Emory University Medicine Interview Questions

Motivation and Insight into Medicine

• If you were in charge of the American health care system, what would you do about the uninsured and the underserved?
• Do you think that health care is a human right?
• In your opinion, how does the American healthcare system compare to other countries?
• In your opinion, what is the most challenging aspect of being a medical student?
• What specialty in medicine are you currently interested in?
• Do you have any relatives who practice medicine?
• Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
• What characteristics a good physician should have?
• Was there a particular event in your life attributed to your decision of becoming a doctor?
• Why are you pursuing medicine at this time?
• What are the important criteria you were looking for in a medical school before applying?
• What is another field you would be interested in if you did not pursue medicine?
• In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge your generation of physicians will encounter?
• Do you think research should be a requirement in any medical school?
• In the next 10 years, what technology you think will have the biggest impact on the healthcare system?
• In your opinion, what is a pressing problem the health care sector faces now and how would you fix it?
• How will you build a sense of community with patients who don’t share you background?
• What research projects have you worked on?
• What appeals to you the most in medicine?
• Describe a time you have shadowed a doctor or came in contact with patients.
• In your tour at Grady today, what did you like the most?
• How do your parents feel about your decision to study medicine?
• What do you like about Emory other than its academic programs?
• Why did you choose Atlanta to pursue medicine in?

 
Ethical Dilemmas

• How would you deal with a situation where an old patient’s family request not to tell him about his terminal cancer?
• If there is a patient dying and you give him adequate amount of morphine, but the patient is in a lot of pain and wants you to end their life, what do you do?
• If one of the medical school applicants had only five years to live, would you accept him in?
• If only one kidney was available while two patients needed it, how would you decide who gets it?
• If you were an ER doctor, and a prison inmate came in by an ambulance for a serious condition, how would you treat them?
• What is a time when you had to make a difficult ethical decision?

Prioritisation Tasks

• In a rural medical practice, how well you balance the quality and quantity of care?
• Do you believe there is a monetary limit to the medical services we can offer to a patient?
• If you had a family event conflicting with patient care, how would you handle the situation?
• How would you rank these three qualities in a physician- compassion, integrity, and knowledge?
• How do you plan to take care of your emotional/ personal needs with such strenuous demands while pursuing medicine?
• How do you deal with stress?
• How would you handle a workload of 5 days in only 3 days?
• If you went back in time, what would you change or do differently?

Scientific/Medical Topics

• What do you think the primary causes of renal disease are?

Communication Stations​

• How should a doctor build a trusting relationship with patients?
• How would you react if a patient refused to take medicine because of religious reasons?
• If aliens came to Earth and you could only take them to one place to show them why they should spare the Earth from destruction, where would you take them?
• Describe how you would spend billion dollars in one year.

Case/Article Reviews

• What do you think the underlying cause of terrorism is?
• What is your opinion about needle-exchange programs?
• What do you think of how the media portray physicians?
• What is a newspaper article that you read recently that disturbed you?
• In your opinion, how will the next election change the healthcare system and the health insurance to all Americans?

 
MMI Sales Pitch Station

• Give me a strong argument to give to the admissions committee in favor of your application.
• How does your personality suit medicine?
• What would you contribute to Emory if accepted?
• In one word, how would you describe yourself?

 
Teamwork Tasks

• What leadership experience did you have in college?

 
Role Play Scenarios

• How would you react if a patient doubted your judgment as a doctor and questioned your diagnosis?

 
General / Personal Statements

• How did you choose your major in undergrad? And was it a good choice?
• Why did you choose to go to X University for undergrad?
• What is a common misconception people have of you when they meet you?
• What is your learning style?
• What do you believe the purpose of this interview is?
• How would your friends describe you?
• Which experience in your AMCAS is the most important to you?
• Recommend a book you have read recently.
• What was a time you failed and how did you improve?
• At what moment of your life did you feel you became an adult?
• What is your favorite TV show?
• What was the most interesting non science class you took?
• What did you do over the last summer?
• What are your greatest nonacademic accomplishments?
• Tell me an interesting aspect of your life that does not relate to academics
• Tell me about your background and your family / parents.
• If you were to be anyone for a day, who would you choose and why?
• To what extent do you think contributing to the community is important?
• What belief have you strongly held that you no longer do?
• What do you like to do when you have free time?
• What activities do you do to relax?
• How would you describe your college experience?