Overview
Hey everyone,
Are you a prospective medical student with an upcoming interview for medical school?
Check out these 4 tips to help you prepare for your interview.
Overview:
Tip #1 – Do Your Research
Tip #2 – The Rule of 3
Tip #3 – The STARR Method
Tip #4 – It’s Never Black or White
Introduction
Do you have an upcoming medical interview?
Unsure how to best prepare?
Every university and medical program has a different interview process and will ask different questions.
This article goes through four general techniques to help you structure your answers and perform your best on interview day.
Check them out below!
Tip #1 – Do Your Research!
Whilst preparing for your medical school interview, be sure to do some research into the medical program you are applying to.
Some important things you want to know before sitting the interview are:
How long is the program?
How is each year broken down? (Clinical, non-clinical or a mixture)
Most importantly, identify what makes each university unique and use that to your advantage in the interview. Is there a strong focus on rural medicine? Is there a strong research program as part of the degree?
Once you’ve researched these questions, work them into your answers on the day. This demonstrates that your eager to become a medical student at this university and that you would be a good fit for their medical program.
Tip #2 – The Rule of 3
Medical school interviews can involve answering very broad questions such as “Why do you want to become a doctor.”
Whilst there is no correct way to answer these questions, it is important to have a structure for your answer. Try to have 3 salient points for each answer that you give (and brainstorm them whilst preparing for your interview).
A structured answer makes it easier for the interviewer to follow and also helps you to remember your reasoning under pressure.
Tip #3 – The STARR Method
Medical school interviews frequently involve giving examples of your past experience with healthcare or a formative event that shaped your life.
They often sound like this: “Can you give an example of a time when…”
When answering these types of questions, try and have a structure for each example. One method you can use is the STARR method which stands for:
- Situation – Briefly outline the example
- Task – What was involved?
- Action – How you approached the task
- Result – What was the outcome?
- Reflection – What did you learn?
Structuring your examples in this format demonstrates that you have not only outlined the example, but also taken time to reflect on the result and what you have learnt from it.
Tip #4 – It’s Never Black or White
Medical schools LOVE to use ethical dilemmas as part of their interviews, so it’s important to know how you would approach an ethical dilemma. The purpose of asking these questions in interviews, is to determine how you would approach a new and unfamiliar scenario and apply reasoning to it.
When answering ethical questions, remember the four main ethical principles:
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Justice
- Autonomy
It’s important to remember that there are no wrong or right answers when it comes to ethical scenarios (that’s why they’re called dilemmas). The main purpose is to verbalise your thought process to give the interviewer an insight into your reasoning abilities. As a doctor, these abilities are used everyday to make healthcare decisions and guide treatment for patients.
Final Thoughts
Medical school interviews can be varied, unpredictable and nerve wracking. However, they can be more manageable with thorough preparation and using a framework to answer questions such as the STARR method and ethical principles.
If you have any more tips or tricks you’d like to share, send me an email at askdoctornisha@gmail.com.
Share this post!
