Pocklington School’s careers service recently held a series of mock multiple mini interviews (MMIs) for Upper Sixth Formers hoping to study Medicine, Dentistry and Physiotherapy at university.

Students from our school, Woldgate School and Sixth Form College and York College practised their interview skills during several sessions, replicating the interview process used by medical, veterinary and dentistry schools along with some physiotherapy courses.

The students visited six individual interview stations and at each were presented with a question on one of six different topics: personal attributes; motivation; ethics; communication skills, teamwork and NHS issues. Candidates were given a short time to read the question before being interviewed for a set time, after which a whistle was blown and they moved onto the next station.

Gillian Jones, Careers and University Adviser at Pocklington School, said: “The idea behind MMIs is to help universities who might be interviewing up to 1000 candidates for medicine, for example, to process candidates in a timely manner. 

“It can be daunting for students not familiar with the process because it’s quick fire and requires them to think on their feet. Mock MMIs are an opportunity to experience and therefore prepare for the interview process they might be undertaking at various universities over the coming weeks.”

She added: “In our mock MMIs, each candidate was asked the same questions and the interviewers used a template to score the candidate against a matrix. One of the stations was a role play, which again is very common in this kind of interview situation. We’re very grateful to Ellie-Mae Rooke, a Sixth Form Drama A level student, who played the role of a patient in a set scenario.”

The school is also grateful to volunteer interviewers who came into school, including two GPs, a retired dentist, a former Chemistry teacher who sits on a university ethics committee, a School Governor and the school's Development Officer.

Mrs Jones added: “Feedback from Pocklington students and those from Woldgate and York College was very positive. Interviewers were also very positive about the event and the calibre of young people they met.

“This was the first time we have run this event and we hope to run it again next year with more schools involved.”