Question: Where do you see yourself in 15 years?
Translation: Do you think about the future and if so, what do you think about?
Purpose: Nobody actually cares about what you think you will be doing in 15 years. Metaphorically the average pre-med can barely tie their shoes. If you are like 95%+ of pre-meds you 1) Have no idea what you are getting into 2) are going to come off as naive no matter what you say and 3) think you are in the other 5%. What adcoms DO care about is the kind of person that you are. Not every person who works hard and has dreams will accomplish something productive professionally. But it is impossible to be productive and not work hard and have a plan. Make no mistake, plans change, they always do. But if the extent that you have thought about becoming a doctor is, "get into medical school, be doctor" and don't have thoughts on what else is out there, then you are missing something.
Personal take: This is one of my favorite questions, both answering and reading applicant's answers. You can tell a lot about a person by how they answer this. It is easy to spot the people that are trying hard to impress, but really are making things up to sound good. On the other hand, the applicant who's body of undergrad experiences accents their professional hopes/dreams will be looked on favorably as having a better handle on what they are getting themselves into. I don't care what your background is, it is highly unlikely that you can answer questions about specialty, research, academics etc. But, how you discuss those topics sheds a lot of light on you as a person, what you value or are looking for and how introspective you can be.
