Overall, applicants ranked the school in the top 11% of interviews, indicating it is highly regarded. They found the interview mixed with a moderate stress level, and felt they did okay.
Most respondents felt positively about their interview.
What was the stress level of the interview?
Most respondents rated their interview as average stress.
How you think you did?
Most respondents thought they performed well at the interview.
How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?
Most respondents rank this school above all other schools.
How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?
Most respondents rank this school above other schools they applied to.
0 = Below, 10 = Above
💬 Interview Questions ▼
What is one of the specific questions they asked you?
The most commonly asked interview questions at medical schools include inquiries about where applicants see themselves in the future, motivations for pursuing medicine over other healthcare professions, experiences with patients and volunteer work, qualities of a good doctor, ethical dilemmas, personal accomplishments, and specific interests in medicine or specialties. Some respondents mentioned questions related to Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format, research projects, and potential nondisclosure agreements, indicating a structured interview process with diverse scenarios and a focus on professionalism and critical thinking skills.
explain your research project. Will you pursue graduate studies if not admitted to med school? why is research so important in medicine and should medical students be obligated to carry out research projects?
Tell me about yourself. What major accomplishment would you want me to highlight if I were to defend you to the admissions board? What do you do when an encounter with a patient is going badly?
Tell me more about X from autobiography, CV; give further examples.
What skills did X give you that apply to medicine. How did you learn compassion/communcation/etc from this experience?
Tell me more about your hobbies, what sports/movies/books do you play/watch/read? What concerns are there when a 16y.o. girl asks for birth control? Tell me about something that made you happy/unhappy. How do you feel when you are near a naked patient and how do you deal with it? How do you get a patient to quit smoking?
If somehow premed doesn't work out (you are not accepted), what do you plan to do?
Where do you picture yourself in 10 years? Why medicine, why now? Pretty standard questions.
If you are the Dean of Faculty of medicine, how would you ask the provincial government for more funding considering that fact that many McGill graduates leave Quebec upon graduation?
Students said the most interesting question asked at McGill University Faculty of Medicine discussed a wide range of topics including the last movie watched, ethical dilemmas, healthcare issues, and personal values. Many responses also referred to scenarios involving patient care, professional integrity, and career motivations, indicating a diverse set of inquiries that may align with an MMI format where nondisclosure agreements could have been in place.
what would you tell to people who say that 17-18 year-old students are too young and not mature enough to enter the medicine program and that older students (that have completed a baccalaureat for example) should be privileged?
An 80 year old terminally ill man calls you up to tell you that he is going to take a lethal dose of painkillers. He has called you to tell you that you have been a great doctor and many thanks. How do you handle the situation?
How would you handle a situation as a medical student if an attending physician demanded (at the risk of you not getting your first choice residency program) that you take pictures of a patient for a research paper without getting approval from the patient.
Students said most difficult question asked at McGill University Faculty of Medicine discussed various ethical dilemmas, personal weaknesses, and hypothetical medical scenarios requiring tough decisions. The interview format may have been an MMI, with questions covering topics like animal experimentation ethics, healthcare challenges, and personal reflections on compassion and achievements. Some responses hinted at a nondisclosure agreement due to limited details provided.
What is your response to people who say that all use of animals in experiments is wrong, and that weighing the pros and cons shouldn't even enter into it?
in medicine, we often have to work with patients or collegues with whom we have disagreements. have you ever had any experience of that sort, where you had to work with someone who didn't share your way of working or your opinion?
If my best friend is in the room, what would she say that I have to work on. I did think of my weakness before, but somehow my mind blanked out for half a minute. Very odd.
Most respondents rate the school location as good.
0 = Bad, 10 = Great
What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?
Most respondents rate the area’s cultural life as good.
0 = Bad, 10 = Great
What are your comments on where you stayed?
No responses
✅ Interview Preparation and Impressions ▼
How is the friendliness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was friendly.
How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was responsive.
How did you prepare for the interview?
Applicants commonly prepared for interviews by conducting mock interviews, reading about healthcare systems and current affairs, practicing with friends or advisors, and reviewing their autobiographical statements and school websites. Many also emphasized the importance of staying updated on current events and ethical issues in healthcare to be well-prepared.
Forums, feedback, practice with friends, med students.
visited many websites like this one, asked myself why i wanted to become a doctor, prepared to talk about what i wrote in my autobiographical letter (that's what they base themselves on during the interview)
Read lots and lots of books on ethics, healthcare system in canada. Read books on improving the healthcare system in canada. studied the school's webpage
Read a lot of everything: magazine (Time, Macleans, Economist, Strut, GQ) just to get a style of wording and current events. Read my autobiography. made a time line.
Read over my essays and brainstormed over the types of questions which could be asked, went over how I would present my life experiences, kept up with current events and recent health care issues, read a book on medical ethics and visited this website.
