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General Interview Discussion and Questions - 2021 Entry

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threefivetwo said:
This is the basic MMI structure
You would typically have around 2 minutes + any additional time gained from exiting the previous station early. The bell rings at the conclusion of a station, you exit it, and move to the next station, where the question is placed near or on the door.
The 2 min countdown starts immediately after the bell rings, so you need to move to the next station quickly! No paper is provided, it’s only thinking time. For stations with multiple questions, they ask you as the question progresses - this is why it’s in your interest to keep your answers nice and tight, i.e. not include any fluff, as they’ll simply cut you off if you run over their arbitrary time limit and this can be jarring.
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LMG! said:
You get 2 minutes ‘reading time’ to read through the initial info and start preparing what you want to say before you walk into the room. You didn’t get paper/pen when I did it a few years ago, but I recall someone last year saying that had changed.
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thank you both for the info :) ! just confirming, to practice ethical scenario qs timed would it best to give myself 2 mins to think about the prompt only and then 8 minutes to go through each sub question and answer them 1 after the other?
 
This is a bit of a general question so not sure if this is the right place for it: If an interviewer is attempting to pressure you to choose a side for something that might be controversial, should you? I feel as though the right thing to do is to not but how can you do that while still successfully answering the question?
 
dano said:
This is a bit of a general question so not sure if this is the right place for it: If an interviewer is attempting to pressure you to choose a side for something that might be controversial, should you? I feel as though the right thing to do is to not but how can you do that while still successfully answering the question?
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If it’s controversial then it’s controversial for a reason. Provided you can justify your answer and you aren’t openly supporting discrimination (as an obvious example) then it won’t matter which “side” you pick provided you back it up. Stick to your guns and back up your response - don’t let pressure sway your response unless the comments of the interviewer actually do cause you to change your mind.
 
Howdy, do interview offers generally come out by email or over the phone?

I'm asking this because I'm a serial "Do Not Disturb" phone user lmao
 
I know it's hard to say, but how much better does the interview of a 90th percentile have to be compared to a 99th percentile assuming they have the same ATAR/GPA?
 
abash80 said:
I know it's hard to say, but how much better does the interview of a 90th percentile have to be compared to a 99th percentile assuming they have the same ATAR/GPA?
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This is only to give a rough idea. Considering 99%ile is near top and 90%ile near bottom (among the interview cohort), for schools where UCAT and interview are equally weighted you need to reverse the table with interview to be equal.

For Adelaide & Curtin where UCAT counts only half as much, the 90%ile needs to be half the interview score range better to be equal.
 
For this year’s interviews, (if relevant) could we mention the current medical circumstances like COVID-19? E.g. how we recognise and admire the responsibilities that doctors have and the work they’ve done. Or is this a big no-no?
 
I dont see why not, although I think theres alot room for much better analysis on what the pandemic has shown you about the health workforce rather than just the admiration of doctors...

Some ideas from the top of my head
  • The diversity responsibility of healthcare workers - NSW has largely thanked contact tracers in keeping things under wraps.
  • Importance of being adaptable and potentially weighing up the future of telehealth
  • Importance of public health and being able to be a proper scientific communicator in the face of conspiracy theories etc
  • The weaknesses in our healthcare system that lead to the poorer areas of Melbourne for example be hit the hardest
But in the opposite direction the pandemic has revealed a bunch of negatives of being healthcare workers, if anything its shown that in large scenarios the governments of this country would like to label them as 'heroes' in order to chastise and claim they're taking advantage of a pandemic when complaining about fair remuneration (e.g. NSW Nurse Wage Freezes) or the high rate of HCW COVID infection due to poor PPE.

These are ideas of the top of my head, but it shows that there is alot to unpack when it comes to HCW and the pandemic, I think simply saying you admire them is a missed opportunity. There was alot done to control this pandemic that wasnt done by doctors, and its crucial to recognise that.

EDIT: This is not to say doctors did nothing because the 30 000 PCR tests a day dont just analyse themselves. It's just they didnt do everything, and you can see from the US that having high rates of testing but poor public health communication and contract tracing doesn't necessarily control the pandemic. Its a multifaceted team, and you need all of allied health on board.
 
