All About 2024 Medical School Interviews
Are you applying to Ontario medical schools this year? If you are, it’s time to develop your interview preparation strategy!
First, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the different interview formats and to learn which one each school uses. This blog will describe the three interview formats used by Canadian medical schools before diving into tools and practice interview questions you can use to prepare!
Interview Formats
There are three interview formats used by Canadian medical schools:
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Panel Interviews
Modified Personal Interviews (MPI)
As you read through the following descriptions, you’ll notice that in all three formats, interviewees are assessed by more than one interviewer. Evaluating applicants from multiple perspectives allows admissions committees to reduce the impact of unconscious biases when evaluating applicants.
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Created by McMaster in 2002, an MMI is a series of min-interviews that assesses the key attributes and skills required for success in medicine. They’re easily customizable, which allows schools to evaluate applicants based on the school’s specific values and what they believe are the necessary skills to excel as a medical professional.
In an MMI, you move through a series of stations where you are presented with a hypothetical scenario that involves an ethical dilemma, problem-solving situation, or role-playing exercise. You're expected to discuss how you would handle each situation and outline your thought process.
MMIs are the most commonly used interview format amongst Canadian medical schools. The following programs use MMIs as part of their admissions process:
McMaster University
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Queen’s University
University of Alberta
University of British Columbia
University of Calgary
Dalhousie University
University of Manitoba
McGill University
University of Saskatchewan
Panel Interviews
Where MMI stations can take a number of forms, panel interviews follow a standard format in which you speak to three or four interviewers in one sitting. The panel typically consists of a combination of faculty, community members, and current students or residents.
There are two kinds of questions you’ll be asked in a panel interview. The first includes traditional interview questions, such as why you want to pursue a career in medicine and what you believe are the greatest challenges facing healthcare. These questions help interviewers better understand your experiences and better assess the hard skills they’re looking for.
The second type of questions are behavioral, and their aim is to predict your future behavior based on how you have responded to past situations. For instance, they might ask you to provide an example of a time when you faced and resolved a conflict in the workplace or a situation where you had to meet a tight deadline. These questions provide insight into your thought processes and your soft skills.
The only medical school that uses panel interviews in isolation is Western University. However, there are a few other schools that use a panel interview as a second screening to get to know them a bit better than the MMI allows. These schools are
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Queen’s University
University of Saskatchewan
Modified Personal Interviews (MPI)
This interview format is only used by one university — the University of Toronto.
During an MPI, you sit through four consecutive short interviews. While the kinds of questions you’re asked are similar to those of a panel interview, UofT tailors their questions to reflect the four clusters of skills and attributes that they believe physicians require. These clusters, which are based on the CanMEDS Framework, include:
Professional
Communicator/Collaborator/Manager
Advocate
Scholar
Beyond that, the format changes depending on whether the interview is conducted in person or virtually. Since UofT has to announce whether interviews will be conducted online, we’ll provide details on both options to ensure you’re prepared.
In person, each of the four interviews is hosted in a different room and lasts about 12 minutes. The interviews are all one-on-one, meaning that you’ll be speaking to only one interviewer in each room.
When held online, the interviews are conducted asynchronously; it’s not a live interview. You record your responses to four different groups of questions, each of which is assessed by a different person. You’re given 5 minutes to record each video response and a total of an hour to record, review, and submit your responses.
Will Interviews Be Virtual or In-Person?
Since 2020, medical school interviews have been hosted virtually to minimize transmission of COVID-19. Though many schools have yet to publish their decision on where they’ll be hosting interviews for the coming application season, the following schools have already announced that they’ll be once again conduct their interviews online:
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
University of Alberta
Dalhousie University
University of Manitoba
McGill University
How to Prepare for Your Medical School Interviews
Remember, though there are general competencies — such as the CanMEDS Roles — that one must possess in order to succeed in medicine, each medical school will emphasize certain values and skills in their program. Thus, it’s crucial that you identify the competencies highlighted in the medical programs to which you’re applying before combing through your skills and experiences to identify the ones that best reflect these competencies.
Then it’s time to start practicing! You can find many mock interview questions online, such as these provided by McGill. To ensure that your responses are clear and coherent, familiarize yourself with tools such as the STAR method of storytelling. Consider recording your responses and reviewing them to assess your use of filler words, eye contact, and virtual setup.
Your friends and family can be valuable resources during your preparation. They can help you practice by setting up mock interviews, even using videoconferencing platforms to get you more comfortable with that format. Additionally, many medical students are willing to share their experiences with applicants.
For example, forums like Dalhousie’s “Ask A Med Student” Facebook group allow you to directly connect with current medical students and learn about their experiences. Other schools offer similar forums and resources, so be sure to check their medical school websites for more information.
And, of course, the I Got In team is also here to help. Once we’ve assessed your needs, we can provide you with the interview preparation that will best support you as you go through your interview process. Our mock interviews will make you more comfortable with the different interview formats while also building your confidence and teaching you how to provide the most effective responses. We also give customized feedback that helps you better understand your strengths and areas of improvement so that you can keep growing throughout the process.
Interested in learning more? Book a free consultation with one of our experts to get more information on how we can support you through this journey.
Good luck in your interviews!
