Christopher See - Succeed in Your Medical School Interview: Stand out from the crowd and get into your chosen medical school

List of interview questions

Chapter 3 Motivation for medicine

Open questions

Why do you want to study medicine?

Can you tell us about yourself?

Can you take us through your personal statement?

Why do you want to be a doctor?

What do you want to achieve in medicine?

If you were to become a doctor, how would you wish your patients to describe you, and why?

Realistic ambition

How have you prepared to study medicine?

Why do you want to be a doctor, rather than enter another profession that is caring or intellectually challenging?

Why do you believe you have the ability to undertake the study and work involved in becoming a doctor?

What do you think being a doctor entails, apart from treating patients?

What branch of medicine do you think would interest you? Why?

What steps have you taken to try to find out whether you really do want to become a doctor?

How do you think medicine differs from other health professions?

How old are you when you become a consultant?

How long does medical training take?

What can you tell me about the average week of a surgeon?

Can you describe the average week of a doctor?

What would you most like us to ask you in this interview?

What things do you think might make people inclined to drop out of medical training?

Why should we pick you rather than other, better qualified candidates?

How might you put someone off a career in medicine?

Chapter 5 Work experience and voluntary work

Can you tell me about your work experience?

What was the most challenging aspect of your work experience?

In your work experience, what skills have you learned that you can apply to medicine?

If you were in charge of the hospital, what would you change or do differently in terms of the ward environment?

What impressed you most about the doctors in your work experience?

Can you tell me the key things you learned from your work experience?

What did you learn from your voluntary work?

Why do people volunteer?

Is there such a thing as a selfless good deed; do people do things because they truly want to help others, or just to feel better about themselves?

Chapter 6 Personal attributes

General

What attributes do you think a good doctor should have?

Can you tell me about your hobbies?

What are your interests?

What have you accomplished?

What would you like to change about yourself, and why?

What qualities do you most need to develop in yourself?

How do you think other people would describe you, and how would you like them to describe you?

Can you tell us about someone who has been a major influence on you as a person?

Which of your hobbies and interests do you think you will continue at university?

Tell us about a film you have seen or book you have read recently that has made you think. Why did it make you think?

Teamwork

Tell us about a time when you were part of a team. What contributions did you make to it?

Can you tell us about a project or group undertaking that you have been involved in?

Tell us about a team situation you have experienced. What did you learn about yourself and about successful teamworking?

When you think about yourself working as a doctor, who do you think will be the most important people in the team you will be working with?

Who are the important members of a multidisciplinary health care team, and why?

Leadership

How would you describe a good leader?

Are you a leader or a follower?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being in a team?

Do teams need leaders?

Communication skills

Think of a situation when communication skills have been important. Can you tell us about what happened?

Can you learn communication skills?

How have you developed your communication skills?

What skills do you think are needed in order to communicate with your patients?

Empathy and compassion

What is empathy?

Are you a compassionate person?

Commitment and dedication

The study of medicine requires considerable commitment. What can you tell us about yourself that shows you have this commitment?

Can you give us an example of when you demonstrated dedication?

Ability to cope with stress

How do you cope with stress?

Honesty

Should a doctor be honest at all times?

Chapte 7 Knowledge of the medical school

What interests you about the course at this medical school?

Why did you choose this medical school?

What do you know about the course at ( medical school) and why do you think it will suit you personally?

What do you know about PBL?

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of a PBL course?

Why do you want to come to a PBL medical school?

How do you study, and do you think this method will be successful at university?

What previous experiences have you had of learning in a small-group setting?

Apart from a medical education, what else will you gain from medical school?

How do you think you will contribute to the medical school?

Are there any particular hobbies or activities that you hope to pick up at university?

Chapter 8 Medicine as a profession

What will be the main challenges in your work as a doctor?

What do you think you will be the positive aspects and the negative aspects of being a doctor?

Medicine involves a lifelong processes of learning, training and keeping up to date. How will you deal with these demands?

How will your A-levels help in your career in medicine?

Tell us about a scientific or medical development that has been in the news lately that you found interesting. Why has this interested you?

Do you read any medical publications, and if so, can you tell me about something interesting that you have read?

Do you read any scientific publications, and if so, can you tell me about something interesting that you have read?

What does being on call mean?

What are the dangers of being a doctor?

How well do you cope with criticism?

How has information technology had an impact on the NHS?

Can you tell us about any significant medical stories in the media at the moment?

Can you tell us about something in the history of medicine that interests you?

What do you think is the most important advancement in the medical field in the last 100 years?

What do you think of the fact that nurses are now undertaking tasks that were previously done by doctors?

What difficulties might be faced by a person with a major physical disability pursuing a career in medicine?

Chapter 9 Hospital life and the NHS

How does the hospital function at night and what problems might be encountered?

How do doctors relax and socialize in the hospital setting?

What are the origins of the NHS?

What does the NHS do?

What roles do managerial staff play in the NHS?

What is wrong with the NHS?

Who is the current minister of health?

Was sending men to the Moon a waste of money?

Chapter 10 Medical knowledge

What is health?

What is the Hippocratic Oath and what does it mean to doctors nowadays?

How do politics influence health care provision and is this inevitable?

Do you think doctors should set a good example to their patients in their own lives? How or why might this be difficult?

In what ways do you think doctors can promote good health, other than through direct treatment of illness?

What is NICE?

What is the BMA?

What is the GMC?

What is meant by evidence-based medicine?

What are the arguments for and against non-essential surgery being available on the NHS?