We are SO excited for your upcoming medical school interview! We wrote this blog post to give you a step-by-step guide on how to prepare for medical school interviews. We are going to cover traditional interview, multiple mini interview, and panel interview formats. It is important to ask the admissions office what style of interview you will face during interview day (you don’t want to prepare for an MMI when you have a traditional interview!) And, for traditional interviews, if the admissions office gives you your interviewers’ names, research their backgrounds before the interview! It is important to note that interviewers can be medical school students, admissions committee members, and physician faculty members.
Our advice: Read all our high-yield resources that we link on this page and then do a mock medical school interview with our Cracking Med School Admissions team!
How to prepare for traditional medical school interviews
Step 1: Get a list of medical school interview questions in our Cracking Med School Admissions interview guide
It is important to know the most common medical school interview questions you may be asked during your interview. Sure, you may get asked curve balls during medical school interviews. But, those are less common than other questions like “tell me about yourself” and “why do you want to come to this medical school?” Spend your time solidifying your responses to the common interview questions from our Cracking Med School Admissions interview guide.
Common Medical School Interview Questions:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why medicine?
- What do you see yourself doing in the future?
- Talk to us about your research.
- What have you been doing since graduation?
- Is there anything else I should know about you/tell the admissions committee?
- What will you bring to the med school class?
- When did you know that you wanted to go into medicine?
- Why [Insert medical school here]?
Download the interview guide below or click this link.
If you are prepared, the Cracking Med School Admissions interview gives you the perfect opportunity to standout and shine by sharing with people what you are passionate about.
Step 2: Brainstorm responses to all common medical school interview questions
Premedical students brainstorm their answers in their own, personalized ways. One common way is to create a google doc or a word doc and bullet point your answers.
We have extremely helpful blog posts to help you craft and brainstorm your answers to common interview questions:
- How to Answer “Tell me about yourself?”
- How to Answer “Why Medicine and Why Do You Want To Be A Doctor?”
- How to Answer “Why do you want to come to this medical school?“
Medical School Interview Tips
- Make sure that you practice and rehearse your response to “Tell me about yourself.” It is very important to make a GREAT first impression, and “Tell me about yourself?” is typically the first question asked in medical school interviews. As we state in our other blog posts, be sure to include why you want to be a physician during your response to the first question.
- It is important to be specific in your reasons to attend medical school.Common answers our Cracking Med School Admissions team hears for “Why Medicine” and “Why do you want to be a doctor” that we strongly advise you to not say:
- I love helping people
- I have wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid (without any description of how you’ve pursued medicine since)
- I care deeply about service
- I want to practice culturally-competent care
- I want to make a connection with people
- I want to improve people’s lives
- I want to help the underserved
- I find the human body fascinating
- Use examples from your extra-curricular activities. For example, if you are interested in research in medical school, you should discuss your prior research experiences and link it to what you want to do in medical school.
- Learn to weave and incorporate stories throughout your interview
Step 3: Review your primary and secondary medical school applications
Our Cracking Med School Admissions team often gets asked by premeds, “I have a very minor activity on my AMCAS Work & Activities descriptions. Do I still need to be prepared to talk about it?” Yes! Anything you write in your medical school application is fair game for the interviewer to ask about.
Additionally, think about questions your interviewer can ask you about your extra-curricular activities. Medical school interviewers may ask you detailed questions about your activities OR they might ask you big picture questions. For example, if you are a Medical Assistant in a Family Medicine physician’s practice, your interviewer might ask you questions like “What’s the biggest concern you receive from patients?” or “What’s the most challenging patient encounter you’ve witnessed?” They may also ask questions related to our U.S. healthcare system, “What obstacles to patients have in scheduling appointments with their PCP?”
If you want us to come up with interview questions you may be asked about your medical school application, contact Dr. Rizal and Dr. Mediratta!
Step 4: Schedule a mock medical school interview with our team
It is important to practice with individuals who have experience in preparing premeds for their medical school interviews. Make sure to schedule a mock interview with our team!
We will be judging everything from your eye contact to your use of “filler words.” But MOST IMPORTANTLY, we will be focusing on the quality of your interview responses!
Mock Interviews: Refine your interview skills with us 1-on-1
Rachel Rizal, M.D.
Undergraduate
Princeton
Medical School
Stanford
Residency
Harvard, Emergency Medicine
Rishi Mediratta, M.D., M.Sc., M.A.
