Medical School Interview Question Bank: 200+ Medicine Interview Questions

Are you about to go on a medical interview soon and are not sure where to begin? We usually advise you to start by drafting sample responses to Medicine Interview Questions that often arise and have been asked in the past.

Here is a collection of interview questions in medicine that our staff has put up for you to use. Try to practice with a friend, and ask them to critique your response.

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Motivation for Medicine Interview Questions

1-10

1. What inspired you to become a doctor?
2. What benefits and drawbacks does medicine offer?
3. What speciality would you like to pursue after medical school?
4. Why would you want to become a general practitioner?
5. Why would you want to work in a hospital as compared to working in a clinic?
6. What made you decide to pursue surgery?
7. Aside from clinical practice, what other goals do you have for your medical career?
8. Give examples of some health care workers who assist physicians and describe their roles.
9. What do nurses do?
10. Why do you prefer being a doctor over becoming a nurse?

11-20

1. Why do you prefer being a doctor to a physician’s associate?
2. How do physiotherapists help people?
3. What do therapists do?
4. Occupational therapists: What do they do?
5. Describe a recent, intriguing advancement in medicine.
6. What has been the greatest significant advancement in medicine over time?
7. What do you look forward to the most and least when you consider becoming a doctor?
8. What difference do you hope to make in the medical field?
9. Have you heard about Hippocrates? Tell us more about him
10. Do you read any medical journals?

21-30

1. Why do you want to be a doctor as opposed to another profession that is caring or intellectually demanding?
2. If you were interviewing someone to study medicine, what is the one question that you would ask? 
3. In this interview, what question would you most like to be asked?
4. Do you agree that practising medicine is a calling?
5. What qualities do you believe make a good doctor?
6. Why do you want to attend this medical school?
7. Tell us about yourself.
8. What particular area of medicine piques your interest?
9. What part do general practitioners play in the healthcare system?
10. Describe an occasion when a healthcare worker inspired you.

31-41

1. Tell me about a book you have read on medicine.
2. What should interviewers, in your opinion, be searching for during an interview?
3. What distinguishes you from the other candidates?
4. How would you dissuade someone from pursuing a career in medicine?
5. How would you wish to be perceived by potential patients?
6. Do you have any particular experiences that you think would be useful for your future in medicine?
7. In 20 years, where do you picture yourself?
8. If you were not offered a spot at any medical school, what would you do?
9. What activities would you engage in during a gap year to improve your application?
10. What is one thing about you that you believe is crucial for us to know?
11. Why do you believe individuals quit the medical field?

Personality Medicine Interview Questions

1-10

1. What is your strongest quality?
2. What are three words that best describe you?
3. Why should we give you a place?
4. What qualities do you possess that will help you succeed as a doctor?
5. Could you recall an instance in which your communication skills made a difference to the outcome of a situation?
6. What is your greatest flaw?
7. Would you consider yourself to be an empathetic person?
8. What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?
9. Who has made a significant impact on you personally?
10. What are your main interests?

11-20

1. Give an instance where you played an effective role as a team member.
2. What would you consider to be traits of a good team player?
3. What would you consider to be traits of a good team leader?
4. Why is teamwork crucial?
5. Do all groups require a leader?
6. What benefits and drawbacks come with working as a team?
7. Do you function best on your own or in a group?
8. Do you take the lead or do you follow?
9. How do you manage your time?
10. How do you respond to criticism?

21-34

1. How do you control your ego?
2. How would you provide criticism to another medical student?
3. How will you prevent burnout, which medical professionals like physicians and students frequently experience?
4. How do you plan to overcome obstacles in medicine?
5. What traits do you believe you need to improve on in order to be a successful doctor?
6. How do you think other people describe you?
7. How would you handle a patient’s passing?
8. In what cases would you require academic assistance?
9. How have your activities developed you as a person?
10. Are you someone who strives for perfection? If not, why not?
11. Do you believe that social or intellectual intelligence is more crucial for a doctor?
12. What aspect of your character would you change?
13. Why, in your opinion, is diversity in medicine important?
14. How would you handle communicating with patients who come from different cultural backgrounds and with whom you might not be familiar?

