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Pull up a chair and grad a cold one.
Interview season is here! Finally, here’s your chance to strut your stuff and show people why they should let you into their medical school. We take admissions interviews very seriously. Getting an invite means that we think you are academically prepared for medical school, and you meet the minimum demands of the profession's humanistic side by your numerous ECs.
The good news is that by getting an interview, you’ve survived a huge cut. Most interviewees represent 10-20% of the total applicant pool. And, at many places, just by setting foot on campus, you’re going to be accepted. But do NOT be complacent! People can and do bomb the interview.
Here’s some advice from experience gained over a decade of interviewing.
First, know the format. Some are 1 on 1, some are 2 on 1 or more. The interviewers may have your file, parts of your file, or be completely ignorant of what’s in your file. You may be also interviewed in a group of fellow potential students (which is how it’s done at my school). Your interviewers will most likely be faculty, with or without medical students on the panel, perhaps a layperson from the community, or a clinician not on the faculty.
You can get an idea of what the format is like, and the types of questions you’ll be asked by reading the Interview Questions section for the schools in SDN's Interview Feedback section: (School Rankings List | Student Doctor Network).
One of the best summaries ever on what interviewers look for can be seen here, thanks to the wise LizzyM. See post #3
Describe a good interview
For starters, here’s what you need to carry into the interview room:
People skills.
Being able to speak understandable English.
Demonstrate that you know what you're getting into.
Be familiar with the school. You’ll have to come up with a better answer to “why here?” than just “you invited me” or “I couldn’t get into (#1 choice school here).”
Be yourself!
Be confident. Be poised.
Know what's in your file.
Listen carefully. I will ding interviewees severely if I ask them X and they answer Y. Here’s one example: sometimes I ask people what their hometown is. They interpret this as an opportunity to tell me their life story, when the question really was "so, Jack/Jill, where are you from?"
Be prepared to get stressed. Some people are sweetie pies, and some are hard-asses (like me). We may deliberately rattle you to see how you handle stress. But there’s a difference between being probing, and being unprofessional.
Now, I'm sure someone is going to chime in that "yeah, but interviews are stressful", as if that’s going to excuse a poor performance. No doubt they are, but so are tying off a spurting artery on a MVA victim, or dealing with an acting out psychotic patient. Thus, with all the people we interview for our limited number of seats, the seats go to those who display grace under pressure. Panic is not an option for a doctor; clear-headed thinking is.
Do not lie. We have your app in front of you. We’re pretty good at catching liars. For example, Medicine can be a small community sometimes, and so your interviewer may actually know the person you shadowed.
If you’ve done research, you can very well expect to be asked about it. You should have an understanding of what you did, how you did it, what you found (if anything) and why you did it. If you were merely a tech following orders, and never engaged in any independent thinking, don’t pretend that you did.
Gravitas counts. Faculty and students don’t merely look at you as a potential student, but as a potential colleague. I try to image the interviewee wearing the white coat. I want to be comfortable with the idea of this person touching patients. I have a clinical colleague with an earthier criterion: “would you want this person to do a prostate exam on your dad?”
We know the interview tricks, so please don’t try to digress the question from X into what great team player you are or how prepared you are. You’re more likely to get smacked back to the center.
If you’re in a group interview, pay attention when other people are speaking.
After the interview is over, don’t get your hopes up just because the interviewer is being polite. Most people are really poor judges of their own performance. We're specifically told not to give any tip-offs that might give false hope. Any one interviewer’s comments could also be worthless, because the AdCom as a whole or the Dean might overrule that interviewer.
I received a PM from someone who just had an interview. He asked " ...I saw what looked like a grading rubric... is it possible that you are literally evaluated on paper? But have you heard of such a thing? Also what's with the note taking? Like what gets written down exactly?"
With interviews, the interviewer does have a score sheet. Questions for the interviewee might be written down on them as well. Without going into too much detail, we score interviewees on their ability think, talk and to listen. We also give them an overall final score.
We write down notes about both good and bad things interviewees say do (like "babbling idiot"; "didn't answer Joe's question"; "really articulate"; "great answer!"). We also might jot something down to prompt a follow-up question. When we're done, we write our final summaries on the candidates (the more info we write, the better for our wily old Admissions Dean when he discusses the outcome with our Dean, who is the Ultimate Decider).
