Interview format - Group interview

This interview format allows observers to see how you interact with peers in a way that might not be seen in other interview formats.

Usually the group interview format follows a structure similar to that used by Practice Based Learning (PBL) classes, in giving a group a very large, complex problem to resolve and then guiding their dicussions.

DO:

- Listen and don't discount other's views; don't be the only person talking
- Leader? Follower? Medical schools are full of type A personalities and while it's OK to step up if no one else is, don't feel you have to yell over everyone else in the room.
- Make a plan - as you would in a real PBL - for later action. Assign parts of the follow up reaserch and action to different people in your group.
- Make use of the whiteboard to plan or brainstorm.
- Brainstorm some crazy 'zebra' ideas as well as other more workable ideas.
- Consider the full picture. Are there cultural or religious implications? Financial? Social? Ethical? Environmental? How are these going to affect the problem?
- Don't feel you need to provide a full solution to the problem now; rather, you've found out a lot about the problem, are going to research further and you've got a few ideas that might help that you're looking further into.
- Keep an eye on the time for your interview, ensure you've got enough time to brainstorm, discuss, assign tasks.

In my group interview, the doctor guiding the discussion was a doctor I'd visited previously who performed a rather personal medical test on me. Talk about embarassing!

More seriously, while most of the group from my interview got on well (many even stayed after the interview to chat for hours) one person had strong religious views that conflicted with the problem we were solving (for example, if the PBL was regarding options for an unwanted child, including abortion, and this person was a pro-lifer). This person stated their strong beliefs and then would not become involved in any discussion that involved abortion, instead withdrawing for the rest of the interview. While other group members tried to involve them by asking questions and assigning tasks that did not involve the abortion side of the task, it felt very forced. This is the only person in my group who I would have picked as failing the interview.