Interview Questions

About You

“Tell me about yourself.” This is almost always the opening question — and it trips up more applicants than any other. Don’t recite your CV. Programs have already read it. Instead, tell a brief, coherent story: where you’re from, what drew you to medicine, a defining moment in your training, and why you’re here today. Aim for two minutes, maximum. Practice this until it flows naturally.

“What are your strengths and weaknesses?” For strengths, be specific and clinical — not just “I’m hardworking.” Name a strength that shows up in your patient care. For weaknesses, choose something real, explain how you recognized it, and describe what you’ve actively done to address it. Programs are not looking for perfection — they’re looking for self-awareness.

“Tell me something about you that is not on your CV.” This is an invitation to be human. Share an interest, a formative experience, or something that shaped how you think. It doesn’t have to be dramatic — it just has to be genuine.

“How would your colleagues or friends describe you?” Be honest and specific. Avoid generic adjectives. Think about what the residents who rotated with you would actually say — about your clinical instincts, your communication style, your reliability under pressure.

“What are your hobbies outside of medicine?” Programs want to know you have a life outside the hospital. They also want to know you can sustain yourself through a demanding residency. Answer honestly and briefly.

About Your Path to Medicine

“Why internal medicine?” This should be one of your most prepared answers. Be specific — name a patient encounter, a rotation, a mentor, a clinical problem that drew you to this specialty. Saying “I like that it’s broad” is not enough. What is it about the intellectual challenge of undifferentiated illness, or the longitudinal relationships with complex patients, or the breadth of subspecialties, that resonates with you?

“Why did you take a break during medical school / why is there a gap in your training?” Answer directly and without over-explaining. If there was a personal, health, or logistical reason, state it briefly and move forward. Programs are not looking to penalize you — they want to understand your story.

“Why did you choose to do your training internationally / as an IMG?” This is common for IMGs. Be honest and confident. You don’t need to apologize for your path — you need to own it. Explain your journey, what it taught you, and why it has made you a stronger candidate and a more resilient physician.

About Your Future

“What are your career plans / where do you see yourself in ten years?” You don’t need a perfectly mapped plan — but you need to have thought about it. Do you want to pursue a fellowship? Academic medicine? Community practice? Hospital medicine? Be genuine. Programs aren’t looking for a specific answer — they’re looking for self-reflection and intentionality.

“Do you see research as part of your career?” Be honest. If you’re passionate about research, say so and give an example. If you’re primarily clinically focused, that’s perfectly legitimate — just articulate what kind of clinical contribution you hope to make.

“Why do you want to train in this city / this region?” Programs want to know you’ve thought seriously about where you’ll be living for three years — and ideally, that you have genuine reasons to be there. Geographic connections, family, a specific training opportunity, a subspecialty interest linked to their faculty — any of these are valid. Avoid generic answers like “I’ve heard great things about the city.”

About the Program

“What do you know about our program / why do you want to come here?” This is where your research pays off. Reference something specific — a faculty member’s research, a curriculum feature, a rotation structure, or a resident experience you read about. Generic enthusiasm is not convincing. Specific knowledge is.

“What do you hope to gain from our residency program?” Connect your answer to something real about the program. What specifically does this program offer — in terms of patient volume, teaching, fellowship pipelines, or clinical exposure — that matches what you’re looking for in your training?

“What can you bring to our program?” Think about what makes you distinctive — your background, your clinical experiences, your perspective as an IMG, your research, your languages, your specific skills. This is not the time for false modesty. Programs are building a cohort — tell them what you add to it.

Behavioral and Situational Questions

“Describe the best or worst experience you had in medical school.” For the best: choose something that reveals your values and your love of medicine — a case you learned from, a patient relationship that stayed with you. For the worst: choose something real, show how you handled it, and what you took from it. Avoid anything that criticizes individuals by name.

“Tell me about a medical or ethical dilemma you’ve encountered.” Programs are evaluating your ethical reasoning, not your knowledge of bioethics theory. Walk through your thought process: What was the tension? Who was involved? What did you do and why? What would you do differently? Be honest and thoughtful.

“Describe a time you made a mistake. How did you handle it?” This question requires honesty and maturity. Choose a real example. Explain what happened, how you responded, what you did to address it, and what you learned. Programs are not looking for perfection — they are looking for physicians who can recognize errors, take responsibility, and improve.

“How do you handle conflict with a colleague or supervisor?” Demonstrate professionalism, communication, and respect. Give a real example if you have one. The answer programs want to hear is one where you addressed the issue directly, respectfully, and constructively — not one where you avoided it or escalated it unnecessarily.

“How do you manage stress?” Be honest and practical. Name the strategies that actually work for you — exercise, time with family, a specific hobby, mentorship. Programs are not just asking out of curiosity — they want to know you have real tools for coping with a demanding training environment.

Questions to Ask Your Interviewers

Always have two to three questions ready. Strong options:

• What do you enjoy most about being faculty here?

• What do you think distinguishes your residents when they finish training?

• What is one thing you would change about the program if you could?

• How has the program evolved in the past few years?

• What does resident wellness look like here in practice — not just on paper?

Good luck. You’ve worked incredibly hard to get to this point. Walk in prepared, be yourself, and trust your training.

— Dr. Joyce Cheng, MD, MPH, MHA, FACP, Internal Medicine Hospitalist | Clinical Assistant Professor