Interview Pearls? Or The Ramblings Of A Madman?

[HeHeBunny]

I've got a couple messages asking how I prepared for my interviews last year (and was accepted), so I thought I would make this post for everybody, rather than reply individually.

If you find this helpful, great!  If not, there is no obligation to read or agree

 

I am happy to share my insights and how I prepped.  My opinion is biased, but I also think my philosophy on prepping for interviews is the best.

 

Ultimately it comes down to this:   The interviews are not meant to be tricks in anyway. Every single mini-interview is there to pose a problem or situation and see how you process it and articulate yourself. Because of this, trying to make pre-prepared responses or analyze various possible situations is almost completely useless.  They are trying to assess your thought process and ability to effectively communicate, and those are skills you have already been preparing your entire life. Especially through the recent years of your university education and any other extra-curricular or education you have under your belt.    Therefore, I am VERY anti-prep course.  I think they are mostly just overpriced info sessions which will probably just tell you what you already know (or what you can at least google for free), yet prey on your dedication, and desperation, to have a solid interview day.  

 

With all that said, there still are some pearls I think are important (and as such are how I prepared):

 

1. You can control your timing!   I practised for several hours by myself and informally did about a dozen scenarios with close family. Here I practised on speaking for about 5-7 minutes, with aprox 2-4 minutes remaining for additional prompt questions / interviewers involvement. Time for questions has a two-fold benefit. First, many of the questions are important to address and add depth to your response, and second, I think the best interviews are ones where the interviewer can participate (even if it only minimally).  I think its a lot easier for an interviewer to be engaged when your responding to them, rather then them just listening to your response to a prompt question taped to the door. This is the basis for number 2.

 

 

2. Practice your introductions.  Its lame to practice (or at least I always felt silly doing it), but make sure you can present yourself with a happy, confident and comfortable demeanour. Going back to my previous comment, when you introduce yourself and make a mini-connection with the interviewer, you are now responding to THEM. Rather then them simply listening in on your 9-minute monologue about 'X'-Situation. Additionally, making an appropriate amount of eye-contact throughout your response will maintain this connection and interviewer engagement. 

 

 

3. If you have any issues with repeating yourself, filling in thinking time with 'um', 'hrmmm' or 'like' or maybe have nervous picking/scratching/laughing/etc behaviours, you can also work on controlling these over the next couple months prior to your interviews.  Here, I think it is best to form a mock-interview practice group with people from this forum.  When you are interviewed by somebody who hasn't met you before, they are likely to be more critical on small things you might being doing while nervous that could throw an interviewer off in the real thing.  Be careful though, when you are with people you don't know, its natural that everybody wants to super encouraging and nice (which is great!), but I found people tend to beat-around-the-bush when giving negative feedback on the content and performance in these settings. So try to encourage brutally honest feedback in these groups!  You are practising to get critical feedback so you can improve, not for a pat on the back. 

 

 

4. I know I just went on a rant about how its foolish to try and prep responses for each possible scenario or theme.  And this is still true since there are SO many possibilities (and therefore not even feasible), AND you dont want to sound like a robot either.  HOWEVER, I do think it is fair to say you should think right now about three specific situations and how you feel about them:  (1) Assisted dying in Canada    (2) The Immunization debate and (3) Refugee Healthcare    ....I think these 3 specific cases are extremely 'high yield'.   I was SURE there was going to be a station on my interview day involving the recent vaccination debates/issues, and sure enough, there was.  I was prepared and that station went great. And not because I had a monologue planned out to the word (I didn't !), but because I already knew my thoughts and opinions on the subject. Beyond these, don't make your head swim with an endless amount of potential topics.  The MMI's assess how you think, not your background knowledge. So be confident that you are already prepared to show off your thought-process to whatever they might throw your way!

