University of Ottawa Medicine Interview Questions
Interview Format
Based on the weighted GPA, the CASPer score, and the autobiographical sketch score, the candidate gets invited for an on-campus interview. The interview is traditional and takes the panel format of usually 3 interviewers who take turns asking questions. There are no MMI stations. The traditional interview lasts about 45 minutes to an hour.
Key Dates
Interviews generally take place between February and March.
Past Interview Questions
Motivation and Insight into Medicine
- Why do you want to persuade the medical field?
- Why did you choose Ottawa?
- Why do you want to be specifically a doctor and not a nurse, a vet, or social worker?
- In your opinion, what are the most important qualities a doctor should have?
- What type of doctor do you want to be?
- In your opinion, what is the most urgent problem in our healthcare system? As a health minister, how would you fix it?
- What steps have you done to prepare for medical school?
- What have you exactly been working on with Dr. X from your application?
- As a physician, you will encounter a lot of hard experience such as terrible diseases, addictions, and deaths. How would you handle that emotionally?
- What are your strong points related to medicine?
- In your opinion, where does the majority of our healthcare spending go to?
- If you don’t get accepted in medicine this year, what would you do?
- Do you think that refusing smokers cancer treatment could effectively deter people from smoking?
- Should homeless people be provided with alcohol in a clinic-type setting?
Ethical Dilemmas
- If you are a family doctor for a patient who just got diagnosed with brain cancer, but the oncologist didn't tell him and his family does not want you to inform him, what would you do?
- If a 3-year old needed a blood transfusion to live, but the parents wouldn't consent, what would you do?
- What are your thoughts on human cloning?
- What are your thoughts on euthanasia especially to the elderly?
Case/Article Reviews
- What recent news have you been following?
- Which newspaper do you think is the most biased?
Communication Stations
- How would you explain your research to a high school student?
- If one of your patient was a heavy smoker that the outcome would be inevitably bad, how would you communicate the issue with them?
- What is a time you were in a conflict with someone? And how did you resolve it?
- How would you tell a patient that there is a two-year wait for an MRI?
Prioritisation Tasks
- How do you manage stress?
Teamwork Tasks
- What role do you usually play in a group?
- Will you find it difficult to be a participant or will you always want to lead the group?
MMI Sales Pitch Station
- What is unique about you to contribute to our program?
- Why should we choose you?
General / Personal Statements
- Who has inspired you the most in your life?
- Other than academics, tell us about yourself.
- What has been the most challenging thing you have done in your life?
- What do you do for fun?
- Who is your favorite author?
- What is one strength and one weakness would your best friend comment upon you?
- Would you describe yourself in one word?
- How do you keep up with current events?
- What would you ban?
- What book has influenced you the most?
- What did you mean by X from your sketch?
- When was the last time you got rejected? and how did you handle that?