Updated · 8 min read
Preparing for the UC Riverside School of Medicine Interview
Key facts (2026-27)
UCR's MSAR entry says the 2026-27 MMI is virtual on Zoom and Kira Talent, and the whole interview runs about three hours.
- Format
- Virtual MMI on Zoom and Kira Talent
- Where
- Virtual
- Platform
- Zoom and Kira Talent
- Length
- 2 min reading + 6 min per station, about 3 hours
Dates for 2026-27
From August 2026
Interview invitations
September 2026 to March 2027, selected Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
Interviews
Checked October 2026 against UCR SOM: Interviewing for medical school and AAMC MSAR 2027 interview report. Confirm details in your invitation.
The UCR School of Medicine interview format
UC Riverside School of Medicine interviews MD applicants with a Multiple Mini Interview (MMI). At each station you get 2 minutes to read the question or scenario, then 6 minutes with the interviewer.
The school says the whole MMI takes about three hours, starting with a brief orientation.
Virtual, on Zoom and KIRA
That's what UCR publishes about the format on its Interviewing for Medical School page. It doesn't give the number of stations, and it doesn't say whether interviews are virtual or on campus.
UCR's entry in the AAMC's MSAR interview report for 2027 matriculation does: interviews will be done virtually using Zoom and KIRA.
Older guides that promise a "hybrid" day of 6 to 8 MMI stations plus a faculty one-on-one aren't describing anything the school states for regular MD applicants. If you see a station count online, it didn't come from UCR, so go by your invitation email.
| Item | What UCR says |
|---|---|
| Format | Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) |
| Reading time | 2 minutes per station to "familiarize themselves with the question or scenario" |
| Time with the interviewer | 6 minutes per station |
| Total length | About three hours overall. It starts with a brief orientation. |
| Number of stations | Not published |
| Virtual or in person | Not stated on the admissions pages. UCR's 2027 MSAR entry says virtual, using Zoom and KIRA. |
| Interview days | Selected Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, September through March (September 2026 to March 2027 for the current cycle) |
| What it assesses | Verbal and non-verbal communication skills, plus information about your readiness for medical school |
| How you're invited | By email, based on your AMCAS and secondary applications. Only interviewed applicants are considered for admission. |
One exception: applicants to UCR's PRIME program, which trains physicians to care for African, Black and Caribbean (ABC) communities in Inland Southern California and admits six students a year, do both the MMI and a short one-on-one interview for the program.
How long the stations take
A station takes 8 minutes of your time (2 reading plus 6 talking).
Because the station count isn't published, here's how station time alone scales, before transitions and orientation. These are illustrations, not UCR's numbers.
| If there were... | Station time |
|---|---|
| 6 stations | 48 minutes |
| 8 stations | 64 minutes |
| 10 stations | 80 minutes |
Any of those leaves a good part of the three hours for orientation and transitions. Block off the full afternoon or morning and don't plan anything tight around it.
How many applicants interview
For scale, UCR's Class of 2030 profile lists 6,826 applicants, 374 interviewed and 94 enrolled.
That's about 5.5% of applicants reaching the interview, and one enrolled student for roughly every four interviewed.
Enrolled isn't the same as accepted, so the acceptance rate after interview is at least 25%, but UCR doesn't publish it.
UCR School of Medicine mission and values, word for word
The mission is the best guide to what UCR wants from you, and it's unusually specific about place. From the school's Mission, Vision, Diversity and Values page:
"To improve the health of the people of California and, especially, to serve Inland Southern California by training a diverse workforce of physicians, biomedical scientists, and public health professionals and by developing innovative research and health care delivery programs that will improve the health of the medically underserved in the region and become models to be emulated throughout the state and nation."
The admissions site's Mission and Diversity page carries an older version that names only physicians. The rest reads the same.
The same page lists six values, each with a one-line definition:
- Inclusion: "Embracing diversity in the broadest sense and appreciating all points of view."
- Integrity: "Exhibiting honesty and the highest ethical standards in all matters."
- Innovation: "Pursuing organizational goals with creativity and novelty."
- Excellence: "Demonstrating extraordinary dedication to the highest quality outcomes."
- Accountability: "Taking responsibility and ownership."
- Respect: "Showing consideration and appreciation for others."
Ties to Inland Southern California
The school's About page says it was created to address the shortfall of healthcare professionals in Inland Southern California, and the admissions pages repeat the point.
The school says its students are generally from California or have very strong ties to the community, and it assesses out-of-state applicants on what they've contributed to the California community.
The class profile backs this up: 95% of the Class of 2030 have ties to Inland Southern California and 84% grew up in a medically underserved region. The committee also weighs "distance traveled," meaning how far you've come given the resources and mentorship you had.
What this means for your answers: if you have a real connection to the Inland Empire or to underserved communities anywhere, you'll want it ready. Don't recite the mission in an MMI station.
Let it decide which experiences you bring up. If an ethics station lands near access to care, a concrete story about a patient or family who couldn't get care will say more than a sentence about health equity.
