The walk
One circuit, station by station.
An MMI is a circuit of 6 to 15 timed stations, each graded solely by the interviewer assigned to it. Here is a single station, from the hallway to the bell.
Interview formats
Prepare for your medical school interview with confidence.
MMI, panel & hybrid interview and CASPer® preparation designed to help you show your true potential.
What are multiple mini interviews?
A series of stations, each with its own interviewer.
The Multiple Mini Interview evolved from the classic interview, where an applicant sits at a desk with all the interviewers present. An MMI is a circuit of 6 to 15 stations instead, each with one or two interviewers of its own. Before each station you get about two minutes to read a prompt: a hypothetical scenario built to test how you think. The prompts explore ethical dilemmas, social inequities and work-related conflicts. It is now the widely adopted way applicants to medical school and other professional programs are evaluated.
At the door
Two minutes with the prompt.
A scenario is posted on the door: an ethical dilemma, a conflict, sometimes a role to step into. You have about two minutes to read it and frame your approach before you enter.
Inside
One room, one or two interviewers.
You step in to one or two interviewers who have no record of your earlier stations. You respond to the prompt, think out loud, and take a clear position. Most stations are discussion-based, but some ask you to act out your approach with a hired actor.
The exchange
Then the follow-up questions.
A station runs about 6 to 10 minutes, with follow-up questions if need be. They test how you reason when the scenario shifts. Composure and clarity weigh as much as the answer itself.
The bell
The bell, and a clean slate.
A bell ends the station. You move to a new room and a new evaluator, with no memory of the last one. One weak moment never follows you down the circuit.
Blinded scoring
A blinded score at every station.
Each station is graded solely by the interviewer assigned to it. That interviewer is blinded: unaware of the opinions and grading of the others, and unaware of how you did at the stations before. One weak moment no longer follows you down the circuit. The top applicants are those who score the highest cumulative scores from all stations.
The panel setting interview
One long table. One impression.
In a panel setting interview you face every interviewer at once, seated at one desk. One question answered poorly can shape how the room reads you for the rest of the hour. Panel setting interviews are still in use, and several schools run them. We train candidates for both.
Know your school's format
Not every school runs the same interview.
Interview formats vary by school and by cycle. Some programs run a full MMI circuit, some kept a traditional panel setting interview, and some combine both on a single interview day. Confirm the current format on your school's admissions page, then train for what you will actually face. We prepare candidates for all of them.
MMI circuit
- McMaster University
- University of British Columbia
- McGill University
- Dalhousie University
- University of Manitoba
Panel setting interview
- Western University (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry)
- University of Ottawa
Combined or modified
- Queen's University: MMI, then panel setting
- University of Calgary: MMI and panel setting circuits
- University of Toronto: its own modified format (MPI)
Based on each school's published admissions information.
Medical schools around the world that use the MMI
Canada
- McMaster University Medical School
- Queen's University
- McGill University
- University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine
- Northern Ontario School of Medicine
- University of Alberta
- University of Calgary
- University of Montreal
- Dalhousie University
- Université de Sherbrooke
- Université Laval
- University of Manitoba
United States
- Albany Medical College
- Central Michigan University College of Medicine
- Cooper/Rowan School of Medicine
- Duke University School of Medicine
- Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- New York Medical College
- Oregon Health and Science University
- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Stanford Medical School
- David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- New York University School of Medicine
- Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine
- University of Alabama School of Medicine
- University of Arizona College of Medicine
- University of California Davis School of Medicine
- University of California Riverside School of Medicine
- University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
- University of Massachusetts Medical School
- University of Mississippi School of Medicine
- University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
- Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
- Western Michigan University School of Medicine
United Kingdom
- University of St Andrews School of Medicine
- St George's, University of London
- University of Leeds
- University of East Anglia
- University of Birmingham
- University of Dundee
- University of Aberdeen
- Keele University
- University of Leicester
- University of Manchester
- Queen's University Belfast
- Cambridge University (Graduate course)
Australia
- University of Sydney
- University of Notre Dame Australia
- University of Wollongong
- Australian National University
- University of Melbourne
- Monash University
- Deakin University
- Griffith University
- University of Western Sydney
- Newcastle University
What it evaluates
What an admission interview actually scores.
The purpose is to evaluate your critical thinking and your conflict resolution, and to give the admissions team more insight into the qualities and skillsets you bring. There is no answer key. What carries is how you reason out loud, and it shows up across four recurring station families.
Ethical reasoning
Competing principles, one position.
A dilemma with no perfect answer. You identify the central issue, weigh the competing perspectives, and justify a clear position.
What evaluators observe
- Recognition of the ethical dilemma
- Balance between competing perspectives
- Professional judgment
- Clarity of reasoning
- A justified position
Critical thinking
Signal, separated from noise.
A scenario loaded with details, competing priorities, or deliberate distractors. You reason under uncertainty without rushing to a conclusion.
What evaluators observe
- Prioritization of relevant facts
- Analytical depth
- Nuance
- Avoidance of premature conclusions
- Structured decision-making
Communication
Clarity for a specific listener.
You explain something clearly to a particular audience, or navigate a task where sequencing and adaptability matter.
What evaluators observe
- Clarity of explanation
- Sequencing of ideas
- Adaptation to the listener
- Listening and responsiveness
- Avoidance of assumptions
Role-based interaction
The person, not just the problem.
An interpersonal scenario, sometimes with a trained actor. You manage the person in front of you, not only the situation presented.
What evaluators observe
- Empathy
- Professionalism
- Adaptability
- Composure
- Interpersonal effectiveness
CASPer®
CASPer®, the online situational judgment test.
CASPer® is an open-response situational judgment test from Acuity Insights, used by more than 500 programs worldwide, mostly in medicine and the health sciences. It looks at how you reason through interpersonal and professional dilemmas: ethics, empathy, communication, collaboration, self-awareness. You take it online. For the 2026–2027 cycle it has 11 scenarios: in the first 4 you record a one-minute video answer to each question, in the next 7 you type your answers, three and a half minutes for each pair of questions. Each response is scored by a different trained rater.
Our CASPer® preparation sessions are delivered virtually, live, one-on-one and tailored to your needs.