As part of your application to medical school, you will be asked to complete a formal interview. These are far more structured, and more important for your application, than interviews you did before college. Indeed, getting an interview is a big step in the admissions process, and a good sign for your application.
In this article, we’ll cover what medical school interviews are in terms of form and function, and how you can prepare for them. We’ll also include a selection of common interview questions, and how to go about answering them. Let’s get started!
What are Medical School Interviews?
Once your application has been reviewed, selected applicants will be invited to interview. Not everyone who applies to a school will receive an interview invitation; there are far too many applicants for that. Getting an interview is a good sign that your application to this point has positive qualities, and now the school wants another chance to get to know you.
These invitations are sent out on a rolling basis, some as early as July, but most between September and January. There are no cutoff dates for when you need to hear that you are getting an interview to have a good chance of acceptance, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. It is true that students with earlier interviews correlate with a slightly higher acceptance rate, but this is not necessarily a causational relationship.
Interviews are traditionally one-on-one, though an increasing number of schools are instead offering multiple mini interviews, where a number of students are invited at once, and transfer through stations. At each, they are asked and expected to answer a single question. There are generally 6-10 stations in events of this type. These are still rare however, and in most cases you will have a single interviewer who will ask you questions.
Interviews are traditionally held in person, but schools began offering virtual interviews during Covid, and many have continued this practice. Once you receive an interview invitation, confirm the date, and then determine if this is an in-person or virtual interview. If it is in-person, set up your travel and accommodation plans well in advance. We recommend arriving a day early, to be certain that travel delays don’t impact your ability to interview.
Some schools have full itineraries for you when you go to interview, others will simply give you a time and place you are expected to arrive. In either case, make sure you arrive on time, dressed semi-formally, and prepared for the interview. If you arrive a day early, consider scoping out the interview location, to avoid getting lost the day of.
Why do Medical Schools offer Interviews?
If you are offered an interview, it is because your application cleared the school’s benchmarks for academics, extracurriculars, MCAT, and other measures of your ability and preparation for medical school. There is, however, a limited amount you can learn about a person from an application alone, no matter how extensive it is. It is these qualities that medical schools are looking for in interviews.
Specifically, admissions officers are looking for the following:
- Sociability. You will interact with a lot of people as a doctor, and bedside manner is an important aspect of your role as a physician.
- A lack of major detractors. Excessive arrogance, egotism, or other personality traits that make someone difficult to work with are specifically screened for.
- That you are who they read in your application. Polishing an essay to perfection is one thing, but an interview gives you a closer sense of who a person is, and they want to check the veracity of what they’ve read.
This means that in the interview what you say and how you say it are of almost equal import. Not only do you need to answer their questions clearly and accurately, but you need to do so while showing off your warmth and depth as a person, demonstrating the strength of your character.
How to Prepare for Medical School Interviews
This is, of course, a tall order. Taking the time needed to be fully prepared for your interview helps, and will allow you to approach this challenge with confidence. You should begin preparing for your interviews once your applications are submitted.
Begin by making sure you’re familiar with every aspect of your application. Your interviewers will have read it as well, and it will be their only source of knowledge about you coming in. Be prepared to answer questions about any topics you cover in your application, from the essays to your activities, in some depth.
Next, you want to begin preparing for the specific questions you will be asked. There are some common questions most schools want you to answer (we’ll go over those below), but many schools have their own twists. Studentdoctor.net maintains a database of interview questions asked to students before, sorted by school. You should use this as a resource to prepare for specific questions you may be asked for each interview. There is no guarantee a school will ask specific questions, but you can get a sense of topics they will focus on.
You should also research the school you are interviewing for. You have likely already done some of this if you had to write an essay on why you want to attend a particular medical school, but this will be asked again in most interviews. Being prepared to talk about a school and its programs in depth shows your commitment and passion, and how well you will fit in if you are admitted.
Practicing for your Medical School Interviews
Of course, as with every other task, practice makes perfect. Practicing verbalizing your answers to questions will help you streamline rough places in your responses and clarify your thoughts. We recommend practicing with a pre med advisor or your school’s premed committee, as they know what admissions officers are looking for. Practicing with an outside consultant can also be very helpful.