Undergraduate
Johns Hopkins
Medical School
Stanford
Residency
Stanford, Pediatrics
Testimonials About Our Medical School Interview Preparation
Step 5: Continue to improve your medical school interview answers
Each time you do a mock interview, continue to improve and refine your answers.
Typically, during the first mock medical school interview with our team, we improve people’s responses to common questions like “Tell me about yourself” and “Why do you want to attend this medical school?” We practice and brainstorm an improved response with you during our mock interview feedback session. However, after the interview, you have to practice the responses again! Most students will continue to make refinements to their responses after each mock interview.
Step 6: Brainstorm questions to ask your interviewers
At the end of each medical school interview, your interviewer will typically ask, “Do you have any questions for me?” It is important to come prepared with questions! And, make sure you come up with good questions!
We wrote this blog post to help you out 🙂 Questions to Ask your Interviewer
Medical School Interview Tips
- Come prepared with questions to ask questions for your interviewer, and be prepared to ask questions to different types of interviewers! – medical students, admissions officers, and physician faculty
- Network with current medical school students and faculty at the medical school! That way, during your interview, you can mention that you spoke to these individuals. More importantly, you can get a sense of the medical school culture.
Step 7: You’re going to do great on your interview day!
Woohoo! Now you are ready for your interview day. Read more below about other tips like attire and what to bring to your interview.
Good luck! Email us info@crackingmedadmissions.com if you have any questions or fill out the contact form below!
How to prepare for Multiple Mini Interviews
Step 1: Get familiarized with the Multiple Mini Interview
Read all about the medical school Multiple Mini Interview through our MMI Questions and Answers.
If you want to get more practice questions, download our Cracking Med School Admissions guide and there are sample MMI questions!
Step 2: Invest in the best MMI prep: Our Mastering the Multiple Interview course
What’s the best way to stand out on your MMI? Learn how to tackle all types of Multiple Mini Interview scenario questions and how to give STRONG responses. In our Cracking Med School Admissions Mastering the Multiple Mini Interview course, we give the “4S” framework.
Master the Multiple Mini Interview
Learn to Confidently Tackle:
- Situational scenarios
- Team-based scenarios
- Current event scenarios
- Ethical scenarios
Step 3: Be familiar with healthcare current events and medical ethics.
Many medical school MMI interviews will includes questions about healthcare current events and medical ethics. It is important to be familiar with the 4 pillars of medical ethics and to form opinions about solutions to healthcare issues.
Why should you know current events for your medical school interviews?
Top 10 healthcare current events you should know:
- COVID-19 and Effects on Health & Society
- Vaccinations
- United States Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Mental Health and Physician Burnout
- Gun Violence and Mass Shootings
- Abortion and Contraception
- Cultural Competence in Patient Care and Diversity in Healthcare
- End-of-life Care
- Opioid Crisis
- Artificial Intelligence and Applications to Healthcare
The importance of tuning in to your surroundings extends beyond the fact that current events may come up in your medical school interview. Reading the news and understanding the evolving healthcare landscape will broaden your perspective and make you an informed healthcare professional. Since medical schools are placing more emphasis on an applicant’s understanding of the world, our Cracking Med School Admissions team compiled a list of current event resources to help you ace your interview and become a better physician. Included with every topic are informative, high-yield articles and their summaries.
DOWNLOAD our complete Current Events Guide in order to get more article reads and details about each current event topic.
The Current Events Guide includes:
- Great articles to read to get a comprehensive understanding
- Op-eds in our “Points and Counterpoints” sections so you can read different perspectives
- Potential solutions to healthcare challenges
- Top 10 current events guide – read briefs and op-eds about the top 10 current events
Current Events Interview Guide
Learn the top 10 current events you should know for your medical school interviews.
Step 4: Be familiar with medical ethics
You should understand and incorporate medical ethics principles into your MMI answers.
4 pillars of medical ethics
- Autonomy
- Beneficience
- Nonmaleficence
- Justice
Read more: MMI Ethical Questions
Step 5: Practice with even more MMI questions
Practice makes perfect! Practice with our full-length MMI practice tests and Multiple Mini Interview questions: 50 Multiple Mini Interview Questions
Step 6: You’re going to do great on your interview day!
Woohoo! Now you are ready for your interview day. Read more below about other tips like attire and what to bring to your interview.
Good luck! Email us info@crackingmedadmissions.com if you have any questions or fill out the contact form below!
How to Prepare for Panel Interviews
What is a panel medical school interview?
