Residency Interview Questions

The Best Residency Interview Questions section provides High Yield information needed to pass the residency interview process during the 4th year of Medical School. 

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Best Residency Interview Questions

Personality Questions

• Tell me about yourself?
• How would you describe your personality? Describe your personality.
• Describe yourself in 3 words.
• What do you think your fellow medical students would say about you?
• How would your friends and coworkers describe you?
• What are your key skills?
• What have you learned about yourself from previous jobs?  
• What are you passionate about?
• What motivates you? 
• What makes you a good fit?
• What are some of your strengths? What is your best quality? What makes you a good physician?
• What makes you different?
• What are your weaknesses? How do you handle your weakness?
• What are your weaknesses, and how do you compensate for them? Use an example that you can turn into a positive trait that isn’t a real weakness.
• What is your worst quality? If you could change one thing about your personality, what would it be?
• What are your pet peeves?
• What interests do you have other than medicine? What do you do in your spare time?
• What are your hobbies?
• How do you relax?
• What do you do to cope with stress?
• What leadership experience do you have?
• What do you like to read?
• When are you least efficient and effective?
• What makes you procrastinate?
• What is the greatest sacrifice you have made to reach where you are?
• How well do you take criticism?
• Have you always done the best work of which you are capable?
• What accomplishment are you most proud of? What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
• How do you deal with conflict? Tell me about a time that you had a conflict with a team member and how you handled it.

Behavioral Questions

• Does your test scores reflect your abilities?
• How would you describe your decision-making style?
• Tell me about a time you worked effectively under pressure.
• Tell me about a stressful situation you experienced in medical school and how you handled it.
• Tell me about a time you made a mistake and had to tell a resident or attending.
• Tell me how you would deal with a resident who wasn’t doing his share of the work.
• Tell me about a time when you were disappointed in your performance.
• Tell me about a time you had to build a relationship with someone you didn’t like.
• Tell me about a difficult decision you’ve made in the last year.
• Tell me about a time when you tried to accomplish something and failed.
• Tell me about a time your performance was criticized.
• Tell me about what irritates you about other people and how you deal with it.
• Tell me about a patient you had trouble dealing with.
• Tell me about a time when you were upset with the behavior of a team member or faculty and how you dealt with it.

Medical Education Questions

• Tell me about your medical education.
• Why did you choose the medical school you attended?
• What was your favorite course in medical school?
• List several qualities that you feel are the most important in being a good medical school student.

Specialty Questions

• Why did you become a doctor? What made you join medicine?
• Why did you choose this specialty? Why are you interested in this specialty? Why do you want to go into internal medicine?
• What would be the toughest and least enjoyable part of this specialty?
• What will be the toughest aspect of this specialty for you?
• How did you become interested in family(internal) medicine?
• Why would you be particularly good in this specialty?
• Tell me three things that would make you valuable to our residency program.
• Why have you applied to this residency program? Why did you choose this program? This is the most specific question about a program. We will need to answer with facts about that particular program.
• Are you applying to any other specialty?
• What have you done to inform yourself about a career in this specialty?
• What challenges do you foresee that will potentially affect this specialty in the next ten years? What problems will our speciality face in the next 10 years?
• What clinical experiences have you had in this specialty?
• What do you see as the positive aspects of this specialty? 
• What do you see as the negative aspects of this specialty? 
• What is the most challenging aspect of this specialty for you?
• What problems do you think this specialty may face in the future? 
• Why do you think you are prepared for the rigors of residency?
• How did lifestyle considerations factor into your choice of a specialty?
• What have you done to confirm your passion for family(internal) medicine?

