How to get into Medical School

How to prepare for medical school interview

Interviewing for medical school is contingent upon you doing well enough on paper for someone to take time to get to know. Since we know you are going to get to this point, I suggest you prepare for this also. During your interactions with people, do you feel you are comfortable listening and understanding others? Are you capable of eloquently composing and expressing your thoughts? Let’s face it. We can all improve our communication skills.

Here are some practical things you can do while in college. Take a communication class where the emphasis is on making conversation with people. Better yet, go out and party on Friday and Saturday Night. Practice going up to complete strangers, introducing yourself and holding a conversation. What works for you? I’m not going to teach you how to be a conversationalist. A good written source for this is the tried and applied method from Dale Carnegie called How to Win Friends and Influence People. Take a public speech class. Be comfortable expressing your ideas in front of others. If you don’t feel comfortable with this, learn how to be. And the one way to finally feel completely comfortable is to consistently practice speaking in front of others. If you master this, the interview will be a breeze.

In general, the two questions medical schools want to know are:

Why do you want to go to medical school/be a doctor?

Why do you want to go to medical school here?

Prepare for these questions. These questions will come up in basically all of your formal interviews. I cannot give you the answer to these questions because these are your personal reasons. However, I can help you find the answer. The way is by keeping a daily journal, or even weekly journal of events. In this journal I want you to state one thing you did to help you achieve your pre-med goal and reflect upon it.

What not to do is to go overboard preparing for all the types of questions in the interview. There are some books that list tons of questions that you could be asked. Don’t bother reading them. It is a waste of your time. What are the chances that someone is going to ask you one of those hundreds of questions? You are better served developing your skills of being comfortable communicating and getting over the anxiety that comes from first meeting people.