Types of Medical School Interviews

Types of Medical School Interviews

The medical school application process is long, challenging, and competitive. After you submit your AMCAS application and complete your secondaries, it’s time to think about the medical school interview. Schools make a big cut in candidates between secondaries and interviews, so if you’ve made it to the coveted third stage, congratulations! It’s now time to familiarize yourself with the types of medical school interviews you might encounter.

Throughout the United States, medical schools use different kinds of interviews to evaluate their candidates. These are: traditional interviews, group interviews, and multiple mini interviews. While these interviews differ in structure, they all aim to learn more about you as a prospective medical student. To help you prepare, I’ve outlined the timeline for the interview process, how to approach each type of interview, and some common questions for each format. 

Medical School Interview Timeline

Once you’ve written your medical school secondaries and turned them in (ideally within two weeks of receiving the prompts), interview emails can start rolling in as early as August. Since you can’t be accepted without an interview, the stakes are higher than ever. Very few applicants are called in for an interview. At Harvard Medical School, for example, 757 of 7,734 applicants were interviewed for a recent entering class. [1] But if you get an interview, your chances are significantly higher. Of those 757 interviewed applicants, 215 received offers of admission, or roughly 28%. Compare that to fewer than 3% of all applicants receiving offers, and it is clear that your chances look much better once you have an interview.

Invitations and interviews then continue on a rolling basis, often into the spring. At Stanford, for example, the earliest interview invitations go out in August and continue on a rolling basis. [2] You might encounter one or all of the different types of medical school interviews during your application process. It’s essential to practice different scenarios beforehand so that you can find the best ways to get noticed among your peers. Preparing for this critical phase of your path toward medicine starts with getting to know the different types of medical school interviews you might face.

Traditional Interview

The traditional interview is typically one-on-one, and lasts for about 30 to 45 minutes. You may be interviewed by a faculty member, community member, a current student, or a practicing clinician. Depending on the school, you may be scheduled for one or two rounds of traditional interviews. In this type of interview, the interactions between you and the interviewer are usually conversational and as the name suggests, traditional. 

Some schools may have specific goals for each interview; for example, each interviewer may be given a certain set of character traits to evaluate and comment on, or may have a structured format with standardized questions. The setting may also be extremely informal with each individual interviewer determining the mood and structure of the interview. Each interviewer will have variable experience interviewing and their own personal interview style. You may or may not be specifically assigned certain interviewers depending on interests you expressed in your application. 

Traditional interviews might be open or closed. In an open interview, the interviewer has already seen your application documents and has a good sense about you and your academic background. In a closed interview, your interviewer has not seen your application and knows nothing about you, except your name and the college you attended. Because of this, all your responses and the things you are going to say are new to the interviewer. It’s important to show them who you are in a clear, concise, and interesting manner.

Group Interviews

A group interview is similar to a traditional interview in the sense that you’ll still be asked questions by your interviewer. However, two or more other candidates will be present in the room for their interviews at the same time. This can be a little daunting – after all, you’ll have to hear about other applicants’ paths and they’ll be learning about yours. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – you might find it comforting to have others present during the interview.

Group interviews help admissions committees assess your teamwork skills more than other types of medical school interviews. Alongside expected questions about your personality and goals, group interviews might present you with a teamwork exercise. Schools want to see how you communicate, analyze scenarios and work with others as these are highly necessary skills for a medical career. It might be tempting to solve the entire exercise by yourself, but that won’t impress anyone. Instead, listen to team members, help delegate responsibilities, and think about what will benefit all of you rather than just trying to solve everything alone. Of course there’s nothing wrong with stepping up as a leader – but make sure you’re aware of your teammates’ needs as well. 

Group formats are less common than traditional interviews or MMIs, and schools change their formats over time. Check each school’s admissions site and your interview invitation to confirm what to expect.

Multiple Mini Interview (MMI)

The most unique among the types of medical school interviews is the multiple mini interview, or MMI. MMIs involve 6-10 interview stations, each focused on a different question or scenario. You will be given a description to review, prepare for 2 minutes, and then have a 5 to 8 minute time slot where you discuss a topic, interact with a patient/family member, or react to an issue. The interviewer will observe your responses and evaluate the way you interact with him or her. The MMI is a closed-file interview – you are typically being evaluated by a standardized patient who does not know anything about you. You are assessed with an established evaluation form after the encounter. 

The MMI evaluates your verbal and nonverbal communication skills, critical thinking, ethical decision-making skills, and knowledge of the healthcare system. The rationale behind the MMI is that the more interviewers and the more samples of behavior, the more reliable the interview information. It is meant to dilute the chance of interviewer or situational biases. A candidate is not expected to have any specialized knowledge to participate effectively in the MMI. 

