This is part 4 of our 5-part series on medical school interviews. The goal of these interviews is to give medical schools a holistic sense of who you are by rounding out the quantitative and written elements of your application—including your GPA, MCAT scores, essays, and recommendations —with a more personal sense of your potential to succeed in medical school and as a physician.
This series covers the four types of interviews and assessments for medical school: the Acuity Insights and AAMC PREview assessments, as well as traditional and MMI interviews. For information on the other posts in this series, see our overview post here.
In our previous post on medical school interviews, we described the traditional interview, which certain medical schools offer to a select number of highly promising applicants. The purpose of these interviews is to present admissions committees with a sense of who candidates are beyond the application materials they’ve already reviewed and vetted. Traditional interviews usually take place on a rolling basis, usually during the fall or winter after you submit your application and are conducted either on campus or virtually.
Multiple mini-interviews (MMI) have a similar purpose and timeframe, but unlike a traditional interview—which involves a longer conversation led by a single interviewer or panel of interviewers—MMIs have applicants rotate through a series of 6-10 stations run by different interviewers, each of which takes about 7-10 minutes to complete. Collectively, these stations are intended to assess characteristics including communication, problem-solving skills, teamwork, ethical values, and judgment.
Ask about our Med School Candidacy Evaluation Package: Find out if you’re ready to apply!
Overview
The MMI was developed to counter the potential for inconsistency across interviewers in traditional interviews. In 2002, researchers at McMaster University in Canada—who also developed the Acuity Insights assessments—pioneered the use of the MMI to increase “the overall reliability of the interview in judging an applicant’s merits.” The traditional interview process exposes applicants to only one or a few interviewers, which is susceptible to variability and error (some interviewers are stricter than others, and different people have different priorities). In contrast, the MMI allows for a more standardized process.
During an MMI, the same interviewer is assigned to evaluate all prospective students at a particular station via a set rubric; there are more interviewers per applicant; and all interviewees are asked to respond to the same set of prompts. Collectively, these factors reduce the variability inherent in traditional interviews, decreasing the potential for bias from the interviewers. As the AAMC describes, “The MMI allows applicants several opportunities to showcase their skills throughout the interview, unlike a traditional one-on-one interview.”
Structure
An MMI typically consists of 6-10 stations through which applicants rotate, and each station presents a different scenario, question, or topic. Scenarios may involve a patient actor, a writing task, an ethical dilemma, a healthcare policy question, or a standard interview question. At each station, you’ll have two minutes to think through the prompt, then spend five to eight minutes discussing the issue with the interviewer, answering questions, and/or role-playing your response. In total, an MMI takes up to two hours to complete.
The AAMC lists several examples of possible MMI stations, which include:
- A station focused on scenarios involving interactions with an actor or a medical school’s standardized patient
- A traditional one-on-one interview station
- A teamwork station where candidates must work together to complete a task
- An ethical scenario station involving questions about social and policy implications
Timing
You’ll most likely receive interview invitations between September and January after you’ve submitted your application. However, since invitations are sent out on a rolling basis, it’s possible you’ll receive some as early as July or as late as March.
Respond to your interview invite as quickly as possible and aim for an early slot. This will show you’re interested, responsive, and dependable; ensure that you get a slot that works for you; and enable you to take advantage of the rolling nature of the admissions process. The interview process usually concludes by late spring. Some schools will let you know shortly after your interview whether you’ve been accepted, while others notify all interviewees of their decisions on a specific date.
Our Tips
Practice. As with traditional interviews, we advise practicing before your MMI. “The best way to prepare is to practice expressing yourself articulately and logically in a timed environment,” the AAMC says. Working with Collegiate Gateway or another service that conducts mock interviews will give you an ideal forum in which to refine your interview skills, but you can also practice by yourself or with a trusted friend. As we’ve described in a previous post, you would also do well to familiarize yourself with relevant topics, such as bioethics, current events, and healthcare policy issues. Look at the websites of the schools you’ll be interviewing with for any details about the kinds of stations they might employ.
Relax and be yourself! As with traditional interviews, try to think of MMIs as a chance to reveal your personality characteristics beyond what you’ve already conveyed in your application. If a particular school has invited you to interview—whether via a traditional format or an MMI—it means they’re already impressed with your experience and qualifications, and now want to know what you’re like in person. Also, take heart knowing that if you don’t do your best at one or two stations, you have plenty of other chances to impress your evaluators!
On interview day. Ultimately, much of your performance on interview day will depend on thinking calmly and clearly in the moment and relying on your natural judgment skills. As described by the Duke University School of Medicine (which uses an MMI format), MMI stations “are designed to address the following areas: empathy, initiative and resilience, communication and problem-solving skills, teamwork, insight and integrity, and cultural competence. The MMI will not test ‘specific knowledge’ in the field of medicine. It will instead evaluate your thought process and ability to think on your feet. There is no ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ answer to the scenarios.” So get a good night’s sleep the evening before and use any strategies to relax that you have at your disposal. Dress professionally on interview day, arrive on time (if not early), and act with courtesy throughout the process.
Applying to medical school is a complicated process, and interviews are no exception. We encourage you to read through the rest of our blog posts on med school interviews, as well as contact Collegiate Gateway if you would like guidance on any aspect of the application and admissions process. As always, we’re happy to help!
