Section 3

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Section 3: Understanding the Core Values

Your foundation for standing out in interviews, and linking your experiences, skills and values together.

Objectives

Here are the learning objectives for this mini-course:

• Understand the difference between values and skills, and how both are essential for medicine.
• Learn how to demonstrate your growth and experiences through personal stories.
• Reflect on the core domains med schools value most.

Domain 4

Domain 3

Domain 2

Domain 1

Index

Come back to this, whenever you need.

Skills are learned through deliberate practice. Traits like resilience or empathy are collections of smaller, actionable behaviors. Values are your perspective on the world.

Core Skills

Core Values

Domains

practical abilities needed to perform effectively, essential for care

The fundamental beliefs and principles that drive your behavior (e.g. integrity, empathy)

Core Values and Skills: The Building Blocks of Medicine

broad categories that medical professionals need to retain and display

Domain 1

Domain 1: Knowledge, Skills, and Performance

Commitment and motivation to study medicine.

What drives your motivation for medicine?

Insight into strengths, weaknesses and improvement

How have you shown commitment to self-improvement and personal growth?

Personal organization

Do you stay collected and organized under pressure? How?

Don't make these mistakes

Domain 1

Commitment and motivation to study medicine.

Your ‘Why’ is the foundation of everything. This question is the backbone of every medical school interview—and it’s deceptively tough. Answer it well however, and you’ll leave the interviewer convinced you’re making this choice for the right reasons.

Answering this question is grounded in being authentic, understanding the career of medicine, proving that you're fit for the role and having the evidence to back it up

Domain 1

The Ingredients of a Strong Answer

1. Anchor Your Answer in Authentic Reflection

Ask yourself what moments made me consider medicine seriously?

4. Mention the Realities of Medicine

It's important to be grounded in reality- medicine is not perfect

2. Avoid the “Single Moment” Myth

Most people are influenced by a series of experiences.

5. Evidence within Specific Experiences

Make it personal and back it up, with a reason

3. Use a structure

Reflection → Insight → Application. This will help craft your answers.

6. End with Forward-Looking Optimism

Show you're excited and passionate for medical school

Domain 1

Showcasing Your Strengths

What are your top 2-3 strengths? How have they been demonstrated in your experiences? Choose strengths relevant to medicine (e.g., communication, adaptability).

Use specific examples to showcase these strengths! Avoid providing vague buzzwords and examples without any substance. Show the interviewer you know what you're talking about "In a group project, I was a great leader and helped the team, leading to a well-recieved presentation." "In a group project, I took on a leadership role by setting clear goals and delegating tasks based on team strengths. For example, I noticed one member struggling with research, so I paired them with someone more experienced. I also facilitated regular check-ins to ensure everyone’s ideas were included, leading to a well-received final presentation."

1. Weakness: Be upfront about what you struggle with.
2. Action: Showing what you’ve done to improve.
3. Link: How this skill applies to medical school/your role as a doctor

Check out the example for more help!

Domain 1

Example

Turning Weaknesses into Strengths

How you grow is more important than where you start. When you think about your weaknesses, ensure that they are: Authentic (a genuine area where you’ve struggled), Relevant (it shouldn’t make them doubt your ability to succeed in medicine) and Fixable – you’re already working on improving it.

Domain 1

Time Management & Organisation

Medical school demands exceptional time management. You don't want to end up studying in the library 12 hours a day. Interviewers want to see that you can juggle everything: hobbies, social activities and academics. How do you manage your time effectively? What systems or habits keep you organized? What boosts your productivity? Be practical.

This video is a good summary of the principles of time management. These techniques are great to use in life as well!

How do you balance priorities and work life balance?

Domain 2

Domain 2: Safety and Quality

Managing risk and dealing with problems.

How do you deal with mistakes with yourself or others? How do you resolve it?

Personal responsibility and conscientiousness.

Domain 2

Dealing with Mistakes

1. Own your mistake

Show accountability without blaming others- neccessary to own up to patients, to ensure patient-physician trust in maintained.

2. Focus on solutions

Explain what you learned and how it prevents future mistakes. Links back to ensuring constant improvement.

Domain 2

How do you balance priorities?

1. Prioritize effectively

Use tools like Eisenhower Matrix (urgent vs. important tasks). Don't drop everything else that's not a priority- keep it on the 'backburner'.

2. Set boundaries

Explain how you ensure tasks don’t overwhelm your mental health or cause burn-out.

Domain 3

Domain 3: Communication, Partnership, and Teamwork

Effective communication (listening, speaking)

When have you shown clear communication (understanding & explaining)?

Teamwork and collaboration

When have you worked in a team to achieve a common goal?

Leadership and Limits

When have you guided a team in a leadership role, managing multiple members and knowing your limits?

