As the results for the entry test have been released and interview dates have been announced, I figured I should compile a post for the interview.
Firstly, as always, my own experience and advice is found the guide I wrote after my own admission back in 2017: https://goo.gl/Q4e8Wg
Secondly, last year I compiled extensive advice and personal experiences by many seniors here at AKU in this post: http://theakuchallenge.blogspot.com/2018/09/aku-interview-2018-my-advice-advice-by.html
The link above should be your go to source and I personally feel there's little more that can be done apart from adding whatever I'm able to gather from the incoming batches or other seniors, and that is what I'm attaching now.
Advice by Mustafa Aman, Class of 2023
Hey, I'm Mustafa Aman, an 023. The AKU Challenge blogspot was a tremendous help for me. I mean, I had literally no connection with any AKU student and I had no idea what to do and how to prepare for interview and all. I accidentally discovered this blog and it was a blessing in disguise for me. I'm extremely grateful for the creators behind this blog and for all those who gave their valuable advices. Now that I've finally made it in, I want to share my experience and put in my two-penny worth for all those aspiring candidates who wish to be a part of the lucky 100. Soo here ya go...First of all, congratulations for passing the test! You did it, I'm really proud of you! Now you're just one step away from being among the lucky one hundred. It may seem like this one last step is huuugee but worry not, I've got your back covered. I've got a couple of tips and advices regarding the interview and I hope you find them useful.
But before I move on the interview, heres a list of general tips:
- Eat well before the interview
-Arrive early
- Dress appropriately. For girls, any modest dress would do. For guys, a formal shirt and dress pants. Coat is optional. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I couldnt wear a tie but I feel like a tie would make you look more professional.
-Take a brief case of some sorts with you full with any certificates or artwork or the like that you might wanna show to the interviewers.
-Have a good body language (eye contact, shoulders straight, use of hand gestures when talking)
Ok so now that we are done with the basic stuff, lets get roooight into the real stuff.
Soo you're gonna have a one on one, interview session twice by two different people. These sessions may be back to back or there might be some time in between. The time for each session varies from 15-20 minutes to 45+ minutes. From what I have gathered from my batch mates and seniors, one of the interviewer will be very lenient to you and so his/her interview will go just fine. The other interviewer will be very harsh. He/she will do this deliberately to see how you deal with pressure situations. One of my interviewers was very kind and showed a very empathetic response to something I told him, the second interviewer gave me a cold shrug to the exact same thing I told her. It really put me off but you should be prepared for it.
The interviews on their own are pretty basic. They have a set of very simple basic questions that they ask literally everyone (will list them later on) and if you answer them straightforwardly, more likely than not, you wont be able to show the interviewer why you are different from the rest. In order to make your interview unique, you need to hold the conversation by its reigns and guide it by yourself to the places you want it to go. Once you do that, the interview will dig in deep. He/she will ask you questions and try to see what your thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences are behind everything you say so make sure you know everything about what youve just said and that youre prepared to answer the interviewers questions in a very expressive manner. And please please be honest. Even if youre an infamous con-artist and are very proud if your lying skills, please dont lie about anything. When the interviewers start questioning you about what you said, they somehow always find out if youve been lying or not. And if they do catch you, its going to be extremely embarassing.
Keep in mind that the interviewers will try to trap you. Since youre a normal human being, you will make mistakes. The interviewer will catch you when you do and push on your buttons even more. If this happens, dont panic. Take a deep breath. You may even ask the interviewer to give you a minute to gather your thoughts. Let me give you my first hand experience of this.
