Let’s discuss 5 tips to tackle medical school interviews. In particular we’re going to talk about the MMIs! This post will discuss what is the MMI like and then 5 tips: 1) Mindset, 2) Answer Structure, 3) Take a Pause, 4) Reflect, and 5) No need for a perfect answer.
I’ll start with the disclaimers that I do not represent the official views of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, or any other medical school, I can’t discuss any details of my actual MMI stations, and this is what has worked for me, but may or may not work for you. You’ll ultimately find the way that works best for you.
What is the MMI like?
At UBC, the MMI has 11 different stations. Questions are taped outside doors of interview rooms. You first get 2 minutes to read the question and think about it. Then you go inside the interview room and have 7 minutes to answer. Then you go to the next room, read the answer and answer and repeat this cycle. These questions vary every year. And at UBC, one of these is a writing station. For more information, check out UBC Med’s MMI website: https://mdprogram.med.ubc.ca/admissions/interviews/interview-process-demonstration/
How do I prepare for and approach the interview?
- Instead of viewing the MMI as a scary test where they are out to catch minor mistakes, think of the interview as an opportunity to showcase yourself – the aspects of you beyond your resume. This is your chance to show how enthusiastic, or thoughtful, or friendly you are. Think of this as a great opportunity instead of a test. (Thanks for my mentor DC for this tip!)
- Structure your answers so they are easy to follow. I acknowledge that there is controversy whether free-flow or structure your answers, so this will help some of you and not everyone. So take what I say with a grain of salt. I personally found that following the same structure for every question helped me feel calm because I knew exactly how I was going to tackle a question. I tend to ramble and go on tangents so I needed the structure to stay on track because I knew there were other things I wanted to say.
- Your stance & a preview of what you’re going to say
- Point by point
- Summary
- If you do start to ramble or not make sense and feel flustered, ask for a moment to take a collect your thoughts. It shows self-awareness to say “Sorry, I feel myself talking in a disorganized manner right now. I’m going to take a few seconds to collect myself before I continue.” Don’t take too long, but I think it’s reasonable for you to feel a little nervous and to have many ideas bursting. Be kind to yourself and take the time that you need.
- To prepare, spend a lot of time reflecting on your life experiences. What moments shaped you into the person you are today. What moments made you want to pursue medicine. What were some really difficult lessons that you learned – the mistakes that you made that maybe you still think about once in a while. When you were having a difficult time, what moments do you think about that give you motivation to move forward. To summarize this point, get to know yourself well.
- Your interviewer is not expecting you to give a perfect answer because there is no perfect answer. A question might be about an issue that has been debated for years and no one’s come up with a perfect solution yet so don’t worry, no one’s expecting you to come up with that solution in 7 minutes. It’s more important that you are showing how you are thinking this question through, you are showing your values, and your communication skills. On the theme of no perfect answer, there is no perfect stance. You’ll read on Premed 101 that you should always take a strong stance or else you seem wishy-washy. I personally believe there are appropriate moments to take a strong stance. If you genuinely feel very strongly about an issue, then take that strong stance. However, a lot of situations in life are more nuanced and going too far on either extreme is not the best. I think there are many times where it is appropriate to be somewhere in the middle. This is also controversial but I think if you come up with some other ideas, it can be appropriate to change your chance. In real life, the more we think about an issue and the more information we gain, we change our perceptions of an issue. We might change the diagnosis we gave a patient. I think if you start to think your original stance was flawed, it can show open-mindedness to be willing to admit that after further consideration, you now think in a new way.
In summary, these 5 tips about the MMI were: have a positive mindset, use a structure, pause if you start rambling, know yourself well, and realize that there is no perfect answer. Good luck on your interviews!