In panel interviews, there are 2 or 3 interviewers to 1 medical school applicant. From our students’ experience, the panelists are a mix of medical school admissions committee members and physician interviewers.
Panel interviews are like traditional interviews!
The best way to practice for panel interviews (2 or 3 interviews to 1 medical school applicant) is to prepare as if you were practicing for a traditional interview. Panel interviews tend to have more standardized questions.
Here are common panel interview questions:
- Tell us about yourself and your journey towards a medical career.
- Why do you want to be a doctor?
- Where do you see yourself in 20 years?
- Why do you want to go to this medical school?
- What are you looking for in an ideal medical school?
- Can you explain weaknesses in your application?
- Why do you want to be an osteopathic physician?
- Can you tell us about a time you faced a challenge and how you solved it?
Prepare for the Actual Interview Day
Step 1: Prepare your medical school interview attire
What should you wear to a medical school interview? It is important to look professional and formal. But, you should also be comfortable 🙂 We go over wardrobe for both female and male med school applicants!
Read more: Medical School Interview Attire
Step 2: What to bring to your medical school interview
If you have an in-person interview, you should be ready to bring these items to your interview day.
Whether you have a virtual interview or an in-person med school interview, bring water, a pen, and paper (we usually bring an interview folder).
Be energetic and smile =)
Step 3: Be prepared to be social and ask questions during your interview socials!
Your active participation in discussions and Q&A sessions during the interview orientations or campus visits is extremely important.
Your participation during interview socials = Interest in the medical school
Our Cracking Med School Admissions team often gets asked what they should discuss and ask during medical school socials. Dr. Rachel Rizal wrote questions you can ask faculty and current medical students during socials!
Read more: Medical School Applicants: Questions for Social Events
Frequently Asked Questions
In the previous application cycle, some medical schools started sending interview invitations at the end of August. However, most schools started sending medical school interview invitations during September.
It is common each application cycle for students to receive medical school interview invites until February! So, do not stress out if it is November or December and you have not heard back from medical schools.
Here is the medical school interview process a student can expect during an application cycle:
A medical school applicant may receive interview invites from late August to March of each medical school application cycle. Be patient. Remember that adcoms read through applications from thousands of students. Many medical school candidates will not receive an interview invite during the first read through; applications will be re-reviewed throughout the application cycle and applicants may receive a later interview date. This does not put you at a disadvantage.
When you receive an interview invite, you should respond as soon as possible and reserve an interview date! We typically tell our mentees to choose an interview date that will allow you adequate time to prepare for your medical school interview.
The medical school admissions office should let you know information about your interview day. The information should inform you whether you have a traditional interview, group interview, Multiple Mini Interview, or panel interview. The information will also usually tell you how many interviews you will have during your interview day. Additionally, there may be talks, orientation, and interview socials with current med students. Be prepared with a list of questions to ask during your interview day.
Then, it’s interview day, and it’s your time to shine!
Of course getting a medical school interview invite is a good sign. In fact, it’s a GREAT sign!
It is important to prepare as much as possible for your medical school interview. We never take an interview invite for granted because many applicants may only get 2-4 interview invites throughout the entire cycle.
Read how to prepare for traditional interviews and MMIs above.
If you’re ready to do a mock interview with our Cracking Med School Admissions team, schedule a mock interview today!
We suggest students to start preparing for medical school interviews as soon as they receive an interview invite!
It is important to practice on your own, with friends & family, and with your school’s career centers (or pre-health advisors).
Once you’ve established a good baseline, we strongly recommend you sign-up for a mock interview with our interview admissions experts.
Email us at info@crackingmedadmissions.com to schedule a specific date and time for your med school mock interview.
You can find all our interview preparation packages here: Medical School Interview Preparation | Cracking Med School Admissions
Yes! We prepare students through our mock interviews.
We will help you tailor your message and interview answers for a specific school. We know the nuances of various medical schools and what they like to emphasize, and we’ll make sure you hit those points during your interview!
We prepare students for all types of interviews:
- Multiple Mini Interviews
- Traditional Style Interviews
- MD/PhD
- Summer Internships
- Fellowships and Scholarships
- Public Health
- Public Policy
- Business
Virtual interviews are still the most popular interview format. Currently, about 90% of medical schools are conducting virtual interviews. There are a few schools that are requiring in-person interviews. Furthermore, there are some medical schools that are giving students a choice: you can interview in person or you can interview virtually – whatever you are most comfortable with.