In the 90s, Adelaide University (which has one of the supposedly top notch med schools) introduced an interview process as part of the admissions requirements. It caused a furore then, and occasionally still does, when academically gifted students did not get offered places due to their performance in the interview. Oh dear, my son/daughter is brilliant and being forced to go to Melbourne to study medicine. One of the main reasons they introduced this requirement, was to try to recognise "people" skills amongst other things. (Interestingly, I have heard on the grapevine, and so should be taken with a grain of salt, that there are some applicants who go into the interview and tell the panel they don't want to be a doctor - this is the only part of the process that they feel they can fail.)