20 Things You Should Do Before Your Med School Interview
Have you done these 20 things before your med school interview? Masumah gives her ultimate interview preparation checklist here!
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1. Do you know the 4 principles of medical ethics?
Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-Maleficence and Justice – make sure you know what they mean and how to use them.
Read up on:
2. How well do you understand confidentiality?
This is sometimes considered to be the 5th pillar of medical ethics, so it’s very important. You should know what it is and when it can be broken. Capacity and consent are two other important concepts that will come up here and you should know about them too!
Read up on confidentiality>>
3. Make sure you know the structure of your course
Is it a PBL course, a traditional lecture-based course or maybe even an integrated one?
Read about the differences between each here>>
4. Do you know how Anatomy is taught?
Some universities use prosections, whereas others use full body dissection and some even use models and computer simulations. Know the university you’ve applied to.
5. What are some of the special features of the course that attract you?
Do you like the idea of full-body dissection? Perhaps your university incorporates early clinical experience?
6. What do you like about the university?
It’s always possible that you could be asked why you picked a certain university so make sure you know your reasons.
Find out what to research about your school before your interview>>
7. Read the GMC Guidelines
Tomorrow’s Doctors is definitely the main one you should be familiar with, so make sure you’ve read it!
8. Are you familiar with the main organisations involved with Medicine in the UK?
Obviously, we all know what the NHS is, but do you know about the GMC, BMA, NICE? If not, make sure you find out before you go for your interview!
9. Have some work experience examples in your head
It’s always nice to throw in real-life examples of things you’ve seen when it’s relevant, so why not look over your reflections and pick out some good scenarios to keep at the back of your mind?
Learn how to answer work experience questions>>
10. Motivation for Medicine…
Yes, you would have answered this in a great amount of detail in your personal statement, but do make sure you’re able to verbalise it as well.
Learn how to answer questions on motivation for medicine>>
11. Do you know your personal statement?
Make sure you can talk about anything you’ve written in there with great confidence. It’s very possible it could be pulled out in front of you on the day and you really don’t want to be in for a shock!
12. Make sure you do a mock interview!
It’s inevitable that you might not do so well in your first interview, so make that be a practise one so you can be better equipped for the one that really matters.
Try a practice mock interview>>
13. Have you thought about how you possess the qualities of a doctor?
Some the main qualities would be: good communicator, teamwork, leadership, compassionate, empathetic – you should be able to provide examples for all of these.
14. Have you been keeping up with health-related news?
Current affairs are a common theme that is touched upon in many interviews, make sure you have a good idea of what’s going on in the Medical world. Nothing too deep though, BBC health will serve perfectly well.
Read up on NHS hot topics>>
15. Look through example questions and answers
You’ll never be able to predict the questions that will pop up in your interview, but it’s definitely still be worthwhile familiarising yourself with the types of questions you could be asked.
See our Interview Question Bank>>
16. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
The question here is do you know yourself? Reflective practice is a common theme in Medicine, so getting you to reflect on yourself wouldn’t be out of the ordinary at a medical school interview.
17. Have you prepared for any specific parts of the interview you’ve been told about?
Some universities, particularly those using the MMI format, will let you know about some of the stations in advance. So be sure to read your interview email carefully and specifically prepare for anything mentioned.
Read more MMI tips>>
18. What are your extracurricular interests?
It’s quite likely that you could be asked about this in order to determine whether you have a good work life balance, so do give this some thought.
19. Talk to medical students at your chosen university
As well as giving you tips for the interview, they’ll also be able to give you an honest insight into what it’s like to study there.
20. What field of Medicine do you see yourself in?
You don’t need a definite answer, but just some thoughts. Perhaps you’d like to be involved in teaching or research alongside clinical Medicine? This is a good place to link your work experience in as well.
Words: Masumah Jannah
Masumah is a 1st year medical student at the University of Manchester. She runs a blog in which she shares her journey through medical school and also gives advice to students applying for Medicine.
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