Program Questions

• Why are you interested in our program? 
• How does this program align with your priorities for residency?
• How did you come to know about our program?
• Why did you apply to our program? Why do you want to join our residency program? “What makes this program appealing/special to you?”
• Why did you choose our program?
• What do you hope to gain from our residency program?
• Why should we choose you? How do you see yourself contributing to our program?
• Why should we want you to come to our program? What makes you different from other applicants? What can you contribute to the program? Why should we accept you into our residency program, instead of any other applicant? What sets you apart from the crowd? Why should we take you in preference to other candidates?
• What can you offer to our program? Tell me three things about you that will make you especially valuable for our program.
• What are you looking for a program director or an attending?
• Describe your ideal residency? What are you looking for in a program? What qualities are you looking for in a program?  What do you consider to be important in a training program? What are you looking for in a program? What is your ideal program?
• Describe the qualities you seek in a resident?
• What is your perception about strength and weakness of this program? What do you perceive as negatively about our program? What are you avoiding in a training program?
• What factors would lead you to rank a program very highly?
• Why this City?

Future Plan Questions

• What is your medical career plan? What are your goals?
• What are your long and short term career goals?
• How can this specialty fit your long term goals?
• Where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years? Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? What will you do 10 years after completion of residency? Where do you see yourself practicing?
• Do you plan on pursuing a fellowship? “What are your ultimate career plans? Are you planning on a subspecialty? What field?”
• Are you interested in academic medicine or clinical medicine?
• How do you see the delivery of healthcare evolving over the next ten years?
• Do you want to do research? “Do you plan on research as being a part of your career?” Do you have an interest in pursuing research or have you been involved in research in the past?

CV Related Questions

• Items on your CV: your research, your extracurricular activities, your decision to expand.
• You have spent your entire life on the west coast and your family is also on the west Coast, why did you want to come here?
• How do you rank in your class?
• What were major deficiencies in your medical training?

Unexpected Questions

• Use your imagination!
• Draw a cat!
• You are granted any three wishes by a genie. What would your wishes be?
• Tell me a joke.
• Tell me about your core values.
• Imagine looking back at your career.  What do you think you will regret?
• If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
• If you were a villain, what villain would you be?
• If you were a hero, what hero would you be?
• If you were a tree, what tree would you be?
• What is your favorite dinosaur?
• What websites do you like to visit?
• If your life was a book, what would be the title?

Challenging Questions

• Tell me about this problem in your academic record failed USMLE/Comlex I, Comlex PE and surgery remediation?  Tell me about the last time you failed at something? What are your failures and how did you learn from them?
• Tell me about a time you failed in your previous work experience?
• What challenges do you anticipate in balancing a professional and personal life?
• What would you do if you saw another resident or physician snorting cocaine at a nightclub?
• Teach me something non-medical in five minutes.
• How will you deal with the possibility of being sued?
• What if you do not get matched, what would you do?
• Tell me how you would answer a question from a patient if you were unsure of the answer?
• How prepared are you to treat the patient and disease population here?
• How do you handle adversity?
• How do you handle a high pressure environment? 
• Tell me about a time you had to build a working relationship with someone you didn’t like and what was the outcome?
• What does professionalism mean to you?
• If you had to pick a profession other than medicine, what would you do?
• If you couldn’t be a physician, what would you be?
•  Tell me something about you that is not on you CV.
• Describe the best/worst incident that you encountered in your medical school career.
• If you could do medical school all over again than what would you change? In hindsight, what would you do differently in Medical School?
• If you had unlimited money and two free hours, what would you do?
• If your house was burning, what three objects would you save?
• If you could be any cell in the human body, what would you choose to be? And why?
• How do you think your role as a physician fits in with your role as a member of the community?
• What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle it.
• I see that you went to a community college, why?
• How would you break the news to a parent that her son is in a coma?
• Describe a scenario where your personal ethics were challenged?
• Give an example of a time you were involved in a medical error?
• What do you think about the hospital’s mission statement?
• An interviewer pointed to an empty chair in her office and told me to imagine that my mom was sitting there. Then proceeded to ask my ‘mom’ questions about my personality and character flaws. Your answer?
• Tell me how you would present a patient to me.
• Describe your emotional approach to patients.
• Your attending physician asks you a question and you are not sure of the answer? what would you say or do?
• You colleague is abusing alcohol or drugs. How would you handle this situation?
• Tell me about a time when you were disappointed in your performance? Tell me about a situation in which you overcame adversity?
• Your senior resident insists on a treatment plan you feel may harm the patient. What do you do?
• How well do you take criticism?
• What is your favorite specialty book as a medical student? What is the last book you read?
• What computer experience do you have?
• How well do you function under pressure? How do you handle stress?

