General/Personal Statement – With interviewers having access to the candidate’s application, a great deal of emphasis is placed on their background and work experience. Many interviewers begin with the open-ended question “tell me about yourself”. Applicants should expect to be asked to elaborate on any and every aspect of their personal statement and provide examples to support their answers.
- What volunteer opportunities would you bring to this school? How would it help the school?
- What are you passionate about?
- What (in your application) do you want me to ask you about?
- How would you manage your time during medical school?
- Have you ever received a grade lower than a B- in your graduate school program?
- Of all of your activities, what are you most proud of/what stands out to you?
- Everyone has something that makes them stand out, makes them unique, what about you?
- What are your personal gifts and strengths and how can you direct that towards your profession as a physician?
- What are two characteristics you possess that would make me want to accept you into this class?
- Tell me about your leadership/ volunteer experience.
- Tell me about your best friend. Then why do you think I asked you that?
- What makes you distinct from the 1000’s of other applicants?
- Tell me about a time when you were critiqued about your work.
- What did you learn in your clinical experiences?
- Describe two qualities about yourself that will help you in medical school or contribute to this medical school.
- Tell me about your research
- Have you had any shadowing experience?
- Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
- What was your favourite science and non-science course?
- What was the last book you read?
- Name three famous people you admire.
- Do you plan on doing research while you’re in medical school?
- How would you run your own research lab?
- How do you know this is the profession for you?
- What is the most difficult experience of your life?
- What do you do to keep organized and to keep up with your studies?
- How can I convince you to come here?
- If there was one question I could ask you that would allow you to impress me the most, what would that question be?
Motivation and Insight into Medicine – These stations examine the candidates’ knowledge of the medical field as well as their motivations for undertaking a career in medicine. A basic knowledge of issues affecting the medical community in America is expected.
- What attracts you to Rosalind Franklin University?
- Why study in Chicago?
- What do you think about healthcare in America?
- What are the moral obligations of a physician?
- Why do you want to study medicine? How do you know you won’t experience burn out/become bored or unsatisfied?”
- What is the difference between an HMO and a PPO?
- What are your views on how healthcare should be managed?
- Imagine you are a physician and head of an administrative position at a rural hospital. The hospital is lacking funds and is sufficiently far to receive any support from other hospitals or urban locations. What would you do?
- How did you decide on a path in medicine?
- Is there a person influential in your decision to go to med school?
- With all the challenges in medicine today, why do you still want to enter the field?
- Do you think there’s anything wrong with the medical system, and if so, what can be done to change it?
- What are some issues patients have with physicians?
- What are healthcare issues facing geriatric patients?
- What do you think “inter-professional environment” means?
- How would you approach a situation in which your hospital, where you are on the administrative/planning board, was incapable of handling a large-scale medical situation which a different hospital, 100 miles away, was capable of handling?
- What do you think med school is like?
- As a physician, how would you balance your time so that you can be compassionate to patients and still be able to see 30+ patients a day?
- What is the difference between a good doctor and a good researcher?
- How would you balance your life if you were a doctor?
- If you were boss, what would you do to fix the current healthcare system?
- What is your opinion on socialized healthcare? What are the pros and cons?
- How do you feel about the business side of medicine?
- How would you solve the healthcare crisis in America in relation to underserved and improvised communities?
- How would you personally impact the medical profession?
- What is your understanding of the biopsychosocial approach to medicine?
Communication/Role Play Stations – These questions may utilise information from your application or may come in the form of a scenario where you need to explain how you would handle the situation. Ensure that you utilise the 7 Stages of MMI Communication Stations and 6 Stages of MMI Role Play to excel in these tasks. Recent stations have included the following:
- You diagnose an infant with spinal meningitis. The child’s condition is critical: you have two options for treatment, (1) the standard method, or (2) a novel, potentially more effective, method which you have just learned about at a recent medical conference. Which method of treatment would you choose? Explain your reasoning.
- How would you tell a patient that he has a tumour but you can’t operate on it?
- Additional Communication Stations with model answers can be found in the MMI Question Bank
