BS/MD interviews are challenging and require the right type of preparation and frameworks for responding to any question you receive with a clear, thoughtful delivery. The tips and tricks here are the culmination of our expert BS/MD coaches’ experiences and years interviewing successful BS/MD interviewees. Our three-step approach to taking on any interview question is also waiting for you at the end.

The Non-Negotiables for Your BS/MD Interview

If you read nothing else in this guide, you want to read this. Your entire game plan for showing up confident, calm, and clear on your BS/MD interview day is in these six non-negotiables.

Prepare Well | Three-Pronged Approach

• (1) Do your research to know exactly what to expect: Understand the format of the MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews) or traditional or group interview. Review the structure of your entire BS/MD interview day. Look up the person interviewing you if given, and the time you need to be there (15 minutes early). Keep in mind how much time you will have for the interview and your responses.
• (2) Build your BS/MD interview preparation template to know the exact high-yield questions to prepare for and to master your approach for diverse question types. This includes having questions prepared for your interviewer too.
• (3) Practice! Practice! Practice! The gold standard for practice is comprehensive mock BS/MD interviews where you can trust the feedback of your practice interviewer and apply your interview preparation template. This step is the most valuable part of your preparation; many students prepare well on paper and then crash and burn because they never took the time to actively respond to questions live in a mock interview. You could even have a recent admit with a perfect interview success rate mock interview you.

Speak Slowly | Critical Practices

• (1) Wait before you respond for several seconds after you are asked a question, whether you have an immediate response or not. Take the time to think through what you are about to say before you even open your mouth. You can nod to acknowledge the question and then pause to think. If necessary, you can say that you are going to take a moment to think about the question.
• (2) Slow your speaking pace through every sentence you are verbalizing. Be extremely intentional about which words and phrases you put vocal emphasis on; this is best achieved through thinking through your sentence before speaking and then pacing your speech according to your points of emphasis. For example, speaking slowly during serious or emotional stories and speaking more quickly when sharing your excitement.
• (3) Pause between your sentences to take the time to let your words sink in for the interviewer. These pauses allow you to think intentionally about what you are about to verbalize in your next sentence. You should actively pause for a breath between your sentences and ideas. Remember, silence is not bad – learn to be comfortable with silence.

Discuss All Perspectives

Before responding to any question where you are given a scenario or an ethical dilemma (regardless of how serious it seems), make sure you have considered the feelings and values of every single individual who may be affected directly and indirectly by the situation at hand. Remember that “discuss” here means to verbalize all sides of the situation, not just give your side (and then unknowingly argue that you are correct and every other perspective is wrong). It is easy to fall into that trap if you have not considered all sides before you start speaking. If you realize you missed a perspective, make sure to pause and think before verbally addressing that perspective too.

Consider the 7 Power Qualities Approach

Communication, Organization/Conscientiousness, Empathy (and ensuring others feel heard), Curiosity, Collaboration, & Persistent Advocacy are the seven critical qualities to relate your stories back to in some way shape or form. Most often this is achieved through reflecting on your learning from your experiences, both positive and negative. We have a separate, detailed blog post on leveraging these qualities in your interviews.

Relaxed, Friendly & Confident

An interview is nothing more than a conversation between two individuals looking to get to know one another, so be your authentic self. Be friendly and kind and smile frequently as appropriate. Remember to make strong eye contact, greet with a firm handshake, address your interviewer by name, and laugh or make jokes if it feels right and authentic. You want to have open body language (avoid crossed arms and legs), use your hands when you speak if you do so naturally, and speak with energy and excitement. These pointers are also essential to your confidence as you approach your interview conversation. You can wear a personality piece in your outfit like your favorite necktie or pair of earrings, as it can make you more memorable.