Clinical Experience Questions

• Prepare Cases to discuss!
• Describe a particularly satisfying or meaningful experience during your medical training.  Tell me about an interesting patient. Tell me about a case that you found interesting and what you learned from it. What is the most interesting case you have been involved in?
• Describe best attending you have ever met?
• What physician characteristics do you admire most? Least?
• What rotation was your least favorite clerkship and why?
• What subject or rotation was most difficult? Why?
• Do you prefer working as a member of a team or would you rather work alone?
• What type of people do you have difficulties working with? What type of patients are difficult and why?
• Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict with a supervisor/preceptor. Tell me about a time you disagreed with an attending physician and how you handled the situation
• Have you had difficulties getting along with supervisors or coworkers?
• Give me an example of a conflict you experienced on a team & the way you resolved it?
• What kind of patients do you find it most difficult to relate to? What tactics would you use to establish optimal rapport with such a patient?
• How do you deal with an upset patient?
• Tell us about a time when you had to develop rapport quickly with someone?
• Role models in medicine?
• Describe a scenario where you had a difference of opinion and managed to convince your opposition?
• What might your last resident or attending want to change about your work habits?
• Tell me about a stressful patient encounter you had in medical school and how you handled it?
• Tell me about a time you were able to work in an interdisciplinary team successfully?
•  What rotations have you done in family medicine? Any away rotations?
•  Talk about a time you had to think outside the box to help a patient or solve a problem. How was your thinking accepted among your team or peers?
• I see that you have had considerable volunteer experiences. What have you learned from those experiences?
• Tell me about the error you made in patient care.  Tell me about a case where you made a mistake.
• Talk about one that you found interesting, one in which something went wrong. Be able to elucidate what you learned from these experiences. Do not use the one you wrote about in your personal statement.
• Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for the care of a patient. Tell me about the time during rotations in which you went above and beyond?
• Describe a clinical situation you handled well.
• Tell me about a clinical situation that did not go as well as you would have liked? Tell me about a clinical situation that did not go as well as you would have liked?
• Was there a time during rotations in which you didn’t feel like part of the team. How did you handle the situation.
• Describe to me a time when you received an evaluation with which you disagreed.
• What was your favorite course & rotation in medical school?
• What was your most challenging rotation?
• Describe a patient who challenged you?
• How do you handle a major problem between you and your seniors?

Medicine Questions

• What is your concept of the doctor/patient relationship?
• How do you feel about the practice of medicine today? What about its future?
• How do you see the delivery of healthcare evolving in the twenty-first century?
• What is the solution to the healthcare crisis?
• What do you think of hospitals that refuse admission to patients without insurance?
• Do physicians have the right to deny care to patients on Medicaid?
• What do you think about house staff unionization?
• What do you think is the most pressing issue in medicine today?
• How would you go about improving access to health care in this country?
• List three issues that confront medicine today. Of the three, which is the most important and why?
• Tell me about an interesting case you saw in your practice and what you learned from it?
• Are you familiar with the new hypertension guidelines?
• Tell me what you know about treatment of COPD exacerbations?
• If you are paged to the ICU and find an unresponsive patient, what is your first instinct?
• What is your opinion about socialized health care?
• What is your concept of the biopsychosocial model of medicine?

