All About Medical School Interviews

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.