Medicine Interview Coming Up

Sorry for the late post. I have an interview coming up on Jan 23. I am so worried - it is a traditional panel interview and I feel so unprepared. Tbh i was expecting an interview from other MMI interviews and I haven't heard from them :s-smilie:

What should i do to prepare? Any tips from medical students?

Reply 1

Marathi

I've been reading the ISC book, seems to cover a lot of potential questions/scenarios and discusses common themes that should be covered as well as some basic history of medicine and the NHS.

I'd also recommend reading some of the GMC articles such as Tomorrow's Doctors and Good Medical Practice.

Reply 2

nucleus123

I have done all of that. Talking to other applicants, they have done all of that as well.

So I want something which can distinguish me from the other people being interviewed.

Should I do an interview course or is there some other good interview book?

Reply 3

General Medical Council

Original post by nucleus123

Hi @nucleus123 - hope you don't mind me jumping in here!

I thought some of our more interactive resources might be helpful for your interview prep. Our key learning materials are here, but I think the best one is Good medical practice in action.

This gives you a range of scenarios and you have to decide what a doctor should do at crucial points on a patient's journey. It's a bit more of an interesting way to get to know how our ethical guidance applies in real life!

You can also now access our guidance for doctors through our new app, My GMP. The app lets you access our guidance offline and you can add bookmarks to important sections.

Hope that's helpful but let me know if you need anything else or if you have any feedback on our resources.

Good luck for your interview!

Cheers,
Tanita

Reply 4

Angury

Original post by nucleus123

I guess what will distinguish you from other applicants are things that you've mentioned in your personal statement - motivations for applying to medicine (I know the reasons will be similar to other applicants but they will still be important to you in a personal way), how you have developed your skills through your voluntary experiences/extracurricular activities, what you have learnt from your work experience, what you believe you can contribute to the medical profession etc. Basically things that underline your reasons for becoming a doctor and what you can offer in terms of skills and personal attributes.

You as a person are very different from the next applicant - you just need to show your strengths and what you can offer from your experiences and personality.

I too found the ISC Book very helpful, but make sure you can personalise your answers and link what you say to your own experiences of healthcare/voluntary work etc.

As for other resources, I used to check the BBC News Health Website every day and make a note of any recent headlines which had caught my eye. I would then make sure that I could reflect upon it within an interview, talking about why I think it is important and what it means for the future of medicine/healthcare.

IMO a mock interview is the best practice you can get - it will help you overcome the initial nervousness and help you recognise what areas you stumble over, as well as helping you to make your answers more coherent.

Finally, whatever medical school it is, make sure you check from from others who have had interviews there recently what sort of questions they like to ask. That should also help to give you some confidence.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

The Medic Portal

Original post by nucleus123

What should i do to prepare? Any tips from medical students?

Hi there!

First of all - congratulations on getting an interview!

There are several great ways to prepare - it sounds simple, but one of the best ways to stand out is to practice your answers and do your research beforehand. Research the medical school itself, as well as the city, the course and any extra-curriculars you like the sound of. For a panel interview, body language is important - so make sure you're angled toward all members of the panel and make eye contact with each of them as you answer.

One of the best things you can do is to prepare some good answers for common interview questions, like 'Why Medicine?' and 'Why [x] medical school?'. Really think about your answers to these - for 'Why Medicine?' you could borrow from your personal statement and expand on some of the things you mentioned there.

You can take a look at our Interview Question Bank for an idea of some of the more traditional questions you may be asked - as well as detailed answer guides. We also have a page on Traditional Interviews which you may find useful.

We also run one-day Interview Courses, which cover traditional interview styles and proven techniques. If you're looking for some one-to-one advice, you could also try an Interview Tutoring session. These sessions can be completely tailored to suit you, so you can choose a full-length mock interview or focus on how to succeed in a panel interview.

Hope this helps! :smile:

The Medic Portal

Reply 6

nucleus123

Thank you everyone!

I have checked all the resources you all have given me and they are really helpful and invaluable for preparing for my interview.

Moreover, thank you Angury for all the interview tips. I think the only thing left for me to do is to arrange mock interviews. The thing is that my school does not have much advice for medical candidates so there is no good place to get mock interview practice at school. Moreover, I barely know any other medical applicants.

I would do the MedicPortal course but it's quite expensive. I dont know if you guys offer bursaries or something. I think I might do a course by MedHeads or MedicalInterviews as they are cheaper. In the end, I just want to get some interview practise so if you know any more cost effective courses / ways for a Londoner to get some interview practice - please send them my way

PS I was thinking of doing online or phone interview practise but I want something more like the real experience as I can just do online interview practise with tsr people for free :smile:

Reply 7

ax12

Original post by nucleus123

I would say that it isn't worth paying for interview practice. It will be just as useful looking at previous interview questions and thinking through them or asking your family/friends/teachers to do a 'mock' interview.

At the end of the day, you are what will make your application/interview stand out, no one can teach you how to do it.

Don't rote learn answers to questions, as they can tell when you have done this, and they don't want someone who has essentially been coached through the interview process. It's worth thinking about answers but a lot of medical schools don't ask the 'typical' interview questions because they know that people practice and look up 'ideal' answers.