Illegal Questions

Law prohibits discrimination based on gender (including pregnancy and childbirth), race, religion, national origins, age and disability. If you are asked questions about any of these issues, you are not required to answer them. If a program is flagrantly pursuing this information, you can contact the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

Deflect answers:

• Are you planning to get married in the near future?
  • “My career is the priority in my life right now.” 
• Are you planning to have more kids?
  • “My focus is on my residency education. I have always been someone who has been able to juggle multiple responsibilities at once.” 
• Where did you apply for?  
  • Location is not a big factor for me, I am open to move anywhere. I love to travel, I love to experience new things.  
• How many programs did you get interviews at?
  • I received a very good amount and I’m very grateful for all the interviews that I have. I think I have a lot of good options to choose from. And when I received your invite, I was truly excited for the opportunity to interview here

Psychiatry Questions

• Tell me about yourself
• Why do you want to be a psychiatrist?
• Which Psychiatry Are Of Particular Interest To You?
• If you didn’t do psychiatry, what specialty would you choose?
• Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
• What personalities suit psychiatry?
• What areas of biological psychiatry are of particular interest to you?What Areas Of Psychological Psychiatry Are Of Particular Interest To You?
• What Role Do You Think Psychiatrists Should Play In The Overall Health Care System?
• What Role Do You Think Psychiatrists Should Play In Trying To Influence Social Issues?When Was The First Psychiatric Hospital Built?
• What Are Your Thoughts About The Role That Psychologists And Social Workers Should Play In The Care Of Those With Mental Illnesses?
• What Thoughts Do You Have About Requiring Psychiatric Patients To Take Their Medication?
• Do You Have A Philosophy About Suicide? What Should The Psychiatrist’s Responsibility Be For Preventing Suicide?
• What Do You Think The Role Of Pharmaceutical Companies Should Be In The Education Of Psychiatrists About Medications?
• What Are The Reasons That You Decided To Apply To This Residency Program? Why did you apply here? What did you like about the program?
• What Do You Expect To Be Doing As A Psychiatrist?
• What Do You Think The Hardest Thing About Being A Psychiatrist Is? What has been the toughest area of psychiatry for you? There’s a lot of unknowns in Psychiatry – what unknown bothers you the most?
• Have You Heard The Term “psychological Mindedness?” What Does That Mean To You? Are You Psychologically Minded? How Do You Know?
• What Do You Think The Role Of Psychotherapy Is In Psychiatric Practice Today?
• Have You Ever Attended A Meeting Or A Conference Where Food Was Provided By A Drug Company? What Do You Think About That?
• How Will You Handle Stress In Your Residency Training?
• Do you have any questions?
• If you were an emotion, which one would you be?
• Which emotion would you eliminate? 
• What kind of personality do you have most difficulty with?
• What are 3 of your weaknesses?
• How do you handle conflict?
• How are you at asking for help and what do you do for self-care?
• Tell me about a preceptor you liked and a preceptor you didn’t like.
• Tell me about a time you struggled and what did you do
• What was something unexpected you encountered during your medical training?
• Why do you think people are so scared of ECT?
• What kind of cereal would you be?
• Name a time you struggled in medical school?
• Tell me an experience you had in the past year that made you realize something about yourself.
• Tell me something about yourself that isn’t on your application?
• How was your experience with Borderline patients in the hospital?
• What’s something you struggle with in psychiatry? What struggles do you see yourself having in the field of Psychiatry?
• What do you think will be a challenge for you in residency?
• What 3 things do you want me to remember about you?
• What is your least favorite holiday?
• Tell me about an interesting patient you have encountered on rotations.
• Your patient shows up late for the 4th time in a row. What do you do?
• Tell me about a refractory patient you had and how you handled it.
• Tell me about a time you had conflict with someone?
• What were you like as a child?
• Do you have a particular area of interest in psychiatry?
• What types of patients do you find it difficult to work with, and how do you deal with that?
• Tell me about your research [undergrad] and do you see yourself pursuing any during residency?
• What struggles do you see yourself having in residency?
• Tell me about a time you asked a peer for help.
• What do you see as the pros and cons of working in teams?
• Why medicine?
• 1 strength and 1 weakness?
• Tell me about a difficult patient that you had and how you handled it.
• Tell me about a time or a situation in which you advocated for a patient.
• Why should we choose you?
• A time when you had a conflict with a clinical team member? with a classmate?
• Name a situation where you had counter-transference with a patient.
• What’s your favorite smell?
• Why do you want to live in this city?
• What is a time where you have been unethical or been accused of being unethical?
• Name a time where you had a conflict with another student, resident or attendee?
• What advice would you give other interviewing applicants in your position?
• What 3 things do you want to be remembered?
• Married? What does your spouse do? Children?
• Name a time you received negative feedback, and how did you deal with it?