While it is good to practice, you want to make sure your responses don’t end up sounding overly rehearsed and stiff. You want to work through the ideas of what you want to say and your flow while speaking. When you get feedback, see if you can try it again then and there, as putting corrections into practice quickly helps you cement them in your mind.
Remember that you want to practice both your content and your flow in your responses, as admissions officers are judging both. Make sure to incorporate feedback on all aspects of your interviews when you are practicing.
Finally, here are our top tips for all interview questions:
- Make sure your answers are consistent with your application; discrepancies are a red flag. If a situation with an extracurricular has changed since you applied, make sure you include new context.
- Answer the question directly. Do not get lost in the weeds or ramble on tangents.
- When presented with an issue, take a firm position. Don’t prevaricate.
- Prioritize patient needs in your responses.
- Make sure your tone and facial expression match what you’re trying to say.
Common Medical School Interview Questions
There are a lot of possible questions you can be asked; we will go through the most common, and how to prepare for and answer them. You may not be asked all of these, but you are likely to see a number of them. For each question, we’ll give you a sample answer that works well to answer it.
Tell me about yourself.
This is the most common opening question, and among the hardest to answer. You should answer honestly; describe your background, circumstances, and interests, and then tie those into how you became interested in medicine. This should be a natural path to follow, not dwelling too long on any single aspect, but not rushing past anything either. These responses should have a balance of academic and other interests, though weighted towards academic subjects, in or out of school.
I was born and raised in Anytown, USA and I’m a senior at Example High School. I love biking with my younger sister, swimming at my neighborhood pool, blasting music in my car on long drives, and occasionally cooking dinner for my family. I’m the President of my school’s HOSA chapter and the Vice-President of Habitat for Humanity along with being a medical intern at a dermatology clinic, a research assistant at an immunobiology lab, and an employee as a pharmacy technician trainee. I’m absolutely fascinated by the field of medicine and I’m excited to keep working toward my dream of becoming a physician.
Why do you want to become a physician?
This is also sometimes framed as: “Why are you interested in medicine?” You already had to write at least one essay on this for your applications, though not necessarily for this school, so you should have put significant thought into this question already.
There’s no harm in repeating what you said in your personal statement, or in being a bit cliche. Indeed, it will raise more eyebrows if you come in with a new story; if that’s true why didn’t you mention it in your personal statement? While you should strive to be authentic in your response, you should know that cliches aren’t bad. A lot of students get into medicine for similar reasons; how those reasons impacted you personally is what matters.
I was about 8 years old when my dad had his quadruple bypass. When I saw him in the recovery room, the day after his surgery with several IVs and an oxygen tube, I thought, “Dad is a pharmacist and knows a lot about medicine, yet he wasn’t able to identify risk factors in himself or realize he was about to have a heart attack.” There are countless people out there with less access to immediate help and quality healthcare. My mom’s prayers and the skillful doctors might have saved my dad that day, but I want to pay these blessings forward through a career in healthcare dedicated to saving the lives of those in need. Five years ago I started suffering from migraines and that’s when my passion for health care solidified into a definite career path. While navigating the healthcare system in my migraine journey, I realized that the current healthcare system was based on an endless stream of referrals and there was a significant disconnect between patient and physicians. I couldn’t form a comprehensive relationship with a single physician, and in turn, my doctors couldn’t truly invest in my well-being. This vicious cycle obscures communication and produces inefficiencies, which I hope to address. I am eager to bridge this gap between physicians and patients, through a more transparent, community-oriented, integrative approach to healthcare and serve patients from diverse socioeconomic groups who are most alienated from quality, compassionate medical care.
Why do you want to attend this school?
This is a common question, for both essays and interviews. Medical schools all have some base similarities, and it is easy for answers to this question to become overly generic. We recommend avoiding effusive praise, as this lends itself to general qualities of what the school does well. There’s nothing technically wrong with this, but there are dozens of other medical schools that offer the same.
Your answer should instead focus on how the offerings of the school fit in with your interests and plans. This question is really looking for how you and the school are a great fit for each other, rather than just why the school itself is great. Admissions officers already know how great the school is, they work there. Instead tell them why you would succeed there because of specific programs and offerings.
If you had to answer this question for one of the school’s supplemental essays, your response in the interview should parallel what you wrote.
