Practice Interview Questions
Preparing for your interview requires practice!! This is a sample of questions that you can use to start your preparation for your medical school interview. Go over them, practice writing out and saying your answers out loud. Start practicing long before your interview, some of them may stump you now but you may have a flash of genius while washing the dishes or before going to sleep. It often helps to try to connect your answer to a question with an example from your real life, so dig deep and answer honestly.
Other lists of sample questions:
Student Doctor Interviews
Premed Questions
Premed advisor
Essay Edge
Premed Interview
Medical School Questions
Imagine you are working as a resident in a hospital. What role do you see yourself fulfilling as a part of this kind of team?
What is the biggest challenge facing health care in your province today? What do you think can be done to help solve it?
What personal quality do you think you will have to work the hardest to improve during your med school experience?
What would make you decide to stop studying medicine?
What does quality of life mean?
Tell me about a problem that you wish you had handled differently.
How do you respond when a group member isn't pulling their weight?
A recent survey of senior doctors suggests that they believe the younger generation of physicians is not as hard working (i.e. wanting to leave right at 5pm, not giving 60-70 hour weeks) - how do you feel about that?
Are you thick skinned?
In what situations would you be judgmental?
Do you feel there is too much emphasis on prevention in medicine?
Why do you want to become a doctor?
What would you do if medicine (as a career) was a complete impossibility?
What would be your biggest fear in practicing medicine ?
What makes a good doctor, a dangerous one?
An 80 year old terminally ill man calls you up to tell you that he is going to take a lethal dose of painkillers. He has called you to tell you that you have been a great doctor and many thanks. How do you handle the situation?
Tell me something to make me laugh.
Why haven’t you contributed your service towards your undergrad school instead of other volunteer work?
Discuss a health care issue which has been in the news in the past month.
Do you think doctors make too much money?
What kind of problems would you encounter if you were practicing up North with a Native population?
What are some leadership positions you've had?
Tell me about your research.
What are the Social, Legal, medical implications of a needle-exchange program. What are some viable alternatives?
What are the social implications of gambling?
What would your solution be to the doctor shortage in rural areas?
Who is your role model?
How do you balance your time?
Would you feel guilty for going overseas to provide health care while many of your fellow Canadians are waiting months and months in long queues to be seen by a doctor?
What do you think will be the biggest problem facing medicine in 10 years?
Tell us about a dissatisfying experience you have had at school or work?
Describe an ethical situation which you may encounter in the medical profession and how you would handle it.
Describe a decision you regret making and why.
What would you do if a peer in your class seemed depressed or suicidal?
You are part of the Health Care Budget Committee. Decide where the money for health care is spent.
What is my opinion on two-tier health care?
How would you tell the parents of a young child that their child was terminally ill with cancer?
What event in the world's history do you think has had the greatest impact on today's society.
Give example of conflict with co-worker and how you handled it.
How do you plan to balance your personal life with being a doctor?
If my schedule was totally cleared for one day, what would I do to pass the time?
Can you think of a time that you made a mistake but it ended up working out better because of it?
If you could recommend one book for the whole world to read what would it be?
If your father was ill, and on a waitlist, would you drive to buffalo for diagnostic treatment?
If you could change one aspect of your character what would it be?
What was the most painful experience you have ever had (emotionally?) How did you cope with it?
What would you do if saw co worker steal medication?
What would you do if saw classmate cheat on exam?
What do you think about nurse practitioners?
Suppose you were a medical student and you detect alcohol on the breath of your supervisor (who can make or break you). What would you do?
Can you think of a situation you were in that resulted in your displaying the qualities of a physician, a situation where you didn't, and what you learned from it?
You are on duty in the ER when an unconscious 5 year old girl is brought in. It's clear that she needs an immediate blood transfusion to survive, but her Jehovah's Witness parents are adamantly against it. What would you do and why?
A senior citizen is suffering from terminal cancer and is in continuous, searing agony despite being given high doses of painkillers. He asks you, his primary doctor, to euthanize him, saying: "I've lived a life of dignity; I want to die with dignity." What would you do and why?
Would you administer a birth control prescription to a 12 year-old?
What do you think about alternative medicine and how what would you do if your patient told you they were seeking alternative therapies?
What are the negatives aspects of being a doctor?
Define integrity.
Why not another healthcare profession?
How do you feel about the conflict in the Middle East?
Your young female patient wants a genetic test to see if she has the breast cancer gene, but her mother does not want her to have the test. What do you do?
If you had a million dollars to spend in the health care sector where would you spend it?
Tell us about a time when you completely changed your point of view on a long held opinion.
Name a time when you dropped the ball and why?
You're a 50 year-old diabetic woman who is functionally impaired and just out of insulin. How do you feel?
How do you feel about affirmative action in the United States?
How will you feel if you go to medical school and you are only an average student there?
What is the most important lessons your parents taught you?
Am I entitled to health care if I am a smoker who does not want to quit?
How would you explain to a little girl why the sky is blue?
What role do you see clinical trials playing in your research?
How do you reconcile your very broad range of interests with a career in medicine.
Think of an ethical situation from any area of your life and discuss both sides of the issue
Why do you think mental illness has stigma?
Comment on one group of people in Canada requiring specialized/distinct healthcare.
Why do you think doctors have so much power?
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