List of Questions Asked at IM Interviews

[gwen]

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Here is a list of questions I've saved over the years, some may be from SDN itself and some from other places or my own questions or comments. Hope it helps someone. Good luck to you all!!

ú Why did you choose this specialty?
ú Why are you interested in this program? this city? this state?
ú What are your goals?
ú Tell me about yourself?
ú What did you do before medicine? (To an older student)
ú Why should we pick you?
ú What are your strengths?
ú What are your weaknesses? (NEVER tell them you have weaknesses...whatever you choose to state as a weakness should ultimately sound like a strength)
ú Where else have you applied?
ú Are you interested in academic or in clinical medicine?
ú Do you want to do research?
ú Where will you rank us? - tricky, tricky, tricky
ú What was the most interesting case that you have been involved in?
ú Present a case that you handled during medical school.
ú Do you plan to do a fellowship? (express interest, but don't let them feel like just a stepping stone to your 'ultimate' goal)
ú What could you offer this program?
ú How do you rank in your class?
ú Do you see any problems managing a professional and a personal life? (you can always say, you did it in med school and give an example)
ú Are you prepared for the rigors of residency?
ú Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? (I was asked this a LOT)
ú What questions do you have? (this one too...)
ú Are you religious? (don't think they'd ask this)
ú What is the one event you are proudest of in your life?
ú What do you plan to do after residency?
ú What are your hobbies?
ú What do you think about housestaff unionization?
ú How would you redesign the health care system?
ú Why did you get (a certain) low grade? Ugh!
ú How will you deal with the possibility of being sued?
ú What was your most difficult situation in medical school?
ú What was the last book you read that wasn't a medical book?
ú What do you think of socialized medicine?

QUESTIONS TO ASK THEM:
Education/Philosophy:

What is the philosophy of the program?
Who are the faculty?
What kind of curriculum is offered?
How many hospitals participate in the program?
Is a thesis or publication required during training?
Is there time and funding for conferences and meetings?
To what extent do residents manage patients?
What is the patient mix and what are the community demographics? (IMPORTANT!)
Is the program changing, and why?
What do residents here like most and least?
What are the research, clinical, teaching opportunities?
What is the scope of experience I can expect?
What is the program like (in the subspecialty I'm interested in)?
Where are the graduates of the program now? (IMPORTANT!!)
How much elective time is there and how is it usually used?
Is the Chairperson staying? Did anyone recently leave? Where are they?
What percentage of graduates enter fellowships? (IMPORTANT!!)
How is the training divided?
What are the weaknesses of the program? (Don't be afraid to ask this Q)
Do residents have time to read?
How available are the Attendings (including nights and weekends)?
What were the results of the last accreditation visit?
Are there any joint residency activities?
What is the patient mix? Does it reflect the community demographics?
What kind of community outreach might we be involved in?


Competitiveness of the Program:

What do you look for in a candidate?
How many people do you rank?
How do your residents perform on boards?
What is this program most respected for?
What is the ownership of this institution?
How financially stable is the program?


Quality of Life:

What is the mix of married and unmarried residents?
What is the racial/ethnic/gender breakdown of residents?
Do the residents socialize as a group?
Are their support groups?
Is there an Office of Minority Affairs? What is its role?
How many residents are there?
What is call schedule like?
What happens if someone is sick?
Characterize faculty-resident relationships.
What is the relationship between this program and other specialties?
Have any housestaff left, and why?
What do you expect of your housestaff?
Is there a house staff grievance process?
How are complaints handled?
What is the parental leave policy?


Benefits:

Do you offer health, life, disibility insurance?
What is the salary?
What is your meal plan?
What kind of vacation time do you offer?
Do you have sick days?
Do you have maternity/parental leave?
Does the curriculum include training in cultural competence?
Is training offered in medical Spanish or other languages?
Does the program seek and actively recruit minority residents?
How many attendings/faculty are minorities, and are efforts being made to
actively recruit them as well?
Does the medical school have an Office of Minority Affairs?
What is the make-up of the patient population?
Is the program or hospital involved in any projects to help the underserved?

THINGS WE SHOULD LOOK FOR OURSELVES:

Where is it?

Do you like the city?
Do you like the fact that it's rural, or in a suburb?
What is the community seem like?
What is the climate like?
What kind of transportation is available?
What is the access to theater, movies, sporting facilities, the great
outdoors?
What are the financial implications of living here?


The Hospital:

How are the individual call rooms?
What are the meals like?
What is the library like?
Can you easily photocopy articles you need?
Where are the lockers?
Do men and women have equal facilities?
Are there fitness facilities?

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[gwen]

Question 1-do you see any problems managing a professional and personal life?

For many of you, this is an issue with which you have grappled for many years, since you've most likely been a high achiever in high school, college and medical school. But you've also most likely been involved in some significant extra-curricular activities during many of these years. I would talk about how you've done this in the past.

