St George’s Medical School (SGUL) Interview 2023: Quick Survival Guide
St George's is a world-class medical school based in London. St George's has its origins in 1733, and was the second institution in England to provide formal training courses for doctors. This guide will help you to ace your SGUL interview!
Before the Interview
After you send off your UCAS application, the university screens each application with a range of tools. You can read about them here.
The Interview at St George: Explained
St George’s University follows an MMI format, and in the past has had 6 stations at 4 minutes each. This year, the interviews will be in-person, and you will be able to book a day and time that suits you. In total, you will be at the university for 3 hours – including registration, the interview, and potentially a small tour!
What Questions Will I Be Asked in St George’s Medical Interview?
The questions vary each year, but they all revolve around the same topics. St George’s has published the main qualities they expect to see in students, and the stations are made to assess these qualities. They can be summarised into the following headings:
Motivation for Medicine
Personal Skills and Suitability for Medicine
Teamwork
Work Experience
NHS Hot Topics + Current Research
Respect, Integrity + Dignity
Below, I will talk about these topics in some more detail, and discuss how to prepare for questions regarding those topics. The university website also covers some tips and previous questions here, and is a superb resource to check out!
Motivation for Medicine
This is the typical question that gets asked and is very important to master! You will likely be asked to talk about what made you apply to medicine over other healthcare professions, or to talk about your experiences with the profession. It’s a great time to talk about your work experience.
Top tip: When talking about your work experience, always talk about what you learned, as well as what you saw!
Personal Skills and Suitability for Medicine
This will involve skills such as empathy, good communication skills, and awareness of weaknesses and strengths. They will be assessed throughout the interview, but you could be asked to talk about something you consider being a strength/weakness or to talk about a time when you demonstrated good communication skills.
Teamwork
Teamwork is an important attribute of medical school, and you can be asked about it in different ways! Examples include being asked about “a time you worked in a team and some of the challenges you overcame”. You might also be asked to “talk through how you would approach a potential scenario”, or you could be asked to “talk about examples of teamwork you have seen during work experience”.
Work Experience
Work experience is a big topic to talk about as interviewers want to see that you have had exposure to the medical world, but they are also very interested in what you took away from those experiences. You will likely be asked to talk about what work experiences you have done or to talk about a specific situation from your work experience that really stood out to you.
Remember: Reflection is key in medicine! Throughout the interview, make sure you are reflecting on all the experiences you talk about. Interviewers love to see what you learn and how you improve.
Top tip: when talking about what you learned, talk about how you implemented changes and how they helped you overcome future tasks.
NHS Hot Topics + Research
Make sure you are up to date with current news articles regarding the NHS and scientific advancements.
Top tip: the BBC news app is a really easy way to do this, as you can choose to specifically receive news regarding the NHS.
Some of the hot topics the university has specifically mentioned are: 7-day NHS, funding, NHS long-term plan
Top tip: The NHS 5-year forward view is a good thing to be aware of!
Respect, Integrity + Dignity
The interviewers will be looking for candidates who are honest and respectful and treat both patients and peers in a respectful manner. They will be looking for these qualities in all the stations, by assessing how you present yourself and how you communicate during the stations. It’s important to be yourself, and to remain polite and respectful!
Another way they could assess this is by asking your opinion of professional matters such as “is it okay for doctors to lie to patients?”. Respect for staff and other allied healthcare professionals may involve asking you to talk about your thoughts towards MDTs.
Top tip: If you have any personal experience with this from volunteering or work experience, then definitely mention it!
Final Thoughts
The interview is a stressful time, but the universities just want to know what type of person you are. Practice example questions with friends and family and make sure you’re aware of current NHS political and news articles, but ultimately, be confident in your abilities! Good luck, you got this!
Key Resources
To test yourself in a simulation of the real thing, book a 1-1 SGUL mock interview with us today. We have built this using the information published by the university online.