Virtual MMI vs in-person: what changes

The mark is supposed to be the same. The room is not.

Virtual MMIs became normal in Australian and New Zealand medicine because of the pandemic and because they scale. Some schools kept them. Some did not. UNSW currently says no online option for domestic applicants. Monash and Adelaide currently run Zoom MMIs. UQ is video conferencing. Auckland is asynchronous Kira Talent, which is not even a live Zoom. JMP has used campus circuits in recent personal-qualities pages and Zoom in an earlier cycle. Read the invite.

GEMSAS is a mix in the same September/October window: Macquarie currently sits domestic applicants face-to-face on 26 September 2026; Notre Dame currently uses a recorded (asynchronous) online MMI; Griffith uses SAMMI for GUMSAA; Wollongong currently runs an online live eight-station MMI; ANU currently interviews online in two parts (4 to 11 September 2026) without calling it an MMI on the GEMSAS page; UWA currently says online interviews without naming the format. Do not average those into "the GEMSAS Zoom."

What an MMI is does not change because the interviewer is a rectangle. Independent stations, timed stems, competencies. Scoring is still their unpublished sheet. What changes is logistics, eye line, and how easy it is to look like you are reading.

What actually changes

Room checks. UQ's briefing pack is the clearest public example: moveable camera, show on and under the desk, government ID, hands visible, no notes, no other people, only Zoom open, up to two hours in a private space. Adelaide tells you all interviews are Zoom, no in-person or phone alternative. Auckland: alone, door closed, no devices, not a phone. If your school sends a pack, the pack is the exam conditions.

Reading time. On campus the stem is often on a door. On Zoom it is usually a shared screen. UQ takes the stem down when you start speaking; you may ask for a brief reshare. Auckland gives 30 seconds then three minutes to camera with no interviewer to ask. Reading time still exists. The furniture changes.

Follow-ups. Live Zoom still has them. Asynchronous Kira (and Notre Dame's recorded MMI, as published) does not. Practising "would that change if..." is essential for Monash and wasted for Auckland's general MMI.

Actors. Harder to do well on Zoom; some schools simply do not. UQ currently says no role-play. Do not assume an actor will appear in a breakout room. See role-play.

Silence. Finishing early on Zoom feels worse because there is no door. UQ says sit in silence; chatting can bias the station. On campus you might hear the next bell. Online you stare.

Technical failure. UQ: rejoin if you drop; no extra time; reschedule unlikely. Auckland: miss 11.00am with the cohort and you are out. ANU and several GEMSAS schools tell you to keep the published dates free. Build a wired connection if you can, close other apps, disable Zoom gesture recognition (UQ flags this).

Eye line. Look at the camera when you are talking to a person. Looking at their face on the screen looks like you are looking at their chest. For a shared stem, looking down is reading, not shiftiness, but UQ wants hands visible if you lean in.

Time zones. Adelaide books slots in Adelaide time and will not reschedule a miscalculation. GEMSAS invites name the format; you pay your own costs to attend. A Zoom from Perth into an eastern slot is still an exam, not a casual call.

What does not change

AHPRA's Good medical practice, not the GMC. Closing the Gap, Medicare, rural workforce, voluntary assisted dying as statute. In New Zealand, MCNZ and Te Tiriti.

Ethics, why medicine, teamwork. The stem is still a vehicle.

What to wear still matters from the waist up and the waist down if you have to stand for a room check.

You still cannot take notes unless the school says you can. Auckland allows handwritten notes in the 30-second prep. UQ forbids notes entirely. Those are opposite rules. Follow yours.

A setup checklist that is not theatre

• Laptop, charger, wired internet if possible. Not a phone if the school forbids it (Auckland does).
• Camera at eye height. Not a bed. Not a car.
• Light on your face, not a window behind you.
• Legal name on Zoom matching the application (UQ is explicit).
• Water. ID. Nothing else unless the pack allows it.
• Household briefed. Doorbell off.
• Backup device ready but not in the room unless the school permits a switch.
• Test the platform the day before. For Kira, create the account when the link arrives, not at 10.58am.

In person, the checklist is travel, photo ID, and arriving fit to be interviewed. UNSW: once you enter the room you are deemed fit; rescheduling is not a right. JMP: miss it without explanation and the application is withdrawn. Macquarie domestic: one Saturday on campus. Different failure modes, same outcome.

How to practise

If the invite is Zoom, do the mock on Zoom. A kitchen table conversation is not the exam. If it is Kira, record three-minute answers without a partner. If it is Kensington or Callaghan, practise walking between stations and dropping the last one.

After UCAT, Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Situational Judgement, the Sep to Dec timeline still applies. Add one hour for the pack: prohibited items, time zone, login. Graduate applicants should follow the GEMSAS September/October clock, not a Year 12 ATAR clock.

MasterMed's first speaking station is free on /interview. No card. The trial never auto-converts. Use it on the same device and in the same corner of the room you will actually sit, which is the part people skip.

Panels on Zoom are still one conversation. Two faces on a laptop is not six stations. Do not reset your personality every five minutes because you practised an MMI.

If a school offers both modes in the same cycle (some have, for interstate or international applicants), the invitation is the source. Do not pick a Reddit default. Adelaide currently says Zoom only. UNSW currently says campus only. Those sentences can move. Re-read the page the week you book.

The competencies do not care whether the assessor is in the next chair or in another city. Your setup should.