5 Simple Ways to Excel in Your Medical School Interviews.
You got all your applications in early, took care of your personal statement, and did your secondary essays early, too. Now you’ve got the call for a medical school interview, and you could get accepted. You’ve got to nail the interview. This article can help you with that.
ENSURING YOU KNOW THE PROCESS.
Before you do anything else in regards to your medical admissions interview, understand how the process works. If you’re clear on the criteria for being selected, and understand the kinds of questions that will be asked, you’ll have far fewer unexpected problems and will be calm and confident during the 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.
HOW CAN YOU BE READY FOR YOUR INTERVIEWS?
1) Review all documents you submitted including your personal statement, application and secondary essays. Anything written in your application is fair game for discussion.
2) Even if it seems strange, you really need to practice for the interview.
Is there anything else you can do that will help you prepare for the interview?
You can seek out the advice and professional help from a lot of different people, but how can you be sure you’re choosing the right person? Keep your skepticism level high. There are people out there full of bad advice, and others who are helpful. Let’s break down a few of the major categories.
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) Advisors who are physicians: There are lots of doctors who give advice, but it’s important to know if they’ve ever worked on any kind of admissions committee. There are some phony credentials floating around out there – keep your guard up.
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.
Consider your choices carefully, as the investment in someone to help you with your admission can mean the difference between getting in and not. You want an individual with medical admissions committee experience, lots of work in the medical education sector, and a great ability to write well.
How about some sample questions you could encounter during an interview?
How do you balance your time?
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?
How do you remember everything you have to do?
What would you do if you could not pursue a career in medicine?
If you need help with your applications, your personal statement, or simply need preparation for your medical school interviews, call MedEdits — we’ll help.
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