PRE-MED HANDBOOK

The Med School Interview

Obtaining an interview has become a major hurdle as several thousand applicants will have been narrowed to a few hundred to be interviewed at each school. Personal interviews are required at essentially all medical schools. Interviews are granted only by invitation of the admissions committee and mean that an applicant has passed the preliminary screening and is now being more carefully considered for admission. The impressions made in a personal interview will be extremely important, particularly for those students with grades and MCAT scores that are marginally competitive. Many feel that it is impossible to prepare for an interview, but learning what to expect is a method of preparation.

The actual interview is conducted in different formats at different medical schools. Most schools utilize a "one-on-one" personal interview with one to as many as four or five different interviewers. Others use a "group interview." Both medical schools in South Carolina utilize the one-on-one method of interviewing. At USC School of Medicine, interviews are normally scheduled on Wednesday afternoons, September through March. The process begins with lunch, and is followed by an informational session, then the actual interviews. There are two half-hour individual interviews followed by refreshments and a tour. At MUSC, the first interview is actually done by an MUSC alumnus prior to the campus visit. The remainder of the interview process is then generally performed on Fridays and consists of a second and third hour-long interview. Lunch, an information session, and a tour are also included.

You must be prepared to answer some rather personal questions about your background, beliefs, and experiences, as well as some general moral-reasoning and ethical questions. A good interview will determine what makes you "tick," how well you relate to others, and how well-informed you are on current events, particularly regarding events which will have an impact on medicine and its practice. The practice of medicine demands that a person be articulate and have well-developed interpersonal skills. Most experienced interviewers try not to place unnecessary stress on an applicant during the interview, but on some occasions an interviewer will purposely ask questions or exhibit attitudes designed to stress a student. A mature student will not become unduly flustered or antagonistic if subjected to a stressful situation, but will remain composed and continue to answer questions in a candid and straightforward manner. You should be aware that you may very well obtain an excellent rating from a person who may act a bit hostile. You may also have a poor rating from the "friendly doctor" with whom you had a very pleasant visit.

Listed below are some of the things an applicant might do to prepare for the interview.

• Review your record. Be prepared to straightforwardly answer questions regarding your grade point average, science average, MCAT scores, and grades on specific courses. Also, review your personal statement and the information you supplied on your AMCAS application. All is fodder for interview questions.
• Do not be surprised if you are asked about other medical schools to which you have applied. Answer honestly.
• Know who submitted your letters of evaluation and be able to answer simple questions regarding their field, where they were trained, etc.
• Have some familiarity with the medical school before the interview. Some applicants appear naive or very uninformed about a school to which they have applied. You should have some idea of the opportunities for research, or innovative programs at the institution. This information may be gained in a short conversation with a friend who is currently enrolled, or it may be obtained from the MSAR or the school’s catalog. The current catalogs for most of the 125 US medical schools are available in Pre-Professional Advising via the Internet. The interview usually offers an opportunity for the applicant to ask questions and obtain additional information about programs of special interest.

Listed below are a few statements/questions that are often used during an interview.

• Tell me about yourself. This is one of the most common ways to begin an interview. Many interviewers will ask that you continue if you are too brief. Be prepared to give more detailed explanations until the interviewer is satisfied. They often ask about your family and the kind of relationship you have with family members. This type of open-ended format gives you an opportunity to describe accomplishments while giving background information. An applicant should not sound boastful but "if you’ve done it, it ain’t bragging" is an old adage. The interview gives you the opportunity to make the committee aware of positive things about you that would be difficult to present in any other way.
  
• What do you expect to be doing 10 (or perhaps 15) years from now? This gives the applicant an opportunity to discuss not only medical specialties that are of interest but preferences as to the type of practice, where you prefer to live (city vs. small town, region of the country, etc.), other plans plus any concerns that are important to you.
  
• Why do you want to be a physician? This may be asked as or followed up with...when and how did you first become interested in medicine? Do you have any work or volunteer experience in a medical setting?
  
• What do you do for enjoyment? This may include such questions as...what do you like to read, or what were the last three books you read? How do you stay physically fit? What are your hobbies, what sports do you enjoy, or what extracurricular activities do you participate in?
  
• What is your alternative plan? Often admissions committee members will ask what your plans are if you are not accepted to enter medical school? Will you apply again?
  
• Are you more interested in a clinical practice or research? Have you had any research experience? If the answer is yes, you will usually be asked to discuss the research in some detail.
  
• Why did you apply to this particular medical school? You might be asked where else have you applied/been interviewed/been accepted, and/or which school is your first choice?
  
• How do you plan to finance your medical education? Most medical students secure loans from various sources. There are also loan programs through the armed forces with repayment in service time.
  
• Are there any physicians in your immediate family? Are there any close friends who are physicians? This type of question may be asked to see if you are familiar with the life of a physician.
  
• Why did you attend your particular undergraduate institution? Why did you choose your particular major? Do you feel that you obtained a good education there? Why or why not? Information about your decision-making process may be under investigation with this type of question.
• Do you want to add anything? Always be prepared to make a closing statement, emphasizing a particular strength or something you want the interviewer to know that did not come up in the interview.
  
• Do you have any questions? Again, always have questions prepared. It can be something about that particular school or about the area, but always have a few questions prepared.

Some medical schools invite an applicant to be interviewed by a regional representative if the school is a long distance from both the applicant’s undergraduate school and home. The regional representative is usually an experienced physician who is a graduate of the medical school and he/she will typically have had considerable experience in interviewing, often as a former member of the admissions committee. The interview will usually be held in the doctor’s office. The purpose of this type interview is merely to save you the expense of traveling a great distance to interview at the medical school. The obvious disadvantage is that you will not see the facilities of the medical school, and the interview is usually with only one person.

An applicant who has received an invitation at a medical school a long distance from both home and school and who has applications pending at other medical schools in the area can often arrange to have multiple interviews while on the same trip, saving several hundred dollars in airfare. Not all schools will be able to accommodate applicants in this manner and sufficient time must be available to juggle schedules, but a long-distance call to the admissions office of other schools in the area to inquire if an interview might be forthcoming involves little outlay and it may save a great deal of money.

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