Is there a certain weight that's given to these [interviewer’s] scores? At our school, just the "Overall Ranking" counts. This is averaged with those of the other interviewers. You need a certain number to be accepted. Even then, candidates do come up for discussion at times in the Adcom meeting. My score may be very divergent from the other interviewers (Drs W, X Y and student Z), and one of us will want it to be straightened out, one way or another in the meeting.
“So is it pass or fail? Or does having a very strong interview help you "beat" other applicants who have slightly better apps who had average interviews only?” With all due respect to my young correspondent, this notion that one interviewee is competing for one seat against other candidates (like tenure candidates at Yale) is 100% NOT true! We don't ration seats; it's always you competing against yourself.
Another person once asked: My MCAT is only xxx and sGPA y.yy so my question is, is it possible that these schools inviting me with the intention of placing me on an alternate list or a waitlist? Is that a thing that medical school admissions do?
I have to be the blunt New Yorker here: med schools have only a limited number of interview slots, and so they don't give sympathy ****s.
If you're being invited, it's because the Admission dean and/or the screeners think that on paper you look like a good candidate for being one of their students.
Here are some things that get people rejected immediately:
· Being unprofessional for any reason. An example is addressing a faculty member by their first name. Another is chewing gum during the interview. If you have a dry mouth, suck on a lozenge instead. BTW, the interview lasts all day. Acting unprofessionally during your tour, like yelling at a parking attendant, or trashing the school, or expecting the Admissions Office staff to hang up your coat or fetch you coffee is duly noted and affects your fate accordingly.
· Not taking the interview seriously, like showing up poorly dressed. This is suit and tie time (and nice dress/outfit/suit for the ladies). You're going into character. Yes, if the airline loses your luggage, we understand that.
· Do NOT be arrogant. People who think that they're God's gift to Medicine do not go into Medicine.
· Being too shy or nervous. Being quiet is OK; being monosyllabic or robotic is not.
· Not making eye contact is also a no-no (yes I'm aware that in some cultures, one does not look elders in the eye, but this is the USA and you need to look people in the eye here).
· Any hints of immaturity will be lethal for your chances. We expect you to be thoughtful and self-aware. Would you admit the gal who, when asked a hypothetical, "What would you do in this situation?" answers, "Oh, that wouldn't happen."
· Showing you're greedy.
· Showing any hint of entitlement. This includes the “I was accepted to XSOM, so what are you going to do for me?” The answer will be “Good luck and have fun at XSOM.”
· Being clueless as to why you're choosing Medicine as a career.
· Doing this because your mom/dad wants you to be a doctor (or don't think you can be doctor).
· Completely lacking people skills (4.0 automatons are a dime a dozen, really).
· Showing that you're more interested in research than Medicine. This might be OK at Stanford, but it won’t fly at most other schools.
· Still being the hyper-gunner...I rejected a 4.0 gal who wanted to answer the questions I asked of another person in the interview panel. I don't want to admit someone who will be in my office whining about how they got a 95 on an exam and deserved a 96.
· Having a flat affect. This might be due to medication, or a mental or personality disorder. You ever meet someone who could never crack a smile? I don't want someone like that touching patients.
· Copping an attitude. I asked a woman why she didn't have any volunteer experience. She replied that she was too busy working. Fair enough, some people have lives, but she copped an attitude while delivering this, and I just wrote down "reject".
· Coming in with scripted answers and being unable to deviate from said script.
· Being ill-prepared for fairly common interview questions (e.g. Why this school? Why Medicine?)
· Thinking that always circling back to your accomplishments and how great you are impresses us.
· Making excuses for misdeeds. We had rejected someone once who had some fairly benign misdemeanors, but blamed it on the policemen who gave him the tickets.
· Don’t do show and tell. I don’t want you pulling out a binder with your resume or portfolio. Let your application speak for you.
· Being a babbling idiot. These are those people who can't answer a question concisely. I've sure you've met people like this...why bother using one word when ten will do? I suspect that they’re thinking for an answer while they're speaking, so the mouth is going while the brain tries to come up with something.
