The GIANT List of Interview Questions

Medical School Admission

Undergraduate Admission

Resources

Login

The GIANT List of Interview Questions

For all of you who are preparing for interviews, we've compiled a comprehensive list of interview questions that can help. We've gathered a wide range of typical medical school interview questions to decrease the chance that you will get caught off guard on your next interview. This is a pretty long list, so don't try to find an answer to EVERY question, but rather make sure that you have your bases covered. Using some of these questions in mock interviews may help too. Enjoy!

General Questions:

Why medicine / Why do you want to be a doctor?
Why not nursing?
Tell me about: yourself / your family / where you grew up.
Tell me about [the school that you attended].
Why this medical school? Why would you choose us over another medical school?
Is there anything about our medical program that impresses you? Anything that concerns you?
What would you like us to tell you about our medical school?
If admitted, what would you bring to [the school at which you are interviewing]?
What is your back up plan if you don’t get into medicine? For the coming year?
Why are you applying after only 3 years of undergrad?
What can you tell us about yourself that is not on the autobiographical sketch?
How do you deal with stress?
How have your experiences prepared you for this career?
Why are you better for medicine than for another healthcare profession?
Who has been your greatest influence to go into medicine / Who is your role model in health care?
What characteristics are important in a doctor? Which of your characteristics are best and worst for this career?

Undergrad:

Describe the kind of program you are enrolled in for your undergraduate degree.
What are the challenges you have faced during your undergraduate program and how did you address them?
What courses have you taken that you’ve found interesting and why?

Future (Residency/Doctor):

What would you do if you were accepted to medical school but had to wait one year before entry/What would you do with a free year?
In third and fourth years, as well as residency, you will be very busy. What sacrifices do you expect to make and what sacrifices are you willing to make?
How do you plan to balance your personal life with being a doctor?
Would you consider working in a small/rural community?
What would you or your family miss about urban life if you worked in a rural area?
What specialties are you interested in?
What kind of physician do you want to be?
Where will you be in ten years?
How do you know that you will end up enjoying your job?

About You and Your Life:

What is the most significant award you’ve won?
What would your friends/family say are your strengths / weaknesses?
What is your learning style?
What is a goal you have failed in / Talk about a failure in your life.
Talk about an accomplishment that you are particularly proud of / your greatest accomplishment.
What contribution have you made to the community that you are most proud of?
Tell me about a creative project you’ve done.
You mentioned you participated in musical activities; how has music developed skills you will use in medicine?
Who is your hero and why / Who are your role models?
How do you manage your time?
Describe a time when you were faced with a difficult situation and how you dealt with it.
Tell us about a time in your life that you had no control over. How did you deal with it? What did you learn from it?
Can you think of a time that you made a mistake but it ended up working out better because of it?
Have you ever been forced to do something that has conflicted with your personal values?
Talk about a time when you had to follow a policy you disagreed with.
Describe a time in your life you disagreed with a person of authority, ex. a professor, and how you dealt with it.

Your Hobbies:

What book(s) have you read lately? How did they affect you personally?
If you good recommend one book for the whole world to read what would it be?
If you could read 3 books that you haven't read yet, what would they be, and one has to be by a Canadian author.
What are your 3 favourite movies?
Who do you think will win the Oscars?
Name 3 things that are most important to you
What do you like to do on a Friday or Saturday night?
If your schedule was cleared for one day, what would you do to pass the time?
What do you like to do in your spare time? For fun? To relax?

Your Opinion on Current Events or History:

What are 3 world events of significance in your lifetime?
What are the most influential world events of the last 30 years? What event in the world's history do you think has had the greatest impact on today's society?
Name a significant international event that occurred during the 90s.
Tell me about 2 important events in Canadian History.
Who is the most influential person of all time?
What were the two greatest medical advances in the last century?
What do you think are the 2 most important issues facing the world today?
How would you change Bush's mind on stem cell research?
Do you think socio-economic status is a factor in acceptance to medical school?
What do you think are two major issues Canada is dealing with?
Name the three most powerful people in the world today.
Can you draw any parallels between the American-Iraq conflict and WWII?

Group Dynamics and Team Work:

How do you work in a group / What do you contribute to a group situation?
Describe a conflict that has arisen in a job, volunteer experience etc. and how you dealt with it.
With examples, explain how you handle conflict with a fellow team member? What about conflict with a supervisor?
If you had a conflict with a fellow classmate on a group project, how would you resolve it if the project was due the next day and you were not nearly finished.
Describe a time in your life when you had to stand up for something you believed in against your peers.
Describe a situation in which you were the leader and what you learnt from the experience.

Ethics and Morality:

If your friend broke the law, what would you do?
When was a time when you dealt with an immoral situation and how?
Talk about the ethics of lying – when is it okay?
What is your opinion on abortion? What would you tell a woman who wants an abortion?
What is your opinion on euthenasia? What would you do if your patient asked you for euthenasia?

Imaginative/Creative Thinking:

If you had to live on an island, what 3 things would you bring with you?
Of the following 3 people which one would be your hero: Nelson Mandela, William Osler, Bono?
If you were to have dinner with any 3 people who lived within the past 100 years, who would it be and why?
What is your favourite organ? (disguised question attempted at asking you what specialty you want to get in)
If you could be any object in this room what would you be?
If you could be any kitchen appliance, what would you be and why?
For someone who plays the piano: Briefly explain, in simple terms, how you would teach them to play the piano.
What kind of impression of yourself do you think you've given us so far?
If there was one question you’d hate for us to ask you, what would it be and why?
What do you hope for Canada for the future?

Health Care Issues:

How did Canada’s health care system come about?
What are some problems facing Canada’s health care system? What should we do to address them?
If you could change one thing about the Canadian health care system, what would it be?
What 2 challenges will health care face in this century?
What will be the most important health care issue in Ontario in the future?
What do you think is the role of privatizing pharmaceuticals in managing the problems in health care today?
How do you feel about privatizing health care?
What role does the physician have in society?
How do you feel about incentive programs for rural medicine? How else can we promote doctors to work more rural areas?
What is your opinion of nurse practitioners?
What do think the biggest challenges for doctors will be in 10 years?
What are solutions to the Canadian physician shortage?
Compare/contrast Canadian and US health care. What would you incorporate from the American health care system to improve the Canadian health care system?
How would you deal with the problem of a type 2 diabetes epidemic and the cost of dialysis?
What are your views on the government capping physciian salaries?
If you had 10 million dollars to spend on health care, how would you allocate the funds?
Should Canada offer free tuition for medical school? If yes, where should the money come from?
Once a physician, how will you work to improve the Canadian Health Care System? Specifically, how will you deal with issues like bed / staff shortages?
How would you solve Canada’s poor distribution of physicians across the country?
What are some ways in which delivery of health care will change in the future?
Can you talk about primary care reform?
What is your opinion on the two-tier health care system?

Scenarios/Hypothetical Situations:

If your father was ill, and on a waitlist, would you drive to buffalo for diagnostic treatment?
How would you tell a patient that they had a lump in their throat but you couldn't treat them for three months?
How would you deal with the death of a patient?
What would you do if your pager went off as you were going out the door to your daughter's high school event because someone was sick or you forgot that you were on call?