Your Skills Medicine Interview Questions

1-10

1. How well do you manage your time?
2. How do you handle pressure?
3. It takes a lot of independent research and planning to practice medicine. How are you going to handle it?
4. Tell me about a project that you worked on outside of the classroom.
5. Which leadership positions have you held, and what have you learned from them?
6. Give an instance of a time when you made an error and describe how you reacted to it.
7. What factors influenced your decision to pursue your A-level subjects?
8. What do you think our university can offer you?
9. What additional student societies would you like to join?
10. Give an instance when you have shown perseverance.

11-25

1. How do you resolve conflict?
2. Give an instance when you displayed good communication skills.
3. Do you think communication skills can be learnt?
4. What abilities do you possess that you believe a doctor should have?
5. Why is it crucial to protect patient privacy?
6. Why is professionalism crucial in the medical field?
7. How do you respond after making a mistake?
8. How would you apologise to a patient if you have made a mistake?
9. Give an example of a situation in which you formerly had a strong opinion but have since changed it. What caused you to reconsider? How do you think differently now?
10. What do you anticipate to be the biggest hurdle you will face in medicine?
11. What made an event you organized successful, and how may it be made better?
12. Do you believe that doctors ought to “feel for their patients”?
13. What is a situation that you learnt a lot from?
14. What talents do you possess that you believe others find valuable?
15. What would you do if the patient’s diagnosis was unclear?

Work Experience Medicine Interview Questions

1-10

1. What have you discovered as a result of your work experience?
2. Can you describe a remarkable event you witnessed and what you took away from it?
3. When you were working with doctors, what crucial traits did you notice?
4. Why do you think we require work experience from our applicants?
5. How has your work experience affected the way you see the medical field or the NHS?
6. What comes to mind when you hear the term “multidisciplinary team” if you had spent a week in a surgeon’s shoes?
7. What part does the medical staff play in the patient’s care following surgery?
8. Did you observe the surgeons in any other settings except the operating room, like in a clinic?
9. What problems are there right now with surgeries?
10. What difficulties do surgeons face?

11-20

1. How was your job experience working at a GP reception?
2. What do you think about the telephone triage method that is employed in many general practices?
3. What do you think about the 10-minute time limit for doctor-patient consultations?
4. What difficulties do general practitioners face?
5. Do you believe that more general practitioners should offer patients the option of phone consultations?
6. Do you believe that the public’s impression of general practitioners is inaccurate?
7. What did you notice about the abilities doctors required when taking a patient history?
8. When you were shadowing doctors, what did you notice in their approach to patients?
9. What were the responsibilities of the various interdisciplinary team members during a ward round?
10. What difficulties did you see the doctor face while you were doing your work experience?

21-35

1. During your work experience, what is something a doctor did that you would change?
2. What difficulties do doctors face?
3. What aspect of your work experience did you find the most enjoyable?
4. Describe the doctor’s method of delivering terrible news.
5. What did a doctor do that, in your opinion, might be done better?
6. Who do you think in a multidisciplinary healthcare team is the most crucial?
7. Do you have any suggestions for improvements to the way hospitals are run?
8. What did you learn during your job experience that surprised you?
9. What exactly do you mean when you say “holistic care”?
10. What action taken by the doctors during your work experience most impressed you?
11. What would you have liked to have seen throughout your work experience?
12. What were your expectations going into your work experience?
13. Who inspired you the most during your work experience?
14. What is the most crucial ability required to take a good patient history?
15. Did you ever have any work-related experiences that you did not enjoy?