 

 

5. I personally wanted to start and end each station on a positive note, even if the station went horribly wrong otherwise.  Therefore, in additional to being able to control your introduction, you can also control how you want to deal with the out-of-time buzzer.  Here, I made a point of making eye contact, thanking the interviewer for their time w/ a parting handshake and often making a brief comment to brighten the mood.  Ie)  'Perfect timing!'  or  'That went by fast! :)'.   Be careful though, if you do choose to say something like this at the end, you really need to make sure it is delivered in the right way, otherwise I could see it being negative toward your evaluation.  I did so because I felt I could confidently pull it off in a light-hearted way, as that's my personality. However, if your trying to awkwardly force a 'Perfect Timing!' when it really wasn't good timing at all, it will just be confusing. In which case just do the other points of eye-contact and seal the interview with a handshake and 'Thank you'.   

 

 

6. Now that I am in medical school, there has already been lots of talk about how to prep for CaRMS and how to succeed in getting an interview and spot in your residency of choice, etc...  We hear the same comments from various program directors:  In CaRMS interviews, the program directors are really trying to decide whether or not your the kind of person they want to work with. You have already proven yourself capable, so now they are mostly asking themselves "can i work with you over the next X-number of years, and is this the kind of person they want to collaborate with at 3:00am after being called in".  I think the MMI interviews are the same, just here you dont have a medical education yet!  So be yourself!  Show that you are an honest, humble and compassionate person who can think critically about a subject. Don't be a robot trying to force the station to work with a prepared speech that's only kind of related. Dont try and force every response into some cookie-cutter format where you spend 2 minutes identifying stakeholders, 2 minutes on your argument, 2 minutes acknowledging other view points, etc...  While this will be fine for some stations, maintain flexibility because there will be some stations this approach doesn't fit well. Find the right balance between having a succinct response with a logical flow, but still maintaining your personality.

 

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A long response, but as you can see, still a fairly minimal prep.  This was NOT a '1-2 hours every night until Feb 21' kind of deal.  Enjoy the upcoming holiday break!  While the interview is worth a lot, I want to reiterate that the MMI is testing skills you have already been preparing for many years now!  The real trick is just simply not working yourself up into a ball of stress and nerves.   Best wishes to everybody!

[freewheeler]

I think there are some great points here that are important re: maintaining perspective with respect to the interview process. I will be starting my MMI prep soon and I anticipate that I will start off a little more structured and then once I get more comfortable with timing and effectively articulating my responses, I will adjust to a manner that best suits my natural style.

 

I anticipate some negative feedback to this thread, mostly from posters with the personality of an anal thermometer, who will exclaim: "I hate it when people say to just be yourself!! That doesn't tell me anything!!"

 

Thought I'd add a little humour to this thread. Thanks, OP.

[sea-monkey-cecil]

These are really great points! Thank you for taking the time to write all of this up.

 

As a re-applicant this year, my pearls of wisdom about interviews might be closer to oysters still, but I want to add a couple things (may or may not be Calgary-specific, as I've never interviewed there [yet!].)

 

1. Know yourself and your experiences - I got pretty blindsided by my interview when I was asked questions that related to my experiences or lessons I had taken from them. For some reason, I had the impression that you never have to "talk about yourself" in an MMI, and that those types of questions were only seen in more traditional panel-style interviews. Wrong! Go through your resume, your CV, your years of group work in class. Think of lessons, learning experiences, ways you failed and ways you grew. Get clear on some "themes" you can pull from your experiences. What kind of story do they tell about you?

 

2. Don't dismiss any practice questions as too weird or out of the box. In fact, push yourself into those questions that seem unusual. Remember those games where you try to list as many possible uses for a blanket, or a pencil? Those are good warm-ups to get your thinking to move outside of rigid rules and situations. There will most likely be at least one question where, after you leave the room, you might wonder if you are actually interviewing for an arts fellowship or a modern interpretive theatre placement. Go with it! If you're ready and relaxed, these kinds of questions can be a lot of fun.

[amichel]

These are really great points! Thank you for taking the time to write all of this up.

 

As a re-applicant this year, my pearls of wisdom about interviews might be closer to oysters still, but I want to add a couple things (may or may not be Calgary-specific, as I've never interviewed there [yet!].)

 

1. Know yourself and your experiences - I got pretty blindsided by my interview when I was asked questions that related to my experiences or lessons I had taken from them. For some reason, I had the impression that you never have to "talk about yourself" in an MMI, and that those types of questions were only seen in more traditional panel-style interviews. Wrong! Go through your resume, your CV, your years of group work in class. Think of lessons, learning experiences, ways you failed and ways you grew. Get clear on some "themes" you can pull from your experiences. What kind of story do they tell about you?

