Bec - Queensland (2006 intake)

" You'll hear a lot of things about medical interviews, people will tell you about good cop/bad cop interviewers, other doctor-wannabes psyching you out in the waiting room, and of course (da-da-da-dum) the horror of doing that ethical debate. But guess what - all of this is absolute tripe!

Generally when people tell you this, they are actually telling you their very subjective account of the experience, and how they handled it. What I'm saying is: the people who tell you that someone in the waiting room was trying to psych them out - well, that person was probably primed to be psyched out, and probably trying to psych the other person out too. Seriously, how you act will dictate your experience. If you're looking for a nasty glint in the interviewers' eyes, you will find one. Focussing instead on the crows' feet beside their eyes as they seem to genuinely smile at you will make you feel calmer, more confident, and make the interview go a whole lot better. Believe in the good in people - remember, they're desperately wanting to let you in, not reject you!

• Have a good breakfast (don't want that tummy grumbling mid-interview)
  
• Turn off your mobile phone or switch it to silent (friends wishing you luck will only punk you out, and more importantly, this will save you from forgetting to turn it off later!)
  
• Casually read over your interview preparation work, but don't do any more new work
  
• Dress in comfortable but very professional clothing: collared shirt, pants (business skirt okay for girls), plus tie for the guys. No ridiculous click-clack high heels, girls.
  
• Trimmed, clean nails (important for a doctor!)
  
• Girls, wear minimal make-up and have hair tied or pinned back professionally
  

In the 24-48 hours after the interview, you will have convinced yourself that you stuffed it up royally and that your chances of getting in are slim to none - everyone is the same! And maybe you won't get in but what's the point in bothering to contemplate that until you find out. From the moment you read this, throughout the time that you sit that interview, until the moment you get that letter, you need to think positive! "

Veevek - Queensland (2005 intake)

" As an international student, the UQ interview for the 2005 intake had taken place over the phone. I was quite nervous as I would be unable to gauge the interviewers' body language or facial expressions. However, I made sure that my voice was not monotonous, my thoughts were clearly articulated, and my words enunciated. At times, the connection was a bit rough. That being said, I had to ask them to repeat a couple of questions (which is perfectly okay to ask them to do). The outline that was used in my interview was almost identical in format to the ones held in previous years. They asked me: tell me about your volunteer experiences in the last couple of years; tell us about an time when you had to work in a group to achieve a common goal; what are the good and bad qualities of being a physician; why medicine; where do you see yourself in 10 years; how will you support yourself while studying in Australia; how will you cope with being away from your family and loved ones; what is one of the major health care issues in the state of Queensland?; and what would you do if UQ did not offer you admissions?

Then I had to pretend that I was hosting a radio show and was given science 3 terms, in which I had to explain one of them in layman's English. The terms that I had were: basal rate, metabolic rate and kilojoule (I explained kilojoule). Then I was given 3 social science terms: skewed distribution, group dynamics and social policy (I explained social policy). In the beginning, I thought that this was a futile exercise but I realized that it is a great exercise to see how well you can communicate with others.

After explaining the two terms, a story was read to me and I had to paraphrase the story and answer some comprehension questions about it. The interviewer told me that the story would only be read once. The story was about how you and Bob, your neighbour, played chess for the first time and Bob had allegedly cheated. Bob, the one who supposedly cheated, told people that you would not play him again because you now know that he is a better player than you. You had consulted with your colleagues at work to determine if this should be a matter you deal with or let go. You and your wife and Bob and his wife were supposed to go on a holiday together but because of Bob's comments you did not want to go. The comprehension questions were: "why did we say that this was the first time that you and Bob had played chess together?", "what was the purpose of including your wife into the story?" and "what was the purpose of talking to your work colleagues about the situation between you and Bob?". This task, as hard as it was, is supposedly testing your comprehension and judgement skills.

Then there was the debate portion of the interview (which was the highlight of my interview). There were several current issues that could have been debated, such as stem cell research, Australia's involvment in Iraq, and human genome project. I chose Australia's involvement in Iraq and I would like to think that I did a great job as both interviewers told me that they were quite impressed with the presentation of my arguments and rebuttals. I have a passion for global politics (particularly human rights advocacy), so this was an easy topic to discuss. Regardless, keeping up with global issues is very important as they tend to choose issues that are current.

My interview was quite rushed as they had called me 6:15pm (my interview time was 5:30pm) and I had a flight to catch at 7:30pm that evening. After reviewing all the questions and my answers, I came to the conclusion that I would not be given an offer of admission. 15 days later, I was proved wrong! "

Shaun - Queensland (2005 intake)

" The UQ 2004 interview (2005 intake), is identical in format to the past few years. They ask the general, why you want to be a doctor, what are some good and bad qualities about yourself, what hobbies you have (disguised volunteer-work question). They then give you 3 scientific terms to explain in simple terms, carbohydrate (a repeat!!), pH and molecule. This is followed with 3 other terms, mean distribution, control group and something which eludes me right now. A story was then read to me, and I Was expected to retell the story and answer some questions about it. Specifically the story was about a couple who were debating about a large inheritance that was left by a neighbor. The old man's housekeeper of 20yr did not get anything, and the husband disagreed while the wife agreed.