Some medical schools combine traditional interviews and MMI, so you might encounter a hybrid interview. Many schools have incorporated the MMI, either on its own or alongside traditional interviews, so confirm each school’s current format on its admissions site.

Virtual Medical School Interviews

Many medical schools now conduct some or all of their interviews online. A virtual interview can follow any of the formats above: a traditional one-on-one conversation over video, a panel, or an MMI in which you rotate through a series of virtual rooms. The questions are the same, but the setting adds a few details you need to manage yourself.

• Test your technology early. Confirm that your camera, microphone, and internet connection work on the platform the school uses, and have a backup plan, such as a phone hotspot, in case your connection drops.
• Set up a quiet, neutral space. Choose a spot with a plain background and even lighting in front of you rather than behind you, and let anyone you live with know when you will be interviewing.
• Look at the camera, not the screen. Eye contact over video means looking into the lens when you speak, which takes practice.
• Treat it like an in-person day. Dress professionally, log in early, and stay engaged during any virtual tours, student panels, or information sessions.

Practice with mock interviews over video so the format feels familiar by interview day. Work through these common medical school interview questions and multiple mini interview questions, and prepare a few questions to ask at medical school interviews so you are ready when the interviewer turns the conversation over to you.

How to Find Out Which Interview Format a School Uses

Now that you’ve seen the types of medical school interviews that are out there, you might be wondering which interviews are used by the schools on your list. It’s crucial to go in knowing what to expect. Remember, schools with traditional interview formats might spring a group interview on you as well. Each school’s admissions website and your interview invitation will tell you whether to expect a traditional, MMI, or hybrid format, and schools can change formats from year to year.

Whatever format a school lists, you could end up in a group setting as well. Even if you’re only applying to schools which have traditional interviews, keep in mind that it might not always be one-on-one. 

Common Medical School Interview Questions

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the different types of medical school interviews offered by your top choice institutions, it’s time to think about what kind of questions you will have to tackle. Since the interview is the final component of your application, admissions committees will already have learned a lot about you through your personal statement, activities list, and secondary essays. Consider the ways in which you can elaborate on your background, interest in medicine, and goals without repeating information the interviewers may already know about you.

You don’t want to get thrown off by unexpected questions – especially when you’re in a group. You can be asked questions on a variety of topics – your reasons behind pursuing medicine, your interest in the specific school, your take on current events, your teamwork skills, your career plans, your response to ethical situations, and more. Below are some common questions to help you practice for the various types of medical school interviews. 

Common Questions for Traditional Interviews

• Why do you want to be a doctor?
• Why do you want to attend our school?
• Are there any specific features of our school that interest you?
• What are your specific goals in medicine?
• What motivated you to pursue medicine?
• Where do you see yourself in 10-15 years?
• How do you react to stress?
• How do you handle making important decisions?
• How would your teammates describe you?
• How do you spend your spare time?
• Tell us about a time you failed.
• What do you think is the most pressing issue in medicine today?

Example MMI Questions

• A close friend in one of your university classes tells you that his mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. He feels overwhelmed by his studies and is considering dropping his courses to spend more time with his mother. How do you counsel your friend?
• Liberation Therapy (LT), a vascular operation developed to potentially cure multiple sclerosis (MS) in certain patients, has recently come under very serious criticism – delaying its widespread use. Among other experimental flaws, critics cite a small sample size in the original evidence used to support LT. As a healthcare policy maker, your job is to weigh the pros and cons in approving novel drugs and therapies. Please discuss the issues you would consider during an approval process for LT.
• You are told that this weekend you’re going on a camping trip. Before you is a table of random objects. You have 20 seconds to pick 5 objects you deem to be of the most importance and value, and explain.
• You are told that you are entering a hospital staff room 10 minutes prior to performing surgery with Dr ‘X’. As you enter, you see Dr ‘X’ take a swig of a clear drink from a bottle which you suspect is alcohol. Over the course of the conversation, the doctor begins to forget things and slur their words. How do you handle the situation?
• The interviewer tells you that you have 4 minutes to explain the process/purpose of vaccination to them, speaking as you would to any competent adult. When you have finished, they give you another 4 minutes to explain the same thing as if you were speaking to a young child who is about to be vaccinated. This time, you may use a whiteboard and marker to support your explanation if you choose.

As you can see, the questions for traditional interviews and MMI differ in structure. However, both types aim to learn more about your personality and aspirations, as well as gauge your communication style, empathy, and knowledge of ethical principles.

Even though the types of medical school interviews vary depending on where you’ve applied, if you practice your answers ahead of time, you’ll set yourself up for a smooth-sailing interview process! Good luck!

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