Personal Insight Questions

The answer guides to these personal insight questions have been put together by medics who have successfully navigated interviews at top Medical Schools. They’re included in our Mastering the Medical School Interview Guide that you get when you join a Medical School Interview Course. It’s over 220 pages long and has everything you need to ace your interview.

What Do You Think You Would Find Most Challenging About Being a Doctor?

Your answer to a question like this should show that you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses. It takes personal insight to recognise the aspects of a career in Medicine that you would struggle with, or that you might find harder to cope with than your peers.

Your response will depend entirely on you as a person. Some people might find it hard to witness a patient suffering or to break bad news to someone as they tend to get too emotionally involved. Others might find it difficult to cope with being on call as they function best with a regular work schedule. These are just a couple of examples that someone might give.

Explain how you intend to overcome this challenge and prevent it from having an impact on your performance. For example, trying not to dwell on your patients’ cases outside of the workplace if you think you would be likely to become too emotionally invested.

Common mistakes:

• Saying that you would struggle with something that is crucial for Doctors to be comfortable with. For example, you might not want to say that you would find it difficult communicating with patients or working with people.
• Not appreciating that you might find certain aspects of being a Doctor hard. You want to show that you’re aware of some of the challenges you’ll face as a Doctor and are prepared to overcome them.

How Do You Cope With Failure?

Medical school applicants tend to be very competent individuals and are therefore used to succeeding wherever they apply themselves. This means that they often struggle to come to terms with failure when they do experience it.

If you are someone who finds it difficult to accept failure, it is okay to be open about this but you should use this question as an opportunity to explain how you overcome the challenge of failure and prevent it from having a negative impact on your work ethic and motivation.

When you experience failure, you might want to reflect on why you did not succeed in that particular situation. Was your performance lacking? If you were applying for a position of some kind, were you not suited to the role?

For some people, asking these kinds of questions can help them to cope with failure as it allows them to use the situation as a learning experience. If they feel their performance could be improved, they would strive to do so for next time. If they feel that the position they were applying for wasn’t actually right for them, they will consider what type of role might be a better fit and pursue that instead.

Mechanisms for coping in the face of failure are completely personal and answers to a question like this will depend entirely on the person. However, it is important to remember that failure is inevitable and your answer should demonstrate that you will be able to overcome instances when you are not successful as you progress in your medical career.

Common mistakes:

• Don’t demonstrate a defeatist attitude towards failure. Medical students and Doctors alike experience failure. Because of their resilience and determination, failure can be the best way to grow and learn, becoming better when encountering future difficult situations.
• Using an example where you did not learn any useful lessons from your experience. Your reflection should include what you’ve done since to improve yourself and so be less likely to fail in the future.
• Candidates can become flustered talking about failure as it may seem unwise to talk about something they did not do well when trying to impress the interviewer. As stated, learning from mistakes is a key skill for Doctors – and talking about it will strengthen your interview.
• Not giving an actual failure to the interviewer. For example, “I failed to become top of my chemistry class”. Interviewers are looking for genuine examples with learning points and reflection, so make sure your example can offer this.

If Your Peers Were To Describe You In Three Words, What Would They Be?

This is quite a nice question because it gives you a chance to show off without looking too boastful since you are technically speaking about other peoples’ opinions of you.

Use three different words that demonstrate a large breadth of your qualities — this is your chance to show what you have to offer. You know the kind of thing that makes a good Doctor by now, so those are the ones to use, e.g. determined, creative, empathetic, team player, driven.

For every quality you give, also say why you think your peers would say that about you, using evidence to support your supposed strengths.

Example answer: My sports coach always describes me as one of the most driven and determined players on our team because of the way I balance academics and other extra-curriculars, such as my volunteering, alongside my sport

Common Mistakes:

• Missing the opportunity to highlight core strengths. This is an opportunity to showcase qualities that specifically make you a good Doctor and should be used that way
• Saying that you don’t know. This would highlight a serious lack of awareness, not to mention empathy, which is crucial to being a good Doctor

What Is Your Biggest Weakness?

Many people never think about this. But you should!

It is something that requires careful consideration. It’s important that you choose something which isn’t debilitating (e.g. fear of blood) and that you have worked on to counter.

Example answer: I was not very confident with public speaking and found it intimidating. While it is still quite difficult for me, I have joined the debating society so that I can get better in this area and my peers say they have noticed a great improvement.

Common Mistakes:

• Not thinking about this in advance. This means if you get asked, there is a chance you will either struggle to think of one, look arrogant, or under pressure come out with something that is quite debilitating
• Stating something that isn’t really a weakness, like working too hard

What Would Be Your Greatest Strength And Why?

Give a strength that is one of the core traits required to make a great Doctor – and one that you can back up with compelling evidence. Common examples include being a good leader or listener, having excellent communication skills or being a real team player.

Example answer: I’m a great team player. This is something that has helped me excel in a lot of different situations, from helping our sports team win important matches to organising a major school charity event.

Refer to examples from you work experience which show how this trait translates into a medical environment.

Common Mistakes:

• Saying something not relevant to Medicine. Being a good cook, for instance, is not relevant to Medicine
• Saying too little for fear of sounding arrogant. You have to tell them about your strengths, so get used to this by practising with friends and family

How Do You Deal With Stress?

Being a medical student and then a Doctor is extremely stressful. You have to show that you know this, referring to work experience and people you’ve spoken to.

Example answer: From my work experience and talking to many medical students here at your university, I understand that a career in Medicine will be very stressful.

You don’t want to imply that you have the secret formula to nullify stress, but you should suggest some things you do to manage it. You can start by giving some of the general activities that help you feel less stressed.

