If you are thinking about applying to study Medicine with us, or you have already applied, you may want to find out more about what happens in interviews.
We run Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs), which is a series of four stations – two mini interviews, a group exercise and a scenario. In the MMIs, we want to find out more about you, your personal characteristics and values, your ability to think critically and work as a team. You won’t be tested on your medical knowledge.
We understand that you may feel nervous about interviews, but we do encourage you to relax, and be yourself and enjoy your day with us. The interviews help us to find out more about you. They also provide you with the opportunity to meet current students and find out more about what it’s like to study with us – and find the answers to any questions you may have.
When do interviews take place?
Our interviews for 2020 entry will take place during December 2019. For 2019 entry, we interviewed approximately 960 candidates.
For someone preparing for interview I would say don’t take yourself too seriously, I know you’re applying to medical school and that’s tough but no one likes a robot. Be yourself, show you have a personality and you’re not just showing the interviewers what they want to see.
What happens during the Multiple Mini Interviews?
The MMIs cover the following four stations. These are assessed by interview panels that include health professionals, academic staff, and senior medical students as well as people outside of the medical profession.
Two mini-interviews (20 points each)
10 minutes each
You will have two personal interviews, each with two interviewers.
You will be asked two questions during each of these mini-interviews and interviewers may ask you to expand upon your responses to each one. Each interviewer will score your responses independently using a prescribed set of grade descriptors.
One mini-interview will focus on:
- Your understanding of current issues in medicine
- Why you want to be a doctor
- Insight into, and motivation for, a medical career
The other mini-interview will focus on:
- Your critical thinking skills
- Your personal qualities such as empathy, tolerance of ambiguity and resilience
Scenario station (20 points)
5 minutes
In the scenario, we want to find out how you react and respond in a given situation. Please do relax and behave as you normally would in the situation you are presented with. You’ll have a short introduction to read outside the room; read this fairly quickly as there is only two minutes between candidates.
In the scenario, there will be an actor and an assessor. As soon as you go into the room, you will be in the scenario. The assessor will not take part; his/her role will simply be to observe.
The actor will be playing a character and you will need to interact with that person in the same way as you would in real life.
Please do and say what you would in real life – you are not being asked to take on a character other than yourself, and we are not judging your acting skills. We are not testing medical or specialist knowledge so please do not worry.
Group exercise (20 points)
20 minutes
At Hull York Medical School, much of our teaching and learning takes place in small group settings and in teams, so being able to work closely with your peers is very important to ensure you get the most out of your medical education.
The main aim of this group activity at interview is to allow us to understand how well you can work within a group or team. We are interested in your ability to work collaboratively with a group of peers, how well you contribute relevant information to a group discussion and if you can articulate your own thoughts effectively and clearly in this setting. You will be scored on your level of participation and contribution in these areas using a prescribed set of grade descriptors.
This exercise is not designed to test how much you know about medicine; it is designed to allow you to demonstrate your team working and communication skills to us and to give you a brief experience of working in groups.
The group exercise will be chaired and facilitated by our very experienced PBL tutors. These tutors will support and guide you through the process and will also complete ratings for each applicant in the group.
There will also be a senior Hull York Medical School student participating in the process and acting as “scribe”, participating in the discussion and capturing your ideas. In addition, there will be another assessor in the room who will not participate in the discussion but who will complete ratings for each student.
Task station (20 points)
5 minutes
You will be asked to perform a task and either scored on the result or on the way you approach the task.
Scoring
During the whole MMI, we will be observing and scoring you in the following areas:
- Your ability to work collaboratively in a group
- How you contribute relevant information to the group discussion
- How effectively and clearly you articulate your own thoughts in a group setting
- Insight into a medical career
- Your understanding of the values in the NHS Constitution
- Motivation for a medical career
- Your awareness and understanding of current medical issues
- Your communication skills
- Your understanding of and motivation for the Hull York Medical School MB BS course
- Your personal qualities such as empathy, tolerance of ambiguity and resilience
- Your ability to think critically
Interview tips and experiences from current Medicine students
Our current Medicine students understand how you may be feeling about coming to an interview. Read their tips for interviews and find our more about their experience of their interviews.
Read tips from current students
If you cannot attend your interview
We will make every effort to find you an alternative slot, but cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Please email HYMS.admissions@york.ac.uk to request a change as soon as possible.