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The Medical School Interview

by Sayinthen Vivekanantham

The interview aspect of your Medical School application is often perceived as

daunting and unpredictable, with applicants not entirely sure how to prepare.
However, having gone through the process of applying to Medical School recently, I
am sure that thorough preparation and practise of interview skills can significantly
aid you in making a good impression at interview.

When did you start revising for it?

It is important to start reading about medical issues as early as possible. Although

the content of this research may not necessarily come up in the interview, the topics
that you read about will provide you with a bank of examples that you can use to
back up your responses in the interview. I would strongly recommend using a ring
binder or folder to keep copies of articles from the various sources, so that you can
look back at it before your interview, and select a few issues to know about in detail.

Other forms of general preparation are to looking into interview skills, medical law/
ethics or just reading up about areas of medicine that you are particularly interested
in. There is no finite list of everything you must read before interview, but the more
you read (or make notes on) and get familiarised with, the more confident you’re
going to feel and come across when going into the interview.

Approximately a month before your interview, you should start looking back at
previous articles, common questions and that all important personal statement.
Questions would often be centred on your personal statement, so it is beneficial to
read deeper into any topics you have mentioned and be able to justify anything that
you have written.

What topics did you cover and which additional topics do you wish you had covered
more thoroughly.

There is often not enough time to cover all the topics that are potentially going to
come up in your interview in detail. For this reason it is important to prioritise which
topics to cover in detail, and which to lightly read about. It is important to research
further (and possibly make further notes) on topics that you have included in your
personal statement and a few medical developments in recent months. However,
also try and target your research specific to the university/ interviewer’s field (if you
know who is interviewing you).
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This will help you come across as enthusiastic about the institution, whilst also being
ready for questions from the interviewer.

Before my interviews, I undertook detailed research on the topics that I had included
in my personal statement, which included Parkinson’s disease and some surgical
procedures that I had seen on work experience. I also looked into recent research
that had taken place at each of the institutions; for example before my interview at
Imperial College London (ICL), I looked into some of the work of Lord Ara Darzi, who
is a leading surgeon at ICL.

There are always going to be questions and topics that you walk out of an interview
wishing that you had looked at, however it is difficult to cover everything given the
wide range of questions that you could be asked. Before my interview at Barts and
The London, I had focused my preparation on common medical topics, for example
medical law, ethics and did detailed research on items I had mentioned in my
personal statement. However, my interview was comprised of personality based
questions which I wasn’t entirely prepared for. This shows the importance of
tailoring your research specific to the institution where you are applying to, and
finding out what type of questions to expect from different sources, for example,
talking to students at the university on open days.

There are a number of resources available that you can use to help you prepare, with
numerous books and courses available. However, I cannot stress enough that simply
attending one the courses or just reading a book is enough to get you through the
interview. Attending a course or taking on board what is said in a book can speed up
the preparation process significantly; nevertheless, it is no substitute for the detailed
research of different topics and verbal practice of potential interview questions.

‘This shows the importance of tailoring your research specific to the institution where
you are applying to, and finding out what type of questions to expect from different
sources, for example, talking to students at the university on open days.’

Resources you used for the Interview and your opinion of them.

The two main resources that I had used before my interviews were the Ace Medicine
Interview course & notes and various websites on the internet. The Ace Medicine
course & notes were very useful in making me aware what some of the main issues
within medicine, whilst also giving me a comprehensive guide to medical ethics and
the considerations one has to make when answering ethics based questions.
Although it is not necessary to know everything in the course back to front, it is
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interesting and useful to read in so far as getting you into an interview frame of
mind. Above all, I thought the broad range of potential medical school specific
questions and mock interview was most useful.

A lot of information can be accessed on the internet, however, unlike course notes,
the sources are often very lengthy and all information is not always necessary. For
this reason, I would recommend paraphrasing information into smaller and more
concise forms, which would also help you take in the information more efficiently.

‘The Ace Medicine course & notes were very useful in making me aware what some
of the main issues within medicine, whilst also giving me a comprehensive guide to
medical ethics and the considerations one has to make when answering ethics based
questions.’

Questions you were asked at Interview.

Although there is a wide range of questions that can be asked in your interview, you
are very likely to be asked a few common questions, for example:
 Why would you like to do medicine?
 Why would you like to come to this institution?
 Have you got any questions you would like to ask us?

It is important to try and have answers prepared for questions of this type, and other
common questions that are likely to come up, however, this does not mean you
should recite a prewritten answer over and over again when you are asked that type
of question. Despite how good you may think you are at sounding unrehearsed in
your response, experienced interviewers will be able to easily pick up whether you
are just reciting a standard response that you have learnt. To avoid this I would
suggest for each potential question, you write a few bullet points about what you
would like to include in your answer. Practise forming a complete response verbally
looking at these bullet points, and eventually try and produce a response without
looking.

