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Scenario Medical School Interview Questions
1. You are a receptionist at a walk-in clinic in a rural community. The clinic is supposed to close at 4 PM but reaches full capacity at 2 PM and the doctor asks you to not register any more patients. At 3:58 PM, a couple walks in and says that their sick baby needs to be seen right away. What do you do?
2. You are working on a group project with 5 other students. One of the students doesn’t show up for meetings or if they do show up – they are late and leave early. They have put no effort into the group project but show up on the day of the presentation and try to take credit for the project. What do you do in this situation?
3. Your friend tells you that he wants to take an “Introduction to Spanish” course to boost his GPA even though he is a native Spanish speaker. His last name, Hernandez, also indicates that he comes from a Spanish background. Native speakers are not allowed to take the course. What do you tell your friend?
4. You are a family physician working in a small community. You are examining a five-year-old boy and notice that there is evidence that physical abuse might have taken place. His mother is outside of the room talking to your secretary. What are you going to do?
5. You are on your Internal Medicine rotation and are part of a team consisting of 1 staff physician, 3 residents and 2 medical students (you are one of the medical students). During your meeting with the team, the staff physician suddenly starts making fun of the patient’s weight and tattoos. What are you going to do at that moment?
6. You are standing in line to see the teller in a bank. Suddenly, two individuals in the line start arguing with one another. What are you going to do in this situation?
7. Dr. Smith injects patients with saline solution (and doesn’t tell them that it is saline) to treat non-specific symptoms such as headaches. He knows that any benefit from the injections would be purely due to the placebo effect. However, he still believes that this helps his patients. Should Dr. Smith’s license be taken away?
8. You are on the last day of your clinical placement. You have a busy out-patient clinic ahead of you and it appears your supervisor (who you think is an amazing role model) is intoxicated. What do you do?
9. A young patient just confided in you that they are HIV positive and have not told their partner. How would you respond?
10. You are a resident and are currently rotating through your internal medicine rotation. The staff physician tells you to administer a certain drug to the patient. You accidentally administer the wrong drug but the drug you administer does not really change the patient’s condition. What are you going to do next?
11. A medical student broke out in tears in the middle of interviewing a patient after hearing of the patient’s depressing life story. Do you think this is unprofessional?
12. Your little cousin needs to complete 40 hours of volunteering for his school. He thinks volunteering is useless and serves no purpose since you don’t get paid for it. He wants to study business at university. What are you going to tell him in order to convince him of the benefits of volunteering?
13. You are going on a fishing trip with a group of friends. You also invite your neighbour who is an international student. When you go pick her up, she is dressed in high heels and clothing not suitable for fishing. How would you approach the situation?
14. You are a practicing surgeon and you have been called to the ward to see a very sick patient. While walking over to the patient, your brother calls you that your mother had a heart attack and was hospitalized in another hospital. What are you going to do?
15. You are part of an elite 2-person team fighting a forest fire. You have with you topographical maps, GPS, two climbing ropes, two shovels, two chainsaws, a first aid kit, and a radio. The other member of the team has a sprained ankle. You receive communication that the fire has changed direction, and your location is filled with thick smoke. You now need to meet a helicopter at a safe spot about 30 minutes away in one hour. What do you do?
16. You just saved a patient’s life after a critical trauma. The patient is immensely grateful. They said they want to add you on Facebook. How would you respond?
17. You are organizing a group trip with the university Chess club. You are one of the more senior club execs and are in charge of the group. One night, one of the junior players decided to sneak alcohol into the hotel room. You caught him. Are you going to kick him off the rest of the trip?
18. You are working alone in a convenience store as a cashier late at night. An older man comes in and buys a coffee. He is staggering, seems disoriented, and you smell alcohol on his breath. On the way out, he bumps into a shelf and knocks some cereal boxes off. He tries to put the boxes back, but cannot manage this task. What actions might you take in this situation? Provide reasons for your responses.
19. You are sitting in a Starbucks and you see your friend’s boyfriend holding hands with another woman. You are suspicious and then you see them passionately kissing outside the Starbucks. What are you going to do?
20. Your undergraduate GPA has really suffered in the past year due to various personal issues. Your friend tells you that a person in your calculus course is selling copies of the exam he somehow acquired. You need to raise your GPA is to get into medical school. Would you buy a copy of the exam?
21. You are trying to parallel park your car on a quiet street late at night when you hit the car right in front of you. There are no cameras on the street, there is no noticeable damage to the other car or yours, and there are no witnesses around. What are you going to do?
