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Doing a pro/con comparison before coming to your final conclusion is a good idea. You want to let the interviewer see your whole thought process of how you came up with what you did. I rarely threw in my personal experience unless it was directly asked for (or implicitly needed), but its not a bad idea to include it.

 

My strategy was basically to walk in, introduce myself, talk about the case itself for a bit/set the stage, discuss the issues involved as well as the pros and cons, and give a balanced and reasonable solution/answer based on what I just talked about.

 

If you literally only talked for 2 minutes and sat in silence for 5 minutes, then that probably isn't a good sign. You may have covered everything they were looking for, but might not have covered it well. Its okay to have some silence on a few stations, but it should only be a minute or two. I was successful at last year's interview, and I had about 1-2 minutes of silence at one of the stations - I used up all my time for the rest.

 

Practicing specifically for the MMI helps, if you can find people to do so with.

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If you literally only talked for 2 minutes and sat in silence for 5 minutes, then that probably isn't a good sign.

 

I completely agree with that statement. I was accepted this application cycle and although we probably had different days and times, the types of MMI questions were probably similar. In saying that, I never had awkward silence at any of my stations as I was able to discuss each scenario for at LEAST 5 minutes. After that 5 minutes they followed up with questions which either pertained to my answers or were essentially irrelevant to what I previously said. I never used personal experiences unless asked to or if they were conventional questions, but I did use relevant medical news if I felt it was necessary. For example, if you were asked about HIV/AIDS you could mention how Health Canada or BC Health is implementing a $X campaign to raise awareness and the pros/cons associated with that (see below for how to structure this). Read the BC Health website for news on funding of projects or ethical issues; you will be amazed at the seamless transition of that information to your MMI prompts (if you're lucky like I was). Nevertheless, I never finished one station early as all my conversations were very friendly, fluid, and relevant to current affairs in medicine.

 

Despite everyone preparing differently for the MMI, a common denominator to self-determined success (I say self-determined because accepted students generally feel confident coming out of the MMI - as did I - but never know if they were average, above average, etc.) is practice, practice, practice. "We're not talking about a game, we're talking about practice."

 

After receiving my interview invite, I started practicing MMI prompts of all types. My wife (relationship to person you choose is really irrelevant) would choose a prompt for me, allow me 2 minutes to read it, wait inside a room, and have me walk in and discuss it for 7 minutes. My wife was constructively honest in her feedback which helped substantially; she critiqued my facial expressions, my body posture, my tone, and everything non-answer related to ensure that regardless of my answer, I presented myself in a proper, professional, and inviting manner. I am a social butterfly and can befriend anyone, but you would be surprised how your personality can be perceived differently in someone elses eyes when discussing an intellectual topic, even if you are not stressed in the situation!

 

Once my body language was presentable and inviting (ALWAYS smiling), I moved on to practicing structure. Knowing intro, pros/cons, conclusion does you no good unless you get used to applying it in EVERY MMI situation (ethical, abstract, acting, etc.). For this, I used the book MMI Interview by MSC to enhance the structural components I had concocted, so I highly recommend buying it. The DVD was useless but the book was great. It is by no means a guarantee for acceptance, but reading a prompt, answering it yourself, and then reading their answer can help you look at problems from numerous perspectives (ie. pros and cons for big, middle, small framework - strongly recommended!).

 

Using the questions in that book and MMIs from the internet (U of Calgary has a nicely assembled package), my wife and I practiced 8-10 MMIs in a row per day for the month of January. The interview day was just another day only with different people to answer to! Similar questions, same structure, same timing, same endurance requirment, just a different environment (maybe more stressful, but what's another 9 MMIs after completing 250+).

 

Practice, practice, practice with someone who is willing to give constructive feedback. It helps a lot and once they feel confident in your answers and presentation you can just continue to build your confidence. This system may not work for you but given your comments on only having 2 minutes of content it wouldn't hurt.

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Herewego nailed it.

 

Body language is very important. At the end of the day, your answer is one component to it all. The interviewer is basically thinking 'do I see this person as a doctor?'

 

I also agree that practice is important. However, I personally didn't practice TOO much because I didn't want to sound rehearsed as lots of scenarios can be similar.

