Medical School Interview Questions

Since NMAT results are now out, the next step to your #RoadToMD journey is the medical school interview. Most of medical schools (except UST-FMS) include personal interview to screen their aspirants before accepting them in their medical school. Medical schools do this to see the personality of the applicants and to know if the applicant has the potential to survive medicine as well as to know how well the person carry themselves in pressured situations. 

You are probably looking for some ideas on what are the common questions you'll encounter to your medicine interview to your medical school of your choice. Well you went to the right blog 'coz I'll spill all the questions that I know, encountered and heard about different medical school interviews. Trust me when I say that they can ask anything under the sun and can caught you off -guard. They  actually do this on purpose to know you more indirectly so beware of those kind of questions. 

This blog will be ***updated*** from time to time for additional medical school interview questions in order to help you guys more and future readers to prepare for the most important interview of your medical career, yet.

This will just be a run down of the questions I know, heard of and actually encountered. Feel free to share your experiences and questions in the comment section.

1. Why do you want to become a doctor?
2. Why do you want to study medicine in this school/university/institution? 
3. Are you comfortable working with a team?
4. How do you work in a group?
5. How do you solve conflicts in your group?
6. What if you don't like one of your groupmates?
7. What do you think are your traits for becoming a doctor?
8. How do you see yourself in 5 years? ....in 10 years?
9. What if this school/university/institution, did not accept you, what are your plans?
10. Have you experienced working under pressure? State your experience.
11. How do you handle pressure?
12. Tell me about your college thesis? 
13. What are the results and your thesis findings?
14. What are the conflicts and problems did you encounter while working on your thesis? How did you resolve them?
15. How do you cope with stress?
16. Did you apply to other medical schools? Which ones?
17. If you get accepted in this medical school and in other medical schools, where would you study and why?
18. Tell me something about your family.
19. Who will pay for your tuition?
20. What are your parents jobs?
21. Since your mother/father is a *mention parent's job*, do you think they can continuously send you to medical school?
22. Do you drink? Smoke? Have taken/tried illegal drugs? 
23. What are your strengths?
24. What are your weaknesses?
25.  Why should we choose you among the applicants? 
26. What are your advantages over other aspirants?
27. Tell me something about yourself.
28. What can you offer this school/university/institution?
29. What if you parents/financier suddenly dies, who'll pay for your tuition and other medical school fees? 
30. What is your NMAT percentile rank?
31. What is your GWA?
32. What are your hobbies?
33. What are your thoughts about Dengvaxia?
34. Name some current programs of the DOH.
35. What are your thoughts on the vaccination problem right now?
36. Any thoughts about the measles outbreak?
37. What do you think of the VAT-free medicines for hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol?
38. What will make you quit medicine?
39. Which branch of medicine are your most interested in and why?
40. What is your study habits like?
41. How many times do you need to read a material before you can actually master it?
42. Do you consider doing research after earning your license?
43. Name a health advocacy that you're actually passionate about and tell me why you choose it.
44. Why did you apply in this school/university/institution?
45. Any thoughts about the current administration?
46. Where do you plan to practice medicine?
47. What are your motivations to become a doctor?
48. Who are your role model/s on becoming a doctor?
49. What are your best qualities as a doctor?
50. Any plans of considering public health and/or community medicine as your area of focus? Why? 
51. Tell me about your family
52. What's a typical day with your family like?
53. Do you have relatives who are doctors?
54. If you have relatives who are doctors, where are they practicing now?
55. What's the most difficult crisis your family ever faced?
56. How did your family resolve and handle the said crisis?
57.  Tell me about your alma mater.
58. Do you have a regular study schedule that you follow?
59. What's your favorite subject in college? Why?
60. What's you GWA?
61. How did you come up with the said GWA?
62. Are you active in co-curricular activities? Like what?
63. Are you part of an school organization?
64. What is your role in the organization?
65. Mention a time you had a difficultly in college.
66. How did you overcome this difficulty?
67. What are you hobbies/activities/interests outside school?
68. Do you consider training/practicing abroad?
69. Any thoughts about the relevant social issues now like RH Law, Divorce, Abortion and Sin tax?
70. Who's your role model and why did you choose him/her?

Feel free to practice on answering these questions but make sure that you'll sound as natural as possible during the interview and not sound rehearsed. Another effective thing to practice this is writing the questions and your answers, this way you can re-read your answers from time to time which will help you have an automatic answer for every questions thrown at you.

Beware of the follow up questions as these are critical questions and breaking point that the interviewers really considers. These questions can caught you if you're lying or not so make sure to be honest in every answer that you give and really stick to it.

I really hope this post will help you in acing your medical school interview/s and get in to the medical school of your choice. Good luck pinoy doctors!

