If you’re getting ready for medical school interviews or have one coming up, you’re probably wondering “what do medical schools ask in the interviews?” “what can I do to prepare for my medical school interview” and more. I’ll walk you through the most common questions I was asked and how to best handle them. I’ll also include some tips and tricks I used throughout my interview sessions. Let’s get started!
If your interview is coming up and you also want to know what you need to research and study beforehand to impress them, check out my write up on this here.
What does the medical school interview process look like?
Medical schools all require an interview. I can’t really think of any specific school that does not require one. You’ll need to do this in order to be considered for acceptance. It’s non negotiable.
Generally, the schools will send an email saying they have your complete application and you are now in line to be considered for interview. You can receive an interview literally anytime of the year from the time you submit the secondary all the way up to around May the following year. That’s like 10 or so months that you could be waiting! Buckle up on the patience train!
When do most medical school interview invites go out?
Typically, the first interview invites will go out at the very end of July. They trickle in throughout the rest of the fall months and all the way through about March the next year. While interviews go out all Spring, the majority of the interviews go out from August through December. So, plan to have the most action in those months and if you get no invites, start planning a gap year until proven otherwise.
I was interviewed early Fall and also in the Spring and got acceptances in both times, so don’t worry if you don’t get any in the Fall. The reason I said Spring interviews have less acceptances is because some schools only give out X number of acceptances and if they’ve given out 488 of their 500 acceptances, they’re going to be very picky on those last 12.
Most matriculants to medical school usually only get 1 acceptance and therefore around 2-4 interviews. Any given interview can have an acceptance rate from 25% or lower up to 75%. It varies by school and you’ll have to google it. But, even the best applicants only get a handful (2-6 acceptances).
If you’ve already interviewed, check out my write up on what schools look for post interview!
What does a typical medical school interview look like?
Interviews vary widely and the majority will have a one on one format and an admissions aspect. Some will have multiple mini interviews as well, so you need to watch for that.
Almost every interview will be on Zoom or some form of online meeting. You’ll wear business professional to the interview and will have a nice, well lit room with a STRONG internet connection. You’ll want to join 10-15 minutes early to make sure you don’t miss anything.
They’ll do a quick introductory thing about the school, some basic info, and then you’re put into a room with a faculty member.
The interview will close with everyone coming to a central Zoom room again and you all will meet current students who work for admissions. They’ll do a virtual campus tour, allow for you to ask them questions, and then that will be it! It’s really simple, but it takes most of your day to do it. Prepare accordingly!
Now for the most common questions I faced. Here they are and how I handled them:
- Why do you want to be a doctor?
This question is very straightforward, right? Well, it actually is more direct for a specific answer you need to think about. They’re NOT asking why medicine. They are asking why do you SPECIFICALLY want to be a doctor? Why a physician and not a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, medical assistant, nurse, etc?
They key here is to remember what makes a physician unique in the healthcare team. The things that separate the physician from every other professional they work with. These things are that the physician is the head of the healthcare team. At the end of the day and end of the line of people in charge, it’s the physician. You have the final say on the treatment plan, medications, procedures, and what to do next. No other professional can do that! Second, you are the only one able to do certain procedures and medical activities. Think surgery, procedures, ordering and interpreting x-rays etc. You also can open a medical practice. Nobody else can open a practice and not have to be supervised and can do every single thing. Nurse practitioners can start a practice, but they need an overseeing physician. Same with CRNA’s.
This is the kind of answer they’re looking for and you need to show them exactly what I described above.
- Why did you choose our medical school?
Here they just want to know why you chose them. This can be anything from you love their research programs, they have the best ranking in your desired specialty, they have the best curriculum, etc. Whatever it is, make it known! I have a complete write up on the “why us” question in much greater depth which you can find here.
- Why medicine?
This question is often asked before “why be a doctor”. Sometimes they’re both asked at the same time! If you didn’t know they’re trying to ask two separate things, you may get very confused on interview day.
This question is the why you want to go into the healthcare field question. They’re just trying to figure out what moment made you choose medicine, why you think medicine is more fitting for you than any other career, and what your motivation is.
Make this about the patient care and taking care of others. You can tell a story here of a patient encounter or you can just straight up say it. You want to get across that you love medicine because you love taking care of patients in their time of need. You want to be there to make a person’s worst day much better and you get to use your love of science and physiology to do it. They don’t want to see that you are doing this for the respect, prestige, or money! DO NOT SAY THAT!
This field is one about service to others forever and in any circumstance possible. Make your answer about that and you’ll be fine!
- What was your favorite clinical experience?
This one is really straightforward. You pretty much can talk about whatever experience was most meaningful. I personally chose a patient story where I got to see them walk in in pain, anxious, and worried and then leave happy and with new hope. I mentioned how I sat with the patient and shared my own experience getting bit by a dog with them. Then, I celebrated with the patient as I walked them out of the clinic. This shows empathy, compassion, care, and shows that you are capable of focusing on the patient. It emphasizes that your big takeaway was spending time with patients and not something about finding the right diagnosis or getting recognition.
