300+ TOP Medical School Interview Questions and Answers

MEDICAL SCHOOL Interview Questions for freshers experienced :-

1. Tell me about yourself?

2. Why do you want to be a doctor?

• Although the most common question, it is definitely the most important question. Do not just say you want to help people. Give specific examples, scenarios that have shaped you and made you choose a career in medicine.
• do not be afraid to show your feelings ands emotions, show that determination, also do not be afraid to divulge incidences in your life that shaped you and are dear to you, i.e. situation that moved you or the passing of a close family member (not grandparent, everyone goes through this one and will not set you apart from other applicants) or friend. This answer MUST be an honest one and should come from the heart. Interviewers are looking for honesty in this question and will be able to tell by your body language and tone of voice. Only an honest answer can give you that body language and tone of voice that you need get through to the interviewer on a deeper level.

3. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

• this question basically is trying to find out your motives (making sure it is not money) as well as if you have direction in the field of medicine.
• academic attending in internal medicine or family practice do not choose something specific at this time, you have not even gone through medical school yet. Choose something general. such as Internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery (do not be specific), family practice. you have yet to experience all your medical school rotations, so mention that you are open and would like to experience them first hand. Do not choose specific fields such as ex radiology, anesthesia, dermatology, ortho surg, ENT, optho, cardiology, urology, if you choose one of these you will come off as naive and close minded. Also do not choose ER as this can bring up the TV show and make you look superficial.
• Teaching and research is very important to me
• advancing medicine as a motive

4. What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? How will you improve upon your weaknesses?

5. What are the current challenges in current health care and what can we do to improve it?
Spend some time to get in touch with current events, ask family friends, primary physician, pharmacists, nurses. read up on current events in health care before the interview, know about HMO’s , PPO’s, universal health care, medicare/medicaid
– talk about the under served population.x

6. Tell me about your volunteering experience?
Choose a scenario where you had a leadership role and had a direct beneficial effect on efficiency and teamwork, also what you learned

7. Tell me about a challenge in your life and how you overcame it?
– be ready for this, this is an important question as it shows if you can handle difficult situations on the spot.

8. What would you do if you were not accepted to medical school?
firstly you would never give up on trying to get into medical school, but if medical school was not an option I would do

9. What are the qualities that make a good doctor and do you have them? or How do your peers describe you?

• you can use these personalty traits for a multitude of questions. They are just used to put you in a good light.
• -Leader, Reliable, compassionate, loyal, determined
• _ don’t say: outgoing, follower, fun, happy, unpredictable, nice, – these are not personality attributes they are looking for
• It is important that you get this question down cold, this question can make or break you.

10. How do you handle stress?
talk about your hobbies and you try to maintain balance in your life

11. What do you do in your spare time?
They are asking about your hobbies, make one fun and another intellectual: ex: wake boarding and Reading or playing an instrument. Do not say studying you will be doing enough of that. Gym is ok but over used. Show diversity.

12. How do you feel about Doctor compensation?
say it depends on specialty. you think it is appropriate in light of medical school loans, resident pay and time in training. not to mention job stress, and amount of work.

13. What book have you recently read? What did you learn?
– does not have to be your most recent book, but a book that effected and you remember well. The interviewer just wants to know that you engage in intellectual activites and learn from those activities as well as have critical thinking skills.

14. Tell me about the Terry Schiavo case and what do you think about it? What do you feel about Euthanasia, Abortion, Stem cell research? Jehovah Witness?

Euthanasia: talk about kvorkian

This question is to see if you are in touch with the controversies of modern medicine. It is okay if you are not familiar with the case they ask you about, just politely say you are not familiar but continue to offer your moral opinion once you have been given the scenario.

Know:
Patients wishes trump all
then living will
then family

your job as a doctor is to provide care, it is not your job to impose your beliefs on to the patient.
ex: pt want an abortion and you don’t believe it is right, you dont have to do it but you must refer the pt to a practitioner that will do it.

15. What role does research play in medicine? Have you engaged in any research projects? Tell me about them?
– know your research down cold, some interviewers will ask specifics just to know if you actually know your research. The more you know the better. Go over your research articles in the plane, hotels, etc. If you have not done research do not worry this is not a deal breaker. Politely tell the interviewer that although I have not done research, I would like to engage in research during medical school. Look up some research that is important in Medicine today and talk about what they are doing in that research. Although you have not done research, it shows that you are interested in doing so and keep up to date with current medical topics. Make sure the research is not too obscure. For example here is a research article that would be suitable to bring up during an interview, remember to address the article by its title and the 1st author by saying “herman et. al”. Do not use this exact article, however find something similar.
The role research play is that it is the back bone of what all doctors practice. If research was not present we would not have all the treatments and cures that doctors use everyday.

17. How do you go about breaking bad news to a patient who is terminally ill?

i.e. 50 yo M diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer who has 6 months to live.

• what is your understanding of why you are here
• how much would you like to know?

18. What is the Hippocratic oath?
-The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by doctors swearing to practice medicine ethically, First do no harm….

19. Looking over your application I see you have received an under performing grade? Explain?

• explain that you were pushing yourself beyond your limits
• Heavily involved in extracurricular and large course load
• in this situation you learned a great deal about time management and that it is good to know your limits so you accomplish tasks efficiently and on time.
• try to refrain from talking about psychological issues such as depression, alcoholism, parent’s divorce, friend’s death, jail time.
• this is an opportunity to show that you are an over achiever who took on more than he could handle and that you were humbled because of this scenario. However, it was a good learning lesson and it taught you of your limits as well as time management skills.

20. Why do you want to gain acceptance to this particular medical school?
look up specific info about medical school curriculum and talk about unique points of the medical school. The more unique the better, as it shows why this is the only medical school you want to go to. It must seem like you really want to come to this medical school.

21. Who is the most influential person in your life? and why?
do not choose someone famous, choose someone that you are very close to. This can be a mentor, doctor, family member. Make sure to show the emotion and bond that you guys have. Let them know how much you respect this person and how much of an impact they have had in your life and how they helped shape who you are. The person shoe have encouraged you to pursue medicine.

22. What exposure do you have to medicine? Tell me about a clinical experience

• talk about a clinical experience that you learned from
• make sure it is something a little heartfelt but not too much, for example you can talk about how you saw a doctor break bad news to a patient.

23. What do you like most/ least about medicine
Like pt care and impacting pt’s quality of life. The implications it has on the compromise of family life. Understanding family is important

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