Domain 3

Communicating Effectively

1. Active Listening

Show you value others’ input by summarizing and confirming their points. This helps to craft your responses to what they need.

2. Simplifying Complexity

Use examples of breaking down information to make it understandable.

Domain 3

Teamwork and Leadership

1. Shared & Individual goals

Have shared objectives but focus on aligning individual strengths for the team’s success.

3. Lead by Example

Show how you earned trust and respect by demonstrating commitment, and setting an example.

2. Conflict Resolution

Address misunderstandings calmly and professionally. A disagreement either means different beliefs, or likely both don't have the full information required for the decision.

4. Delegate and Empower

Highlight how you balanced leadership with giving others responsibility.

Domain 3

Knowing Your Limits

1. Self-Awareness

Recognize when stepping back benefits the bigger picture. In medicine knowing when to ask for help is crucial- literally life saving.

2. Seeking Support

Show that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. How to ask for help and learn from others, is a skill as well.

Domain 4

Domain 4: Maintaining Trust

Honesty and integrity

Moments where honesty or integrity influenced your actions.

Treating others with respect, fairness, and care.

Times you treated someone with respect, even under challenging circumstances.

Domain 4

Honesty in Action

1. Upholding Ethics

Show that honesty builds trust and preserves integrity. Highlight decisions made with transparency and fairness.

2. Taking Responsibility

Share moments when you prioritized ethical behavior over convenience or conformity. Reflect on times when you admitted a mistake and demonstrated accountability.

Domain 4

Respecting Others

1. Maintaining Empathy

Show your ability to understand and support others. Not just feeling bad for someone, but trying to put yourself in their shoes.

2. Fairness and Compassion

Share moments where you identified and advocated for inclusivity or fairness.

Well Done! You've worked on your core values, skills and experiences

Now to move onto the penultimate stage: creating a personal database that will help you articulate everything you've learnt, into one simple cheat sheet.

1. Upholding Ethics

“During my final year of A-levels, I was juggling tutoring and managing a student society. Realizing my grades were slipping, I stepped down as president and transitioned to a supporting role, prioritizing my studies while still contributing to the society’s success.”

1. Self-Awareness

“During my final year of A-levels, I was juggling tutoring and managing a student society. Realizing my grades were slipping, I stepped down as president and transitioned to a supporting role, prioritizing my studies while still contributing to the society’s success.”

Don’t shy away from discussing the challenges-you’ll show maturity and awareness. You understand the negatives, but they're outweighed by positives.

4. Mention the Realities of Medicine

"I understand that being a doctor involves tough decisions, long hours, and administration. My part-time job has given me experience managing time under pressure and staying calm in difficult situations. While these have offered a glimpse into the challenges of medicine, I know that the demands of medicine will require even more resilience and adaptability. However, the rewards of making a positive impact on patients' lives will far outweigh the difficulties, and I’m excited to grow both professionally and personally."

Avoid vague statements like, “I like science and helping people.” Instead, make it personal and back it up.

5. Evidence within Specific Experiences

"I enjoyed studying biology, but what truly captivated me was seeing it applied in real life. While shadowing doctors in a hospital, I saw how they used scientific knowledge to personalise care, like when a doctor adjusted a treatment plan for a patient with a complex condition, taking into account both the latest research and their unique needs. It’s this integration of science, problem-solving, and compassion that drew me to medicine."

You don’t need a single life-changing event to justify wanting to become a doctor. Mix and match the emotional and logical reasons.

2. Avoid the “Single Moment” Myth

1. Have an initial reason that sparked this entire journey- "I read a wide variety of books, and I stumbled across 'When Breath Becomes Air' in the library and it fascinated me."
2. Follow it up with how you solidified that intitial interest- "I wanted to experience what it'd be like caring for someone, so I worked for 2 months in the local care home. I felt priveleged by the connection I made with the residents.

1. Prioritize effectively

"During a football competition season, I applied prioritisation to balance training and academics. I prioritized urgent tasks like training sessions and still kept on top of revision by creating 'protected time blocks' and made use of 'dead' time, such as travel to competitions, to review flashcards."

3. Lead by Example

“As captain of my cricket team, I consistently arrived early to set up drills and stayed late to mentor younger players. Seeing my dedication, my teammates began replicating this behavior, leading to a more disciplined and cohesive team.”

2. Conflict Resolution

“While leading a charity bake sale, two members disagreed over pricing strategies. I heard both perspectives, and suggested a hybrid model since both ideas were valid- tiered pricing for premium items and fixed prices for others. This compromise boosted sales and preserved team morale.”

2. Taking Responsibility

“While tutoring, I accidentally gave incorrect information to a student. I immediately acknowledged the error, apologized, and provided the correct explanation with additional resources.” Slip-ups are sometimes inevitable.

