Interview questions that appear easy, and how to approach them
👋 Hey Team! Welcome to the third week of our blog:
Each week, we do a short deep-dive into medicine interview essentials.
This week, we go over the ‘unimportant’ questions - the silly questions which seem completely unrelated to Medicine, and how we should answer them.
“What’s your favourite movie?"
“Tell us about a book you read recently.”
Depending on how you look at things, questions like these, which can appear especially during panel SSI interviews, can either look easy as, or more difficult than any other question type.
On the surface, they seem simple; You’re free to answer honestly, and there doesn’t seem to be a catch to it. But as always, there is. It’s important to frame your responses carefully to ensure that you are delivering some sort of valuable (desirable) information to the interviewer.
The Medical Approach
Your favourite movie is about a doctor or a medic and is set in a hospital.
Your most recent book is by a doctor, such as ‘When Breath Becomes Air’ or ‘Being Mortal’.
It can be tempting to answer every question in the interview by linking to the medical field, to show off how knowledgeable and committed you are to Medicine. But there is a risk of overdoing it.
The interview is designed to assess how compatible you are with Medicine. The interviewers are trying to see how reflective, conscientious, hard-working and compassionate you are; not how much you know about Medicine. So… what should you do? Just to be clear, we are not discouraging you from saying that ‘When Breath Becomes Air’ is your favourite book - it is a great book after all. But as you talk about it, explain specifically which aspects of Medicine you gained from the book and what surprised you or resonated with you. The worst case is if it seems like you only picked the book because of its link to Medicine, but you haven’t actually read it properly or got any message out of it.
The Non-Medical Approach
This is what we personally recommend. Be honest about the books or movies you have come across and liked. (If you haven’t read any books recently, you might want to pick one up before the interviews!!!) Give a brief description of the book or movie. Show your excitement as you talk about it, describing its main themes and what you liked about it. If you can think of something naturally, talk about what you gained from it and how it has helped you develop as a person.
Here’s an example:
“My favourite book is an autobiography by Sir Alex Ferguson, who was the manager of a soccer team, Manchester United. This is undoubtedly biased, as it is the team I follow, but I was especially impressed by his honesty as he went through his most vulnerable periods (Specific value point). I think we often forget that even the most successful people in the world have gone through numerous setbacks and personal failures - reading this book helped inspire me to take more risks and be less afraid of failure, as it could eventually lead to success (What you gained from it). The book also went over numerous leadership strategies that Sir Alex used when he was in charge of the team. The one strategy which sticks to me to this day is that some people respond better to the carrot and others respond better to the stick (What you gained from it.) - as a leader, I would need to get to know my group members and tailor my communication and leadership approach, rather than use a one-size-fits-all approach.”
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The Key Takeaways
Not every answer needs to be Medicine related, but your answers should paint a picture about you and shine a positive light on your qualities. With these types of questions, the best qualities you can portray are your wide-reaching hobbies and interests, your self-reflection and the strive for improvement as well as your general communication skills - how well can you succinctly summarise something and talk about it.
Be as genuine as you can, and think about your wider interests since many questions will be less serious, and give you an opportunity to open up about yourself.
💡TIP: We have the view that there can be more harm than good in intentionally selecting medicine-related books, movies hobbies etc.
This can come across as lacking genuine character/interest outside of your identity as a prospective medical student.
Mini Q&A
Should I apply to do as many interviews as possible?
Yes! The more practice the better. And practicing with yourself or your friend is definitely beneficial. However, it cannot replicate the stressful environment of a real interview. So we recommend signing up for mock interviews and going through interviews at all of the medical schools you receive an offer for, even if you have less interest in going there. For me personally, going through interviews with UQ, WSU, UoA and Newcastle all gave me greater confidence at the UNSW interview, which was my first choice.
2. What is the usual week like for a medical student?
Some medical schools, such as the University of Sydney and the University of Queensland are post-graduate courses, meaning you will complete another undergraduate course such as Science before learning Medicine. For these degrees, you can expect your first few years to have quite a lot of flexibility, with the freedom to select your courses and organise your timetables.Other medical schools are undergraduate courses, such as UNSW. These degrees tend to be 1-2 years shorter, as you begin straightaway with Medicine. However, you can expect a busier schedule and less freedom with your courses. We’ve pasted an example of a week at 2nd year of UNSW Medicine. There will be a mixture of lectures, tutorials, practical sessions and clinical skill sessions; run either online, at university or at a hospital.Generally, your week will involve learning through the content with these classes, doing some revision at home, as well as completing assignments or group projects which generally are due every term.
3. Is it okay if I don’t have much personal experiences with doctors?
Yes! There are some medical students who are the latest in a long line of doctors from their family, but the majority will not be like that. It can be tempting to say your family member or family friend is a doctor, or you had work experience at a hospital, and you learnt a lot about the field and this shaped your passion for Medicine. And that’s great if that’s you! But even if you haven’t had as much close experience, I’m sure we have all had encounters with our GPs. You can always reference how those encounters taught you something or inspired you.
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📚 This Week’s Homework:
Here is a short list of questions which have been asked in previous interviews. We’ve curated this list to stimulate your thinking about the experiences you have been through, to generate an Anecdote Bank for yourself.
Do you enjoy reading? What was the last book you read? (Hint: The answer is Yes)
Can you talk about a time when you took care of someone?
Tell us about yourself.
Stay tuned for our next issue!
❓We’ll introduce a mini Q&A section, so send in your questions to medterview@gmail.com.
And if this has helped you, our 1-on-1 Mentoring can tackle your preparation in a tailored, personal fashion to craft your anecdotes and improve your delivery. Sign up for a FREE Consultation with the link below.
