You submitted your AMCAS or TMSDAS application early, wrote an outstanding medical school personal statement and completed your secondary essays in a timely fashion. You have been invited for a medical school interview and this is your chance for an acceptance. It is essential that you do a great job. This article provides a framework to help you do well on your medical school interview.
ENSURING YOU KNOW THE PROCESS.
The first thing you need to do when dealing with the medical admissions interview is to get clear on the actual process of the interview itself. By understanding the reasons for your selection, and anticipating what will happen, you'll have a much better chance at a great interview.
HOW DO THE CANDIDATES GET CHOSEN?
Your application will get screened by a lot of people -- students, attending physicians, and scientists as well. There are certain schools who only accept grades and scores that are above a certain level, so if you're not at that level, you won't reach the screening part.
Depending on the school you apply to, they might even use a system of points that awards certain scores to your extra curricular activities, how you did on the MCAT, and your recommendation letters. Once you hit a certain minimum, you'll get accepted for an interview.
What's more common is to actually find a big amount of subjective decision-making going into interview-invitation decisions. Even though we all want to avoid bias, it sometimes pops up, especially when your application isn't one of the absolute top-tier ones.
Consider the previous histories of possible reviewers -- let's presume one scored very high on their board reviews, and the other simply did not. Which one is going to give more attention to the board scores of your application? Obviously, the one who did very well.
By the same token, the person interviewing you will have objective criteria by which you will be evaluated. But, regardless of "scoring," "grading" or "point" systems employed by schools, there is a tremendous degree of subjectivity that goes into this process. While you have little control over this, awareness is key.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR YOUR INTERVIEWS?
1) Make sure you carefully check everything you sent in - re-read all your statements, essays, and application itself, because any and all of it will be discussed.
2) Even if it seems strange, you really need to practice for the interview.
So, what can you do to prepare for your medical school interviews?
There are absolutely tons of professionals out there ready to help with your preparation, but it's fundamental to know you're choosing wisely. Make sure you stay plenty skeptical, as there are lots of parties out there giving wilfully bad advice. Let's go over the kinds of professionals you'll find online:
1) Non-physician advisors: While these individuals may have experience in medical admissions, non-physicians cannot provide the insight of a practicing physician who has been through the process and understands what it means to practice medicine.
2) Actual Physician-Advisors: Plenty of qualified physicians also dispense admissions advice, but only ones who have actually done work on med school admissions committees are going to know the process inside and out. Watch out for shifty credentials that aren't properly clear.
Going to a good medical school or working as an admissions 'advisor' doesn't really guarantee anything - you need to ensure your advisor was actually on an admissions committee proper.
3) Editing companies: Having someone who does not have any experience in behind the scenes medical admissions or in medicine is dangerous. While essay editing companies may employ smart and talented writers, these individuals have no idea of what constitutes a good medical school, residency or fellowship essay or interview.
4) The big guys: There are advisory services offered by some of the larger companies out there, and although certain individuals in the company get some great credentials that look good for the marketing department, you might get stuck with someone who doesn't have any of those.
Think long and hard when it comes to selecting someone to help you get into medical school. The best option is simple - a physician with legitimate admissions experience, a medical education background, and strong writing chops.
How about some sample questions you could encounter during an interview?
Tell me about you perfect day?
Why do you want to be a physician?
What is the one thing you tried really hard at but it didn't turn out as expected?
What has been your greatest challenge?
Tell me about your research/clinical/work/volunteer experiences.
If you're looking for assistance with your medical school applications, your interview preparation, or just your medical school interviews in general, give MedEdits a call, and we'll do everything we can to get you accepted.
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