Post-interview confidence indicative of actual result at all?

[LostLamb]

I don't disagree with the points you made...I was more disagreeing with the concept of 'if you felt it was easy then you fell for the traps'.

 

Frankly, you are right. There are ways to prepare for the MMI, but you will never ever know if you are ready for anything that they can throw at you, and some can succumb under the pressure of questions from left field.

 

I liken preparing for an MMI as how a person "prepares" for any conversation: by being an all around knowledgeable person. If you take an interest in the world around you, can form and back up your own opinions, can see situations from a variety of perspectivies, and then can clearly, coherently or even eloquently express yourself...then you are more than prepared for an MMI.

 

I did similar things as you: read Doing Right, looked into current local/regional/national health care issues, and practised answering MMI style questions in front of an audience. Self-reflection is a great way to prepare as well, by understanding what you have learned from various personal experiences and then being able to use these to highlight personal qualities. However, my best 'preparation' has been developed over a long time: just speaking with others about whatever, whenever, in many different milieus. I think this is what I liked about the MMI. One has to be prepared to talk off the cuff about all sorts of things with all sorts of different people.

 

Congrats on getting into McGill--my alma mater

 

I must disagree that there is no way to prepare for the MMI. I did not prepare for my McGill interview IP last year and I was wait listed with very good stats (3.97 GPA, 34 MCAT). I spent the year preparing and I got in this year.

 

You can prepare for the ethical scenarios by reading an ethical text, ontariostudent who got into McGill as an OOP (quite the feat) mentioned reading Doing Right, and so I read it. I also asked to present for journal club at work two weeks in a row just before the interview to make sure my fear of public speaking would be diminished. I've been listening to White Coat Black Art (CBC radio program on medicine) and New England Journal of Medicine podcasts to get up to date with the state of medicine. I also read two texts on the history of medicine to understand the background of the profession, I would recommend History of Medicine, a Scandalously Short Introduction. To work on my communication skills I've been over-analyzing every situation in my life involving communication for the past year, and asking friends and co-workers for feedback.

 

You can prepare for the MMI, but it is not something you do the night before, it can take months, you are basically preparing to be a good doctor, which is something we should keep doing for the rest of our lives anyhow.

 

P.S. I thought I did well on my interview because I recognized the point of every scenario, what 'doctorly quality' they were looking for, and that was only because of the preparation.

[Retsage]

I could be wrong, but perhaps it can be the same way that really hard tests go.

 

The people who say they were easy do bad because they fell for the traps,

while those who found it hard do better because they realized what the test was really looking for

 

 

I could always predict how I did on tests quite well!

 

 

Nothing is indicative. I wouldn't worry about it. You'll know soon enough.