Welcome to Medical School Interview Season – A Brief Guide On What To Expect

Your AMCAS primary application has been processed, your letters of recommendation are finally submitted, you have hit the submit button on the secondary application portal. Now you refresh your email every minute of the day eagerly waiting for an interview notification. I remember this feeling all too well. First and foremost, I want to encourage you to take a deep breath. You have put in your best work and the rest is out of your court. The interview season is long but exciting, remain patient, and try not to compare yourself with everyone else, it will all work out in the end.

Read on for some tips on how to make the interviewing season as stress-free as possible.

Before the Interview invitation – besides obsessively tracking comments on SDN, I never figured out a good way to know when the invitation notification will pop into my inbox. I received invitations as early as 2 weeks after submitting my secondary application and as late as 7 months after. There’s really no formula for the process. Many matriculants will agree that when you receive an interview invite by no means determines your acceptance to the school. Also, many successful matriculants only get a single interview offer and acceptance, sometimes a couple of weeks before the school’s white coat ceremony. In short, the cycle is not over until it is over.

Once you start receiving interview invites, do not feel pressured to accept every invitation. I personally stopped accepting invitations once I was accepted into a medical school I could afford to attend. Decide every early on in the cycle of what your threshold is.

After receiving an invitation: once you have received an invitation, respond promptly to accept or decline the invitation. I personally tried to cluster my interview dates, this is even more crucial if you have multiple interviews in an area that you have to travel far to. Clustering helps save money and stress of traveling (see our previous post on application season costs for tips on saving money). Talk to your admission officer about scheduling if what is being offered doesn’t work for you.

Before the interview date: As your interview date approaches, it is very important that you familiarize yourself with your application, every single word you have written is fair game for interview officers to ask. A lot of people swear by mock interviews If you think this will be beneficial for you, by all means, prep with a trusted friend or mentor that can offer you constructive criticism. I personally, preferred to just practice my response to questions out loud in front of the mirror. My goal was to answer questions genuinely and effortlessly.

There are plenty of frequently asked interview questions online that you can use to prep so be sure to check those out.

Below are some special considerations for international students.

- How did you end up at X place for college as an international student? (I was asked this at every interview)

- Why do you want to attend medical school in the United States? Why not in your home country?

- What are your intentions upon graduation?

- How did your experiences in your home country shape your desire to pursue medicine in the United States?

- How do you intend to pay for your medical school education?

- What support system will you have while you are in medical school especially with your family been so far away?

- Why are you interested in attending a prestigious institution like ours if your goal is to work in an underserved area? (I got asked this question)

- What is your understanding of the healthcare system in the US? What would you change about it?

Be certain to read up on health policies and insurance types before your interview. Familiarizing yourself with the big buckets: private, job-subsidized, Medicaid, Medicare should be sufficient. The goal is to have some idea in case your interview gets political which often happens.

On Day of interview

- Follow whatever morning routine works best for you. The only requirement is that you are EARLY for your interview. Also, keep in mind that your interview begins the moment you step into the waiting area. Your interaction with the fellow interviewees, every staff, and interviewer matters. Enjoy the process but be respectful.

- Remember that you deserve to be there. As an international student, especially coming from a very unknown undergrad, I often felt very intimidated by the other interviewees (a feeling I now know as imposter syndrome). It is normal to feel this way, have it at the back of your mind that you are just as deserving to be there as every other person in the room.

- Remember that the interview experience is for you. This is your chance to highlight what makes you the best candidate for their school. There is a reason you got that interview, sell yourself accordingly.

- Engage in conversations with your fellow interviewees, they will potentially be your future classmate. Uber with them to the airport if needed.

After the Interview

- Follow up with the financial aid office to start making plans about how you will pay for the school if you get accepted

- Thank you letters really depends on you. I wrote personal thank you cards for some and sent emails for others. I mostly sent them to interviewers and staff members that I felt went out of their way to make my interview experience a positive one. It felt more genuine for me to do it this way but really it’s up to you.

- Write down the pros and cons of the school – this will come in handy when you have to make a final decision.

- Stay in touch with fellow interviewees that you connected with

- On to the next!

Yours in support,

- Olamide.