In this blog post we have listed 100 commonly asked medical school interview questions as well as some top tips. We have limited this to motivation for medicine, personal questions, work experience, medical ethics, and NHS hot topics. These are generic questions and to get a feel for exactly what to expect from the specific medicine interview you have coming up, book one of our university specific mock interviews.
Congratulations! You have made it so far already. You have secured a medicine interview after crafting an excellent personal statement and acing the UCAT or BMAT. This can be a daunting prospect but the key to success as always is practice, in order to ensure that you can be as prepared and calm as possible on the day of your medicine interview.
To book a mock medicine interview tailored towards your chosen medical school, facilitated by one of our expert medics and with full written feedback from experienced medical interviews, check out our mock interviews:
We also offer an interview course covering all the key techniques to help you ace your medicine interview – this is the final and most competitive stage!
TOP TIPS TO CONSIDER WHEN PREPARING FOR YOUR MEDICAL SCHOOL INTERVIEW
Your answers need to be unique to you. Medical schools interview hundreds of candidates so you need to stand out!
Practice, practice, practice. Practice in front of a mirror, to family and friends, and of course with us here at MasterMedPrep!
Learn how to reflect effectively.
You must be professional. This means being extra polite and dressing well.
Do not be late to your interview! It is not good enough to say that your train was delayed or that your internet isn’t working.
Make sure that you have a structure ready for each type of question that can come up.
Get as much feedback on your interview style as you can. We at MasterMedPrep are big believers in feedback and constructive criticism.
Know as much as you can about the university you are applying to. What is the course like? What is the city like?
Think about what you will do if you get stressed in the interview, have a plan. Whatever works for you. Some people find taking a couple of deep breaths and resetting can be helpful if they feel stressed.
Be calm and speak slowly and clearly. Many students speak far too fast in their medical school interviews.
MEDICAL SCHOOL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (BY CATEGORY)
Motivation for Medicine
· Why do you want to do medicine?
· What are the pros and cons of medicine?
· What do you want to specialise in?
· Why would you want to be a GP?
· Why would you want to be a hospital physician?
· Why would you want to be a surgeon?
· What do you wish to achieve in your career in medicine, aside from clinical practice?
· Describe some health professionals that work alongside doctors and explain what they do.
· What do nurses do?
· Why do you want to be a doctor rather than a nurse?
· What do physiotherapists do?
· What do counsellors do?
· What do occupational therapists do?
· Describe an interesting medical development in recent times.
· In the history of medicine, what has been the most important development?
· What extracurricular activities have you done relating to science and medicine?
· Discuss an interesting project, talk or article you have come across recently.
· Why do you want to be a doctor, rather than another profession that is caring or intellectually challenging?
· What one question would you ask if you were interviewing others to study medicine? What would you most like us to ask you in this interview?
· Why study medicine rather than any other health care profession? How do you think medicine differs from other health professions?
· What aspect of healthcare attracts you to medicine?
· What steps have you taken to try to find out whether you really do want to become a doctor?
· There are many different ways of helping people. Why do you want to study medicine, rather than working in any other health or social care professions?
· Can you tell us about any particular life experiences that you think may help or hinder you in a career in medicine?
· How would you dissuade someone from going into Medicine?
· How old are you when you become a consultant?
· When you think about becoming a doctor, what do you look forward to most and least?
· What impact do you hope to make in the field of medicine?
· Tell us about Hippocrates.
· Do you read any medical publications?
Personal Questions
· What is your main strength?
· Give three adjectives that best describe you?
· Why should we give you a place?
· What attributes do you have that will make you a good doctor?
· Could you think of a situation where your communication skills made a difference to the outcome of a situation?
· What is your biggest weakness?
· Are you an empathetic person?
· Who has had a major influence on you as a person?
· What are you main interests?
· Give an example where you have played an effective role as a team member.
· What makes you a good team player?
· What makes you a good team leader?
· Why is teamwork important?
· Do all teams need a leader?
· What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in a team?
· Do you work better by yourself or as part of a team?
· How do you manage your time?
· How good are your organisational skills?
