Interview Questions – Med School

I’ll go ahead and say it- I’m not the most eloquent or the best under pressure. So interviews, as you might imagine, are stressful for me! That’s why preparation has always been key for me. I’m sharing about 150 questions I prepared for when interviewing for medical school.

** I want to note that I use a lot of filler words (like, um, etc.) when speaking, so I found it very helpful to actually write out – word for word- my answers to these questions. Most people say that a bullet point format is better so you don’t sound rehearsed. Do what works for you, but the main point is to think through the content of what you’ll be saying. That way, you won’t be coming up with answers on the spot, and you’ll sound more eloquent regardless.**

Before you start preparing for questions:

1. For every course on your transcript- write down a bit of information. What you learned, what you found interesting, etc. Get specific. It’s not uncommon for an interviewer to say “Oh I saw you took xyz class! That sounds so interesting! What was something you learned in that course?”
2. For every activity you put on your AMCAS- write about the activity in STAR format. The ‘result’ is arguably the most important part here. You want to show that you are impact-driven! This is how you should be talking about your activities in an interview.
   • Situation: Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example.
   • Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.
   • Action: Explain exactly what steps you took to address it.
   • Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved.
3. Know what’s happening in society. Look up who your senators, representatives, governors, etc are. Do the same for the city you’re interviewing in. You don’t want to claim to be involved in civil society or care about social topics and not know who your elected officials are.

Personal/About You Questions

1. What are your career plans and what led you to these decisions? 
2. What do you feel is the purpose of Medical School? What do you intend to gain from a medical education? What do you hope to gain from this experience? 
3. From what you understand of medical school, what part of the program will be most difficult for you? What do you think you will find most difficult about medical school?
4. Describe how you can effectively deal with someone in crisis. 
5. How do you handle change? 
6. How do you go about making important decisions?
7. If you could start your college career all over again, what would you do differently? What would you do differently with regards to academic, co-curricular, and practical experiences? 
8. What does the word “success” mean to you? 
9. What do you do when you are not at work or school? 
10. How would your teammates/colleagues/friends describe you? 
11. If we contacted your references now, what do you think they would say about you?
12. What is your relationship with your family?
13. How do you plan to finance your medical education? 
14. What newspapers, journals, etc., do you read on a regular basis? 
15. What qualities do you look for in a physician/ what do you think is the most important quality a physician should have?
16. If you want to help people, why not social work?
17. Describe any travels that you have undertaken and exposure to other cultures than your own, if any. 
18. Do you prefer the idea of basic research or of working with people? How do you imagine the balance of research and clinical work in your future?
19. When you need counseling for personal problems, whom do you talk with? 
20. How will you keep in touch with community needs? 
21. Discuss your academic areas of interest
22. How have you enjoyed your undergraduate experience? What would you change?
23. What non-science courses did you like the most?
24. How do you want me to remember you? / What is the one thing you want me to convey to the admission committee?
25. Describe a situation in which you felt like a fish out of water.
26. Convince me that you would make a good doctor.
27. Can you convince me that you can cope with the workload in medical school?
28. How do you study/prepare for exams?
29. Give evidence that you relate well with others.
30. What would you do on a perfect day?
31. What do you expect to be doing 10 years from now?

Questions about your experiences

1. Describe a situation in which you were dependable or demonstrated initiative. One in which you were not as dependable as you would have liked. What did you gain from that experience? How were you most/least satisfied with that endeavor?
2. What experiences have you had working with diverse populations? 
3. What were your most memorable accomplishments in your college career? 
4. Describe a situation in which you have worked with a diverse group of people?
5. What did you learn from that situation? 
6. What steps have you taken to acquaint yourself with what a physician does? 
7. Discuss your experience working with underserved communities
8. Describe your volunteer experience
9. Describe a time you worked with a challenging situation?
10. Tell me about a time when you had to compromise. 
11. Tell me about a time when you made a mistake. What did you do and how did you correct it?
12. What academic achievements are you most proud of? What research projects have you found most rewarding, and why?
13. Are your grades fair reflections of your academic abilities and intellectual potential?
14. What does your personal statement reveal about you and why did you write about what you wrote about?
15. Give me an example of when you felt you were able to motivate others. 

Questions About AMCAS Application

1. Tell me about your university.
2. Tell me about your MCAT preparation and your feelings about the result
3. Which of your co-curricular activities has been most meaningful to you?
4. What are your three most significant employment or co-curricular achievements?

Weird Questions

1. If you were a superhero, what superpower would you have and why?
2. Have you ever experienced a situation where your integrity was compromised.
3. Who would you say has been the most influential person in the last one-hundred years?
4. Where does your sense of morality come from?
5. If you could invite four people to dinner, who would they be? Why? 
6. What is the Hippocratic Oath?

Strengths/Weaknesses Questions

1. What is the ONE important lesson you have learned from all your clinical experiences?
2. If somebody on the admissions committee said to me “well she’s good but I’ve seen better” what would you like me to answer to that?
3. What would you do if you were working with an attending who was rude in the way they work with you and disrespectful?
4. How do you handle working with someone difficult or who you don’t like?
5. Is there anything else that we should cover about you (at the end)?
6. Name three qualities important to being a physician that you already possess, and another three that you don’t just yet, but that you believe you will strive to gain in medical school?
7. What do you think will be your biggest challenge in becoming a doctor?
8. If (school X) didn’t accept you, why do you think that would be?
9. In what course did you get the worst grades? Why? 
10. Biggest challenge/weakness? Biggest strengths?
11. What were the happiest and saddest moments of your life? / Best and worst thing to happen to you?
12. What was your proudest moment?
13. What will you do in your third year when you feel like you are doing everything wrong?
14. Compare life in foreign country to experience in the U.S.
15. What is the greatest challenge you have faced?
16. Tell me about a time when you were criticized unfairly. 
17. How do you respond to criticism? Describe a situation where your work was criticized. What was your immediate reaction to the situation?
18. Tell me about a time when you failed. 
19. How do you handle failure? 
20. What do you think will be your biggest challenge/asset in medicine?
21. What was the most stressful situation you ever faced? How did you handle it?
22. Describe when you faced problems that tested your coping skills. What did you do? 
23. What was your most difficult decision to date, and how did you go about making it?
24. Give an example of a time when you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision. 
25. What lessons have you learned from your “failures” or “mistakes”?

