Interview Practice

[PhDuke]

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What are some good ways to practice for interviews, both for the traditional format and for an MMI (Multiple Mini Interview) Format?

 

[Ace-Co-A]

What are some good ways to practice for interviews, both for the traditional format and for an MMI (Multiple Mini Interview) Format?

My school had a career center that offered mock interviews. Also, I printed some practice med school interview questions off the web and planned out how I'd approach them.

Good luck!

 

[sunflower18]

I'm curious about this too, as there are no resources for interview practice/prep at my school. I would love to do mock interviews, but I feel like it'd defeat the purpose if I handed the person who agreed to interview me a list of fair game questions. But I don't know anyone who would know what questions to ask without me providing them. Hmmmm. Looking forward to seeing more responses!

 

[SN12357]

I'm curious about this too, as there are no resources for interview practice/prep at my school. I would love to do mock interviews, but I feel like it'd defeat the purpose if I handed the person who agreed to interview me a list of fair game questions. But I don't know anyone who would know what questions to ask without me providing them. Hmmmm. Looking forward to seeing more responses!

It wouldn't defeat the purpose. Even when you know exactly what question is coming (ie, 'why do you want to be a doctor'?) it can be hard to know what's going to come out of your mouth under pressure unless you actually practice. Finding someone to help you mock interview is a good idea even if you hand them a list of the most common questions you're going to get. Even if they're not in medicine and can't give targeted content advice, they can let you know if you have problematic verbal or physical nervous habits, if your answers seem rambling or nonsensical, etc.

 

[TheShaker]

I'm curious about this too, as there are no resources for interview practice/prep at my school. I would love to do mock interviews, but I feel like it'd defeat the purpose if I handed the person who agreed to interview me a list of fair game questions. But I don't know anyone who would know what questions to ask without me providing them. Hmmmm. Looking forward to seeing more responses!

Knowing what you're going to say is one thing, articulating it intelligently in a high pressure situation is another. Also, I feel like most mock interviewers who read off questions help but don't really give you the real experience. An interview is more of a conversation, there will be follow ups and tangents and such.For just nailing down the big questions, I just turned to talking to myself when I'm getting ready for an interview and the night before in my hotel room. I have below average interview skills though so it's kind of necessary for me so I don't get tripped up.

Anyways, I know that SDN has a mock interview service every year over some webcam based system (Skype)? I would find that more useful since it's from people who have successfully completed the process.

 

[sunflower18]

Thanks @TheShaker and @SN12357 for your input! I will try to find someone who will mock interview me haha 🙂 I'm also planning on answering questions and recording myself saying them so I can watch it back.

 

[NickNaylor]

If possible I would recommend doing mock interviews with people with some familiarity of medical admissions if possible. Any sort of mock interview experience would be helpful, but there are some aspects about the medical process that are different than general job interviewing or other interviews, so you want to be advised correctly.

Beyond that, I would recommend getting in touch with your pre-health office and expressing your desire to do a mock interview. They might be able to put you in touch with alumni or other people that can help you.

 

[road2md]

What are some good ways to practice for interviews, both for the traditional format and for an MMI (Multiple Mini Interview) Format?

PhDuke - I wrote an article on my blog about how to prepare for interviews. You can check it out here. www.road2md.com/#blog

One thing I didn't cover is preparing for the MMI's. There are some decent resources out there.
http://medschooladmissions.com/medical-school-interviews/medical-school-multiple-mini-interview-mmi
Caveat: Information seems legit but I'm not sure who wrote these things.

http://dukemed.duke.edu/modules/ooa_applicant/index.php?id=9

http://multipleminiinterview.com/mmi-questions/
Caveat: Doesn't seem like actual physicians wrote these things but again, a decent place to get started.

In terms of practicing, there is nothing better than making it as realistic as possible, so I would try to get people with experience interviewing med school applicants. It helped me tremendously when I was in your shoes. Interviewing at a bunch of schools will help you get more comfortable, but you don't get feedback.

Good luck!

 

[PhDuke]

PhDuke - I wrote an article on my blog about how to prepare for interviews. You can check it out here. www.road2md.com/#blog

One thing I didn't cover is preparing for the MMI's. There are some decent resources out there.
http://medschooladmissions.com/medical-school-interviews/medical-school-multiple-mini-interview-mmi
Caveat: Information seems legit but I'm not sure who wrote these things.

http://dukemed.duke.edu/modules/ooa_applicant/index.php?id=9

http://multipleminiinterview.com/mmi-questions/
Caveat: Doesn't seem like actual physicians wrote these things but again, a decent place to get started.

In terms of practicing, there is nothing better than making it as realistic as possible, so I would try to get people with experience interviewing med school applicants. It helped me tremendously when I was in your shoes. Interviewing at a bunch of schools will help you get more comfortable, but you don't get feedback.

Good luck!

Thank you for the tips. I am sure these will be great addition to mines and other's preparation as we begin our journey towards medical school.