 

What I did: walk in, introduce myself, shake hands, quickly summarize the scenario to show that I understand the issue, address the different components/issues with the scenario, make sure I show that while I understand if some people may choose to do X because of reasons ABC, I would do Y because of DEF....basically you want to come off as someone who saw the case holistically and chose a course of action for certain reasons.

 

If you just walk in and say 'I would do so and so because that's what I think is right,' then there's a good chance that that's a below average response. There is no such thing as right or wrong answers. However, you should critically analyze the scenario and address the issues accordingly.

 

I'm not too nitpicky regarding the time thing. You don't want to talk for 5 minutes if you don't have 5 minutes of strong material to present. Talking more than you need to weakens and dilutes your answers. But be efficient - use the time well; quality over quantity. My initial responses were probably 2-4 minutes.

 

I got in after my second interview. I think the biggest difference was:

 

a) I spoke slower and more concise.

 

B) I actually ANSWERED the question. This may sound crazy but most don't actually give an answer. They spend the whole time discussing the pros and cons of every scenario and never actually arrive at what they would do. This doesn't sound like it's your major issue, but it's something to keep in mind for all future applicants - make sure you clearly answer the question - don't ramble for 5 minutes and expect the interviewer to search for an answer during the time.

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So people now spend weeks preparing for the MMI? No wonder admissions is being inflated more and more. All about playing the game:o

 

Inflated from MMI practice? Some causes of inflation are: market power (UBC dictates what MMI is worth), supply & demand (irrelevant to acceptance process, unless there were MMI gurus who could guarantee acceptance), asset market boom (withholding goods when prices are high; again irrelevant to UBC), and supply shock (again, irrelevant). It is not like GPA where a student can take basket weaving 101 at BFN University to boost GPA; evidently, the producer (ie. university) has to provide a means of inflation. I am confused by your logic as students cannot cause inflation. More RA positions, easier publication policies, more funding all provide easier access to successful and credible research experiences; thus, research weight on the application is inflated since the people in control made it that way. Simply having applicants do their part in what they have control over in no way inflates the process. A parallel is saying that studying inflates GPA because students who study (practice MMI) are more prepared for the exam (MMI) and do better than someone who didn't study (above average vs. below average MMI). You need a source for inflation and in my opinion this does not come from the applicants practicing the MMI with friends.

 

I would love to hear your rationale on this.

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Fuuuuu,

 

I feel the same way about you in terms of my interview at UBC. My TFR was 77.95 but my interview like yourself was below average. I didn't feel below average walking out of the interview, but I didn't feel like it went badly. Going through it I felt reasonably confident in most of my answers bringing in work/life experiences examples and tying them to the questions regularly. I hope like yourself to get an interview again this upcoming cycle and do better.

 

I felt going through the interview that they were looking for something different than the more formulaic mode that I had practiced with people in Kelowna. In hindsight, it was a risk to change my approach to answering the interview questions on site and perhaps this was the exact reason for my downfall. That being said, I felt the station I went through were much more personal and less ethically oriented (Perhaps that was a mistake in my interpretation as well).

 

Also during the interview, I felt like the interviewers were very quick to jump in with questions while I was giving my initial answer and therefore changing the direction of my answer slightly. Perhaps these were nudges at getting what they wanted more out of an answer for that station. Did anyone else find this at all?

 

I did a ton of practice for the MMI with groups beforehand, but come interview time I got less formal and scripted than in my practice. Do you guys think this was part of the problem? Many of the stations were not ethics related and thus demanded less of a scripted/organized answer in my mind.

 

All things being said, I know that I need to go through the more self reflective exercise of answering things like what would make me a good doctor and more standard interview type questions. I definitely focused more on ethical and critical thinking type scenarios in my practice. Overall though, the weird thing is I also felt the interviewers were trying to steer me away from anything overly scripted.

 

I agree with the individual that called interview dance "playing the game". It's a game in getting at what they are looking for you to hit in the questions and how you hit the points designed to be targeted in the questions.

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@DaKirbster Yea I know I figured that was a very bad sign. When you say you used all of your time could you elaborate a bit more? For example on my "good" (or so I thought) stations I would answer the original question for 3-4 minutes, then they would do follow up prompts which I would answer and then I would have maybe 10-15 seconds of silence at the end. On other stations the bell went off in the middle of me answering a prompt. Is the latter what you mean by taking up all your time?

