lokiki Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Other students, please feel free to add to this. This is not intended to be an exhaustive guide, just something I'm banging out quickly. -There is no "right" way to prep for MMIs! I was off living in the boonies so I had to do all my prep over skype. I prepped every night for a few weeks (2-3 questions per night with my partner) but other students in my class did NOTHING and got in. One said she did one practice question while driving to the interview. -Doing Right (the book) is great, and can help you learn how to look at several sides of a situation, a skill that can be useful for the MMI. However, in my experience you are unlikely to get medicine-specific scenarios. So even thought the book is wonderful, it's actual usefulness is a little limited. -One thing I noticed from 3 years of practicing every winter, was that STUDENTS ARE GETTING BETTER. Their answers are more polished, they say fewer seriously awkward (or offensive) things. Dr. Walker at UofC also said this too, so I'm not imagining it. -Calgary has a podcast from last year about tips for the MMI. Although the MMI is slightly different there, it's absolutely FULL of the best advice. I'm not going to look it up, you can do that yourself. -Head on over to the MMI section of this forum. There are actually good resources there. -Go in with confidence, but be humble about your role. -Read things. Think about things. But most of all, talk about things. Discuss issues with other people. Learn how to frame your ideas. Reading is nice, but in the end, MMI is talking, so practice talking. This is a big advantage to practicing with someone like a friend or partner rather than another applicant- you get more talk-time. -If there's an acting station, just go in and pretend it's a real person. It will be less infinitely awkward that way. -Here's the best set of MMI practice questions for UBC MMI I have found. I felt it really helped me prepare and get a feel for the types of questions that might be asked. http://my.science.ubc.ca/files/2014/01/Sample-Questions-2013-2014.pdf -There's a sweet spot for practice amount. It's nice to practice but too little or too much and you will come across as this weirdly-prepared automaton. -There's a certin amount of luck involved. Sometimes it just won't be your day. -You can video yourself and look for strange quirks you have but IF you are going to do that do it EARLY. Like now. It makes you feel really self-concious at first. I think the best prep for me was just trying to talk to others as much as I could. Last winter to prep I: 1/ Got a job working in retail so I could talk to people a lot 2/ Taught classes to adults so I could talk to people a lot 3/ Joined toastmasters so I could talk to people a lot (and I got them to do interview prep for me) 4/ Made sure I was always around people so I could talk to people a lot A principle that helped a lot when I was trying to answer questions-YOU ARE NOT ALONE- There is always someone you can ask for help, even in the mot dire situations. You will never be an expert in everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StayHappy Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 sighhhhhhhhhhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplin Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 How much knowledge of the health care system do you need for UBC interview? Do you need to know more than the basic operational details? I know it helps to read over and reflect upon hot topics and contemporary issues in medicine and health care, but apart from your journey as a medical student ti a doctor and beyond, do you need to know the specifics of how the funding works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Taken from the UBC website regarding the interview: The format of the stations may require the applicant to comment on a particular scenario, interact with another person in the room, respond to audio/video presentations, etc. The stations are designed to be challenging, interesting and engaging so that applicants can demonstrate their communication and critical thinking skills, as well as their personality! No specific knowledge of medicine, health care systems or ethics is required. In many cases there is no right or wrong answer.So to answer your question, No... you don't need to know anything about the healthcare system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldpizzahotsriracha Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Taken from the UBC website regarding the interview: The format of the stations may require the applicant to comment on a particular scenario, interact with another person in the room, respond to audio/video presentations, etc. The stations are designed to be challenging, interesting and engaging so that applicants can demonstrate their communication and critical thinking skills, as well as their personality! No specific knowledge of medicine, health care systems or ethics is required. In many cases there is no right or wrong answer.So to answer your question, No... you don't need to know anything about the healthcare system This is from the interview information .pdf: "As you are applying for medical school, we will expect you to have a basic understanding of the Canadian health care system, some awareness of contemporary issues, and knowledge about the career you are about to embark on. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bclionsfan Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 This is from the interview information .pdf: "As you are applying for medical school, we will expect you to have a basic understanding of the Canadian health care system, some awareness of contemporary issues, and knowledge about the career you are about to embark on. " Fair enough - I just looked on the website and I don't remember the handouts they gave out when I was applying. Even with that additional information, it also states that you only need a basic understanding. I know I didn't spend any time looking into policies when I applied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokiki Posted December 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 Hm... yeah I would say having a general idea of current events, your own strengths and weaknesses, and social issues is a better background than actual healthcare. Reading about current social issues (eg. determinants of health) and then talking about them with others might be really useful. One other thing I did (this is going to sound really corny)... I took the question "if you could change one thing about the healthcare system, what would it be?" and I made an actual powerpoint presentation that was 8 min long. I presented it to my partner and his kids (teenagers) and they rolled their eyes and seemed bored but did talk to me again about it later. It just so happened later on that my toastmasters group was doing a speech contest so I presented it again. It was just good practice to present something to people. Your interviewers will sometimes seem bored too (or worse), so it;s good to be able to not falter and try to keep going, while reading your audience and adapting what you are saying. I didn't even live in BC and had forgotten a lot about the healthcare system in BC. I was fine. If you don't know much about a topic, say so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBrownguy Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 It doesn't matter if you don't know anything. Just do not bullshit your way through... Please don't do that unless you plan on doing the MMI's again next year. Be honest with what you know. Honesty >> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgh87 Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 I don't think a strong knowledge of the healthcare system is required. Whatever information you need to know will be presented to you in the prompt. Just spitballing, but if it's a specific question, it may be something like 'recent statistics show that there is a low level of commitment to rural areas from graduating physicians. Discuss strategies to improve these circumstances.' Again, that wasn't a real question, but it's to make the point that you don't really need much knowledge to be able to create a response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky Posted December 23, 2014 Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 I don't think a strong knowledge of the healthcare system is required. Whatever information you need to know will be presented to you in the prompt. Just spitballing, but if it's a specific question, it may be something like 'recent statistics show that there is a low level of commitment to rural areas from graduating physicians. Discuss strategies to improve these circumstances.' Again, that wasn't a real question, but it's to make the point that you don't really need much knowledge to be able to create a response. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classroom Posted April 3, 2019 Report Share Posted April 3, 2019 hi lokiki, how do I find the MMI section of this forum? I'm not really familiar with this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockboeser6 Posted April 17, 2019 Report Share Posted April 17, 2019 On 4/2/2019 at 11:01 PM, classroom said: hi lokiki, how do I find the MMI section of this forum? I'm not really familiar with this forum. http://forums.premed101.com/forum/53-medical-school-interviews/ --> hopefully that is the section you are looking for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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