1) Waiting time is exploration time.
I can not stress how important this can be. A lot of medical schools give you an hour or more where you have nothing to do but wait for your next appointment. Get out of the admissions office and explore! If you have 10-15 minutes before your appointment, that's one thing. However, sitting around comparing applications with a bunch of applicants is not going to help you get in or help you judge a school. True, a lot of medical students will pop in and out while you are hanging out in the office, but these are students who are going to tell you mainly the positive stuff about their school. Go find some disgruntled students! This is potentially the school you will have to study at for the next four or more years. You will have plenty of time to ask questions and talk to some students/applicants during the tour and meal periods. You will NOT have another opportunity to wander around and see things off the beaten path like research facilities and other things that you might be interested in. Further more, you might have the luck of learning something that could help you explain your interest in the school you are interviewing at , or something that you will be able to otherwise connect to your application. Learn as much about the school as you can, wander! Even better, you have the wonderful opportunity to possibly meet someone who could seriously help you get accepted. I once got stuck in an elevator for 10 minutes with on of the Associate Deans, and on another occasion I happened to stumble upon the Dean of Admissions, something that lead to an hour and a half friendly chat.
2) Staying an extra night has its advantages.
Interviews are all about showing the admissions committee that you are a good fit. Your stats and application gets you an interview, but your interview is, in general, essential for an acceptance. Staying an extra night, either before or after your interview, provides you with excellent opportunities. For one, you have another opportunity to wander around and meet people/learn things, as I mentioned above. For two, you have an enormous opportunity to socialize with students, especially if you happen to be spending Friday night there. While I suppose there is the very unlikely opportunity of meeting a student member of the admissions committee, the bigger benefit is you get to interact with students on a completely social level. This is a great insight into how students really feel and if you fit with their style. In addition, once I had a couple students actually plug for me with the admissions committee. I was extremely flattered, regardless of if it changed anyone's opinion of me.
3) Know something about your interviewer.
Generally, you are given the names of your interviewer at the start of the day, when you arrive. Naturally, you will attempt to be early anyways, so use that time to go find a computer. If you have an internet friendly phone, that'd work too. I have never had a problem using a medical school's library, simply explain that you are interviewing and it should be all right. So how does this advantage you? I'm not saying you should walk into your interview and say "I know where you went to school and where you live." A little too forward. Rather, you can use it to your advantage by steering your responses to reflect mutual interests and realms of knowledge. For example, say you are interested in public health and your interviewer is actively publishing on the topic. You would be able to have an in depth discussion on this topic. Also, it can be useful for when you are inevitably asked if you have any questions. If your interviewer is a cancer researcher and you have an interested in opportunities in the field, or just general questions about their research, feel free to bring it up. Highlighting mutual interests can never hurt you, but it certainly can help you. Adcoms are looking for students that fit with their philosophy, and your interviewer is a part of that philosophy. You want to be able to relate to your interviewer, because it will certainly make the interview less stressful if nothing else, even if the connection is that you were both from the same State and you contrast your State with where the medical school is. If you are asked how you know something, simply admit that you asked or looked something up on them. I've actually been complimented several times for taking the initiative of looking something up.
4) Dress conservatively, but don't hesitate to be fashionable or to stand out a little.
You definitely want to be professional at interviews, but don't hesitate to drop the white button downs for a shade of blue or the color that best suits you. I noticed at my first interview that I was the only one out of 20 students to wear something besides a white button down. I was consistently selected out of the group throughout by those leading conversations, demonstrations, etc. By my last interview, more than half of the interviewees were wearing something besides white. Coincidence?
5) Send thank you letters, assume they won't help you.
Don't fret about whether or not that a letter is going to help you or hurt you. Unless there is a specific request for letters, it will not affect your application negatively. They receive a bajillion of them, you will not seem pretentious or trying to brown nose. Most likely, by the time your have sent your letter and it is received, any notations on your application by your interviewer will have been submitted. There is a slight possibility of it helping you during later evaluations, I suppose, but don't count on it. Not sending them is not going to affect you for the same reasons. However, if you end up going to that school and you did not send a thank you letter, you might feel a bit guilty for not thanking them. After all, they were probably instrumental in getting you accepted. I know I do, and I fully intend to apologize if I went to one of the several schools I chose not to send thank you letters to, several of which I've been accepted to.
6) If given the option, schedule interviews as late as possible in the day.
For one, you will be more awake and alert than you would be for that 8:00 AM check in after tossing and turning all night. More importantly, you will have had hours to experience and learn about the school, quite possibly having done the tour and info sessions. This is an enormous advantage in tailoring your "Why this school" questions, which is sometimes a bit hard when you've only read about it.
7) Consider a chemical method of putting yourself to sleep the night before.
It can be really hard falling asleep for a variety of reasons. Jet lag, large time difference, staying with a noisy student, etc. All of this could seriously hurt you the next day. I know that at one particular interview, I was so exhausted that my picture they took is terrible (I had a lazy eye from being so tired), and I did very poorly at the interview. I also asked some pretty dumb questions, because I just couldn't sleep straight. Think about taking a light dosage of sleeping pills, or even a tad of ethanol (make sure you shower in the morning. A beer or two shouldn't leave an odor, but why risk it!).
8) Other little things
Smile, especially when meeting your interviewer
Don't try and smile the entire interview, it will look fake if it isn't natural
Learn to be humble and still get your message across
Thank them for any praise, be humble about it
I grew up on military bases, so I have always chosen to address my interviewers as Ma'am or Sir. Yes sir, etc. It seems like a lot of my interviewers were ex-military, as well.
Ask good questions. Even if they are standard, the best questions are the one's you didn't read on a list of "good questions." They come from yourself
Don't be afraid to pause before answering, especially if it is a new question.
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