 

With the exception of the one where I had about a minute of silence after answering all the prompts, the bell went off while I was in the midst of answering a prompt. I think I got through most of the prompts anyway, but I don't think its necessary to go through them all. They're mostly there to peek into your mind a bit and to avoid silence, if possible.

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Thank you for sharing your tips for a great preparation! I can see both you and your wife devoted a great deal into the preparation, and you definitely deserve the good outcome.

 

Just wondering how you produced those customized MMI prompts (8-10 per day for an entire month equals about 250-300 prompts. Thanks!

 

I completely agree with that statement. I was accepted this application cycle and although we probably had different days and times, the types of MMI questions were probably similar. In saying that, I never had awkward silence at any of my stations as I was able to discuss each scenario for at LEAST 5 minutes. After that 5 minutes they followed up with questions which either pertained to my answers or were essentially irrelevant to what I previously said. I never used personal experiences unless asked to or if they were conventional questions, but I did use relevant medical news if I felt it was necessary. For example, if you were asked about HIV/AIDS you could mention how Health Canada or BC Health is implementing a $X campaign to raise awareness and the pros/cons associated with that (see below for how to structure this). Read the BC Health website for news on funding of projects or ethical issues; you will be amazed at the seamless transition of that information to your MMI prompts (if you're lucky like I was). Nevertheless, I never finished one station early as all my conversations were very friendly, fluid, and relevant to current affairs in medicine.

 

Despite everyone preparing differently for the MMI, a common denominator to self-determined success (I say self-determined because accepted students generally feel confident coming out of the MMI - as did I - but never know if they were average, above average, etc.) is practice, practice, practice. "We're not talking about a game, we're talking about practice."

 

After receiving my interview invite, I started practicing MMI prompts of all types. My wife (relationship to person you choose is really irrelevant) would choose a prompt for me, allow me 2 minutes to read it, wait inside a room, and have me walk in and discuss it for 7 minutes. My wife was constructively honest in her feedback which helped substantially; she critiqued my facial expressions, my body posture, my tone, and everything non-answer related to ensure that regardless of my answer, I presented myself in a proper, professional, and inviting manner. I am a social butterfly and can befriend anyone, but you would be surprised how your personality can be perceived differently in someone elses eyes when discussing an intellectual topic, even if you are not stressed in the situation!

 

Once my body language was presentable and inviting (ALWAYS smiling), I moved on to practicing structure. Knowing intro, pros/cons, conclusion does you no good unless you get used to applying it in EVERY MMI situation (ethical, abstract, acting, etc.). For this, I used the book MMI Interview by MSC to enhance the structural components I had concocted, so I highly recommend buying it. The DVD was useless but the book was great. It is by no means a guarantee for acceptance, but reading a prompt, answering it yourself, and then reading their answer can help you look at problems from numerous perspectives (ie. pros and cons for big, middle, small framework - strongly recommended!).

 

Using the questions in that book and MMIs from the internet (U of Calgary has a nicely assembled package), my wife and I practiced 8-10 MMIs in a row per day for the month of January. The interview day was just another day only with different people to answer to! Similar questions, same structure, same timing, same endurance requirment, just a different environment (maybe more stressful, but what's another 9 MMIs after completing 250+).

 

Practice, practice, practice with someone who is willing to give constructive feedback. It helps a lot and once they feel confident in your answers and presentation you can just continue to build your confidence. This system may not work for you but given your comments on only having 2 minutes of content it wouldn't hurt.

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The UBC MMI is one of the most challenging interviews I've had (had 4 in total). I practised a lot, yet some of the questions during the real thing took me by real surprise. There is no way anyone can predict UBC's interview questions. Personally, all my practice did not help.

 

Advice: Practice if you have time, but go in with an open mind. Don't expect the typical questions to show up.

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I practised a lot, yet some of the questions during the real thing took me by real surprise. There is no way anyone can predict UBC's interview questions. Personally, all my practice did not help.

 

Advice: Practice if you have time, but go in with an open mind. Don't expect the typical questions to show up.

 

As mentioned, I will post a detailed thread about my experience and preparation. I could not disagree more with your notion that practice does not help. I think this really comes down to what you are practicing to maximize your time. Every question was synonymous with my practice questions and didn't once feel like "that question was out of the blue". The MMI is more than just reading Doing Right or current events; it takes a deep understanding of who you are as person and being able to resonate that in 7 minutes without sounding rehearsed. Anyone can practice to sound rehearsed, it takes more practice to nail an MMI by knowing the answer but presenting it unrehearsed. Huge difference.

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As mentioned, I will post a detailed thread about my experience and preparation. I could not disagree more with your notion that practice does not help. I think this really comes down to what you are practicing to maximize your time. Every question was synonymous with my practice questions and didn't once feel like "that question was out of the blue". The MMI is more than just reading Doing Right or current events; it takes a deep understanding of who you are as person and being able to resonate that in 7 minutes without sounding rehearsed. Anyone can practice to sound rehearsed, it takes more practice to nail an MMI by knowing the answer but presenting it unrehearsed. Huge difference.

 

That's why I wrote "PERSONALLY, all my practice did not help." Of course, it depends on what questions u use for practice, and what questions you got for the actual interview (there are definitely several sets of questions, dep on your date and time of interview). Maybe I simply lucked out for the UBC interview (my actual questions were so diff from the typical questions you find on the Internet/premed101). I was also accepted at Alberta and Saskatchewan though, so my practice probably helped at those schools.

 

I totally agree with you that MMI>>>reading Doing it Right.

 

I have no clue how you can sound rehearse for the MMI. Unless your actual question is exactly the same as one that you have practice multiply times before, there is no way one can sound rehearsed. Even if it was the same question, you will realize that you you always give a slightly different answer every time you answer it. There is no way you can sound rehearsed unless you memorize your answer. Note that sounding fluent does not mean sounding rehearsed. I definitely sounded fluent at some of the stations, but never rehearsed.

 

Nonetheless, I did not feel that my UBC interview went too well. I had high pre-interview scores though (perfect AQ and probably high enough NAQ, since I'm OOP from U of T, St. George), so that probably helped.

 

Bottomline: I'm just trying to relate my personal experience. To all premeds, try to figure out what works best for yourself. There is no single way to answer MMI questions. Better to be honest by being yourself, rather than trying to answer MMI questions in an unnatural manner.

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Let me give you my take. Firstly, I did not apply to UBC, rather to the 3 French speaking medical schools, Laval, Sherbrooke and University of Montreal. Our system is different. One MMI for all 3 schools, not 3 separate interviews. Also, the MMI is smack in the middle of finals, another reason why I did not prepare for the interview.

 

See my sticky, the link is in my signature below and in particular, read what ontariostudent says.

 

I was not disadvantaged by no prep. I have been preparing all my life. My ECs and volunteering had prepared me. One of my ECs involved public performances, including competitive performances for years, so I was confident walking in. And for years, I had been responding to 911 medical emergency calls. I felt that I could handle whatever they threw at me, I would beflexible and go with the flow.

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Before I start this lengthy post, I want to clarify that this is an overwhelming amount of information to cover that may or may not come up for future interviewees. I viewed the MMI process like the MCAT; most information won't be tested but I want to be damn sure I at least have some knowledge of a topic if it does come up! I agree that not preparing for the MMI because you have been preparing your whole life through ECs is true, but when you receive a question regarding pros and cons of a two-tier health system I don't think your ECs help you out much. Lastly, this post is not breaching the confidentiality agreement I signed as all topics presented was material I studied based on PM101ers and SDNers (US version).

 

So the question of how to prepare has already been posted, but with what to prepare is obviously just as important. I broke my material down into five categories:

 

1. Ethical Dilemmas: These are your typical questions such as "discuss the pros and cons of abortion", "your thoughts on euthanasia (assisted-death)", "consent to treatment", etc. If these questions are presented they will most likely be in the form of a case study since 2 minutes to read the former is an eternity. My advice for this is to read "Doing Right" so you can become accustomed to the numerous perspectives in various situations and witness case studies from real events. Impact from various perspectives is key to performing well in the MMI ethical dilemma questions and Doing Right gives you a solid foundation to work with. In addition, read up on current events in Canada regarding ethical dilemmas! One of my questions was directly from an article in the BC Medical Journal; needless to say, I covered every perspective, related my answer to the fact that it was in the news (bonus points for staying current?), and wrapped it up only to have my interviewer say "well, you are the first person to cover every perspective and follow-up question I have for you. Let's talk about you then!" You want this response in your MMI experience? Then read Doing Right and stay current and you will be just fine!