School Specific Questions

1. Why XYZ School? Why do you think school X is the right place for you? How do the values of this institution line up with yours?
2. What do you look for in a school?
3. Do you think you would do well in the (school X) System?
4. What diversity or unique skills would you bring to our school/city?
5. Concerns about this city?
6. What are you excited for in med school?

Healthcare Questions

1. What are your thoughts on socialized medicine?
2. Name three current controversies in the field of medicine that you are interested in, and explain your stance and future considerations regarding the debate.
3. What is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?
4. What is your opinion of HMOs and PPOs?
5. What are the pros to our health-care system?
6. Why do you think so many people want to be doctors?
7. How would your plans differ if you knew that all physicians would be working in HMO’s in the future? 
8. What do you think is the most pressing issue/ biggest challenge in medicine today? Tell me how you would fix the healthcare system.
9. How do you think your role as a physician fits in with your role as a member of the community? 
10. Discuss National Health Insurance and how it would affect the physician and the patient. 
11. Do you feel that medical students receiving federal loans should spend time practicing medicine in a rural area to give society something in return? 
12. What are the differences between Britain’s health care delivery system and ours?
13. Changes taking place in medicine?
14. What is the biggest problem in the world today? 
15. What do you think about American primary health care delivery (i.e., status quo, total private systems, national health insurance)? 
16. What do you think about the government’s involvement in healthcare?
17. How do you see the field of medicine changing in the next ten years? How do you see yourself fitting into those changes?
18. What is your opinion about what we can do about the high cost of healthcare?
19. Do doctors make too much money?
20. Should fetal tissue be used to treat disease (i.e. Parkinson’s)?
21. How would you attract physicians to rural areas?
22. Thoughts on ACA?

Research Questions

1. Tell me about your research.
2. How to go about setting up an experiment related to my research.
3. What research are you interested in
4. How does your research apply to medicine or how would you translate it?
5. What was your favorite research experience and why?
6. Tell me-in layman’s terms- about your research?

Additional ‘Why Medicine’ type questions

1. What do you want to do in 5 years?
2. Take me through a perfect day in your life ten years from now.
3. If you could change one thing about our society, what would it be?
4. How do you know you want to do medicine, apart from those few clinical volunteering experiences? (tip: be assertive, and give a strong answer; don’t shrug it off as a weakness)
5. Explain your experiences and how you decided on medicine/ What led you to a career in medicine
6. How have all your activities prepared you for a career in medicine?
7. What stimulated your interest in medicine? 
8. Is medicine a rewarding experience? Why? 
9. Would you practice in the inner city? What do you think happens to people who practice medicine there (attitude changes, etc.)? 
10. What experiences have you had in community involvement that demonstrate your commitment to medicine? 
11. How do you think your personal background will affect your practice? 
12. Would you like academic medicine as a career? 
13. Why choose medicine over some other career in health?
14. What field of medicine interests you most?
15. What do you think it takes to succeed in medical, dental school, or Insert Field school?
16. When did you decide you wanted to be a doctor/dentist or Insert Title? 
17. Do you have a medical specialty, target clientele, or specialized public health topic in mind and how did you choose it?
18. Why MD and not DO? Or why DO and not MD? 
19. What concerns do you have with regard to a career in medicine, health care, or public health?

Ethical Questions

1. Is it ethical for doctors to strike?
2. What do you think about euthanasia?
3. Do you think a physician should tell a patient he/she has 8 months to live?
4. If there were an accident on the highway, would you stop and help the victims, knowing that doing so might lead to a malpractice claim against you?
5. Is it ever okay to lie to patients?
6. A patient who has been in an accident needs a blood transfusion. She states that her religion does not allow them. You are the physician in charge. What will you do? Will you override her strong objection? Why/why not? 
7. If you have the choice of giving a transplant to a successful elderly member of the community or a 20- year old drug addict, how do you choose? 
8. How would you react if a colleague wanted you to keep a medical error they made a secret from a patient?
9. What would you do if a 15-year-old came into your clinic and wanted an abortion?
10. What would you do if you were seeing a patient in the emergency room and he or she wants to leave against medical advice?
11. What do you think about Alternative medicine?
12. The night before your final exam, your father has a heart-attack and is admitted to a hospital, what do you do?
13. A 68 year-old married woman has a newly discovered cancer. Her life expectancy is 6 months. How would you inform her?
14. A 34 year-old man presents with AIDS and tells you, as his physician, that he does not want to tell his wife. What would you do?
15. You are taking a final exam and notice there is a student cheating. What would you do?
16. What are your views on terminating pregnancies, on stem-cell research and on physician assisted life termination?
17. How would you feel about treating a patient infected with HIV?
18. You have a strong opinion on a public health topic, yet you are asked to generate data and a report that would be counter. What do you do?
19. Discuss an ethical dilemma you have faced.