Curriculum features
Two curriculum features you can mention accurately if they come up: the Longitudinal Ambulatory Care Experience (LACE), which places first-, second- and third-year students with community primary care physicians across Inland Southern California for three years, and the Center for Simulated Patient Care in the Orbach Science Library.
UCR's MD program is four years. The "3-year accelerated track" in older guides isn't on any school page we found.
How to use 2 minutes of reading and 6 minutes of talking
Six minutes goes fast. It's easy to spend too long restating the prompt and run out of time before committing to anything.
The times below run on the full 8-minute station clock. Aim to commit to a decision by about 5:30, which is 3:30 into your six minutes, so there's room for the interviewer's follow-ups.
| Clock | What to do (our suggested split, not UCR's) |
|---|---|
| 0:00 to 2:00 (reading) | Read the prompt twice. Name the core problem in one line. Note who's affected and what you'd want to know that isn't given. |
| 2:00 to 2:45 | Restate the situation in a sentence or two and name the main conflict. |
| 2:45 to 4:30 | Weigh two or three options, including one you'd reject and why. Say what you'd find out first. |
| 4:30 to 5:30 | Commit to a course of action and say how you'd talk to the people involved. |
| 5:30 to 8:00 | Follow-ups. Answer what's asked, then stop. If the interviewer has nothing more, add a short example from your own experience that fits. |
UCR MMI practice questions (written by us, not UCR)
UCR doesn't publish its MMI prompts. We wrote these around the school's six values and its mission.
They're for practice and won't predict what you'll see.
- Inclusion. You're volunteering at a free clinic. A regular volunteer keeps making jokes about patients who don't speak English. Other volunteers laugh along. What do you do?Practice this question now
- Integrity. A friend in your study group asks you to sign them in to a required community-service shift they're skipping. It's the third time.Practice this question now
- Innovation. A rural clinic an hour's drive from the nearest hospital has trouble getting patients with diabetes to come back for follow-up. It has no new money. Propose two changes and explain how you'd know if they worked.Practice this question now
- Excellence. You're a medical student on a busy clinic day. You notice the resident skipped a step on a patient's medication list check. The resident is rushed and the patient is waiting. What do you do?Practice this question now
- Accountability. You led a student group that promised a local school a health fair. Two weeks before, half your volunteers drop out. Walk through what you'd do and what you'd tell the school.Practice this question now
- Respect. A patient tells you they'd rather use herbal remedies from home than the medication their doctor prescribed. How do you approach the conversation?Practice this question now
- Mission. A county has money for one of two things: a mobile clinic that visits agricultural areas twice a month, or longer evening hours at an existing clinic in town. Which would you recommend, and what would you want to know first?Practice this question now
- Personal. Tell me about a community you belong to and a health problem you've seen in it up close.Practice this question now
- Mission. A patient in the Inland Empire works night shifts at a warehouse and keeps missing daytime visits for his asthma. What would you suggest to the clinic, and to him?Practice this question now
- Respect. Through LACE you'd follow the same primary care patients for three years. A patient you've known since first year stops trusting you after a bad hospital stay. How do you rebuild that?Practice this question now
- Personal. UCR weighs how far you've come given the resources you had. What obstacle have you faced with less support than your peers, and how does it shape the patients you want to serve?Practice this question now
For more station types, see our MMI questions guide, and MMI practice questions with answers for how strong responses are built.
A timed UCR practice run
- Put each of the eight prompts above on its own page and shuffle them so you can't read ahead.
- Open the free MMI timer and set 2 minutes of reading and 6 minutes of response. UCR doesn't publish its station count, so use 8 stations as a working number, and set the shortest transition.
- Have a partner play the interviewer with the prompt in front of them. Ask them to cut in with follow-ups about 3 minutes into your answer: "What if that doesn't work?", "Who else would you talk to?"
- After each station, write down the time on the 8-minute station clock when you committed to a decision. If it's past 5:30 more than twice, redo those stations with a hard rule to decide by 5:00.
- Do the full set in one sitting at least once. You'll find out which answers hold up in station seven, and short sessions won't show you that.
No practice partner?
Confetto's AI mock interviews run MMI stations, ask follow-up questions based on what you said and give rubric-based feedback. You can start with a free trial.
Casper, PREview and other tests
The UCR admissions pages we read (admissions overview, application process, FAQ, interview and prerequisites) don't mention Casper, PREview or any other situational judgment test. Check your secondary instructions to be sure, or email medadmissions@medsch.ucr.edu.
Applying to other California schools? See our UC San Diego interview guide or our medical school interview prep page.
UCR School of Medicine interview FAQ
Is the UCR interview an MMI?
Yes. At each station you get 2 minutes to read the scenario, then 6 minutes with the interviewer. The whole MMI takes about three hours.
Is the UCR interview virtual?
UCR's MSAR 2027 entry says interviews will be virtual, using Zoom and KIRA.
How many MMI stations does UCR have?
UCR doesn't publish a station count, so go by your invitation.
Confetto isn't affiliated with UC Riverside. Everything here about the school comes from its public pages, checked in October 2026.
Formats can change between cycles, so go by your invitation email.
Also applying to the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science College of Medicine or the California University of Science and Medicine School of Medicine? See our interview guides for those schools.