🖥️ UCAT
🔬 BMAT
🦷 Dentistry
💼 Application Guide
📚 Personal Statement
💬 Interviews
🐶 Veterinary Medicine
🏫 Medical Schools
🌍 International Medicine
🎓 Graduate Entry Medicine
Application Guide 2023:
Interview
Top 6 Tips to Ace your MMI Medical School Interview in 2023
Adam
Admissions Expert at TheUKCATPeople
Introduction
With how monumental MMI medicine interview preparation can seem, it’s often difficult to know where to start. However, some rules and tips are universal and can help you no matter the style, location, or content of your next interview.
Read through the top 6 tips of one of our expert medical student tutors who received four offers following his interviews.
🏫
1. Consider medicine interview etiquette
It can sometimes be difficult to know how to act in a medical school interview, or what’s expected of you. Follow these key rules and you’ll know what to expect so that you can focus on what really matters - your answers.
Should you handshake in medical school interview? In short - it doesn't matter. Whatever feels most comfortable to you. If your interviewer reaches out to shake your hand then you should, of course, do so, but if not then there is no requirement. Medical schools understand that candidates may not want to for a variety of reasons, not least of all the covid-19 pandemic.
Introductions: Your interviewer will likely introduce themself, and if you are given the opportunity to do so then you should - briefly. This also goes for any icebreaker questions such as “how was your journey in?” - these should be answered politely but not in great detail, as you don’t want to take time away from your answers to more important questions.
Dress to impress: Remember to dress according to the dress code that the university has given you. For more in-depth advice on what this may entail, check out our full medical school interview dress code guide.
⭐
2. Remember the three golden rules
There are three golden rules that every medical school interview answer should follow. Awareness of them is the key to making sure that all of your answers are exceptional.
Answer the question: Yes, this seems obvious, but it’s worth stating. In particular, be wary of questions that sound like ones you may expect but are slightly different - it’s very easy to answer a question adjacent to that which you have been asked rather than the question itself.
Sell yourself: You should take every opportunity possible to talk about your personal attributes and work experience. The things that make you a great candidate aren’t only to be shared in response to direct questions about it - tie it in elsewhere too. For example, when asked about a relevant issue in the NHS, mention how you saw the impact of this on your work experience.
Sound different from the people before and after you: Yes, medicine is a lifelong learning process - but your interviewer has likely heard this a dozen times today already. Wherever possible, try to make unique points or to tie more generic ones into your own experiences so that they are as memorable as possible.
📚
3. Know how to structure a medical school interview answer
Your answers shouldn’t just be a collection of disparate thoughts, as this can be rather tricky for an interviewer to follow.
Rather, follow a set structure:
Introduction: This introduces the main themes of your answer, and can be a chance to layout “headings” for your main points if you already know them.
Main body: Make sure that each point you make is clear and distinct. Introduce each one, and use linking words such as “additionally”.
Conclusion: Tie your points together and link them back to the question that you were originally asked.
❓ Applying for 2024 Entry?
✅ Join our incredibly successful Ultimate Package programme
✅ Receive 1-1 mentoring from qualified doctors & dentists
✅ Advice on work experience, volunteering, wider reading & universities
✅ Expert UCAT Tutoring, BMAT Tutoring, PS Editing & Interview Tutoring
✅ 100s of successful students