 

2. Don't dismiss any practice questions as too weird or out of the box. In fact, push yourself into those questions that seem unusual. Remember those games where you try to list as many possible uses for a blanket, or a pencil? Those are good warm-ups to get your thinking to move outside of rigid rules and situations. There will most likely be at least one question where, after you leave the room, you might wonder if you are actually interviewing for an arts fellowship or a modern interpretive theatre placement. Go with it! If you're ready and relaxed, these kinds of questions can be a lot of fun.

 

 

At the practice MMI put on by my undergrad, they made us answer a personal question (as in, about you, not an ethical dilemma) while copying an image of an animal with our-non dominant hand. 

 

It was weird. 

 

I didn't have anything that weird on any of my MMIs, but point well taken, for sure. 

[Borborygmi]

I think all of the points mentioned above are really useful! I think shaping the key points to best suit your own needs here is really valuable. For example, some people in our class spent months before interviews preparing with peers and/or family members whereas HeheBunny didn't seem to take that approach, nor did I. A second example would be during the interview itself: you will have a piece of paper and pencil provided to you outside each station. Some people write many notes before opening the door, others write a few key words for themes they would like to address, others don't write anything at all (I fell into this category with the exception of a single station). Do what feels right for you.

 

For me, there were two big hindsight take-aways from preparing for interviews specifically at UofC (one of which HeheBunny mentioned). The first is that there isn't much background info that you need to prepare in order to perform very well at UofC's MMI. All of the scenarios I faced were commonly found in the mainstream news or were so novel or personal that it would be virtually impossible to "study" something in order to cover the topic. I know this is in contrast to many other schools. I think the idea is that the UofC wants to see who you are and how you think more than what you know, which I personally appreciated. You'll be a lot more comfortable during the interview simply being yourself (nerves and all) rather than trying to be something you think the interviewers are looking for. The diversity in our class backs this up.

 

The second biggest point for me is that you will walk out of a station (or two or three) feeling like things went disastrously. That's ok! Accept it, take a deep breath, forget about it completely, and focus on the next task at hand. You won't do yourself any favours by dwelling on something that is now behind you when a new scenario is staring you in the face. The MMI will go by very, very quickly--just focus on being in the present. I think many people pursue the path of medicine because of the enjoyment felt with being faced with a challenge. If you can take that approach with the MMI, I think you can fare well.

 

One final piece... I know many of you will be nervous on interview day (and a whole list of other emotions). We Goats will be standing beside you on interview day and I promise we're there for YOU. Talk to us, we'll do our best to calm you down and hopefully make you feel very welcome and at home. And hopefully, one day we'll be welcoming you to the menagerie! <3 

 

Best of luck!

[Entraphy]

Much appreciated guys!

[App555]

Do you suggest we start prepping for interviews even if we don't think we will get one? I have a slightly below average GPA and MCAT but I feel like I had a really nice top10 and reference letters but I know those are evaluated subjectively. I have never done any prep before and this is my first cycle. thanks

[Borborygmi]

Do you suggest we start prepping for interviews even if we don't think we will get one? I have a slightly below average GPA and MCAT but I feel like I had a really nice top10 and reference letters but I know those are evaluated subjectively. I have never done any prep before and this is my first cycle. thanks

 

I think all of the points mentioned above are really useful! I think shaping the key points to best suit your own needs here is really valuable. For example, some people in our class spent months before interviews preparing with peers and/or family members whereas HeheBunny didn't seem to take that approach, nor did I. A second example would be during the interview itself: you will have a piece of paper and pencil provided to you outside each station. Some people write many notes before opening the door, others write a few key words for themes they would like to address, others don't write anything at all (I fell into this category with the exception of a single station). Do what feels right for you.