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Medical Ethics Interview Questions

1-10

1. Do you think euthanasia ought to be legal?
2. Why is confidentiality important?
3. Is it possible to violate confidentiality? What kind of situations could it happen in, if so?
4. Should doctors be permitted to strike?
5. Should doctors be permitted to protest?
6. You are voting on the allocation for a liver transplant as a member of a medical council. However, there is only one liver but there are two patients. Patient A is a 75-year-old military veteran who abstains from alcohol. Patient B is a 27-year-old single mom who used to drink. Who ought to receive the organ?
7. In the UK, organ donation is now done via an opt-out system, where the default choice is not to donate. Discuss opt-out programs and other strategies to encourage organ donations in the UK.
8. You offer a woman who is severely bleeding a blood transfusion, but she declines. What explanation do you have for this? How would you approach the problem?
9. A guy with a disease that might be fatal declines medical care. What moral dilemmas are present?
10. Do you believe that Class A drugs should be made legal?

11-20

1. Do you believe that doctors should be required to notify the police if any of their patients take illicit drugs?
2. When you encounter a beggar on the street, how do you react and how do you feel?
3. What do you think of using animals to test new medications?
4. Should medical professionals be involved in contact sports like boxing?
5. Do you think we should learn more about patient’s opinions on their physicians, their illnesses, and their treatments? What approach would you use here?
6. Some Trusts are refusing to operate on obese individuals for some elective procedures. Why do you think that is the case? What do you think about it?
7. Is it appropriate for only specific groups of men to have access to Viagra?
8. As a doctor, would you conduct abortions?
9. What are some benefits and drawbacks of abortion?
10. How do you feel about assisted suicide?

21-30

1. Do you consider the Hippocratic Oath to be out of date?
2. Would you give an unmarried 14-year-old girl who is having sex with her boyfriend the oral contraceptive pill?
3. Treatment for female infertility is costly, has a very poor success rate, and is much less effective in smokers. Do you believe it should be made accessible?
4. In your opinion, how should doctors handle injuries or illnesses brought on by self-harm, smoking, or excessive alcohol use?
5. Should the NHS still provide funding for IVF therapy in light of the rising overpopulation issues?
6. What part does a doctor play in enabling a patient to make an educated choice?
7. What moral dilemmas arise when a patient under the age of 16 refuses treatment?
8. What are the benefits and drawbacks of banning alcohol?
9. What are the four foundations of ethics? Can you provide instances of when you have observed these in action?
10. Do you believe that certain NHS patients should be provided marijuna free as part of their treatment?

31-40

1. Do you believe that complementary or alternative medicine should play a bigger part in the NHS?
2. Should medical students receive vaccinations as a requirement?
3. What would you do if a patient with an STI refused to disclose it to their partner but intended to continue having sex with them anyway?
4. What aspects would you take into account before choosing which patient would receive an organ?
5. As a medical student, how would you respond if a patient informed you about something confidential and begged you not to tell anyone else?
6. What would you do if a 13-year-old patient requested the pill for birth control as a doctor?
7. What would you do as a doctor if you overheard someone on the phone in the grocery store discussing their recent symptoms and you suspected they were suffering from cancer?
8. Are you in favour of using animal testing to create new medications?
9. Should doctors use social media to vent about their workplace or coworkers? What if it was a private social media account?
10. What repercussions may a doctor face if he was a whistleblower?

NHS Hot Topics Interview Questions

Here are some NHS Hot Topics that you may use as a study guide. Be careful to monitor websites like BBC News because these are constantly updated.

1-10

1. What is your knowledge of the contract conflict involving junior doctors?
2. Do you believe that the strike by doctors was appropriate?
3. What is your knowledge about the proposed 7-day NHS?
4. Should the NHS be available 24/7?
5. What do you know about the Charlie Gard case and what are your opinions on it?
6. Identify a moral conundrum that the Charlie Gard case has brought up.
7. In your opinion, what impact will Brexit have on the NHS?
8. How much are you aware of the Dr Bawa Garba case?
9. In your opinion, how may incidents such as the one involving Dr Bawa Garba be avoided?
10. What information can you provide on the government’s position on mental health?

11-20

1. How would you respond to the present crisis in mental health?
2. What problems does an ageing population pose?
3. How well-versed are you in the present obesity crisis?
4. Do you believe the sugar tax has had any impact?
5. Briefly describe the NHS and its impact on society in two sentences.
6. How is the NHS funded to provide its services?
7. Could you perhaps explain the tenets upon which the NHS is built?
8. Give me two new NHS changes brought about by the Health and Social Care Act.
9. Could you explain the rationale for the government’s implementation of this reform?
10. Do you agree with the National Health Service’s proposed changes? Why?

