33 residency interview questions

These are foundational questions that candidates should be able to answer in 2 - 3 minutes.

• Tell us about yourself.

• Describe your most recent clinical experience.

• Tell us about a skill you’ve cultivated outside of medicine.  

• Tell us something that we would be surprised to learn about you.  

• What would your colleagues / former colleagues / referees say about you if we called them today?

• What strengths will you bring to the program?

• What weaknesses are you working on?

• Why are you interested in discipline X?

• What are your goals and how does our program align with / support / facilitate those goals?

• Where do you see yourself 5 years after residency?

• Describe a time when a patient declined your advice.  How do you generally handle non-compliance or resistance from patients?  

• Describe a conflict you had with a colleague / supervisor / patient and how it was resolved.  

• Tell us about a time you disagreed with a diagnosis made by a colleague / superior.

• Tell us about a clinical error you have made.

• Tell us about a clinical error you made and fixed before anybody else found out.  

• What is the last guideline you looked up?

• What’s the last journal article you read?

• Tell us about your last CME and what you learned from it.  

• Talk about a mentor and what you learned from that person.  

• Talk about an interesting patient and what you learned from that person.  

• Talk about something was difficult for you to learn.  

• What have you learned about yourself recently?

• What does work life balance mean to you and how do you demonstrate it?

• Talk about a time when working on a team was challenging.  What did you learn?

• Describe a time when you immediately implemented the feedback you received.  

• Describe a time when you disagreed with the feedback you were given.  How did you react?  

• Residency has long hours, a heavy workload, and high expectations.  How will you manage the stresses and challenges of residency?

• Have you experienced a failure outside of your professional life?  What did you learn?

• Describe a challenge you faced while serving as a leader.  How did you handle it?

• Describe a conflict you faced while serving as a leader.  How did you handle it?

• Describe a time when you had to pivot or adapt very quickly.  

• Talk about a time when you supported a marginalized patient or community.

• Describe your research interests.  What was your contribution to the research teams you’ve been on?