Meet Emily Jiang, an aspiring physician who recently connected with one of our accomplished alumni, Meryem Cevsen, for a personalized mock interview session. Emily's dedication to her medical school preparation shines through in her eagerness to learn and improve her interview skills.
Emily has been diligently preparing for her upcoming medical school interviews, participating in multiple practice sessions with various mentors in our network. Her commitment hasn't gone unnoticed - during her session with Meryem, Emily demonstrated both enthusiasm and a genuine desire to refine her approach.
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"Thank you so much for this opportunity," Emily expressed warmly during the session. Her appreciation for the feedback and guidance was evident in her words: "I'll do great because of the help that you've given me." This positivity and gratitude exemplify the kind of student Emily is - someone who makes the most of every learning opportunity.
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Lets see the feedback given by our alum.

Mock Interview Summary 10/27/2024

Interviewee: Emily Jiang
Interviewer: Meryem Guler, MS3 @ SKMC
Interview style: Open file one-on-one interview 30min with 30min immediate feedback session  

‍General points:  
‍Your answers to each question were very confident and well thought-out – be careful not to come off as too rehearsed in your answers. It’s good to be prepared but the answers shouldn’t feel like a speech.

You did not use any filler words such as “like” and “um” and did not fidget, which is great.

Your written application left me wondering “why medical school” – the use of clinical stories throughout your answers in your interview can help solidify this

In an open-file interview, be prepared to give brief introductions to what you wrote in your activities statements – you don’t have to go as in-depth as you would with a closed file interview, but you also can’t assume that they’ll remember every detail of your application. You can provide a brief review of these activities throughout your interview when they’re brought up

Overall great job!  

‍Notes on specific answers to questions:
‍Tell me about yourself
Loved hearing about your background as an international student and how your travels have shaped your curiosity and love of various cultures and how this transformed into an academic curiosity of the sciences

At times you lost me with the flow of this answer when you brought up your hobbies. I think it's good to still have these in the answer, but work on the flow of including this info

You briefly mentioned your answer to "why medical school" at the end of this, which is great. However, your answer was very philosophical and still left me wondering why.

Why medicine vs career in art
Great answer of bridging science, anatomy, and art. You mentioned being service-oriented in your first answer and you should bring this up here.

Tell me a story!! Tell me about a patient interaction that really exemplified this concept for you and helped solidify your decision in pursuing this path

Greatest strength? How will this help you in medical school?
Sensitivity and perception to other's emotions is a great answer

Touch on the concept of burnout
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I think you should also include how your training in medical school can help you build the knowledge base that can help further develop a clinical "gut feeling" on top of your existing emotional perception

You can also talk about how this sensitivity helps with introspection/insight into your own emotions, which can help combat burnout throughout medical school by recognizing your own limits/boundaries

Greatest weakness? How will you combat this in medical school?
I like how you talked about difficulty receiving criticism and how you've combatted this by actively seeking feedback from others
Feedback is an integral part of the medical school experience – your clinical rotations and grades from 3rd year and onward are entirely based on the evaluations and feedback you receive from attendings and residents you work with. You can also mention this, which helps solidify your understanding of what medical school entails

What qualities do you look for in a physician
Empathy, integrity, and maturity
Specify emotional maturity in your answer, and give me a story!! I'm sure you had moments shadowing/scribing where you witnessed the physician deescalate an emotionally charged interaction – talk about this!
Generally I think you can give an example/story that would include all three qualities

Biggest issue in American healthcare?
"Discrimination of underrepresented groups" – I like how you demonstrated your understanding of how multifaceted this can be

I loved your example of the patient with cerebral palsy telling you about the width of doorways being a physical barrier to his access to healthcare and how that helped change your perspective
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You provided good and specific examples of the school and what opportunities they have to teach their students on how to combat this issue

Hobbies
I like how you gave me more background on each of the hobbies that you mentioned in your activities statement and provided additional hobbies

You should definitely mention more about each hobby and how you've continued them throughout undergrad

For example, talk about how you voluntarily teach karate classes at a local dojo

Recommend a book for me and tell me why
I like how you asked me questions about what I'm looking for in a book too
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Literally any answer works for this, but something you can also do is use this answer as an opportunity to touch on topics you didn't get a chance to talk about

For example, if you feel you didn't get to talk about social justice, pick a book that talks about this. Etc.

Otherwise I liked your answer and will definitely check out Solaris!

Emily's Mock Interview Evaluation with Khang

Alumni Interview Spotlight: Khang Guides Emily Through Medical School Interview Prep
‍In our latest mock interview session, Khang, a current medical student and UCSF alum, coached Emily, an international applicant, through interview preparation. Here's how the session unfolded.​

Opening Strong: The Personal Story
‍Emily crafted an engaging personal narrative, sharing her journey from Canada to China and her global travels. Khang noted how effectively she connected her love for nature and hiking to an amusing "Kung Fu Panda inspiration" that led to her karate practice. Her artistic background and fascination with consciousness elegantly tied into her choice of neuroscience as a major.

‍Professional Journey
‍When discussing her path to medicine, Emily detailed her experiences:
- Hands-on exposure in San Diego Neurosurgery
- Medical scribing
- Medical-legal internship focusing on malpractice cases
Khang's Feedback: "While Emily's experiences were impressive, we worked on making her responses more concise while maintaining their impact."​

‍Cultural Contributions
‍Emily's response about potential contributions to Vanderbilt impressed Khang. She thoughtfully compared healthcare approaches from her experience in China and Canada, and discussed integrating art into medicine. Khang advised her to research specific art and music medicine programs at target schools.
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‍Handling Challenging Scenarios
‍In discussing a difficult situation at hospice care, Emily shared her experience working with a patient's daughter. Khang helped her refine this story to sound more natural and less scripted, while praising her initiative in seeking advice after the challenging interaction.​

‍Ethics and Global Perspective
‍Emily showed strong ethical reasoning when discussing organ transplantation, considering multiple viewpoints and human rights aspects. Her explanation for choosing U.S. medical education demonstrated thoughtful consideration of global health resources and opportunities.​

‍Khang's Key Recommendations
1. Reduce filler words like "you know"
2. Maintain the natural, engaging personality she displayed
3. Trim lengthy responses without losing substance
4. Save the "great question" comments for truly complex queries"

Emily's multicultural background and diverse experiences make her a compelling candidate," Khang noted. "With some fine-tuning of her interview technique, her authentic passion for medicine really shines through."Looking for personalized interview coaching? Connect with alumni like Khang through our admissions team.