Student Stories – Emmalee’s Medical School Interview Experience

Meet Emmalee, a first year medical student at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University. Emmalee has generously offered to share some insights from her medical school interviews!

What type of interviews did you have? (traditional, MMI, etc.)

I just had traditional style medical school interviews.

What most intimidated you while you were preparing?

Getting asked medical ethics questions or hard hitting questions like “tell me about a time you made a mistake” or “were faced with an ethical decision”. I didn’t want to make myself look bad but I still wanted to be honest and have something to say that shows I learned something from those experiences.

How did you deal with your nerves on your interview day?

Be sure to have everything prepared the day/evening before. Make sure you have directions and parking info, breakfast planned, outfit, bag packed, resume printed, set an alarm, etc. all ready to go!

The night before, do something that relaxes you and winds you down (nice bath, book, movie). You’ve done all your preparation at this point, stressing out the night before isn’t going to make a difference. Then I went to bed extra early so I woke up rested.

While at the interview itself remember to breathe and just think of it as a conversation (I remember I felt like I was going to pass out during the presentation to be honest).

What tips do you have on being a clear communicator?

Have what you are going to say for your interview responses mapped out to certain high yield med school questions and topics. Do your research about the medical school and programs. Know your résumé. Make sure you are highlighting your BEST aspects in cohesive and organized thoughts or in a concise story. You don’t have to have a script, but you want to make sure you don’t forget all the amazing things you have to say for yourself! 🙂 This way, you will avoid rambling and overuse of filler words i.e. ‘like’ and ‘um’.

Also, don’t feel like you need to rapid-fire in your responses. It’s natural to take a moment and pause BEFORE you think. Trust me. It seems like a long time in your head but those few seconds of planning out your sentences can make a HUGE difference!

What advice would you give for someone preparing for their interviews?

Definitely do your homework for EACH school. Taking time to really prepare thoroughly can make a huge difference because there are many questions you may not even have thought of – especially those though reflective questions about you and/or medical ethics ones.

And overall, your medical school interview is just a conversation at the end of the day. Be confident in your prep work and be PROUD to showcase what you have to offer at their health professional school. You made it this far, you got this! 🙂

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You can follow Emmalee’s journey through medical school by following her at @emmalee.med on Instagram!