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Moment to shine

Your moment to shine and be seen as more than just your GPA or exam score

News
Published 20 Mar, 2020  ·  2 minutes

My name is Dr Tamika Webb-Detiege, and I’m the academic lead who oversees the interview process for enrollment into our UQ Ochsner Doctor of Medicine (MD) Program.

In 2019, we introduced the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) to help us select the best candidates for our medical program. I’m not going to sugarcoat it – Medical School is tough, and moving to Australia for two years and then to New Orleans adds to that challenge. We want to make sure we’re selecting individuals who can rise to the challenge, show resilience and thrive. The MMI has been shown through research to produce a more reliable assessment. It limits interview biases because you interact with multiple interviewers in multiple assessments so the opinions of a single interviewer are not over-emphasized. The MMI allows you several opportunities to showcase your skills throughout the interview. In contrast, the traditional one-on-one interview only offers you a single opportunity. 

The MMI is a chance for you to shine and be seen as more than just your GPA or entrance exam score.

Let’s have a look at some common questions.

What is a Multiple Mini Interview or MMI?

MMIs are a values-based recruitment method. You’ll move through a circuit of several stations, with different interviewers asking questions and scoring your performance. 

What does the MMI assess?

The MMI aims to assess your non-academic qualities, such as empathy, integrity, adaptability and verbal communication skills. MMIs have demonstrated high interrater reliability and good predictive validity. 

How do they work?

You’ll move from station to station with short breaks between each station. A bell will announce the beginning and end of each station. MMIs will be delivered face-to-face or by videoconferencing.

Videoconference MMIs will be conducted in the same way as the in-person MMIs in that each circuit will include the same number of stations and interviewers. You’ll connect online and be moved electronically to the next interviewer. In this way, you’ll also be required to answer the MMI questions from different interviewers, just like the face-to-face MMIs.

What topics are covered in the MMI?

MMI topics at our school tend to focus on ethical situations as well as social and policy related topics. Other medical schools will cover various topics some of which may include:

  • Scenarios involving interactions with an actor or a medical school’s standardized patient
  • An essay writing station
  • A standard interview station
  • A teamwork station where candidates must work together to complete a task
  • An ethical scenario involving questions about social and policy implications

What is the best way to prepare for the MMI?

Since the MMI is not a knowledge-based interview studying for it is not possible. The MMI will allow you to show your communication, interpersonal and critical thinking skills. You can however prepare yourself by practicing expressing yourself under time limitations in an articulate manner. This could include having a friend or family member ask you random questions and critique your response. You could also video yourself answering questions to hear how you respond and make changes if necessary. It may be helpful to time yourself doing these activities so that you will become familiar with answering questions under time constraints.

Good luck and we look forward to you interviewing with our medical school in the future. 

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