Common types of medical interviews

A simple guide to make sense of a critical admissions hurdle Tanishq Khandelwal - 3 January 2019

Introduction

The Australian medical school admissions process is variable, and each medical school imposes its unique set of challenges and hurdles for prospective students to overcome. Perhaps one commonality that stands out, and for a very good reason, is almost all of them, bar a few, require students to sit an interview. This allows the schools to gauge the prospective applicant’s motivations, communication skills and cognitive abilities, all of which help determine whether the candidate is a good fit for the school.

Through the years, medical schools have experimented with numerous interview structures, and each have selected a type that helps them select for the traits they value most. An important part of preparing for the interviews is knowing which kind of interview your medical school uses and preparing accordingly. All of this information can generally be found on the medical school’s website or by calling up the relevant admissions department.

This article will discuss two of the most common types of interview that you can expect to come across.

The Traditional Panel Interview

This interview consists of a panel of about two or three interviewers, and goes for about 15 minutes to 1 hr in duration. It can be fully structured (where every applicant is asked the same set of questions) or semi-structured (where the interview is mostly structured but interviewers have some lee-way in terms of following up with related questions).

The advantage of this kind of interview is that its generally more relaxed, more flexible and less stressful when compared to an MMI. There’s greater opportunity for building rapport, and a few slip-ups wont necessarily hurt your chances. There’s also the opportunity for the interviewers to get to know you more deeply as a person.

Some disadvantages are that its relatively difficult to get over a bad first impression, less opportunity to clear your mind after slip ups, and the fact that you simply need to be your best self for a longer period of time! It can also be more subjective and biased, and can depend a bit on whether or not the particular interviewers like you. Questions are more likely to be a mixture of simple, get-to-know-you type personal questions and more complex scenario-based questions where you have to actively apply your logical reasoning, problem solving and decision-making skills.

Practice accordingly by preparing answers to common personal questions (more on this in a later article), as well as practicing stringing together structured responses for questions requiring long, carefully thought-out answers (again, more in a future article). Having a set method to tackle these questions before you go in is key to your success!

Multiple Mini Interview (MMI)

This is soon becoming one of the most common types of medical interviews, as more and more medical schools replace the inherently subjective traditional format with this, citing its objectivity and greater ability to discern different qualities in the candidate.

In essence, the MMI consists of a set of stations (generally around 5-10), each of around 6-10 minutes in length, and each with 1-2 interviewers. Each station is strictly timed and part of a circuit through which applicants rotate. Questions are usually, but not always scenario based, and seek to target specific qualities in each station. It should be noted, however, that there can still be a couple of stations which are focused on simple, more personal questions about your motivations, hobbies etc.

Most commonly, there is a paper outside the door with information about the station, a set reading time of around 1-2 minutes, after which the applicant has to enter. A bell rings to signal the start and end of each station, as well as in specific points during the station to notify the candidate of the time remaining. As soon as the time is up, you are obliged to stop speaking and walk to your next station.

The advantages are obvious. There’s a different interviewer in each station, so how you went in the station before does not matter one bit in terms of how you can perform in the next one. The questions are mostly structured, and each applicant has to go through exactly the same process as the next one. This ensures that there’s a lot less bias as well as more opportunities to highlight your strengths and make up for any weaknesses.

A disadvantage is that the strict timing and short duration can be stressful, nerve-wracking and can make it hard to build rapport and allow the interviewer to get to know you deeply. There’s also less opportunity to go off on a tangent and highlight some qualities that you might have wanted to talk about, but weren’t asked for per-se.

Examples of this type of interview include the University of Newcastle’s MSA, and the interviews of most graduate entry-medical schools in Australia.

The best way to prepare for an MMI is to do lots and lots of mock scenarios, and have a set method for approaching different types of questions.

Other types

Other types include permutations and combinations of the two styles, such as UNSW’s strictly timed 1-minute per question version of a traditional format, and the University of Adelaide’s two 15-minute stations, so always make sure you visit the specific medical school’s website to find out beforehand and prepare accordingly!

And remember: The number one most important strategy for any interview is to practice getting in the habit of speaking about yourself and answering different kinds of questions. So make sure you get a friend or family member, or indeed a professional, to help you in the process!

Good luck!