Medical and Dental School Interview
In addition to undertaking the UKCAT, all candidates may be required to take a medical or dental school interview. Possible interview questions may include:
Background and desire to study medicine or dentistry
- Tell me about yourself?
- Why do you want to be a doctor/dentist?
- What do you want to achieve in medicine/dentistry?
- What do you think the profession entails?
- Which specialty interests you most and why?
- What are the things you think make people inclined to drop out of medical/dental school?
- What steps have you taken to show that you are serious about pursuing this profession?
Understanding the Medical and Dental School
- When you read the prospectus, what attracted you most and least to this school?
- Why do you think this course suits you?
- What do you know about this school and why do you want to join us?
- What previous experience have you had in a small group setting?
Examining your level of interest
- What medical publications do you read?
- Tell me about a latest medical/dental breakthrough. What are your thoughts on this?
- What do you think are the most important medical/dental breakthrough in the last 50 years?
- If you were given funding to set up a research centre, which are of research would you study?
- Tell me about a person who has been a major influence on your life?
- If you had a one year gap year, what would you do and why?
Teamwork
- Think of an example where your role has contributing significantly to a group
- Describe a situation where your communications skills were vital
- When working as a doctor, who do you think are the most people in your team?
- Do you like to lead or follow people?
- What are your thoughts on nurses replacing doctors as a first point of contact for patients in primary care?
- How will you help a team develop?
More in-depth information about yourself
- How do you cope with criticism?
- Describe a situation where you had a strong opinion but had to change your mind. What made you change and how do you reflect upon that experience?
- How will you keep up to date during a long career?
- Where are your interests and hobbies?
- Tell us two negative attributes which may prevent you from becoming a good doctor/dentist?
- Medical/dental training is long and sometimes tiring practice. Some who qualify of never practice, what makes you think you will continue?
- What are your best skills for effectively communicating with your patients?
- What challenges do you think a career in medicine/dentistry will bring?
Medicine/Dentistry in society
- Besides lack of funding, what are the problems in the NHS?
- What would you prefer in a good doctors? Good communication skills and bad clinical care or vice versa?
- Do you think doctors/dentists should set a good example in their personal life for their patient?
- What do you think are the main difficulties faced be doctors/dentists in their work?
- What issues need to be considered when deciding whether to terminate a patient's life sustaining treatment?
Work experience
- What experiences in medicine/dentistry do you have?
- What aspects of your work experience was most challenging and why?
- What impressed most about the doctors/dentist you worked with?
Ambiguity and Ethics
- Do you think we should find our more about patients' views on doctors/dentists? How would you go about doing this?
- Should the NHS cover non-essential surgery?
- What do you think about using animals for testing new drugs