UNLV Med Interview Prep Guide (2025-2026)

The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV (commonly known as UNLV School of Medicine) offers a community-focused MD program and utilizes a unique virtual interview process. Applicants invited to interview face a combination of asynchronous recorded responses and live online sessions, rather than a traditional MMI, allowing the school to assess mission-fit and personal qualities in a structured yet conversational setting unlv.edu unlv.edu. UNLV’s mission centers on improving healthcare in Nevada through excellence in education, patient care, and research unlv.edu, and this ethos is reflected in the program’s curriculum and values. The four-year curriculum emphasizes hands-on community engagement, small-group learning, and training in diverse clinical environments, aligning with the school’s values of excellence, innovation, compassion, inclusion, and integrity unlv.edu. Interview preparation should include familiarity with the school’s mission and regional healthcare issues – for example, Nevada’s physician shortage unlv.edu – as well as reflection on one’s own experiences in areas like community service, leadership, and research. Below is a detailed guide covering the interview format, the school’s mission and program features, relevant policy topics, selection criteria, competency expectations, common interview question themes, the application timeline, and a concluding summary.

The UNLV School of Medicine conducts its interviews virtually and has developed a multi-part process for the 2025–2026 cycle. Interview weeks include both asynchronous (pre-recorded) and synchronous (live online) components, with a set schedule that all interviewees follow unlv.edu. This is not an MMI; instead, the school uses standardized interview questions in a one-on-one format, akin to a formal job interview, to evaluate each applicant’s fit with UNLV’s mission and to gauge qualitative attributes unlv.edu. Interviewers are typically faculty or community physicians who are not part of the admissions committee, and they receive no academic metrics (MCAT, GPA) about the applicant beforehand, making the interview essentially “closed-file” regarding grades unlv.edu. The focus is on getting to know the candidate’s personal competencies and values. Student ambassadors also participate by interacting with applicants in a group setting and later providing informal feedback to the committee (though they do not score candidates) unlv.edu. Approximately 300 applicants are interviewed each year for a class of around 60 students unlv.edu thenevadaindependent.com, so an interview invite is significant – roughly only one in five interviewees will ultimately matriculate in the program.

• A short asynchronous video interview with standardized questions, completed via an online platform. This one-way recorded interview is reviewed and scored by faculty reviewers, who provide qualitative feedback to the admissions committee; the video is saved in the applicant’s file unlv.edu.
• A one-hour small-group virtual session with two current student ambassadors and a handful of fellow applicants. This live session is informal and conversational, giving candidates a chance to learn about the school from students. It is not scored or recorded (ambassadors may submit brief qualitative impressions afterward) unlv.edu.
• A 90-minute live virtual Q&A session with members of the administration. This session allows applicants to ask questions about the school’s program, culture, or anything else. There are no interview questions during this portion – it is purely informational and is neither scored nor recorded unlv.edu.
• A 45-minute one-on-one virtual interview with a faculty or staff member of the school’s interview board. In this formal interview, the interviewer asks a set of standardized questions and evaluates the applicant’s responses. The conversation is scored quantitatively and supplemented with written qualitative feedback for the admissions committee, and it is recorded for later review unlv.edu.

UNLV’s medical school was established with a clear mission: to serve Nevada’s patients, community, and healthcare system as “a transformational force for improving healthcare in Nevada” unlv.edu. This mission is pursued through evidence-based medical education and research, high-quality and cost-effective clinical care, and building an Academic Health Center that fosters collaboration and inclusion unlv.edu. In practical terms, the school is focused on training physicians who will address Nevada’s healthcare needs and improve the health of Nevadans throughout their lives. Supporting this mission is a set of core values that define the school’s culture and expectations. The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine’s stated values are Striving for Excellence, Driving Innovation, Serving with Compassion & Humility, Demonstrating Inclusion, and Acting with Integrity unlv.edu. These values signal the traits and behaviors the school cultivates in its students and, by extension, looks for in its applicants. An interview at UNLV will likely probe how well a candidate’s own values and experiences align with these principles. Understanding the mission and values can help applicants frame their personal stories in a way that resonates with the school’s ethos (for example, highlighting service and integrity in one’s background).

