King's College London
My first interview was at King's College London and it was in December 2019. In the weeks before I visited my aunt in Lincoln for MMI practice - I was lucky enough to have her help because she is a GP and also involved in admissions to Lincoln Medical School. I remember getting the train to London and getting there really early. My interview was in the afternoon so I did a little more practice beforehand, but at that point it was better to just relax. Due to the pandemic the format has been a panel interview for King's this year - but in a normal year you can expect it to be MMI format.
There were 7 MMI stations in total at King's and the station where you started was randomly chosen. I had to sign a non-disclosure form beforehand, so I won't disclose any exact interview questions. I will however provide examples of interview stations you may get and how you can prepare for these below.
A popular station is often a straightforward question about experiences you have done relating to medicine. This type of question is standard and everyone should be able to prepare quite easily for this. For example, I would describe my experiences volunteering for Age UK and being a team leader on NCS, and try and go in depth with my experiences. You may also get asked follow up questions, usually something like how would you deal with the stresses of being a medical student, or what do you think will be the biggest challenge of being a doctor?
Another popular station is about the qualities of a doctor. For example, you might get asked what does perseverance, empathy or resilience mean to you? This type of station is a bit harder to prepare for, but it is a good idea to consider the qualities a doctor will need to have and to find examples of when you have had to show this. For example, if you have shown resilience in studying during hardship, then that might be a good example to have. Having a few examples beforehand will help you if you run into a station like this.
There will almost always be a scenario-based station at MMI interviews. These can be anything from a professional situation at medical school to dealing with your peers. For example, you might be given a scenario where a patient from one of your placements added you on social media or gave you their contact details and you had to explain your actions. When tackling a scenario such as this it is always best to try and link it to the General Medical Council (GMC) guidelines or medical school code of conduct depending on the situation. Always provide reasoning and explain any points you make. For example here, you would decline because it breaches doctor-patient confidentiality - you might also speak to your academic tutor just to inform them what happened.
Examples of scenarios:
Another example of a scenario - this time about a fellow medical student and their mental health. A student in your class seems to be withdrawn and their friend was telling them to get over their depression, without offering help and support. This was affecting their studies too. What should your response be? Clearly your response here should be completely different to their friend - offer them your support and encourage them to seek the support of others (including a GP or charity). It is important to let them know you are there for them and to listen, without judgement. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the country going in and out of lockdown, the impact on mental health across the country is going to be huge. Useful sources of support with mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic include the charity Mind and the NHS. Stations like this are likely to be quite popular given how important mental health is.
This scenario is about group work and contribution. If you were in a group where some group members were not contributing to the work, how would you deal with this? As with other scenarios, the best way to handle this is to first try and understand why some members are not contributing, before making any assumptions. Group work can be challenging but as a medical student and doctor you will be expected to be able to work well with others. A popular follow up question to this is if everyone didn't contribute to group discussion, how would you bring out quieter people in the group? If there are quieter members of the group, a good way to bring them into the discussion is to ask them their opinion - similarly, asking the louder members to lead and facilitate the discussion will mean ideas can bounce off one another. Providing examples of where you have done this before will also show the interviewer that you understand the scenario.
Some MMI interviews will use data interpretation stations. A common question will be interpreting graphs/tables e.g. you might be shown a graph showing the blood sugar levels of a type 1 diabetic and type 2 diabetic patient and be asked to describe the data. All you can do for this type of station is practice - it is likely to be different each time. Always make sure to describe any trends in the data shown, explaining if you can. A lot of the time you can make inferences from the data shown and it might require some thinking outside of the box to link a particular trend with a cause.
An alternative interpretation station could be one where you have to describe something. For example, describing a picture of a street, or how to boil an egg. You might get shown a picture and be asked to describe it. These stations are likely to be very subjective and you should try to keep it as simple and clear as possible. You might get asked a follow up question such as why you think you were asked to do this - everyone has different ways of explaining things and as a doctor you have to learn how to communicate with the patient in a way they will easily understand. Not everything in medicine is going to be strightforward and sometimes you will have to read between the lines, much like looking at a picture and figuring out where it is. Whilst this might not be the exact answer, thinking about why you might need to describe something is a good place to start.
After the interview, I was extremely relieved that my first taste of an MMI interview wasn't at all that bad. I had arranged to meet up with my cousin afterwards and whilst I was waiting I did some Christmas shopping around Covent Garden. We went for Italian food and it was nice to catch up with her as I hadn't seen her for months. I got the train back to Manchester and reflected on my experience that day.
In the end, I didn't get an offer (at least straightaway) from King's. They were the last to get back to me and I was really disheartened because at that point I had no offers at all. Little did I know that would change in the next few months!