· How do you cope with stress?
· Medicine requires a great deal of independent study and organisation. How will you manage it?
· Tell me about a non-academic project in which you were involved.
· What positions of responsibility have you held, and what did you learn from them?
· Give an example of a situation where you have made a mistake and how you reacted.
· Studying for medicine is a long and stressful process. What makes you think that you can cope with it?
· What ways of working and studying have you developed that you think will assist you through medical school? What will you need to improve?
· How do you think you will cope with criticism from colleagues or other health professionals?
· Is there such a thing as positive criticism?
· Tell us two personal qualities you have which would make you a good doctor, and two personal shortcomings which you think you would like to overcome as you become doctor?
· Medical training is long and being a doctor can be stressful. Some doctors who qualify never practice. What makes you think you will stick to it?
· Medical training is long and being a doctor can be stressful. Some doctors who qualify never practice. What makes you think you will stick to it?
· What do you think are your priorities in your own personal development?
· What qualities do you lack that would be useful for a doctor, and what do you intend to do about this?
· What qualities do you think other people value in you?
· How do you think other people would describe you?
· What makes a good working relationship?
· Give us an example of something about which you used to hold strong opinions, but have had to change your mind. What made you change? What do you think now?
· Thinking about your membership of a team (in a work, sport, school or other setting), can you tell us about the most important contributions you made to the team?
· Tell us about a group activity you have organised. What went well and what went badly? What did you learn from it?
Work Experience
· What did you learn from your work experience?
· Can you tell me about a memorable situation you observed, and what you learned from it?
· What important qualities did you notice from doctors during your work experience?
· What is the reason we want our applicants to do work experience?
· How did your work experience change your view of the NHS or medicine?
· You shadowed a surgeon for a week, what springs to mind when you hear multidisciplinary team?
· After an operation, what is the role of the medical team in the patient’s care?
· Apart from the operating theatre, did you shadow the surgeons in another setting such as a clinic?
· What are the current issues surrounding surgeries?
· You did work experience in a GP reception, how did you find that?
· What do you feel about the Telephone Triage system used in many General Practices?
· How did you find the fact that GPs only get 10 minutes per consultation?
· What are the challenges of being a GP?
· Do you feel that the public’s perception of GPs is misrepresentative?
· What did you notice about the skills doctors needed when they were carrying out a patient history?
· What did you notice about the doctors you were shadowing in their approach to patients?
Medical Ethics
· Do you believe that euthanasia should be allowed?
· Why is confidentiality important?
· Can confidentiality ever be broken. If so, when can it be?
· Should doctors be allowed to strike?
· “You are part of a medical council deciding upon allocation for a liver transplant. There is one liver, but two patients.
· “Organ donation in the UK is currently via an opt-in system, whereby by default option is no donation.
· Discuss opt-in schemes, and other methods to increase donations of organs in the UK”.
NHS Hot Topics
· What do you know about the Junior Doctors contract dispute?
· Do you think it was right for doctors to go on strike?
· What do you know about the proposals for a 7 Day NHS?
· Should there be a 7 day NHS?
· What can you tell me about the Charlie Gard case?
· Name an ethical dilemma that has been raised after the case.
· Name one consequence you think Brexit will have on the NHS?
· What can you tell me about the government’s view about Mental Health?
· What do you know about the current obesity crisis?
SOME KEY RESOURCES TO HELP YOU TO PREPARE
1. Medicine Interview Checklist – have you covered all of these points?
2. 10 Common Medicine Interview Stations explained – check out how an interview expert would approach 10 common medicine interview stations.
3. What do you on the day of your medical school interview – the day is here, are you ready?
4. Online Medicine Interview tips – What is your Netiquette like?
5. Know when medical schools send out interview invites so that you can plan your preparation!
We hope this question bank of medical interview questions is helpful in preparing for your interview. However, if you would like more help or the opportunity to practice your medical school interview answers with one of our expert medics then make sure to check out our university-specific mock interviews of interview course If you have any other questions or worries, don’t hesitate to contact us at on the chat or at mastermedprep@gmail.com. Good luck!