Hey whoartthou, What are some motivations to do medicine that sound a too cliche, or would seem as a write off to you? Other than the obvious 'money, prestige, hardest thing to get into etc.etc.' what other responses make you doubt their true motivations. What seems a little off and why?
Most answers will sound cliche but that is fine. Make it your own personal story. It also depends on how you deliver it and the overall feel of the response. If you want specific advice I would recommend getting someone with experience to critique your response. Most student's answers will be fine but usually they can be tweaked to be better. Apart from the obvious black and white no nos, many things will fall into the grey zone and it all depends on word choices, how you phrase things and how you deliver it.
For example "My maths teacher makes us work from the textbook all the time. This is horrendously boring and no one likes him in our class" vs "I enjoy maths the least because unfortunately, there is little engagement from the teacher. I understand he/she may have an "old classroom" perception of how lessons should be conducted however, our class would benefit from interactive lessons involving less textbook work".
This might be a little silly, but if I mention in my interview that I'd potentially like to work for a few months/years in a rural area as a doctor in the future, will this impact my likelihood of receiving a BMP, as opposed to unbonded? I genuinely would like to experience working rurally in the future, but I'd obviously like to not be legally bound by a BMP. Thanks!
The interviewers do not know your preference so it doesn't matter.
This might be a little silly, but if I mention in my interview that I'd potentially like to work for a few months/years in a rural area as a doctor in the future, will this impact my likelihood of receiving a BMP, as opposed to unbonded? I genuinely would like to experience working rurally in the future, but I'd obviously like to not be legally bound by a BMP. Thanks!
If you want to work in rural areas as a doctor that's great! However, I am skeptical at most answers to this question as that is what is "expected". Unless you have done previous work in rural communities this holds little value to your answer so I would not even rate it as an average answer unless you can convince me otherwise. The best testament to your values is what you have done in the past. If you truly want to work in a rural area you would have some kind of experience otherwise I will find it hard to believe you.
In that case, what would be an appropriate answer if I knew my academic/ucat marks were good enough to guarantee a medicine offer at the non-interview universities. Should I just say that to the interviewers (Which doesn't really answer their question), or go into a hypothetical explanation of what'd I do otherwise? Thanks!
Having good enough marks doesn't mean you should do medicine. I think you answered your own question here. If this is your attitude then you should not be doing medicine and I would discourage you from doing it. The question asks for your motivation to pursue medicine outside of academic pursuits.