Now, direct questions about your plans to get married if you are single, or to
have children are personal ones. This question doesn't ask about family
directly and you shouldn't feel compelled to volunteer any information here if
you don't want to. You could address this question by saying that while the
timing of when and how your family takes shape is very personal, having a
supportive family/support system is can be essential in attaining one's
professional goals. You could then go on to recount how a family member helped with a challenging academic problem you've faced in the past. Or, you could give an example of how values you learned at home or in a "personal situation" were translated into an experience at school or a job. (For example, how your Mom's organization of the household helped you to become an organized student). You might also state how a parent's professional accomplishments were inspirational to you (even if they are not in medicine). For example, my father's integrity in medicine made it an attractive career choice for me. As a child, I derived immense pride from the fact that my parents had jobs that they took pride in.

I would conclude by saying something like "I see it more as a challenge"
because to do it successfully while having a career you're proud of, takes
ingenuity. You must utilize many resources but ultimately a balanced life
(family, a hobby you're passionate about, travel, friends) makes you a more
well-rounded doctor.

Question 2 - Are you prepared for the rigors of residency?

I think this question is really asking: Do you know what the rigors of
residency are? I would start by saying (and if you haven't done this already,
you should) "I've talked to residents during medical about this issue" ( by
saying this to start, you show the questioner that you've thought about and
have taken the initiative to find out about resident life). I think you want
to address the physical rigors and the emotional/ethical ones. I would stress
that you see it as a challenge more than a burden. In terms of physical
rigors, I would respond by saying something like "I see that residency will
force me to push myself in ways I never have before and that's exciting."
However it will be up to you as a resident to appreciate when things are
becoming overwhelming and seek out help during these times ie from colleagues, superiors, nursing staff, etc. By doing this you are acknowledging that residency training is hard and that you can't do it all alone. So one way to deal with the "rigors of residency" is to get help from others.

It is important to have professional mentors and emotional support throughout
residency. You will interact with people and form incredible relationships
with your patients. Sometimes you will need to vent. Sometimes you will need
guidance about how to deal with a difficult patient or their difficult family.
So another way to deal with the emotional rigors of residency are to identify
people early on at work and at home that you talk to about some of these
issues.

Question 3- Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Have you thought about what interests you within the specialty to which you
are applying? (for example, if you are applying in internal medicine do you
think you like cardiology?)

The question is asking whether you have thought about whether you will
practice in an academic or private practice setting. Of course, particularly
these days, there are many options open to a person with an MD degree. Many physicians go into hospital administration, industry (ie pharmaceutical
research and development) medical policy, healthcare consulting, or
journalism.

Within academic medicine, you may do mainly clinical work although many in
academics combine clinical work and research. Some physicians in academics
focus primarily on clinical or basic science research. You can focus on these
areas during your answer also.

Keep in mind, many residencies have a stake in training people that they think
will ultimately go into academics because of their potential to pursue
research and publish, develop new medical technology, etc. People in academics also like to teach/train residents and medical students. These are features of academics that appeal to many and you might want to highlight some of these in your answer. The appeals of private practice often center around the degree of autonomy and the ability to concentrate specifically on clinical work without having to split one's interests between research and a clinical practice.

You may also want to describe the type of setting in which you see yourself
practicing. You may have an interest in serving a rural community or working
in an urban setting.

Question 4 - What questions do you have?
This is not a time to ask about vacation time or the quality of the on-call
room. Any of these issues can be asked of residents. Please be aware that questions you ask of the residents do not fall on deaf ears. These are not your buddies and you should maintain a level of formality with them also. If you say something inappropriate, the interview committee will hear about it.
Consider these questions:

1) How are residents evaluated by the program on a regular basis?

2) How do residents voice their opinions about aspects of the residency
(ie do residents evaluate their rotations and does this translate into
changes)

3) In which area do you think the residency is strongest/weakest?

4) If you are going into a specialty where you frequently work with other
specialties/ancillary services you might want to ask what type of relationship
exists among these groups. For example, people in ENT often work with plastic surgeons, neurosurgeons, oral surgeons/dentists, even doing many operative cases jointly. If these specialties don't work well together, it can have a significant impact on your training.

 

[TommyGunn04]

Wow, great post! Thanks!

I wanted to point out though that it's actually ILLEGAL for them to ask you about a number of issues that you've mentioned above, including religion, marital status, sexual orientation, etc. Of course, you can certainly volunteer such information in your response to their questions, but it's definitely not obligatory.

 

[redlined]

Thanks!

 

[gwen]

you are right, some of the questions are illegal...they should not be asking you about religion/sexual orientation, whether you want to have children during residency, etc. i didn't have enough time to delete them...but its something to think about anyway...

and you're welcome. i figured, there are so many people who helped me, why not pass it on.

Wow, great post! Thanks!

I wanted to point out though that it's actually ILLEGAL for them to ask you about a number of issues that you've mentioned above, including religion, marital status, sexual orientation, etc. Of course, you can certainly volunteer such information in your response to their questions, but it's definitely not obligatory.

 

[DoctorSax]

That's a fantastic post. A great resource.

I tend to have no clue what to ask in interviews. I was hoping that we'd just talk for days about poetry, about music, about love...

Anyhow, lots of stuff to think about!

DS

 

[ussdfiant]

bump