· It’s OK to gather your thoughts, but it’s not OK to blank out. This group includes the people who do something like this (and I am NOT making this up!):
goro: So tell me about this trip to Honduras
Interviewee: Well, we went there for a mission trip and...what was the question?
goro: (thinking: reject!)
Or the guy who, when asked "How does your hobby relate to the practice of Medicine?", and can't even say "It doesn't", and definitely can't even BS an answer, but sits there in a coma?
In Zoom interviews, it's noticeable when people reading another screen (like their phone), talking to someone else out of camera view, or looking down at a paper or tablet/laptop and reading off answers.
During the interview day:
You’re interviewing the school as much as they’re interviewing you. You’re potentially going to give $250K+ and four years of your life to this place, so be sure to ask them questions, especially to the students there, such as “why did you come here? Why didn’t you go to the other schools you interviewed at? What are the best things? What are the worst things?” Ask this of Faculty too!
What about MMIs?
Here’s some great advice:
Crayola227's interview tips
HomeSkool's Guide to Multiple Mini Interviews
See my post here for things that you should be asking about:
Goro's Guide to YOUR Interview Questions (2018 edition)
If applicable, also see:
Goro's Guide for YOUR Interview Questions at a DO School (2018 ed.)
AFTER the interview:
Unless the school specifically welcomes LOI or updates, your work is done. If you're wait-listed, don't pester them, lest you be seen as someone who can't follow simple directions, or feel so entitled that the rules don't apply to you. People do get off wait lists, but one more LOR, or having just gotten new job at the hospital, or submitted a paper, isn't likely to convince the Dean of Admissions to move you up.
So after the interview, this is where we, the Adcom come in. We meet and go over the candidates. For >75% of you, you're in. The other 25% we talk about. Many of you will have passionate advocates. We look over and discuss anything problematic, like a low sGPA, or how you were shy or nervous. If you're a borderline candidate, this is where a great set of LORs or essay may save you.
Many schools use a scoring system more like boxing or Olympic gymnastics. You are judged by several different people. The total scores determine your fate.
But even that is not absolute. For example, let's say that I may love you and give you a 10/10, but W, X, Y and Z might give you a 6, 7, 5 and 2. That's an average of 5 (20/4). You need a 7 or more to be accepted, while a 3 or worse will be rejected. So the Admissions dean now lists you as "wait list".
In the Adcom meeting, I argue that the candidate was a great kid, strong upward trend, decent MCAT, yada yada, etc etc. Y is also at the meeting, but his argument doesn't carry as much weight amongst the Adcom. W, X and Z didn't come to the meeting, and all we have are their notes to go on, and there's nothing damning among them. So I sway the committee to move the candidate to "Accept" status.
Here's a different scenario: Despite all interviewers loving you, the Dean has concerns about your GPA. The Dean loves high GPAs. So he overrules the committee, and onto the waitlist you go.
I see tons of posts concerning thank you cards. If you like being polite, go ahead and send one to the Admissions Dean. But contrary to pre-med urban legend, they have ZERO effect on your fate. By the time they’re received, the admissions committee has probably met or the interviewers have already sent in their recommendations.
One last word of advice: Treat every interview like it's the only one you'll ever get.
And good luck! I hope to meet some of you. But always have a Plan B.
Quick notes for interviewees at DO schools.
Everything on the other post holds true, but you also need to show that you know something about Osteopathy. Please don’t simply parrot what you read on Wiki, there’s more to it than that. Those people who have shadowed DOs and compared and contrasted them to MDs will know what I mean.
You will need to articulate the reasons of “Why Osteopathy”, and “why our school”, because the curriculum will be pretty much the same wherever you go (but the delivery will be different).
Do NOT bash MDs. Some of your interviewers will be MDs, or married to them. If you’ve had poor experiences with allopathic medicine, that’s OK to discuss.
If you’ve seen OMM or OMT in action, that’s a plus.
If you’ve shadowed a DO, that’s a plus.
If you have a DO in the family, that’s a plus.
Be serious about this as your career choice. Don’t look back. If you really want to go to an MD school, well, go for an MD school. We don’t want to see posts next summer entitled “Accepted at DO school but wait-listed at MD.. Do I reapply?”
