MMI v. Traditional Interviews: A Breakdown

BY SHERRY LUO – For all pre-professional students, the interview is one of the final hurdles you have to cross before you are allowed to reach the hallowed state we call “accepted.” For some, this may be your most dreaded step; your forte may lie in academics, research, or extracurriculars– all of which look stellar on your application and resume but might not translate as well once you have to describe them to an interviewer. Maybe you stutter when you get nervous, you do not make enough eye contact, or you just do not know what to do with your hands when you talk and lapse into the robotic student lacking in personality and energy. There are many things to think about when preparing for an interview, but the most important part is understanding the different types of interviews and how to best approach them. In pre-health fields, the most common forms of interviews are traditional and multiple mini-interviews (MMI). While you might not encounter both interview styles, it is important to be familiar with both so that you know what to expect and are prepared for your application cycle.

What is the difference between traditional interviews and MMI’s?

A traditional interview is what people typically think of when they think of “interviews.” It is just you and a faculty member/student of the school you are applying to talking to each other. They ask you questions about you and your application, you ask them questions about the school and the surrounding community. Different interviewers have different styles, so you might end up with an interviewer who is highly conversational and laid-back, or you might find yourself doing most of the talking while your interviewer is expressionless and spends most of his or her time taking notes. Regardless of the type of interviewer you get, it is important not to be thrown off if the person interviewing you is not the kind of interviewer you were expecting. 

The MMI is a relatively recent invention. Developed in 2002 by the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, the MMI is meant to get a better picture of applicants’ moral judgment, professionalism, and interpersonal skills. Schools that adopt the MMI feel that traditional interviews are not accurate indicators of a student’s performance in professional school.

MMI’s consist of a circuit of interview stations (the number of stations varies school-to-school). Each station is approximately eight minutes long and is preceded by a unique prompt. Prompts can be questions, scenarios, or instructions that are meant to make you think critically, reflect on your pre-health career, or prepare you for a task (usually one performed with another interviewee to test your collaborative skills). For most stations, only one interviewer is present and scores your response based on a scoring sheet. When the bell or buzzer goes off, signaling the end of your time limit for that station, you rotate to the next station. This repeats until you reach the end of the circuit. 

How do I prepare for interviews?

For traditional interviews, know your application front-to-back and be ready to explain any weak points in it. Come up with talking points regarding commonly asked interview questions.

You might think that there is not really a way you can prepare for MMI’s due to the unique prompts. True, traditional interviews are more predictable in that you can expect certain questions to definitely be asked on your interview day and prepare strong answers for them: “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?” or “Why do you want to come to XYZ school?” or “Why do you want to become a physician/PA/pharmacist?” The best way to prepare for MMI’s is to practice answering MMI questions or prompts and time your responses. Many MMI questions are open-ended and do not have a right or wrong answer; they are meant to test how well you can think on your feet, how well you can justify your decisions, how empathetic you are, and whether you can analyze situations from multiple angles. Besides practicing answering MMI-style questions and prompts and getting yourself into the mindset of blasting your way through the stations (because it will definitely feel like time is flying), you prepare for MMI’s the same way you would prepare for traditional interviews: practice speaking clearly and try to break your nervous habits, such as nail-biting or fidgeting. 

The University of Georgia has many great resources for interview preparation. If you are worried about or need help preparing, schedule a practice interview through the Pre-Professional Advising Office or the Career Center.

Which is better?

MMI’s and traditional interviews both have their pros and cons; some will prefer one style and others will prefer the other, but neither necessarily work in your favor. 

MMI’s give schools a better picture of how your brain works, but you will not be given an opportunity to freely talk about the finer points of your application like you would in a traditional interview. Of course, it is important to draw upon your personal experiences when answering MMI questions, but you have a very limited amount of time to make your point. If your plan was to verbally explain a low GPA or talk at-length about your gap year at a school that carries out MMI’s, you will not have that opportunity.

Traditional interviews give your personality the chance to shine and give you plenty of time and opportunities to leave a lasting impression on your interviewer, but this could also be your downfall. If something happens in your interview, such as a question that completely throws you off your game, you just are not feeling a good connection between you and your interviewer, or it is your first time and you are very nervous, there is not much to convince your interviewer that your lapse or lack of charm is due to your circumstances and not because that is how you are as a person. MMI’s account for that. If you mess up one station, you have a chance to redeem yourself in the next ones. The notes of eight people from eight separate stations will paint a more reliable, consistent picture of you, and while you should not lean on this fact, you should not stress about flubbing one of the stations as long as you perform decently on the rest of them; the flub will be seen as an irregularity instead of something that defines you.

Interviews are stressful times for pre-professional applicants, but remember that if you receive an interview invite, that means you are one step closer to your dream career. Schools that want to interview you already like what they see on your application, so just be yourself and show them that you have what it takes to excel there. Good luck to all current applicants! 

Editor: Sasha Stoginy

Photography Source: https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/blog/former-multiple-mini-interview-mmi-evaluator-reveals-her-top-mmi-prep-tips