Duke University Medicine Interview Questions

General/Personal Statement – These stations seek to clarify information from your application package and give you a chance to reflect on and evaluate certain life and work experiences. 

• Tell me about yourself.
• Explain/describe personal experiences mentioned in your essay.
• What are your strengths? Weaknesses?
• How would your parents describe you?
• Describe your work/hospital experience.
• Besides your hospital work, what have you done to show your concern for humanity?
• What do you do in your spare time? What are your hobbies?
• Was your undergraduate career rewarding?
• What do your parents do?
• How did your major prepare you for medicine? Would you change your choice of major if you started over?
• In what extracurricular activities have you participated while in college? High school?
• Give a brief review of your independent research.
• What has been the most meaningful part of your education?
• Have you read a good novel lately? What was it? Who wrote it?
• What is a typical day for you?
• What is your major, and why did you choose it?
• Discuss your family and your relationships with your family members.
• Explain discrepancies and inconsistencies in your academic record.
• What historical person would you like to have met? Why?
• If you have a particularly stressful day, how do you unwind?

Motivation and Insight into Medicine – These stations will focus on your career choice and decision reasons for wanting to study at Duke as well as considering if you have realistic ideas on the ‘everyday life of a physician’. It may also touch on issues currently facing the medical community. Some of the typical questions in the past have been:

• Why are you interested in medicine?
• When did you decide to apply to medical school?
• What have you done to demonstrate your interest in medicine?
• Do your parents support your desire to go to medical school?
• When did you decide you wanted to be a doctor?
• Are there any physicians in your family?
• Have you ever known any doctor personally? If so, did you consult the doctor regarding entering medical school?
• What one person has had the most impact on you and your decision to go to medical school?
• What are some of the major problems facing health care today?
• What do you think of national health insurance? Socialized medicine?
• What should be done about the high cost of medical care?
• What do you know about HMOs? DRGs? For-profit hospitals? PPOs?
• Who is Jack Kevorkian?
• What do you think should be done about health care for the elderly?
• Do you have an idea how much a surgeon has to pay in malpractice insurance?
• What qualities do you associate with a good doctor?
• What qualities do you possess that would make you a good physician?

• How do you envision life as a doctor? How do you see yourself in ten years?
• What will you do if you are not accepted into medical school?
• What do you see your contribution in medicine as being?
• Will the threats of malpractice suits in medicine limit your career plans?
• What rewards will you get from the profession?
• What are your plans for a medical career?
• What will society be like in fifteen years and how will medicine fit it?
• Do you think you know what you are getting into?
• Do you know what it is like to deal with the sick?
• Why did you apply to this medical school?
• What other schools did you apply to?
• Do you have any questions about this medical school or its medical program?
• Are you interested in this region as a place to settle?

Ethical Scenarios – These topics often have no clear right or wrong answer and are designed to observe the way that you weigh up the sides of controversial issues and justify your opinion. Recent questions have included:

• What is your opinion on euthanasia?
• If you were an RA and one of your residents told you in confidence that he/she had AIDS, what would you do?
• Do you think health care is a “natural right” or a “freedom of choice”?
• Tell me about an ethical choice or decision that you have had to make?
• What is your opinion on abortion? Treatment of AIDS victims? Organ procurement and transplantation?
• Additional MMI Ethical Scenarios with Model Answers can be found in the MMI Question Bank.

Role Play Scenarios – These scenarios often want you to demonstrate key attributes such as empathy, effective communication and being non-judgemental. In order to succeed in these stations, ensure that you review and implement ‘The 6 Stages of MMI Role Play’. A range of recent MMI Role Play Scenarios with Model Answers can be found in the Online MMI Question Bank.
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Teamwork Station – This station is often underestimated by the majority of candidates. Interviewers keep a close eye on the verbal and non-verbal participation of all candidates during teamwork stations, and successful portrayal of an enthusiastic and supportive team member requires an understanding of the Common Pitfalls and Key Excelling Areas for MMI Teamwork Stations.