Island Med Student

Somone wrote me today seeking advice on their upcoming intervew for Ross. Since I thought there may be more of you out there who would like the DL (down low) on interviewing for med school, I thought I’d share with you my response to her email. Here ’tis:

Hi [Nice Girl Who Wrote Me],

Congratulations on getting your interview! I find that it’s good to celebrate getting past each hurdle along this long journey of becoming a doctor. So, now your next hurdle is the interview. Well here’s my advice: know WHY you want to be a doctor. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, my interview actually ended up going exceedingly well (in fact I even stayed and talked for quite a while past the normal amount of time). And the reason that it went so well is because I had actually considered all of the questions that they asked me before coming into the interview, so I was well prepared to talk to them. They were very impressed, and actually told me that the number one thing that bothers them in the interview is someone who has obviously not considered why they want to become a doctor. They really don’t even care what the reason is, just that you have obviously thought about it and have a good reason.

If you think about this, it makes sense. If you don’t have a solid reason for wanting to become a doctor, when you’re in med school and you have to study for obscene amounts of time, will you really keep going if you don’t have a good reason for working so hard?

My other advice would be to know your strengths and weaknesses very well. They will likely ask you why you think you’ll be a good doctor, what qualities you possess, and also what obstacles you might face. Also, I think their favorite opening question is, “tell me about yourself.” So, you should be ready to give a short story about yourself, and this is your opportunity to talk about things that might not be on your application, so do use this opportunity! If you have a low GPA, or MCAT score, this is where you might want to explain why your scores may have been low.

You should also try to get a full nights sleep the night before and come in relaxed and ready to talk about yourself. I would also wear something nice- like you would for a job interview. I noticed that not everyone did this for their interview, but I would recommend doing it because it makes you look prepared and professional.

My one last piece of advice is be yourself! I know everyone says this all the time, but it’s so very true. People have told me that you can’t become a doctor if you have strangely colored hair, but I’ve made it this far in my life with my strange hair, and I’m pretty sure that I can make it past most obstacles. As with everything in your life, if you stay true to yourself and what you believe, you will be surprised at how far you’ll go.

Best of luck to you!

Sincerely,
Kendra