what did you think of the trial MMI

[Guest happy2bme]

So I did the trial MMI at Manitoba and have also done the MMI at Calgary. Actually I noticed a few people from the Calgary interview in Winnipeg last weekend!

 

My thoughts....the format was slightly different in that you never saw the same interviewer twice(Calgary had your 1st and last interviewer as the same person),

 

I found the Manitoba questions to be less ethical in nature and more opinion based.

 

Manitoba like Calgary, also had a mix of interviewers, various health professionals, student/resident?, community members.

 

One of my interviewers expected alot of knowledge in a particular area( I could not imagine that anyone at that station would have received a high mark as once he lead me to the "answer" I thought he was really expecting too much procedural knowledge from the students, not evident in the original question(the question itself was straightforward and my original answer was also).

 

Also I was there all day, regular interview in AM and tour, then MMI in PM, and I didn't see a snack table like in Calgary. I didn't think I needed it much in Calgary but those little munchies actually are required for opitimal thinking throughout the day. My last two stations, I had to concentrate very hard as my stomach was actually rumbling quite loudly (more than a little embarassing). So if they do implement this system next year , remember to put a granola bar in your pocket.

[Guest Jag]

We purchased our MMI questions from some school out east that uses MMI apparantly, we didn't even make our own questions

[Guest happy2bme]

If I recall correctly all the schools who are doing a trial are using the same questions....I think I heard this from the gentleman in charge of the MMI. There definitely was nothing out of left field except for my one interviewer but he, not the question, was expecting too much detail.

 

All questions were what you might expect from a panel interview.

 

Personally I like MMI, it is unfortunate that we will be unable to find out how we performed on the MMI. I would have liked to know if I perform better (scorewise) on that format as opposed to panel interviews.

[Guest kalenakai]

Happy, do they make you run around? or have people behind mirrors? I was talking to one interviewee from ON and she said

MacMasters there are people observing you from behind mirrors... how scary is that?

 

What do you like about MMI compared to the Panel?

[Guest happy2bme]

I don't think the rooms were equiped with 2 way mirrors and it wasn't disclosed that we were being monitered. McMAster runs some with actual interactive scenerios that need to be observed, this is not the case at the MMI's that I have participated in.

 

I like MMI 's because it should, in theory, cut down on interviewer bias. You can start your interview poorly in a panel interview and it can cast a shadow on the rest of your interview experience. However one bad station at the MMI can be shaken off, and start fresh at the next station with a new interviewer.

 

Cheers!

[Guest Jag]

but you can't get a proper feel for how the students handle stress, or gain a good feel for their personality, which is a major part of doctoring

[Guest happy2bme]

I disagree on the stress assessment, you definitely can stress someone out in 8min and see how they respond. And there is ample opportunity in your 8 min to incorporate examples of your personality into your responses. Unfortunatly MMI doesn't allow for an indepth personality assessment that the hour long panel does.

 

However, I much rather one of my personality traits be overlooked than answer a question poorly during my panel and have that the only thing that sticks out in their mind when evaluating me at the end. It happens, it's a bias that cannot be controlled for, afterall interviewers are human. Who knows though, I may have performed horribly compared to others at the MMI and scored better at panel.

 

The trial run is definitely not going to be accurate, many people were not as stress as stressed as if it counted towards their score. And I must admit, by the end, my answers were not as complete as they could have been because I was somewhat losing interest and was hungry.

[Guest ssc427]

I agree with Jag. The MMI was fun but I don't think it is a better way to evaluate applicants. If you're a good actor you could easily sleaze your way through the 8 minute slots. Less true when you have an unlimited time period a three people prepared to push your responses to the limit. I understand the need to eliminate interview bias but I don't think this is the way forward. Doctors have been selected using standard interviews for the past 150+ years. 99% of the doctors out there deserve to be there. I don't see a need to change the system now: If it aint broke don't fix it.