How to Ace your Medical School Interview

It's that time of the year again, where aspiring medical students flock to different medical schools to apply for the next academic year. Most if not all medical schools conduct interview/s with their applicants as part of their screening process. The interview helps the admissions committee to see the applicants' emotional quotient (EQ) and how well the aspirants interact with people which is a key characteristic of being a doctor.

In this blog post, I will make a run down of what are do's and what you should avoid during the interview proper. I will also give out tips on how to prepare for an interview and how to ace your medical school interview.

In preparing for the interview, make sure that you look presentable - hair, clothing, overall appearance. I won't elaborate on this much as being presentable is self explanatory. Just remember that first impressions last and you would want to be remembered as someone who is presentable rather than someone who didn't make a good impression to the admissions committee. After all, they're the ones who will decide whether you get in to the medical school of your dreams or not.

Make sure to read about the school you are applying for, just the basics and at least have an idea about the institution you are getting yourself into. Knowledge is power and it is always impressive for the interviewers that you have at least something to say about the school. It will give them an impression that you are really interested in their program. Also, read about current events especially those which are related to the health sector as interviewers are doctors themselves and having knowledge about what's happening around you is a good plus point for you. I remember, during one of my medical school interviews I was asked about my thoughts on the Dengvaxia fiasco and the act of the President kissing an OFW. Since I am pretty much familiar with the issues, I just breezed out over these questions. 

Also, in preparing for the med school interview read about what are the usual questions being asked like "Why do you want to be a doctor?" "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" "How do you handle stress/pressure?". In my experience, these questions are so common and asked almost to every medical school interview I've been. Knowing the usual questions will give you a good head start and even prepare for the possible answers to these questions. What I did is write all the questions in a notebook and tried to answer all of them again and again. I even wrote my answers down so I can read them over and over. However, be careful not to sound rehearsed during the actual interview and make sure that you sound all natural while answering the questions thrown at you. This is important!

Days before your schedule, make sure that you are familiar with the location of your interview. You wouldn't want to be lost and stressed minutes before your actual interview, first impressions matter remember?

On the night before your interview, prepare the clothes you'll be wearing, the things you need to bring for the interview, set your alarm and go to bed early. This way, on your interview day you'll be more relaxed and will give your brain enough energy to think clearly and answer well all your questions which is really the key to ace the interview.

On the day of your interview, be confident in answering every question asked your way but do not be cocky or a know-it-all type of interviewee. Being articulate will also make your interview look good as you will sound quick witted and know what you are saying. My key secret to any interview I go to is to make it conversational, meaning I just treat the interview as I am just communicating with a friend or a colleague but in a little formal way. Keeping this in mind helps you relax and sound more natural. Also, take your time while answering the question and do not talk fast. Make sure the interviewer was able to understand what you are saying by talking moderately and loud enough.

Below are some of the handy and useful interview tips that I myself used during my interview session.

Interview day tips:

1. Wake up, eat your breakfast and prepare to go early.
2.  Double check your things to bring for the interview.
3. Arrive at least 15 minutes before your schedule.
4. Greet and initiate a hand shake with your interviewer/s.
5. Always smile and maintain eye contact.
6. Relax and answer honestly (answer from your heart).
7. Avoid checking your watch or the clock for the time as this is disrespectful.
8. Avoid fidgeting as it's a distracting action.
9. Grab the opportunity to ask questions to your interviewer when he/she asks if you have any questions or if you need clarifications about anything related to the medical school admissions.
10. At the end of the interview, don't forget to say 'thank you' and to shake the hands of your interviewer/s.

You only have a one time chance and a few minutes to show the admission committee who you are, what your potentials are and why you are worthy to wear that white coat in the future so make sure to make your interview count. Go ace your medical school interview! With these tips in mind, no doubt you'll ace your medical school interview.

There you go for my tips on how to ace your medical school interview. I will create a separate post for all the medical school interview questions that I encountered and heard of. Good luck future doctors and I hope this helps. Any questions, feel free to comment below or send me an email.

PLM Series: The College of Medicine Interview

This is the third part of my PLM Series, if you haven't read the first 2 blogs about PLM College of Medicine, below are the quick links and I would suggest you to read these first.

1.PLM Series: Applying to PLM College of Medicine

2.PLM Series: Braving the MCAT

You are now on the third and more crucial part of the application process of your target medical school, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Medicine (PLM CM) which is the interview process. As mentioned, the MCAT is always scheduled on a Sunday and the interview process starts the next day (Monday) so better keep your game face on as you continue to battle on the PLM CM application journey.

What to wear: Just wear your smart casual to semi formal outfit. No need to wear coat or anything like too formal for a medical school interview. Just wear something you are comfortable with yet decent. Just be you.