Applicants were impressed positively by the friendliness and enthusiasm of the students and interviewers, the organized and relaxed atmosphere of the interviews, the informative presentations, the quality of education with hands-on training, the campus and city of Montreal, and the efforts made by the school to showcase its strengths through activities and interactions, as well as the hospitality shown with free food and engaging conversations. The personal touch, supportive environment, and genuine interest in getting to know the applicants were highlighted as key factors that left a positive impression.
One of the interviewers was from outside the faculty of medicine. People really got into my personal statement and my motivations.
the anatomy laboratory and museum was very impressive. we had the occasion of observing some corpses, which was really interesting. the campus is gorgeous. oh and the food they gave us (breakfast and lunch) was good =)
the fact that the Associate Dean took the time (in fact the whole day almost) to sit and talk about the program. She repeated the same talk over 3 times that day and was very patient and answered all the questions we had.
The students were all very enthusiastic and went out of their way to present their school well. They also took a lot of time out for activities, tours, etc even though they had an exam the coming week.
The relaxed atmosphere and the desire to keep the interviews unstressful; the other students were supportive of the applicants; the desire of the McGill staff to tell us some of the good things about McGill, including the focus on clinical skills and the international make up of the class.
The MD PhD students were friendly and open. Although the last interview was with the director of the MD PhD program, she asked good, albeit hard, questions.
I love McGill, so it doesn't take much to impress me about the school, but I suppose it was how eager the med students were to chat with the interviewees
They treated us to a pizza dinner the night before the interview and a fancy lunch the day of. The students were all very friendly and enthusiastic. The school and the city of Montreal has a lot to offer. Plus cheap tuition.
Applicants commonly mentioned negative impressions such as long wait times between interviews, lack of facilities tours, absence of interaction with current students, unengaging program presentations, and the challenge of navigating the hilly campus during inclement weather. Suggestions included improving the coordination of events, reducing gaps between interviews, providing more informative sessions, and enhancing the overall visitor experience.
Despite what they tell you that day, not every interview is easy going. I had a lot of ethical questions in my first interview, (however the second one was very relaxed).
the presentation of the program was kind of boring and monotone. the director/teacher (i didn't really pay attention...) was not interesting to listen to and it was too long. i wasn't even listening (i was eating....)
That there were no medical students around to talk to. With all fairness, I think that the day I interviewed, the MED I's had classes, MedII's and III's were in the hospitals while MedIV's were busy finalizing residency matches or soemthing like that...
The facilities are old... and the hospital tour was sketchy. We did not feel welcome being herded through ER, ICU as a large group that was getting in the way.
McGill has too many students for its limited class space; small group sizes are large (15+); there are lots of younger students because of the MedP program.
I wish I had had a little more time in between interviews. I nearly was late to each interview despite the fact that there was a small buffer in between interviews.
No tours, no fancy lunch (unlike some other people who have posted their experiences at McGill!), no chance to meet current med students on the interview day (though there was a pizza party organized on the weekend).
The fact that the medical campus is on a hill - I almost couldn't stop from sliding down the icy slopes! Also the fact that they accept more Americans than out-of-province Canadian students.
Applicants commonly expressed a wish to have known ahead of time about the interviewers not knowing their grades, the campus's hilly terrain, the emphasis on small group learning, and the lack of focus on personal statements during interviews. They also mentioned feeling overprepared and stressed out unnecessarily, as well as the importance of being prepared for standard interview questions about motivations for choosing dentistry and the specific school.
The school is transitioning to a stronger emphasis on small group learning and students seem to feel like it is an awkward transition with large (~15 students) groups and less learning. Faculty members said there is some disagreement about how the non lecture-based instruction should be conducted.
I wish I had known that most people who were interviewing me hadn't even read my personal statement. I was expecting my letter to serve as a launch pad for discussion.
They are more interested in what you didn't put in to your essay. The second interviewer asked me if there is anything else that I would like to add (three times!!!) Finally I just ran out of things to say. So I asked him a few questions instead.
Applicants generally found the MD/PhD interview process at McGill to be positive and straightforward, focusing on clarifying details from their autobiographical letters and exploring their motivations for pursuing an MD/PhD. They appreciated the friendly and conversational nature of the interviews, although some mentioned long wait times between interviews and varying levels of interviewer engagement.
MD/PhD interviewers had a long day, with 2 30 minute interviews in the morning and 2 45 minute interviews with the program director and a former program director in the afternoon. These interviews were very straightforward, and they wanted to know that you had some direction and were clear about your motivations and really wanted MD/PhD. In the morning interviews, I was asked a lot of questions from my autobio and CV, one interview was very casual and one was trying to assess my level of involvement in most of the activities I was involved with. Overall it was very positive, and I came out of each interview feeling good.
This was for the Med-P program at McGill. Overall, it was a very good experience. They were very friendly but since they are like this with everyone, it is difficult to tell whether you impressed them or not.
