Medical schools may differ in how they conduct interviews, but all tend to offer one or more of the following formats:
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Live in-person.
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Live virtual.
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Hybrid (applicant choice of in-person or virtual).
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Asynchronous (or recorded) virtual interviews.
Further, within each interview format, medical schools may use different interview structures, including:
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One-on-one interviews
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Group interviews
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MMI interviews
Each format and structure type are described below.
Interview Format: Level of Technology
Live In-Person Interviews
Live In-Person Interviews are conducted at the medical school and typically last between 30 and 60 minutes. You may be interviewed by faculty, staff, and/or students. In-person interviews often, but do not always, occur on a site visit day.
Live Virtual Interviews
Live Virtual Interviews use video conference technology to connect you with an interviewer, or interviewers, in real time. Just like with in-person interviews, they often last between 30 and 60 minutes each, and you will be asked to sit face-to-face with the interviewer(s) and answer their questions.
Hybrid Interviews
Hybrid Interviews give you the opportunity to select either in-person or virtual interviews.
Asynchronous Virtual Interviews
Asynchronous (or recorded or on-demand) Virtual Interviews will not have an interviewer present. You will be asked to respond to questions presented via text or prerecorded video. Your responses will be recorded using your device’s webcam and shared with reviewers at a later time. Note that this is the least common interview format used by medical schools.
Interview Format: Structure of Interview
Within each of these interview types, medical schools may use different interview formats. At some medical schools, interviews are one-on-one; at others, group interviews are the norm. Some medical schools follow a structured design, asking questions from a predetermined list and assigning numeric scores to each answer. Others prefer a more free-flowing arrangement and provide the applicant with a greater degree of open input. See below for a description of some of the interview styles you may encounter.
- One-on-one Interview – Some medical schools conduct 1:1 interviews in which an interviewer – who may be a member of the admissions committee, faculty member, or local clinician – meets with you individually to further explore the information presented in your application, such as your experiences, personal statement, research, education, etc. This can also be an opportunity for you to gather information about the culture of the medical school and the medical profession, if there is time provided for you to ask questions of the interviewer.
- Group Interview – Group interviews consist of multiple applicants participating in one interview at the same time. Group interviews may be used to assess your interpersonal competencies because many medical schools include small group learning and interprofessional health care team training in their curricula, so these competencies are important to determine possible fit in the medical school learning environment. Your interview group may be presented with a task or problem to solve and given a predetermined amount of time to find a solution. This is also an opportunity to demonstrate your problem-solving skills and to become acquainted with potential future classmates.
- Panel Interview – Panel interviews consist of multiple interviewers interviewing a single applicant at one time. Panel interviews allow multiple individuals to get to know an applicant simultaneously and allow interviewers to ask individual follow-up questions.
- Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) – Increasingly, medical schools are using the multiple mini interview, which typically consists of 6 to 10 interview stations with different interviewers who each focus on a different question or scenario. Interviewees are given approximately five minutes at each station to answer the question or solve the problem before rotating to the next station, although the amount of time may differ by school. Learn more about what to expect in an MMI.
View the current Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) Report for more information about each program’s interview plans for the current application cycle.