School of Medicine adds Multiple Mini-Interview to admissions process

Starting this fall, the School of Medicine will add a new technique to the admissions interview process to assess qualities essential to being a physician that go beyond academic ability.

The school is implementing the Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI), which takes applicants one by one through a series of seven to 10 stations. In each station, applicants will be presented with realistic scenarios and will have eight minutes to come up with answers, which will reveal important insight into critical thinking, communication, ethics and decision making. Applicants will also go through a station gauging teamwork that involves working with another applicant or an actor.

The MMI will allow the School of Medicine Admissions Committee to determine not only which students have the academic assets to handle the rigors of medical school, but see attributes in applicants that are paramount for patient care in medicine, such as maturity, compassion and adaptability.

“The MMI will be an additional tool in the admissions interview process to get a fuller picture of our applicants’ abilities,” says Nathan Smith, M.D., assistant dean for Admissions in the School of Medicine. “By having multiple samplings from different interviews, we can find out more about personal qualities that make the applicant a good fit to be a physician.”

The addition of the MMI is part of a movement toward a holistic admissions model, which balances relevant academic and non-academic factors in evaluating applicants. Smith says the model has been shown to identify individuals who will do well in clinical rotations, based on qualities patients say they want in their doctors.

“The MMI and the holistic admissions model aren’t just about which applicants have the best grades and MCAT scores, but which ones will make the best doctors,” Smith says.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 28 member schools in the United States and Canada used the MMI in 2011 as part of their admissions interview process, and Smith says the number of schools using the technique grows each year.

“The MMI will be an additional tool in the admissions interview process to get a fuller picture of our applicants’ abilities,” says Nathan Smith, M.D., assistant dean for Admissions. “By having multiple samplings from different interviews, we can find out more about personal qualities that make the applicant a good fit to be a physician.”

While the MMI will not replace the traditional interview between applicants and members of the Admissions Committee, it will restructure the interview day to include one 30-minute traditional interview, rather than the three, 25-minute interview format used in previous years. The interview day will also now be split into separate morning and afternoon sessions to accommodate the MMI and traditional interview format.  Raters who will interview applicants in the MMI are trained faculty, staff and students in the School of Medicine, as well as members of the Admissions Committee.

The MMI ratings, along with academic evaluations and ratings from the traditional interview, will be used by the admissions selection committee to make decisions about the applicants acceptance to the medical school.

More than 3,000 prospective medical students are expected to apply to the School of Medicine this year. Smith says between 435 and 450 applicants will be interviewed for the 186 spots in the first-year class.

“We are fortunate at UAB to receive an abundance of impressive applicants for medical school,” says Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine. “This new process will provide further standardization and objectivity in recruiting the next set of physician leaders in Alabama.”