Residency Interview Questions

As mentioned in my post on how to best prepare for your residency interviews, I’ve compiled a list of residency interview questions as prepare for your big day! You should be ready to answer a few commonly asked questions about yourself + have a list of possible questions for your interviewer.

After going through the entire process, I realize that although there are a variety of different questions that you will asked… many of them are asking for a similar thing just in a different way. Therefore, a little pre-planning can be helpful! But be careful not to over practice to the point that your answers sound canned. 

Questions you can expect to answer – The staples:

*Have these nailed down + use this opportunity to highlight a few things about yourself! 

Tell me about yourself

Why medicine/Why the specialty that you’ve chosen?

Why this program/Why this location?

From there, my recommendation would be to think of a few (possibly up to 5) adjectives that you feel describe you best. These can be used to answer a variety of questions, for example: what will you bring to our program, what are some of your strengths, what would one of your friends say about you?

A few other scenarios to think about in advance…

Think about a potential weakness/an area that you can improve upon + something that you think might be a challenge in residency. I was asked some form of this question many times. 

You will likely be asked about teamwork in a variety of different ways since residency (+ medicine in general) is just that! For example: tell me about a time when you worked on a team, how will you support your co-residents if someone needs help? Tell me about the last time you helped someone.

Along a similar vein – I was frequently asked about a time that you disagreed or had a conflict with someone, sometimes specifically a resident or attending. They want to know about your ability to resolve conflict!

Your hobbies! I was asked about this a surprising number of times. If you wrote interesting + unique hobbies on your application – they will likely ask you about that. If not, they will likely ask what you do for fun, how you destress after a stressful day, what are some of your favorite ways to spend outside of medicine?

What you’re looking for in a program. Be honest in the things that are important to you – you want to find a program that’s the right fit. But this was also a good time to highlight or bring it back to the program you’re interviewing with + how they will be a great fit for you!

Lastly – Is there anything that isn’t on your application that you’d like for us to know? If there is one thing you want for me to tell the committee about you, what would it be? I think this is a great opportunity to brag on yourself about something! Use this time to expand upon your values, your personality, or go back to those adjectives above!

Questions for your Interviewer

This is just a starting point! Each specialty will have important specialty-specific questions that should be asked. Most importantly though, ask the questions that mean the most to you! If you’re interested in a particular fellowship: ask about that. If there is something that you love to do as a hobby, ask about opportunities in the area.