Be Honest & Authentic

At some point, you will probably find yourself with a question where you feel trapped into saying something negative about yourself. For example, the questions, ‘What is your greatest weakest? Tell me about a time you failed or made a mistake? Can you explain this low class grade or GPA?’ Alternatively, you may face a question where you don’t know anything about the topic. For example, ‘What are your thoughts on the Affordable Care Act? What are your thoughts on the pharmaceutical industry?’ It is easy to start panicking, but when you actively refocus on being honest and authentic, you will find the best results. Let your interviewer know that you are going to take a moment to think about the question, and then craft a candid response in your mind. Be vulnerable and share your setbacks and work-in-progress points – you are human and growing, and interviewers understand. Share details on how you are moving forward to improve. You can be vulnerable and say that you feel you do not know enough about the topic (like health insurance) to give an informed response, or you can ask a question for clarification. Never try to bluff your way through it (trust me, it doesn’t work). If you are ever unsure about a question, ask for clarification in questions or for your interviewer to repeat the question.

An Intentional BS/MD Interview is a Successful BS/MD Interview

…Based on the Most Common BS/MD Interview Mistakes

• Remember, you already made the academic and extracurricular cut if you’re at the interview stage.

• Have a conversation, do not try to ramble and take up time. You are not at the interview to give a protracted monologue.

• Respond to the question that is asked. Sounds obvious? If you forget to identify the central focus before speaking – or if you speak too fast – it is very easy to derail your response.

• There is no right answer. You are communicating your thinking process, so verbalize everything that you are considering with scenarios and challenging questions. The only wrong is answer is when you don’t address the question asked or flagrantly disregard ethical principles.

• The interviewer is there to get to know you and your perspective, not to grill you. In fact, in traditional interviews, your interviewer often serves as an advocate for your admission when speaking to the full program committee post-interview.

• Come prepared for specific high-yield interview questions. Do not provide verbatim rehearsed answers; rather, prepare mental bullet points for common questions as appropriate. You get access to our high-yield questions template when you enroll in our BS/MD interview intensive service, with detailed guidance for preparing responses to questions like ‘Tell me about yourself. Why medicine? Why this school? etc.’

• Review your application, essays, resume, research abstracts (if applicable), and any other submitted materials. Some interviewers have access to all these materials and others do not (like in Multiple Mini Interviews). Either way, reviewing your submitted materials allows you to maintain clarity with your core messages and values – which you can fall back on for tough questions.

• Be respectful to everyone you meet, not just your interviewer. Be friendly towards the staff working at the front desk, the custodial staff, the other interviewees around you (your future classmates), and current students you may meet. You want to treat your entire day as the interview evaluation.

• Dress the part of an applicant who is going to impress this interviewer. Both for confidence and outcomes, make sure you walk in looking exactly like that applicant. Wear your confidence in your clothes, your posture, and your smile. Try on your outfit the day before to ensure you are comfortable in what you are wearing too.

• Remember, you are not your resume. You are you, an individual with a unique background, skillset, experiences, and qualities beyond just numbers on paper. Your resume already impressed the admissions committee if you are at the interview stage, so share your authentic self.

• You are much more than just a strong student, scientist, and future physician. Share the other parts of you: your love of literature, a foreign language, your secret obsession with Stoicism, or the way music has taught you to love in the moment. Connect all your experiences to your responses when appropriate and never limit yourself to STEM.

• Admissions officers are allergic to clichés, and you should be too. Remember your non-negotiable rule of being authentic; share your candid perspective through your experiences and avoid using flowery phrases or responses. Our interview coaches are here to identify any clichés you are using during mock interviews.

• Be specific and in-depth. Do not give one-word answers. Your interviewer wants to hear your thoughts and perspectives, so share the details. Most interviewers want to listen to you. The strongest responses include sharing a personal experience or anecdote that relates to the question. Alternatively, you can relate your response to a book or article you read recently.

• With scenarios and ethical questions, identify the most pressing issue in the situation. Lead with this issue when you proceed to consider and verbalize all perspectives (remember this non-negotiable rule). Using this approach, you ensure you respond explicitly to the interview question.

• Do not judge. It is not uncommon in conversation with friends and family to make a judgmental statement without a second thought – especially toward a perspective or demographic that is different from our own. In BS/MD interviews, however, you need to validate all perspectives. Be intentional in always recognizing the feelings associated with a different perspective – and that you understand these feelings. Be careful when using the word “but” after you bring up another perspective, because no opinion is “better” or “worse” than another.

• Never make assumptions. Most commonly with scenario questions, we see many students immediately share their perspective before having all the pieces. Always ask questions for clarification if you are unsure – and use an “if…then…” approach to address all the possibilities, especially if there are actions that affect the next action you would take in a scenario. Keep your attention on the most pressing issue simultaneously, to circle back throughout your response. An easy way to remember this rule is: listen first, speak last.

• First, do no harm. These famous beginning lines of the physician’s Hippocratic Oath (see the Declaration of Geneva) reflect one of the four pillars of medical ethics to remember. The rule here is that the best solution is one that causes the least amount of harm to those involved. This is most applicable to scenario questions, but it is a great reference point for any difficult ethics-related question.

• Protect the most vulnerable, for scenarios and ethics-related questions. If you have to make a choice that harms one person or another, be thoughtful and know that protecting the most vulnerable option is always a prudent response (assuming there is no solution that benefits everyone).

• Remember to say thank you and goodbye. It is easy to forget, especially in short MMI stations. Use your interviewer’s name, a smile, a thank you for your time, and a kind farewell.

• Don’t forget to breathe. There are many great, simple strategies to energize yourself and walk in confident and relaxed, but it is easy to get stressed mid-interview, mid-sentence, or between MMI stations. Come back to focusing on your breath: taking a deep inhale, and a deep exhale. Let go of the past moment, smile, and move forward.

Quick Miscellaneous BS/MD Interview Tips

• Check out the Student Doctor Network page for the medical school that you are interviewing with and navigate to Interview Feedback to see past interview questions. Evaluate the values that the school is looking for in applicants.

• Questions about any negative points on your academic record can be intimidating, but remember to refer back to our non-negotiable rule: be honest. Be genuine and clear, and address what you have learned from that time.

• Educate yourself on the happenings in the world. This includes national, global, and health-care specific news. I recommend the apps for AP News, Axios, BBC News, and NPR. For medical news, NEJM and AMA are valuable. You only need to pick one or two, and take some time to read up on the current issues in healthcare: Social Determinants of Health, Disparities in Healthcare Access, Medicare/Medicaid vs Private Insurance (Affordable Care Act), Price Transparency & Drug Prices, Telehealth, Vaccine Hesitancy, and HIPPA are some major ones.

• Get a good night of sleep.

The Three-Step Approach to BS/MD Interview Questions

There is a traditional interview method called the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) which is effective for telling stories and anecdotes. It may work for you. However, I felt it was not the best for me. So, I created my own method, and it consists of three simple steps:

Listen Intently.

This step is mostly self-explanatory. If you are given a written MMI prompt, read it twice through. Identify if this is a scenario question or a tell-me-your-experience question. As you are listening to the question, start considering the next step.

Identify Perspectives & Values.

First, think about what the question is looking for…a specific value or character quality in you?

For scenario questions, follow the boldfaced question below. For any other questions (especially one where you share your experiences), follow the italicized question.

What is your immediate standpoint and perspective on the issue?

What is your immediate thought for how to respond?

What are the perspectives of those who are affected by the issue?

What are the perspectives of those affected in your story or by your proposed action?

Be careful to note perspectives different than your own.

How will you articulate your standpoint to consider and validate the perspectives of everyone affected directly and indirectly?

How will you articulate your story so that you focus on the key moments, your emotions, and the feelings of everyone who is affected in the story?

Articulate Slowly.

One sentence at a time, that is your rule to follow. Take a breath between sentences to think about what your next sentence will be. Keep in mind coming back to the most pressing issue that you identified for the question.

Take your time, it is better to pause and say you are thinking about how to articulate your next words than to just ramble until you find yourself off-track. Share your response with details and elaborate in depth when verbalizing a significant parts of your response.

If you are feeling uneasy after reading these tips, our expert coaches will personally work with you through our BS/MD Interview Intensive package or with custom-time mock interview sessions. Connect with a BS/MD coach to discuss the best option for your needs.