[Guest VS12]

I didn't like it.

 

The way it's set up right now favors someone who can talk their way through a given situation. It favors someone who can bs really well and who can think more quickly on their feet. As well, because the questions are the exact same, I would think that there is definitely an advantage to those who take it later in the day or in the interview cycle, because they can simply get the questions from friends. At least with the panel interviewers, they can throw some curve balls and tailor their questions to the individual. Lastly, MMI remove sthe personal aspect of the interview. It felt so cold and so robotic. I have misgivings that MMI will select individuals who are all the same and who are all cookie cutter and result in too much homogeniety.

[Guest ssc427]

Yes - but that's what Canadian med schools want. A set of formulas, cutoffs and 'right answers' to fill up a specified score which will gain you acceptance. This will yield boring students with high scores, no life experience and no opinions of their own. No radical thinkers or odd balls are allowed. Docs like this are more apt to obey the ministry which will increasingly dictate how we are to practice in the coming years of declining social health resources. The ministry will pay for most of our schooling so they have a say in how we should be selected. They want privates, not generals.

 

That’s my conspiracy theory of the day.

[Guest happy2bme]

I think if they'd use it as an interview tool the questions would be different from day to day. However, The same questions are used all day AM vs PM are segregated in a real model at Calgary and there is no mingling amongst groups. 144 people per day are able to be interviewed in such a model. That basically cuts down on the amount of time looking for volunteers to interview candidates. Think about it, almost 300 people were interviewed via the panel interview at manitoba this year at 3 interviewers per candidate and approx 1hour interview time. That is 900 volunteer hours vs around approximatly 320ish volunteer hours needed for MMI. i'm pretty sure that most universities don't have a waitlist for scads of interview volunteers.....

 

I don't think all the people in NOSM and McMaster are just good BS ers and are cookie cutters of the same type of person. I highly doubt it. I think the panel interview has more opportunity to BS and spin your answers. What I think Manitoba and Calgary were lacking was more scenerio/confrontational stations, and Manitoba should have had the "why do you want to be a doc ?"station. MMI Does make you think on your feet, a great trait to have as a doc.

 

I also commend Manitoba to see if the MMI produced the results they want before jumping the gun and just implementing it with out testing out the format first.

 

Your station interviewers in Manitoba also didn't follow up much with the questions as Calgary tended to. They may have needed more training in the process to illicit better reponses from candidates.

 

Another thing, as for getting questions from friends, ALL of my panel questions in the regular category were questions I have heard about before in their various shapes and forms, mostly via the internet. So that can't be a real issue.

[Guest ssc427]

Personally, I don't like it. It's just another thing (of many) which makes the Canadian MD application procedure worse than the US one IMO. I'm just glad that none of the schools I'm interviewing at in Canada this year had MMI for real.

 

But Happy, in 30 years when we're both deans of medical schools you can push for MMI at yours and I'll stick to good-ol everyday human style interviews at mine. Then we can have med olympics like they do in Ontario and see whose students are better.

[Guest happy2bme]

LOL, my MMI is going to have some unique stations that will definitely seperate the superior candidates from the inferior!

 

Station 1

Inside the room is a FOLBERG, made by Ikea. Please put this item together using the crazy instructions with no real wording, and pictures of screws and bolts that all look the same size but are really different lengths.

 

Station 2

Inside the room is a telephone. Please pick up the phone and try and reach the billing department of this major telecommunications provider. Do not use the numeric keypad, only use the voice recognisition system and see how far you can get befored frustration hits you and you hang up.

 

Station 3

Inside this room is your Significant Other's Mother. Please ask for her opinion on "your job", "your Housekeeping/Cooking skills", and your child rearing skills. The object of this station is seeing how long you can bite your tongue before you implode.

 

Yes these are some scenerios I would love to see people react to inside of the" you have one heart to transplant and you have to chose who gets it" type ones!

 

Cheers!