Medical School Interview Questions About Research

[Cells4life]

Hi, During medical school interviews, I wanted to know what are typical and expected questions about research (bench or clinical). I do not have a lot, but I do have some under my belt and I wanted to know how interviewers in depth would interviewers question me? Someone told me they would ask me to formulate my own null hypothesis? I am aware of the basic objectives of the research, but since I did not conduct the research for further time, and one of my PI does not disclose much information to us, I can not explain the "whole" process. Thanks!

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[Espadaleader]

If you aren't applying this cycle you should probably get more research. Explaining a project is a joke if you do it everyday for a year or too.

 

[Cells4life]

If you aren't applying this cycle you should probably get more research. Explaining a project is a joke if you do it everyday for a year or too.

Hi, can you elaborate like the typical questions and what we should know about the research (ie: experiment design, etc.)

 

[Tots]

Hi, During medical school interviews, I wanted to know what are typical and expected questions about research (bench or clinical). I do not have a lot, but I do have some under my belt and I wanted to know how interviewers in depth would interviewers question me? Someone told me they would ask me to formulate my own null hypothesis? I am aware of the basic objectives of the research, but since I did not conduct the research for further time, and one of my PI does not disclose much information to us, I can not explain the "whole" process. Thanks!

You should be able to explain what you did clearly and concisely and how that contributed to the overall project. I have heard of people getting grilled over tiny details of their research but I never encountered this. Honestly, if you don't know something(like the "null hypothesis" or whatever) just say you don't know. From my experience, they don't expect you to be an expert but they will expect you to be knowledgable of your contributions.

 

[Cells4life]

You should be able to explain what you did clearly and concisely and how that contributed to the overall project. I have heard of people getting grilled over minute details of their research but I never encountered this. Honestly, if you don't know something(like the "null hypothesis" or whatever) just say you don't know. From my experience, they don't expect you to be an expert but they will expect you to be knowledgable of your contributions.

Hi, thanks for the reply!

I did a semester worth of bench research during me senior year and a 1 year of clinical research. The bench research was kind of an "engine: start to my interest in research and this eventually lead me to clinical research. I am just worried, that since that one semester, I did not contribute enough due to the lack of time, I do not know how to shed that in a positive light since I was there for the very bare basics of the project and lab component. I can definitely talk about the clinical research since I was more involved in that in terms of contribution. Any more advice would be appreciated..thanks!

 

[Tots]

Hi, thanks for the reply!

I did a semester worth of bench research during me senior year and a 1 year of clinical research. The bench research was kind of an "engine: start to my interest in research and this eventually lead me to clinical research. I am just worried, that since that one semester, I did not contribute enough due to the lack of time, I do not know how to shed that in a positive light since I was there for the very bare basics of the project and lab component. I can definitely talk about the clinical research since I was more involved in that in terms of contribution. Any more advice would be appreciated..thanks!

Just explain you were only their a semester and you only did xxxx. They can see that it was only a semester and they are not going to have unrealistic expectations of you. If you are still afraid of talking about it, figure out to transition any discussion of your basic science research into your clinical research project. ie "...my experience in the lab really sparked my interest to continue my involvement in research which is why I worked on xxx project for a year and did xxx, xxx, and xxx." or w/e

Breathe.

 

[kmb8]

I only had one interviewer ask me about my research. I wished more of them did, but most didn't care.

You need to be able to explain what the research is trying to accomplish and what you do in your position.

 

[mcloaf]

Just tell them what you did and why you thought it was worthwhile. It's not any more complicated than that.

The other thing, and this really goes for anything you talk about in your interview, is to be positive. I had a few interviews when I was having a really crappy time in my research at work, and I know I didn't hide it well and I know that in turn it hurt me at those schools.

 

[osprey099]

I wanted to ask a follow up question real quick: My PI was kind enough to put my name on a paper as a co-author. Do interviewers start grilling you with detailed questions and stuff if they see a publication? I did a lot of work in that lab (1 summer; full time) but I wasn't very involved in the actual project. I just did the dirty lab work (PCR, staining, genotyping, etc) for almost everyone in the lab. How much do I really need to know about the publication if I am only a co-author?

 

[DAPI]

Yeah, most interviewers are not going to ask you about your research, and if they do, they just want to see if you can explain it. The chances they are in your field and are going to call you out on something are basically zero. What I did was made sure I could explain it in the most simplest of terms to my dad (who has basically no science background) in ~1.5 minutes. I took that approach with the single interviewer who asked me about it and it seemed to go over well. Getting into technicalities is just going to make them go to sleep, so keep it light and interesting.

