Common Interview Questions

Interviews

Health professional programs normally conduct interviews with prospective students. These interviews normally take place in the year prior to entry to a program. Below are questions that you should review and practice answering with a friend or mentor.

Common Interview Questions

Open Ended Questions:

  • Tell me about yourself.
  • What are your goals?
  • There are hundreds if not thousands of applicants, why should we choose you?
  • Why would you make a good doctor, dentist, vet etc.
  • What things have you done to convince yourself that you will enjoy being a doctor, dentist, vet etc.

Medically Related Questions:

  • What are the pros and cons to our health-care system?
  • If you had the power, what changes would you make to our health-care system?
  • What is your opinion of HMOs and PPOs?
  • Should doctors be allowed to `pull the plug' on terminally ill patients?

Academics:

  • Why did you choose your present course of studies?
  • Can you convince me that you can cope with the workload in medical school?
  • Do you engage in self-directed learning?
  • Tell me about your research.

Social Skills or Interests:

  • Give evidence that you relate well with others.
  • Give an example of a leadership role you have assumed.
  • Have you done any volunteer work?

Stress-Type Questions:

  • What was the most stressful event in your life?
  • The night before your final exam, your father has a heart-attack and is admitted to a hospital. What do you do?

Questions on Problem Situations:

  • A 68 year-old married woman has a newly discovered cancer. Her life expectancy is 6 months. How would you inform her?
  • 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?
  • You are taking a final exam and notice there is a student cheating. What would you do?

Personality-Oriented Questions:

  • If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
  • What is the most important event that has occurred to you in the last five years?
  • If you had three magical wishes, what would they be?
  • What are your best attributes and your greatest fault?

Miscellaneous Questions:

  • Should the federal government reinstate the death penalty?
  • What do you expect to be doing 10 years from now?
  • Why do you want to attend our institution?

Concluding Questions:

  • What would you do if you were not accepted to a medical school?
  • How do you think you did in this interview?
  • Do you have any questions?

For medical school interviews, visit The Student Doctor Network, which provides applicant feedback from medical school interview experiences at specific schools.