Surgery Questions

The questions below were taken from the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Web site and the American College of Surgeons.

• Where do rotations take place?
• How large is the facility and what types of patients are served?
• Are residents required to do General Surgery at (name of the school); do they need to apply separately to the General Surgery Program and what is the General Surgery Program like?
• What is the structure of the residency?
• What types of cases are available?
• How much involvement in patient care do residents experience?
• Are there opportunities for attending scientific meetings?
• Are laboratory research opportunities available?
• What educational resources are available?
• What conferences are held?
• How do residents perform on Boards and in-service/in-training exams?
• What is the vacation schedule for residents?
• What is the call schedule?
• What is the pay scale?
• What health-care benefits are available?
• What arrangements are available for meals on call?
• What is the history of the Department, and what have former residents done upon completion of their residency?
• What sort of housing is available?
• What other provisions are made by the hospital?
• What leisure activities are available in (the name of the city/town)?
• How can I learn more about the Department?

The questions below were taken from the Mercy Healthcare Sacramento/Methodist Hospital Family Practice Residency Program.

• What is the educational philosophy of this residency program?
• Hospitals across the country are suffering extreme economic pressures; what is the assurance that (hospital name) remains economically healthy in the future?
• What is the cultural profile of (name of hospital)’s service population?
• What are the strengths of this residency program?
• What are the weaknesses of this program?
• (Hospital name) is a (religious denomination) organization. Does that impact the residents’ experience in women’s health?

Additional Questions

• What is the percentage of graduates from this residency program that go into fellowships, instead of practice?
• How many full- and part-time faculty members are there?
• How many of them are board-certified or board eligible?
• What are their specialties?
• Does the program pay for resident memberships in professional organizations? If so, which ones?
• How much time do residents spend receiving systematic instruction (didactics)? Is there an outpatient clinic? If so, how many days/hours do residents spend there?
• How are new patients scheduled?
• Is there a foreign exchange program?
• Are residents in this program expected to assist in the teaching of medical students?

Questions to Ask During the Residency Interview

Questions to ask about:

• Curriculum
• Culture 
• Learning opportunities
• Big-picture questions about program philosophy – better for PD
• Quality of life questions – better for current residents.

Go to questions:

• What makes a candidate successful in your program under your leadership?
• So what are your expectations?
• What qualities do you think are most important for someone to excel in this residency program?
• What do you personally feel is the greatest strength of this program?
• Is there anything about the program that you would like to see improve? What kind of support can your residents help with. 
• Can you tell me more about the orientation program for incoming residents?
• Can you share more information about the didactic curriculum?
• What are some of the informal opportunities?
• Is there a formal mentoring program for new residents?
• Is there research opportunities provided for new residents?
• What opportunities are there for residents to participate in teaching medical students?
• How are residents evaluated?
• Are there any plans for changing the program size or structure?
• What are the patient mix and the community demographics?
• How available are the attendings?
• How is the program evolved throughout the last few years?
• I understand that the first year begins with what you call Anatomic pathology boot camp. Can you tell me more about how that’s structured?
• How are fellowships handled?
• Where do residents go after residency?

Questions For Residents

• What made you choose this program?
• Can you tell me more about your day to day routine?
• What has changed since you came to the program?
• How accessible is the faculty?
• How do the residents get along with one another?
• What activities are you involved in outside the program?
• What do you like best about this city or this area?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the program?
• Would you consider the same program if applying again?
• Is there an appropriate balance between service obligations and the educational program?
• Is there enough ancillary support to minimize “scut?”
• What has changed since you came to the program?
• Is the program responsive to suggestions for change?
• How accessible is the faculty?
• Is the relationship with faculty collegiality?
• Do the residents get along with one another?
• How do your residents get along with residents in other programs?
• In what activities are you involved outside of the program?
• How does your spouse/significant other like the city/area?
• What is your favorite thing about working here?
• What brought you to this program?
• I learned this fact on the tour/presentation. Can you tell me a little bit more about it?

