A good question for YOU to ask in interview?

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Maverick0194

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Usually at the end of each interview the interviewer will ask you if you have any questions for them. Other than the obvious questions ("Why did you choose School X?" "How did you get into medicine?", etc.), what questions would be good to ask?
 
One that I have been thinking about is:

"I'm interested in field X... what are special features about this school that could prepare me for a career in this specialty / field?"
 
Why did you choose to come to this school?
 
One you want to know the answer to.
 
Pedie Packs said:
One that I have been thinking about is:

"I'm interested in field X... what are special features about this school that could prepare me for a career in this specialty / field?"
Click to expand...

With my luck they probably would respond with "none"
 
Pedie Packs said:
One that I have been thinking about is:

"I'm interested in field X... what are special features about this school that could prepare me for a career in this specialty / field?"
Click to expand...

This is good. Thanks!
 
i hate this part of the interview. If I have a question, i generally look it up beforehand so I know.

but asking a question is so necessary..
 
"You got change for a $20?"

It lets them know you got enough mulla to pay for med school.
 
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Interviewer: Any questions?

Me: "Yes- I'm addicted to service to humanity and to the public in general. I get a huge thrill from helping little mexican kids, and puppies displaced by hurricanes and other natural disasters. However, I'm also very creative and I'm currently writing my 5th fictional novel. It's a mix between surrealism and national political satire - imagine a kafka meets orwell piece of literature - . Is there a underserved area nearby where I can get a quick couple of volunteer hours in while simultaneously working on my novel and expressing my creativity?

And is there an environment-conscious public transportation infrastructure I could utilize to get there from here?"

👍
 
"Would it have reflect badly on me if I had not asked anything?"
 
There is a truth teller (always tells the truth), a liar (always lies), and one that sometimes answers truthfully and sometimes lies. Each man knows who is who. You may ask three yes or no question to determine who is who. Each time you ask a question, it must only be directed to one of the men (of your choice). You may ask the same question more than once, but of course it will count towards your total.
What are your questions and to whom will you ask them?! GO!
 
why are you a douchebag?

automatic acceptance.
 
teenmachinery1 said:
i hate this part of the interview. If I have a question, i generally look it up beforehand so I know.

but asking a question is so necessary..
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. I just read everything about your school on your website, then i had an information session before this interview (where i could have had any other questions answered), I have nothing for you. But I don't feel like I can end it without a question, it would probably come off as uninterested.
 
teenmachinery1 said:
Interviewer: Any questions?

Me: "Yes- I'm addicted to service to humanity and to the public in general. I get a huge thrill from helping little mexican kids, and puppies displaced by hurricanes and other natural disasters. However, I'm also very creative and I'm currently writing my 5th fictional novel. It's a mix between surrealism and national political satire - imagine a kafka meets orwell piece of literature - . Is there a underserved area nearby where I can get a quick couple of volunteer hours in while simultaneously working on my novel and expressing my creativity?

And is there an environment-conscious public transportation infrastructure I could utilize to get there from here?"

👍
Click to expand...
:laugh:

Love the last part.
 
Is there anything else I can do to convince you to admit me? Accompany with wink, suggestive eyebrow raising.
 
teenmachinery1 said:
i hate this part of the interview. If I have a question, i generally look it up beforehand so I know.

but asking a question is so necessary..
Click to expand...

Not really. The only really good questions are clarifications on something you heard that day (say in the group deal or on the tour) or something related to info on the website.

But really, the interviewer is just being polite, offering you the chance to ask a burning question. Use that "opening" for something a little more creative, maybe?
 
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Anything I want to know about the school can be found out on the internet or through the student body.

I use this opportunity to get to know my interviewer, to better judge what their impression of me might be. Just general BS questions like "What was the last book you read and liked," can give you a wealth of information as to how the interview went. Not by their answers directly, but by HOW they answer.
 
