Medical School Interviews

Congratulations on submitting your application to medical school.  Those who have submitted will be filling out secondary applications soon.

(Which, are in my opinion, an unnecessary waste of money.  It used to be that med schools would only send secondaries out to those they were interested in, but they send them out to everyone more or less, for the money)

Anyway, I remember getting my first email telling me I was selected to interview.  I felt pretty excited, and a bit anxious.  I had actually bought "The Medical School Interview" by Dr. Jeremiah Fleenor in preparation, which might sound nerdy, but this guy has really amazing advice.  Dr. Fleenor has a business background in addition to a medical background, which gives him so much insight into the interview process of a competitive field.

I highly recommend the book.  I'd like to continue with my personal insight into the interview process though:

1.  They want to get to know you.  

Med school admissions committees ("adcoms") have seen that you look great on paper and they want to meet you.  They not only want to get a feel for your personality (you'll be interacting with the residents, attendings, and patients after basic sciences), they want to get to know what you do for fun, where you like to hang out, things that have inspired you do pursue a career in medicine, etc.

2. It's not just about your CV!

I wanted to expand on my previous point.  Most of the interviews I went on were friendly, and some didn't even include talking about my research!  The best interview I had was with this one young doctor: we spent most of the time talking about music and bands we liked.  It was so awesome.

I think the best way to handle this is to go in relaxed and with a positive attitude.  If you don't have much of a personality or interest in things other than medicine, it will be a challenge.

3.  Don't fear the interviewer.  I've had some hard interviews where I didn't have much of a chance to talk, but it wasn't because the interviewer was rude or didn't like me.  So don't take it personally if you find yourself in this situation.  Think of the interviewer as someone on your side who will introduce you to the admissions committee.  Think of them as a lawyer putting forth an argument for the committee to admit you.  But that means interviewing well!

4.  If you have problems with the interview, don't panic.  Find someone to talk to.  
I had a problem I can't really describe in too much detail on here, but I went ahead and got a hold of someone during interview day and told them what happened.  It ended up going really well, and I was accepted to that school.  The best thing to do is to take things in stride, don't panic, and bring problems to someone's attention.

5. Be confident.  But don't overdo it.  

The interviewers will have interviewed a lot of highly-motivated, competitive applicants who have gotten to where they have by being intense.  Who do you think will stand out?  Likely the relaxed person who is engaged in the conversation, curious to find out more about the school, and appears genuinely interested in the interview.


6.  Have a plan.  This isn't so much as doing practice interviews and knowing how you'll answer questions, but rather, career plans.  An interviewer might ask where you see yourself in 5-10 years time, or what you hope to accomplish.  Are you set on primary care?  Do you want to be a researcher, or just focus on patient care?  If you've made it this far, I hope you have a plan, or at least interests.

I'll be happy to go more into detail with interview days in another entry.  Til next!