American Medical Students Association at NYU | Applying to Medical School

A list of various questions, compiled by AMSA and medical school applicants.

Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? What is the duration of your longest relationship?
What is your religious affiliation? What do you believe in?
Do you have children, or plan to? (If so, why? If not, why not?)
How do you handle blood and gore, or how do you expect to?
Who or what do you hate? (How come?)

Does everyone have a right to free health care?
Who absolutely should NOT be cloned?
Are quotas- in life, in education, in medicine- fair?
Would you perform abortions as a doctor? Under what circumstances?
Is there a lot of drug use at your school? Have you taken drugs?
What’s the most despicable thing you’ve ever done?
Why do you think so many doctors self-identify as unhappy?
How would you tell a patient that he has cancer?
How do you feel about treating HIV positive patients?
Should couples who plan to marry have to undergo mandatory HIV testing? (Why or why not?)

What is your #1 environmental concern?
How would you improve America’s preventive care settings?
What is the most important development in the world over the past 25 years?
How could instances of medical malpractice be reduced?
What is today’s most pressing medical problem? (And why so?)
Given the power, how would you reduce the national debt?
What do you think about assisted suicide?
What are your views on hospices?
Tell me some strategies for addressing the problem of teenage smoking that haven’t been tried before.
What are your thoughts on Medicare reform?
With the advent of technology, to what extent is medicine becoming too impersonal?
What should be America’s role helping foreign governments?
What do you know about PPO’s, and how do you feel about them?
In what field do you believe the next major advance in medicine will come?
What is your understanding of a physician’s typical day?

If you were a car, what kind of car would you be? (Elaborate)
A patient has been waiting to see you for 2 hours and is very upset. Tell me what you would say to her.
If you were an animal what animal would you be and why?
If you could invite 3 people of the past or present to dinner, whom would you choose and why?
If you caught your roommate cheating on their AMCAS application, what would you do?
If the family requested that you not tell an adult patient the truth about his condition, would you honor that request? (Elaborate)
If you had a magic pen, what would you do to remedy health care in America?
If you must decide to give a transplant to either a successful elderly member of the community, or a 20-year-old drug addict, how would you choose?
If you could be any historical figure, who would it be and why?
If you could have one disease eradicated from the earth instantly, which would it be and why?
What would you tell a 15-year-old girl who comes to you asking for birth control pills?
You receive a malpractice claim against you in the mail. How do you react?
A patient who’s been in an accident needs a blood transfusion. She states that her religion does not allow transfusions. You are the physician in charge. What do you do?
A patient asks you about unconventional holistic medicine options available in Central America. How do you reply?