So my interviewer had asked me about my strengths and weaknesses. Before the interview, I had a very well thought answer about this and I had experiences to back up each and every answer of mine. However, during the flow of the conversation, I said something that I had nothing to back up with. I told her I was very good at utilizing the weaknesses of my team mates and turning them into strengths for the team. My interviewer asked me to expand on this. As I had said this without prior thought, I couldnt think of any experience to back up this claim. So I started panicing. I told her something and she said it didnt prove my claim. I quickly realized my brain was short circuiting so I asked her to give me a minute to gather my thoughts and she was kind enough to do so. During that break, I calmed myself down. Tried to think of something but when I couldnt, I simply apologized to her and told her I said this without prior thought so I dont have anything to back it up with right now. The interviewer smiled and then moved on to the next question.
Alright, now lets go take a look at the standard set of questions that they will ask you. I wont be giving you my in-depth answers to these because I want you to show the interviewers who YOU are.
1. "Tell me about yourself"
Dont give the generic, I'm ______, aged ____, lives in ______.
Say something unique. Tell a fact/hobby about yourself. Be humorous. Be quirky. Youre introducing yourself. Make it memorable. For example, "I'm Ali, but my friends like to call me Robin Hood" or "Hello, I'm Ross, like that guy from Friends"
I said something like I'm Mustafa from Jhelum, also known as the city of martyrs. Answers like these allow you to take hold of the conversation. Cuz now the interviewer will ask you more about why your friends call you robin hood or why Jhelum is called the city of martyrs.
One important thing, if you are from a small background, a simple family, an underprivileged city, dont shy away from telling this. AKU wants a representation from a diverse background so it will actually play in your favor if you tell them something like this
2. "Why medicine? Why not XYZ"
Try to think of a very unique and personal reason as to why you want to become a doctor. Dont say something generic like I want to help others or something because you can help others while being a nurse or a fire fighter too. Think really hard about that one particular experience from your life that had a big impact on your career decision. A heredity condition in family? Youre battling with a disease yourself so you know the pain of a patient? You saw healthcare abroad and want to bring that to Pakistan? Say anything thats personal, unique and most importantly honest.
3. "Why AKU?"
Now heres the time where you take out your knife and start buttering up AKU. Most people will talk about the so and so organizations that have approved of AKU that show its the best and blah blah. You should try to add something personal. For example I told them about that one foriegner doctor who told me how his pakistani students from AKU have been very excellent doctors.
There are some other questions related to this that the interviewer may ask:
-What do you know about AKU
-What are the programmes being offered in AKU
-Things that make AKU special (HASS, FALAH etc etc)
For these, you just need to read up about AKU from its website and its wikipedia page. Somethings you may not find on websites:
-AKU has a module based syllabus. Basically, instead of studying each discipline (anatomy, pathology etc) seperately, you have one big module (Like Cardiovasculure, Head and Neck etc) where you study each discipline together.
-AKU has Problem based learning sessions. Basically you are divided in groups of tens, you have these sessions twice a week where you are presented with a case and you make learning objectives out of that case and then discuss then in the next session.
-AKU offers virtual simulations, dummies and computer softwares for learning anatomy and other disciplines instead of real cadavers.
4. "What are your strengths and weaknesses"
Pretty simple question. What you need to be VERY careful about is that you have an experience or anything to back up your claims. And for the weaknesses, you need to have a plan that shows how you are/will try to eliminate them.
5. "Have you ever cheated?"
For some reasons, they always ask you this question. Give an honest reply. If you havent then its well and good. If you have, you need to tell them you know its bad and you wont repeat it. Tell them why cheating is bad. They might ask you AKU's policy on cheating/plagerising (they straight up expel you).
Now some less important questions that they may or may not ask:
- "What does ethics mean to you"
Read up about ethics and bio-ethics. Know some ethical dilemmas. They might give you a scenario and ask for your response. One answer that works for literally any bioethical situation is: I will first consult the ethical department of my hospital and see what are the principles of the hospital Im working in. Its very important that I follow the rules of the organization Im a part of. I will also look into the country's laws regarding the situation. I am a law abiding citizen who will abide by the law. And then I'll consider what I think should be done. And then ill try my best to reach a solution that fits all the three sources I mentioned above.