You may get a few nasty questions especially if your being interviewed by an
institution which is highly respected, but don’t let these panic you; just try and give a
rational answer, and think about what they are looking for you to say. For example,
in my interview at ICL, I was asked which offer would I take if I had offers from both
Oxford and ICL. I genuinely would have chosen ICL, but I think merely stating this
would not have been enough. The reasons I gave to support my answer, which
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included better clinical facilities and an integrated course, helped me build a better
rapport with the interviewers.

Advice you wish you were given before you started preparing for the Interview

Lots of preparation is important, but it is also important for you to remain fit and
healthy and not overwork yourself. Before my Cambridge Interview, I became unwell
and was not able to attend my interview. Due to the tight interview schedule at
Cambridge, I was not able to have an interview until after the first round of offers
had been sent.

Leading into my interview, I was working late into the night trying to become fully
prepared and was generally over-working myself. This may have been the reason
why I had become ill, so I would advise you all to have some balance in your work,
keep a good diet and don’t compromise on sleep whilst preparing for an interview!

How did you plan your time with regards to juggling AS/ A-level alongside the UCAS,
UKCAT and Interview preparation?

Unlike other degrees, the admissions process to enter medicine is both long and
requires a lot of extra work. You will find that you will be waiting for interviews,
when others applying to read other courses have already had all their offers. Fitting
in the interview and admissions test preparation with school work is often difficult
and requires a high level of organisation and motivation.

In my experience, securing high AS grades and marks meant that I could afford to
devote more time towards my medicine application, whilst having a buffer of marks
available at A2 in order to achieve the necessary grades for my offer. So it is
important to work as hard as you can at AS, as the time pressure at A2 is a lot
harder, and ideally you don’t want to be doing resits.

However, if your marks at AS aren’t very strong, then it is important to give just as
much care and attention to your school work, and you may have to make other
sacrifices in order to find the time, for example going out.
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Applying to medicine is a very demanding process both physically and emotionally,

and the prospect of the interview often scares applicants. However, interviewers are
usually very nice and are only trying to get an idea whether you genuinely want to
study medicine, and whether you are going to be a good representative of their
university. Also remember that medicine is a very challenging course, so admission
tutors are also looking to see whether you can cope with the academic pressures.

Good luck!
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The Medical School Interview

by Zehra Imam

I sent my UCAS form off in early October and embraced the long waiting period
before I was summoned to any interviews. It was only after my first interview that I
understood what Alice James meant by “One has a greater sense of intellectual
degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience”.

Having done my UKCAT earlier on in the summer, the anxious interim period up to
the interviews was a blessing in disguise. After every stage it felt as if one hurdle was
crossed and another one was on the horizon. The BMAT was done in November and
that was the phase I got restless about when I would finally be called for interview.
But alas, in this period one can do nothing but prepare for the interview itself. The
best way to prepare for the interview is to read as widely as you can about what you
have written in your personal statement and stay up to date with the medical news
in the media and scientific magazines. Even though I’d already been doing that, I
stepped up my efforts after the UCAS form was sent off.

In terms of juggling work alongside the interview preparations, time management is

of the essence. I had to keep on top of my school work and use any free lessons that
I was showered with for my interview preparation. Understandably, it was hard to
find spare time amidst the several extracurricular activities I was already involved
with, for example editing the yearbook and arranging the leaver’s hoodie, as chair of
Leaver’s Committee. However, even doing some further reading in the bus, during
breakfast or talking in tutorials to my teachers induced ideas for the interview. I
believe, had I started practicing my interview with teachers at school, peers and
family earlier, the nerves on the day would not have been a major issue.

I kept abreast myself with the medical news in the media and all of the ethical issues
that were making the headlines such as euthanasia in the Swiss private clinics. I did
this by reading broadsheet newspapers from the local library and the BBC news
website at home. Both resources were easily accessible and quite straightforward to
understand since their audience is the layman.

Since I had mentioned autism in my personal statement relating to my work

experience, I read more around the disorder and also read “The Curious Case of the
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Dog in the Night Time” by Mark Haddon. The book gave me great insight into how an
autistic mind could work. I was hoping to be called for an interview at Oxford and for
that I familiarized myself with the A2 course well in advance, just in case I was asked
academic questions in the interviews.