University of Manchester
My Manchester interview was a slightly different experience, because I already had experience from the King's interview and I was in Manchester anyway, so I didn't have to travel. My interview here was in early January and I prepared by asking a friend studying medicine here for some interview advice, as well as using online resources. I actually wasn't feeling great before my Manchester interview, as I had a slight cold from New Year's Day and was still recovering. One of my biggest regrets is not mentioning this to the admissions team on the day.
Despite this, I still turned up in the afternoon to the Stopford building but I felt more comfortable because I was familiar with my surroundings. I knew how important this interview was because I really wanted to get in to Manchester. Talking to some of the other candidates put me at ease as we were taken to the consultation skills learning centre by some current medical students. Here we were put into our interview groups and could ask the medical students any questions if we wanted to. I sat there nervously until my group was called and we were told which station we would start at.
There were about 7 stations at Manchester too, very similar to King's although each station was in an almost separate room, whereas at King's it was several cubicles in one big room. Again I won't disclose exact stations at Manchester, but they generally had similar stations to those that I've mentioned that could come up before. Manchester medical school are unique in their application because they ask all applicants to fill out a non-academic information form. This is a bit like the personal statement but allows candidates to go into more detail about different aspects of their work experience and volunteering, which they perhaps could not on the personal statement. You should therefore expect to be asked about this at interview, although preparing for a motivation for medicine station will cover this.
Try and think about the work experience or volunteering you have done, but importantly what you have learnt from it and how this has impacted your decision to study medicine. I would speak about my experiences volunteering with Age UK and as a team leader on NCS, and how these have made me understand empathy better and developed my communication stills. If you are a graduate, then you may be asked why study medicine now? This is a a twist on the usual question of why do you want to do medicine, so take note if you are a grad.
Other role-play stations you might be involved in are professional judgement stations, where a colleague might be doing something wrong/unprofessional - remember when speaking to a colleague it is important to be polite when confronting them because you are in a professional setting. You also need to empathise with them if there is a reason for them behaving this way - you don't know what is going in their personal life. There could be an actor or medical student playing a part. One thing about both my MMI interviews in person was the friendliness of all the interviewers and students. It definitely helped make the experience more comfortable. Another popular role-play station is breaking bad news to a patient. With this sort of scenario it is important to not just go straight in with the news. Make sure you put the patient at ease first, ask them how they are and give them some warning about the news. Give them time to process the news and comfort them, offering them advice and making sure they have a support network. Role-playing stations can be challenging, but the good thing about MMI is each station is a new start.
Other stations you could face will involve discussing different scenarios and how you would react in different ones and an ethics station as well. At a station where the interviewer asks you what you would do in multiple scenarios, always speak your thoughts and explain your answers, because otherwise it will not be clear to the interviewer what you are thinking. Try and give more detail to your answers, rather than just yes or no, or only a few words.
Manchester didn't give me an offer in the end, having got back to me in early April 2020. I think I was close to getting an offer because they left it so late, or at least I like to think so! MMI interviews will often be scored per station and then you will get an overall total at the end - if this score is close to the cut off point, then admissions tutors may have to decide whether or not to give you an offer based on other parts of your application, particularly if many candidates are around here. I was obviously extremely disappointed after this and probably moped around for a week or so. But then I brushed it off and began working on strengthening my application for next year, as well as considering what to do with myself for the coming year. Little did I know that just around corner, would be another opportunity to get into medicine.
St. George's, University of London
My interview with St. George's Uni was in July 2020 and took place remotely because of the lockdown restrictions across the country. I was surprised to get an interview because I knew I met the requirements but I thought there would be many also applying. The format of the interview was therefore slightly different - I had a 3 hour time period on the day of the interview to video myself answering the MMI questions. Guidance was provided on the format of the video and it was recommended to spend at least 3 minutes answering each station, as if it were an MMI interview in person. I was given a personalised link with the questions and this was where I also uploaded my completed interview.
There was a broad range of questions I had to answer, from scenarios to discussing work experience. I was significantly less nervous for this interview - partly because it was conducted remotely so I didn't have an interviewer present, but also because I had done two already. In the comfort of my own home, I began recording my answers - 15 minutes into the first run, I messed up one of my answers and so had to start the recording again! The time given was generous because it meant if mistakes were made there was plenty of time to have several more 'takes'. On my next attempt I was happy with the recording and uploaded it, eagerly awaiting the outcome.
Overall, my interview experiences varied but importantly each time I reflected on what I didn't do as well and applied it going forward. Looking back, I probably could have prepared a bit better in certain areas, for example providing evidence for examples and with role-playing scenarios. I learnt a great deal from my MMI interviews and although I gained a place eventually, it was not without having a little bit of perseverance. If you are not successful on you first attempt and don't receive any offers after interview, I would urge you not to panic because there are plenty of options available to you. Please see some of my other articles to explore these.
Good luck with your interview!
Posted by Nathan
