Interview Questions about Siblings?

[md2be06]

Anyone else get the question, do you have any brothers or sisters? Quickly followed by what profession are they in? I've gotten this from all my interviewers, and I find it rather odd. I mean, how is it even relevant to my potential or ability to become a physician? Any thoughts?

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[bonbon81]

i've gotten that question a couple times, but i've felt like it's during those interviews that seem more like conversations than interviews. i think they're probably just trying to get to know you as a person, and your family is a big part of who you are. i guess i'd just try to let them know the impact your siblings have had on you

 

[Jamier2]

One of my interviewers asked me about my siblings. Since I had already told her that I was the only person in my family to attend college, all I got was the "do you have them?" question.

 

[praying4MD]

I was also asked this series of questions about every member of my family. After answering these tiresome questions, all I got was, "So, no one in your immediate family is a physician?" She was ok with it after I explained more about clinical exposure and watching extended family go through the medical profession though.

In other circumstances, it was usually conversational. A friend of mine who is a med student said that they usually ask these kinds of questions to get an understanding of what your family life was like as far as responsibilities, possibly to gauge how close you are to your family & to just find out more about you as a person in general.

To me, these questions have zero relevance as to whether I will make a competent physician, but what can you do?

 

[kutastha]

Actually, I got that today (in a roundabout sense). They (I had two people interview me at once) asked about my family, and I could tell they wanted to know about my sisters. It is weird, but I remember something my dad mentioned to me regarding the AMCAS app - "They ask you for more info than they did for me for high security clearance." So, I guess they leave no stone unturned.

Andrew