Many of you are hoping to interview at medical schools soon and may be wondering how you can make a great impression on interview day. In addition to sharing your personal experiences and enthusiasm for medicine, it is very important to demonstrate that you are well informed about the field you plan to enter. Most likely you have discussed the medical profession with physicians and spent time in a health care setting to get a sense of what your future holds, but you can also learn a great deal from reading newspaper, journal and magazine articles. Certainly, you aren’t expected be an expert on health care policy or medical education, but you should demonstrate some awareness of important and “hot” issues in your chosen field. Feel free to skim or read the following 10 articles that touch upon issues that might come up in your medical school interview and consider your own thoughts on these topics — then seek out some reading of your own!
- “The Developing Vision of Primary Care,” New England Journal of Medicine, September 6, 2012.
- “Differences in 4-year Outcomes for Elderly and Poor, Chronically Ill Patients Treated in HMO and Fee-for-Service Systems,” Journal of the American Medical Association, October 2, 1996.
- “The Bullying Culture of Medical School,” The New York Times, August 9, 2012
- “It May Be Fake but Trust Me — It’ll Work,” Slate, March 16, 2011.
- “Experts: Courts Likely to Uphold New York Soda Ban,” U.S. News & World Report, September 14, 2012.
- “Even compliant parents doubt vaccine safety,” CNN.com, October 3, 2011.
- “The Physician Burnout Epidemic: What It Means for Patients and Reform,” Atlantic, August 22, 2012.
- “4-day workweek popular for doctors’ flexible scheduling,” amednews.com, September 17, 2012.
- “Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Patients Don’t Tell Their Doc’s,” mednews.com, April 13, 2011.
- Anything about health care reform. You must be able to talk about this from an informed point of view.
