Medical school interview tips

The medical school interviews were the hardest part of the application process for me so here are some tips that will hopefully help you…

Preparation

Have key points you want to cover on questions you could be asked but don’t rope learn them as you risk sounded robotic and scripted. Typically the interviewers can tell!

Practise

Practise with friends, family and teachers. If you can get over the embarrassment of being interviewed by people you know then you can remain composed in your interview.

Nerves

If you feel prepared the only thing that will let you down is nerves. It’s so important to get your nerves as under control as you can. For me this was with exercise, listening to music but you could also try meditation, speaking to someone or whatever you find works for you. Remember you deserve to be there you just need to show them you are the best option!

What will be the biggest problem faced by the NHS in the next 5 years?

This was a common question I was asked so make sure you have an answer to this.

News

A few days before your interview have a look on BBC news health for a current story and read up a little on it as they could ask you about this. You want to be able to speak about what it is that's going on, what this means for doctors/people/NHS and what you have taken away from it.

Work experience

Talking about work experience is great but it’s not enough.

• What have you learnt?

• What skills have you built?

• How has this solidified you wanting to do medicine?

Try and speak about skills you’ve developed which that university says they want you to have. Typically, if you go the universities website they will have a section somewhere speaking about skills they look for.

Why here?

They want to see you are passionate about going to that university so have things prepared to speak about that you like about the uni and the course.

• What is appealing about the structure of the course?

• What do you like about the area?

• Do they do PBL?

• How is anatomy taught?

• What does a week look like at that uni?

Prepare to not be prepared

Despite how many questions you prep for and practise it's likely they ask you a question you haven't thought about. Do not panic! This will only lead to your mind going blank. Take a deep breath and think about your response. If in the interview they give you thinking time then use that to come up with points you want to cover if not and you feel you need time to think simply say "I'm just going to have a second to think about that". Similarly, if your mind does go blank just ask for a second to think and then pick up where you left off.

Why medicine?

This is a commonly asked question. Avoid giving the basic response of "I like helping people". You need to dig deeper than that and make the response more personal to you. Did you have a certain experience that made you want to do it? What solidified you wanting to do medicine? Science is a big part of medicine so speak about your interests in the science aspect.