ANU Medicine Interview

Why ANU specifically? What draws you to a research-intensive MD?

Engage with ANU's broader research culture (the John Curtin School, the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health), the mandatory research project, and the small cohort. Generic "I like science" scores poorly.

The mandatory research project runs through all four years. What research question would you want to investigate?

Authentic and defensible. Tie to clinical observation, prior research, or lived experience. Avoid buzzwords.

A patient in Goulburn needs urgent neurosurgical care available only in Canberra. The retrieval will take 90 minutes. How do you communicate?

Plain language. Time-critical without panic. Engage the patient. Reference NETS/NSW Ambulance retrieval.

Voluntary assisted dying is legal in the ACT (since 2025). How does the ACT framework differ from Victoria's?

Engage with the ACT VAD Act's distinctive features (e.g., territory-specific eligibility, healthcare practitioner role). Show informed engagement.

Role-play: a fellow MD student tells you they're struggling with the workload and considering leaving. Begin the conversation.

Listen first. Validate. Open conversation about ANU's wellbeing supports. Don't armchair counsel.

What does the ANU Rural Clinical School footprint (Goulburn, Cooma, Bega, Eurobodalla) mean to you?

Engage with rural workforce, RACGP rural training, the geographic spread, and the population health profile of the South Coast/Snowy regions.

Explain Medicare and the role of bulk-billing to a Canberra-based recent migrant.

Plain language. Concrete dollar example. Cultural context.

Closing the Gap targets continue to lag for Aboriginal communities in regional NSW and the ACT. What role can an ANU graduate play?

What they are listening for:

• ACCHO partnerships (Winnunga Nimmityjah)
• cultural safety
• racism in clinical encounters

Don't centre yourself.

Describe a time you delivered difficult news.

STAR with reflection.

Should clinical research be more deeply embedded in undergraduate and graduate medical curricula?

Engage with translational medicine, evidence-based practice, the limits of biomedicine, and workforce realities.

Tell us about a time you led a research project or scientific inquiry, even informally.

Authentic. ANU values demonstrated research curiosity.

A research participant in a clinical trial asks about preliminary results that haven't been published. What do you do?

Engage with research ethics, blinding, equipoise, the patient-research relationship. Reference NHMRC guidelines.

Why ANU rather than Sydney MD or Melbourne MD — both also research-intensive?

Engage with ANU's scale (smaller cohort), the specific Rural Clinical School footprint, the John Curtin School integration. Authentic specifics.

Describe a time you worked in a team where progress was blocked. How did you contribute?

Process focus. ANU values constructive problem-solving.

Should genetic testing for hereditary cancer risk be Medicare-funded for all Australians, regardless of family history?

Engage with screening ethics, predictive value, equity of access, psychological burden, PBS economics.

What does it mean to be a doctor working at the intersection of research and clinical practice?

What they are listening for:

• Translational research
• evidence-based practice
• the time and pull of dual roles