Medical School Interviews
This is the traditional format of a medical school interview and probably what you would imagine an interview to be like. The number of people conducting the interview may vary but generally consists of two or three people interviewing you in one sitting.
Very few medical schools utilise this interview technique but they tend to be in addition to another style. Knowing how to approach these can be difficult but we are here to help!
Increasing in popularity, an MMI consists of a series of short interviews, with each station assessing something different. The content of these will vary from medical school to medical school but they will all loosely aim to find out more about your suitability and commitment to medicine as a career.
Check out the resources that we recommend from when we applied to medical school!
Get confident with the most frequently asked questions at interview, no matter what the format is!
Don't panic about your interview! We are on hand to provide our top tips for the big day (hopefully days)!
Panel Interviews
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Panel interviews are the more traditional style of interview and is probably what first springs to mind when thinking about interviews. There is wide scope for possible questions you can be asked, ranging from an ethical discussion to talking about a prominent current healthcare topic. It is important to do your research and be clued up as they are very popular areas.
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If you do not know the answer to a question you have been asked, do not think this is the end of the world and that your chance of getting an offer is non-existent. Questions are designed to challenge you and you are not expected to know everything - you aren't at medical school yet! Interviewers want to see how you approach unfamiliar subjects in order to test your logic and your ability to openly discuss what you are thinking. Explain what you do know and think about how this could be applied to the situation you have been presented with. Especially with ethical scenarios, it is sometimes hard to reach a firm decision but that is fine! Just explain each side of the argument and how you would weigh them up.
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In some panel interviews, the interviewers may play good cop/bad cop. Don't be put off by this! Just keep making eye contact to engage with them and pay equal attention to each. There is no harm in pausing to think before you answer or clarify what you have said - this shows that you are thoroughly considering your answer to the question.
Multiple Mini Interviews
Group Interviews
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MMIs are a more recent addition to the medical school interview process and their use is increasing in popularity. Whilst the format can be challenging and unique compared to any interview you may have had up until now, it can also work in your favour and enable you to show off skills that may not be possible in a panel interview.
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Timing is the major difference with an MMI and this must be taken into account when preparing for your interview. The time at each station and the number of stations will differ at each medical school but ultimately, being able to articulate an answer in a confined period of time is something that you will need to work on. Most medical schools will give you an idea of what they will be testing at your MMI and it is up to you to tailor your preparation accordingly.
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MMIs allow for a role play to be incorporated into the interview. This will involve an actor/actual patient and may be as simple as just having a chat with them. However, it may involve something a little different such as breaking bad news to a patient - just stay calm, listen to the patient and be the best version of yourself.
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My MMI took place in a simulation ward and each station was only separated by a curtain. It would have been quite easy to let the noise of other candidates talking put you off, especially when pausing to organise your answer, but this is all part of the pressured environment and as long as you focus you will be able to block everyone out. Do not panic if your answer to the question does not fill the allotted time for the station! There will always be questions that require more discussion than others and some may have more follow-up questions. As long as you feel that the answer you have given shows you and your knowledge in the best possible light it is absolutely fine!
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The big advantage of an MMI is being able to start fresh at every station. This is a massive bonus if you feel like you haven't done particularly well at a station because the next interviewer will be marking you with a clean slate and will not be swayed by anything you have said previously.
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Group interviews are not commonly used but when they are, they will most likely be coupled with a panel interview. You may be discussing an ethical scenario or solving a problem. It is essential to get the balance between talking and listening right. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there or to clarify what other people have said.
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Needless to say, be polite and respectful. Support the points of others with additional information but also explore other points of view. It’s not a competition, but assesses teamwork and critical thinking. If someone is being quiet, try your best to include them by asking their opinion in a neutral way and without putting them in an uncomfortable position.
Popular Questions
There is a never-ending list of questions you could be asked at your interview but there are some that particularly popular. Prepare thoroughly for these but do not learn an answer to reel off. This could be problematic if the question if worded slightly different to what you expected and could lead to you not actually answering the question you were asked. Instead, practise a logical flow of all of the ideas you would like to present when faced with these common questions. This will enable you to tailor your answers to the question and organise your response so that it is concise and coherent.
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Why Medicine? This question is inevitable so reflect on this thoroughly before your interview. The classic and extremely cliche answer is that you really like science and you also like working with people. As much as you need to get this across, it is important to have something unique about your answer about why medicine is for you. Maybe your main motivation has come from some volunteering or work experience you have done or you have had a personal experience with healthcare. Whatever it is, you need something that will make you memorable to the interviewers. Link your skills and qualities to the question and show a sincere and genuine interest in what the job involves. You need to understand what working as a doctor entails and why you would suit the role. Aim to make no more than three concise points as this will keep waffle to a minimum.
