I am currently in the process of applying to medical school, and that means you could get invited for an interview. I wanted to share how I have been prepping because it can be a daunting task!
Because I am prepping for medical school interviews, I will be using that as my examples/guidance for this post, but I believe these steps are completely applicable to any kind of interview you will have such as jobs, graduate schools, scholarships, etc! So anywhere I have school or student written, you can easily replace it with company or employee.
It is hard to know where to start when prepping for an interview. I think it is best to start with the type of interview you will have. For instance, a medical school interview can be one of many types including a traditional style interview, a multiple mini interview, a group activity interview, really anything a school wants to do to assess their candidates. After you know the type of interview, it is much easier to prep!
1.Research the School- Start by finding the mission and vision of the school/program, and take some notes on them. You want to be able to have some specific details about the mission to talk about if and when you are asked why you want to attend that school. Also research other things about the school, curriculum, board scores, clerkship, match rates, and student life.
2. Reach out to a current student (if you can!)- Of course you are not going to know a current student at every school you apply to, but where you do know someone, ask if you can call or FaceTime and have them tell you about the school and what it is like to be a student there. This is important because they will be honest with you! It is also good to mention in an interview that you did reach out to a current student because that shows initiative on your part. If you do not know anyone, you might know someone who knows someone, and the strength of loose ties can take you far!
3. Practice your Elevator Pitch- For med school interviews this means two things: tell me about yourself and why medicine. The "why medicine" question is pretty much a guarantee anywhere you interview, but the tell me about yourself is not as common (in my experience). To prepare for these, I find it helpful to have bulleted talking points to practice from. I would not suggest writing out your elevator pitch(es) in full sentences because you do not want to sound too rehearsed. Definitely practice these out loud, as something might work in your head, but come out clunky, and you do not want it to come out clunky on interview day.
4A. Find Lists of Interview questions online, and answer them out loud to yourself- There is a lot of resources out there with practice interview questions. Depending on your interview type, you may have different kinds of questions such a critical thinking, ethical, behavioral, and personality. From my experience, MMI's tend to focus on more ethical scenarios, and traditional form interviews have a mix, but focus on behavioral and personality more. (this is just my experience, and not what all schools do in these kinds of interviews!!)
4B. Read up on Current Events in Science/Medicine/Healthcare- I think it is good to know about and how to talk about the hot topics in health and medicine. This field has been very COVID focused in the past year, so much of the research and discussion around medicine is about the pandemic. Interviewers generally like asking current event questions to assess your understanding of them, and if you follow along with them. It is also a good idea to come up with questions you could be asked about the hot topics, and answer them out loud to yourself. For example, I thought of quite a few COVID vaccine questions and ethical questions about it, and I tried to answer each scenario myself. I also want to add- know your opinion on universal healthcare, and know the details about the Affordable Care Act.
5. Ask a friend or family member to practice with you and use the proper timing if you know it- Do not go into an interview without practicing. Practicing is a good time to help get comfortable with thinking on your feet and having thoughtful and succinct answers to questions. It is also good to make sure you actually answer the questions, and practice helps with this. Friends and family are good resources, but if you can have a family friend that you do not know well, that is better to practice with because you will not personally know your interviewer and practicing feeling slightly uncomfortable while you answer more personal questions will help you. Also practice with timing, if you know it. For example, if you have 5, 8 minute interviews, you should do you practice interviews for 8 minutes.
6. Be ready to ask you interviewer questions- This is always the hard part, in my opinion. You spend a lot of an interview day learning more about the school and program, and having the questions you prepared answered...So, my approach for when it is my time to ask my interviewer questions, is to ask about them- what do they do, how long have they done it, where did they go to school, where are they from, why did they choose to work at that school, etc. Make it a casual conversation. I find it helps show the interviewer your true self, and that is all the want to find out during an interview. Of course if you have a prepared question that was not answered, then ask it!
7. Because we are still virtual, it is important to have good lighting. This sounds silly, but it is very important for virtual video calls. You need to be sure that you are nice and clear on the screen! I suggest trying to be by a window, it is even better if you can put your table/desk in front of the window. Being front lit by the natural lighting is the best way to be clear on the screen. I would not put a lamp or window behind you because you will be back lit and shadowy. Prepare your interview space before interview day!
8. Dress from head to toe. It is tempting to wear a blazer and sweatpants, but you will not feel as confident and ready when half of you is too cozy! Dress as all of you will be seen like a normal interview day; I have heard stories of people who half dress themselves, and have to get up during the interview day, and they expose their sweatpants. That does not look professional. So plan your head to toe outfit in advance. I can do a Dress for an Interview blog post if you guys are interested!
There you have it- my best tips on how to prepare for an interview, and feel confident and successful to ace your interview! If you guys have any question feel free to ask away. And just another reminder, that anywhere you see med school/school/student you can replace with company/employee, and you can use this post to prepare for any type of interview you may have. Good luck!!
As always,
#dontforgetyourpearls
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