Hi
SleepyHallows
Preparation: I presume this is mainly about my interview experience and preparation. I found the most useful preparation was Benjamin's thread on past interview questions on this forum. Nearly all the questions I was asked were identical to the ones on the thread. I suggest going through every single one with a family member and work on building a 'strong' response. Nerves will always be a factor, but trust me, if you go through all those questions, you will be very well prepared.
For me personally, I liked the technique of 'building stories' - I wrote down and thought about all the extracurricular and leadership experiences I had. I extracted the qualities I had learnt or shown through those experiences or activities and used these to answer the questions I was posed. I believe the interview is very much around showing what you have learnt and the skills you have that you can apply to medicine.
The one question you will always be asked is why you want to be a doctor - so make sure that you really dig inside of yourself to find the experiences and values that shape your answer.
My actual interview experience: My interview was on the 10th of December 2019. I generally recommend flying/driving/train day before to avoid additional stress on the morning of. My father and I booked a hotel in the CBD, but the actual university on the outskirts of Townsville, so we drove to the campus on the day before as well so we knew the route. The next day, I was very nervous and had a light breakfast. I arrived at the building at the appropriate time and was guided into a waiting room with other nervous students and 2 current medical students. They helped calm us down, did some icebreaker games and helped us settle in which was nice. My actual interview was a 3 person panel of 1 GP, 1 academic (I think), and 1 community person. I believe panel members are told to remain impassive and I certainly found mine to be except the community member who was quite encouraging. The actual interview was a relaxed formal environment but obviously was still a bit nervous. They ask a mixture of general questions and some situation type questions. The interview was over sooner than I knew and I left a bit nervous but mostly relieved.
Accomodation & JCU tours:
I toured JCU, Unihall and John Flynn all of which have positives and benefits that can be discussed in another post (reply if you want this info)
Ironically I ended up at Saints, the one accommodation provider I didn't tour. I recommend taking all the tours to get a feel for each place to make the best informed decision about accommodation if your are offered a place.
I hope this answers your question, sorry for the delay had a busy few days in the ED
Regards
Steven