technical questions in med school interviews

[Hopkins2010]

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Do med schools usually ask technical questions, like "draw the structure of glycine" or "describe the Krebs cycle for me", or anything like that?

Also, as a prospective MD/PhD student, I expect to get asked all kinds of technical questions about MY research, but what about in other areas that have nothing to do with what I'm working on?

How many of you ever had technical questions in interviews for either MD or MD/PhD interviews?

 

[Vader]

You'll likely run the whole gamut as far as interviews go. Most will be fairly straightforward, but some will be a little tricky. Generally, MD/PhD interviews consist of:
1) Tell me about yourself
2) Why both degrees?
3) Tell me about your research
4) Do you have any questions for me?

They will vary considerably in length, flow, difficulty, etc. You have to know your research VERY well and why you want to be a medical scientist. Be prepared to get grilled, especially if interviewed by someone familiar with the topic.

I had one interviewer who started talking about his research for about 5 minutes and then suddenly stopped and asked me "so, what experiment would you do?" After I scrambled for an answer, he proceeded to continue discussing the research and then stopped again every couple of minutes to ask me to design more experiments.

In another one, my interviewer grilled me on some relatively minor work I had done, more as a technical job when I started in the lab. But she spent so long grilling me that we never really got to talking about my actual main project.

These were by far the hardest interviews I had. Most were more like a conversation about research. Just be able to communicate it clearly and concisely. The idea is that they are testing how you think and communicate as a scientist to assess your potential. Some like to see how well you deal with criticism (you'll get this in regular MD interviews as well). At any rate, don't be afraid or get upset when someone challenges you. Stay calm, relax, and just think about what they are asking. Always keep an open mind... they might be testing your flexibility and creativity as a scientific thinker.

Personally, I found regular MD interviews much more straightforward. They ranged from not knowing that I was applying MD/PhD, to lip-service interviews to see if I simply pass muster for regular med school admissions. It varies from institution to institution. Regular med interviews tend to be much more about your interest in medicine.

Hope this helps! 😀

 

[NewAgeDO]

With the interviews I've had, they didn't get technical at all. Once an applicant is granted an interview, he/she fits the criteria the school is looking for. Now all the school wants to find out is the applicant's personality and demeanor in person. One may look good on paper, but in person it's a whole different ballgame. They look at the applicant's attitude, confidence, social skills, etc. Now that you know they won't be asking technical questions, that does not mean the questions will be easy. One question they asked me was "So Mr....., I see you have taken the class Biology of African Wildlife. Since animals do not have a health care system, how do you think the human race will fair without a healthcare system considering we are also animals?" Did this question get me by surprise? Yes. Did I answer appropriately? Well considering the school accepted me, I assumed they liked my answer. (If you really want to know my response, i'll consider posting another time.) So be prepared for anything. I'm almost sure however that technical questions such as reciting the TCA cycle starting w/ Acetyl CoA and so forth won't be asked by any med school. If I'm wrong, then someone please correct me. Good luck.

 

[Vader]

Originally posted by RobbC:
•With the interviews I've had, they didn't get technical at all. Once an applicant is granted an interview, he/she fits the criteria the school is looking for. Now all the school wants to find out is the applicant's personality and demeanor in person. One may look good on paper, but in person it's a whole different ballgame. They look at the applicant's attitude, confidence, social skills, etc. Now that you know they won't be asking technical questions, that does not mean the questions will be easy. One question they asked me was "So Mr....., I see you have taken the class Biology of African Wildlife. Since animals do not have a health care system, how do you think the human race will fair without a healthcare system considering we are also animals?" Did this question get me by surprise? Yes. Did I answer appropriately? Well considering the school accepted me, I assumed they liked my answer. (If you really want to know my response, i'll consider posting another time.) So be prepared for anything. I'm almost sure however that technical questions such as reciting the TCA cycle starting w/ Acetyl CoA and so forth won't be asked by any med school. If I'm wrong, then someone please correct me. Good luck.•

You didn't say if you applied MD/PhD, but during these interviews you should definitely BE PREPARED to answer fairly technical questions. I've heard of people being asked to draw diagrams of experiments, data, etc during their interviews. I know one student who was asked to solve some sort of puzzle at one of his interviews. Those are by far the exceptions, but you should be prepared and know your research in detail.