Preparing for the medical school interview

If you devote an adequate amount of time for interview preparation, the actual interview will be less stressful for you and you'll be able to control most of the content of the interview.

Read over your CV and/or any autobiographical materials you may have prepared/submitted. Note highlights in your life or specific examples that demonstrate the aforementioned personality traits, social skills or your knowledge of medicine. Zero in on qualities or stories which are either important, memorable, interesting, amusing, informative, or all of the above! Once in the interview room, you will be given the opportunity to elaborate on the qualities you believe are important about yourself.

Call the medical school and ask about the structure of the interview (i.e., one-on-one, group, etc.) and ask them if they can tell you who will interview you. Many schools have no qualms volunteering such information. Now you can determine the person's expertise by either asking or looking through staff members of the different faculties or medical specialties at that university. A cardiac surgeon, a volunteer from the community, and a medical ethicist all have different areas of expertise and will likely orient their interviews differently. Thus you may want to read from a source which will give you a general understanding of their specialty.

Choose appropriate clothes for the interview. Medicine is still a conservative profession, and you should dress and groom yourself likewise. First impressions are very important. Your objective is to make it as easy as possible for your interviewer(s) to imagine you as a physician.

Do practice interviews with people you respect but who can also maintain their objectivity. They must understand that you are to be evaluated only on the basis of the interview. On that basis alone, one should be able to imagine the ideal candidate as a future physician.

Strategies for answering medical school interview questions

Always remember that the interviewer controls the direction of the interview by his questions; you control the content of the interview through your answers. In other words, once given the opportunity, you should speak about the topics that are important to you; conversely, you should avoid volunteering information which renders you uncomfortable. You can enhance the atmosphere in which the answers are delivered by being polite, sincere, tactful, well-organised, outwardly oriented and maintaining eye contact. Motivation, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude must all be evident.

As a rule, there're no right or wrong answers. However, the way in which you justify your opinions, the topics you choose to discuss, your mannerisms, and your composure all play important roles. It is normal to be nervous. It'd be to your advantage to channel your nervous energy into a positive quality, like enthusiasm.

Do not spew forth answers! Take your time; it's not a contest to see how fast you can answer. Answering with haste can lead to disastrous consequences. For example:

Q: Have you ever doubted your interest in medicine as a career?
A: No. Well....ah....I guess so. Hmm....I guess everyone doubts something at some point or the other....

Retractions like that are a bad signal but it illustrates an important point: there're usually no right or wrong answers in an interview; however, there're right or wrong ways of answering. Through the example, we can conclude the following: listen carefully to the question, try to relax, and think before you answer.

Keep on track! Unfortunately, some students become so nervous they entirely forget the question and begin discussing a topic passionately which is completely irrelevant. Keep your mind focused. Practice should help prevent you from veering off topic and appearing disorganised.

Don't sit on the fence! If you avoid giving your opinions on controversial topics, it'll be interpreted as indecision which is a negative trait for a prospective physician. You have a right to your opinions. However, you must be prepared to defend your point of view in an objective, rational, and informative fashion. It's also important to show that, despite your opinion, you understand both sides of the argument. If you have an extreme or unconventional perspective and if you believe your perspective will not interfere with your practice of medicine, you must let your interviewer know that.

For example, imagine a student who was against abortion under any circumstance. If asked about her opinion on abortion, she should clearly state her opinion objectively, show she understands the opposing viewpoint, and then use data to reinforce her position. If she felt that her opinion wouldn't interfere with her objectivity when practising medicine, she might volunteer: "If I were in a position where my perspective might interfere with an objective management of a patient, I'd refer that patient to another physician."

Carefully note the reactions of the interviewer in response to your answers. Whether the interviewer is sitting on the edge of her seat wide-eyed or slumping in her chair while yawning, you should take such cues to help you determine when to continue, change the subject, or when to stop talking. Also, note the more subtle cues. For example, gauge which topic makes the interviewer frown, give eye contact, take notes, etc.

Lighten up the interview with a well-timed story. A conservative joke, a good analogy, or anecdote may help you relax and make the interviewer sustain his interest. If it's done correctly, it can turn a routine interview into a memorable and friendly interaction.

It should be noted that because the system is not always standardised, a small number of interviewers may ask overly personal questions (e.g., about relationships, religion, etc.) or even questions which carry sexist tones (i.e., What would you do if you got pregnant while attending medical school?). If you don't want to answer a question, simply maintain your composure, express your position diplomatically, and address the interviewers' real concern (i.e., Does this person have the potential to be a good doctor?). For example, you might say in a non-confrontational tone of voice: "I'd rather not answer such a question. However, I can assure you that whatever my answer may have been, it'd in no way affect either my prospective studies in medicine nor any prerequisite objectivity I should have to be a good physician."

General Introduction to the Medical School Interview

The application process to most medical schools includes interviews. Only a select number of students from the applicant pool will be given an offer to be interviewed. The med school interview is something that you achieve. In other words, after your school grades, UMAT/GAMSAT/MCAT scores, reference letters and autobiographical materials have been reviewed, you're offered the ultimate opportunity to put your foot forward: a personalised interview.

Depending on the medical school, you may be interviewed by one, two, or several interviewers. You may be the only interviewee or there may be others (a group interview). There may be one or more interviews lasting from 15 minutes to 2 hours, though 30 minutes is the norm. Despite the variations among the technical aspects of the interview, in terms of substance, most med schools have similar objectives. These objectives can be arbitrarily categorised into 3 general assessments: (1) your personality traits, (2) social skills, and (3) knowledge of medicine.

Personality traits such as maturity, integrity, compassion, sincerity, honesty, originality, curiosity, intellectual capacity, confidence, and motivation are all components of the ideal applicant. These traits will be exposed by the process of the interview, your mannerisms, and the substance of what you choose to discuss when given an ambiguous question. For instance, bringing up specific examples of academic achievement related to school and related to self-directed learning would score well in the categories of intellectual capacity and curiosity, respectively.

Motivation is a personality trait which may make the difference between a high and a low or moderate score in an interview. Students must clearly demonstrate that they have the enthusiasm, desire, energy, and interest to survive long years of med school and beyond. If you're naturally shy or soft-spoken, you'll have to give special attention to this category.

Social skills such as leadership, ease of communication, ability to relate to others, volunteer work, cultural and social interests, all constitute skills which are often viewed as critical for future physicians. It is not sufficient to say in an interview: "I have good social skills"! You must display such skills via your interaction with the interviewer(s) and by discussing specific examples of situations which clearly demonstrate your social skills.

Knowledge of medicine includes at least a general understanding of:

• what the field of medicine involves;
  
• the curriculum you're applying to;
  
• popular medical issues like abortion, euthanasia, AIDS, the health-care system, etc.
  

It is shocking to see the number of students who apply to medical school each year whose knowledge of medicine is limited to headlines and popular TV shows. It is not logical for someone to dedicate their lives to a profession they know little about.

Doing volunteer work in a hospital is a good start. This may help clarify your decision for your career choice while providing the admissions committee further evidence of your commitment. Always remember, it is simply not true that a great quantity of volunteer activities secures a position in medical school! It is the quality of these experiences which is of greatest value. Alternative ways to enhance your hospital experiences include getting a part-time job in a hospital, or having a relative or family friend who is a physician to help expose you to the daily goings-on in a hospital setting.

CUHK medicine (MBChB) interview (non-JUPAS stream) continued....

Prof. S.O.Chan (on the left) - Professor of Anatomy & one of my interviewers; he seems to be a very nice guy! He's been awarded "the best lecturer" title multiple times.

It's October already and the next application cycle for 2008 entry is just around the corner. By now you should be busy filling in your application forms and preparing your application essay. In my last post on this topic, I forgot to mention about the number of non-JUPAS applicants I saw on the day as well as the approximate number of non-JUPAS students accepted into CU med school each year. From the best of my knowledge, the figures change from time to time depending on government fundings and various other factors. Please note that what I've quoted here is only true for the year I applied (2005).

When I attended my interview, the setup was like this: there were 5 interviewing rooms, with 2 interviewers in each. On any given day, each pair of interviewers interviewed 10 applicants (5 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon); that makes for a total of 50 applicants interviewed per day.

I was interviewed in June and was told by the facilitator (a CU med student herself) there were 3 days of interviews in that month, with the same happening in July and August. Therefore, in June alone, they interviewed 150 applicants (assuming the number of interviewees remains the same throughout the 3 days)! That was quite a massive number, considering the fact that they only take roughly 10-15 non-JUPAS applicants into their course. Keep in mind that there are applicants being interviewed in July and August as well, and it's probably safe to assume that the total number of interviewees may well exceed 200.

From common sense, any medical school normally wouldn't invite more than 50% of the applicants for interviews. Thinking along this line, the MINIMUM number of non-JUPAS applicants would have been at least 400. 10 divided by 400 gives you a chance of 2.5% of being accepted. This is a rather optimistic assumption.

The conclusion is, if you view CUHK medical school as a backup school, you're probably setting yourself up for misery. Judging from numbers alone, CUHK is harder to get in for a non-JUPAS applicant than the majority of the American/Canadian medical schools. For example, the acceptance rate in Ontario (Canada) is roughly 10%. In America, the acceptance rate is slightly over 40% (I stand to be corrected on this last point).

I hope the figures above do not discourage you from applying, but rather motivate you to try your very best to prepare for the application and to impress the interview panel. Yes, getting in CUHK medicine as a non-JUPAS candidate is extremely tough, but it's still worth trying. The fact is, the more schools to which you apply, the higher your chance of getting in one of them. Don't limit yourself to just one or two medical schools; in fact, don't limit yourself to just schools in your home country! Getting in a legitimate medical school anywhere in the world is tough, and you should give yourself the best advantage by applying to as many schools as you can afford. Med school applicants rarely get to choose their desired schools; more often than not, it's the other way around. If you've done your research, you'll realise there're top-notch medical schools in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, etc. that accept international students. Returning home to practise after your studies is a separate topic that you'll need to think about, but in short, it's doable.

If you have further queries, please do not hesitate to leave your comments and I'll try my best to answer them when time allows.

On CUHK medicine (MBChB) interview (non-JUPAS stream)....

If you're reading this, chances are you've been granted an interview by CUHK Medical Faculty and are in the process of preparing for it. If you live outside of Hong Kong, you'll have to get ready to fly back to Hong Kong for this important 15-minute process that will potentially determine your future career. To start off, I'd like to congratulate you on the interview invitation as the applicant pool is very large, consisting of applicants from many many countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. Understandably, only people who have stellar academic results coupled with an excellent track record of health-related extracurricular activities will have a shot. Having been in your shoes, I'm fully aware of the stress, time, energy, and money associated with applying for medical schools. I've been through the whole application process for CUHK non-jupas medicine admission, and it is my hope that you may benefit from my experience and be at greater ease in front of the interviewers. As things change over time, your experience may well differ from mine, so please take the information that I'm sharing here as a reference instead of hard and fast rules.

So, here we go....

If you receive an invitation for an interview, you MUST personally attend it in Hong Kong. They don't conduct telephone interviews. I think it's important that you attend the interview on the given date and at the given time, instead of postponing it unless you absolutely can't make it. Some schools accept students on a rolling basis, and you would be doing yourself a disservice by attending the interview later rather than earlier.

They usually conduct 2 to 3 rounds of interviews from June to August, and offers of acceptance are given out along the way. The interview lasts for 15 minutes. You'll be interviewed by a panel of 2 interviewers, and they are likely to be one of the Assistant Deans of the medical school. See the following link for who they are:

http://www.med.cuhk.edu.hk/people.htm

I was interviewed by Prof S.O. Chan and Prof Y.K.Wing. The interview was conducted in English and English only. I guess it'd be nice, if you have the time, to read up a bit on the research interests of the Assistant Deans so, when opportunities arise, you may use your knowledge to develop some sort of rapport with them; but of course, you have to be tactful so as not to seem over-ambitious and aggressive. The interview is semi-structured. You'll very likely be asked some standard questions like "why medicine", but you'll also be asked specific questions that directly relate to your application profile; they can ask you anything in your application from your marks to your personal essay. It's strongly advised that you go over them prior to the interview to refresh your memory. During the interview, they'll have your entire application sitting on the table in front of them. The questions I got asked are as follows (in the order below):

1) Why do you want to study medicine?

2) (This one is directly related to my response to question 1, so it's irrelevant to you.) Who is the first principal of [my high school]?

3) Why do you want to study medicine in Hong Kong?

4) What is your academic qualification?

5) What is the training like in [my extracurricular activity]? Any memorable moments?

6) (This one again is related to my response to question 5)

7) Have you applied for HKU medical school or other schools overseas?

8) Are you aware of some of the problems that the HK medical field is facing?

9) What would you do if we don't accept you?

After the nine questions, I got a chance to ask them questions, and that concluded the whole interview process. It is important that you have a pretty good understanding of the HK medical system and other medically-related news, for example, public/private imbalance, insufficient government funding, the "3+3" contract, etc. For Hong Kong medical news, try the following:

http://www.hkma.org/english/newsroom/newsroom.htm (English)
http://www.hkma.org/chinese/newsroom/newsroom.htm (Chinese)

(Note: The above URLs change periodically for some odd reasons; should they become outdated, simply google the keywords "Hong Kong Medical Association" and "newsroom".)

I started reading those news clippings about half a year prior to the interview to familiarise myself with the HK health system. If you have time, I'd encourage you to start now. Oh yes, wear formal dress for the interview. Otherwise, you'll look like the odd man out.

I wish you the best of luck!