The interviews ask a few questions which try to see your comprehension level, such as noting that the old man was hard of hearing, and how that influences the story. I then had the debate questions, where I chose from the following topics: deforestation, whaling, smoking policy, stem cell research, euthanasia, and marijuana legalization. I chose smoking and I think did a decent job at deflecting their rebuttals. I found that this task was straight forward, and that some basic knowledge of the topics was needed. I did not spend a lot of time reading the newspapers etc before hand, but I did make sure I understood the topics from last year (since there were some repeats). These tasks may seem a bit challenging and nerve racking, but I chose to explain molecule, and started off "some things are made of molecules"...I still managed to get an acceptance letter, so there is some degree of forgiveness (I did correct myself though...).

I am actually an international student so my interview was on the phone, it was quite good to see that their interview format was pretty consistent. It was a bit of a nuisance that they used a speaker phone which made hearing them a task in itself. I did not get a question on the state of medicine in Queensland, but I did research the topic just in case. I found that during the interview the best thing to remember is to take your time, and don’t feel bad if you ask for a second to collect your thoughts. I also did not take nay prep courses or by any commercial materials....just be prepared and know yourself! I also tried to stay away form cliché answers, after all, everyone going to med school, probably "works too hard" or "are perfectionists". With regards to hobbies I did not list volunteer work first, I mentioned that I played soccer, guitar and working with kids. I think most of all they are looking for well rounded individuals, who have done more than prep for medicine their whole lives. "

Gerard - Queensland (2003 intake)

" Firstly, with the GAMSAT, I recommend visiting the Medprep website and using their outline for a study guide if you can, it will save you a lot of money. I did not attend any preparation courses and did all my preparation myself. Despite all the useful information presented on this site I would caution anyone against approaching the interview with too many expectations, I did this and it put me a little on edge.

The interview consists of a male and a female, in my case both doctors, working out of a book that consists of a series of questions and space for them to take notes. They begin by asking you about yourself and what you've been involved in, particularly in regard to leadership and receiving criticism. Expect to be probed further about what you say. Next they ask you to define the words, as though you were on radio, my first list was colloid, carbohydrate and respiration, the second was statistical significance and two others that escape me. After this a list of 7 topics was presented for you to debate with one of the doctors, who basically reads three counterarguements from the book (I caught a glimpse of the sheet as he was putting it away). Don't expect medically oriented questions, mine were about reconcilliation, forest clearing, stem cell research, war in iraq (which I chose) etc. Then you get read a couple of paragraphs about a situation mine involved a next door neighbour who alledgedly cheated while playing chess with the woman in question and as a result she didn't want to associate with him as much, however her husband quite liked the next door neighbours. You had to paraphrase it back, non-judgmentally, I was sure to use words like alledged, etc and made things tentative. The doctor who read out the story then asked some questions relating to it. I was also asked about the current health issues in Queensland, which was very easy since the development of the smart state health 2020 discussion paper, so I just summarised that including a few of the more recent issues, all available from the queensland health website.

The areas that you need to think about before you enter the interview are: What will you do if you're not accepted into the course (e.g work, more study, etc); how you will support yourself during medicine, I'm inclined to disagree with the person who said that they are not looking for people who need to work on the weekend, I presented myself as having to if I did not get a scholarship and I got accepted. They will also ask about good and bad traits, with example of ways you are dealing with the bad; what makes a good doctor; what would be bad about being a doctor i.e. getting sued :>; what you can to be a good doctor; where you see yourself in five years etc. Despite my acceptance, the things I struggled with were selling my self up, talking up my traits/experiences, I don't think I used the doctors names enough and in the word definition task I though I had more to say than I did so my sentence ended with an and.

In closing, don't thing that your situation will prevent you from getting into medicine, I am married with a 10 month old who may need to work on weekends and I still got accepted. So if it's in your heart talking the long process and long waiting periods and achieve your dream. "

Chris - Queensland (2003 intake)

" I attended the des o'neill courses (all of them). I had two v nice dr's interviewing me, one was a paediatrician. They were pretty much on time and I was the one just b4 lunch. First of all they asked me personal questions eg. hobbies. They particularly delved into my volunteer work ie. church youth group.

They asked me to pick one of three scientific words and asked me to explain in lay man's terms. They were colloid, respiration and something else. I picked respiration coz I didn't have a clue about the other two. They asked me to pick 1 of 3 social definitions. The only one I remember was the one I did - mental retardation.

Then there were a whole list of topical issues including capital punishment, IVF for gay people, and stem cell research. I picked the first. The usual questions eg. why med, strengths and weaknesses, handling failure, conflict, support when doing the course eg. finances, socially med issues in Qld. They read a passage to me and asked me to summarise and give opinions on why people said what they did etc. The passage was about 2 people who played a game of chess. One of them cheated.

