You’ve sent off your UCAS application to your medical schools. Now (after some well-deserved rest!) is a great time to plan ahead and start thinking about your Medicine interview. Here are our top five tips to prepare ahead of your interview offers.
Read medical news
Between now and interview season (November to March), make sure you keep up to date with the latest medical news. Common questions at interviews are on NHS Hot Topics, and some schools may ask you about an interesting medical news article you’ve read recently. A good way to prepare for these questions is to do a lot of reading! Install a news app on your phone or read the newspaper – and keep your eyes open for new stories in Medicine.
We have a series of Medical News Summaries on our blog (filter by ‘medical news’), which we publish every week. Something else which may help is to practice talking about the articles you read with your friends and family, so that you’re familiar talking about these topics at your Medicine interview.
Buy a smart outfit
The day before your Medicine interview, you don’t want to realise that you don’t have any smart clothes to wear! Make sure you have a pair of smart shoes and a clean outfit ready to wear on the day, so plan ahead and take yourself shopping.
Research your schools
Ahead of your Medicine interview, it’s a good idea to go over the course structure, content and teaching style of the four schools you applied to. Make sure you’re ready to answer common questions like, ‘Why do you want to study at Cardiff?’ or ‘What is it that appeals to you about the teaching style at Barts?’ by researching the medical schools, thinking specifically about what drew you to apply and making some notes.
Did you like the school’s reputation for research? Do they offer a particularly interesting course programme? Is Problem-Based-Learning appealing to you? Take a look at the Medical School Interview Questions you may be asked to help you prepare for these kinds of questions.
Revisit your work experience
Before your Medicine interview, make sure you re-read your personal statement to refresh your memory of your work experience. If you started your placement in Year 12 or earlier, the chances are you may have forgotten many aspects of your experiences – so it’s a good idea to look over any notes you made to prepare yourself for discussing it in your interview.
Make some notes on each of your placements under different headings. What did you learn from your placement? Could you describe a particularly difficult experience you had? Try going through Work Experience Interview Questions with a friend to practice speaking about your time at a hospital, GP or care home.
Know your Medicine interview format
Finally, make sure you check each school’s format so you don’t have any surprises on the day! Some schools use traditional interviews or MMI interviews – so check which ones you may need to prepare for.
You can check our Medical School Comparison Tool to check each school’s interview format. When you start to receive your interview offers, we also run MMI Circuits and Interview Courses to help you prepare.
Good luck!
