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Interviews5 min read

How medical school interviews work in Australia and New Zealand

Universities use different interview formats for medicine: multiple mini-interviews, structured two-interviewer interviews, group assessments and no interview at all. Here is how the published formats compare and how to prepare honestly.

Last checked against the official sources.

Interview formats differ by university. Some use a multiple mini-interview (MMI), UNSW uses a structured face-to-face interview with two interviewers for domestic applicants, Sydney uses an Assessment Day with a group interview and a written task, and Flinders says no interview is required. Read each university's own page, which comes first, and use original practice for thinking skills only.

Interviews usually come after the application closes, mostly between mid-November and late January for school leavers, although Auckland's general MMI is earlier. The interview-format pages in this group summarise what ten universities publish, on nine pages (the Newcastle and New England Joint Medical Program shares one). Each page links its official sources and gives the date we checked them, and describes the domestic school-leaver process first.

The formats we found (2027 entry)

  • Multiple mini-interview (MMI): published by Adelaide (online, six or more stations), Curtin, Queensland and Western Sydney, among others. Auckland's MMI is recorded and done online. Station numbers and timings differ by university, and some pages do not give them.
  • Structured interview with two interviewers: UNSW, face to face on the Kensington campus for domestic applicants (international applicants interview online).
  • Assessment Day with a group interview and a written assessment: the University of Sydney.
  • Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA): the Newcastle and New England Joint Medical Program uses this name for what was called a multi-mini-interview, a circuit of stations with an interviewer and activities, according to Newcastle's FAQ.
  • No interview: Flinders says an interview is not required for its pathway.

Open any page in this group for the dates and links to the official sources. The explorer shows the interview field for every row.

How to prepare honestly

Exam tip

Practise explaining your reasoning out loud. Adelaide says rehearsed replies can lower your score, and Auckland says it scores how you discuss a scenario and form an opinion. Practising your reasoning out loud is our suggestion, not a university rule.

ExamExplained is run alongside a tutoring business (see /about), so weigh our preparation suggestions with that in mind. The university's own information comes first, and some universities, such as Adelaide, say they do not endorse commercial interview preparation courses.

  • Read the university's own page for its format and dates. Some publish samples or guidance: see Auckland's MMI page and UQ's entry interviews page.
  • Practise with original scenarios. Ours are in this group, and none comes from a real interview.
  • Treat our answer frameworks as ways to organise your thinking, not scripts. Each university sets its own interview criteria.
  • Do not trade in recalled questions. They break the trust the process depends on, and they do not help you think.

ExamExplained is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the university or the UCAT ANZ Consortium. We are run alongside a tutoring business (see /about); the university's own page always comes first.

Frequently asked questions

What is a multiple mini-interview?
A multiple mini-interview, or MMI, is a circuit of short stations, each with its own question or task and usually a different interviewer. Western Sydney University, for example, describes stations with a different interviewer and about 8 minutes per question. Each university sets its own format, so read its page.
Does every medical school have an interview?
No. Flinders says an interview is not required for its clinical sciences and medicine pathway, while most other courses we checked do use one or a similar assessment. The explorer shows each university's interview rule where we could read it, and Not confirmed where we could not.
Can I find out what questions will be asked?
Not the real ones. Universities do not publish the stations they use, and we do not collect or publish recalled questions. Some do publish samples or guidance: Auckland publishes an example scenario for each of its MMI domains, and UQ shows an example virtual MMI. Start there. We also write original practice scenarios for thinking practice, and they are not a prediction of what you will be asked.

Sources