mbeta Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Hey everyone, Does anyone know how best to prepare for the inevitable role play on the MMI. I'm personally not sure how to approach a scenario where I have to act something out. For example, there's this particular example on the MMI example sheet where you're driving a company colleague to the airport. What are they expecting out of such a scenario or any other for that matter? Any input would be much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Hey everyone, Does anyone know how best to prepare for the inevitable role play on the MMI. It's not inevitable. I've done 17 MMI stations to date, and not a single one of them involved role play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewfieMike Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 It seems like they're putting you on the spot to just carry a conversation. The scenario you gave sounds pretty easy. Why not start with "so where are you heading, anyways?" I guess they'd probably be looking at your ability to carry normal conversation, not act awkwardly or bring a conversation to a dead end. Like in the above example, if the other role player said "I'm going to xxx for a conference" it might be a better response to keep it going rather than saying "oh, neat." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w8kg6 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 It seems like they're putting you on the spot to just carry a conversation. Yep, that's exactly what they're doing. I wouldn't worry about the whole thing too much, you can't practice for those ones anyways... unless you consider being a human for 20ish years practicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamer Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 I mirror Jochi's comment. I've done 3 interviews with another coming and out of 31 stations there were 0 actors and I don't think U of A has them either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 It seems like they're putting you on the spot to just carry a conversation. The scenario you gave sounds pretty easy. Why not start with "so where are you heading, anyways?" I guess they'd probably be looking at your ability to carry normal conversation, not act awkwardly or bring a conversation to a dead end. Like in the above example, if the other role player said "I'm going to xxx for a conference" it might be a better response to keep it going rather than saying "oh, neat." I think he might be referring to one of McMaster's examples. It's actually more complicated than that, the colleague refuses to fly to the conference because she's afraid of 9/11, so it's not just "talk to this person about nothing," you have to somehow get her to the conference despite those issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewels1986 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 I've done 3 or 4 role plays, and even though I can't stand acting normally, they actually felt really natural and were easy to do. Remember that basically the sole point of them is for the interviewer to evaluate your empathy and communication skills - whether you actually "achieve" the objective (e.g., getting the colleague to the airport) is usually secondary. The airport example is published in Mac's articles on med admissions - as someone mentions above, she has a phobia of flying, so they're just trying to see how you react to someone who's afraid and upset, and whether you can help them work through the situation. Some tips: expect there to be a "backstory" that goes beyond the prompt, don't get angry, always speak calmly, echo what the person is saying to show you're listening, give empathetic feedback, and present reasonable options without backing the person into a corner. That's pretty much all there is to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellosc Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 if you do mcgill mmi...there are role plays you just got to go with it...the actors themselves also have things to say and questions to ask you you will have enough to say that 8 mins goes by really fast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atreides Posted March 5, 2009 Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 McMaster had a role play station, whereas Alberta and Calgary did not the year I interviewed there. Thus, if they are preparing for McMaster it is likely they will have one role play station. I do not believe preparation is truly possible as the actor changes their responses based on yours, similar to an actual conversation, so even multiple people in the same interview group might have different experiences. Perhaps you could try to remember difficult conversations or situations you've had in the past and perhaps examine how you responded and compare that to how you wished you'd responded at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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