22. The town of Smith Hill has suffered a lot of crimes in the past 10 years and some city councillors want to forbid anyone with any criminal record from living in the town. You are the mayor of the town. How are you going to handle this?
23. Imagine you are one of several physicians working in a clinic, and you find that one of the other physicians in the clinic has been having an affair with the secretary. What are you going to do?
24. You overhear a resident in the suturing room having a heated interaction with a patient who is clearly intoxicated, with the patient swearing at the resident doctor. Then you hear the patient say, ‘Ouch, that hurt! Didn’t you use any freezing?’ The resident replies, ‘You’re a drunk. You don’t need any freezing.’ What are you going to do?
25. You are Spiderman and you are on your way to stop a bunch of bank robbers from robbing a bank. Your Aunt May calls you and tells you that she is having chest pain and is on the way to the hospital. What do you do?
26. You believe your best friend in medical school is suffering from depression but they do not want to share information about their feelings or their current state, no matter how many times you tried. What are you going to do next?
27. You are
a border control officer and a woman with her two children tried jumping over the fence to enter your country. Are you going to stop them?
28. You are in the amusement park with your little 7-year-old nephew. You are standing in line to ride one of the most popular roller coasters in the park. A child behind you starts calling your nephew insulting names and the child’s parent does not seem to care about it. What are you going to do?
29. You and your friend are both in a biological research course. Both of you have a lab report due tomorrow and are sitting in a cafe editing one another’s work. While reading your friend’s lab report, you notice that he plagiarized a lot of information from online sources. What are you going to say to your friend and what are you going to do?
30. You are an anesthesiologist. If you accidentally gave too much morphine to a child and the child took slightly longer to awake from the surgery, would you tell the family?
31. You are a medical student on a rotation. Your supervisor has been insulting you numerous times, has refused to teach you, and sent you home early numerous times. He is the department head of general surgery in the medical school, a specialty you want to match to for residency. What are you going to do?
32. You are a resident in a hospital. On your first day of hospital call, you and your senior resident are called to insert an IV into a baby. After a few tries, your senior starts swearing. The parents are in the room. What do you do?
33. You are organizing your convocation for your medical school class, where each student has 3 tickets for family or friends. The day before, the master of ceremonies calls and tells you he is very sick and cannot make it. In addition, you learn that the original venue cannot be used as there has been a fire and there is smoke damage. Another venue has been arranged but can only accommodate half of the number of guests. The ceremony is tomorrow – what do you do?
34. A 5-year-old child is brought to the emergency room after suffering a life-threatening laceration to the leg. The child needs a blood transfusion or she will die. Her parents do not want her to get a blood transfusion since they are Jehovah’s Witnesses. What are you going to do in this situation if you were the ER physician?
35. You are a female urology resident and a male patient refuses to see you because they are embarrassed to have you do a genital exam on them. What are you going to do?
36. You are a resident on a call shift in the hospital. A very sick patient has been brought in and you want your staff physician to come and see them. However, your staff physician refuses to come since they think the patient can wait to be seen by them in the morning (you disagree with them). What are you going to do?
37. You have been taking care of your friend’s cat, Muffin, for a week while your friend is on vacation. The day before your friend returns from a vacation, Muffin is nowhere to be seen. What are you going to do to find Muffin?
38. You are touring a concentration camp in Europe and you notice a couple of teenagers taking inappropriate pictures. Are you going to comment on their behavior?
39. You are backpacking across Europe and you just walked through a crowded street in Prague when you noticed that your wallet and your passport are missing from your pocket. How are you going to act in this situation?
40. You are about to write your medical licensing exam in 10 minutes and notice one of the other people in the waiting room hyperventilating and crying. The exam invigilator just announced that you can enter the exam room and take your seats. Are you going to approach the individual even though you don’t have time?