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Why this medical school? It can be quite easy to get so caught up with wanting to be a doctor that you don't mind where you go. However, you do need to remember that you will be spending five or six years at university and you will therefore need to like the place where you are studying. If you want to live in a city but the university is a campus well away from the city, this is probably not a good thing to say. Have a think about why you want to go to that university, both in terms of why the course structure suits you and why you want to live in that area. Things to think about are if the course is lecture-based or is taught mainly through PBL. You might want to have early clinical contact or be taught anatomy through dissection as opposed prosection. This question caught me a tad at one of my interviews so do not pass it off as any less important than some of the other questions more medicine-related.
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What makes you think you would make a good doctor? It is important to be confident but not come across cocky. You need to back up what you say - there is no point just saying you like working with people. It is important to then describe how you act on this by some volunteering you do, for example. Have a think about which qualities you have and what you are good at in relation to the role of a doctor. Being empathetic is essential, as is working well under pressure and using your initiative. Being hard-working and willing to learn is going to help you along the way a great deal as well. These are only a few examples; there is an endless list of what makes a good doctor and obviously you will have some personal opinions as to what makes a good doctor (see our tab on Personal Statement).
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Why do you want to be a doctor and not a nurse, for example? The key here is to understand the main differences between the roles of doctors and nurses. Be very careful with saying things like 'doctors can prescribe medications' since Nurse Practitioners are also able to prescribe, albeit from a smaller range of drugs. Nurses, however, cannot make a diagnosis and it is doctors that ultimately make healthcare decisions and lead the multi-disciplinary team. Nurses have a continuity-of-care role and will spend a lot more time with patients, meaning they often know them better than the doctors do. It is important in your answer to this question to acknowledge the incredible importance of nurses because the NHS simply would not function without them and you will be working with, as well as sometimes relying on, them for the duration of your career.
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What do you think your main weakness is? Saying that you are a perfectionist and that this can sometimes be a downfall is quite a common and cocky thing thing to say, so I would suggest avoiding this unless absolutely necessary. You obviously need to refrain from presenting yourself in a negative light so your example needs to be legitimate but at the same time not be detrimental to you getting into medical school. In my interview, I referred to my inability to sometimes say 'no' to people even when I didn't want to do something. This often resulted in me acquiring a lot of jobs at school which, at times, were difficult to juggle. This also indirectly showed my ability to manage my time well as well as my organisational skills through school work not being my only commitment. This was quite a good road to go down because it is a weakness that, with work, can be corrected and will not be detrimental to your career.
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What would you do if you do not get into Medicine this year? The safest answer to this question is to say that you would take a gap year and re-apply, and that in that time you would get a job or volunteer in a medicine-related field. This shows you are committed to the career and that you will not give up at the first hurdle. You may then be further questioned as to what you would do if you were unsuccessful the following year, to which a good reply would be that you would consider an aligned healthcare career such as nursing or occupational therapy, or another degree and think about applying as a postgraduate. Although it is important to demonstrate that you are determined to train to be a doctor, you also need to show that you have common sense and do not have unrealistic expectations that you will keep applying until you get in.
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How do you deal with stress? Maybe you don't actually deal with stress that well, especially during exams, but you need to come up with something! You may also need to actually think of a way to de-stress as medical school can occasionally get a bit hectic! Things like playing a sport or an instrument, going to the gym or simply chatting to friends and family are good answers. You may be into meditation or something else not mentioned. Whatever it is, if it helps you to chill that's fine.
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Give an example of when you worked as part of a team and you were successful. This is a gift of a question if you are well prepared; there are plenty of things you can talk about. Good options to consider are if you are on any sports teams or play an instrument as part of a group. Maybe you were on a student council at school or do something outside of school like Scouts or Guides. Or you have a part-time job or do some regular volunteering. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is also a good thing to mention as expeditions will have undoubtedly required some form to teamwork to survive!
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How do you think you would cope with going from the top in your school to average at medical school? This can be quite a tricky question to answer without sounding too sure of yourself. I approached this question at my interview by giving an example of when I had experienced something similar and how I had dealt with it. I used the example of moving from hockey at school where I was one of the best players on the team to playing at county level where I was just one of many good players. It took some adjustment but, ultimately, you have to accept that you are not always going to be the best and, in fact, I found that I thrived in that hockey environment and I improved a great deal as a player. Assuming you are not simply going to be 'average' at medical school is a bit of a rocky road to go down when approaching this question in my opinion and I think that showing you have experienced something similar and coped well is a good demonstration that you are going to deal with the pressured environment that medical school can sometimes be. Most importantly, everyone gets a job at the end of it!