The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV is Nevada’s newest allopathic medical school, founded in 2017 to expand the physician workforce in the state studentdoctor.net. Located in the heart of the Las Vegas Medical District, the school opened a 135,000-square-foot medical education building equipped with state-of-the-art technology and simulation labs unlv.edu. The Doctor of Medicine (MD) program is fully accredited and structured into three phases – foundational pre-clinical education, core clinical clerkships, and career-focused electives – designed to give graduates the comprehensive skills needed for modern practice unlv.edu. A defining feature of UNLV’s curriculum is its strong community orientation. Students begin their training with an immersion in public health and emergency response: from day one, they undergo emergency responder training and learn about population health issues in Las Vegas unlv.edu. Throughout the program, students engage in service learning experiences; for example, they work in cohort teams to complete service hours with major local non-profits and volunteer at the UNLV Community Clinic, which provides free care to underserved populations in Southern Nevada unlv.edu. Small-group, problem-based learning is emphasized in the pre-clinical phase, fostering teamwork and critical thinking, while clinical rotations take place at the school’s partner hospitals, including University Medical Center (UMC), Sunrise Hospital, the VA Medical Center, and Nellis Air Force Base Hospital, exposing students to a wide variety of patient populations and medical cases unlv.edu. Class size has been relatively small (around 60 students per year in recent classes) thenevadaindependent.com, which allows for a close-knit learning environment and strong mentorship. As a state-funded public medical school, UNLV gives preference to Nevada residents in admissions studentdoctor.net, and the school actively recruits a diverse student body that reflects the community it will eventually serve unlv.edu. The program also offers opportunities such as dual degrees (e.g., MD/MBA or MD/MPH) and participation in national honor societies (like AΩA and the Gold Humanism Honor Society) for high-achieving students unlv.edu. These unique features and resources make UNLV’s program distinctive, and they provide great material for discussion during interviews.

Given these distinctive features, candidates may want to prepare a couple of insightful questions to ask their interviewers about the program. Here are a few examples:

• What opportunities do medical students have to engage in community service or work with underserved patients during the program (for instance, through the UNLV Student-run Community Clinic or other initiatives)? unlv.edu
• How does the new medical education building and advanced simulation technology enhance student learning, and in what ways do students utilize these state-of-the-art facilities? unlv.edu
• Are there research or scholarly project opportunities for students, and how do these projects tie into the school’s mission of improving healthcare for Nevadans? unlv.edu unlv.edu

In preparing for interviews, it’s helpful to be aware of broader healthcare policy issues and trends that affect the school and its region. UNLV School of Medicine was founded in response to Nevada’s healthcare challenges, so interview discussions may touch on these topics:

• Physician Workforce Shortage in Nevada: Nevada has long suffered from a shortage of doctors. The state ranks 45th in the nation for active physicians per capita (and even lower for primary care doctors and surgeons), underscoring the need for more healthcare providers unlv.edu. UNLV’s medical school itself is a key part of the state’s strategy to address this shortage by training new physicians to serve locally.
• Graduate Medical Education and Retention: A contributing issue is the limited number of residency (graduate medical education) positions in Nevada. Many medical graduates leave the state for residency training due to insufficient local slots, and once they leave, they often do not return. Expanding residency programs is a policy focus to help Nevada retain more of its medical school graduates unlv.edu. Interviewers might explore your thoughts on the importance of training and keeping physicians in-state, especially since UNLV’s mission is tied to bolstering Nevada’s healthcare system.
• Healthcare Access and Public Health Disparities: Southern Nevada’s population is diverse and includes many underserved communities. Las Vegas is a rapidly growing urban area with pockets of insufficient healthcare access, and the state also has rural areas with limited medical services. Issues such as providing care to uninsured or underinsured patients, addressing social determinants of health, and improving public health outcomes in the community are all relevant. UNLV instills in students a commitment to community health improvement unlv.edu, so be prepared for discussions about how a physician can advocate for better healthcare access or how policy changes (at the state or national level) can impact patient care. National healthcare trends – for example, the implications of federal healthcare reforms or lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic – could also come up as context, since they affect how medicine is practiced in Nevada and beyond.