How to prepare for the interview: Know your schedule, practice interview etiquette and research or ask around what are the commonly asked questions in a medical school interview. Personally, what I did is I wrote the common questions asked and the possible questions to be asked in a small notebook and answer them one by one - written and orally, again and again. This will serve as your practice and this worked perfectly for me. I believe I nailed the interview part with this technique as I sounded confident and know what am I talking about. But be careful during the interview to still sound natural and genuine and not rehearsed.

The list of the students for interview are posted in the medicine building and re-posted online by PLM CM's student organizations (a.k.a. fraternities and sororities), the interview is held everyday from 8 AM and 10 AM in the morning and another schedule in the afternoon. In every schedule there are 8-10 applicants which have the same schedule as you so better come early as the interview will go on a first come, first serve basis. Once you're at PLM CM dean's office, fill the attendance sheet in the front desk which will determine your turn in the interview flow. 

As said, come early as you'll be asked to fill an application form, answer a 3-5 psychological  questions and write an essay answering a question. During my application, the question asked is "Why should PLM accept/choose you?". This is done while you are waiting to be called to get interviewed.

The interviewers are the department heads of the different fields of medicine in PLM and even the dean herself will conduct your interview. The interview varies from the interviewer, they do not have a standard set of questions or format followed when doing the interview. Some interviewers will just ask you 3 questions and your done while others will ask a lot of questions which will I discuss as we go on. The setting is on a one on one, conversational set up and not a panel interview. The interview also happens simultaneously  so I must say that 'luck' plays a role on which interviewer you'll be assigned to. I heard a story from one applicant which was assigned to the interviewer who asked her only 3 questions, "What's your NMAT rank?" "What's your GWA?" and "What's your undergrad course?" and that's it. Imagine, her interview points will just be based on these 3 questions and she's not given a chance to prove herself more on other aspects. It is sad but it happened.

Some of the pointers for the interview given by the fraternities after MCAT are as follows: Prepare a 5-minute monologue about yourself when you are asked the classic interview question "Tell me something about yourself.". As I've mentioned above, there's a 150-word essay before the interview so I cannot emphasize this more, be early! Make sure to revolve your essay around the community and not just about yourself. PLM is a very community oriented and based medical school so it is plus points for  them if they saw that you care about the community like return service, becoming a doctor to the barrio and serving the underserved Filipino people. Also, this is an unusual question I encountered in PLM, only PLM CM (from my experience) asked questions about my college thesis so make sure to know your thesis by heart. Treat this like a mini defense and also site the obstacles you've encountered and how you overcome them. Lastly, make sure to read and familiarize yourself with the latest news around you especially news related to the health sector like Dengvaxia, Universal Healthcare Bill and some DOH programs.

Below are some of the questions (I can recall) asked to me during my interview with PLM CM:

1. What's your NMAT %ile?
2. What's your GWA?
3. Tell me something about yourself. *classic medical school interview question*
4. Why do you want to be in PLM?
5. As a scholar of Manila, after graduation, you will be asked to render some form of community service to the city, would that be okay with you?
6. Why do you want to be a doctor? *classic medical school interview question*
7. What if PLM did not accept you, what are your plans? *tricky question*
8. Have you experienced working under pressure? State your experience.
9. How do you handle that? *referring to number 7*
10. Tell me about your college thesis? What are your findings? What obstacles did you encounter? How did you address that?
11. How do you cope with stress?
12. Did you apply to other medical schools? What are your status there?
13. Who will pay for your tuition? What are your parents job?
14. What if the payer of your tuition suddenly dies, how will you continue to pay for your medical school fees? *tricky question*
15. Why should we choose you? What are your advantages over other applicants?

After, the interviewer will ask you if you have any questions for him/her, make sure to ask any question that tickled your mind as this will show that you are serious and really interested in getting into their medical school. Before you leave, do not forget to shake the hand of your interviewer and say 'thank you' for the time and the interview, this will definitely leave mark on them.

Remember that the interview will be the last part of your application process as well as your impression to the admissions committee so make sure to make it count and make a pitch on your application. The next time you'll come back to the dean's office is during the confirmation of slots happening in June. Yes, the wait is that long. PLM is really a battle on who is the most patient applicant to wait several months for the list of accepted applicants.

Since the interview is over, please treat yourself with good food or anything that will make you happy for your hard work all this application process. Always remember that you deserve a pat on the back for a job well done. All you can do now is pray and hope that you made it to the golden list of accepted applicants of the medical school of your dreams. Good luck!

I hope this content help you one way or another. Feel free to comment down if you have questions in mind. Thank you.

Disclaimer: The author is not in any way related/connected to the admissions office of PLM CM. This post is only based on personal experience of the author.