Multiple mini interviews are used extensively in Canada, Australia and Israel, not only for medical school admissions, but for disciplines ranging from dentistry and pharmacy to occupational therapy and veterinary medicine. The novel interview process, launched today (Sept. 3) at the School of Medicine, is found at only a handful of medical schools in the United States. It will be used over the next six months to select the nearly 100 students in UC Davis' incoming class for 2011.
Along with submitting the usual Medical College Admission Test scores and other application materials, students will engage in a fast-paced, timed circuit of 10 interview stations, which gives students multiple opportunities to display personal qualities rather than just answering questions in one or two traditional interviews. Pioneered by Canada's McMaster University, the new process has been shown to provide greater insights into prospective medical students and their potential as physicians.
"We're initiating this process to address several long-standing problems," said Mark Henderson, associate dean for admissions. "First, traditional interviews don't accurately predict performance in medical school. And second, since most patient complaints and concerns about practicing physicians have to do with non-cognitive skills — attributes that don't show up on the written tests such as interpersonal abilities, professionalism and ethical judgment — we think our multiple mini interview process will enable us to better identify individuals who possess the character and qualities to become truly outstanding physicians."
Each interview station features a 10-minute scenario designed to assess teamwork and communication abilities. For example, one station brings two applicants together to share in a task to achieve a common goal. At another, applicants encounter an actor working from a script that gauges how the medical school candidates might interact in real-life situations.
At each station, trained evaluators rate the responses of applicants. At the end of the day's sessions, students receive aggregate scores based on the evaluators' performance ratings at each station. The process favors students by giving them multiple opportunities to be evaluated by a diverse group of individuals. Although a majority of evaluators are physicians, the group also includes nurses, social workers, medical administrators and other professionals from the Sacramento area. School administrators say they also will benefit from the new interview format by being able to gather more insightful information from the hundreds of applicants they must consider in the highly competitive pool.
"We hope the multiple mini interview format will provide a more balanced assessment than the traditional face-to-face format," said Henderson. "Individual interviews are notoriously unreliable and subject to bias. So instead of a 45-minute interview with a single faculty member or student, we're putting our candidates through a series of brief but telling situations designed to illuminate key characteristics of a good physician, including resourcefulness, listening skills and even teamwork.
"One of the reasons it probably hasn't caught on at schools in the United States is that it is a very ambitious process to set up and coordinate," continued Henderson, who credited an admissions team led by Frank Sousa, clinical professor of ophthalmology and internal medicine, with establishing the new process. "Having 10 different evaluation rooms, all with different types of scenarios and activities, is a time-consuming and labor-intensive endeavor. But we're optimistic we will gain better insights into each applicant, which will make it well worth the effort."
UC Davis School of Medicine receives approximately 4,500 applications per year for roughly 100 available slots. Of those applications, about 500 students are invited to tour the campus and be interviewed as part of the final selection process. The school also plans to speed up the admissions process this year, reviewing applications more quickly and offering most acceptances within two weeks of a student's visit.
The UC Davis School of Medicine is among the nation's leading medical schools, recognized for its research and primary-care programs. The school offers fully accredited master's degree programs in public health and in informatics, and its combined M.D.-Ph.D. program is training the next generation of physician-scientists to conduct high-impact research and translate discoveries into better clinical care. Along with being a recognized leader in medical research, the school is committed to serving underserved communities and advancing rural health.