Like most medical schools, UNLV evaluates applicants holistically, looking closely at personal attributes and extracurricular experiences in addition to academic metrics. In fact, the admissions committee has specific expectations for certain non-academic experiences. Clinical experience with direct patient exposure is essentially required – the school notes that all applicants should have spent meaningful time with physicians and patients (through shadowing, scribing, clinical employment, etc.), ideally accumulating 100+ hours in a longitudinal setting unlv.edu. This ensures candidates have firsthand insight into patient care and the medical profession. Community service is another highly valued component: UNLV expects sustained, significant volunteer service (medical or non-medical) that demonstrates a commitment to helping others over time unlv.edu. The admissions FAQ emphasizes that community service should be longitudinal (showing growth and dedication in a volunteer role), and many students serve in free clinics or outreach programs – directly aligning with the school’s mission of community engagement. Other non-academic factors that UNLV likely considers include leadership and teamwork experiences, research or scholarly work, and evidence of resilience, maturity, and cultural competence. The program’s values (integrity, compassion, innovation, etc.) provide clues to the personal qualities they seek. For example, having leadership roles in organizations or significant project involvement can demonstrate innovation and responsibility, while experiences working with diverse groups can show inclusion and empathy. In the interview, you should be ready to discuss these aspects of your background – not with prepared answers, but by genuinely reflecting on how your life experiences have prepared you to uphold the school’s mission and values.

Applicants to UNLV School of Medicine are assessed against the same core competencies expected by medical schools nationwide. The AAMC Premedical Competencies (formerly known as the 15 Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students) serve as a guiding framework for admissions offices to evaluate an applicant’s readiness for medical training students-residents.aamc.org. These competencies cover a broad range of attributes across several domains – including Social Skills, Cultural Competence, Teamwork, Ethical Responsibility (interpersonal/intrapersonal skills), Resilience and Adaptability, Reliability and Dependability, Critical Thinking and Scientific Inquiry, and a solid foundation in Science Knowledge. Candidates interviewing at UNLV should be aware that their interpersonal skills and professional behaviors are being judged against these standards. For instance, the ability to communicate clearly, work in a team, demonstrate integrity, and show a service orientation are all critical competencies that successful medical students possess. On the MD program side, UNLV’s Educational Program Objectives and curriculum are built around developing key physician competencies that mirror national standards. The school integrates training in domains such as clinical skill, medical knowledge, professionalism, and systems-based practice throughout the four years. Courses and activities on professionalism and ethics are woven through all phases of the curriculum unlv.edu, reflecting the importance of these competencies. In essence, UNLV wants students who not only have strong intellectual ability but also the personal competencies to become compassionate, responsible physicians. When preparing for interviews, you should be ready to illustrate these competencies through your past experiences – for example, how you’ve demonstrated cultural humility, reacted under pressure, led a project, or committed yourself to learning and improvement. These frameworks underscore many interview questions (though they won’t be mentioned by name in the questions, the traits behind them are what interviewers seek).

Although specific interview questions will vary, certain themes have consistently appeared in UNLV interviews – all aligning with the school’s focus on personal qualities and mission fit. Motivation and “Why UNLV”: Expect that you will be asked about your reasons for pursuing medicine and specifically why you are interested in UNLV’s program. Since the school’s goal is to train doctors who will serve Nevada, you should be ready to discuss what draws you to Las Vegas or how you plan to contribute to addressing the community’s health needs. Alignment with Mission and Values: Interviewers often delve into how your experiences and values match those of the school. For example, you might get questions like, “How have you demonstrated compassion or integrity in a healthcare setting?” or “Tell me about a time you served your community.” These allow you to show that you embody traits like those in UNLV’s core values unlv.edu. Behavioral Questions: Many questions are likely to be behavioral or situational (“Tell me about a challenge you’ve overcome,” “Describe a time you worked effectively in a team,” “How do you handle failure or criticism?”). Such questions help assess resilience, teamwork, and communication skills – all key competencies. You should be prepared with anecdotes from your life that highlight these qualities. Ethical and Healthcare Scenario Questions: While UNLV does not use scenario-based MMI stations, traditional one-on-one interviews can still include ethics or current-events questions. You might be asked about an ethical dilemma you’ve faced, your perspective on a healthcare issue (possibly something relevant to Nevada, like physician shortages or treating an underserved population), or how you would handle a hypothetical situation as a medical student or physician. The aim is to evaluate your moral reasoning, empathy, and awareness of healthcare contexts. Overall, reports from past interviewees indicate that the UNLV interview experience tends to be conversational and relatively low-stress. In fact, student feedback on SDN described the interview days as friendly and positive, with an average self-reported stress level around only 2–3 out of 10 studentdoctor.net. Interviewers want to get to know you as a person, so genuine responses carry more weight than “perfect” scripted answers. Being well-versed in your own application (ready to discuss anything you’ve done or written about) and knowledgeable about UNLV’s mission and the healthcare environment will help you confidently navigate the questions. Remember that the interview is also an opportunity for you to demonstrate professionalism and enthusiasm and to show that you are a good fit for the school’s collaborative, community-oriented culture.

