Premedical Advising: Interviewing

I. Introduction to Interviewing

When you go for an interview, you usually participate in a day's worth of activities designed to help familiarize you with a particular school. This typically involves a tour, an overview of the curriculum, lunch with students or faculty, and a financial aid meeting.

As part of the day, you'll have an interview or interviews with representatives from the admissions committee. Your interviewers will likely include faculty, and may include admissions staff, a member of the profession, and/or a student at the school.

Prepare: Be sure to re-read your personal comments essay, and supplemental question answers. Research the schools where you are interviewing. What do they list as their accomplishments? What kinds of research programs do they emphasize? Do they have an honor code for students? Hint: You can find honor code for the KU School of Medicine at www.kumc.edu/som/medsos/hc.html.

Practice: Don't rehearse answers for particular questions, but do practice the general art of answering questions! If you're a current or former KU student, you can schedule a practice interview with me by calling (785) 864-3500. Be sure to ask for a one-hour meeting. You can also schedule a practice interview at the University Career Center, www.kucareerhawk.com, (785) 864-3624.

Act Professionally: Dress appropriately, as you would if you were working in a professional environment. Most men wear suits, or at least a tie and sports jacket. Most women wear a professional looking suit or dress. Include titles, like Dr., when addressing people. Make sure you arrive on time. If you're delayed, call the Admissions Office to explain.

Present yourself openly and honestly. Professional schools have room for different kinds of people. Some candidates come across as more passionate, while others are more calm. Some are more decisive, others more thoughtful. Above all, try to stay in the moment, and actively attend to your interviewers and their questions.

It's normal to feel nervous, especially at the beginning. Some questions may throw you for a moment, but most candidates recover. If you're stumped, it's fine to say, "I don't know;" and it's also okay to thoughtfully pause and gather your thoughts before answering questions.

Don't try to be someone you're not, but do try to put your best qualities forward. Interviewers look for experience, a passion for the profession, sincerity and honesty, the ability to communicate clearly, warmth and compassion, confidence (not arrogance), down-to-earthness, a positive and enthusiastic outlook, ethical integrity, the ability to reason through challenging problems, awareness of current events and social issues, a respect for other people and their opinions, a willingness to work hard, a love for learning, maturity, professionalism, and a sense of social responsibility and commitment to service.

II. Themes for Interview Questions

There are countless possible interview questions, so rehearsing answers isn't very useful. You may, however, want to think about some of the common themes for questions:

Who are you?
How have you prepared yourself to become a member of this profession?
Why do you want to become a member of this profession?
What are your professional goals?
How familiar are you with general health care issues?
How do you reason through ethical dilemmas?
Why are you interested in our school?
And, what questions do you have for your interviewers?

You can find feedback from candidates who've interviewed at different professional schools at http://more.studentdoctor.net/welcome.php.

III. The KU School of Medicine Interview

At an advisors conference at KU Med, current and former chairs of the Admissions Committee (Drs. Ken Kallail, Ph.D., Christine Morantz, Ph.D., and Peggy Sellner, Ph.D.) spoke about how they evaluate applicants. There are several levels of interpretation here, so what I share isn't a perfect transmission, but here it goes:

Your Audience: The interview groups may include faculty (basic science, clincial or other), practicing physicians, and/or 4th year medical school students.

The Format: They conduct two interviews, one with a single interviewer, and one with two interviewers. Each of the two interviews may be up to 30 minutes long. The one-to-one interviewer will have read your entire file, including grades, MCAT scores, and recommendation letters. The two-on-one interviewers will not have your grades, MCAT scores or evaluation letters.

Some content they are looking for:

Motivation - Why do you want to become a physician?
Self-Appraisal - How do you see yourself?
Problem-Solving/Judgment - How do you solve problems, and resolve ethical issues? The answer you arrive at may be less important than the path you take, your problem-solving style.
Commitment to Service - Are you compassionate and caring?
Interpersonal Skills - Can you communicate clearly?
Do you understand what you are asking for? What do you know about being a physician?

Some hints they gave:

Talk about what you have done, not just what you want to do.
They look for passion -- Are you passionate about becoming a physician, or do you "light up" when you talk about another career possibility?
Open & Honest - Do you come across as genuine when you talk about your interest in medicine?
They do try to accept some people from rural areas who are sincerely interested in providing primary care services to people in similar communities in Kansas. A lot of people, however, say they want to do this without really demonstrating the interest.
Admissions Committee Members often ask themselves questions like: "Is this someone I want in my class?" and "Is this someone who has the maturity, drive and initiative to treat me, that I would want as my own physician?"
A pet peeve: The candidate who talks forever, but doesn't say anything.
It's okay to have some quiet pauses during your interview. Thoughtfully considering a question before answering comes off better than unfocused chatter.
Avoid giving extraordinarily long or short answers.
Engage in appropriate eye contact. Neither creepy staring, nor hiding.
They look for candidates to come across as professional -- open and personal, but not overly chummy or insincerely ingratiating.