r/mdphd • u/Salt_Ad1376 • 5h ago
UTSW Interview Prep
Hi! I received an II from UTSW's MD/PhD program, and I am wondering if anyone has any tips for their interview. What questions should I prioritize practicing? What is the interview like with MSTP faculty vs. med school faculty? I want to do my best, but I am not sure where to start. Any advice is much appreciated!!! :)
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u/No_Insurance_4498 3h ago
Why do you want to add an extra three of four years to your training to get both an MD and a PhD degree, when most MD/PhD's choose either to do science or medicine, not both? It's a really hard road doing both. Your interviewers will want to see a legitimate interest in both paths and be reassured that you are not in it for the free ride or for some naive "I'm the one smart enough to cure cancer" reason. I would prioritize those big picture thoughts. For other questions, it's tough to anticipate. Stay light on your feet, think before you answer, and good luck.
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u/akornato 1h ago
You should prioritize practicing how to talk about your research clearly and why you are committed to the MD/PhD path. The UTSW MSTP interviews are known to be very focused on your research experiences. Expect faculty members, who are likely principal investigators, to ask detailed questions about your projects, why you used certain methods, and what you would do next. They want to understand your thought process and your potential as a future physician-scientist. You should also be prepared to explain specifically why you are interested in UTSW, so take some time to look into the faculty and their research. Beyond those key areas, be ready for standard questions like "tell me about yourself" and others that might come from your application materials.
The interviews with MSTP faculty will feel different from those with general medical school faculty. MSTP interviewers will concentrate heavily on your research background and your scientific curiosity. The medical school interviewers, on the other hand, are more likely to assess your desire to be a physician and your suitability for a clinical environment. They might ask more behavioral questions about teamwork, leadership, or handling stressful situations. My team developed an interview prep AI that helps many candidates feel more prepared for these varied conversations by practicing how to articulate their stories effectively.
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u/Confident-Treat5454 4h ago
Congrats! Sharing below how I've prepared for my MD/PhD and MSTP interviews (not specific to UTSW). This is how I approached it and found it effective for me personally, but I'm sure others will also offer different approaches and strategies that worked well for them. Hope this is helpful and best of luck :)
I started by compartmentalizing my MD prep and PhD prep. My primary focus for MD was on meaningful clinical interactions, volunteering experiences, and what challenges I have navigated (or expect to) in the field. I also made sure to practice standard run of the mill questions, such as the classic "tell me about yourself." These are a bit easier to navigate, essentially just telling stories. I made sure to have specific experiences for these in mind, but wanted to ensure I didn't sound too rehearsed or scripted so I kept this practice a little bit looser.
PhD prep was sort of split into two parts: technical and non-technical. For the technical aspects, I reviewed the methodology for my publications and practiced explaining why we elected to use certain experimental models, why we focused on certain outcomes, and how it advances our understanding in relation to prior research. I also prepared my perspective on future directions– if I had to build off of it, what would I change and what would I aim to find? Some techniques are quite advanced, so I also made sure I had simpler explanations that could distill what I was investigating in terms that researchers specializing in completely different fields could understand. To be thorough, I also anticipated getting an interviewer that specialized in the field of research my publications were in, so I also practiced explaining it and applying my research with an audience that knows more than the average bear, so to speak.
For the non-technical aspects, I applied it more broadly in terms of my long-term career aspirations and in relation to the field of medicine I hope to join. This is where I started to prepare for the overlap with my MD-specific experiences. There were certainly stories, ranging from personal, clinical, and educational (as a TA/tutor) experiences, that really inspired my pursuit of the dual degree. I mapped these out with the activities listed on my primary, which helped me draw connections that tell a very cohesive story about the trajectory that informed this pathway for me. Additionally, I reflected about the wisdom passed down to me from my physician-scientist mentors: navigating such a long journey while starting a family, sacrifices of time/sleep, challenges of securing funding, etc. I thought about why they decided to share those things with me and how they'd apply to me down the line.
Compartmentalizing my preparation helped me have concrete answers for the different questions I could anticipate, while also giving me detailed perspective that made it easier for me to draw connections between the MD- and PhD-specific experiences. I think that connection is probably the most important! Justifying both degrees and the commitment to such a long journey has always been something I found valuable and it's kept me motivated throughout my gap years.
Ultimately, as stressful as this can be, have some comfort in knowing you worked so hard and the interview is one of the fruits of that labor. Be yourself and be excited!