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UoO: Alternative ('Other') Category Chat/Enquiries

nicolemed said:
Ooooo, Im so nervous about the interview LOL.😂
Do you have any plans for preparation (if needed?)

(OMG, how do I remove the previous thread..)
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Might be a delete or we hope the website gods take pity? I know there is an edit function.

Im relieved im not the only one terrified, actually I had myself convinced that there would be some reason for them to say thanks but no thanks 🫣☺️

Now im in a state of permanent nausea!

Not sure if much prep is possible as they dont bother with the usual why do you want health profession questions. We get all the terrible what are your plans and what area do you see yourself going into once ready to specialise
 
Got an interview offer, 16th of June :) To everyone else that has applied, it takes real courage to go through this process and I hope you are proud of yourself, with or without an interview offer.

How are folks planning to prepare for the interview?

Eski said:
Thinking of all of you waiting on results — it takes real courage to apply! Just hitting “submit” is something to be proud of. No matter the outcome, the fact that you pulled together your statement, your documents, and put yourself out there is truly something to celebrate. Holding hope for good news for you all soon 💛
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Congratulations! Not sure if this will help but I would recommend having two or three mock interviews with a manager / head of department in your line of work. They interview people all the time and it will give you a realistic feel of what it will be like. Also really helpful to dull the nerves so you can answer the question well. All the best!
 
hi everyone. congratulations for getting an interview ! hope your preparation goes well.
for the actual interview, there are usually 4-5 interviewers including 1 MC.
My interviewers were either doctors or senior lecturers of the university (from other faculties but teach medicine).
It seems like every interview panel is catered to the student's CV...
I don't think the interview performance decides whether you have to do the first year course or not. Conditional offers are more based on your past degree, your GPA, how long ago it was done etc.

I don't have a valuable story to add the interview prep as my one was 25mins (the panel ddnt join the interview until 5mins later), with about 10mins of introducing everyone to each other, and so my interview was 15mins of just very generic conversation and interview Qs (how do you solve a mistake, current events). Two more ppl had a v short interview like mine. I did not have an ethical Q but I think I am the only one. Soooo I was VERY surprised when I got an offer. Practice your ethical Qs from google!
 
jwon964 said:
hi everyone. congratulations for getting an interview ! hope your preparation goes well.
for the actual interview, there are usually 4-5 interviewers including 1 MC.
My interviewers were either doctors or senior lecturers of the university (from other faculties but teach medicine).
It seems like every interview panel is catered to the student's CV...
I don't think the interview performance decides whether you have to do the first year course or not. Conditional offers are more based on your past degree, your GPA, how long ago it was done etc.

I don't have a valuable story to add the interview prep as my one was 25mins (the panel ddnt join the interview until 5mins later), with about 10mins of introducing everyone to each other, and so my interview was 15mins of just very generic conversation and interview Qs (how do you solve a mistake, current events). Two more ppl had a v short interview like mine. I did not have an ethical Q but I think I am the only one. Soooo I was VERY surprised when I got an offer. Practice your ethical Qs from google!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input!!

What is MC sorry?
Current events as in politics?

Point noted on the ethical questions!!
 
slek said:
Thanks for the input!!

What is MC sorry?
Current events as in politics?

Point noted on the ethical questions!!
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oh sorry. MC as in a lead person who guides through the interview. They are more of a time keeper I think.
current events for mine was something related to this new change in the hospital in which I still have no idea what they were asking me.
But unlikely political Qs for the sake of politics. More changes in regulations which hinder pt's care type of current events I reckon.
But it's okay if you dont know what they are asking I think. I replied honestly and said I do not know what that is. They did look disappointed but I started talking about something else that may be related that I know. Idk if they actually care if you know the stuff they are asking. It is more how you respond I think.
 
Hi guys!

I've written the following just on my experience of the interview process last year, and how I prepared and my feelings about it. This doesn't mean it is the same for everybody who underwent the process. But hopefully it points some of you in the right direction.

Hope this helps :)

Alternative Category Interview​

  • First off, give yourself a pat on the back — making it to this point is no small feat. Personally, I found the one-page statement to be the trickiest part of the whole journey. The interview felt more like a check to make sure I matched the person I’d written about.
  • As for the interview itself, it wasn’t intimidating at all. A lot of people I've talked to since, would describe it more like a relaxed job interview. There were about five people on the panel — one was generally the Dean — and the others seemed chosen based on what you shared in your application.
  • In my case (and from what I’ve heard from others), the vibe was always warm and friendly. Everyone on the panel was lovely, and the whole thing wrapped up in about half an hour.

QUESTIONS – What will they ask you? (I know this is what you are all wanting to know!!!)​


First off, the most important question to prepare for is a question about why you want to do medicine e.g.:

  • Why do you want to study medicine?
  • Why are you choosing to switch careers now?

This is a major question and will almost certainly come up — often right at the start of the interview. It might be phrased more casually, like “So, what’s brought you to apply for medicine?”

In my humble opinion you need to nail this question. It's your chance to clearly communicate your motivation and show that you’ve thought seriously about this change.
1. Motivation & Personal Background

The first types of questions I think you need to prepare for, kind of go with the one above. These questions that aim to understand your reasons for applying, your career change decision, and your personal qualities.

