Interview format & style in UBC

[Guest Bigheadbebe]

Hi everyone out there:

Just wonder whether any of you know the style and format for UBC med interview... is this year starting in March?

Is it one-on-one or 3 to 1 style.

Are the questions more like structured format or is it case based mainly?

Thanks...

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

The UBC interviews will inaugurally be panel-style this year. There will be three interviewers per interviewee. When I spoke to Admissions they mentioned that organizing the panels is quite the harrowing process as each panel is bespoke to the interviewee such that: 1) any repeat interviewee (i.e., someone who has interviewed at UBC before) shall not have the same interviewer(s); 2) the panel of three shall be balanced in terms of geography, gender and background; 3) not all interviewers in the interviewer pool are available to provide interviews over the four days. Given the preparation involved in constructing the panel for each interviewee, when we receive our interview date, it will be close to impossible to change it.

 

Regarding the interview questions, I'm not sure what you mean when you say "structured format", i.e., like McMaster's MMI? :rolleyes . In any case, I doubt few people have any accurate idea at this point, what types of questions will be asked by the panel. However, it seems reasonable that a similar mix of questions as were fielded in previous years, will appear this year. That is, a good mix of question types: case-based, ethics, general, i.e., strongest and weakest points, etc.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest kanayo101]

Thanks for all of the info on the boards Kirsteen...

 

 

When you referred to 'case-based' questions, I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do you mind providing an example?

 

Also, do you or anyone else have a suggestion for an 'acceptable' reason for not being involved in sports? I mean I did my share of minor league in grade 3 but otherwise I generally stick to the rare recreational play, walking, hiking and stuff like that. I hear the UBC is a real stickler when it comes to not playing sports (that's the one reason for rejection I've heard from people over and over and over again).

 

Thanks!!

 

ps - I say let's dedicate this thread to past interview experiences, if anyone wants to add posts about questions they were asked, things they stumbled on, good points, bad points, etc etc etc?

[Guest coastal79]

Regarding not being involved in sports, the advice that I keep reading over and over again in the forums is to be yourself. If you weren't involved in sports, you obviously weren't interested in sports. Just tell the interviewers that you were more interested in other things, and then tell them about those things.

 

Cheers

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

When you referred to 'case-based' questions, I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do you mind providing an example?

 

Kanayo101, with respect to this, it can be any sort of situational question, e.g., you have a patient who comes in and complains about X and you discover that the hospital has made a mistake. What do you do? These types of questions often incorporate ethical issues.

 

As to sports, are you thinking about those who have received post-rejection assessments who were told that they weren't olympic athletes so they could still pull up their socks some? If so, don't worry about that too much, as there are (were) other criteria in the application where an applicant can pick up points that have nothing to do with sports, e.g., being first author of a paper in a major journal.

 

Overall, I agree with coastal79, it's okay if you haven't been interested in sports in particular, as long as you have been interested and involved in other activities. Sports are just one of many great diversions from academia. As long as you don't consistently have your nose in the books and little else, then I'm sure the admissions committee will give you some nods.

 

Cheers and good luck,

Kirsteen

[Guest Bigheadbebe]

I wonder is med student involved in the interviewer pool?

Or is it only medical doctor & professor with PhD rank?

If med student is involved then is it only 3rd & 4th year?

[Guest Ian Wong]

Med students were not involved with interviewing when I was at UBC. I don't know if this would change with the new format of interviews, but I doubt it.

 

Ian

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

As far as I was told, it didn't seem that any medical students would be involved in the interview process this year. It sounded as though the panels would consist of three of a pool of 150 doctors and scientists coming from Northern BC, the Island and Vancouver.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest soapyslicer]

Hi,

 

Actually some students are involved on the committee. I know in the past a student was in the end of 1st year when he joined. He was involved in the decisions portion of the process but not sure whether he interviewed. I was told be a Resident who wanted to be involved this year that they are not going to use any students. Initially the residents were approached by Vera Frinton. At least with the new format we don't have to wait around hoping we will get a last minute interview.

 

Here's hoping "you've got mail":rollin

 

Soapy

[Guest Ian Wong]

When I was in med school, there were med student admissions reps. Two involved with the selections process (although they would not be interviewers), and two others as medical student representatives in deciding policy issues, like what sorts of cutoffs/markers should we be using to evaluate candidates, or whether rural applicants should receive some sort of advantage, and if so, by what mechanism, etc. Heck, I almost ran for one of the positions before deciding that it would be a massively inappropriate thing to do given my participation on this website.

 

Ian

[Guest monksters]

Hi there,

 

I was a participant in the test trial for the new interview format last year. They may have changed some of the questions but I think the types of questions will be similar to the one-to one interview with the exception of some standardized questions like "what does integrity mean to you?" They also asked a lot of questions about my CV in the panel interview...what I did and what did I learn... Your standard HR questions.

With regard to the sports issue...I don't think it matters that much. I think they just want to see that you have been in a team type setting and excelled at something outside of academia. Hope this helps

[Guest Bigheadbebe]

For some reason, I think they like to ask sports question. I remember Dr. Pearson asks me about English soccer team...! Did anyone else has same question?