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Edinburgh University Interview Questions
About Edinburgh Medical School
Edinburgh Medical School is a leading medical school in both training and research for the past 300 years.
It has a notable history of alumni, making it one of the most prestigious universities to study at. It offers a modern curriculum designed to prepare you for contemporary practice.
The city itself is consistently voted one of the most beautiful in the world. They ensure that social, ethical and environmental concerns influence their decisions and operations day-to-day.
INTERVIEW
MMI or Panel?
MMI
Interview format
The interview is likely to consist of a 30 minute group presentation, along with a 3-station MMI, each lasting around 12 minutes.
What to expect on interview day?
At the start time of the interview, you will be taken into a small room and given a presentation and little questions to ask each other which will not be a part of the interview before being divided into groups of 3s. The MMI stations lasted for 12 minutes each, so this section was 36 minutes in total. The group presentation consisted of 25 minutes of planning and 5 minutes of presenting, so this was 30 minutes in total. No instructions are given before entering the stations. The dress code is ‘smart’. Candidates invited for assessment day will be provided with more information about the structure of the day.
Interview scoring system
Edinburgh does stipulate that ‘assessments will be based on the core attributes of medical doctors’ hence the stations are likely to consist of:
Knowledge & Problem Solving
Safety & Quality
Communication, Partnership & Teamwork
Maintaining Trust
Examiner review
The interaction between examiners does not feel like a conversation. The examiners at the MMI were extremely cold, however, the examiners in the group presentation section were very friendly.
What to expect after the interview?
Students start hearing back within 1 month, but this can vary.
Interview tips
Practice group tasks with other medical applicants and learn what some good qualities during group work are since you will have a group task on the day of the interview.
Read the GMC Good medical practice and the Good Medical Practice in action for ethical scenarios.
Answer with something personal and specific to you, link to your work/past experience with Medicine when asked about 'Why Medicine' which is common.
The Edinburgh MMI is one of the longest and requires quite a lot of focus over a longer period of time, so any practice you can do will be useful.
Example interview questions
Motivation
Why Medicine?
Why is Medicine the right career choice for you?
Which qualities make you suited to this course?
Values and skills
Describe a time in your life where you have had to show compassion.
How do you maintain a good work-life balance?
What do you enjoy outside of your studies?
Work experience
What was the most important thing you learned during work experience and how will this be useful to you in the future?
What was the most eye-opening thing you saw during work experience?
After seeing skills needed by healthcare professionals during work experience, what skills do you think you need to improve for the future?
NHS
After your work experience, did you think of anything you would want to do to improve NHS healthcare settings?
Problem solving
You are on the committee for organising an information evening about a GP surgery’s flu vaccination day. Pitch your idea to everyone.
University life
Unique selling points of the university
Years 1-2 are pre-clinical years, followed by years 4-6 which are based solely in clinical placements. It is the only Scottish institution that offers a year of full time, research-based study in Year 3 that leads to a BMedSci (Hons). As the course progress, you will be exposed to different attachments from biomedical sciences to clinical practice within GP practices and hospital attachments in Edinburgh and across south east Scotland. During the final year of the course, after completing the dreaded finals exams , you get the opportunity to travel abroad to learn medicine in a different country.