- "What if you dont get in AKU"
Answer with something like "When one door closes, another opens up so I wont lose hope. Sure ill be a little disappointef considering AKU has been my dream but I always have back up options which Ill be eager to avail if in case I dont get in"
-"What are your hobbies"
If you havent told them this already in the introduction, then you gotta talk about something that youre really passionate about. Dont lie and say you read books when you dont. Say something youre actually passionate about. It can be literally anything from going to the gym, to watching movies/youtube, to gaming. Just be honest.
-"What is/are Pakistan's major issues"
Pretty simple question. Im pretty sure you will find a 100 different answers for this. Talk about the one which is more important to you or you have some personal experience with.
-Any question about religions/politics in general.
Now be careful. Dont give your opinion straight ahead. Answer by saying, you are not a learned person on this matter so you cannot answer the religious question. You will consult a cleric for this. You like your country a lot but you are still too young to have any proper opinion about its politics. You will leave this matter to the experienced.
Other than these questions, some other things I want you to know is that one of your interview will go pretty good and the other most likely will not. Dont be disheartened. It happened to all of us.
Secondly, if you are an anxiety prone person like me, I did some things that calmed my nerves down. I asked for minutes of breaks during my interview so as to gather my thoughts. This gave me a quick breather. During those breaks Id take deep breaths and focus on my breathing. This helps bring your attention away from the nervous situation and you feel calmer. If like me, you start stuttering whenever youre too excited/nervous, then switch languages in between. Like if youre speaking english, switch to urdu and vice versa. The interviews arent english only so you are allowed to do this. Switching languages brings your brains attention away from the nervous situation and so you stutter less. Dont over rehearse your interview. It makes you sound monotonous and very robotic. Its okay to make mistakes. Be sure to be confident enough to admit defeat. Dont try too hard to make up an excuse. Its better if you just tell the interviewer its a mistake on your part instead of making up a stupid excuse.
If youre a religious person, make sure to ask literally everyone for duain. They do wonders. If in case you dont get in, it completely fine. Sure AKU is great and all but becoming a good doctor is really just on you. You can become the absolute best from anywhere. It is just fine if you dont get in. Make sure you have back up options up.
Sooo here ya go! Here are my two cents. Hopefully you will find something useful out of this. In case you want to know something more or need any other help, I'd be more than willing to. Email me (mustafaaman5@gmail.com) anytime you want.
Advice by Arsalan Butt, Class of 2023
This is what i wrote for myself as main points to remember, after talking to many people and my own personal experience. Arsalan Butt 023-
Be honest
Be humble
Be confident
Relax
Positive body language
Theyll ask alot of questions about yourself so take the direction of the interview anywhere you want
Questions about yourself so self exploration is very important
Show passion towards the field
Make yourself stand out
Be the better part of yourself
Make your strong parts stand out and make your bad parts look good
Dont lie
Show maturity in each and every question
Confidence confidence confidence
...
Why should we choose you?
Tell me about your hobbies
Which political parties do you support?
Why Aku?