21-30

1. How has the Health and Social Care Act been received?
2. How might the NHS be made more affordable?
3. How do you believe the NHS will be affected by privatisation?
4. What benefits and drawbacks does private healthcare offer?
5. What would you do to improve NHS worker retention?
6. How do you think healthcare can benefit from artificial intelligence?
7. Should GP consultations last 10 minutes instead of the current five?
8. What functions do the British Medical Association and General Medical Council perform?
9. Why is the world at risk from antibiotic resistance?
10. How does resistance to antibiotics grow?

Covid-19 Interview Questions

1-10

1. Should masks be made mandatory in public spaces, such as shops and public transport?
2. What actions did the government take to combat COVID-19?
3. What do you think the government could have done to more successfully stop the virus’s spread?
4. Should those who disregard social distance standards be penalized for their actions?
5. Is it appropriate for the UK to not accept PCR results from specific nations?
6. What do you know about herd immunity?
7. What is an RNA vaccine?
8. Should everyone receive the vaccination as a requirement?
9. Why has the coronavirus afflicted some areas more than others?
10. Why are there not enough ventilators available?

11-20

1. What effect has the coronavirus had on mental health?
2. What do you anticipate the coronavirus’s long-term effects to be on the NHS?
3. Do you believe that encouraging the public to get the vaccine should involve using influencers?
4. What benefits and drawbacks come with paying someone to get the vaccine?
5. How would you combat the spread of false information about the coronavirus vaccine?
6. Why do you believe some individuals would be hesitant to receive the vaccination?
7. How would you explain to a 10-year-old kid the value of wearing a mask?
8. Do you believe that individuals should post information about the coronavirus on social media?
9. What do you believe the growth in obesity during the epidemic is due to? What approach would you use here?
10. During the coronavirus epidemic, should hospitals have allowed families to visit when their health condition was critical?

21-30

1. What effect do you believe the coronavirus has had on the morale of medical workers?
2. What effects has the coronavirus had on your perception of medicine and working for the NHS?
3. Was it appropriate for nursing facilities to forbid family visits?
4. What impact does politics have on healthcare?
5. Do you believe that the Health Secretary’s background in healthcare should be required?
6. Should the Health Secretary make choices about health?
7. In your opinion, who should receive the coronavirus vaccination first?
8. What do you think would be the consequence of nations hoarding vaccinations?
9. Should drug manufacturers charge nations for the vaccine?
10. What do you believe to be the main danger to UK citizens’ health right now?

Medical Interview

The interview stage is the hardest since 37% of candidates get rejected at this part of the application. Often, simply preparing questions would not be enough to get you into the medical school of your choice as you would not be objective to your own answers. Fortunately, Medic Mind has developed a customised 1-on-1 interview course that enables you to quickly connect with a tutor from your university. Start preparing for your medical school interview and get into the medical school of your choice now! To learn more, click here.

Medicine Interview Online Course

Breakdown of the Most Common Interview Question Types, How to Perfect Your Interview Technique, and Mock Interviews Tailored to Your University Choices

Find out more£69

FAQs

When do medical schools give out offers?

It mostly depends on the school. Many medical schools notify applicants of interview offers three weeks before the interview, but there are cases where some do so on the very same day! The most crucial thing is to be patient and keep in mind that you have a good probability of receiving an offer if you have given it your best.

How will medicine interviews be different in 2022?

There is no denying that COVID-19 will result in a large number of online medical interviews this year, but you can make use of this to your own benefit. You can prepare doing interviews online to get used to communicating non-verbal cues through an online format. Hence, online preparation for interviews is something you should definitely practice doing!

How should I structure my medicine interview question answers?

Use this question bank to come up with sample responses in the form of bullet points, then practice them in front of a mirror. A helpful suggestion is to record yourself responding to these questions aloud. The responses have to be structured clearly; one popular approach is to employ the STARR formula.