What is the biggest challenge currently with healthcare in the US?
This question can take any number of forms, but always focuses on current events or public policy in some form. Healthcare is a major public policy issue in the US, and doctors are frequently required to interact with it. While this is less common than the above questions, it still comes up often.
Your response should introduce the issue, give an overview of the two sides, then clearly articulate which you support. There aren’t set right answers, but whatever you say should focus on patient care, and take a firm stance on whichever issue you decide to speak on.
I envision healthcare being even more technology driven than it is today with artificial intelligence and telemedicine being a huge part of daily lives in the next decade. AI will be fully in charge of things like making appointments, taking vitals, and even making preliminary diagnoses, which will be especially helpful to patients in remote underserved areas without access to a large network of doctors. I envision advances in medicine led by 3D printing to reduce human pain and suffering. Through my experience at Example Hospital’s Immunobiology lab, I have seen the vast potential of CRISPR CAS 9 technology to come up with new treatments and target specific cells to improve quality of life. I believe that gene editing will be much more commonplace by the time I graduate. I see a future with HIV vaccines and cancer treatments that were previously unimaginable. Though some of this sounds like a pipe dream today, it took less than two years to come up with a COVID-19 vaccine, which was previously thought impossible.
What is your greatest strength?
There is again no right answer for this question, but you should pick some aspect of yourself that shows what a good doctor you would be, and which you can support with evidence from one of your activities. Begin by stating what the strength is, then go into how you demonstrated this in the past. Extracurriculars you talked about in your essays are good for this, especially if the values you showed off in those essays work for your greatest strength.
This is a place to brag, and to show off some of what you have accomplished. You don’t want to come across as egotistical, but instead that you are capable of introspection enough to recognize where your strengths lie.
Some of my core strengths include determination, organization, and strong networking skills. No matter how impossible a task may seem, once I start working toward a goal, my determination never wavers. Instead of letting myself get overwhelmed by difficult tasks, I’m able to maintain my composure by using my rational mindset to break complex endeavors down into small, manageable components. I create a time-structured schedule in order to maximize my productivity. My strong networking skills enable me to develop a collaborative team that mirrors my determination and utilizes my organization strengths.
What’s your biggest weakness?
The counterpoint to the previous question, though more irritating to answer. This question is another chance to show off your self awareness and ability to introspect. The weakness you pick matters less than how you talk about it (though it should be an actual weakness that impacts you).
Whatever weakness you select should be something you’ve put effort into addressing, and this process should be the focus for your answer. You identify the weakness, and then explain what you’re doing about it. Using examples from activities work well.
Avoid listing any weaknesses that would be a red flag for a doctor, such as a lack of empathy or any ethical lapses.
One of my perceived weaknesses that I have been told is that I lack passion. Whether it is 1st place finish in a competition or a subpar performance on a group project, I show similar emotions and that leads to people thinking that I do not care enough or I am not passionate enough on a task. I try not to let emotions affect decisions that I truly care about because I feel that it’s imperative to approach sensitive topics with logic and reasoning. I don’t get too excited or too upset over external situations because maintaining my composure helps me perform better in stressful, high-risk scenarios. However, I am working on maintaining a delicate balance between having a rational mindset and showing a little more emotion so my colleagues or fellow team members don’t think I lack passion or interest in a team cause.
Where do you see yourself in X years?
This question is focused specifically on your career goals, rather than personal, and your response should be as well. You don’t have to know exactly what you want to specialize in, but show that you’ve put some thought into it, and what your preferences are. Five years out you’d be talking about what kind of residency you’d want to be doing, while ten or fifteen years is what sort of practice and field you’re involved with. Your answers should be positive, and stay focused on medicine.
In ten years, I’ll have graduated medical school and will be starting my career as a family practitioner, working to help improve medical care in underserved communities. In addition to working in a clinic, I intend to volunteer through Doctors Without Borders, sharing my medical expertise with communities in need in South America. In twenty years, I’ll be an established physician who has formed comprehensive relationships with patients and physicians in my hometown. I’ll have integrated myself into a community that knows me and trusts me to be their physician. I see myself spearheading a program that provides effective medical care to homeless and low-income individuals possibly through mobile healthcare trucks that would essentially function as ‘Healthcare on Wheels.’