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Approaching Ethics Questions
Remember that your first priority always lies with the patient. Be truthful and take responsibility for your own mistakes. Confidentiality must always be maintained unless a third party is at risk. In addition, acting in an empathetic manner is crucial in your role as a doctor, as is preserving the dignity of all of your patients.
Patients have the right to make their own decisions, even if you don't agree with it. You can only overrule them if someone else is at risk.
In your interview it is important to weigh up both sides of the argument and come to a conclusion. There is no right answer; interviewers just want to see what your thought process was to reach your conclusion and that you are able to justify your logic. Don't be afraid to change your answer to a question if you are then given further information about the scenario; integrity is also an important quality for doctors to demonstrate.
Scenarios where a patient is present won't rely on prior medical knowledge, so don't panic! Just be yourself, show that you have the qualities previously discussed and simply use your common sense. Engagement with the patient is the most important thing, so keep talking!
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Below are several websites with their own question banks which may come in useful when preparing for your interview!
Our Recommended Resources
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Sign up to the Student BMJ for free as there are some great resources on offer
Our Top Tips
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Be confident (but not cocky), smile and shake hands with your interviewer if offered! Confidence is important but it is equally important not to come across cocky. Believe it or not, your interviewers want to give you a place and it is up to you to give them a good first impression!
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Prepare, prepare, prepare! This cannot be emphasised enough! Have a good idea of how you would approach popular questions and accept as many opportunities as you can to have a mock interview, even if it is just your friends asking you questions. If there are other people at your school applying to Medicine it can be good to help each other with this - you may get some good ideas and will be more relaxed!
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Stay calm, you deserve your place at medical school just as much as anyone else! The thought of your future possibly relying on one interview can be daunting and, to a degree, stress may enhance your performance. However, panicking will not do you any favours. Remember that you are halfway there already, you just need to ace this interview! Preparing in advance will ease your nerves and having something relaxing to do for the hour or so before your interview will distract you. I always reassured myself that if I was good enough to get this far, I was good enough for the interview.
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Read The GMC's Tomorrow's Doctors It is a hefty document but well worth a read! By the end you will have a comprehensive understanding of the multiple roles of a doctor and it will arm you with key buzzwords that will make you stand out at your interview!
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Stay up-to-date with what is going on in the world of Medicine - read the news and journals such as Student BMJ Don't read up on every single story - there are simply too many to remember in any great detail! It is extremely unlikely that you would be told to talk about a specific topic. Find a couple of articles that really interest you and you will be able to naturally talk about them with enthusiasm. Prevalent topics include the ageing population, NHS funding, mental health and controversial research (which can be a great chance to weigh up both sides of an argument). Understand the main point of the story and then read a little around it; noting a couple of statistics helps to put the idea into context, but don't get bogged down in learning off numbers.
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Know your personal statement inside out This is no exaggeration, especially at a panel interview - you can be asked about anything that is on your personal statement and it is important that you can talk about what is on it. As a result, this also means that everything on it needs to be true.
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Reflect on what you have learned from any work experience that you have undertaken and how this will help you in the future as a doctor This is EXTREMELY important! Quality is better than quantity when it comes to work experience and talking about what you gained from the experience is essential. At the end of the day, there is no point in doing work experience if you have not learned anything from it. Also, have a think about how your outlooks have changed as a result and how you will utilise this in the future in your practice.
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Know your medical school inside out, from the structure and content of the course to the city in which you will hopefully soon be studying This is something that I personally got caught out on at one of my interviews. I didn't know very much about the city, including the history, and I had not thought of a constructive answer as to why I wanted to study there. This is something that can be easily overlooked in your preparation but it is just as important. Know the course structure, what it entails in each year and why their style of teaching will suit you.
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If you get the opportunity to have a mock interview, take it! Feeling at ease in your interview is paramount and getting used to the environment is a great way to prepare! It will force you to think on the spot and prepare what you are going to say in the real thing. Depending on who conducts your mock interview, it may also introduce you to questions that you haven't considered and this will test you like the actual interview will.
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Have an idea of the training path to becoming a doctor: 5-6 years of medical school; 2 years of foundation training with placements in different specialties; 3-8 years specialty training to become a fully qualified GP or consultant, depending on area of medicine. This is a common topic at interview, and it is essential to be familiar with the training pathway so you can demonstrate that your motivation to become a doctor is genuine! Up until you complate all of this, you are a "junior doctor".