Skip to content

Medicine Interview Tips - Dealing with Nerves

2017-11-15 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, a guest · recording, 10:43 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Medicine and his doctor years · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: Aimed at students, His own numbers

Ali and several medical students give 12 tips for applicants nervous about medicine interviews: everyone is nervous and interviewers want you to do well, so prepare with many mock interviews, take time to think, sleep and eat well, ignore the outcome and try to enjoy it.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Introduction: 12 tips for interview nerves and the channel's thousand subscribers

  • ★★ Ali, a final-year Cambridge medical student, presents 12 tips for applicants who are nervous about their medicine interviews. — 00:00:00 · Medicine interview, University of Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali's YouTube channel has reached a thousand subscribers, which he finds really exciting. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Action is the antidote to anxiety: prepare with loads of mock interviews

  • ★★ Ali passes on a line one of their tutors said, that action is the antidote to anxiety, and says it applies to nerves about medicine interviews. — 00:00:29

    “action is the antidote to anxiety”

  • ★★★ Ali says nervous applicants should prepare a lot, by far best with many mock interviews with friends, family, teachers or doctors, practising standard questions such as their motivation and what makes a good doctor. — 00:00:58 · Medicine interview

    “the best way of doing that by far is by just doing loads and loads of mock practice interviews”

00:01:57 — Everyone is nervous, they want you to do well, fake it till you make it

  • ★★ a guest: A medical student says it is okay to be nervous at a medicine interview: interviewers know candidates will be, nobody acts as they do every day in such a strange situation, and they are ready for that. — 00:01:57 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student who was very nervous despite preparing says the main tip is to remember that interviewers want you to do well: Cambridge colleges, like anywhere that interviews you, picked you because they see potential in you. — 00:02:18 · Medicine interview, University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: A student advises applicants who lack confidence at a medicine interview to fake it until they make it: practice teaches you to pretend to be confident until you believe it. — 00:02:47 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: The student says interview practice trains you to be spontaneous and to handle not knowing what will be asked, since interviewers could ask anything and Cambridge interviews sometimes throw curveballs. — 00:03:21 · Medicine interview, University of Cambridge

00:03:50 — Take some time to think, enjoy it, don't worry about being novel, sleep and breakfast

  • ★★★ a guest: Another student says that when a medicine interview question puts you on the spot, you should take time to think about it, since you are never penalised for thinking. — 00:03:50 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student advises enjoying the medicine interview once calm and showing that you enjoy talking about why you want to study medicine, which helps the interview. — 00:04:42 · Medicine interview
  • ★★★ a guest: A student says applicants need not invent something new and exciting for "Why medicine?": saying you like science and want to help people is acceptable. — 00:04:42 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student advises getting enough sleep the night before a medicine interview, having a good breakfast and wearing something comfortable rather than a stiff suit, to ease your mind. — 00:05:31 · Medicine interview

00:05:55 — Don't think about the outcome, they're on your side, do practice interviews

  • ★★ a guest: A student advises taking a medicine interview step by step and not thinking about the result or about not getting in, since that gets you worked up. — 00:05:55 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student says medicine interviewers are not out to make you nervous but on your side, wanting the best out of you, so talk about medicine as you would about a hobby you are passionate about. — 00:06:33 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A speaker says tutors are not especially impressed when applicants look coached; what matters is being comfortable enough in an interview to do yourself justice, which practice at voicing your thoughts builds. — 00:07:02 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: The speaker advises giving even your parents your personal statement to question you on, as they will probably ask many of the same predictable questions interview tutors would. (hedged) — 00:07:40 · Medicine interview, Personal statement

00:08:12 — Do more practice interviews, try to see it as entertainment

  • ★★ a guest: A student who was very stressed before the interviews prepared by having casual conversations about medicine with friends and family, so that talking about it would not feel alien on the day. — 00:08:12 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: The student advises reading through your personal statement a few times so you know what you will have to defend and show the interviewers. — 00:08:36 · Medicine interview, Personal statement
  • ★★ a guest: A student who loves meeting new people embraced the multiple mini interviews, enjoying having about five minutes to make each stranger like them. — 00:09:05 · Multiple mini interview

00:09:32 — Recap: you are not alone, do mock interviews; sign-off

  • ★★ a guest: The student says applicants need not be nervous, since reaching interview shows something good about them and interviewers only check that they are human; nervousness shows, so go in expecting to enjoy it. — 00:09:32 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ Ali says many more videos are coming about medicine interview preparation and other things, alongside his vlogs about life as a medical student. — 00:10:05

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Medicine interview

Also: Multiple mini interview · Personal statement · University of Cambridge

Only in the description or credits: Chidera

← Previous: Malignant haematology supervision - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #12 · Next → Speaking at a Medical Tech Conference - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #13