Med Admission & application
The admission interview: ten minutes at Iași, and it's eliminating
· Med Romania
Ten minutes. That’s how long the interview lasts at Iași — and it’s eliminating. Fail it, and your application isn’t even ranked, whatever your marks.
At Bucharest the exercise runs three times longer and is conducted entirely in English. At Cluj it doesn’t exist. At Timișoara it’s a written biology exam, sat in person.
Which is to say there isn’t “a” Romanian interview to prepare for, but as many formats as there are universities. Here’s what awaits you at each, with the questions actually asked.
What’s covered
🗺️ Overview of the selection methods
| University | Method | Interview | Written exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cluj-Napoca | Application only | ❌ | ❌ |
| Carol Davila Bucharest | Application + interview | ✅ 15–30 min, English | ❌ |
| Iași | Application + interview | ✅ ~10 min, eliminating | ❌ |
| Târgu Mureș | Application + interview | ✅ 15–20 min, eliminating | ❌ |
| Ovidius Constanța | Application + language test | ✅ B1 check | ❌ |
| Timișoara (EU) | Application + exam | ❌ | ✅ 50 biology MCQs |
| Timișoara (non-EU) | Application only | ❌ | ❌ |
| Craiova | Application only | ❌ | ❌ |
Three universities out of eight judge you on paper alone. If orals terrify you, that information is worth several weeks of anxiety — and it should shape your shortlist. Our analysis of the selection methods explains how to choose based on your profile.
🇬🇧 Bucharest — the long interview in English
The most demanding of the group. Fifteen to thirty minutes, entirely in English, by video call, facing two or three professors. You pick a slot between 10 April and 10 July.
The four blocks of questions
Motivation for medicine — around 30% of the time. Why do you want to become a doctor? What experience convinced you? What kind of doctor do you see yourself becoming?
Motivation for Romania — around 20%. Why Romania and not your home country? What do you know about our university? Are you aware of the challenges?
Scientific general knowledge — around 25%. How a vaccine works, the difference between a virus and a bacterium, the cardiac cycle. Plus ethics questions: consent, medical confidentiality, the clinician–patient relationship.
Maturity and resilience — around 25%. How do you handle stress? What will you do if you fail an exam? How will you adapt to living in Bucharest?
You won’t be asked medical-school-level anatomy. The aim is to assess your scientific curiosity and your ability to reason out loud, not knowledge you aren’t supposed to have. An “I don’t know, but here’s how I’d reason it through” beats an approximate recitation.
Three specific pieces of advice
English is half the exercise. The interview is also a disguised language test. A written B2 isn’t enough if you seize up speaking for twenty minutes. Practise speaking, not revising.
Prepare three or four solid anecdotes. Dated, located, verifiable. They’ll answer half the questions, however they’re phrased.
Show you’ve done the reading. Knowing that UMFCD was founded in 1857 and is Romania’s oldest medical faculty takes three minutes to learn and changes the tone of the exchange.
⏳ Iași — ten eliminating minutes
Short, in English, online, from 1 to 19 June. No mark: pass or fail.
The questions are direct. Present yourself in two minutes. Why medicine? Why Iași? What are your strengths and weaknesses? And one few candidates anticipate: How will you finance your studies?
The financing question isn’t intrusive, it’s predictive. Universities know that fourth-year drop-outs are financial before they’re anything else.
Answering “my parents will pay” with nothing further is a bad answer. Have a figure, a source, a plan. Our detailed six-year budget gives you the material to answer precisely — and that precision is itself a signal that you’re serious.
Two other reflexes for Iași: know your own application, because the examiners have it in front of them and can question any line of it. And structure your answers in three points maximum: ten minutes go extraordinarily fast.
🔬 Târgu Mureș — interview plus science
Fifteen to twenty minutes, in English, eliminating, spread over four sessions a year.
Three things set it apart: the interview can include school-level biology and chemistry questions, your reference letter may be discussed, and emotional maturity appears explicitly in the assessment criteria.
Concretely: revise your basics. Nobody expects brilliance, but going silent on “Describe the structure of a cell membrane” is a problem. Prepare your extracurricular activities too — Târgu Mureș values balanced profiles more than purely academic ones.
🌊 Constanța and Timișoara
Ovidius Constanța runs the lightest process: no motivation interview, only a check of your English at B1 — a notch below the B2 required elsewhere. Selection is on the application, weighted heavily towards biology and chemistry.
Timișoara is the opposite exception: 50 biology MCQs, in person, on 27 July, for EU candidates only. Online language test from 21 to 23 July.
The syllabus covers upper-secondary biology: cell biology (membrane, organelles, division), genetics (DNA, RNA, protein synthesis, Mendel’s laws), human anatomy and physiology, and elements of ecology and evolution.
Get hold of the past papers published by the university. The MCQs are standardised and several themes recur from year to year — it’s the type of exam where working through past papers pays better than rereading notes.
💬 The seven questions that come up everywhere
| # | Question | What’s actually being assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tell me about yourself | Your ability to structure two minutes of speech |
| 2 | Why medicine? | Authenticity, not eloquence |
| 3 | Why Romania? Why us? | Whether you researched or applied at random |
| 4 | Strengths and weaknesses? | Your self-awareness. Don’t say “perfectionist” — they hear it thirty times a day |
| 5 | How will you handle the workload? | Whether you grasp what’s coming |
| 6 | Where do you see yourself in 10 years? | Whether a plan exists, even a vague one |
| 7 | Do you have any questions for us? | Your curiosity. Never answer “no” |
On question 4, advice that applies to all of them: a real weakness paired with what you’re doing about it is infinitely more convincing than false modesty. “I tend to work alone, so I made myself join a revision group this year” is an adult’s answer.
🎥 The technical checklist for the day
| Item | To check |
|---|---|
| Connection | Stable, wired if possible. Never public Wi-Fi |
| Camera | Face lit from the front, no backlighting |
| Microphone | Tested with someone 30 minutes beforehand |
| Setting | Neutral, tidy background |
| Dress | Plain, shirt or jacket — yes, even on video |
| Documents | CV and motivation letter open beside you |
| Water | A glass within reach |
The technical check isn’t a detail: an interview lost to a failing microphone can’t always be retaken, and it creates a first impression of disorganisation.
🚫 The five things never to do
Read your answers. The difference between a prepared answer and a read one is audible in three seconds. Prepare anchor points, never a script.
Lie. If you’re asked whether you’ve done a hospital placement and the answer is no, say no. Examiners dig, and a lie discovered eliminates you immediately.
Criticise the system back home. Even if the point is defensible, the interview isn’t the platform for it. Stay factual: “selection is about the number of places” is enough and goes down perfectly well.
Be arrogant. “I will be the best student in your university” is a near-guaranteed refusal. In medicine, humility isn’t a pose, it’s a safety competency.
Not know the university. Being unaware of where it is, how long it’s existed or which programme you’re applying to gives the impression of a mass application. It’s the only flaw on this list you can fix with ten minutes of reading.
How to prepare this week
Three exercises, in this order.
Write out your answers to the seven common questions — in writing first, to clarify your thinking. Then rehearse them out loud, in English if the interview requires it, until you no longer need your notes. Finally, get someone who hasn’t prepared with you to question you: it’s the only way to test your reaction to an unexpected question.
Reread your motivation letter too: at half the universities it’s the thread running through the interview. Our letter guide explains how to write it so it helps you at the oral rather than trapping you.
And check your dates: the 2026 admission calendar gives each university’s interview window.
Sources. Official 2026–2027 UMF admission methodologies; anonymised accounts from admitted candidates; information published on the university platforms. Verified 31 July 2026.
🛡️ If you’d rather not do it alone
We check every document before it goes out, handle the sworn translations and the apostille, file the application at the university registry and follow it through to confirmation.