Congratulations! 🥳 You’ve made it to the medical school interviews. I’m sure you can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, this is your final hurdle to medical school.
The medical school interviews are one of the most undisclosed yet widely discussed topics. Having gone through interviews with all 3 schools – LKC, YLL and DukeNUS – I shall share some of my perspectives on medical school interview matters. I will not be going into the specifics of each interview due to non-disclosure agreements that I have committed to but I shall shed some light on what the process is like and how you can prepare for it.
LKC and YLL adopts a similar interview/assessment format. Traditionally, LKC conducts multiple mini interviews (MMIs) whilst YLL conducts the focused skills assessment (FSA) and situational judgement test (SJT). More info here: LKC, YLL. However, due to the current COVID-19 situation, in person interviews were not conducted this year. Instead, LKC’s MMI and YLL’s FSA were held online with a slightly different format. Despite the change in assessment format, both schools reassured candidates that the criteria for admission as from previous years remain unchanged. As to whether or not LKC and YLL will revert to the traditional arrangements for 2021 is anyone’s guess. Hence, my discussion will focus more on general pointers rather than specific details on how to prepare for medical school interviews as things may still change in future.
DISCLAIMER: The general pointers that I am about to mention is based solely on my opinion and experience. This is by no means a rubric you must follow.
Know yourself well. The interview is about YOU. At this stage, your results, however stellar or borderline they are, become irrelevant. You are shortlisted for the interview based on your academic achievements but you are offered a place in medical school based on your interview performance. As cliche as it may sound, your results don’t define you and the interview is the time for you to show who you truly are to the interviewers. Whatever you have mentioned within the portfolio you have submitted, you have to know it inside and out. Reflect on the activities you participated in. Think of the learning points you’ve derived from them and how they have shaped you in one way or another.
Anticipate questions. This may be controversial but I feel it is the crucial next step after knowing yourself. You may know yourself well but that is not enough. Beyond knowing yourself, you must be able to give your interviewer the best knowledge of you. You must be able to give a good account of yourself, of who you are as a person, in front of the interviewer. The best way to do so is to anticipate questions and spend some time thinking how you will go about answering it. Some of the common medical school interview questions can be easily Googled and you can have a go at answering them to see if what you say really brings out who you are as a person. In saying this, I am not encouraging you to memorize answers. In contrast, I strongly urge you not to do so as it can be easily picked up by seasoned interviewers. There is a fine line between anticipating questions to try to display your best, most authentic self and memorizing answers and coming across as a rehearsed salesperson. Bring out your best self but be genuine and don’t overly sell yourself!
Talk before the interview. Have a conversation with friends or family 2 to 3 hours before the interview. The conversation can be face to face or even via a phone call and can be about anything. The goal is to get into the rhythm of striking up and sustaining a conversation as ultimately that’s what the interview is about, a conversation between you and the interviewer. It’s not very ideal if the first time you are speaking that day is during the interview itself! Additionally, speaking with someone else before the interview can also help calm some of the nerves you have and relax you a little 🙂
Prior medical knowledge is not required! Unlike medical school interviews in the UK or US, interviewers do not expect you to be well versed in the various nuances in medicine. There is no need to study or gather scientific/medical knowledge for the interview. I personally have not come across any questions which involving medical jargon or complex conditions. However, should you not understand anything, you can always politely clarify it with the interviewer. The interviewer will understand and try his/her best to facilitate the whole process.
So there you have it, just some of my thoughts and reflections on my experience interviewing at all 3 medical schools in Singapore. Hope you enjoyed the read and managed to take something away 😁
2021 Update
As I have received quite a few questions regarding the medical school interviews, I have decided to openly address some things which I may have missed out in my initial post 1 year ago. Additionally, having spent almost a year in medical school, I think it would be beneficial for me to share some new found perspectives regarding the admissions interviews. Without further ado, let’s begin.
The most common questions I get are ‘how do I prepare myself for the interview’ and ‘what are the interviewers looking for’.
Well, the simple answer to the first question is to do mock interviews (MANY OF THEM🤯). There are many medical school mock interview practice questions and scenarios that can be readily found online and on YouTube. Those are great resources and you should really tap on them! Get someone (you mum, dad, brother, sister, best friend etc.) to conduct mock interviews with you and record each session down. Review the video footage and pay attention to how you answered the questions that were posed to you as well as your mannerisms and tone. Doing mock interviews may be uncomfortable for many of us at first (I know it was for me) but once you overcome the awkwardness, you become more natural in communicating and that can be easily picked up by the interviewers. Being able to have a free flowing, natural and genuine conversation with the interviewers will be a huge bonus for any candidate and that is what you should be aiming for when doing your mock interviews. Do note that your interviewers are likely to be doctors and other healthcare professionals who conduct patient interviews on a daily basis for many many years. As such, they can definitely tell if you are indeed being genuine or if you are just trying to smoke them with your answers. I have a few friends who wanted to do Medicine for all the right reasons (I know that though our personal interactions over the years and I genuinely think they will really make good doctors) but got rejected because they weren’t able to establish a good rapport with their interviewers and hence whatever they said sounded less believable and impactful 😥. Remember that unlike your friends and family who have seen you grow over the years, your interviewer only has your personal statement and that few minutes with you to access your ‘eligibility’ to do Medicine. This may sound unfair at first, but keep in mind that every other candidate faces the same challenge. Hence, it is extremely advantageous for you if you can get rid of your interview awkwardness and establish a good rapport from the get-go. When you can truly connect with your interviewer and have a genuine casual conversation with him/her, every thing you say will instantly be much more believable and impactful🤩. Last but not least, you will definitely leave a strong impression of yourself and will not be forgotten in the pool of applicants your interviewers have to go through each day.
As for the second question, I’m afraid I do not have a definitive answer for that. I am not part of the medical admissions interview committee and besides them, no one truly knows what each medical school is looking for in their applicants. However, what I can say is that I strongly believe that there is no ‘ideal applicant’ or ‘perfect candidate’ that medical schools are looking for. There is no one specific quality or trait that if one possesses will automatically qualify him or her for a spot in medical school. Medical schools try their best to evaluate each candidate holistically which is why there are a few different stations to the interviews. Now comes the part where being a medical student has changed my perspective of the medical admissions interviews. Instead of thinking of what are the interviewers looking out for in the candidates they speak to, why not flip the script and put yourselves in their shoes. Imagine that you are already a doctor working in a busy hospital having hectic days with extremely long work hours. In that situation, what kind of colleagues do you wish to have around you? What kind of fellow doctors will you want to be working with and how do you envision the next generation of doctors who will succeed you one day? Take some time to consider what I have just said and be that person who you want as your colleague in the wards next time.
Thank you for reading. I hope I managed to provide some value or at least entertainment to you. If you enjoyed reading this post, don’t forget to leave a like and share this post with your friends. Also leave me a comment or feel free to reach out and let me know what you think, I love hearing from you guys!
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