What do you do when confronted with an ethical dilemma?
You won’t be asked to solve the trolley problem, but ethical concerns are common in healthcare. Your answer should do two things. First, center on the patient’s care, since that is what all doctors are expected to do. Second, you should keep in mind the principles of ethics in healthcare. You don’t need to cite these in your answer, but you should reflect these beliefs in whatever answer you give.
These are sometimes general questions, or will ask you to respond to a specific situation in which an ethical concern arises. In either case, you need to focus on patient care, and doing right by your patients. If you are presented with an actual situation, take a firm stance in your response, and keep details in mind when giving your answer.
How do you deal with stress?
Medical school is often stressful, as is residency, as is being a doctor. Much of this is intentional; they want future doctors to be able to perform in spite of the pressures of the job. Part of that requires healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, and showing that you can handle situations when they arise. You may be asked explicitly to detail a stressful situation you encountered, and how you dealt with it. Look to show healthy coping mechanisms, and how you were able to perform under pressure.
While high school is no comparison to the rigor of med school, attending a competitive high school, taking 14 AP classes, and obtaining a 1560 SAT score has given me a gentle introduction to the world of stress. Over the past four years, I’ve developed a strategic three-step plan for myself to overcome any stressful situations that arise: First, I remind myself to remain rational and calm. Second, I map out ways to decrease my stress level or find a solution to my problem. Biking, swimming, or cooking help me relax my mind when I feel overwhelmed so that I’m reinvigorated when it’s time to get back to work. Third, I talk through what’s stressing me out with someone I trust. Focusing on solutions rather than the debilitating aspects of stressful situations helps me learn from my mistakes and decrease stress when similar situations arise in the future.
Describe your experience with (a class/extracurricular/clinical setting/research).
You will sometimes be asked explicitly about experiences from your application, or more generally about your clinical or research experience. You should discuss both what you did and what you learned, and what parts of it you enjoyed. You should demonstrate your engagement with the material in question, and what you took away from the experience.
At the Stanford Anesthesia Summer Institute, we were divided into small groups and assigned a patient with a unique illness. Our task was to devise a solution for the issues a patient with anosmia––the inability to smell––faced throughout her daily life. To build an effective team, we started brainstorming and listing our core strengths to find the best way to synergistically utilize them. My team and I composed five questions to ask her that would help us create an individualized solution. We took up roles that best suited our expertise and listed 3 possible ways to help the patient. We discussed pros and cons of each option and after debating them, we unanimously finalized an idea for an app that would identify and categorize smells. We workshopped the idea as a team, adding the idea of a grocery alerts feature that would track food expiration dates. Collaborating with a group of motivated interns on the best possible way to attack an idiosyncratic health issue and collectively designing our final presentation was an incredible experience, and taught me invaluable lessons about teamwork and cooperation.
Questions to ask your interviewer.
You will have the chance at the end of interviews to ask questions of your own, and we recommend you do so. You should, however, be intentional with the questions you ask. If the answers to your questions can be easily found on Google, then they aren’t good questions. Similarly, generic questions are less helpful.
Instead, you should ask questions specific to the school and expertise of your interviewer; asking a student about work-life balance or the first-year experience, or a professor for what advice they have for a student in your position.
Sending Thank You Notes
Some schools explicitly state that you should not send your interviewer a thank you note, then you should try to send one to everyone who interviewed you (including students) within 48 hours. These don’t need to be overly long, but should touch briefly on what you talked about with them, and thank them for their time and effort.
You should also be sure to say how the interview solidified your interest in the school, and state your intention to attend if accepted. Sending a thank you note (or not) won’t make or break your application, but it’s another chance to demonstrate your professionalism, and shows they made the right choice when taking the time to interview you.
Final Thoughts
Interviews are an integral part of the medical school application process, one that causes a great deal of stress for students. While we were not able to cover every possible question you may be asked, we hope this article still serves as a solid introduction to these interviews, and shows you how to answer the most common of the questions you will be asked.
Of course, as with every aspect of an application, you can practice and work at your form for interviews, and perfect the responses you will give. If you are looking for guidance preparing for your interviews, schedule a free consultation with us today. We have experience with every stage of the application process, and are always happy to hear from you.
