Speed Dating for Medical School Admissions

Although medical schools take every precaution in selecting benevolent individuals to be trained as physicians, an international study has revealed that 5% of doctors worldwide have recurrent issues that warrant disciplinary action by medical boards. These issues include violations of professionalism, unethical behavior, negligence, and in some cases criminal intent, reflective of deficiencies in non-cognitive skills. Medical schools largely rely on the interview process for selecting candidates that possess the critical non-cognitive skills of interpersonal ability, maintenance of integrity, ethical behavior, and professionalism. Most utilize the traditional personal interview, which despite its popularity, has little evidence supporting its efficacy and a growing body of evidence supporting the contrary. Recognizing this dilemma, some schools have adopted the Multiple Mini Interview format, which addresses several issues inherent in the traditional interview. Akin to speed dating, candidates are interviewed by multiple isolated interviewers in order to establish more reliable assessments of their non-cognitive skills.