Example answer: Whenever I start to feel stressed I find that what helps me deal with it the most is doing yoga/going for a walk/making a plan of action.

Then explain how this has helped you in a real-life situation.

Example answer: This really helped me during exam season and even throughout the year when I’ve had to juggle and balance academics alongside my extracurricular activities.

You might also want to think of how you would manage stress in a confined environment, like an operating theatre (e.g. deep breaths, asking for help).

Explain that stress management is something you want to continue working on throughout Medical School and your career.

Common Mistakes:

• Underestimating the amount of stress involved in being a Doctor and therefore showing a lack of awareness about the career
• Acknowledging that Medicine is stressful but implying that you will be able to deal with that quite easily

Do You Know When To Seek Help?

Feel free to make clear that you are really determined to use your own hard work to achieve any goals. Having said this, it is crucial that you also recognise that it is important to know your limits and when you may need help.

Going to Medical School is about learning, so knowing when to seek the counsel of others is important. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and it’s important to be aware of this.

Example answer: When I was in charge of organising a major school charity event, there was no way it would have been as successful as it was if I didn’t have the help of my team.

Example answer: From my work experience, I understand that as a Doctor, it is impossible to expect to be able to do everything yourself. There will be times where you will need to ask for help, whether that’s from the nurses on the ward or other colleagues.

Remember: teamwork is an essential part of succeeding in Medicine

Common Mistakes:

• Seeing asking for help as a sign of weakness. In fact, it is often quite the opposite. Knowing when to get help and using it to improve is seen as a strength
• If you are too insular and unwilling to ask for help you may struggle at Medical School and — worse still — make bad mistakes as a Doctor

Why Do You Deserve A Place At This Medical School Over The Other Candidates?

Never compare yourself to the other candidates! You can only speak to the qualities you possess that will make you (A) a strong candidate for Medicine and (B) a valuable member of the university.

Take a moment to step back from the question and think about your answer. You should structure your answer in a series of points (e.g. Reason One; Reason Two; Reason Three; etc.).

Think about what Medical School requires of students and how you live up to those qualities: ability to self-study, ability to work in teams, ability to communicate effectively, willingness to support your peers, willingness to contribute to university life.

Think about what being a Doctor requires of students and how you live up to those qualities: academic ability, desire to continually develop knowledge, ability to practically apply knowledge, ability to think creatively and rationally, ability to recognise your short-comings and learn from mistakes.

Then structure your answer with these points in mind. For instance, you might say: ‘There are several reasons why I believe I would be a valuable addition to the Medical School here. First of all, I have demonstrated… Second, I believe I have…’

Illustrate your answers with examples. For instance, have you won awards at school? Did you go above and beyond during work experience? Do you participate in activities outside of school?

Common Mistakes:

• Do not fall into the trap of comparing yourself with other candidates or being too boastful – this is a test of your self-awareness and characteristics.
• Focusing on one area (e.g. academic ability) to the detriment of the wider aspects of life at Medical School and being a doctor.

Give An Example Of A Time When You Were Unsatisfied With Your Performance.

The STARR Framework provides a structurally sound framework around which to construct an answer.

• Situation: What is the context and setting of your story?
• Task: What was the task at hand and what was the end goal?
• Action: This is the largest section and revolves around your direct involvement in completing the task. What did you do personally? And why?
• Result: What happened as a result of your actions
• Reflection: This is the most important and the most personal. Given time to think and reflect on events, why were you unsatisfied with your actions/ the result?

This framework can be used in most questions relating to ‘a situation when…’, but the reflection section allows you to inject some introspective thought.

This question could potentially lead into further questioning regarding what you believe your weaknesses to be or how, in fact, you are working on improving them.

Common Mistakes:

• Much like when describing weaknesses, it can be very easy to self-deprecate; however, it is important to turn that into a positive and show that you’re always trying to self-improve
• Try not to overly volunteer additional weaknesses, and ensure you end your answer on a positive note

What Would You Change About Yourself?

You need to be honest and provide a genuinely negative answer. Obviously, this should not be catastrophic, however, good medical students and Doctors need to be able to identify their areas for improvement, and this is the perfect time for you to show that you can be honest about what you need to improve and demonstrate reflection.

Although scary, candidates should remember that no one is perfect, and interviewers would rather have candidates who reflect and work on improving areas of weakness rather than those who consider themselves flawless.

It’s vital you demonstrate not just what the negative is, but how you identified it as a negative. You can base your example around an event, and follow the STARR acronym to provide structure.

The key to any negative question is turning it into a positive. You want to demonstrate to the interviewer that you possess the skill of reflective practice. So you need to also talk about how you are/are planning to address the weakness.

It should be a genuine weakness. Working too hard, for example, is never a weakness. After all, the candidate is applying for a profession where if one does not work hard enough patient care and safety can be compromised.

Be focussed and concise, focusing on the question and avoid spending prolonged time talking about the weakness when you could be focusing on what you’re doing or going to do to improve it.

Common Mistakes:

• Avoid interview clichés. Most interviewers do not want to hear that you’re a perfectionist as a weakness!
• Giving more than one weakness. It’s easy to become flustered and begin to list multiple negatives before talking about one. If they’ve asked for one, only offer one! Your marks will come from demonstrating reflection, learning and development – not from listing many weaknesses.
• Giving a weakness only to then go on to say is no longer a weakness because of the steps you’ve taken to improve. If the weakness has already been resolved it is no longer a weakness and as such is not relevant for this question. It must be something current which ideally you’re in the process of changing.
• Using an irrelevant weakness as an example. Try to link your weakness to a specific trait which applies to medicine, albeit a less important one.