Questions about Education

• Is there an orientation program for incoming residents?
• Is there a formal didactic curriculum, and what is its structure?
• What are the informal learning opportunities (i.e., bedside rounds, etc.)?
• What programs exist for resident education (e.g. , lectures, journal clubs, grand rounds, board review courses,)?
• Is there a feedback structure that allows for the resident to evaluate the program’s curriculum?
• Is attendance at regional and national conferences encouraged? Is it funded, and, if so, to what degree?
• What are the required rotations for the first year? Subsequent years?
• Are there any required rotations that take place outside of the city?
• Are there opportunities to do “away” rotations?
• Is there a formal mentoring program for new residents, and do faculty serve as mentors?

Questions about Research Opportunities

• Are research opportunities provided to residents? Is this a required experience?
• Is there a possibility of “protected” time for research?
• How are fellowships handled?

Questions about Teaching Responsibilities

• What teaching responsibilities for medical students are expected of residents?
• If residents have teaching responsibilities, how much time per week is spent with students? Is it “protected”?
• Is there any formal training for residents on how to teach students and other learners effectively, and how to provide feedback?

Questions about Clinical Duties

• What is the general call schedule?
• What provisions are made for back-up call or sick-call coverage?
• What type of structure for supervision is in place?
• Do your residents express that there is an appropriate balance between independence and supervision?
• How does the resident’s autonomy change as he/she progresses through the program?
• What type of ancillary support is available (phlebotomy, respiratory therapy, social workers, etc.)?
• Does the general volume of clinical responsibility support a balance between service and education?
• Do your residents express they are involved in too much non-educational activity (i.e., “scut work”)? 

Questions about Resident Performance

• How often are residents evaluated?
• What is the structure of the evaluation (forms, face-to-face, etc.)?
• What other forms of feedback does the resident receive ( in-training exam, etc.)?
• What support structures are in place for residents in academic need?

Questions about Program Performance

• What is the status of the program’s accreditation?
• If there were any citations at the last review, what has been done to correct them?
• When is the next Residency Review Committee (RRC) review?
• Are there any plans for changing the program size or structure?
• What is the status of the last Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Institutional Review?
• How solid is the financial status of the sponsoring institution?
• How committed is your institution to resident education and graduate medical education in general? How is this evidenced?
• What percent of your residents complete your program?
• What percent of your graduates pass the specialty boards on their first attempt?
• Where do your graduates go (e.g., fellowship, academics, private practice)?

Questions about Employment Issues

• What are the basic resident benefits?
• Is parking a concern for residents at your program?
• Are meals paid for when on call?
• What is your family leave policy?
• Is there reimbursement for educational supplies and books?
• Are moonlighting opportunities available?
• What are the rules for moonlighting?
• How are residents represented at the institution level? How is the resident member of GMEC selected?
• Is there a union? Is membership mandatory? Are there dues?
• Is there a House Officers Association?

Questions to ask Yourself

• Can I be happy working in this program and with these people? 
• Am I confident in the program and the sponsoring institution?
• Are there factors that make this place (city/town/rural area) an attractive place for me to live during my residency?
  • Factors that you may include are:
    • proximity to immediate and extended family
    • happiness of spouse/significant other
    • housing/cost of living
    • quality of secondary school system
    • community opportunities
    • recreational activities

After the Interview

• Send thank you cards/emails to program director and interviewer(s) you connected with – Very Important!!!
• Complete the program evaluation forms
• Begin to prepare rank list -> Watch NRMP Match Algorithm
• Follow up with programs in January with specific questions
• Complete rank list!

Other Popular Links

• Medschool Anki
• Best Resources for Med School and Residency