Interview season is here! Finally, here’s your chance to strut your stuff and show people why they should let you into their medical school. We take admissions interviews very seriously. Getting an invite means that we think you are academically prepared for medical school, and you meet the minimum demands of the profession's humanistic side by your numerous ECs.
The good news is that by getting an interview, you’ve survived a huge cut. Most interviewees represent 10-20% of the total applicant pool. And, at many places, just by setting foot on campus, you’re going to be accepted. But do NOT be complacent! People can and do bomb the interview.
Here’s some advice from experience gained over a decade of interviewing.
First, know the format. Some are 1 on 1, some are 2 on 1 or more. The interviewers may have your file, parts of your file, or be completely ignorant of what’s in your file. You may be also interviewed in a group of fellow potential students (which is how it’s done at my school). Your interviewers will most likely be faculty, with or without medical students on the panel, perhaps a layperson from the community, or a clinician not on the faculty.
You can get an idea of what the format is like, and the types of questions you’ll be asked by reading the Interview Questions section for the schools in SDN's Interview Feedback section: (School Rankings List | Student Doctor Network).
One of the best summaries ever on what interviewers look for can be seen here, thanks to the wise LizzyM. See post #3
Describe a good interview
For starters, here’s what you need to carry into the interview room:
People skills.
Being able to speak understandable English.
Demonstrate that you know what you're getting into.
Be familiar with the school. You’ll have to come up with a better answer to “why here?” than just “you invited me” or “I couldn’t get into (#1 choice school here).”
Be yourself!
Be confident. Be poised.
Know what's in your file.
Listen carefully. I will ding interviewees severely if I ask them X and they answer Y. Here’s one example: sometimes I ask people what their hometown is. They interpret this as an opportunity to tell me their life story, when the question really was "so, Jack/Jill, where are you from?"
Be prepared to get stressed. Some people are sweetie pies, and some are hard-asses (like me). We may deliberately rattle you to see how you handle stress. But there’s a difference between being probing, and being unprofessional.
Now, I'm sure someone is going to chime in that "yeah, but interviews are stressful", as if that’s going to excuse a poor performance. No doubt they are, but so are tying off a spurting artery on a MVA victim, or dealing with an acting out psychotic patient. Thus, with all the people we interview for our limited number of seats, the seats go to those who display grace under pressure. Panic is not an option for a doctor; clear-headed thinking is.
Do not lie. We have your app in front of you. We’re pretty good at catching liars. For example, Medicine can be a small community sometimes, and so your interviewer may actually know the person you shadowed.
If you’ve done research, you can very well expect to be asked about it. You should have an understanding of what you did, how you did it, what you found (if anything) and why you did it. If you were merely a tech following orders, and never engaged in any independent thinking, don’t pretend that you did.
Gravitas counts. Faculty and students don’t merely look at you as a potential student, but as a potential colleague. I try to image the interviewee wearing the white coat. I want to be comfortable with the idea of this person touching patients. I have a clinical colleague with an earthier criterion: “would you want this person to do a prostate exam on your dad?”
We know the interview tricks, so please don’t try to digress the question from X into what great team player you are or how prepared you are. You’re more likely to get smacked back to the center.
If you’re in a group interview, pay attention when other people are speaking.
After the interview is over, don’t get your hopes up just because the interviewer is being polite. Most people are really poor judges of their own performance. We're specifically told not to give any tip-offs that might give false hope. Any one interviewer’s comments could also be worthless, because the AdCom as a whole or the Dean might overrule that interviewer.
I received a PM from someone who just had an interview. He asked " ...I saw what looked like a grading rubric... is it possible that you are literally evaluated on paper? But have you heard of such a thing? Also what's with the note taking? Like what gets written down exactly?"
With interviews, the interviewer does have a score sheet. Questions for the interviewee might be written down on them as well. Without going into too much detail, we score interviewees on their ability think, talk and to listen. We also give them an overall final score.
We write down notes about both good and bad things interviewees say do (like "babbling idiot"; "didn't answer Joe's question"; "really articulate"; "great answer!"). We also might jot something down to prompt a follow-up question. When we're done, we write our final summaries on the candidates (the more info we write, the better for our wily old Admissions Dean when he discusses the outcome with our Dean, who is the Ultimate Decider).
