General/Personal Statement Station: This station will involve typical interview questions regarding the attributes you possess such as your ability to work as a member of a team, your ability to take responsibility for your actions, honesty and be self-reflective:
- How do you cope with stressful situations/studying/exams?
- What do you think are your worst qualities/weaknesses?
- What do you think are your best qualities/strengths?
- How would you cope being older than your peers (for mature students)?
- How would your best friend/parents/colleagues describe you?
- What would you do if a member of your team wasn’t pulling their weight?
- What would you do if they did it again?
- Would you involve a 3rd party?
- What personal qualities do have you to offer?
- Are you a leader or a follower?
- Do you have any leadership experience?
- Is anyone else in your family a doctor?
- What careers do your parents have?
- Are you the 1st of your siblings to go to University?
- How are you going to finance medical school?
- How did your work experience make your choice to study medicine stronger?
Motivation and Insight into Medicine: This station will not only examine your motivation to study medicine but also your genuine interest in the medical profession and medical based topics. It may lead to questions along the lines of:
- Why medicine/why do you want to be a doctor?
- What first made you realise you wanted to be a doctor?
- Have you considered any other career paths prior to medicine?
- Why are you considering Aberdeen?
- What appeals to you about the course at Aberdeen?
- What would you do if you didn’t get into medical school this year?
- How will you adjust to University life?
- How did you go about finding out about a career in medicine?
- Have you considered a gap year/what are the advantages of having a gap year?
- What do you want out of life other than being a doctor/are you considering any other professions?
- What area of medicine do you see yourself in and how long will it take you to get there?
- What are the main qualities of a doctor/build your ideal doctor/what qualities do you have which means you would make a good candidate?
- What makes good teamwork/How do you fit into a medical team?
- Besides communication skills, what other skills must a doctor possess?
- Can you learn communication skills/how have you developed your communication skills?
- What would you prefer in a doctor – Good communication skills and bad clinical skills or good clinical skills and bad communication skills?
- How did your GP possess good communication skills?
- Should there be a leader in a team?
- How doctor should treat patients?
- What do patients expect from their doctor?
- How long do you think it takes to become a consultant surgeon?
- Where do you see medicine going in the future?
Role play Station: The candidate is given a scenario and is asked to work with the actor/helper to attempt to reach a solution. Specific Role Play Station examples and model answers can be found in the Online MMI Question Bank.
The General Medical Council (GMC): This station involves questions around the role of the GMC, the Good Medical Practice Guidance Book and why there are standard regulations for medical schools. It may also require the candidate to have knowledge of specific career paths e.g. becoming a GP/Consultant.
The Remote and Rural option offered by the university: This station probes the candidate’s awareness of Aberdeen-specific aspects of the curriculum such as the remote and rural option offered by the university. This may include comparisons between rural and urban practice, issues faced by rural GP’s, and the Regent and Student Pairing Schemes offered by the university.
Science/Medicine Station: A selection of recently asked questions in this station include:
- What problems exist in the NHS other than lack of funding/how could these issues be fixed?
- Why does one measure blood pressure, and what does it reflect?
- Have you ever measured blood pressure, how?
- A patient is lying in bed, his pulse is racing and his blood pressure is difficult to take, what’s wrong with him and how would you treat him?