At first, after the interview, I thot I did ok, but then after much brooding I thot I f&@#ed up bad and I had a v bad vibe. My interview went on for 45mins instead of 30mins. I got stuck on the issue of capital punishment. I was against it but little did I realise that life imprisonment did not mean life but usu 15yrs. That flustered me. And I thot I didn't promote myself enuf and talk about WHY I did youth group work. I was too busy trying to avoid seeming too religous. "

Ben - Queensland (2003 intake)

" I had an interview at UQ for 2003 entry. To start with we were told to get there 15 minutes early, but my interview was over an hour late, which was definitely not good for nerves! There were other applicants sitting in the waiting room and believe me conversation is very awkward. Everyone is way too nervous to be able to strike up much conversation, and the conversation that is made is usually people talking about their achievements and trying to boost themselves up. The secretary who sat at the desk in the waiting room was extremely lovely, and she was doing her best to calm us all down... When I eventually got stuck in the waiting room alone for 45 minutes, she was great and kept me chatting even though I was babbling on about absolute rubbish. the interview eventually took place in an empty classroom, there were two people on the panel : a Sri Lankan doctor who was in his late 30s, early 40s, and a slightly younger caucasian woman who wasn’t a doctor. They were both really friendly and put me at ease very quickly. The first thing they said was that they wanted to make this as pain free as possible and that we were basically going to have a friendly chat as well as asking a few structured questions and exercises later on. I think the male doctor was supposed to be playing bad cop and the woman was supposed to play good cop, but they were both too nice to do a very good job.

The first thing they asked me to do was talk about a hobby or something I did on a regular basis... I talked about my volunteer work. They then asked me what I had achieved in that volunteer work, and what I felt I got out of it. The woman on the panel then asked me what were my reasons for doing medicine... other questions were also fairly stock standard, basically they wanted to know about my motivations for studying medicine, the things that I thought would be good and bad about medicine, what social and family sacrifices I would have to make to study medicine. They also ask how you are going to support yourself through your degree... Apparently with the study workload so huge, they are not looking for people who are going to need a job on the weekends. They then asked me what I thought were the characteristics of a good leader, whether I had worked in a team environment, and how I had dealt with conflict in that team environment. They also wanted to know what was the biggest disappointment in my life and more importantly, how I dealt with that disappointment. They also asked how I dealt with criticism... for that I said that in my first degree (which was in visual arts) I had been forced to deal with harsh criticism on a daily basis, and that you basically had to deal with it and use it as a learning experience. They then asked what I thought were the characteristics of a good doctor, and what were the current medical issues in Queensland... I screwed that one up majorly, I think they wanted to know about the problems in Rural Health and providing doctors to rural areas, as well as indigenous health. I also mentioned the nurses dispute, but they didn’t seem to be impressed with that at all. I was then asked to choose from 3 scientific words and to define one of them as if I was hosting a radio talk show... The words were dialysis, hormone, and something else. They then asked me to choose from 3 social words and do the same thing, I chose role-playing... I can’t remember the others. Finally the woman told me a story about her and her husband, and how they had hired a family friend’s son to repair their back porch... the son hadn’t done a good job and so she didn’t want to pay him, but her husband did. I was then asked to summarise the story, and then she asked me a couple questions about certain words she used. For example she asked why she had used the phrase "We are at least agreed on that", and I explained that the way she used those words inferred that the porch had been a bone of contention between her and her husband, and they had agreed on very few things during their argument. Basically they wanted to see how good you are at picking up the emotions and issues behind people’s words. I was then given a list of social topics such as embryonic stem cell research and the proposed war on Iraq. I took a stance against the war on Iraq, and then the doctor on the panel tried to change my mind about it. Basically you need to be able to politely stand your ground, but having a solid knowledge of current social issues is a definite advantage. I’d done a lot of research into the war on Iraq beforehand because it was a big issue at the time of the interview, knowing your stuff definitely made standing your ground easier. So I would definitely recommend scouring the papers like made a few weeks before the interview. They then asked me one very last question, which was "What would you change about yourself if you could". This is basically testing your self-evaluation skills, I tried to be relatively honest and not pick something clichéd like "I work too hard" or "I’m too much of a perfectionist", while still not saying something like "Well basically I’m an arrogant bastard with a chip on his shoulder and a big mouth.", but I don’t really know what they want to hear there.

At the end of it all I walked away feeling very positive, if there’s one thing I would like to emphasise it is that the panellists were lovely, they were really encouraging and friendly, so if you’re going to panic about the interview, at least know that you’re putting yourself in kind and genuinely caring hands.

I would also recommend doing the Des O’Neill Interview Preparation course, although I was unimpressed with the cost ($90 for a three hours session and some notes) and the fact that Des refuses to give out the scripts we used to rehearse interviews, the experience was definitely well worth it... thanks to that course I was pretty much prepared for anything the interview panel could swing at me and I believe it showed. "