Preparation- Read up on recent issues or news surrounding your profession
- Be aware of regulations and ethics in the Province or Country that you are interviewing at
- Be aware of current events in the news – often the admission committees want to see that you have other interests aside from the faculty that you’re applying to.
- List all of your extracurricular and academic activities since the age of 16 and reflect on them.
- Print off a copy of your application and be sure to go over it as some schools may base questions on essays or autobiographical sketch information.
- For health-care related or ethics information:
- http://cbc.ca/health
- http://www.cmaj.ca
- Doing Right by Philip Hebert
- http://www.cbc.ca/whitecoat/
- http://www.cmaj.ca/misc/bioethics_e.dtl
Reflect on your experiences
The admissions committee usually has a list of your autobiographical sketch information full of your extra-curricular activities and academic experiences.
So, your passion for these activities and your depth of experience is far more important than being able to list all of your experiences.
Be able to put your volunteer, work, and life experiences into context of your desired profession.
- How have these experiences challenged you?
- How have these experiences changed you?
- It may help to put them into context of sample questions.
Practice!- Make sure you’re actually answering the questions
- Avoid run-on answers and tangents when answering the questions
- When asked about your own experiences and results, a good way to organize your answer is the STAR method (Situation, Task, Actions, and Results)
- Be sure to practice with someone who will provide constructive criticism to help you improve
- There are often sessions for professional school interviews offered by:
- Golden Key Society
- Science Career Services (http://www.science.mcmaster. ca/scce)
- Career Services (http://careers.mcmaster.ca, Sign up through OSCAR)
- Career Services offers Interview Stream which is a great way to practice if you have a web-cam!
- Many people have questions about the Multi-Mini Interview.
The set-up of MMIs are typically as follows: a prompt is posted on the door and you’re given a minute or two to read and formulate a response. There will be a buzzer which indicates the start of your 8 minutes. Knock and open the door when you enter. Introduce yourself and give a firm handshake to your interviewer. Then when you’re ready start answering the question. The length of the prompts vary from school to school, but there is usually a copy in the interview room as well if you ever get lost. Some interviewers are given follow-up questions others are not.
Here are the tips that I used to prepare:- Be prepared for a variety of situations like working with another interviewee, ethics questions, role-playing, and questions about yourself.
- The MMI is designed to evaluate your soft-skills and your logical processes. When asked to discuss an issue explore both angles of an issue and the pros and cons of both. If asked to pick a side, it’s good to evaluate both points of view but be sure to answer the question – don’t sit on the fence on an issue.
- When practicing, time yourself. Learn how long 8 minutes is, sometimes there may not be a visible clock in the interview room. Some people find it helpful to wear a watch.
- If you’re finished answering a question, don’t be afraid to sit in silence. If you start talking to fill space, it might count against you.
Dress the Part
Everyone:- Don’t be afraid to over-dress for your interviews. The interviewers are trying to see if you would fit in as their future colleagues.
- If you can afford it, invest in a high quality suit that will get lots of use during job interviews, conferences, or CaRMS interviews.
- The colour of the suit doesn't really matter. The most common colour is black, followed by dark grey, navy blue, and a tan. One girl wore a burgandy suit, which looked great and she said that many interviewers said that it was a 'refreshing change'. Personally, I bought a black suit so that I could wear the pieces more often as separates.
- Ensure that your clothing is neatly pressed/ironed and that your shoes are clean.
Ladies:- Make sure your hair is neat and pulled out of your face.
- Do not wear perfume and keep make-up to a minimum.
- If you’re wearing a skirt, be sure that it’s at a decent length when you sit down and wear panty hose.
Gentlemen:- Hold off on any cologne.
- Ensure that you are clean-shaven or facial hair is neatly trimmed.
- Make sure that your socks are appropriate – black socks with black shoes and avoid socks with cartoon characters on them.
Interview Day- If flying to an out of province interview, make sure your interview clothing is stored in your carry-on bag in case it’s lost
- Have a copy of the interview invite on you as well as the contact information for the admissions committee on hand
- If you’re prone to anxiety, avoid drinking caffeine as it can exacerbate nervousness and jitters
- Take deep breaths to reduce your nerves and slow your heart rate.
- If you find yourself blabbering or going off on a tangent, don’t be afraid to stop and redirect yourself to the original question.
RELAX! You’ve made it this far, it’s time to show them what you’ve got.
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