UCLA Medicine Interview Questions

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. 

• Tell me about yourself
• Can you tell me about your family and siblings?
• Tell me about your family and how they shaped you.
• What do your parents do?
• Tell me about your childhood.
• What motivates you?
• At David Geffen School of Medicine, we believe in the continual development of our students, both professionally and personally. What is your self-development plan? 
• Describe a situation where your work was criticized. What was your immediate reaction to the situation?
• When you suffer a setback, how does that emotionally affect you and your work?
• Who in your life mentors, or inspires you?
• Tell us about your overall academic performance so far. Where have you excelled? Where could you improve?
• Where did you grow up in? How would you describe this area?
• What do you want me to tell the admissions committee that you feel is absolutely critical to your application?
• What is your strongest quality?
• What are you passionate about?
• How would you describe the education that you have received?
• What are you doing right now?
• Can you tell me about some of your volunteering activities?
• What activities have you been involved in?
• Do you ever think about what makes you successful?
• What has been the most challenging experience you have ever had to deal with?
•  What obstacles have you come across?
• When you did [AMCAS activity] what did you think about [aspect of activity]…
• Why your major?
• Where are you now (geographically), and what are you doing?
• Tell me more about the research projects you participated in.
• Tell me about the research that you did. How was it relevant to the other projects in the lab? How is it relevant in general (As a doctor, why would I care about this drug)?
• What do you do for fun?
• Why did you take time off?
• “What is the most eye-opening experience you’ve had?”
• Why would you pick UCLA over all the other schools you’ve interviewed/been accepted at?
• How would a friend describe you?
• What is the most important thing in your life?
• What was the most interesting question you’ve been asked during an interview?
• Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
• How do you think that people learn most efficiently?
• What was your favourite class?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What schools have you interviewed at?
• What schools have you been accepted to? Tell me about your life up until the end of high school.
• Why did you select your undergraduate institution?
• Where do you see yourself 15 years from now?
• Tell me about the most meaningful community service work that you have done. How about of something that you failed at and what did you learn?
• How can you help to sustain student interest in the community once they get to medical school?
• Why should we pick you?
• What sets you apart?
• What is your coping mechanism?
• Explain the grade you got in this class.
• Name one thing that you are most proud of.
• Describe a creative project you were involved with or a time when you showed leadership in a project or a program.
• Do you consider yourself disadvantaged in any way?
• How would (a specific person with whom I didn’t get along) describe me, and what would she say I need to work on?
• What will UCLA be missing if you do not enrol in this school?
• Why are you a better applicant then everyone else?
• Describe a typical day for you.
• Have you read anything interesting lately?
• Give me a one-sentence summary of yourself.
• What has been the most creative leadership activity you have been involved in?
• What would you be if you could be anything completely unrelated to science?
• Tell me about some of your political views.
• Tell us something that we would not know by reading your CV. 

 
Motivation and Insight into Medicine – These stations explore the candidate’s desire to study and practice medicine, as well as how realistic their ideas are about being a doctor and the profession. Current events and issues in healthcare often form a key line of inquiry as they demonstrate an interest in the wider medical community and the problems it is facing. Questions may include:

• Why do you want to go into medicine? Why do you want to go to UCLA?
• What are the current challenges in medicine?

• How will you overcome the challenges in medicine?
• Why do you want to help people through medicine?”
• What can you bring to the field of medicine?
• What are you looking at in deciding what school to attend?
• How would you change the healthcare system?
•  Compare Obama and McCain’s health care plans and what you personally think.
• What do you think of the health care system, and what changes should be made that don’t require a huge overhaul?
• What does socialized medicine mean to you? What does universal healthcare mean to you?
• How do you know that you would be happy in med school?
• How does our health system compare to systems of other countries?
• Do you know the percentage of uninsured individuals in the United States? If so what?
• How will you handle family life and medicine?
• What do you think of nationalized health care?
• When did you decide that you wanted to become a doctor?
• What would you do if a career in medicine didn’t work out?
• Do you think that a food-addiction should be taken as seriously as an addiction to something like cocaine?
• How does religion play into medicine?
• Have you thought about the struggles you will face as a doctor?
• What do you think are some pros and cons of HMO’s?
• Why not a teacher, a lawyer, or a social worker?
• What do you think about women in medicine? Are they disadvantaged in any way?
• How do you see yourself involved in medicine– as a clinician, a researcher, etc?
• What is one of the most important health issues going on the world, and how would you fix it?
• Is there any speciality that you are interested in and why?
• Tell me about your path to medicine?
• Why do you think you would be a good physician?
• Name three changes in the delivery of health care you would like to see.
• What do you think about managed care? What would you do to change it?
• Medicine tends to be emotionally draining as well as difficult in other aspects. How do/will you deal with this issue?
• What does UCLA offer that you can’t get somewhere else?
• What do you think makes a good doctor?
• What kinds of special medical needs are there for people who live in isolated (ethnic, socio-economic, geographic) groups?
• How do you feel about bureaucratic regulation in medicine, and how will you deal with it?
• What can you do to help people empathize with people with special needs?
• If you were Harry Potter and had a magic wand, how would you change the health care system?
• What do you know about health care delivery systems (in the US and abroad)?
• How would you address the impending crisis of the baby boomer generation ageing and living longer?
• How would you diffuse a situation with a hostile patient?
• If you could meet anyone in the history of medicine, who would you choose and why?
• What do you know about David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA?
• Talk to us about the prospect of handling blood and other bodily fluids. You will be subject to difficult scenarios in your role as a physician, how do you feel about this?
• As a physician, you will be faced with death on a daily basis. How will you professionally cope with this reality?
• Which medical related journals, newspapers and publications do you read to stay in touch with new medical discoveries and current events?
• Should medical students who receive federal funding spend time practising medicine in a less desirable area, to give something in return?
• What are your thoughts on alternative medicine? Which aspects do you agree and disagree with? 

 
Ethical Scenarios – These stations have no clear right or wrong answer. Instead, the interviewer is looking at whether the candidate can evaluate the scenario from multiple perspectives and make a justified decision. In order to succeed in these stations, ensure that you review the ‘2 Sorts. 2 Sides.’ Approach to MMI Ethical Scenarios. Examples of these types of questions/scenarios commonly include:

• What do you think about euthanasia?
• What about stem cell research?

• Would you tell someone they have a debilitating disease (e.g. cancer) even if spouse begs you not to because it would crush them because a relative died of the same disease previously?
• Would you pull the plug on a comatose patient if their relatives asked you to?
• Discuss an ethical dilemma that you have experienced
• If it’s survival of the fittest, why even bother to work to save people who are impoverished or who are sick abroad?
• Would you perform an abortion?
• Would you give a liver transplant to an alcoholic?
• What is your opinion on animal research and testing in the medical field?
• Are there any situations when a physician is justified in lying to a patient?

• Additional MMI Ethical Scenarios with Model Answers can be found in the MMI Question Bank.