Pass the MMI with These Medical MMI Interview Tips
What are Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs)? They do exactly what they say on the tin. They’re a series of stations with different scenarios that candidates have to engage with in the medical school admissions process. Read on for our medical MMI interview tips…
MMIs are a contrast to the older and more traditional style of a “panel” interview where the candidate sits before one or more interviewers who take it in turns to ask questions for the duration of the interview. A lot of medical schools use them now so they can assess a candidate’s qualities and judge how they react to different situations.
MEDICAL MMI INTERVIEWS – HOW DO THEY WORK?
In an MMI, you have many stations that last around 10 minutes each. When that 10 minutes is up, you move on to a new station and a new interviewer. They also tend to be slightly more interactive with the tasks to perform in each station. Where in a panel interview you could expect questions like “why Medicine and not nursing?” or “What style of teaching does this school use and why would it suit you?”; in an MMI you could expect a station such as discuss the pros and cons of an opt-out system for organ donation. At the same time, you could be expected to attempt to build a model from Lego!
This isn’t to say that all MMIs are as wacky as the station described above. Some ask the same kind of questions that panel interviews do but, because you move on to a new interviewer each time, it means that whatever impression you left with the last interviewer is lost. Whether this is a good one or a bad one.
Find out the most common MMI stations and scenarios >>>
WHICH STYLE IS BEST?
Below is a table that compares and contrasts the similarities and differences of panel and MMI and how the questions and situations may vary. We’ve also included some medical MMI interview tips:
BE PREPARED
While the above is true in most circumstances, it is not necessarily true in all. That’s why one of our top medical MMI interview tips is to be prepared for all circumstances. There may be an MMI without a patient role play that is entirely interview-style questions and you can certainly get wacky questions in a panel interview. Some panels like to test lateral thinking and thought processes with questions like “how many pages are there in a book?” or “how much does a mountain weigh?” so do not be thrown off by these.
Here are a few typical MMI interview questions that you can expect on the day >>>
BUT HOW DO I PREPARE?!
Prepare by going through as many different scenarios as possible. But how should you prepare for the MMI? Have an understanding of the abstract-style questions such as the mountain questions; typical interview questions; scenario-based questions such as empathy tests; knowledge stations such as what hospitals you could be placed at whilst studying but also knowledge of the healthcare system and laws in the UK (capacity is very important and warrants its own research).
Ask a friend or parent to help you with role-play stations, and situational judgement. You could have them ask you how you’d react when you see a colleague drinking alcohol whilst on placement. The more preparation work you do for an MMI, the easier it will be (another of our medical MMI interview tips!). Whenever you have a free second, get your friends and family to ask you questions and just keep practising.
If you want to practice your MMI interview skills further, take a look at more MMI questions that are typical of a medical school interview at this multiple mini interview website.
A FINAL FEW MEDICAL MMI INTERVIEW TIPS
- Keep calm – it is high pace but just do your best, if you are stressed you will not perform well so take a deep breath before you go in and just try your hardest.
- It’s not all over if one station goes horribly wrong – you will walk out of it and into a new one where you can make a new impression and the old one will not have a knock-on effect
- Use the minute (or so) of reading time outside the station to think what you might do – the station will be explained to you on a piece of paper outside and this allows for thinking time, USE IT WISELY!
- Don’t be disheartened if you cannot complete a station – some are not meant to be achievable in the time allowed and they want to see how you react to stress and not being able to complete a task
- Whatever medical school you interview for, do your research, find out as much as you can about the interview because the more you know, the more prepared you will be on the day and therefore the better you will perform.
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