Preparing for Your Medical School Interview at Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine uses a hybrid interview: an MMI plus a traditional one-on-one conversation with a faculty member.

For the 2026-2027 application cycle, interviews are virtual from September 2026 through February 2027, so prepare for both short scenarios and questions about your own experience.

These details come from the school's official application process, checked October 1, 2026. The exercises below are original practice material, not questions reported from a Kaiser interview.

The confirmed format

Part	What the school confirms
MMI	Short interview format assessing personal and behavioral characteristics
Faculty interview	A traditional one-on-one conversation
Setting	Virtual for the 2026-2027 cycle
Other sessions	Welcome and overview, plus an admissions presentation

The public page doesn't specify station count, station length or the faculty interview's duration. Use your invitation for those details.

Don't treat a practice timer as the school's schedule.

Prepare two different kinds of answer

The faculty conversation

For the faculty conversation, choose an experience that changed your understanding of medicine. Write down what happened, what you personally did, and what you would change now.

Then explain why that experience made you want the responsibilities of a physician. Keep your role accurate: observing a decision isn't the same as making it.

An MMI scenario

For an MMI scenario, work from the facts given. State what you still need to know before choosing an action.

Kaiser lists ethical decision-making, communication, cultural humility and problem-solving among the characteristics its MMI assesses. That supports practicing how you explain a decision; it doesn't reveal particular stations or a scoring formula.

A fictional communication scenario

You're volunteering at a clinic's welcome desk. A visitor looks confused after a staff member gives instructions.

Another volunteer says, “Just repeat it louder; we're busy.” You don't know why the visitor is confused.

Explain what you'd do next.

A useful opening

A useful opening is: “I'd ask the visitor which part of the instructions they want clarified, rather than assume the problem is their hearing or language.” You could then ask staff to help with the relevant support.

Stay within your volunteer role. Don't invent a diagnosis, promise a service you can't arrange, or describe the visitor as uncooperative.

The follow-up

Now add this follow-up: the other volunteer says your approach is slowing everyone down. Explain how you'd acknowledge the pressure while still checking that the visitor understands where to go.

Name the next action, not just a value such as respect.

A six-minute practice station

This is our suggested drill, not Kaiser's official timing. Spend one minute reading the fictional scenario, two minutes explaining your response, two minutes answering the follow-up, and one minute reviewing.

That's six minutes total.

In the review, ask whether you distinguished observation from assumption. Check that you said who you'd speak to and what help you'd request.

Repeat once with a different source of confusion, such as unclear signage. Your answer should change when the facts change.

Kaiser Permanente MMI and faculty interview practice questions (written by us)

These are original practice prompts, not questions reported from a Kaiser interview. The first five are MMI-style scenarios built around the traits the school says its MMI assesses: ethical decision-making, communication, cultural humility and problem-solving.

The rest suit the one-on-one faculty conversation.

A patient's adult son asks you, a medical student, to keep his mother's new diagnosis from her for cultural reasons. What do you do?Practice this question now
Your clinic is running late and a colleague suggests skipping the interpreter for a quick follow-up visit. How do you respond?Practice this question now
A community health fair you help run has more people waiting than screening kits. How would you decide who gets screened, and how would you explain it to the people turned away?Practice this question now
A patient tells you she does not trust the health system because of how her family was treated in the past. How would you begin that conversation?Practice this question now
A classmate shares what may be leaked questions from an upcoming exam in your study group chat. What do you do?Practice this question now
Why Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, and why train inside the Kaiser Permanente system?Practice this question now
Which part of your service experience did you find hardest to understand at first?Practice this question now
Tell me about feedback that changed how you worked with someone.Practice this question now
Tell me about a time you changed your mind after listening to someone whose background was very different from yours. What shifted?Practice this question now
What responsibility of a physician do you still need to learn more about?Practice this question now
What would you ask a faculty member to understand whether the school fits how you learn?Practice this question now

These are original conversation prompts. Ask a partner to interrupt with “What did you actually do?” whenever your answer becomes vague.

Replace broad claims about helping people with one action you can explain honestly.

For spoken preparation before interview day, Confetto offers interview practice with feedback. Use the feedback to choose one thing to improve in your next attempt, such as explaining your reasoning before listing actions.

Check your invitation again before the real interview.

Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine interview FAQ

What is the Kaiser Permanente interview format?

A hybrid: an MMI plus a traditional one-on-one conversation with a faculty member.

Is the Kaiser interview virtual?

Yes, for the 2026-2027 cycle, from September 2026 through February 2027.