[App555]

^what was the point of quoting that, it does not answer my question at all

[Entraphy]

^what was the point of quoting that, it does not answer my question at all

I will share my opinion with you. Unless you are absolutely confident that you are landing an interview, it is a waste of time. Even if you are sure you are getting an interview, you will have a month to prepare and I beleive that's more than enough:)

[narwhale]

I will share my opinion with you. Unless you are absolutely confident that you are landing an interview, it is a waste of time. Even if you are sure you are getting an interview, you will have a month to prepare and I beleive that's more than enough:)

 

I honestly feel the same sentiment. I prepared the first year I applied.. didn't get an interview and it was a total let down. The following year, I didn't get an interview either, but was waiting until I did to actually prepare.

 

My two cents... for what it's worth... I think that as much as you can prepare for the MMI, there is an aspect of personality and genuineness that can't be gained through MMI practice or reading "Doing Right." Three close connections of mine who did well for U of C and got accepted first round offers (90+ percentile with low GPA's, mediocre MCAT's, average EC's), they are just really charismatic well rounded people with life experience who took the MMI as an opportunity to connect with the interviewer, not get the answers right. 

 

I'll certainly practice if I'm lucky enough to receive an interview this year, but realistically, I'm practicing to get over my nerves so I can let my real self shine through. I don't want to let nerves get in the way of making a genuine connection with the interviewer. 

[App555]

Thank you for your responses. So, there are 3-4 weeks between the time you get an interview and actually interview right? It's just that now Im in winter break and maybe I won't have enough time to practise but after reading what you have said I have started to rethink that. So, it was a let down knowing that you felt that you did the practising for nothing?

[App555]

I honestly feel the same sentiment. I prepared the first year I applied.. didn't get an interview and it was a total let down. The following year, I didn't get an interview either, but was waiting until I did to actually prepare.

 

My two cents... for what it's worth... I think that as much as you can prepare for the MMI, there is an aspect of personality and genuineness that can't be gained through MMI practice or reading "Doing Right." Three close connections of mine who did well for U of C and got accepted first round offers (90+ percentile with low GPA's, mediocre MCAT's, average EC's), they are just really charismatic well rounded people with life experience who took the MMI as an opportunity to connect with the interviewer, not get the answers right. 

 

I'll certainly practice if I'm lucky enough to receive an interview this year, but realistically, I'm practicing to get over my nerves so I can let my real self shine through. I don't want to let nerves get in the way of making a genuine connection with the interviewer. 

But how were those three lucky enough to land an interview with "low GPA, mediocre MCAT, average ECs" I honestly think I can excel at the interview but I'm worried about coming really close but not making the cutoff for interview. And can you please clarify what you mean exactly by low GPA? 3.2-3.4? 3.4-3.6? 3.6-3.7? and low MCAT? 7? 8? 9? VR. its okay if you do not know, thanks 

[Borborygmi]

^what was the point of quoting that, it does not answer my question at all

 

My quote answered your question just fine, but I can rephrase. Do what works best for you. Some people prepare for months--long before interview invites go out. Others prepare very little. I would estimate that I ran through 10-12 scenarios leading up to interviews; maybe 8-10 hours in total. I know others who did the same and others still who were somewhere in the middle. Practice if you need to practice or if it makes you feel more confident. You are probably the best gauge of your strengths and weaknesses and of how much additional practice you feel you will need to do well on the day.

[newmed2016]

I'll agree with narwhale here... I clearly don't know everything about the process as I am only one applicant, but I was accepted last cycle with a low GPA (<3.4), strong MCAT VR (>11) and what I would say are normal ECs (I'm proud of what I have done, and think I spoke well about my experiences, but knowing many other pre-mess with awesome back stories I wouldn't say I'm exceptional in any way). Because of my low GPA I really thought there was no chance I would get an interview, let alone be accepted first round. I was shocked at the interview offer and did a bit of practice pre-MMI day, but nothing like what I hear of some people doing. I really just tried to relax and let the interviewers get to know me and the way I think through problems in the scenarios...no amount of reading or prep would have helped with that. What DID help for me personally was practicing to speak more slowly and not flail my hands around like a madman haha. Anyways, again I am only one applicant and I know different things work for different people but there's my two cents as a deferred acceptance I look forward to hopefully meeting some of you guys in July!