Well organized. There are two separate 30 minute interviews. Other interviewees were kind and pleasant to talk to. I think there were organized tours but they took place later in the day.
It was a really long day, but the school and the people were really nice. The interviews were pretty straight forward, just asking questions about my autobiographical letter. Be prepared for a lot of waiting around between your two interviews because they don't give you much to do.
both interviewers mostly asked questions to clarify the information that i had put in my autobiographical letter (so be sure to re-read it before the interview). but there were also questions that weren't related to the letter. the interviewers were nice and sympathetic overall. the interviews are supposed to last 30 mins, but mine only lasted 20 mins each. the interviews went well in general.
both interviews were conversational, both went over my autobiography with me. lots of questions about my family, my childhood, hobbies and interests. I felt like they were really trying to get to know me, and tried to make me feel as comfortable as possible
arrival from 8-9am, first 45min. interview between 9 and 11:30, second 45 min interview between 1:30 and 4:00.
intermittent talks by faculty, students; tours available.
Overall, very positive experience. The interviewers just want to get to know you, get a sense of who you are, where you come from and why you are interested in medicine. It was much more conversational than at other schools because the interviewers weren't taking notes, and most questions were based on my previous responses. McGill would be a wonderful place to be.
The first one was a basic conversation. I felt like my second interviewer was really grilling me and twisting my questions into things she could ask me.
I had 4 interviews, each lasted 45-60 minutes, except for the lunch interview, which lasted an hour and a half with the 2 MD PhD students. My first interview was with a fairly informal scientist for the PhD and that had low stress. I really felt at ease talking to him because I knew the type from all the research I had done in the past few years. The second interview was for the MD and this was with one of the professors. He was fairly straightforward, went down my personal statement and just asked me to elaborate on what it is that I said. I then went to eat lunch with 2 MD PhD students and we talked about research and life in general. This was also informal and much more relaxed than the other interviews. They were easier to talk to, although since this was an interview, there was this tension that made things not quite relaxed. It was a good lunch and finally the last interview was with the director of the MD PhD program. That was the really tough interview and I felt a little grilled afterwards because of the difficulty of some of the questions. I also felt like she purposefully asked certain questions to see how I would respond, like with the question about my research not being actual medical research. Overall, everyone had a good poker face. I'm personally used to being able to read people so in general, especially after the last interview, that was a little unsettling. From what I've heard from multiple people that have been interviewed at McGill, they always have an interview that's supposed to make you have doubts in yourself.
The interviews are very relaxed and super-friendly and focused mainly on the personal essay. I was very impressed with McGill and their efforts to make the interview experience meaningful.
Very poorly conducted. My tenth interview and by far the worst. Students treated very impersonally, interview is very subjective. I was accepted to a top-ranked American school, but not even put on the waiting list here. Why? Because of two confrontational interviewers, who were aggressive and biased. Opposed to common belief, McGill does not have stress-free interviews. Prepare and beware!
Both interviewers were MDs. They only had access to the essay (not grades). Both focused on my personal essay and qualities instead of what I know. They basically went through my essay and took down notes during the interviews. Although some interviewers tend to ask a lot of ethics questions, follow a long list, or ask what if you're the minister of health...etc. It really depends on who you get. One of my friends was interviewed by a priest/psychiatrist, so obviously there were lots of ethics questions. You don't know who is going to interview you until they call for your name. Most people feel pretty relaxed and possitive after. I told my second interviewer that I wasn't able to visit the anatomy lab (to which only first year med students have access)on the tour, and he said that I would get my chance. I just found out that I was accepted, so maybe it was a good sign? Tips: do dress formally, don't wear tons of make-up. Stay relaxed and true to yourself. Arrive early because the interviews don't start at the exact time. Don't sit by yourself, talk to other students, even strangers. You want to project yourself as positive, confident and friendly. And, this might sound silly, smile to everyone you pass in the halls, maybe that person will be the next one to interview you. Good luck. ^o^
It was all very casual and relaxed. One interviewer asked me some tough questions, but I felt that I could answer well because I am very familiar with the type of medicine I want to practice. ALso the interviewer was very friendly and not at all confrontational. My experience there has made me even more excited about McGill!
I interviewed at McGill last year so I had an idea of what to expect as far as questions go, but I was pleasantly surprised by the interviewers I had this year. They created a relaxed environment for you to speak about your experiences and just be yourself.
Overall a very relaxed interview with no ethical or health care questions. They mostly asked about my personal interests and why I was interested in medicine.
The student-organized activities were great. But my own interviews didn't go as well as I hoped (the 2nd interviewer didn't seem to be interested at all). But McGill is definitely a good school to attend if one gets the chance!
What are your suggestions for the admissions office?
Applicants commonly suggested that the admissions office should improve response times, acknowledging that delays may be due to temporary staffing shortages.
They were a bit slow to respond, but I understand this was because they were temporarily short staff