At our career center at school, they had an interviewing seminar. The woman's advice for that part was that if you have zero questions you can simply ask "What is the next step in the process?" (i.e. "when will I hear back from you?") Otherwise, if you fumbled earlier in the interview it gives you an opportunity to say "Can I readdress the question about_______? I have had time to think about it more and feel as though I can be more clear. [Bah blah blah]." But not to ask anything that might alienate the interviewer or make them expose something about the institution.
 
you cannot have 0 questions. ask a question you already know the answer to. ask if the faculty is receptive to students during the summer (or the year if theres a scholarly thing)/to help them to observe. ask how the interviewer practices medicine/research/blah blah blah.

its a conversation and a learning experience. dont over think it
 
Pedie Packs said:
One that I have been thinking about is:

"I'm interested in field X... what are special features about this school that could prepare me for a career in this specialty / field?"
Click to expand...

I don't konw about this one. It my hurt your chances, depending who you ask and what field your interested in. Asking a primary care doc about derm or plastics I think would hurt your chances.
 
Long Dong said:
I don't konw about this one. It my hurt your chances, depending who you ask and what field your interested in. Asking a primary care doc about derm or plastics I think would hurt your chances.
Click to expand...

if i were this interviewee X would be the field that the interviewer is in
 
Pedie Packs said:
One that I have been thinking about is:

"I'm interested in field X... what are special features about this school that could prepare me for a career in this specialty / field?"
Click to expand...

Dude, I used a variation of this question in today's interview. Thanks so much!
 
cpants said:
Is there anything else I can do to convince you to admit me? Accompany with wink, suggestive eyebrow raising.
Click to expand...

😀 This would totally work if it included "*wink:wink* *nudge:nudge* SAY NO MORE!"

teenmachinery1 said:
i hate this part of the interview. If I have a question, i generally look it up beforehand so I know.

but asking a question is so necessary..
Click to expand...

It's excellent to look things up beforehand, however, the websites don't have everything. I came up with a list of questions if I was stuck and needed a question to fall back on. For med school, I had a list of generic questions for faculty and a list for student interviewers. Use this. I interviewed people who asked no questions, and it really does seem like 1) they don't care, 2) they didn't research the school, so they don't want clarification on anything.

With student interviewers, you can ask questions about student life, where to study, what the city's like, what to do for fun, etc... There are a ton of questions that can be asked.

Faculty... usually stuff like strengths and weaknesses of the school.

Pedie Packs said:
One that I have been thinking about is:

"I'm interested in field X... what are special features about this school that could prepare me for a career in this specialty / field?"
Click to expand...

Medical school isn't supposed to prepare you for a specific field. Don't ask this question. If I got asked this as a student interviewer, and say I got asked about OB/gyn or psych, 2 rotations I despised, I could just say that there are plenty of opportunities in M3 year. I also might not know what's available for other specialties. I might be so consumed with what I'm doing, I could only tell you about that one.

You can ask, "What sort of opportunities are available to explore different fields in pre-clinical years?"
 
Seriously, I think the best thing you can do is give the person an opportunity to talk about him/herself. Can you tell me about your career path? What advice do you have for me looking back on your career? What do you think the best/worst things are about this institution?
 
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cpants said:
Seriously, I think the best thing you can do is give the person an opportunity to talk about him/herself. Can you tell me about your career path? What advice do you have for me looking back on your career? What do you think the best/worst things are about this institution?
Click to expand...

thats what i do. if you have ER (or whatever field the guy is in) volunteering or shadowing thats a good time to somewhat overlay your experiences in a positive way to show you have some knowledge of different field
 
BlueElmo said:
Dude, I used a variation of this question in today's interview. Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

BlueElmo... that's awesome... I'm glad I could help!!

How was your interviewer's reply... did it go over well?

If only I had an interview to ask these types of questions... lol 😎
 
Pedie Packs said:
One that I have been thinking about is:

"I'm interested in field X... what are special features about this school that could prepare me for a career in this specialty / field?"
Click to expand...

The funny thing is that I plan to use the answer to that to describe why I want to go there.
 
Pedie Packs said:
BlueElmo... that's awesome... I'm glad I could help!!

How was your interviewer's reply... did it go over well?

If only I had an interview to ask these types of questions... lol 😎
Click to expand...

Yeah, dude, he actually seemed to like it! He was pretty enthusiastic about explaining his field. I encourage others to ask this if your interviewer is a MD or a PhD, it gets on the good side of your interviewer. The fact of the matter is, every person likes talking about himself or about his work. If you ask them about this, they'll like it better than answering some generic question about the school. And the important thing is making the interviewer happy so he/she can write good evals.
 