Tell me one good thing and one bad thing about yourself
Tell me more about yourself
What is your dream for the future
Advice by Ebadullah Shahood, Class of 2023
If you clear the test they're going to call u for 2 interviews that'll take place on the same day. Both the interviews are almost the same. Each might take 15 mins to an hour. Both of my interviews took almost 20 mins so the time does not matter. First of all they'll ask you to tell them about yourself. You'll start with your name where u are from, where uve studied from, talk about your family, what ur parents do, what ur siblings do if u have any. Talk about ur hobbies. If theres anything ure good at, take your work with u to the interview. I live sketching and i took my portraits with me. I drew a picture of Walter white from breaking bad and the interviewer recognized him so we started talking about him. They'll then ask you about ur strengths and/or weaknesses. Try not to include weaknesses such as drugs or addiction but small weaknesses like procrastination and then tell them how you've overcome these weaknesses. U should know about the ethics of medicine since they might give u ethical scenarios. They will definitely talk about cheating. They'll say ke theres a friend who u caught cheating and reporting him would get him in trouble. Always say that ure strongly against cheating and would definitely report him since hes doing himself and the the whole system wrong. They'll also talk about community problems like poverty, pollution etc and what you would do to solve them. Overall the interview was pretty chill, the first one's to get u into the mood and the second one seems pretty easy. Ah what to wear... i think that u should wear what u are comfortable in. I can only say for the boys that they should be in formal clothes. Atleast a formal shirt and pant with or without ties. You can also wear your suits if you're comfortable. Also remember to get a hair cut beforehand, and keep yourself clean. And don't worry, it'll all be really easy, just practice answering these questions a few times with someone.Hope this helps
Update 21/07/2019: Advice by Amrah Hashmi, Class of 2021
(This was written in 2017)
So basically you'll have 2 interviews each by a doctor each, on the same day. Now those who get top notch surgeons have a lot of a tougher time than the rest. Now the interview is as weird as you've heard it to be. Honestly there's no right way to it. We have had people who give really good ones end up not clearing it but then people who have a pretty terrible interview (like me) can end up clearing it, so bear it in mind that no matter how it goes, you have just as equal of a shot at clearing it as the next person.
You'll see people heading for coaching centres, registering for crash courses for preparation but really, at the end of the day, the interview ends up reflecting who you are as a person and that can't really be changed. As for how I prepared for it, i got some sample questions to look at, did lots of background research on the overall Aga khan foundation, read up the blogs that people posted regarding the interview and read up some articles on generally how to go about interviews, especially medical university ones. And honestly if you've done that then you should be good to go.
Oh and another thing I'd like to add is that when I mention weird interviews, I mean really weird ones. One of my classmates spent a major chunk of his interview talking about how he makes cheese and what the good types of it are and another talked at great lengths about the different types of curtains. The lengths of the two interviews can greatly vary. One's interview went on for 1 and a half hour and an hour while my first one barely lasted 15 minutes and the other one 20 minutes.
A little bit on my own (hope it won't be a drag but I really want to emphasize on how even a really not-so-nice one can get you in) So my first interviewer didn't show up. They kept calling her but she wouldn't pick up her phone so they asked me to go to some building where they managed to track her down and she seemed really annoyed at being asked to take the interview, even though she had been notified earlier. (Honestly I was confused but one of my seniors told me her interviewer took her to the main cafe to drink tea during the interview so I knew how things could get) She took me to a waiting area of sorts and there I gave a pretty short interview. It was some generic questions, mostly about my life and habits because I had made it clear I didn't want to talk on religion and politics to stay on the safe side. She looked pretty done with the whole situation so I tried to impress her with my Russian speaking skills (because you're adviced to practically demonstrate any talent or skill you may have) but again she looked impassive and asked me to stop. She asked a lot of questions on my stance on cheating (make sure you vehemently oppose it) a bit on ethics and let me go. As I was leaving, I suddenly thought it would be a good idea to shake hands with her, so I did. She showed extreme reluctance, as if I'd asked for something horrible and after the interview I thought Oh goodness, that's what will have destroyed it.
Second one was after an hour or so. We had to wait in the waiting area of the dean's office (make sure you act just as sophisticated and try to interact a bit with the other candidates because they supposedly check that too) and this one went pretty normal. It was actually in a proper room with the interviewer behind a table for a change. Again it was mostly about my experiences with the school society, my relationship with my family, who my friends are, my ECAs etc. Somehow it didn't have any of the complicated questions that some candidates have been asked. At the end, as I was leaving, and as I was putting the chair back in its place, I accidentally hit it hard against the table and that sort of rebounded and hit the interviewer, again horrible. So basically I had ended both the interviews in a highly unsophisticated manner, something I would definitely not recommend but it did happen to me so.
Well this was about my interview and hopefully it should give you an insight on how things can go.
