Preparing for the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa interview

JABSOM medical school interviews: three virtual conversations

The John A. Burns School of Medicine currently describes three virtual interviews for selected MD applicants. Its Steps to Apply page lists two assigned interviews, then a final interview with the Director of Admissions or an Admissions Committee member. Plan for three separate appointments and confirm their timing in your invitation.

The possible assigned interviewers include clinical or basic science faculty, physicians, JABSOM alumni, medical community members and fourth-year medical students. That list doesn't tell you who your interviewers will be or prove that they all sit together. The reviewed page doesn't publish each interview's duration or file access.

Confetto isn't affiliated with JABSOM or the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. This page covers MD admissions; our questions and drills aren't school interview content.

Use the 2027 timeline for completion dates

The 2027 admissions timeline sets February 5, 2027 as the deadline to complete all interviews. General application guidance says August through February, while the FAQ says through mid-February. The cycle-specific deadline is more useful for planning than assuming that every date in a general window remains available.

Keep all three appointments on your checklist. Confirm the meeting links, time zones and any rules about notes. Completing two interviews doesn't remove the third requirement. If you need to clarify scheduling, use admissions contact details from your invitation or the official site.

Test your camera and sound in the room you'll use. Ask a practice partner to listen for unclear audio and distracting interruptions. Write down a recovery contact outside the meeting platform so you can reach it if the platform itself stops working.

Make your school-fit answer about how you learn

JABSOM's problem-based learning description explains small-group discussions of clinical cases, self-directed learning and team learning. A tutorial group includes five to six students with a faculty facilitator. Those are curricular details, not an announcement that your admissions interview is a group exercise.

Choose an experience where you had to find an answer rather than wait for it to be supplied. Explain how you identified what you didn't know, selected a source and checked your understanding. Then describe how you would bring that habit into a group where other learners may challenge your explanation.

If you've mostly studied through lectures, don't pretend to have extensive problem-based learning experience. Explain a relevant habit you have and a skill you'd need to develop. Perhaps you can organize information well but need practice saying when you are uncertain. A fit answer can include the work required to adapt.

Our learning-question drill

This exercise is ours, not a JABSOM tutorial or interview task. Use a nonclinical problem so you don't confuse learning skills with medical expertise. Imagine a community event has low attendance and your team must decide what to change.

1. List what you know: the event time, registration count and actual attendance. Separate those observations from explanations.
2. Write two questions whose answers could change the next decision. Avoid assuming the event topic is the only cause.
3. Choose how you would obtain useful information while keeping the request manageable for the partner organization.
4. Explain your proposed next step to a partner. Have them offer a competing explanation and respond to it.

Give the first explanation in two minutes. That is our practice timing. Afterward, identify one claim you made without evidence. Replace it with a question or a qualified statement. The goal is to make uncertainty useful rather than hiding it behind confident language.

Repeat using an actual research, work or service experience. Describe a source you consulted and why it was suitable. If the information didn't settle the issue, say what remained unresolved. Don't invent a successful outcome merely to finish the answer neatly.

Discuss Hawaiʻi connections honestly

JABSOM's FAQ says its first priority is resident applicants with strong Hawaiʻi ties and that applicants undergo residency screening. Treat that as an admissions-policy detail to understand, not permission to invent a connection or assume a short visit establishes resident status.

If you have a connection, describe what it actually involves. Work, family or service may explain an interest, but your account should stay within your experience. If you don't know a community well, explain how you would learn from its members without claiming expertise based on reading.

Avoid treating cultural respect as a collection of words to insert into an answer. Ask people how they understand a concern and what matters to them. Don't assume a person's beliefs, preferred language or health decisions from their background. You can acknowledge a limit without making the conversation about your discomfort.

Original JABSOM preparation prompts

These are our questions, not reported JABSOM prompts.

• Describe a time you found out your first explanation was incomplete.
• How have you learned effectively with someone who approached a problem differently?
• Which habit would help you in problem-based learning, and which would you need to change?
• What does your connection to Hawaiʻi help you understand, and what does it leave you needing to learn?
• How would you respond when a community partner disagrees with your team's preferred plan?

Rehearse the same real example with different follow-ups. A second interviewer may ask for another detail, but you shouldn't change the facts or manufacture a different personality for each conversation.

Confetto's medical school practice provides AI mock interviews with follow-up questions and rubric-based feedback. Use feedback to improve one answer, and keep the actual three-interview arrangements governed by JABSOM's instructions.