1. Shared & Individual goals

“During a group research project on diabetes, I identified each member's expertise, assigning data analysis to our stats enthusiast and the presentation to our strongest writer. By aligning individual strengths with project needs, we achieved a cohesive final presentation ahead of schedule.”

Understood why medicine is truly right for you. Made a deliberate, informed decision to pursue this career, with authentic reasons. Reflected on how your experiences align with the skills and values required, with evidence. Not just an emotional story. Thought deeply about the realities of being a doctor. Understands the challenges of medicine and what the role consists of.

Over-rehearsed Narratives: "I always wanted to help people, and I loved science." (This doesn’t differentiate you from 99% of other candidates.) Overly Dramatic Stories: "My [relative’s illness] inspired me." (It’s okay if true, but this story alone doesn’t prove why you are suited for medicine.) Shallow Responses: "Doctors earn respect." (This raises red flags about your motivations.)

Common Pitfalls

A Practical Example

"I’ve realized I sometimes overexplain things when answering questions because I want to be thorough, but it can make my answers less concise. To address this, I started practicing frameworks to structure my thoughts, and I’ve asked for feedback from colleagues and students when tutoring. More recently, they’ve noticed I’ve become much clearer and more concise, especially when explaining difficult topics. I think this is an important skill for doctors, like when explaining diagnoses or treatment plans to patients." Ensure that you provide a specific example of how you improved, instead of 'I practiced communication and improved'. When linking to medicine, I briefly highlighted how this is an important skill for doctors which shows my awareness without coming off as pretentious.

1. Maintaining Empathy

“While tutoring a student who was struggling with science concepts, they became visibly frustrated and angry at themselves. I remained calm, validated their feelings. It reminded me of when I would struggle with History a few years ago, and I offered what I would've wanted back then: smaller manageable steps that I could take my time working through

2. Fairness and Compassion

During a heated group project meeting, one member felt excluded due to their quieter nature. I saw they were trying to raise a point but couldn't, so I invited their input directly and ensured their ideas were discussed, creating a more inclusive and respectful atmosphere.”

2. Focus on solutions

“To avoid recurrence, I introduced a system of double-checking the critical calculations.” When someone else made a similar calculation mistake on the second day of the competition, it was fortunately found by one of my other team members.

1. Own your mistake

“I miscalculated a key step in a national group science competition. I immediately admitted the error and proposed a plan to redo the step efficiently without delaying anymore progress.”

2. Simplifying Complexity

“During a tutoring session, I worked with a student struggling to grasp a biology concept. I asked targeted questions to pinpoint their confusion, explained it using a simple analogy about traffic flow to represent blood circulation, and confirmed their understanding through practice questions.”

4. Delegate and Empower

“While organizing our sports society meet, I asked a member to coordinate with the guest speaker. By trusting their abilities they delivered exceptional results and I managed to learn a lot from them as well."

1. Active Listening

“During a student mentoring session, I listened to a student’s struggles with revision strategies and paraphrased their concerns to confirm my understanding. They corrected me on one point I forgot to mention, then after I suggested tailored techniques, which they successfully implemented.”

2. Seeking Support

"Before one of our band performances, I consulted the sound manager for advice on how to arange the volume settings, and I asked them lots of questions while I had them, to get to grips with it myself. In the end, we improved our overall performance.”

3. Use a structure

1. Reflection: Share an experience or insight that influenced your decision.
2. Insight: Explain what you learned or realized about yourself or medicine.
3. Application: Show how this aligns with what you value or the kind of doctor you want to be.

This is a loose framework, don't feel compelled to strictly stick to this.

"While volunteering in a care home, I saw how communication could transform someone’s experience. One resident, who barely spoke, started sharing stories when I asked the right questions. It made me realize that medicine isn’t just about solving clinical problems; it’s about understanding people."

After everything, you bring it back full circle to your excitement to join medical school and become a doctor!

6. End with Forward-Looking Optimism

“I’m eager to pursue a career where I can combine my love for problem-solving with building meaningful connections. I want to contribute to my community as a doctor, helping patients navigate their health journeys with confidence.”

1. Anchor Your Answer in Authentic Reflection

• What started this whole journey off? What moments made me consider medicine seriously?
• What have I learned about the challenges and rewards of being a doctor?
• Despite all the hurdles, not just in medical school but even getting in, why am I so driven to pursue it?
• How do I imagine my ideal life in medicine in 10 years? What will I regret in the future?

A great answer balances logic and emotion. I want you to truly reflect on why you're here doing all this- Journal. Find your authentic reasons.

2. Set Boundaries

"To prevent burnout, I break tasks into smaller, manageable steps and set realistic deadlines. I also schedule regular breaks and rarely compromise on self-care like exercise and social activities. This helps me maintain focus and manage stress effectively while keeping a balanced routine."