The first thing to do as soon as you receive an interview request is to answer it promptly. Do remember that med schools receive a huge number of applications that they are required to process. A prompt response shows that the candidate is highly interested in the school and wants to pursue a career in medicine, which certainly provides an edge in terms of other candidates applying for that position. And most importantly, if you respond on time it will let you pick a convenient date and time for scheduling the interview which will make sure that you can travel (if required) and take the interview without any hassle. After responding to your interview, the next task is to find out the format of your medical school interview. The traditional panel interviews for medical schools are slowly losing out in popularity, but some schools still follow the same. A traditional panel interview format is pretty straightforward and involves one or two interviewers taking turns and asking questions. A traditional interview can be both, closed or open file format. In an open file interview, the panel gets access to a candidate’s application as the interview is conducted, while in closed interview formats, the interviewers do not gain pre-access to a candidate’s application and that’s why these interviews are more subjective as each interviewer follows their own and distinct set and style of questions. Some schools follow a more standard interview question format whereas some encourage a more free-flowing conversational interview. No matter what your format is, do not panic. The key to a good interview is being honest and answering questions to the best of your abilities. If the school does not share the format of the interview with you, you may look up their website or reach out to the help desk to do the same. If this is the first interview you are appearing for, it would help if you practice and do a few mock interviews prior to your date. Mock interview sessions will make you feel more confident during a real interview session. Before the date of your interview, do your research properly and find out all that you can about the school – any specialties or functions you may be interested in or asked about. You need to have a convincing answer to why you want to study in a particular school or do medicine. Take your time to go through each thing that you mention in your application so that you know and remember whatever you have mentioned and miss nothing during the interview. Work with your friends and family members to help you prepare for the final interview.
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