Interviewing is an important step in the pre-health application process. There are a variety of tools and websites with sample medical school and pre-health interview questions. You can also find sample interview questions through the DePaul Pre-Health Advising Services. A good starting point is practicing with family and friends to give you a safe and comfortable experience while you work through what you want to say for your medical school interview as well. You can find additional interviewing resources below, including coaching on interviewing through the Career Center.
Professional Health Programs use a variety of different types of interview styles. They could include:
- Blind Interviews - During this type of interview, the interviewer has not looked over your application; therefore, you must introduce yourself from scratch.
- Group Interview - Typically 3-7 applicants are gathered into a group at the same time and given the chance to respond to the same question in turn.
- Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) - MMI's are a series of short structured interview stations that candidates rotate through. Typically interviewees get approximately 5-8 minutes at each station.
- Open Interviews - During this type of interview, the interviewer chooses what he/she wants to look at in your application; he or she may have read the entire application or none of it.
- Panel Interview - This is a meeting with several interviewers at once. Usually the panel consists of a variety of faculty, staff, and current students who will take turns asking the candidate questions.
- Partial Blind Interviews - The interviewer during this type of interview may have only looked at one or two portions of your application. Make sure you able to articulate everything correctly and pretend you are working from scratch.
- Stress Interview - A stress interview places the medical school applicant under a magnifying glass. The intent to is to see how you function under pressure/stress.
Interview Stream is an online interview preparation tool that allows you to simulate a live interview using your computer and a webcam. You can pick questions for the video "interviewer" to ask. After answering their questions, you can replay your responses to evaluate your performance.
DePaul Career Center is a great resource for scheduling a mock interview with a staff member. Being prepared will help give you the confidence you need to succesfully highlight your skills and accomplishments during the interviewing process.
1. Preparing for the Interview:
- Why does it matter: Schools want to evaluate your personality, professionalism and maturity. They also want to know more about your motivation as to why you want to pursue professional school in your own words.
2. Logistics of Interviewing:
- Each school has a different process. Once you recieve an interview you should schedule your interview as soon as possible.
3. Appearance Matters:
- Students should dress in business attire. This typically means a suit with pants or a skirt and solid color dress shirt or blouse. Dress conservatively and remove/hid any tattoos or piercing if possible.
4. Prepare:
- Practice for the interview. Use interview stream, the career center, and any other resources available. Also, be prepared with questions to ask the professional school you wil interviewing at.
5. Tips for the Day:
- Turn off your phone
- Be nice to everyone!
- Be prepared, but not overhearsed
- Be flexible
- Smile
- Shake hands
- Make eye contact
- Be engaged
- Give direct answers
6. After the Interview:
- Send a Thank-you note to interviewers or to everyone on your panel as soon as possible.
Study Guide Resources for the MCAT, OAT, GRE, DAT, and PCAT books can be checked out in the Richardson Library for two hours at a time. The library has a list of current study guides. The Pre-Health Program has also purchased a number of resource study
guides for students who are planning on attending professional schools.
We ask students not to write or damage the books as they are expensive and many students will have access to utilize
them.
For more information regarding the standardized exam for your specific graduate health professions program of interest, please visit the Health Careers webpage.
- The Emperor of All Maladies – Siddhartha Mukherjee
- My Own Country – Abraham Verghese
- Cutting for Stone – Abraham Verghese
- Love in the time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
- The House of God – Samuel Shem, MD.
- Arrowsmith – Sinclair Lewis
- Complications: A surgeon’s notes on an imperfect science – Atul Gawande
- The Spirit Catches you and You Fall Down – Anne Fadiman
- Hot Lights, Cold Steel – Michael J. Collins, MD.
- Emergency Doctor – Edward Ziegler
- Better – Atul Gawande
- The Soul of a Doctor – Susan Pories, Sachin Jain, and Gordon Harper
- Intern Blues – Robert Marion
- Med School Confidential – Robert Miller and Daniel Bissel
- In Stitches – Anthony Youn
- White Coat – Ellen Rothman
- On Call: A Doctor’s Days and Nights in Residency
- The Health Care Handbook – Nathan Moore and Elisabeth Askin
- How Doctor’s Think – Jerome Groopman
- Gifted Hands – Ben Carson
- First Do No Harm – Lisa Belkin
- Strength in What Remains – Tracy Kidder
- The Healing of American: A Global Question for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care – T.R. Reid
- Why Your Prescriptions Take So Damn Long to Fill - Drugmonkey
- The Other Side - Kate Granger
- The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks
- The Checklist Manifesto - Atul Gawande
- The Optimism Bias - Tali Sharot
- The Family that Couldn't Sleep - D.T. Max