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Thank you for your detailed feedback! I can see where my initial ideas are lacking and your reply gave a deeper insight into how I could take my answer further :))
 
I got this questions in a private message and I thought people would benefit from the answer so I’m posting it here!

question

“I had a question about wsu interviews if you don't mind me asking, I'm doing my interview prep but I feel sort of feel stressed now after talking to a few friends- (content removed).“

Answer:
(Content removed - sorry Mr Smelly!)

my personal opinion is that the best way to prepare for interviews in the universe (besides actually doing a Med interview) is to make a small interview practice group and go over questions together (within the parameters of what is COVID-safe). Make it a very welcoming environment so that it’s ok to give helpful constructive criticism and try build each other up.

Besides this, I’d also, on my own, think about example scenarios that I want ready to be able to bring up in interviews (if relevant) e.g. teamwork scenarios/volunteering scenarios etc.

the thing that I think helped me get in on my fifth interview (I failed the first 4 Med interviews I did over 3 years) was to provide something different in my answer e.g. mention something that others might miss/give an alternative perspective/bring in a personal story etc. I think that helps to differentiate you from the other 400 people interviewing who are all going to say the same thing and work in your favour.

hope this helps xxx ❤❤
 
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Hi
just a weird q for med interviews
if they ask why medicine? how long should we aim to talk for in mmis? i understand there will be follow up qs n im scared to talk for too long!
like roughly 2 mins?
Thanks
 
knowthyself said:
Hi
just a weird q for med interviews
if they ask why medicine? how long should we aim to talk for in mmis? i understand there will be follow up qs n im scared to talk for too long!
like roughly 2 mins?
Thanks
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I would say aim for roughly 1 min. In the MMI stations where that gets asked, theres usually 7-8 min for the station for 7 questions. I noticed last year that unis tended to lean more towards shorter answers.
 
knowthyself said:
Hi
just a weird q for med interviews
if they ask why medicine? how long should we aim to talk for in mmis? i understand there will be follow up qs n im scared to talk for too long!
like roughly 2 mins?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Interestingly I've not heard of any MMI station that asked 7 questions in 7-8 minutes - so I'm thinking that may be more of a single particular university thing as opposed to widespread practice. More commonly, it will be 3-4 questions based on a single scenario, or an interaction with an actor, or you'll be required to perform a practical task (perhaps not this year for the Zoom interviews!).

In a station where I was asked this question, it was in the context of a "live" scenario with a simulated actor. I think I spoke for about 2 minutes at the time (which was appropriate) but I may have spoken for a shorter time if it was in a panel format or in the context of an MMI with a rapid series of questions. Essentially, it depends on the context - I don't think your answer should never go for longer than 3 minutes, though. I'd try answering it within 1 minute as well as within 2 minutes so you're prepared to answer based on the context.
 
Smelly Boy said:
my personal opinion is that the best way to prepare for interviews in the universe (besides actually doing a Med interview) is to make a small interview practice group and go over questions together (within the parameters of what is COVID-safe). Make it a very welcoming environment so that it’s ok to give helpful constructive criticism and try build each other up.
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100% second this. I think I've said this many times on the forum, but practicing in a group setting is an excellent way to a) build confidence by answering in front of others, which many people struggle with, b) get used to answering interview questions in a time-pressured setting, c) gain new ideas and perspectives on different questions and topical issues that you wouldn't have considered yourself and d) have others identify issues in your responses or bad habits e.g. "umm-ing" and "ah-ing", fidgeting etc that you may not be consciously aware of. Additionally, observing and criticising others is a great way to identify what works best in answering questions (you can "steal" and implement these into your own answers in interviews) as well as realising things that don't work so well.

Hands down the best way to prepare and it doesn't cost a cent.
 
yeezyboy said:
Is anyone down to create a prep group with me then? I'm expecting interviews for both MMI and Panel. I'd love to practice with anyone and help each other through these few months! Just PM me please :) Thanks guys.
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I am happy for you to create/organise a public group (to meet via Discord or any other platform) for people to join through the forum. It just can't be an "official MSO" group as we wouldn't be able to moderate it.
 
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