Preparing for a Medical Admissions Interview

Receiving your offer of a Med-school interview can be one of the most exciting and daunting experiences of your life. It’s normal to feel quite confused. Most of us have the habit of needing to feel super prepared for everything, whether it be speeches, high school exams, or the UMAT. But with the medical interview, there is no clear consensus on what to do to prepare. Some people say to prepare nothing, out of fear of coming off as fake, others will practice reciting every reply word-for-word. As with most things, the better option is probably somewhere in the middle.

Interview Structure

Before we go into preparation, it’s important to understand what these interviews entail. Depending on your University, you might be expecting completely different things. UNSW is a two-person panel interview, asking questions about your life, friends, hobbies, etc. for about forty minutes. Western Sydney University, Monash and Newcastle all do Multi-station Mini Interviews (MMI’s), which may ask you simple questions, difficult hypotheticals, and/or require you to act out certain scenarios. James Cook University combines a bunch of styles and also looks for your opinion on certain world issues, such as climate change, or refugees. The list goes on, and every university likes to put their spin on the interview.

Why do you want to do medicine?

However, the unavoidable theme across all universities, is the question ‘Why do you want to do Medicine?’ which may appear in whatever way or form. If nothing else, this is the most important thing to have a good answer for. Having a good answer to this question does not necessarily mean having a perfectly scripted, rehearsed monologue that is free of stutters, ‘um’s and ‘ah’s. What it does require is a genuine, well thought out and intelligent answer.

Genuineness is something very easy to spot, but crucial to have. These interviewers will see dozens of people in one day, and half of them won’t have genuine, legitimate reasons for doing medicine.  Be sure at the end of the day that you truly want to be in med.

You can also demonstrate that you have a well thought out answer by showing that you have been reflective in your decision-making process. What influenced you? What do you think medicine will be like? Did you try to find out more? You don’t need answers to all these questions, but try to get the gist of what these questions are asking.

Lastly, an intelligent answer, just like good logic in Section 1 of UCAT, should be free of logical fallacies. Wanting to help people is great, but almost every health or service industry is helping people. Loving the human body is a plus, but you have the entire field of biology open to you. Being a doctor is a unique role in our community. Is it the perfect fit for what your aims are in life? Having a good understanding of what medicine is really like (such as by reading blogs, or asking friends) will provide you with great perspective and a good answer to this question.

For every other question, just be as honest and true to yourself as you can. Except for the money question. Never say you want to do medicine for the money… If you do get your hands on past questions, they may be good to look at and have a think about. But I would never practice answering anything. It comes off as really weird and interviewers can tell.

Interview logistics

Although it might be incredibly unnerving, try to bring in a positive attitude to the interview - your interview technique is something that will definitely be observed. Get there early, talk to people, chill out. Almost every interview is incredibly friendly. These people truly want to see what kind of person you are, and wish to give you every opportunity to showcase yourself. You’ll only come across mean interviewers in MMI’s, where one or two interviewers are deliberately stressful, or harsh. The best way to deal with these situations is to stay positive and true to yourself.

Many students also get stressed out over what to wear. My advice is to wear whatever makes you most confident and comfortable, as long as it’s somewhat smart. If a suit makes you feel too awkward, wear a shirt and trousers, or a blouse and skirt. If you feel super confident, then feel free to rock a blazer.

Lastly, interviews are a great experience and thrilling opportunity for you to get into your dream university degree. But keep in mind, a failed interview is not the end of the world. If it doesn’t go well, you can learn from your experience. More will come in the future.