How to prepare for your medical school interview

My name is Drew, I’m a fourth-year medical student here at Aberdeen and I also work with the admission team as a student ambassador. It’s my job to not only assist with the interviews, but also take care of our applicants when they come for interview. In the next 5 minutes of you reading, I want to try and explain what happens when you come for interview and give you some hints and tips that I hope will help you to prepare!

1. Arrive on time! It seems obvious but arriving ahead of time lets you get ready and gives you wiggle room if you’re running late. It also gives you time to relax a little and settle into the surroundings. The interviews are held at our medical school at the Suttie Centre.
2. Don’t forget your ID, work experience and declaration form. We can fix things if you forget them, but you really don’t need the stress of forgetting them. Pack everything in your bag the night before so you know your organised! 
3. Dress to impress! The interview is a professional meeting, so make sure to dress appropriately.  
4. We run MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews) where there are 7 stations, each lasting 7 minutes. Make sure to come along to the interview refreshed and hydrated so you can perform to the best of your ability. Try and get a good night’s sleep and  if it’s a long journey to come to us, then try and plan your travel sensibly.
5. Each station is assessed individually. This means that when you move to each station, put the last one behind you and start again! As you know, entry to medicine is competitive, so we ask that you remain professional and not share details of the stations with people you know who are also applying. We do change the questions each day, but sharing the questions puts yourself at a huge disadvantage.
6. Selection for interview is organised by the university admissions team but at various stages of the process, student ambassadors are involved. If you have visited the medical school before, at an open day for example, we will hopefully be a team of familiar faces. Anything that you want to know about moving to Aberdeen, studying here or even what it’s like to be a medical student, then now would be the time to ask!
7. Have a good look at our website. We’re very proud of the University we have here at Aberdeen – we’re Number 1 in Scotland and Number 2 in the UK for Medicine. When you have an interview, we’re expecting you to want to come here, so we expect you know all about our course. All of us student ambassadors chose to study in Aberdeen, and we want to share our passion and experiences with you. Bring us any questions, ask us why we love Aberdeen!
8. As soon as the interviews are completed and we know who we’re going to offer a place to, your UCAS track will be updated. We don’t like to hold onto our offers any longer than we need to. The team in admissions are dealing with approx. 2000 applications per year so the more emails and phone calls we get asking when offers will be made, the longer it takes to update your Track! You will have heard back by the end of March (but hopefully sooner).
9. As well as some of our senior medical students interviewing, we also see some big names that you might recognise from the forefront of medical research and education. Everyone interviewing plays an important role in our medical school and if you choose to come to Aberdeen, you’ll likely meet them again, so make sure to leave a good impression!
10. Bring parents along. We have a lovely café in the Suttie Centre where they can get a coffee – maybe you should hold off on the caffeine until afterwards!
11. After the interview, we’d love for you to come on a tour of our facilities. It’s very informal, bring parents and/or friends along. One of the student ambassador team will guide you around and show off the facilities! You have maybe seen it all before at an Open Day, or perhaps you have a flight to catch…we would certainly encourage it, but don’t worry if you can’t make it, its optional and it won’t affect your interview score.

 I really look forward to meeting you, make sure and enjoy your interview and best of luck!

 Drew Mcmichael, 4^th year medical student