" and "Tell us about your personal traits that you think would make you a good doctor" come to mind.

AVOID GENERIC ANSWERS.
Things like "I want to be a doctor because I like to help people" will only raise eyebrows. Even if the generic answers reflect how you feel, try to add a bit of flair and personality into your statements. Think about them deeply and try to pull the words out of your heart.

As an illustration, here are some generic answers in comparison to similar but more meaningful ones:

I want to help people - Medicine attracted me because it's one of the only professions where you can have a direct impact on the lives of others. Not many jobs give you the privilege of connecting with others at such deep emotional and psychological levels.

I think I'm able to handle the course - Medicine is intellectually challenging and I feel that I can learn a lot academically and holistically from the course.

Things like that. :P I know it seems very dramatized and all but trust me, take 10 minutes to sit down and think about it... You'll be amazed at what your inner self tells you.

3. As a final point, a medical interview should not be treated as a barrier or hindrance. Instead, think of it as an opportunity to let the interviewers know about you and to show them how much you're worth. Hence, try and be yourself as much as possible.

Remember, you are merely human and the interviewers know and expect that. It is not a complete disaster to screw up a little, nor is it wrong to be brutally honest about a shortcoming you have nor is it wrong to say "I'll have to be honest and say I'm not too sure about that. Sorry" to a question you don't know how to answer. In fact, it may even give you some extra points; humility, honesty and self-awareness are commendable traits to have.

[alter_ego]

Great thread. Thanks Alexis Ma. Well, perhaps I'm going to use this useful information one day. Just read Young's experience and it seemed like my scholarship interview questions. :P

[Young]

Yes, the questions are pretty similar to scholarship interview questions but with a bit more focus on discovering traits like empathy, willingness to help, determination, etc and to gauge the candidate's interest in the field.

[youngyew]

At the end of the day, the most important thing about a medical interview is to show that you are a nice guy who can talk well.

I didn't come across any medical ethics question in my interviews last time, and I don't think your stand on it should be used to judge you. I guess if it comes up, what they want to see is that you have thought about them maturely. It would be safe to sit on the fence and not give a resolute stance, in fact I think it's only rational for people to sit on the fence before they actually engage in people who face this situation. A lot of people talk about how they are absolutely against euthanasia, abortion etc, but when you talk to them you would notice that they have not even seen anyone in a terminal disease or see how a severely disabled kid or a low socio-economic family fail to cope with their lives. So before you actually know what it is like, it is indeed rational to say you haven't made up your mind about it. But at least you should have thought a bit about it, and show that you understand the arguments from both camps.

[Alexis Ma]

Thanks. Is common practice to ask questions directly related to medicine or chemistry or biology, or do they leave out such esoteric questions altogether?

[youngyew]

Thanks. Is common practice to ask questions directly related to medicine or chemistry or biology, or do they leave out such esoteric questions altogether?
When I had mine six years ago (gosh it was so long ago lol) Monash did ask some science-related stuff, but they asked it in the context of asking you to explain it in simple terms to laymen. An example was, "how would you explain the carbon cycle to your grandmother?".

Anyway I think there are two main categories of "ethic" questions that you may get.

One is controversial topics with religious sentiments like euthanasia, abortion, contraception, assisted reproduction etc.

Another one is basic ethical principles like confidentiality, justice, autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence. For example, "if the media ring you up as a doctor and offer 1000 dollars for you to reveal a celebrity patient's disease status, would you do it".

For the latter category, obviously there's a right answer, and you DO have to make a stand. :)

Oh and by the way, this wiki article gives you an overview of what medical ethics are about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_ethics

The few that I mentioned above are the pillars of medical ethics (beneficence, non-maleficence etc). If you could incorporate it in your answers, it shows that you have read up about it, and if you pull it off your interviewer should be impressed. :)

[Young]

Yep, Youngyew pretty much covered what I left out. If it's a debatable ethical concept, you can choose to either sit on the fence or take a stand but for basic, principle-based medical ethics you need to give a definitive answer.

For science questions, generally they won't ask too many of them. Monash too was the only university that asked us to explain scientific terms to laymen. For the other universities I applied to (IMU, UWA, UNSW) there wasn't much sciency stuff in the interviews. Not sure about universities in the UK because I didn't apply there.

Also, interview lengths differ greatly. IMU's interview was pretty short and simple, UNSW had me talking for 30 minutes and UWA took 45 minutes because there was a short test (not science-related) associated with it. Just thought it would be helpful so that you guys know what to expect when the big day comes. :)

[youngyew]

Ahh that means Monash has not changed its interview questions over the years?!

Anyway, to be picky you can't really "pass" or "fail" an interview :) It's all relative, so you could only do well or not so well.

[alter_ego]

Anybody had gone through UK Medical Interviews?