Examples of the kind of motivation and personal background questions I would prepare for:
  • Why medicine? Why now?
  • Why change careers from your current/previous profession?
  • Why Otago specifically?
  • What will you do if you don’t get in?
  • What area of medicine are you interested in — and what if that doesn’t work out?
  • What will you bring to the course (from your previous life experiences)? What will you gain from younger students?
  • What challenges do you foresee in medical school?
  • How do you feel about lifelong learning?
  • Tell us about yourself (non-academic life, life before medicine).
  • Who would you seek help from if struggling during the course?

2. Professionalism & Interpersonal Skills

These are kind of your like your normal job interview questions. Make sure you have examples for these down: to help with this I like to answer these using the STAR concept: (click on the link to see what I mean)

Examples:
  • Leadership experiences
  • Teamwork and collaboration
  • Conflict resolution
  • Handling stress or pressure
  • Dealing with non-compliant patients
  • How you deal with dry/boring study content in years 2 and 3
  • Strengths and weaknesses
  • Times you've shown resilience or overcome challenges

3. Medical Ethics & Scenario Questions
They usually ask 1–2 ethics-based questions, sometimes based on NZ-specific healthcare situations (see the next section 4. Health System Awareness & NZ-specific Issues, to see what I mean).

IN MY INTERVIEW, I GOT THE TWO BELOW:

  • One of your patients has been diagnosed with cancer. But she is yet to tell her husband. Husband comes in asking you to tell him what is wrong with her. What do you do?
    • I talked about Code of Rights, i.e. patient has a right to his or her privacy.
  • Your patient has cancer and is declining the life-saving treatment. Without it she will die. With it she will live. What will should you as the Dr do.
    • First, I would assess the patient’s capacity to make an informed decision. If she is found to be competent, I have an ethical obligation to respect her autonomy. However, I would also explore any underlying reasons for her refusal. This means taking the time to understand whether her decision is based on accurate information, or if there are fears, misconceptions, or external pressures influencing her choice — for example, she may worry about being a burden to her family during treatment. My role would be to ensure she is fully informed, supported, and not making her decision under duress, while ultimately respecting her right to decline treatment.
I answered these above by applying the Code of Rights (see the link).

Other Tips for answering these:
• Leanr about and use the Four Pillars of Medical Ethics: Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-maleficence, and Justice.
• Walk through your reasoning step by step — they want to see your thinking.

Possible Topic Examples:

1. Parental Refusal of Treatment for a Child
Scenario: A child needs a blood transfusion to survive, but the parents refuse on religious grounds.
Theme: Best interests of the child, parental rights vs. duty of care, legal intervention.

2. Confidentiality with an Underage Patient
Scenario: A 15-year-old asks you not to tell their parents about their sexual activity or contraceptive use.
Theme: Confidentiality, competence (Gillick competence), safeguarding.

3. Reporting a Colleague
Scenario: You observe a senior doctor coming to work smelling of alcohol.
Theme: Patient safety, whistleblowing, professional responsibility.

4. Resource Allocation
Scenario: There’s only one ICU bed left and two critically ill patients who both need it.
Theme: Justice, utilitarianism, triage ethics, equity.

5. Treatment Refusal in Mental Illness
Scenario: A patient with severe depression refuses to eat and is losing weight rapidly.
Theme: Competence vs. mental illness, beneficence, non-maleficence.

6. Medical Error
Scenario: You accidentally prescribe the wrong medication, but the patient has not yet taken it.
Theme: Duty of candour, honesty, transparency, learning from mistakes.

7. Assisted Dying
Scenario: A terminally ill patient requests your help to end their life.
Theme: Autonomy, law vs. ethics, palliative care, compassion.

8. Social Media Use
Scenario: A medical student posts unprofessional photos and jokes on social media.
Theme: Professionalism, boundaries, public trust.

9. Treating Family or Friends
Scenario: A close friend asks you for medical advice or a prescription.
Theme: Boundaries, objectivity, conflict of interest.

10. Access to Private vs Public Healthcare
Scenario: A patient on a long public waitlist wants you to refer them privately.
Theme: Equity, justice, dual practice ethics.

4. Health System Awareness & NZ-specific Issues
They may assess your awareness of healthcare issues in NZ and your ability to think critically about public health.

Examples:
  • If you had $200 million for healthcare, where would you allocate it? What would you take funding from?
  • Thoughts on sub-catagory entry pathways for medicine e.g. rural, refugee etc.
  • Māori health inequities
  • Major current/future health concerns in NZ (smoking, diabetes, mental health, etc.)
  • Ongoing health reforms, e.g. digital patient portals, GP shortages, aged care, youth mental health

I also got a health inequity-related ethics question:

  • What do you think about the current government getting rid of the equity adjustor tool that prioritised ethnicity as one of five factors in non-urgent surgical waitlists. This had just happened when I got my interview.

My big tip for this one:
MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO APPLY THE PRINCIPLES OF THE TREATY OF WAITANGI IN YOUR ROLE AS A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, AND HOW THIS RELATES TO YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS HEALTH INEQUITIES.


5. Warm-up / Closing / Personality

Examples:
  • Tell us about your hobbies or passions.
  • Do you have any questions for us? –
    • MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING PREPARED TO ASK

 
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