Being prepared for the questions you’re asked at your interviews is crucial. Understanding what common questions may come up is one thing, but it’s also essential to understand how you should articulate your points clearly and effectively.
In this guide, I will explain to you everything you need to know in order to structure your medical school interview answers and receive your offer.
Written by Rozh Akram
Signposting In Your Interview
Firstly, the biggest thing you can take away from this guide is probably Signposting.
Signposting is the use of verbal cues that signal the purpose, content, and order of your speech.
So, what this means in practice is that you will explicitly say that you will be talking about A, B and C before speaking about each one in detail. By doing this, your interviewers can easily follow what you’re saying and perhaps even give you extra points for clear communication.
I would also very strongly encourage you to practice avoiding any filler words such as “like”, “um” or “you know”. Not only will they hinder your communication skills but they will also make you seem nervous and unconfident. This can be a bit difficult to do, but this will be best avoided if you consciously think about it and make an effort to avoid this in practice and general speaking.
Interview Answer Structure
So here is the structure I would recommend overall:
1️⃣ Introduction and a bit of thinking time, explaining what you understand by the question and then signposting what you will be saying in your answer.
2️⃣ Your answer, in detail. Begin by saying X, and then giving details about X, Y, then giving details about Y and so on so that all points lead into each other naturally.
3️⃣ Conclusion, either a final decision you came around to or perhaps a very brief recap of what you said earlier in your answer followed by your rewording of the question. This will depend on the type of question you’ve been asked.
As to your preparation, I would recommend having a folder with all the questions you think would come up and anything you find online. Here, you can write the points you want to talk about for each question and write a model answer with the signposting I mentioned earlier. Make a constant effort to read through it every day, as this will allow you to have a solid idea of what the structure and order of your answer will be like, without memorising anything too much.
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Example Interview Question Structure
Let’s take a look at example structures for some very common medical school interview questions, as well as how I noted down the key talking points in my folder:
Why do you want to study Medicine?
Key Talking Points
- Passion for science- Medicine summer school allowed me to gain an insight into medical research and its something I want to be involved in.
- Job as an NHS Vaccines call agent - working directly with patients.
- I want a job that will be facing the public and will allow me to contribute to patient care- using my passion for science to improve the quality of life.
- Continued Professional development - I want life long learning where I can always find room for improvement and actively try to use feedback in order to improve myself.
- Experience with vulnerability.
- Making a difference to people's lives.
Model Answer
There are many reasons why I would love to study medicine and become a doctor, and I certainly did not just decide to pursue a career like medicine overnight. My vocation is more as a result of the accumulation of events that have happened to me so far.
My background of coming from Iraq, which has one of the worst healthcare services in the world, where getting ill is a death sentence for most people, has always disturbed me. When I was young, my grandfather had a stroke that paralysed half of his body. This was followed by two more strokes that left him blind.
This incident meant that my family had to adapt in order to look after my grandfather, and this gave me an insight into palliative care medicine and the social and human factors of having to live with the terminally ill, and most importantly the idea of being physically there, but not really there. This has been very much a driving force behind me motivating me to pursue a career in healthcare.
Growing up, I really enjoyed human interactions and dealing with people, I always liked working collaboratively with friends whether that was for homework or basketball, which we used to play after school. More so, I have really enjoyed my role right now as a 119 Vaccines call agent, where my role involves working directly with patients in order to provide a COVID vaccination. This job has not only allowed me to work with humans but also the fact that it actually allows me to make a difference in people’s lives and help them protect against COVID.
Moving on, I really enjoy learning and science, I studied 4 STEM subjects at A-Level, and then I attended a summer school where I attended several workshops and masterclasses for 12 weeks, that focused on medical research and key topics.
This event gave me an insight into the academic side of medicine and the evidence-based approach that we have. This was a key event for me, as it allowed me to see the depth of the science required in a medicine course and more importantly how it has direct implications for patients and people’s lives. More so, the fact that it incorporates lifelong learning. By studying medicine, I will have a lot of opportunities to get involved in academia and research after graduation.
By pursuing the role of a doctor, I would be able to fulfil my passion for working with people and practising clinical science, and I would be honoured to use my passion to make a difference to people’s lives, and save the lives of my and yours beloved ones, allowing us to have the chance to spend quality years with our loved ones and have the chance to say good-bye when the time comes, and my plan is to work in the UK whilst going back to my country on a yearly basis to help those in need of clinical care, whilst using my experience and background to inspire people.
This is a very long example, but don’t worry. When writing your model answers, don’t be afraid to write too much – what you write shouldn’t be a script. Instead, consider these model answers as guidelines to inspire your actual answer.
Why not nursing or other healthcare professions?
Key Talking Points
- I did think about this thoroughly - I was rejected last year and that literally forced me to consider other healthcare professions.
