Residency Interviews Blog

200+ Residency Interview Questions

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What are the commonly

asked residency interview
questions? | How do I
prepare for residency
interviews?

Interviews have always been a crucial

step in the arduous residency application
journey . The best way to prepare for
residency interviews is to practice with
the commonly asked residency interview
questions . This post will provide you
with over 200 potential questions residency
applicants might encounter during the
interview process.

Another post will discuss how to best

answer these questions.

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General Questions

Tell me about yourself

1. Tell me about yourself. How would

your friends describe you?

3. How would you describe yourself?

4. What three words would you use to

describe yourself to somebody new?

5. Tell me about your journey.

6. What did you do from the time you

graduated high school until now?

7. Tell me about something interesting

about you that wasn’t included in
your CV

Medicine and the specialty

8. What got you interested in medicine?

9. Why made you want to practice

medicine?

10. Why are you interested in the

specialty (you are applying to)?

11. What do you like about the specialty

(you are applying to)?

12. Which aspects of the specialty (you

are applying to) do not appeal to you?

13. If you had to change one thing about

the specialty you are applying to, what
would that be?

14. What excites you the most about the

specialty (you are applying to)?

15. What aspects of the specialty (you are

applying to) do you love the most?

16. Why did you want to become an

internal medicine doctor (if you are
applying to IM)?

17. What do you think is most unique

about the specialty (you are applying
to) when comparing it to others?

18. If you had to describe the specialty

(you are applying to) to a friend in
three words, how would you describe
it?

19. What do you think is the biggest

challenge to our specialty?

Your strengths

20. What makes you stand out from other

applicants?

21. What makes you a unique applicant?

22. List three of your greatest strengths

23. What skills would you be bringing to

our program?

24. Why should we choose you instead of

other applicants?

25. If I asked a friend who knows you very

well about your best characteristics,
how would they describe you?

26. Is there anything unique about

yourself that I would not find in any
other applicants I’m interviewing this
year?

27. Tell me about your volunteer

activities

28. Tell me about your research

29. Tell me about your medical school

experience

Your weaknesses

30. What are your weaknesses?

31. Why did you get a low score on STEP1

(if any)?

32. Why did you have a failure on STEP

2CK (if any)?

33. Why do you have a gap between

graduating from medical school and
applying to residency (if any)?

34. As an older graduate (if you are), do

you think your age would be an
obstacle for you to excel in residency
and why?

35. As someone who finished prior

training (for those who finished
another residency prior to applying),
do you think it would be di"cult to go
back to being an intern?

36. What things would you like to change

about yourself?

37. What are your negative attributes?

38. If I ask a friend who knows you very

well what they don’t like about you,
what would they say?

39. Which of your professional

deficiencies would you like to improve
during residency?

40. Which of your personal deficiencies

would you like to improve during
residency?

41. What aspect of your personality do

you not like?

42. If you could go back in time, is there

anything you would like to change on
your journey?

43. (For IMGs) As an IMG, what

di"culties do you think you will
encounter during residency compared
to US students?

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Why the program?

44. Why did you apply to our program?

45. What is unique about our program

compared to other programs?

46. What do you hope to learn from our

program specifically

47. Is there anything that our program

o#ers that others do not?

48. What are you looking for in a

program?

49. What does your dream program look

like?

50. What do you like the most about the

city (of the program you’re applying
to)?

51. How did you find the residents from

the social hour yesterday?

52. Do you think you would be a good fit

for our program and why?

53. Our program has intense clinical

hours. Why do you think you would be
able to handle the stress and long
hours of our program?

54. I see you have an impressive research

portfolio. However, our program does
not have many resources for research.
How do you think that will a#ect you?

55. Our program has an extensive focus

on research output and scholarly
activity. I see you don’t have much
research experience. How do you
think you’ll be able to contribute to
our program despite your lack of
experience?

56. Which is more important to you,

clinical experience or research?

57. What are the three most important

things you look for in a residency
program?

Future goals

58. What are your career goals?

59. Where do you see yourself in 5/10

years?

60. What do you want to do after you

finish residency?

61. Do you want to do a fellowship after

you finish residency? What type?

62. Would you want to practice inside or

outside of the US?

63. Where do you want to practice after

you finish residency?

64. Do you want to practice in academia

or private practice? And why?

65. What is your ideal future job?

66. What are the three most important

things you look for in a future job?