 

[DrEnderW]

I talked about my research extensively in all my interviews. The questions were pretty simple and things like:

"Tell be in the most basic terms what your pub is about?"

"Tell me about your research experiences."

"Which one is most meaningful?"

"Did you experience make you want to specialize in "X specialty?"

Easy stuff like that. If you've done the work, and especially if you've presented it, discussing your research should just roll off your tongue. Make sure you can explain it in the most basic terms. A family medicine doc of 20 years will have no idea about specifics of molecular biology research, techniques etc. Nor will anyone in other disciplines. Be able to explain your project in the most complicated and most basic terms.

 

[mcloaf]

I wanted to ask a follow up question real quick: My PI was kind enough to put my name on a paper as a co-author. Do interviewers start grilling you with detailed questions and stuff if they see a publication? I did a lot of work in that lab (1 summer; full time) but I wasn't very involved in the actual project. I just did the dirty lab work (PCR, staining, genotyping, etc) for almost everyone in the lab. How much do I really need to know about the publication if I am only a co-author?

Grilling is a harsh word, but you should be prepared to talk at length about what you did. This goes for anything on your app. You may get unlucky (or lucky, if you're prepared for it) and have an interviewer with interest or experience in your area of research, in which case they will want to talk about it. I spent ten minutes in an interview talking about a research project that I did four years ago because my interviewer helps to coordinate the state's public health approach to that disease. Thankfully I remembered enough about it to speak somewhat intelligently, though I wished I had reviewed a bit more.

 

[mcloaf]

Yeah, most interviewers are not going to ask you about your research, and if they do, they just want to see if you can explain it. The chances they are in your field and are going to call you out on something are basically zero. What I did was made sure I could explain it in the most simplest of terms to my dad (who has basically no science background) in ~1.5 minutes. I took that approach with the single interviewer who asked me about it and it seemed to go over well. Getting into technicalities is just going to make them go to sleep, so keep it light and interesting.

This depends on your research. If you're in a very specific cell biology niche or something then yes, if you're doing more broadly applicable public health or clinical research this may not be the case.

 

[DAPI]

This depends on your research. If you're in a very specific cell biology niche or something then yes, if you're doing more broadly applicable public health or clinical research this may not be the case.

Good point. I'm in a fairly niche field, so I didn't think about that.

 

[armybound]

they'll probably ask in general what the project is (what are they looking for?), what your role is, what you've learned, what results the project has turned out so far, what you've enjoyed about it, if you see yourself doing research in the future

they're not here to grill you, but if you have no idea what the project is about, what they're trying to get from the project, what your role is, etc then you'll look like an idiot. they're not going to grill you on study design theory and all of that. if they ask something you don't know, just say you don't know.

 

[reviliver]

At one of my interviews, they definitely matched me up with someone in my field of research intentionally. It worked out great for me because I'm doing bench research full-time this year, and I'm obviously knowledgeable about it and interested in it since I've spent a whole year on my project. I would think of this line of questioning as an opportunity to show how interested and enthusiastic you are about medicine, even though your part in the project may be small and the area of interest may be narrow.

You can always go back and read some relevant papers that have come out of your lab for a refresher if you need to. Even if you are just doing "dirty work" lmao, you should know what the basic hypotheses and methods are for the project you are helping with. Interviewers want to see that you were interested in the project, not just checking off a box on your application.

tl;dr YES you have to know how to explain your research both in basic and in-depth terms, depending upon the audience.

 

[Cells4life]

thanks for the answers everybody!
the clinical research i did was included in a poster presentation and from what I know included in some abstracts as well. However, unfortunately my PI would rather keep most of the information under wraps and does not really update us despite my inquires..would it look bad if I just explain in interviews that I am not at liberty to discuss such matters since well I do not really know myself and our PI prefers to kind of keep us out of the loop due to whatever matters he find important. Basically how would i spin that into a positive?

 

[DrEnderW]

I highly doubt they're going to ask about future direction that intensely. However, if they did, I would say something like:

"I'm very excited to keep following the progress of the lab as publications come out. If I was in charge of the lab and running projects here's what I would do next..."

Then give a logical response of how you'd build upon your current research. It's better than regurgitating your PI and shows you can respond quickly and have really thought your work through.

GL