 

2. Acting Stations: Pretty typical and no research necessary to perform well in this section. However, practice to master your body language and tone of voice. Obviously these are key aspects the graders are looking for so be yourself and have fun with it. If you are trying to deal with a disgruntled person, try and keep the mood light; remember, they are acting and not truly disgruntled so try and crack 'em - make them flustered because they have no reason to act disgruntled anymore lol!

 

3. Abstract Stations: I practiced these stations by googling random paintings or photos and describing what I saw, what the artist is trying to portray, why the artist drew it in this way, why it was not drawn in another way, and how the painting could impact society. Again, no need to overly prepare as it is more BS'ing your way through. Practice it twice or thrice to get the hang of it. I do not want to give away the context of my MMI experience, but think of other possible ways to present an abstract idea and practice with those as well.

 

4. Canadian Healthcare System: This was the section I prepared for the most as I wanted to be well educated on the details of our system aside from "socialized medicine". It also helps to update yourself on the current state of medicine in Canada and obtain a point of view since you want to join that workforce in the future! Topics I researched included:

 

Deterrent Fees, Rural Communities, Privatization (two-tier health system), Determinants of Health, Sustainability of System, First Nations Healthcare, Harm Prevention, and HIV/AIDS programs.

 

You may deem it necessary to include other information, but this was the list I went with and I was overly prepared for any questions regarding those topics. Again, one MMI station ended in "that was the best conversation I have had thus far, I thoroughly enjoyed your insight." If you don't know, the interviewers cannot give feedback on how you did so having 3 interviewers (3rd example not included) basically tell me I rocked it was amazing was ensuring that all my time and preparation paid off in the end!

 

5. Conventional Questions: These are the typical questions like "why medicine", "why UBC", "describe an experience when...". These are more intertwined with your ECs but make sure you can elaborate your answer on a question like "why medicine" without merely saying "I want to to help people". Think long and hard about certain experiences that reiterated your pursuit to becoming an MD, the characteristics suitable for medicine you have developed, and anything you have learned along the way. You received an interview due to phenomenal ECs, so look back at them and decide how they contributed to where you are today.

 

So where do you get MMI prompts from? Well, try this site for a mock UBC MMI day. http://multipleminiinterview.com/mmi-questions/

 

Try googling "Work Your BSc MMI Strategies: Sample Questions" for 51 more cases.

 

Google "McMaster MMI Admissions Score Sheet" to get an idea of how you may be scored by your interviewer.

 

Google "U of Calgary MMI Scenarios" to get about 7 more questions with follow-up questions for your practice partner to ask.

 

Google "Practice MMI Questions U of Sas" for a variety of topics.

 

Go here to learn about ethical scenarios: http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/ethics/cases.htm

 

You can read this for info on "Bioethics for Clinicians": http://www.cmaj.ca/site/misc/bioethics_e.xhtml

 

From all of this you can extrapolate other questions to practice with. It really helps to have a partner provide 8-10 MMIs per day so you can't subconsciously think of your answer while preparing the questions. In addition, other random google searches will surely provide enough practice.

 

If you are still lost after reading Doing Right, MSc MMI, and my two posts then PM me (note that I will ask if you read the two books). I will not disclose any information regarding my experience so do not bother asking "do you think they will ask this". In saying that, don't listen to your friends say "I didn't have that my year, you won't need to know that". The MMI is different every year (just like how the MCAT content varies every test - unless you are lucky and get the same passage in two tests) so anything is fair game. I have known people to be appalled from "loaded questions" to be asked when UBC is not known for that. The MMI experience at UBC can be as difficult or simple as you make it on yourself; you have come this far in the process so you might as well prepare yourself for the last aspect holding you back from achieving your dream. Best of luck in the application process.

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