- Tell me a time when you failed and what you learned from it
They’re just asking you this question to get an idea of how you reflect on failure. You’ll want to pick an experience that you failed in obviously, and then make sure to include what you did to fix it and how you did better the next time.
Medical school is a ton of work and it is HARD! YOU WILL FAIL! Multiple times. Quizzes, tests, clinical exams, anatomy practicals, all kinds of stuff. You must know how to deal with it and how to overcome.
Emphasize how you made a plan to save the sinking ship, how you executed it, and what you learned going forward. You can mention how you’ve successfully never had it happen again or that you’ve become a leader in that specific activity/field. Maybe you’ve avoided ever failing a quiz again since you changed your study methods. You get the point.
They need to come away from your answer knowing you can fail, are okay with failing, can make a plan, execute the plan, and overcome these things.
- Tell me about your leadership experience
This question is all about your leadership experience. They really only ask this if you have leadership experience on your application. I had a ton of positions and volunteer projects I spearheaded, so I got asked a lot. You can use any example, really, and it will be a good answer. Bonus points if you use an example that fit’s the school’s mission! If the school is a research focused school, talk about your research leadership. If it’s service focused, use a volunteering initiative or position you had.
You should showcase how many people you led, what events you went out and created, the impact it had, and why you did it. Make sure to explain what you learned and gained from the experience. You can best finish your answer by saying you want to do the same in medical school and start X organization or Y activity or Z club.
- What was your favorite volunteer experience?
They want you to choose a volunteer experience and explain it. It’s as simple as it sounds! Pick a volunteer experience that impacted lots of people. You can even match the school’s mission here. If the school has a volunteer clinic or some big initiative for the homeless population, talk about your experience with either of these. They’ll see you match a program they already have and might join it. Bonus points if you mention that you saw their program for X population and are excited to continue your volunteering through that.
Make sure to mention if you started any projects, the number of people you led/were head over, and the impact of the initiative. Focus on the people impacted too. How did you connect with these people? Emphasize how much you loved seeing them perk up when you talked to them or improved their test scores after tutoring, or drew you a picture as a thank you. Any of these work!
- Where do you see yourself career wise in 5 years and 10 years?
I got this question a handful of times. They want to know that you’ve actually thought about your career. It shows interest in the field and initiative that this is really what you want to do. Have an answer for both of these time frames and maybe even prepare a 20 year one!
In 5 years, you’d be just finishing medical school and starting residency. They’re essentially asking what specialty you want to do and what kind of medicine you want to do. When I say type of medicine, I mean academic vs private practice vs rural vs urban. Make sure to again, fit the school’s mission as this is what they want to hear. Most schools focused on rural will want to hear that you want to do a rural medicine or community hospital fellowship in family medicine, internal medicine, or OBGYN. That’s the type of thought process you need to be thinking about.
In 10 years, you’ll be done with medical school and done with residency. So, you’ll be done with all of your trainings and will be a full doctor! They want to know what kind of practice of medicine you will do. Think again of rural vs urban vs academic center vs teaching vs researcher vs private practice vs community hospital. Describe what you want to do in your career and any kind of initiatives you want to launch in your community. Maybe also talk about where you want to be location wise!
Many schools want to produce physicians that will practice in the school’s state. If it’s a publicly funded state school, this is VERY LIKELY! You’ll want to emphasize (if it’s a true statement) that you want to practice in the school’s state. Bonus points if its practicing in your hometown or taking over your relative’s/parent’s practice.
- Tell me about your hobbies
I got asked this almost every interview. I didn’t list any hobbies on my amcas primary application. Why? Because I had 15 activities that I thought were more important and relevant to my application. I also knew that they would ask in the interview if they cared for it and I’d have answers for them.
They pretty much are trying to figure out if you have a life outside of school and what you do for fun. What a person does for fun says a LOT about who the person is and where their interests are. I talked a lot about my disc golf, hiking, and microscopy hobbies. I think this came as a surprise for many and became the main talking point for most my interviews. I got to explain how much I loved nature and grew up with it and some of the places around the medical school I wanted to go see.
They’ll get to know you better AND you may have the same hobby as the interviewer. If this is true, go ahead and talk to them about it. Ask them questions, tell stories, and carry the conversation! You might even have the whole interview be about disc golf! This happened to me. I got into that school. They’ll undoubtedly speak well of you if y’all hit it off talking about hobbies. So talk about yourself!
- What is a recent book you’ve read? Tell me about it.
They’re exploring whether you are a learner and seek knowledge in your free time. It’s an easy question to get around even if you don’t read! Just pick a book you’ve read in school that was required and talk about it. Assuming you didn’t sparknote it (everyone has, don’t worry), you’ll remember enough to talk about it. If you read books, pick one and just talk about how much you loved it! Mention what you took away from it, why you like that genre, and anything you found interesting about it.
Honestly, it’s a quick question and just have a preloaded answer. Sit down, think about some books and then write down some bullet points of why you chose it and what you got out of it. I chose a book about exercise and how it benefits learning and the neuroscience effects. Your book doesn’t have to be scientific! I just like nonfiction and nutrition/exercise.
Wondering if medical schools interview the best applicants first? Check it out here.