Personal Insight Questions

 

1) What do you think you would find hardest about being a doctor?

Personal Insight: what do you think you would find hardest about being a doctor?

 

2) How do you cope with failure?

 

3) If your peers were to describe you in three words, what would they be?

 

4) What is your biggest weakness?

 

5) How do you deal with stress?

 

6) Do you know when to seek help?

 

7) What would be your greatest strength and why?

 

8) Why do you deserve a place at this Medical School over the other candidates?

 

9) Give an example of a time when you were unsatisfied with your performance.

 

Why do you want to be a doctor?

It is very likely that you will be asked this question. Be honest and make sure you can articulate your reasons clearly and confidently. Consider the following:

• you want to study medicine for yourself rather than for someone else
• your attributes that would make you a good doctor
• if you want to ‘help people’ explain why you want to do this in medicine rather than another caring profession
• is there a story or experience that inspired you to become a doctor?

 

What makes a good doctor?

You should be as specific as possible in your answer, referring to your own characteristics as well as the following:

• Good communication skills
• Compassion
• Flexible and adept at working under pressure
• Ability to adapt knowledge to find a solution to a problem

Which quality do you think is the most important in a doctor?

There is no right or wrong answer, but you must justify your opinion. For example: ‘adapting my application of knowledge because no two patients are exactly the same’.

What qualities do you have that mean that you will be a good doctor?

Be as specific as possible, explaining how you are different to other people in terms of what you can offer.

What do you feel are the good and bad points about being a doctor?

Give a balanced, well-researched answer. Talk about what you think you will enjoy about being a doctor as well as the challenges you might face. As well as RCS careers information, visit the NHS Careers website to learn about the reality of a medical career.

Positive aspects might include: job satisfaction as you know you are making a difference to people’s lives; constant development of skills.

Negative aspects could include: it can be stressful; it takes a long time to train; being on-call means you have to wake up frequently in the middle of the night.

How would you balance your outside interests with studying a degree?

It is important that you have an outlet for stress and a life outside medicine – doctors need to be people too.

How do you cope with stress?

Try to frame your answer positively – what techniques and distractions got you through GCSEs? How do you prepare for stressful situations and how do you unwind from them?

What responsibilities do you have?

Think about what you do in your free time and any responsibilities you may hold or have held at school, such as sports captain, team leader or prefect. Talk about your role, responsibilities and what you learned from the experience.