<p>NYTimes has an article about Virginia Tech's Carilion med school interview process. It uses Multiple Mini-Interviews (MMI), as does Stanford, UCLA and Cincinnati and 5 other US med schools. 13 Canadian med schools use the MMI to screen candidates.</p>
<p>From my reading of the article, this process makes a good deal of sense to me. Since med school can fill their classes 5 or 6 times over with academically qualified candidates, why not choose those who have the best human interaction/social skills as well?</p>
<p>Though this interview method has to be nerve-wracking for the candidates....</p>
<p>My daugher sent me this article yesterday and said she wished EVERY med school would do this, however my guess is that she would be in the minority in her sentiments.</p>
<p>Yeah I wish every med school did that as well GAMOM. That seems like a great way to find students that are intelligent academically and socially. If a student can’t take it, then they probably will have a hard time communicating with patients. The process of interviewing and talking to patients are quite different however, and some with anxiety might be at a disadvantage under that KIND of stress.</p>
<p>I would think it is easier to “fake” social skills over these 5-10 minute interviews than over an hour-long interview. </p>
<p>There are flaws with this MMI process, but clearly positive aspects exist. What would be great is to have a combination of MMI and traditional interviews.</p>
<p>Yes…sometimes social skills can be faked, but if they could figure out some various things to employ to sense a reaction, that might be telling.</p>
<p>…And the lack of them tends to rear its ugly head when rotations start in year three. It often becomes the real equalizer among 3rd year students.</p>
<p>No system will ever be perfect since every system can be learned and taught. I do think this adds a nice new element to the process. That being said, at Cincinnati at least, the interviews for MD/PhD did not include the mmi, but there were 3 professors and a 2 on 1 student interview so it’s still pretty thorough.</p>
<p>I really like this system of having to come up with an articulate and well-reasoned response to a difficult question (as well as to respond to the Devil’s Advocate). It puts you in a difficult situation and you need to show off your communication skills on the fly. Honestly, with the current system of 1-hour interviews, it’s actually not hard to get by even with subpar social skills since a lot of these interviews are conversational, talking about your hobbies (ie stuff anyone can do for an hour). These 1 hour interviews are generally fun and go by quickly but are more akin to hanging out with friends than talking to patients.</p>