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Medicine Interview Questions - How to answer "Why should we choose you?"

2017-11-29 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Kenny, a guest · recording, 13:59 · watch on YouTube

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

Ali, a final-year Cambridge medical student, tackles the medicine interview question "We have 10,000 applicants, why should we take you?": answer in two parts, why the school's course suits you and what you can bring to it; seven medical students add tips (know the course, use its societies, back strengths with evidence, compare yourself to the school, not to other applicants), and Ali and Kenny give mock answers.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Ali introduces the question and his two-part formula for answering it

  • ★ Ali, a final-year Cambridge medical student, tackles the common medicine interview question "We have 10,000 applicants, why should we take you?" in his series of interview advice videos. — 00:00:00 · Medicine interview, University of Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali says he was asked "Why should we take you?" in a medicine interview, he thinks at UCL, had not prepared for it and floundered for ages trying to answer on the spot. (hedged) — 00:00:24 · University College London
  • ★★ Ali advises roughly knowing in advance what you would say to "Why should we take you?", as a list of talking points rather than a rehearsed, memorised answer. — 00:00:24 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ Ali says "Why should we take you?" is hard because you must balance selling yourself, which many are uncomfortable with, against seeming arrogant. — 00:00:48
  • ★★★ Ali answers "Why should we take you?" in two parts: why the medical school's course suits you, then what you can bring to the school, a non-arrogant way of selling yourself. — 00:01:17 · Medicine interview

00:02:28 — Show how you're suited to their course

  • ★★ a guest: A medical student advises mentioning a specific part of the school's course that appeals to you; for Cambridge they would have stressed how much basic science they had done. — 00:02:42 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: The same student told Bristol that its medicine course had a language exchange scheme they would benefit from, as they were doing French A level at the time. — 00:02:42
  • ★★ a guest: The same student advises researching each medicine course, such as prosection or dissection and early clinical work or years of lectures first, then saying why you suit it. — 00:03:11

00:03:37 — Show how you're the ideal candidate

  • ★★ a guest: A medical student who disliked feeling boastful answered by describing why medicine mattered to them, wanted for pretty much their entire life, and the steps they had taken to become a better clinician. — 00:03:40
  • ★★ a guest: The same student advises saying how you believe a doctor should behave, how you have been building those skills and characteristics, and how you will improve, instead of claiming to be better than others. — 00:04:19

00:04:40 — Play up your strengths

  • ★★ a guest: A medical student says applicants really have to sell themselves in interviews and the personal statement, saying they believe in themselves and are good enough, though this feels alien to many. — 00:04:46 · Personal statement
  • ★★ a guest: The same student advises showing skills such as teamwork, perseverance and helping others with specific examples, drawn from work experience, extracurriculars or reading, to back up every claim. — 00:05:24 · Work experience

00:05:51 — Research university societies

  • ★★ a guest: A medical student advises always making the answer specific to the school, naming clubs, organisations or things it is good at that you want to pursue, because generic answers are forgotten. — 00:05:53
  • ★★ a guest: A medical student says that before every interview they looked up each university's societies and said they would like to join and help one that matched their interests. — 00:05:53

00:07:10 — Avoid comparing yourself to others

  • ★★ a guest: A medical student advises against comparing yourself with the other 10,000 applicants: not knowing what they have done, it is like bringing a 400-metre swimming certificate to a competition of Olympians. — 00:07:13

00:07:37 — Make it about them

  • ★★ a guest: A medical student advises arguing that they should pick you because you fit the school and really want to go there: convince them it is your first choice, even if you ranked it third or fourth. — 00:07:39
  • ★★ a guest: The same student says the answer to being better than 10,000 others is the same at every school, while why a particular school should pick you is specific: compare yourself to the school, not to other applicants. — 00:08:31
  • ★★ a guest: A medical student says British culture discourages people from bigging themselves up; applicants should not be arrogant but need a quiet confidence in themselves. — 00:08:31

00:08:43 — Be confident but honest

  • ★★ a guest: The same student advises honestly naming what you truly think are your strengths and giving evidence, such as organising a sports club tournament single-handedly to show initiative. — 00:09:08

00:09:34 — Ali sums up: no right or wrong answer

  • ★★ Ali says the advice of the students on "Why should we choose you?" conflicts a little, which shows there is no right or wrong answer: pick what suits your style and personality and roll with it. — 00:09:34
  • ★★ In his mock answer Ali says the Cambridge course suits him: three years of preclinical then three of clinical, getting the foundation right before seeing patients rather than from day one. — 00:10:03 · University of Cambridge

00:10:11 — Mock answer 1: Ali (Cambridge)

  • ★★ In his mock answer Ali says he likes Cambridge's supervision system of small groups with world leaders in their field, since he likes asking questions, easier there than in a lecture hall of 300. — 00:10:49 · University of Cambridge, Supervision
  • ★★ In his mock answer Ali says he played a lot of badminton and cricket at school and would like to play in college and perhaps try for the university team. — 00:10:49 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ In his mock answer Ali says he is a close-up magician and has heard Cambridge has a magic society that puts on shows every term. — 00:10:49 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ In his mock answer Ali says magic is one of his biggest passions and he would like to contribute it to Cambridge, perhaps by running workshops teaching people magic. — 00:11:33 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ Kenny: In his mock answer for Birmingham, Kenny says his degree in medical physiology from the University of Leicester gives him a science background to build on in the medicine course. — 00:11:33 · Kenny, University of Leicester
  • ★★ Kenny says he plays squash and badminton and knows Birmingham's medical society has societies for them, so he can bring extracurriculars to the university. — 00:11:33 · Kenny

00:11:45 — Mock answer 2: Kenny (Birmingham)

  • ★ Kenny says he has never lived in Birmingham and would like to explore what the city has to offer, as his short time there has given him good vibes. — 00:12:17 · Kenny, Birmingham

00:12:41 — Closing remarks; more interview videos and SixMed's course content going online

  • ★★ Ali says more videos about medicine interviews are coming, including medical ethics, and he wants to make an entire interview syllabus. — 00:13:03 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ Ali says he has been teaching interview courses for the last five years with his company SixMed, the Interview Crash Course. — 00:13:03 · 6med
  • ★★ Ali says that because he and his SixMed colleagues graduate next year (2018) and may not have time to run the courses, he is slowly putting the interview course content on YouTube. — 00:13:32 · 6med

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Medicine interview

Also: People: Kenny

Organizations: 6med · University College London · University of Birmingham · University of Bristol · University of Cambridge · University of Leicester · University of St Andrews

Concepts: Personal statement · Supervision · Work experience

Places: Birmingham · London

Only in the description or credits: Chidera

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