MMI's

[fahimaz7]

So I saw MMi's for the first time this week while interviewing for a residency in Cali. What in the world? The kids here looked so stressed! Is it as bad as it looked? I saw some of the standardized questions and they were horrendous...

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[Ismet]

I wasn't a fan of my MMI experience, but I know some people prefer it. I'd rather have a conversation with someone than have 8 minutes to spew out an argument and support.

 

[yellowfish]

So I saw MMi's for the first time this week while interviewing for a residency in Cali. What in the world? The kids here looked so stressed! Is it as bad as it looked? I saw some of the standardized questions and they were horrendous...

I think part of the stress is constituted by the uncertainty; MMIs are relatively new and most students have had little to no exposure to them in the past, whereas most students have had traditional interviews (some a very good amount!). Perhaps if MMIs are implemented more widely in the future as they are predicted to be students will gradually become more accustomed and therefore less stressed by them. My first MMI experience was quite stressful for this reason, but my second was much less as I knew what to expect. In my experience the stations themselves (usually) don't create more stress than a traditional interview might, although people are likely more comfortable talking about themselves and their own applications with which they are very familiar rather than a random situation with which they have only been exposed to for a couple minutes prior to entering the room.

 

[ShenanigansMD]

Wow really? It's honestly not that scary. Pretend it's speed dating and just maintain a polite/positive demeanor.

 

[dsoz]

The common saying is that first impressions are made in the first few minutes, then you can start relaxing in a traditional interview. So really a trad interview has 5 min of high energy impression and 25 minutes of lower stress talking.

In an MMI, the high energy intro is all you have... Repeated 8-10 times. There really is no "lets relax and get to know each other better" phase. Keeping that level of energy up for so long is a little draining.

Also, when I was at one school, I was interviewing with a bunch of people that it was their first interview. They were all stresses out and the anxiety in the room waiting for the MMI was painful. I was even in a position where I had nothing to loose; I already had two acceptances to other schools and that interview that I was at was going to be my last one for the cycle. He other interviewers were stressing me out.

dsoz

 

[Narmerguy]

Wow really? It's honestly not that scary. Pretend it's speed dating and just maintain a polite/positive demeanor.

It's basically the difference between having an actual date where you make an impression and get to know the other person and speed dating--where you just race from person to person and make some sort of impression and then move on.

Perhaps good for testing applicants' endurance or social interaction. I think it's lousy for much of the other things that make interviews useful: fleshing out pieces of one's application, being able to deliver a personal side to one's activities, getting to understand whether an applicant would "fit in" with the school, etc etc.

I really have an issue with only doing MMI, but so long as school's pair MMI with normal interviews I wouldn't be that concerned.

 

[Mr Kenobi]

I really have an issue with only doing MMI, but so long as school's pair MMI with normal interviews I wouldn't be that concerned.

I agree. I had one MMI this cycle...had they not included a "traditional interview" component then I don't think I would have cared for it much. Each of the MMI stations were 10 minutes long with 1 interviewer in the room (2 minutes to read the prompt, 8 minutes to discuss). The traditional interview station was 20 minutes long and had 2 interviewers (closed file besides name/place of residence/undergrad institution). This format still allowed for the information covered in a normal interview to be discussed.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

So I saw MMi's for the first time this week while interviewing for a residency in Cali. What in the world? The kids here looked so stressed! Is it as bad as it looked? I saw some of the standardized questions and they were horrendous...

I actually liked the one at UCLA.