Is there a certain weight that's given to these [interviewer’s] scores? At our school, just the "Overall Ranking" counts. This is averaged with those of the other interviewers. You need a certain number to be accepted. Even then, candidates do come up for discussion at times in the Adcom meeting. My score may be very divergent from the other interviewers (Drs W, X Y and student Z), and one of us will want it to be straightened out, one way or another in the meeting.
“So is it pass or fail? Or does having a very strong interview help you "beat" other applicants who have slightly better apps who had average interviews only?” With all due respect to my young correspondent, this notion that one interviewee is competing for one seat against other candidates (like tenure candidates at Yale) is 100% NOT true! We don't ration seats; it's always you competing against yourself.
Another person once asked: My MCAT is only xxx and sGPA y.yy so my question is, is it possible that these schools inviting me with the intention of placing me on an alternate list or a waitlist? Is that a thing that medical school admissions do?
I have to be the blunt New Yorker here: med schools have only a limited number of interview slots, and so they don't give sympathy ****s.
If you're being invited, it's because the Admission dean and/or the screeners think that on paper you look like a good candidate for being one of their students.
Here are some things that get people rejected immediately:
· Being unprofessional for any reason. An example is addressing a faculty member by their first name. Another is chewing gum during the interview. If you have a dry mouth, suck on a lozenge instead. BTW, the interview lasts all day. Acting unprofessionally during your tour, like yelling at a parking attendant, or trashing the school, or expecting the Admissions Office staff to hang up your coat or fetch you coffee is duly noted and affects your fate accordingly.
· Not taking the interview seriously, like showing up poorly dressed. This is suit and tie time (and nice dress/outfit/suit for the ladies). You're going into character. Yes, if the airline loses your luggage, we understand that.
· Do NOT be arrogant. People who think that they're God's gift to Medicine do not go into Medicine.
· Being too shy or nervous. Being quiet is OK; being monosyllabic or robotic is not.
· Not making eye contact is also a no-no (yes I'm aware that in some cultures, one does not look elders in the eye, but this is the USA and you need to look people in the eye here).
· Any hints of immaturity will be lethal for your chances. We expect you to be thoughtful and self-aware. Would you admit the gal who, when asked a hypothetical, "What would you do in this situation?" answers, "Oh, that wouldn't happen."
· Showing you're greedy.
· Showing any hint of entitlement. This includes the “I was accepted to XSOM, so what are you going to do for me?” The answer will be “Good luck and have fun at XSOM.”
· Being clueless as to why you're choosing Medicine as a career.
· Doing this because your mom/dad wants you to be a doctor (or don't think you can be doctor).
· Completely lacking people skills (4.0 automatons are a dime a dozen, really).
· Showing that you're more interested in research than Medicine. This might be OK at Stanford, but it won’t fly at most other schools.
· Still being the hyper-gunner...I rejected a 4.0 gal who wanted to answer the questions I asked of another person in the interview panel. I don't want to admit someone who will be in my office whining about how they got a 95 on an exam and deserved a 96.
· Having a flat affect. This might be due to medication, or a mental or personality disorder. You ever meet someone who could never crack a smile? I don't want someone like that touching patients.
· Copping an attitude. I asked a woman why she didn't have any volunteer experience. She replied that she was too busy working. Fair enough, some people have lives, but she copped an attitude while delivering this, and I just wrote down "reject".
· Coming in with scripted answers and being unable to deviate from said script.
· Being ill-prepared for fairly common interview questions (e.g. Why this school? Why Medicine?)
· Thinking that always circling back to your accomplishments and how great you are impresses us.
· Making excuses for misdeeds. We had rejected someone once who had some fairly benign misdemeanors, but blamed it on the policemen who gave him the tickets.
· Don’t do show and tell. I don’t want you pulling out a binder with your resume or portfolio. Let your application speak for you.
· Being a babbling idiot. These are those people who can't answer a question concisely. I've sure you've met people like this...why bother using one word when ten will do? I suspect that they’re thinking for an answer while they're speaking, so the mouth is going while the brain tries to come up with something.
