Interview Questions

[sage0408]

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I thought it would be nice to have a thread of interview questions people have been asked.

Anyone that has interviewed in the past several years, please contribute any memorable questions!

I'm new to this, so there may already be a thread on here somewhere! If so, where can I find it?

 

[DrQuinn]

Why do you want to go into Emergency Medicine?

The rest of the questions are easy peasy.

Q

 

[sage0408]

Haha! That one is actually the easiest one to answer, for me at least.

I'm more terrified of the "deep soul-searching" kind of questions.

For example: What is your greatest weakness that cannot also be considered a strength?

or

What is the greatest tragedy you have experienced in your life and how did it change you?

Is it inappropriate to say that I have been extremely fortunate and haven't experienced any tragedies?

 

[Dr. Will]

Look at a copy of Iserson's for those types of questions you seek. There are like 50 or questions in that section. EM interviews tend to be focused on getting to know you and what your interests are to see if you vibe with the program. More conversational than anything.

Oh...and also, use the search function.

 

[hurricanemd]

I got an email the other day from one of the course directors about interview prep and questions people were getting asked. She said one student was told to give a parting statement at the end of the interview. Anyone else had to give a parting statement yet? I figure a good one should be memorable and help you stand out (like the rest of the interview).

 

[EM OR BUST]

I got an email the other day from one of the course directors about interview prep and questions people were getting asked. She said one student was told to give a parting statement at the end of the interview. Anyone else had to give a parting statement yet? I figure a good one should be memorable and help you stand out (like the rest of the interview).

I think a good parting statement would be: "rank me high"

 

[BKN]

I think a good parting statement would be: "rank me high"

Better "Rank me highly and I will make sure you never regret it."

 

[TakayaSue]

I think a good parting statement would be: "rank me high"

...or I'll slash your tires.

 

[traumamonkey]

most of the questions i've had so far have been softballs. often about something specific to my application (some experience or what not). in general it is more of a conversation than an interrogation.
some specific questions:
-i was asked by several people if there was anything important about me that i didn't feel came across in my application.
-describe a clinical situation in which you feel an error was made, what you did and how you would do it differently in the future?
-what is the most challenging thing you've been through in your life so far?
-what are your thoughts on/do you agree with the sentiment that ED physicians are "jack of all trades, master of none"
-and mostly: do you have any questions about our program?

i think the more cheesy questions tend to be asked by people who have not interviewed a lot and want a stock group of questions to get conversation rolling. basically they want to get to know you and be sure you're not a psycho ax murderer (or tire slasher...)
i'm hoping no one wants a closing statement. that would make me feel like i have to come up with some canned answer and i hate that.

 

[Hard24Get]

I was painted a scenario of a rude nurse and what I would do
I was asked what my ideal ED would be
Was asked what I was most proud of (who really knows that off the top of their heads unless they go around patting themselves on the back?) 😕

I guess they were "getting to know you" questions and were not asked in a challenging way.

 

[overthebars]

Had the following:
Why EM? How EM?

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
--> reply from interviewer was basically that I was trite and "not impressive", but he is famous so what are you gonna do, other equally famous interviewer told me to ignore him which impressed me

Tell me about a time when you worked with your team to help a patient?
Is there anything you regret about going to medical school? (Good question I thought)
Why academics? Where will you be in 10 years? County or community?
Where else are you interviewing?
Could you really live here?
Tell me about a mistake that you have made?
How do you handle disagreements /conflicts?
Why don't you have more leadership experience?
How did you win a certain honor?

The most interesting interviews are those when the script is absent or ignored.

 

[quinsy]

I definitely got the ones about my weakness or a mistake I had made numerous times. I had stock answers with a weakness that could also be regarded as a strength and a mistake that involved not having enough time to explain a diagnosis to a patient because an attending was pulling me away (hopefully it showed that I care about communication and am empathic??)

I also got asked what procedure I was most afraid of in EM...

and finally, there was one question I got where I was asked what I would do if I thought a patient was having a dissection, and I was working with the interviewer as my attending and he thought it was a PE and said 'give him heparin', what would I do? I totally choked on this question because I was so nervous I spaced out during the question and really didn't see what he was getting at (i.e. I freaked out thinking he was asking me how to treat a dissection vs. a PE, rather than realizing that he was asking me what I would do if I disagreed with his diagnosis). In the end I blurted out something about how if I disagreed with him, I would discuss it with him, but I encourage other people to realize that this type of question is out there and not get freaked out about it like I did.

 

[Hard24Get]

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
--> reply from interviewer was basically that I was trite and "not impressive", but he is famous so what are you gonna do, other equally famous interviewer told me to ignore him which impressed me

The most interesting interviews are those when the script is absent or ignored.

That interviewer must have been trying to get a rise out of you, judging by the number of "prestigious" programs you have landed interviews at 😉

I agree, the scripted questions suck. I would much rather shoot the breeze. When I used to interview for the med school, I would reserve the scripted questions for when I couldn't get a conversation going secondary to the applicant being a tool .

 

[overthebars]

That interviewer must have been trying to get a rise out of you, judging by the number of "prestigious" programs you have landed interviews at 😉

I agree, the scripted questions suck. I would much rather shoot the breeze. When I used to interview for the med school, I would reserve the scripted questions for when I couldn't get a conversation going secondary to the applicant being a tool .

I did turn question around and after some cajoling got a fairly interesting answer. This dude has done some landmark stuff and hearing the history and personal stories behind the work was remarkable. All in all that program impressed me way more than I expected.
Seems like a few programs use the scripted Q's, though most get them out of the way quickly though and get to the good stuff post haste. Personally I'm waiting for "If you could be a tree...".

 

[Peter Parker]

1. If you could be anything other than a doctor, what would you be and why?

2. What is the biggest misperception people have of you?

That second one was a bit unexpected, as it interrupted a nice give-and-take we had going.

 

[missmod]

What kind of patients do you least look forward to seeing and how do you deal with this? While it's easy in the sense that I know which patients I hate seeing (the ones who don't take care of themselves and show up at 3am with BS complaints and then get mad at you for not doing anything)... You have to word everything in a very nice and sensitive way.

I had one interview ask me why I would want to leave my home program. "Come on... you've been in Philly for what seems like forever, they have a great program there, you've worked with XXX and YYY... why would you want to leave?" -- I kind of felt like I had my back against the wall with that question...

Btw, I think it's really tiresome when interviews keep on asking me if I have more questions for them. A lot of times I don't have any questions left by the end of the 1 hour presentation, tour, resident info, and 2 other interviews.

 

[quinsy]

Btw, I think it's really tiresome when interviews keep on asking me if I have more questions for them. A lot of times I don't have any questions left by the end of the 1 hour presentation, tour, resident info, and 2 other interviews.

My best way of dealing with that was to always ask a question about that person. I would ask "what is your least favorite thing about the program"? (the answer to "your favorite thing about the program" is inevitably "the people" or "the learning experience" or something similarly unhelpful) Or I ask something about their role, like if they are the department liason for IT I ask about electronic medical records or what is going on on that front, or basically I just ask about whatever I know they are interested in. People always respond well to that.