67. Who is your idol in the specialty

you’re applying to?

68. Do you want to be involved in

teaching during residency? And why?

69. Do you want to be involved in

teaching during your future career?
And why?

70. Do you want to be involved in research

during residency? And why?

71. Do you want to be involved in research

after residency? And why?

72. How do you think you will be

contributing to our program?

73. How do you think you will be

contributing to the specialty (you’re
applying to)?

74. What impact would you like to have

on our specialty?

75. Do you think you will have any impact

on our specialty? And how?

76. Who is your idol in life?

77. Do you want to become a leader in

your field?

78. What is your backup plan if you do not

match this year?

Hobbies and interests/ icebreakers

79. What do you like to do for fun?

80. What are your hobbies?

81. Do you play any sports?

82. Do you play a musical instrument?

Which one and for how long have you
been playing?

83. Do you listen to music? What type is

your favorite?

84. What is your favorite song?

85. What is your favorite book?

86. What is the best book you have read?

Tell me a little bit about it

87. What’s your favorite movie? Tell me a

little bit about it

88. What is the last book you read? What

did you learn from it?

89. What’s your favorite meal? What do

you like most about it?

90. If we let you choose the songs/music

in the operating room, what type of
music would we be listening to?

91. Do you like to study at home or in the

library? And why?

92. Do you like to hike? What’s your

favorite place?

93. If you had free plane tickets to go

anywhere, where would you want to
go?

94. If you could travel freely without any

Covid restrictions, where would your
ideal vacation place be?

95. What is your favorite social media

platform and why?

96. What do you think of social media

influencers?

97. Tell me a joke

98. Tell me a fun fact about you

99. Tell me about a funny incident that

happened to you during medical
school

100. What’s your favorite football team?

Who’s your favorite player?

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Behavioral Questions

Interactions

101. Tell me about a negative interaction

with a resident/attending/medical
student/nurse/physician assistant

102. Tell me about a positive interaction

with a resident/attending/medical
student/nurse/physician assistant

103. Tell me about a

misunderstanding/miscommunication
that happened during your clinical
rotations

104. Tell me about a

misunderstanding/miscommunication
that happened outside your medical
school

105. Tell me about a situation where you

felt you were not treated fairly

106. Tell me about a situation where you

came to class unprepared and how
you handled that

107. Tell me about a situation where you

had a conflict with a
resident/attending/medical
student/nurse/physician assistant
and how you handled that

108. Tell about a clinical situation in which

your ethics were challenged

109. How do you deal with someone who

disagrees with you?

110. Tell me about a situation where you

disagreed with someone and how you
handled it

Challenges

111. Tell me about a stressful situation you

went through and how you overcame
it

112. Tell me about a situation where you

worked under pressure and how you
handled it

113. Burnout is common in medicine. What

do you do to avoid burnout?

114. What do you do when you feel

disappointed?

115. What do you do when you feel

overwhelmed?

116. What challenges do you expect to

encounter during the first year of
residency?

117. Tell me about a challenge you

overcame during medical school

118. Tell me about a challenge you

overcame during your journey to
residency
119. Tell me about a situation that shows
you can overcome challenges

120. Tell me about the biggest challenge

you’ve faced on your journey to
residency

121. Tell me about a failure of yours and

how you reacted to it

122. Tell me about a time you felt

disappointed and how you dealt with
it

123. Tell me about a situation where you

disappointed your mentor(s)

124. Tell me about a mistake you made in

medical school and what you learned
from it?

125. Tell me about a mistake you made

outside medical school and what you
learned from it?

126. What would make you give up?

127. Tell me about the most impactful

lesson you learned from your
mentor(s) during medical school?

128. Tell me about your biggest success

and what it meant to you

129. What would you do if a co-worker or

senior resident was abusing you?

Personal attributes

130. Are you a hard-working person? And

why?

131. Are you a team player? And why?

132. Tell me about a situation during

medical school which demonstrates
your team player skills

133. Tell me about a situation during

medical school in which you did not
feel like you were a part of the team

134. Tell me about a situation outside

medical school which demonstrates
your team player skills

135. Tell me about a situation outside

medical school which demonstrates
your leadership skills

136. Tell me about a situation that

demonstrates you’re a hard worker

137. Tell me about a situation during

medical school in which you went
above and beyond
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