How can I prepare for my medical school interview?

The most important thing to remember when going into a medical school interview is that this is your chance to show what you are like as a person. Your grades at school prove that you are smart enough to be a doctor, however the university needs to also see that you have the social skills required to be a doctor and so this is the purpose of the interview. So above all else you should go into your interview relaxed and prepared to show them that you have the enthusiasm and interpersonal skills required to study medicine. This just means that you have to be smiley, friendly and eager! But there are a few things you can do to prepare in the run up to your interview. Write a list of common questions that you expect they might ask you at interview (e.g. why do you want to be a doctor?) and then jot down several bullet points of things you could say in response. This will just help you to 'think-on-the-spot' in an interview, because you will already have a rough idea of what you want to say and so you won't feel thrown when you get asked the obvious questions. Having said this, try to avoid writing out big long answers to interview questions and memorising them- this will just make you sound robotic and unnatural! Just jotting down bullet point answers is the best way to prepare. It's also a good idea to keep up to date on health news, I subscribed to the BBC News Health section to make sure I was aware of major health news stories in the run up to my interviews. I'd also recommend reading Tomorrows Doctors, this is a publication by the GMC which outlines what is expected of medical students in terms of professionalism. Saying that you've read this is a good bragging point in an interview as it makes you look committed and clued up.