Behavioral Questions:
1. Tell us about a time when you cheated/lied/broke the law.
2. Tell us about a time when you had to make a hard decision.
3. Tell us about a time when you helped someone in need.
4. Tell us about a time when you did something you were not proud of.
5. Tell us about a time when you had to be a leader.
6. Tell us about a time when you learned something new.
7. Tell us about a time when you yourself were treated unfairly and what did you do about it.
8. Tell us about a time when you were a follower and not a leader.
9. Tell us about a time when you felt ashamed.
10. Tell us about a time when you helped a stranger in need.
11. Tell us about a time when you were scared.
12. Tell us about a time when you doubted whether you were doing the right thing.
13. Tell us about a time when you questioned if your academic path was the correct one.
14. Tell us about a time when you had to change your habits in order to improve yourself.
15. Tell us about a time when you sought out help from a person of authority.
16. Tell us about a time when you found that you had “too much on your plate”.
17. Tell us about a time when you had to say “no”.
18. Tell us about a time when you were tempted to yell at someone.
19. Tell us about a time when you made someone cry.
20. Tell us about a time when you felt extremely euphoric.
21. Tell us about a time when you had to deliver bad news.
22. Tell us about a time when you were wrong about something very important.
23. Tell us about a time when you stood up for someone else.
24. Tell us about a time when you disappointed your parents/grandparents.
25. Tell us about a time when you were close to quitting but never did.
26. Tell us about a time when you had to apologize for a mistake you made.
27. Tell us about a time when you had to confront someone about their behavior.
28. Tell us about a time when you took a risk and it paid off.
29. Tell us about a time when you had to compromise to resolve a conflict.
30. Tell us about a time when you received constructive criticism and how you handled it.
31. Tell us about a time when you overcame a significant challenge.
32. Tell us about a time when you had to adapt to a new environment or situation.
33. Tell us about a time when you were faced with an ethical dilemma and how you resolved it.
34. Tell us about a time when you had to make a difficult financial decision.
35. Tell us about a time when you felt out of your comfort zone and how you dealt with it.
36. Tell us about a time when you had to make a major career decision.
37. Tell us about a time when you had to confront your fears.
39. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a cultural misunderstanding.
40. Tell us about a time when you achieved a long-term goal.
41. Tell us about a time when you experienced failure and what you learned from it.
42. Tell us about a time when you had to deliver a difficult presentation or speech.
43. Tell us about a time when you mentored or coached someone.
44. Tell us about a time when you had to negotiate a difficult situation.
45. Tell us about a time when you received recognition or an award for your achievements.
46. Tell us about a time when you had to handle a high-pressure situation.
47. Tell us about a time when you had to make a sacrifice for the greater good.
48. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a personal or professional setback.
49. Tell us about a time when you had to delegate tasks effectively.
50. Tell us about a time when you went above and beyond to help someone.
51. Tell us about a time when you had to learn a new skill quickly.
52. Tell us about a time when you had to persevere despite facing obstacles.
53. Tell us about a time when you had to mediate a conflict between others.
54. Tell us about a time when you received feedback that surprised you.
55. Tell us about a time when you had to manage your time effectively to meet a deadline.
56. Tell us about a time when you had to collaborate with a difficult team member.
57. Tell us about a time when you had to handle a sudden crisis or emergency.
58. Tell us about a time when you had to make a difficult personal decision.
59. Tell us about a time when you had to juggle multiple priorities successfully.
60. Tell us about a time when you had to resolve a disagreement within a team.
61. Tell us about a time when you demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity.
62. Tell us about a time when you had to provide constructive feedback to a colleague.
63. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a complex organizational structure.
64. Tell us about a time when you had to implement a significant change.
65. Tell us about a time when you demonstrated exceptional problem-solving skills.
66. Tell us about a time when you had to motivate others to achieve a shared goal.
67. Tell us about a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities.
68. Tell us about a time when you had to handle a difficult customer or client.
69. Tell us about a time when you had to adapt your communication style to work effectively with others.
70. Tell us about a time when you had to manage a tight budget successfully.
71. Tell us about a time when you had to handle criticism gracefully.
72. Tell us about a time when you had to manage a team through a period of change.
73. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a sensitive political situation.
74. Tell us about a time when you had to promote diversity and inclusion in a work or social setting.
75. Tell us about a time when you had to resolve a long-standing conflict.
76. Tell us about a time when you had to make a tough ethical decision.
77. Tell us about a time when you had to adapt to unexpected circumstances and how you handled it.
Current Issues Questions:
1. Should “Introduction to Psychology” be made a mandatory course for medical school admissions?
2. How do you think artificial intelligence is going to play a role in medicine? Is it going to replace doctors?
3. Should there be a law forcing patients to disclose if they are HIV-positive?
4. Should physicians be allowed to strike?
5. Who should be paid more, doctors or lawyers?
6. What is your opinion of for-profit medical schools?
7. Is the salary of physicians too high?
8. Should physicians be allowed to date their patients?
9. What are some of the disadvantages of being a physician?
10. Some medical schools accept students straight out of high school. Are you for or against that?
11. What’s the best way to promote mental health among medical students and
decrease suicide rates?
