What should I expect in the interview:
Congradulations on getting an interview offer! This is the first step in getting into medical school. In this page, we hope to explain to you exactly what you should expect in the interview. Preparation is the key to success, be sure to spend some time preparing for the interview in order to maximise your chance of success.
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On this page, we will cover the date, format, language, content of the interviews of both universities.
Introduction
The interview format of the two universities are quite different, as such, we will split the page into HKU and CUHK. If you are only interested in one particular one, please click the button below this paragraph to jump to that section.
In general, both universities follow the same content for the interview, the four big topics which include “Personal Development”, “Medical Ethics”, “Healthcare System & Current Issues” and “Course Questions”. While the language in which these questions are asked may differ, and the format may also be different, the content is always regarding these four topics. As such, it is very important for you to prepare for these topics before the interview regardless of which university you are interviewing for.
For 2025 admission, HKU uses a panel + group discussion interview format while CUHK uses a panel only format. We will further discuss the panel and group interview below. HKU and CUHK also have a tendency to use both English and Chinese in their interviews, we will also dwell deeper into this topic below.
HKU MBBS Interview
Date ​
The details for the interview date can be seen in the picture below (taken from the official instagram account of HKU medicine). The most important date to note for IB/A-Levels application is 19/20 Dec 2024 for early applicants and 23 April for post-graduate students. For DSE, most interviews will take place on 18/19 June.
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Format​
HKU uses a panel + group interview format. There will be an 8 minute panel session in which two interviewers will take place asking you questions. These questions can be anything about your personal development to how the healthcare system works in Hong Kong. This panel session is further separated into English and Chinese, each occupying around 4 minutes. However, HKU has also been lenient towards non-native speakers of Chinese, spending most of the time on English questions rather than a 50/50 split if they notice that you are not very fluent in Chinese. The group interview is conducted in English, 8 minutes will be given among four interviewees. One question will be provided for everyone to discuss, this question is likely to be a medical ethics question or a question about current issues.
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Language​
As mentioned above, HKU uses both English and Chinese in their panel interview but only english in their group interview. For those who are not fluent in Chinese, the interviewers will spend more time on English questions instead. Chinese questions will focus on Personal Development and questions about yourself. Therefore it is very important to spend time practising Chinese answers for personal development questions and have a basic understanding of the Chinese language.
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Content​
The content of the interview is largely the same as CUHK. Covering 4 important topics which you can view here. Apart from these 4 topics, HKU also puts an emphasis on their medical research and breakthroughs, so be sure to look up their website and prepare in advance. Furthermore, HKU curriculum also consists of an Enrichment year, so be prepared to be asked how you plan on spending that year. Finally, same as all other interviews, make sure to prepare a question to ask the interviewers at the end. We encourage asking about a research conducted by HKU medicine that you are interested in (Do read up some information to have some understanding about said research).
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Conditional offer
HKU will issue a conditional offer for those who pass the interview. For NON-JUPAS, the offer will normally be 42 for IB and 4A* for A-levels. For JUPAS, HKU may give you an unofficial conditional offer of best 6 36 marks. For those who excelled in the interview, the conditional offer may be 1 mark lower.
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CUHK MBChB Interview
Date
The details for the interview date can be seen in the picture below (taken from the official website of CUHK medicine). The most important date to note for IB/A-Levels application is 19 Dec 2024 for early applicants and 9 April for post-graduate students. For DSE, most interviews will take place in May 2025.
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Format ​
CUHK uses a panel only format for mbchb interview, meaning that one interviewee would be faced with two interviewers for the entire interview duration. There will be no group discussion session in the interview. The interview will last 10-15 minutes, during which the interviewers will ask short questions which you will have to answer immediately.
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Language
CUHK likes to alternate between using English only or English + Chinese. For the December batch, it is likely going to be English only. For the April batch, Chinese questions would also be included in the interview. In this case, all questions can be asked in either English or Chinese format. It is essential to prepare all your answers in both languages. CUHK will include the language to be used in the interview within the interview offer email, be sure to double-check the email before preparing for the interview.
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Content
The content of the interview is largely the same as HKU. Covering 4 important topics which you can view here. Apart from these 4 topics, CUHK also puts an emphasis on their medical research and breakthroughs, so be sure to look up their website and prepare in advance. Furthermore, CUHK has a very unique teaching style which focuses on learning by topic instead of by system, unlike HKU. Be sure to look up what this means on their website! Finally, CUHK also prioritizes personal development as the workload in year 1 is much lower compared to HKU. They may ask you if you plan on doing anything else in your first year of university life, some options could included joining a society 上莊 or studying a minor.
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Conditional offer
CUHK will issue a conditional offer for those who pass the interview. For NON-JUPAS, the offer will normally be 42 for IB (44 for GPS) and 4A* for A-levels. For JUPAS, CUHK will not provide any conditional offer. For those who excelled in the interview, the conditional offer may be 1 mark lower.