Aside from numbers, what types of things does the committee really value in an application?

How many hours per week are available for direct patient interaction?

Are there (or How many students take advantage of ...) opportunities for brief research experiences between M1 and M2?

the list goes on and on...
 
A lot of interviewers aren't clinical and don't really know a whole lot about stuff outside of their field, so you may not get very good answers.
 
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I always ask this question, just so that I have a question to ask.

"Everyone has such great things to say about the school, but if there were one thing you didn't like, or one thing you would change, what would it be and why?"

Most of the answers I've gotten on this are either really drawn out (one interviewer said if you asked this of everyone, you'd get some little, minute thing that differs from person to person, so there's nothing glaringly wrong with the school), or say something like "Well, this was a problem I did have, but the school and/or community has addressed it now."

It's also a good fallback to ask about away rotations; how much flexibility there is for clerkships, say, back where you're from or internationally. I asked one interviewer if there were any required clerkships based on location, such as rural areas (vs. the specialties themselves) as there are at some other schools. She went on about how nothing was required, but the opportunities were certainly there if you wanted to go that route.
 
mvenus929 said:
I always ask this question, just so that I have a question to ask.

"Everyone has such great things to say about the school, but if there were one thing you didn't like, or one thing you would change, what would it be and why?"

Most of the answers I've gotten on this are either really drawn out (one interviewer said if you asked this of everyone, you'd get some little, minute thing that differs from person to person, so there's nothing glaringly wrong with the school), or say something like "Well, this was a problem I did have, but the school and/or community has addressed it now."
Click to expand...

Maybe this could work, but it sort of put person on spot. It's almost like them asking about your weaknesses. I would not ask this personally.
 
mvenus929 said:
I always ask this question, just so that I have a question to ask.

"Everyone has such great things to say about the school, but if there were one thing you didn't like, or one thing you would change, what would it be and why?"

Most of the answers I've gotten on this are either really drawn out (one interviewer said if you asked this of everyone, you'd get some little, minute thing that differs from person to person, so there's nothing glaringly wrong with the school), or say something like "Well, this was a problem I did have, but the school and/or community has addressed it now."

It's also a good fallback to ask about away rotations; how much flexibility there is for clerkships, say, back where you're from or internationally. I asked one interviewer if there were any required clerkships based on location, such as rural areas (vs. the specialties themselves) as there are at some other schools. She went on about how nothing was required, but the opportunities were certainly there if you wanted to go that route.
Click to expand...

I think this is an excellent question. Every school will have some weakness, and they should be willing to say what it is and be open about it, and perhaps what they are doing to rectify it.
 
Desaad said:
There is a truth teller (always tells the truth), a liar (always lies), and one that sometimes answers truthfully and sometimes lies. Each man knows who is who. You may ask three yes or no question to determine who is who. Each time you ask a question, it must only be directed to one of the men (of your choice). You may ask the same question more than once, but of course it will count towards your total.
What are your questions and to whom will you ask them?! GO!
Click to expand...

Are you a man? If the answer is yes, you found your truth teller.
 
Try this one. You come across a fork in the road, each with a different person standing in front of it. For the sake of personalizing this riddle, one road leads to an acceptance to your top medical school and the other leads to a lonely road of rejections. Now, from these two people standing in front of each road, one of them will always lie to you and one of them will always tell you the truth but you do not know which is which. You have one question you can ask and you can only direct it to one of the individuals. Assuming you would like to attend your top choice, what would your question be?
 
Does anyone think they know the answer?
 
drareg said:
Try this one. You come across a fork in the road, each with a different person standing in front of it. For the sake of personalizing this riddle, one road leads to an acceptance to your top medical school and the other leads to a lonely road of rejections. Now, from these two people standing in front of each road, one of them will always lie to you and one of them will always tell you the truth but you do not know which is which. You have one question you can ask and you can only direct it to one of the individuals. Assuming you would like to attend your top choice, what would your question be?
Click to expand...

I'm feeling jolly enough today to answer.

Which direction would the other guy point? Then go the opposite direction.
 
Narmerguy said:
How does this solve it? The guy that sometimes tells the truth could have said this.
Click to expand...

There's no guy that sometimes tells truth. One lies, the other tells the truth. Liar would say he's a woman.
 
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