On top of that I re-read the other books and magazine issues that I had mentioned in
my personal statement, such as the Student BMJ, the Economist and the New
Scientist. Reading the current issues was vital, otherwise I’d have appeared as if I
only read certain material for the sake of the personal statement. Reading such
issues is beneficial since their contents are appropriate for future Medics.
Universities are looking for this reading habit because once you are doing your
degree you would be expected to read massive text books, if you can’t do this now
then it would be a huge effort later on. By making frequent trips to the library I
came across some really interesting books such as Medicine’s 10 greatest discoveries
by Dr. Meyer Friedman M.D. and Gerald W. Friedland M.D. I continued making trips
to Central London to attend lectures at the Hunterian Museum and other such
medical related events.

‘On top of that I re-read the other books and magazine issues that I had mentioned in
my personal statement, such as the Student BMJ, the Economist and the New
Scientist.’

By attending the Intensive Training Course held by Ace Medicine last November, I
felt I was greatly helped and found myself in a better position than other students
who hadn’t attended it. Looking back, I think only students who had doctors as
parents or really close friends doing Medicine would have had the capacity to
research and know about the hot topics that the course informed me about. These
include mental capacity, the development of the NHS, Complementary Medicine in
the NHS and the in-depth information about the Medical Ethics and Laws. On top of
this, the confidence that I gained from attending the lecture was invaluable.

‘By attending the Intensive Course held by Ace Medicine, I felt I was greatly helped
and found myself in a better position than other students who hadn’t attended it.’

I had my first interview at University College London (UCL) in early December. My

BMAT score confirmed me an interview at UCL, however it wasn’t high enough to
secure me an interview at Oxford. The interview was a great learning experience. I
hadn’t done a single mock interview before that because I was worried I might seem
very robotic before the interview panel.
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However, rather ironically, I came across “as very robotic in my interview” (that was
the feedback from the UCL). I believe if I had done a mock interview, I would have
come across better at the UCL interview, since the nerves made me deliver my
answers in a very mechanical manner, and prior practise may have corrected this.

Also, at the interview room, I realised that one can never be totally ready for an
interview. Interviewers can take anything out of the hat; in my case, it was the link
between the MMR jabs and autism that let me down. I believe I may have also come
across as a bit opinionated when talking about media’s representation of the health
services.

My interview at UCL was a great experience. Naturally, I was upset when I got the
unfortunate letter informing me that I hadn’t been offered a place at the UCL. But I
wouldn’t deny the fact that I let myself down in the preparation for it. Even if people
say that I am a brilliant conversationalist and that I have superb public speaking
skills, I should have still done mock interviews, be it with my mum or a friend. If I
didn’t have the false confidence that I could do it without a mock interview, I
wouldn’t have thrown the opportunity away like I did.

Having said that, I have no regrets for what happened. I learnt a great deal from it.
Later on in the year I got an interview offer from St George’s University of London. I
was relieved; I felt I still had a chance. I felt I had a goal to work towards again.

I was absolutely petrified of doing a mock interview with my friends or even my

sister. I’m one of those people who at an interview are shy in front of familiar faces
but bold in front of strangers. Despite the fact I’d already done my interview at UCL I
felt I still didn’t have the answer to that universal question, “Why medicine?”.
Discussing ideas with family and friends made me ready and more comfortable for
the interview. Eventually, I did pluck up the courage to look across the table to my
friends and have a constructive mock interview. My mistakes and experience from
my UCL interview, combined with the feedback I had received, made me a better
and more mature interviewee at St. George’s.

I was all smiles and confident on the sunny day. There were no butterflies in my
stomach. I made some great friends in the waiting room; enjoyed the exotic food
and drank plenty of orange juice!

Even in the interview room I was really happy. I was sitting up straight, thinking
before I spoke and conducting myself in a really mature manner. I was asked the
routine questions and then a few general questions that I answered fluently thanks
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to the extensive reading I had done in preparation for the interview. I spoke about
both sides of anything they asked me and gave my opinion of the topic too.

Most fortunately for me, I was asked about Medical discoveries! Equipped with how
to answer such questions from the Ace Medicine course and the huge encyclopaedia
of knowledge I had researched, I entertained my interviewers by telling them all I
knew. My only regret was the interview finished too quickly!

My advice to all the Medics would be to have a mock interview. I wish I had accepted
help from my teachers sooner rather than later. Steer clear of false confidence. Have
a mock interview done so that you have real confidence and faith in your abilities.
You will be amazed by your performance! You are at the interview because they
already like you, and just want to confirm that you are the same person they have on
paper; testing your enthusiasm, confidence and appearance. Can you cope with the
pressures that doctors face every day? Do you justify yourself by knowing what
you’ve written in your personal statement and reading widely regarding the topics
you’ve mentioned?

Good luck with your interview!

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