· It’s OK to gather your thoughts, but it’s not OK to blank out. This group includes the people who do something like this (and I am NOT making this up!):
goro: So tell me about this trip to Honduras
Interviewee: Well, we went there for a mission trip and...what was the question?
goro: (thinking: reject!)
Or the guy who, when asked "How does your hobby relate to the practice of Medicine?", and can't even say "It doesn't", and definitely can't even BS an answer, but sits there in a coma?
In Zoom interviews, it's noticeable when people reading another screen (like their phone), talking to someone else out of camera view, or looking down at a paper or tablet/laptop and reading off answers.
During the interview day:
You’re interviewing the school as much as they’re interviewing you. You’re potentially going to give $250K+ and four years of your life to this place, so be sure to ask them questions, especially to the students there, such as “why did you come here? Why didn’t you go to the other schools you interviewed at? What are the best things? What are the worst things?” Ask this of Faculty too!
What about MMIs?
Here’s some great advice:
Crayola227's interview tips
HomeSkool's Guide to Multiple Mini Interviews
See my post here for things that you should be asking about:
Goro's Guide to YOUR Interview Questions (2018 edition)
If applicable, also see:
Goro's Guide for YOUR Interview Questions at a DO School (2018 ed.)
AFTER the interview:
Unless the school specifically welcomes LOI or updates, your work is done. If you're wait-listed, don't pester them, lest you be seen as someone who can't follow simple directions, or feel so entitled that the rules don't apply to you. People do get off wait lists, but one more LOR, or having just gotten new job at the hospital, or submitted a paper, isn't likely to convince the Dean of Admissions to move you up.
So after the interview, this is where we, the Adcom come in. We meet and go over the candidates. For >75% of you, you're in. The other 25% we talk about. Many of you will have passionate advocates. We look over and discuss anything problematic, like a low sGPA, or how you were shy or nervous. If you're a borderline candidate, this is where a great set of LORs or essay may save you.
Many schools use a scoring system more like boxing or Olympic gymnastics. You are judged by several different people. The total scores determine your fate.
But even that is not absolute. For example, let's say that I may love you and give you a 10/10, but W, X, Y and Z might give you a 6, 7, 5 and 2. That's an average of 5 (20/4). You need a 7 or more to be accepted, while a 3 or worse will be rejected. So the Admissions dean now lists you as "wait list".
In the Adcom meeting, I argue that the candidate was a great kid, strong upward trend, decent MCAT, yada yada, etc etc. Y is also at the meeting, but his argument doesn't carry as much weight amongst the Adcom. W, X and Z didn't come to the meeting, and all we have are their notes to go on, and there's nothing damning among them. So I sway the committee to move the candidate to "Accept" status.
Here's a different scenario: Despite all interviewers loving you, the Dean has concerns about your GPA. The Dean loves high GPAs. So he overrules the committee, and onto the waitlist you go.
I see tons of posts concerning thank you cards. If you like being polite, go ahead and send one to the Admissions Dean. But contrary to pre-med urban legend, they have ZERO effect on your fate. By the time they’re received, the admissions committee has probably met or the interviewers have already sent in their recommendations.
One last word of advice: Treat every interview like it's the only one you'll ever get.
And good luck! I hope to meet some of you. But always have a Plan B.
Quick notes for interviewees at DO schools.
Everything on the other post holds true, but you also need to show that you know something about Osteopathy. Please don’t simply parrot what you read on Wiki, there’s more to it than that. Those people who have shadowed DOs and compared and contrasted them to MDs will know what I mean.
You will need to articulate the reasons of “Why Osteopathy”, and “why our school”, because the curriculum will be pretty much the same wherever you go (but the delivery will be different).
Do NOT bash MDs. Some of your interviewers will be MDs, or married to them. If you’ve had poor experiences with allopathic medicine, that’s OK to discuss.
If you’ve seen OMM or OMT in action, that’s a plus.
If you’ve shadowed a DO, that’s a plus.
If you have a DO in the family, that’s a plus.
Be serious about this as your career choice. Don’t look back. If you really want to go to an MD school, well, go for an MD school. We don’t want to see posts next summer entitled “Accepted at DO school but wait-listed at MD.. Do I reapply?”
Last edited:
