UMKC 6-Year B.A./M.D. Admissions Process: The Interview
Ahh, yes. The time has come for me to share my experiences and advice regarding the Multiple Mini Interview for the UMKC 6-Year B.A/M.D. program. This is probably the most intimidating part of the admissions process and for good reason; this interview is your opportunity to show up and show off. In simpler words, it’s your best chance to show the School of Medicine what makes you, well, you! 🙂 I have gone through this interview process twice now so I absolutely understand the feelings of uneasiness, insecurity, or fear. Let me tell you a little secret – everyone is anxious, you are not the only one who feels this way! Promise.
Before I get into my experience with the interview, I want to quickly debrief what the process entails. UMKC adopts a method of interviewing called “Multiple Mini Interview,” originally developed by McMaster University, and consists of 10 stations addressing a specific question or hypothetical scenario. For each station, you are given 2 minutes to read the prompt privately and then you are faced with an interviewer to discuss the prompt. The discussion lasts up to 5 minutes, if I recall (or somewhere around there). After the time is up, you switch to the next station and repeat until you have completed all 10 stations. There is a single (much needed, you will find) break halfway through.
To provide some context, here is a sample MMI question (not an official prompt released by UMKC, this is a sample found online) that will give you an idea of what you might expect.
“You are a third-year medical student doing a clinical rotation in surgery. The surgeon you are working with is abusive towards everyone, constantly yelling at patients for disobeying his orders, criticizing nurses for failing to “do things my way in my OR”, and having unreasonable expectations of you then calling you an idiot who shouldn’t be in med school. You feel offended, humiliated, and lost. What would you do? Your rotation is coming to an end and your evaluation is in one week.
From http://zeroratio.blogspot.com/search/label/MMI%20practice%20prompts
There might also be other questions addressing morals, personal questions, and other (trying to be as informative as possible without releasing too much detail). You can find more about the history of the MMI process and sample questions in a quick Google search, but here I just wanted to provide the basics.
My Interview Experience
As I mentioned previously, I have gone through this interview process twice. This is because I had applied to the Class of 2025, interviewed, but was rejected. I applied again the next year, interviewed, and was accepted. I’m excited to elaborate on this in a future post but for now, that’s all you need to know. All that being said, I would say I have a solid understanding of the interview and the feelings that come before, during, and after it.
The first time around, all I can remember from interview day was nervousness; it consumed me from start to finish. The interview is preceded by a few different events such as an informative presentation, student panel, diversity discussions, etc. I found these events very helpful because it made me feel a bit more comfortable with the environment prior to interviewing and it also gave me a chance to talk to other students. Next, you are going to take the Toldeo Chemistry placement exam either right before or after the interview (I took mine before). Keep in mind, your score on this exam does not mean the difference between rejection and admission- it is literally only to determine where you are at with chemistry and if you will need to take and pass a class over the summer should you be admitted (provisional admission). Don’t stress about this at all. I wouldn’t even say studying is necessary, it’s pretty basic stuff especially if you’ve taken chemistry in high school.
Now it’s time for the interview. I got in there and I started going through the stations and with each rotation, I became increasingly frustrated. I wasn’t good at interviews to begin with because I tend to word vomit and seem unsure of myself. From what I remember, my answers weren’t concise enough and I tried to fill the time up to the last second. Most of the interviewers don’t say much, they just leave the talking up to you and give you no indication of how well you are doing so if you are nervous like I was, you will probably keep talking if you receive no reassurance. I would advise against this. When you are reading the prompt privately, you should come up with a rough outline of points you want to hit during the interview that will both answer the question and provide a sufficient explanation without a bunch of “fluff.” After you have given your initial response, you might be asked follow-up questions or they will ask you nothing else and allow you to return to the preparation station. The main point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t feel obligated to use all of the allotted time, being short and concise – more often than not – exudes confidence in both your answer and yourself! After a certain amount of stations, we received a short break and then were sent back in to finish the last half. By the end of the interviews, I felt as though I performed disastrously on multiple stations and that it would jeopardize my chance at admission. It’s a high-pressure environment and if you let it crack you, you will crumble – and I did. To this day, I still believe that’s the reason I got rejected the first time. I want to make it known that if you feel you do awfully at some stations, it is not the end of the world! Some of the prompts are complex and some of the interviewers can be hard/intimidating, which does not make things any easier. You will almost inevitably trip over at least one of the stations but it’s important that you know how to compartmentalize those feelings of frustration until after the interview so that you don’t let it affect your performance at other stations! Also one more point: they are not looking for a correct answer, just your answer. After the MMI was finished, there were a couple of optional tours but I just wanted to get out of there at that point.
The second time, however, was an entirely different ball-game and it has a lot to do with the amount of confidence I possessed. I knew exactly what to expect but more than anything, I had found myself within the span of that year between these 2 interviews. By “finding myself,” I mean I had established firm moral standpoints and began to understand things that have happened to me in my life and why. I remember feeling completely at ease throughout the entire day and I even knew a few people there which was comforting. Don’t get me wrong, the interview process was still very high-pressure but instead of letting it break me down I let it fuel me – this was the key difference between interview 1 and interview 2. I want to highlight that my previous interview experience was not an advantage. The majority of every class is made up of first-year students who just graduated high school and have only interviewed that one time! Self-assurance and confidence in your pursuit of this career IS the difference between a great interview and a bad one.
For fun, I wanted to include some media from my 2019 interview and my 2020 interview! (As you can see, some major change)
My Biggest Tips
- Be yourself
- Do not try to give the interviewers the response you think is correct because many of them will prod and ask you questions that will show how you really feel about a certain subject. Be authentic from the start, it will go a long way.
- Be confident
- Not only in yourself but in your answers. Show that you have firm morals and that they coincide with your career choice to be a physician. Greet the interviewer formally with a handshake and introduce yourself, sit up straight, articulate yourself well, and don’t be afraid to get passionate!
- Be unyielding
- As I have mentioned before, some interview stations are complex and the interviewers will be tough. Some may even try to get you to contradict yourself and break you down a bit to test your own belief in the responses you give. Remain unphased! Stand strong in the answers you provide and don’t bend when you’re asked some tough questions.
- Compartmentalize your anxieties and frustrations
- You will more than likely get frazzled throughout the interview, especially if an interview station doesn’t go as well as you had planned. If you run out of time and can’t fix the damage during that particular interview, allow the timer to act as a “reset” sound. Focus on the next prompt and give yourself some grace!
- Be kind and respectful
- I’m sure everyone reading this is a wonderful, kind person but this is a very critical point. Don’t fall into temptations to act “better than” or snobbish toward other students or random people you encounter throughout the day; there are eyes everywhere and these could be your potential classmates! There are interviewers and faculty walking around all day. It would be embarrassing and awkward to have been rude at all but especially to an individual who turns out to be an interviewer or SOM faculty. I remember the day of my second interview I went in the elevator and it was closing when a woman came running and asked me to hold it, so I stuck my foot out. We had a nice little conversation, I complimented her jewelry, and then she wished me luck on the interview. I didn’t think much of it until I got to about station 7 and lo and behold, there she was now as my interviewer.
- It’s okay to be nervous
- Everyone is anxious on interview day. This will most likely be your first feelings of the infamous “Impostor Syndrome” that circles around the students in medical school. You might feel like you are the only one who feels out of place because everyone else seems so sure of themselves but I promise, this is not the case; you are equally as qualified as the person sitting next to you. It’s okay to be nervous, but don’t allow it to consume you. Be present and enjoy yourself as much as you can. You have come this far for a reason!
REGARDING THE 2022 INTERVIEWS:
One last note – I’m not sure how the interviews are going to look this year due to the ongoing pandemic, whether they will be held online or in person. Whatever the case, the tips I listed above still apply. I’m confident that the faculty at the School of Medicine are trying their best to make the interview experience this year as good as they can for you but give them some grace as well. Good luck! 🙂