UNLV operates on a rolling admissions schedule unlv.edu, which means that applications are reviewed and decided continuously rather than all at once. Below are key dates and deadlines for the 2025–2026 application cycle (for the medical school class entering in Summer 2026):

• May–June 2025 – AMCAS Primary Application Opens: Applicants begin working on and submitting the AMCAS application (which typically opens in May); submissions to individual schools can start in late May/early June. UNLV can start receiving applications from AMCAS as soon as they are transmitted unlv.edu.
• July 2025 – Secondary Application Invitations Begin: After reviewing AMCAS primaries, UNLV starts emailing invites to complete the secondary application (supplemental application) around July. Once invited, applicants have two weeks to submit the secondary form and fee unlv.edu unlv.edu.
• August 2025 – Interview Invitations Sent Out: The first interview invitations are extended as early as August unlv.edu. (UNLV’s interviews run on a specific schedule during set "interview weeks.") Interview Season: September 2025 through February 2026 is the period during which interviews are conducted for selected applicants unlv.edu.
• October 1, 2025 – Primary Application Deadline: This is the latest date to submit your AMCAS application to UNLV unlv.edu. All applicants must also have taken the MCAT by this date and ensure at least the minimum required 3 letters of recommendation (or committee letter) have been received. Missing the primary deadline disqualifies an applicant from further consideration.
• November 15, 2025 – Secondary Application Deadline: All invited secondaries must be submitted by this date unlv.edu. (UNLV stops sending new secondary invitations in early November, so essentially by mid-November the secondary stage is closed to new submissions.) Applicants are encouraged to complete the secondary well before this deadline if possible, due to rolling admissions.
• Late October 2025 – March 2026 – Admission Offers Released: Initial acceptance offers begin in late October (after the first few interview rounds) and then continue to be released monthly on a rolling basis through the end of March unlv.edu. After each Admissions Committee meeting, a batch of decisions is sent out. An applicant who interviewed early in the cycle might hear an acceptance later in winter, since all interviewed candidates remain under consideration until the class is filled unlv.edu.
• Early April 2026 – Waitlist (Alternate List) Activates: Around early April, the school notifies a number of candidates that they are placed on the alternate list and begins offering admission to some waitlisted applicants to fill remaining spots unlv.edu. (Those who are not admitted or waitlisted by this point receive final rejection notices.)
• April 30, 2026 – “Commit to Enroll” Deadline: By April 30 (per AMCAS rules), accepted students should have narrowed their choices to one school and confirmed their plan to enroll at UNLV if holding a seat unlv.edu. Admitted applicants can hold only a single acceptance after this date, which helps schools manage their class. This is the last day to withdraw from UNLV without penalty if choosing another institution.
• Early June 2026 – Final Matriculation Decisions: The class is finalized by early June. In May and up to the first week of June, any movement off the waitlist will be resolved and remaining open seats are filled. UNLV’s cohort is closed (no further offers) by around June 1, with final notifications sent to any candidates who did not make it off the waitlist unlv.edu.
• July 2026 – Orientation and Start of Classes: Incoming students attend orientation in July 2026, marking the beginning of their medical school journey at UNLV unlv.edu. (The class matriculating in 2026 will be the Class of 2030, reflecting the expected graduation year.)

Preparing for an interview at the UNLV School of Medicine means understanding both the school’s unique process and its overarching mission. By familiarizing yourself with the virtual interview format and what each component entails, you can approach interview day with confidence in the logistics. More importantly, grounding yourself in the school’s mission to improve Nevada’s healthcare and its values of excellence, innovation, compassion, inclusion, and integrity will help you connect your own story to what UNLV is looking for in future physicians. Reflect on how your experiences exemplify the non-academic qualities the program emphasizes – whether it’s long-term service to your community, leadership in a tough situation, or resilience in the face of challenges. Stay informed about relevant healthcare issues in Nevada, since a genuine awareness of the community you aspire to serve can leave a strong impression. Finally, keep track of the application timeline and respond promptly to any communication, as UNLV’s rolling admissions means timing can be important. With thorough preparation, you can walk into your UNLV interview ready to showcase not only why you are a strong candidate for medical school, but why you are an ideal fit for the collaborative, community-oriented environment at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine.