University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville Interview Questions
Interview Format
UofSC conducts two traditional individual interviews by members of the Admissions Committee. Each lasts for about 30 minutes. One of them is an open-file interview with a focus on the applicant’s academic background, experience, activities, and motives of pursuing medicine. The other interview is blind to the academic records and focuses mainly on evaluating the applicant’s non-cognitive qualities, like:
- Interpersonal and communication skills
- Professionalism with patients
- Ability to withstand stress
- Integrity
- Maturity
Applicants will also rotate through a Multiple Mini-Interview session before ending the day. The session consists of 5 mini-interview stations where four of them will run by a standardized patient, and one will be staffed by a member of the Admissions Committee. These MMI stations aim at assessing how applicants address each provided scenario specifically through their attentive listening skills, professionalism, problem-solving skills, and their general knowledge of health care.
Key Dates
Interviews generally take place between September to mid-March.
Past Interview Questions
General/Personal Statement
- What was your X class about?
- What do you think about your MCAT scores?
- What life challenge have you gone through and how did you overcome it?
- How did you come across X experience and what did you learn from it?
- How do you feel about death?
- How was your undergrad experience?
- What background did you come from?
- In your AMCAS application, you mentioned X. Would you elaborate on it more?
Communication Stations
- How do you communicate your views with your friends?
- Describe how you handle and respond to negative feedbacks
Motivation and Insight into Medicine
- Within all the healthcare professions, why did you choose to be specifically a doctor?
- What clinical observation or shadowing experience influenced you into medicine?
- What specialty appeals to you the most in medicine?
- What drove you to study medicine?
- Why did you decide to study medicine in Greenville?
- What are your views on the need for a support system while pursuing medicine?
- How would you define the health care crisis?
- In your opinion, is healthcare a right or privilege?
- What do you think is the biggest problem facing the U.S. healthcare system today?
- What are your views on medical missions while pursuing medicine?
- Can you tell me about a research project that you have worked on?
Ethical Dilemmas
- An HIV patient who is on medicaid and gets a monthly disability check asks for his treatment, but you knew that he was not disabled since he works out 45 minutes at the gym every day. What would you do?
- If a patient asked for abortion, would you be able to do it?
Prioritisation Tasks
- Which quality is it more important for a resident physician to have: thoroughness or reliability?
- How do you handle stress?
MMI Sales Pitch Station
- What is unique about you apart from other applicants?
- Would you describe yourself in three words?
- What is one thing you would like the Admission Committee to know about you?
Teamwork Tasks
- In your application you mentioned you had X position, what have you done as X?
Role Play Scenarios
- A wife and a husband had an accident, and you could save her only. Then she asked you if you could have saved her husband if you had not treated her. How would you respond?