In Canada, we predominantly have 3 various styles of medical school interviews. The first is the traditional panel style interview, the second the multiple mini interview (MMI) and the third the modified personal interview. Each style comes with its own strengths and weaknesses as a tool to assess applicants for medical school and focuses on assessing a different set of skills. The 2 interviews I had to prepare for were the traditional style interview and the MMI. In the MMI you rotate through a 10 station circuit with 2 break stations where you answer a variety of questions. The scenarios can include critical thinking problems, personal questions, collaboration stations and stations with an actor.
Interviews can be extremely nerve wracking because it seems such a huge part of your future is being determined by a couple of minutes with an assessor. The first tip is to change the way you think of interviews. As opposed to it being a daunting experience, think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell others what you are passionate about! Changing my mindset helped me channel my frustration into passion which was evident to my peers whom I practiced with.
Now, a lot of people tell you that practice makes perfect which is true but I have found practicing with a variety of different people to be one of the best ways to prepare. The feedback you receive from one individual vastly differs from the next. This specifically helps identifying the little quirks we have such as funny facial expressions, hand movements and sentence structure. Furthermore, it is also the most indicative of how different people perceive your answers. This was invaluable for the MMI circuit as it got me accustomed to seeing different interviewers in every station and building rapport with them.
If you would like more tips on MMI, leave a comment below!
