Preparing for the multiple mini interview (MMI)

MD/PhD admissions medical school admissions

By Chris K.

Medical School Interview Here are some helpful tips that can make you stand out from other interviewing applicants:

Read, read, read!

Much like the CARS section on the MCAT, the best piece of advice to prepare for an MMI is to stay up to date with current events. Medical schools do not expect you to know the detailed intricacies of health law or care management for complex conditions, but they do expect you to be a well-rounded human being. Having an awareness as to what is going on in the world around you can help you be prepared for prompts on “hot topics” like gun violence or climate change.

Stay organized and focused

There is a reason that most medical schools give you a couple minutes to look over the prompt by yourself outside of the interview room. They want you to collect your thoughts efficiently and organize them so that when you enter the room, there is less fumbling over words and concepts. You want to maximize your time to give your pitch about a prompt, which in turn leaves space for the interviewer to probe you with more questions and go deeper. Make good use of that pen and paper that the school gives you and don’t let them become untouched souvenirs from the interview trail!

Draw from your own experiences

Do not be afraid to speak about your lived experiences with regards to a prompt. This does not mean that every prompt should be turned into a personal narrative. However, interweaving a past job or volunteer experience can give you more authority and credibility to speak on certain issues if you have first-hand knowledge about them. It also gives the interviewers more insight into who you are as a person and your own ethics.

View all sides of an argument

Pick a side and defend your stance, but also acknowledge counter-arguments exist and explain why you disagree with them. By exploring the other sides when you walk in the room, you demonstrate a more thorough understanding of the scenario without being prompted. You want to strike a balance so that you are not perceived as either overly ambivalent or certain to the point of being stubborn.

Think outside of the box

When I was on the interview trail, an upperclassman categorized some responses to MMI prompts as being the “Miss America” answers. While this analogy was not made to discredit beauty pageants, she did have a point. The MMI prompts are phrased vaguely enough that there is always a “good” generic response, much like the cliché of “world peace,” that practically anyone can answer. Challenge yourself to really dissect the prompt at hand because there is no perfect answer. The interviewers are looking to see your thought process and how you approach problems to reach a solution. To stand out from the crowd, get creative and think about hypothetical scenarios, don’t just run with the obvious response.

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