12. Should there be a mandatory retirement age for physicians?
13. The government of Canada has recently legalized marijuana. What do you think of the legalization process so far, and what are your suggestions for the future?
14. What is your opinion about online platforms like Facebook or YouTube blocking content that is deemed discriminatory? Does that violate freedom of speech?
15. Should there be an age of consent for medical decision-making?
16. Since the government subsidizes the education of medical students, should there be a maximum age at which one can enter medical school?
17. What is your opinion about affirmative action and making sure there are reserved spots for certain population groups in the medical school class?
18. Medical students often struggle with discovering what specialty they need to do and feel rushed throughout medical school to find the one specialty that they would do for the “rest of their lives”. How can medical school assist them with this stressful struggle?
19. What do you think of asking medical school applicants their parents’ salary when they apply?
20. How can we reduce the current crisis of bed-space shortages in hospitals?
21. Is climate change real or fake?
22. World hunger – how do we reduce it?
23. What is the best way to combat terrorism?
24. How can social media be used effectively in medicine and medical education?
25. With the advent of CRISPR, gene editing is becoming a realistic concept that we would see in our lifetimes. How can gene editing be implemented most effectively?
26. Should parents be fined if they do not vaccinate their children?
27. Should vaccination be mandatory and not vaccinating one’s kids punishable by law?
Personal Interview Questions:
1. We have received your reference letters. What do you think those letters said about you?
2. You just won a lottery ticket for 100 million dollars! Congratulations! What are you going to do with all that money?
3. If you love helping people so much, why do you want to be a physician and not a social worker?
4. Medical school is a very difficult journey. How do you know that you will like it and that you will succeed?
5. What’s the biggest problem in the world? How can a medical student fix this problem?
6. Who is your favorite person? Your mentor?
7. If you could have dinner with three people, alive or dead, who would they be?
8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 30 years?
9. What is your mantra? What quote do you live by?
10. If you could choose one actor/actress to play you in a movie, who would you choose?
11. If somebody wrote an autobiography about your life, what would be the title?
Non-traditional Questions:
1. Imagine being in school again. What is the best way to stand up to bullies?
2. The great philosopher Socrates once said, “I know one thing and that is that I know nothing.” What do you think he meant by that?
3. You have a large section of land in the middle of a city with an enormous population. You can either build a hospital or a large library. Which would you build?
4. There are two applicants competing for one spot in a medical school. Applicant A has lots of experience working in healthcare facilities, has lots of physicians in their family, and wanted to become a physician all their life. Applicant B has no experience in healthcare but is very empathetic and pleasant to work with. Applicant B just recently decided they wanted to become a physician. Who would you choose to fill the spot?
5. An individual has been rejected from medical school 6 times. Do you think that individual should really start considering another career or should they keep on re-applying?
6. You are being sent to Mars to establish a colony. What are the qualities you will look for when you choose the leader of the colony?
7. You are the CEO of a hospital and due to budgetary constraints, you must cut services in your hospital. How would you determine how to cut these services and what services would you cut?
8. You are on a plane when it crashes in Northern Ontario. You are the only survivor. Once you get over that, you decide to head for the nearest town, over 1000km away. What three things do you take with you?
9. You are a museum volunteer and you often lead groups of children through various exhibitions to show them interesting artifacts. What are you going to do to make sure the children are interested in the articles you show them?
10. You had the chance to travel back in time for a UN mission to do one single act to change the future forever. What single act are you going to do?
11. You have been abducted and wake up in a dark room and tied to a chair. What are you going to do at the moment?
12. Black or grey cannot be used as colors for roads anymore, and your city council asks you for the advice of what color to use for new roads. Which color do you think should be used?
13. There are budget cuts in schools and one subject must be taken out – which one?
14. At what point is somebody considered an expert? Are you ever going to be an expert in your field?
15. Imagine living under a dictatorship like North Korea. Would you try to escape, would you try to live your life, or would you try to start a revolution?
16. How many balloons can you fit in this room?
17. How many toilets are there in this city? How many pianos?
18. Why are manholes round?
19. Your 7-year-old cousin asks “where do babies come from?” What do you say?
20. Imagine hearing that a nuclear plant near you is going to explode in 2 hours. What are you going to do?
Influences taken from: https://hms.harvard.edu/, https://www.ansc.purdue.edu/anscjobs/medical/questions.pdf