- Good idea as they could still, up to a lesser extent fulfil my passion for science.
- I was forced to consider other professions in healthcare last after I got rejected where Medicine was off the table for me.
- I am really interested in the general training that medics receive which is much broader and more in-depth than the training that other professions such as nurses receive.
- More so, the role of a doctor suits my personality of wanting a highly responsible position, where my decisions can have direct impacts on patients, I’ll have many opportunities to get involved in research.
- I want to go into depth with the science.
Model Answer
I have given a lot of thought to other healthcare professions that certainly did interest me. Especially when I was rejected last year and had to consider other courses in the field through clearing, I even went on to shadow a nurse to get a greater understanding of their role and did a lot of online career research.
I would like to acknowledge that there are many similarities between the roles of a doctor and a nurse. Our nurses are a vital part of our National Health Service, which would not be able to function without its nurses. I am aware that nurses nowadays are much more capable, have more opportunities, and are able to carry out things that we would think are traditional roles of a physician.
However, I was still set on the role of a doctor for 2 reasons:
1. The training that medics receive is much broader, extensive and in-depth compared to the training that other allied health professionals receive. This allows for more diverse specialisation options and opportunities in research and academia because as a doctor you’re not only a clinician but at its core a scientist.
2. Secondly, doctors have the ultimate responsibility to the patient, are in charge of the problem-solving aspects of the job and have leadership duties for the rest of the team and treatment plans for patients. I think this suits my personality as I enjoy working under pressure and have exceptional task delegation and organisation skills.
What experiences have you had to find out if medicine is the right career for you?
Key Talking Points
- Volunteered in a care home and am currently registered as a carer - I have had the privilege to work with very vulnerable people and I've had the opportunity to experience the challenges faced in Geriatric Medicine, not only for the healthcare professionals but also the patient and family members.
- I have spoken and attended a few talks by doctors, which have clearly laid out the challenges and realities of their jobs and the training- this has made me aware of how demanding such a vocation is and how much resilience it takes throughout.
- I attended a 12-week summer school, where we focused on clinical research and the evidence-based approach we implement in the UK- really good insight into academic medicine and got some understanding of the significant advancement we are having right now and in the future.
- I am currently working as a 119 Call Agent, where I am one of the first points of contact in England to speak to about the COVID-19 vaccines, so I very much speak to patients every day on the phone and I have learned a lot from this job- I have been able to improve my communication and empathetic skills, but I have also learned to be resilient from a practical point of view especially when things get difficult especially given that we get under a lot of public pressure whenever there is any concerns going around in the news about covid cases.
Model Answer
I have been quite fortunate to have gained some really good experiences that have given me an insight into what a career in medicine entails. They might not necessarily be the most clinical experiences but I think the skills that they encompassed are highly applicable to medicine and the role of a doctor and I’ve really had to re-evaluate these experiences and think through them thoroughly because of my rejections from last year.
I used to volunteer at a care home and I’m actually a registered carer, I have had the privilege to work with the elderly and vulnerable, which has allowed me to experience the challenges faced in Geriatric medicine not only by the healthcare professionals but also the patients and their family members. I also appreciate that it can be very rewarding especially when the patients and families are grateful for the way that you treat them.
I have spoken to a few doctors and final-year medics and attended a few talks by them, where they have clearly laid out the challenges and the realities of their jobs and their training. This has made me aware of how demanding such a vocation is and how much resilience it takes throughout.
I attended a 12-week summer school, where we focused on academic medicine and the significant advancements in science that we have had and will have in the future and, more importantly, how they feed into the healthcare and evidence-based approaches that we implement in the UK.
Lastly, I am currently working as a 119 Call Agent, where I am one of the first points of contact in England to speak to about the COVID-19 vaccines, so I pretty much speak to patients on the phone every day. My role mirrors some of the key skills that you’d observe in the role of a doctor, I communicate with patients from a wide range of backgrounds every day and I am a part of a very large multidisciplinary team where we all work together to provide for our patients and resolve any problems that arise in the process.
These experiences have allowed me to become a deeply reflective person and taught me so many key skills that are vital for being a good doctor. I have learned to communicate with patients from a wide range of backgrounds, to empathise, to think on my feet and come up with solutions on the spot and work under pressure, to be resilient and not to be intimidated by difficult patients.
Again, this is a long example, but these written answers aren’t meant to reflect exactly what you’ll say on the day. Remember what you’ve written down and the structure in which you wrote it and your response should flow naturally and clearly.
That concludes our guide to structuring interview question answers. This guide has covered more general interview questions, but you can learn more about structuring answers for ethical interview questions in our guide to Ethical Frameworks for Interviews, as the principles for doing so are fairly different.
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