I can’t believe my first MMI is over! It seems like just yesterday I was booking my date and looking into airplane tickets (interview invitations were sent out on December 3rd for the early applicants). It was a little nerve-wracking, but I’m really glad I chose the 11:00 am slot. There were 3 slots each day, on Feb 7th, Feb 8th and Feb 21st and Feb 22nd. In total, I think about 600 people were interviewed based on how many people were there during my slot.
In my interview group, most people were from Canada (except me of course), there were people from Calgary, Toronto and UBC. It seemed that most people were a year out of college and had taken this past year to prepare their application and work. I would say it was about 40/60 (university seniors v. graduates). There was also a student who had already completed his masters in my group.
In terms of the actual stations, there were 11 in total and 1 rest station. We were told to go register between 40-25 minutes before our interview slot, but when I arrived there at 10 am, half of my group had already checked in . The medical school students who were helping out that day were really nice and friendly, and willing to answer any questions we might’ve had about the medical school. They couldn’t tell me too much about the new curriculum however, since they’re still on the old one, but currently, UBC has a systems based learning approach, where the first and second years are devoted to basic sciences, and the third and fourth are clinical.
At 10:40am, we were brought into the auditorium for a debrief and to calm our nerves. Then, at 11am, we were ushered into the area where we would go from station to station for an hour and forty minutes. I actually really enjoyed all the stations, you can find examples of what they might ask online (you sign a confidentiality agreement before you interview). There’s acting, addressing different scenarios, logic, ethics and more “fun” questions. The time went by quickly, and we were directed where to go after each station by the medical school student volunteers. You can tell when each station is over by the little bell that goes off in each room. It’s pretty subtle so for the first station, my interview and I just looked at each other to see if we had imagined it.
At 12:40, all the stations were complete and we were shuttled outside for a 14 minute break. This was time to use the bathroom, drink some water etc. Then, we entered another auditorium for the writing component, which was 30 minutes. You have do some analysis and demonstrate that you’re able to write at a college level. Nothing too difficult, it’s a lot like the English Provincial that everyone has to write in grade 12.
After the writing station, which was over at 1:37pm, we had the optional site preference presentation, and following that was the medical school tour. All in all, the interview takes about 4 hours with the interview, writing component and optional parts.
I actually had a great experience, everyone was friendly and helpful, and I didn’t feel confused at any point in the process. Good luck to anyone else who’s interviewing here, let me know if you have any questions!
Living While Learning 