[App555]

^Thank you for your response, although I do have a stronger GPA then you (3.6), and I feel that I have strong ECs+  exceptional reference letters my GPA is still slightly below average and my MCAT is definitely below average (8-9 equivalent). Should I not get my hopes up for an interview? Would any of you start practising during the winter break given so much free time? thanks

[newmed2016]

No problem... I think that choice is up to you...its hard not to get excited about the opportunity to interview and if you think that practice will help you in the end, then totally go ahead and get started! For me, I felt that practicing early would perhaps marginally improve my interview skills and and greatly improve my stress, so I spent the winter break basking in the sun and trying to forget that med school even exists haha

[App555]

I am only worried about seeming ignorant if I am not too informed about recent world issues..is there any expected knowledge about anything that we have to come with?

[GH0ST]

I am only worried about seeming ignorant if I am not too informed about recent world issues..is there any expected knowledge about anything that we have to come with?

 

Having more knowledge will always help, but the exercise of critical and holistic thinking is more practical. I wrote many posts on how I prepared and overall it was helpful for me to build up a repertoire of knowledge and just keep it on the backburner... I probably won't use it all (or haven't read enough on other topics), but I can always pull them out when it is useful and through reading and practicing I learned more important skills beside good communication. 

 

That said, you should probably know some basics of how our health care system is organized, some current events (to not show you are inept with the world), maybe some controversial issues at the bare minimum... those who don't even know these I feel live under a rock. 

 

- G

[newmed2016]

^^ yes totally agree. I used a couple real world examples to illustrate points I was making, but none of the questions relied on having any sort of background knowledge specifically

[HeHeBunny]

Do you suggest we start prepping for interviews even if we don't think we will get one? I have a slightly below average GPA and MCAT but I feel like I had a really nice top10 and reference letters but I know those are evaluated subjectively. I have never done any prep before and this is my first cycle. thanks

Everybody has their own style. Do what works best for you. However, my $0.02 (and what I tried to stress in my post) is that you already have been prepping. The interviews are just talking to people. That's it !    If your taking the approach of 'this is something I only get 3-4 weeks lead time to prepare for', I think your only setting yourself up for stress.  Just read through my original post again, practice the points I laid out, and otherwise just chat like you would to anybody else in a professional setting. 

 

 

I honestly feel the same sentiment. I prepared the first year I applied.. didn't get an interview and it was a total let down. The following year, I didn't get an interview either, but was waiting until I did to actually prepare.

 

My two cents... for what it's worth... I think that as much as you can prepare for the MMI, there is an aspect of personality and genuineness that can't be gained through MMI practice or reading "Doing Right." Three close connections of mine who did well for U of C and got accepted first round offers (90+ percentile with low GPA's, mediocre MCAT's, average EC's), they are just really charismatic well rounded people with life experience who took the MMI as an opportunity to connect with the interviewer, not get the answers right. 

 

I'll certainly practice if I'm lucky enough to receive an interview this year, but realistically, I'm practicing to get over my nerves so I can let my real self shine through. I don't want to let nerves get in the way of making a genuine connection with the interviewer. 

I've seen you around here a lot narwhale.  I hope you get your interview this year (and kill it!)   

 

 

 

I am only worried about seeming ignorant if I am not too informed about recent world issues..is there any expected knowledge about anything that we have to come with?

Read my original post again.  I think you only 'need' to be familiar with BASIC concepts about assisted dying and the anti-vaccine movement, as those are likely high-yield topics. However, if some extra knowledge of current events or some really basic info on how our health care system functions will make you feel better and be less stressed, then thats fine too.. but specifics are not the point of the interviews. Your prep shouldn't be about a check-list that needs to be completed prior to interview, but more about whatever will work for you to lower your stress, so you can have an interview to show yourself off. 

 

 

One last thing (and I will be editing the original post as well)   --  I'm adding Refugee Healthcare to the list of high-yield topics.

[App555]

Thank you very much for your insight. 

[App555]

I just checked and they have changed the date where they are supposed to send interview invites from "last week of January" to "early February." Is that really significant? 

[nick]

I just checked and they have changed the date where they are supposed to send interview invites from "last week of January" to "early February." Is that really significant? 

 

The only explanations I can think of is that they want more time to review files and check verifiers, and/or they want to give invitees less time to prepare.