I’m a 4th year who got in the first time (previous post has my experiences and how I prepared). I’m now preparing for residency interviews. Here are some general advice on how to ace your med school interviews. First of all, tell yourself that out of ALL (maybe a couple of thousand) applicants, you are among the 250-300 students being interviewed. Work hard and prepare well in the next few days before your interview:
1. Know your application REALLY well - memorize the main gist of your essays. Why you wanna be a doc? What is your passion? How are you different from the rest of the applicants? Read your personal statement and secondary essays at least 10 times. Your interviewers may look mean when they ask about your weaknesses, but keep in mind that they just want to know more about you, so they can talk to the committee and explain your weaknesses. Figure out your weaknesses and come up with a great answer on why they’re weak, just in case they ask you about those things.
2. Watch this video:
(part I) and also watch part II. This gives you an idea on how to answer questions well (especially sensitive topics), how to behave, how to prepare, etc. Take some notes on the major things and practice in your head several times.
3. Look at example questions on medical school interviews:
https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/typical-medical-school-interview-questions.1219639/. There is a link on SDN (Student Doctor Network) that provides example questions that are specific for UNM. You may be able to Google it. Because you’ve watched #2, practice answering these questions several times.
4. Read up on healthcare issues in NM and US. The NM DOH usually have a report every few years on statistics on infant mortality, substance abuse, poverty, etc. (probably like The State of Health in New Mexico). Don’t memorize the numbers, but be aware of the problems in NM and what are being done about them (for example, with substance abuse, there is the Prescription Monitoring Program). Also, find out what are the issues nationally (just Google something like “biggest healthcare issues” or something).
5. Schedule a mock interview (twice if you can) at the UNM Office of Career Services. They’ll be able to coach you and the practice will give you some confidence. They also have a list of similar questions from other medical schools.
6. Groom well (shave, do your nails, etc.). Wear suit and tie. Don’t wear a cologne (just shower that AM, so you don’t smell!).
7. Be confident enough that they could see you as their colleague, but not to the point of being arrogant/cocky.
Good luck!
