sample interview questions

**saunders0104** · 24-09-2007, 07:09 PM

any med students and anybody who has had interviews, please leave your interview questions here for us to share! would be very helpful for us 08 applicants.

also write scenarios if you remember them.

only question (other than scenaros) i can remember from mine last year:
"tell us about something you've had to plan and organise"

scenarios i remember getting:
"you're to take a trip to the andies with your friends, but your flight is during your final PBL of the year. what do you do?"
"a fellow student runs out of class crying and isn't seen for days. you find them by a river staring into the water. what do you do?"

Michael xx

**Matt641** · 24-09-2007, 10:48 PM

I wrote mine down to give to my sister for application, so here they are after 5 years.

Oxford:
*Shown a graph of hospital deaths over last 100 years. Has a sharp drop c.1810* Discuss the reasons for the pattern shown.
Tell me about a clinical trial that you would design to test the efficacy of a drug used to treat immunocomprimised patients.
Questions on rods and cones. Then: A new animal (monkey like) is discovered in the Amazon. How do you determine whether it can see in colour or not?
What parts of your medical training do you forsee being the most difficult for you personally?
What applications does military medicine have to the NHS. Is medicine and the army compatible? (specific to my UCAS this one)
Patient comes in for HIV test, doesn't want to tell husband. What do you do and why?
Some one about the forces acting on a balloon in a car. Why does it moves, in what direction etc.
Discuss the differences in population health and the provision of healthcare between Brazil and the UK.

Imperial
Tell me about your work experience etc etc.
What is the biggest cause of mortality in the UK? What is the biggest cause of morbidity?
What are your thoughts on PFI expansion. Can the NHS be run like a buisness? (because I did economics at A level maybe?)
You have x y and z that you do in your free time to handle. Does it ever get to you and how do you organise your time? What do you do to relax?
Tell me your views on cloning. Outline arguments for and against.

UCL
Same basics about work exp.
You're the umpteenth student today with, and that has predicted, straight As. How do we differentiate between you, as does playing instrument x or playing sport y really make you more suitable for medicine?
How would you handle the stress placed on doctors?
What is in your opinion, the most important advance in modern medicine? (my answer of radiology esp. the CT seemed to get nods)
Captaining the rugby team involves mainly getting drunk doesn't it? (his attempt at a joke I think)
UCL holds a worldwide reputation for teaching of medicine, why do you deserve to be here? Sell yourself to me in 30 seconds.
Do you think we should have an entry test for medicine? (this was before BMAT)

Edinburgh:
Didn't interview.

Thats a lot! Not a single, "why do you want to study medicine" incidently.

**saunders0104** · 24-09-2007, 11:44 PM

thanks for the questions!
anybody got any others?

Michael xx

**far_14** · 25-09-2007, 05:56 PM

there are a lot of question @ http://www.admissionsforum.net/viewf...67060b907cdb1d

**gilgamesh** · 25-09-2007, 07:04 PM

The most common questions asked are probably highly predictable ones like 'Why medicine?', 'Why us', 'Tell us about a time when you demonstrated leadership', 'What's your position on such and such an ethical issue?'.

kotoreru · 25-09-2007, 07:05 PM

Ha! I love the question about the balloon in the car...as if that's relevant in the slightest. Interesting thing to know how it works, mind.

**saunders0104** · 26-09-2007, 01:00 PM

haha yeah I thought that was a strange Q too. All of this is really useful, thank you!! anybody else have some they want to post? anybody got some ethical scenarios?

Michael xx

**Daniel-Wilkins** · 27-09-2007, 05:20 PM

I had four interviews at Bristol, Birmingham, BSMS and Cardiff and at all of them I was asked about the career structures post graduation, given MMC this is quite a big topic at the moment.

And at all of them I was asked to tell them about current medical research - at one of them I was told not to talk about stem cells, it's too obvious i suppose!

In my ps I mentioned immunology as an area of interest so I had quite alot of questions about the immune system. I also mentioned a library research project I had done into painkillers so again lots of questions here.

At my Bristol interview I was asked how i would cope with stress and what I had done that was stressful.

My work experience was in radiology so I was asked about different imaging techniques at one of them. I was also asked to talk about a specific patient from my work experience that I found memorable and what I had learnt about the work of doctors. A common question was what else would I offer the uni, what would I do apart from learn etc...

Oh I was also asked about the structure of the NHS (SHAs, PCTs, foundation trusts etc)

And why medicine was at every interview!! And why here for 2/4 i think

**The-mayan-prophecy** · 27-09-2007, 05:56 PM

Xxx

**weeds are plants too** · 27-09-2007, 06:15 PM

Some of my questions were
Why here?
why medicine?
How would your work colleagues describe you?
How do you deal with stress?
Some of the horrible ones were:
What are your weaknesses? -bit below the belt, that one.
During your experience at the hospice, what have health professionals done that you thought wasn't right? - or words to that effect
And, very annoyingly, 'Having done a PhD, how do you think you will cope with a full-time course?' Bloody cheek!

You can tell I didn't get a place....sour grapes? me?