Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University Medicine Interview Questions
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​Interview Format

After the candidates participate in problem-based learning (PBL) activities, each candidate will have a conversational interview with a medical student for about 30 minutes. Interviewees for the program receive two traditional interviews with Admission Committee and faculty members. Each spends 45 minutes to one hour separately. The faculty interviews are open-file and critical with a focus on the applicant’s research experience and motivation into medicine. The medical student interview has only access to the AMCAS essay and the experiences section of the AMCAS application with a focus on the candidate’s activities and noncognitive skills. The interviews aim at assessing the applicant’s:

  • Teamwork skills
  • Communication skills
  • Commitment to medicine
  • Research experience
  • Clinical or shadowing experience
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Key Dates

Interviews generally take place between September and late January.
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​Past Interview Questions

​Motivation and Insight into Medicine
  • What policies from different healthcare systems would you combine to design a more effective system than the ones currently in place?
  • What would a DNA molecule be like if you designed it?
  • If you have a research budget of 5 million dollars, to what research and how would you spend it?
  • Why did you decide to study medicine?
  • What other schools did you apply to? And what were your criteria while applying?
  • Why did you apply for Cleveland Clinic?
  • Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
  • What research project have you worked on?
  • How are you going to deal with the limitations placed on your interactions with patients by the current US healthcare system?
  • Do you think healthcare is a right?
  • In your opinion, what problems will you encounter while pursuing medicine?
  • What do you think about the current healthcare system in the US? What would you change?
  • What was the most fun you have had in a lab?
  • If you were the CEO of this hospital, how would you decide which is better for it: electronic medical histories or traditional audio-recorded histories?
 
Ethical Dilemmas
  • How would you react if a colleague began to develop a drug addiction, but it had not impacted his work performance significantly?
  • In your opinion, what is a major moral dilemma in medicine today?
  • If your classmate was supposed to perform surgery, but he was hung-over so he asked you to sign him in, how would you respond?
  • What do you know about passive euthanasia?

Scientific/Medical Topics
  • In your opinion since cardiovascular disease leads to more deaths in this country than other causes, why is so little research funding devoted to it?

Communication Stations
  • Have you ever had to look at things from another socioeconomic or cultural perspective?
  • How would you communicate with a group member who thinks they were always right and would not stop talking?
 
Prioritisation Tasks
  • How did you balance school and work?
  • Describe a time when you asked for an extension on an assignment, and how did you manage it?
  • How are you planning on managing your personal life as a physician?
 
Teamwork Tasks
  • How would you manage teamwork like if someone is not participating in a PBL activity?
  • How do you work in groups?
 
MMI Sales Pitch Station
  • What weaknesses and strengths would you want me to inform the admission committee about you?
 
General / Personal Statements
  • What do you like to do in your spare time?
  • Would you describe to me a time when things did not seem to workout, no matter what you did?
  • How do you deal with criticism?
  • Who is your favorite author?
  • Have you ever knowingly put yourself in an uncomfortable situation and how did you manage it?
  • Describe a time someone disappointed you how you responded.
  • Have you ever had to break the rule to get what you wanted?
  • Who is your role model and why?
  • Why did you to major in X in your undergrad?
  • How do you find Cleveland so far?
  • What has been an emotional demanding situation in your life and how did you deal with it?
  • Which learning style works best for you?
  • What was your favorite undergrad non-science course?
  • What three things about you would you like to change?
  • How would you define emotional maturity?
  • Would you be able to handle the Midwest weather?
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Additional Medical School Interview Questions

Click Here (Available to Online MMI Question Bank Subscribers)
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